trammayo
Interested in vintage commercial vehicle, trams, t
Easter Sunday saw me and the trailer at the Mayo Ploughing Chamionships. I get invited every year and there is usually a few classic cars, vintage tractors and the like to make it into a family day.
Last year caused me a lot of trouble which culminated in the lengthening of the trailer to make the layout self-contained.
This year wasn`t without its troubles - the car overheated quite badly both going there and returning (that problem was resolved with the usual outlay of cash) - and a loco was derailed with a plunge down onto the drawbar and a lot of damage.
The loco, pictured below, was the wife`s favourite (and one of mine too) so it was quite upsetting that it was - so it seemed - a "no hoper".
As that particular livery (Virginia & Truckee) was no longer available I pondered what I could do. I glued most bits back on or together but couldn`t do a right lot with internal mountings (like the smoke unit) or the pilot and cowcatcher.
Searching John Prescott`s (Twojags) GScaleonline site, I spied a Christmas Loco - "White Christmas Express" - and thought of swapping parts from the V & T to re-create the latter.
Ordered it, paid with PayPal, despatched laast Monday teatime and with me just after breakfast Wednesday morning. Beat that RM and ParcelFarce to an overseas country!!!!!
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics of the loco as delivered. Anyway, it had green panels on the tender sides and rear, a green stack apart from the top, and "1225" on the cab sides, rear of tender and both sides of the steam dome.
The domes were well glued in, the chimney was an easy remove, and the tender body would have been easy to swap over too. The domes on the V & T were also well glued in the Russian Iron liveried boiler and, as it was the internal fixings that were smashed, there was no point in swapping this over either.
The new loco has a silver painted boiler so would not quite suit the V & T livery. As there was a lot of dark red on the loco, I thought of the South Pacific Coast R.R. I already have a BH coal burner in that livery so that was it!
An improvised SPC livery. Thursday morning was our weekly trip to town (shudder), so after the usual shopping it was down to the Auto Factors to look at the (Holts) touch-up sprays. I had taken the smoke stack and found a red which looked quite near (but the camera doesn`t lie). I had a plan B - no red available? then use green! But plan B was brushed to one side.
The smoke stack, which is in three sections, was easy. As the steam and sand domes were relatively immovable objects, then their green bands would be echoed by the broad cylindical band of the stack.
Then it came to the tender. Body off, wood load off, railings off and the rear ladder too. The tender was completely masked to leave just the three green panels. A quick spray with plastic primer lifted the tampo printed names and these were wiped off and primed again. Then it was back to the red rattle can.
Next, it was back to the loco. The stack was assembled (simple push fit) and put in place and looked OK - no discernable colour difference between the original and resprayed reds.
Then trusty old Microsoft Drawing and Word Art, some self adhesive paper labels and voila! Before I cut them out, I thought I`d be smart and apply some varnish. I then realised I had no gloss! I tried using the plastic primer but this has dulled the colour (particvularly the dark red). As I will be running the loco tomorrow new labels (on glossy photopaper) will have to wait.
I painted the tender rails gloss black just to provide some relief from the red and left to dry overnight. Yesterday all was dry to reassemble.
The difference in the shades of red is quite obvious under the scrutiny of the camera lens but actually doesn`t look too bad to the naked eye. Also, the gold lining was spoiled on the rear of the tender as the plastic primer bled under the masking tape. Doh!
The lettering on the tender is gold coloured vinyl but the rivet detailing prevents then from sitting correctly even after carefully massaging them around the rivet heads. Transfers would get over this but that would be time consuming acquiring them plus the cost.
The other thing about the new loco is the improved pony truck.
First pic shows the original type on the V&T loco - complete with weights tie-wrapped in position .....
And the other pics show the new type. I seem to remember a similar arrangement on the Bassett Lowke Princess Elizabeth!
So, I`ll see how it goes tomorrow - the truck might need weights to negotiate the R1 curves on my trailer layout!
Last year caused me a lot of trouble which culminated in the lengthening of the trailer to make the layout self-contained.
This year wasn`t without its troubles - the car overheated quite badly both going there and returning (that problem was resolved with the usual outlay of cash) - and a loco was derailed with a plunge down onto the drawbar and a lot of damage.
The loco, pictured below, was the wife`s favourite (and one of mine too) so it was quite upsetting that it was - so it seemed - a "no hoper".
As that particular livery (Virginia & Truckee) was no longer available I pondered what I could do. I glued most bits back on or together but couldn`t do a right lot with internal mountings (like the smoke unit) or the pilot and cowcatcher.
Searching John Prescott`s (Twojags) GScaleonline site, I spied a Christmas Loco - "White Christmas Express" - and thought of swapping parts from the V & T to re-create the latter.
Ordered it, paid with PayPal, despatched laast Monday teatime and with me just after breakfast Wednesday morning. Beat that RM and ParcelFarce to an overseas country!!!!!
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics of the loco as delivered. Anyway, it had green panels on the tender sides and rear, a green stack apart from the top, and "1225" on the cab sides, rear of tender and both sides of the steam dome.
The domes were well glued in, the chimney was an easy remove, and the tender body would have been easy to swap over too. The domes on the V & T were also well glued in the Russian Iron liveried boiler and, as it was the internal fixings that were smashed, there was no point in swapping this over either.
The new loco has a silver painted boiler so would not quite suit the V & T livery. As there was a lot of dark red on the loco, I thought of the South Pacific Coast R.R. I already have a BH coal burner in that livery so that was it!
An improvised SPC livery. Thursday morning was our weekly trip to town (shudder), so after the usual shopping it was down to the Auto Factors to look at the (Holts) touch-up sprays. I had taken the smoke stack and found a red which looked quite near (but the camera doesn`t lie). I had a plan B - no red available? then use green! But plan B was brushed to one side.
The smoke stack, which is in three sections, was easy. As the steam and sand domes were relatively immovable objects, then their green bands would be echoed by the broad cylindical band of the stack.
Then it came to the tender. Body off, wood load off, railings off and the rear ladder too. The tender was completely masked to leave just the three green panels. A quick spray with plastic primer lifted the tampo printed names and these were wiped off and primed again. Then it was back to the red rattle can.
Next, it was back to the loco. The stack was assembled (simple push fit) and put in place and looked OK - no discernable colour difference between the original and resprayed reds.
Then trusty old Microsoft Drawing and Word Art, some self adhesive paper labels and voila! Before I cut them out, I thought I`d be smart and apply some varnish. I then realised I had no gloss! I tried using the plastic primer but this has dulled the colour (particvularly the dark red). As I will be running the loco tomorrow new labels (on glossy photopaper) will have to wait.
I painted the tender rails gloss black just to provide some relief from the red and left to dry overnight. Yesterday all was dry to reassemble.
The difference in the shades of red is quite obvious under the scrutiny of the camera lens but actually doesn`t look too bad to the naked eye. Also, the gold lining was spoiled on the rear of the tender as the plastic primer bled under the masking tape. Doh!
The lettering on the tender is gold coloured vinyl but the rivet detailing prevents then from sitting correctly even after carefully massaging them around the rivet heads. Transfers would get over this but that would be time consuming acquiring them plus the cost.
The other thing about the new loco is the improved pony truck.
First pic shows the original type on the V&T loco - complete with weights tie-wrapped in position .....
And the other pics show the new type. I seem to remember a similar arrangement on the Bassett Lowke Princess Elizabeth!
So, I`ll see how it goes tomorrow - the truck might need weights to negotiate the R1 curves on my trailer layout!
