LarryG's loco & coach WB (4mm/00)

LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
At the time of construction on my WB, this LMS D1751 Period I coach was earmarked for the BR carmine & cream with no carmine red band above the windows. Then I began to wonder if this variant of the livery would still have been around in the late 1950's. Early 1950's repaints would almost certainly have received lined maroon at some time following its adoption in 1956...
WEB LMS D1751 6.jpg

Maroon livery is normally twice as fast as blood & custard, but I had some welcome company this afternoon. Halfords lacquer will follow tomorrow plus glazing and finishing...
WEB LMS D1751 7.jpg
 
Last edited:
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Photographed tonight using flash. The finish represents a coach with relatively new paintwork even though the chassis and roof have acquired the usual weathering. The RH bogie has had some recent attention and is not as dirty(!) Maybe that is why it is in Wales and not in MacKrankie country...;)
WEB LMS D1751 8A.jpg

I'm glad maroon was adopted, as it has given the coach a more modern appearance and it will not look out of place in a rake of Stanier vehicles...
WEB LMS D1751 8B.jpg
 
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Tesco at 8am was so busy, then I joined the queue at the butchers shop and it was still dark. The indoor photos taken last night could not have been bettered this morning seeing as we have the house lights on!

I couldn't post anything about the following coach until the recipient opened his parcel and discovered it was his Xmas present. When we were chatting on the phone two weeks ago, he mentioned sleeping cars at Chester. Guessing (correctly) that he already had LMS 12-wheel Sleeping Cars, I placed an order for Comet D1709 sleeper sides and matchboard ends. These 8-wheel coaches were built in the 1920's as 'convertibles' to be used as third class day coaches, but with pull down upper bunks for nightime purposes. The LMS never branded them Sleeping Cars. The first job was raiding the spares box for the remainder of what was needed...

WEB LMS D1709 1.jpg

I used my GWR 61' solebars and fabricated the footboards. The small battery box is also GWR. This is the compartment side...
WEB LMS D1709 2.jpg

The corridor side introduced new styleling with long windows. The beading above the cantrail is too deep, so the ends had to be soldered higher to to ensure they were a good fit under the roof. This left a small gap between the end and the bufferbeam. Beading on both tumblehomes is cellulose paint applied with a bow pen. As the model was rather special, the extra hinges etc were fitted...
WEB LMS D1709 3.jpg

To be continued....Bit of a busy "Xmas day" today...
 
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Finished ready for service on the boat trains between the port of Holyhead and London Euston. Attached during the day as a third class coach and used at night for sleeping. My thinking was these coaches were more useful than dedicated Sleeping Cars. These 60' cars had two lavatories and two toilets with washing facilities...

WEB LMS D1709 6.jpg

I don't know if BR ever branded them 'Sleeping Car' so it'll be Rule 1 if they didn't. BR rebuilt some of these coaches with fixed bunks while others were rebuilt into Cafeteria coaches, but these vehicles bore no resemblance to the original builds.
WEB LMS D1709 8.jpg
Bogies are Bachmann suitably weathered.
 
Last edited:
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Thanks Mike. My friend enjoys sending surprises, so I surprise him occasionally by sending something he cannot obtain anywhere else that I know will fit in with his layout plans.
 
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
The last of the LMS coaches, the D1904 open third, was painted today. Pretty much as before except for the roof. It represents one of the silver tops where dirt had washed down and stained the part above the gutter. After being sprayed mid grey, it was weathered using Tiefschwartz Deep Black powder worked in with a very small size 5/0 brush...

WEB LMS D1904X.jpg WEB LMS D1904 4.jpg WEB LMS D1904 5.jpg WEB LMS D1904 5B.jpg
 
Last edited:
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Thought I'd try an outdoor shot to show up the panel repair strips. Dave Holt of this parish kindly sent me a sheet of 'Pressfix' BR transfers recently which enabled me to finish off the ex.LMS stock. I still can't line the darn things up properly! While peeling off the very last 'M', it flew off the knife blade and disappeared. So the prefix M was hand drawn to finish the coach off...
WEB LMS D1904 6.jpg
Looks like everything from here on will be Western Region.
 
Last edited:
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Back to the start! This was built today as a replacement for the LMS D1807 that was built a few weeks ago. It carried blood & custard, but paint stripping is a health problem for me and so all reusable parts were built into a new replacement coach....
WEB LMS D1807 7.jpg

Condemned coach and 'accountancy rebuild'...
WEB LMS D1807 7B.jpg
 
Last edited:
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
The ex.LMS coach in the previous post is currently held up for the lack of prefix and suffix 'M' transfers.

A good number of coaches were built in 2021 for the layout. Every unpainted coach has to be super-detailed prior to spraying. This GWR E157 non-corridor brake composite in lined maroon is intended to replace one in BR Carmine Red...
WEB GWR E157 2.jpg
 
Last edited:
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Most non-corridor stock seemed to get lining out between 1958 and 1961 despite its appearance on corridor stock from 1956. Among recipients on the Western Region were B-Sets and 'loose' coaches that ran together. Shopping split them up of course. I lined out this E157 brake composite (they were not B-set coaches) as an experiment to see how it looked on the layout. The trouble is, I am left undecided seeing as the coaches in pre.1956 Carmine look brighter in the shed. Well they would, and this is why BR looked a brighter railway before the mid 50s livery changes...

WEB GWR E157 3.jpg

An important addition are the short rain strips above each door. I painted them PPC 'Dirty Black' to match the roof and then ruled a matt black line at their base to accentuate shadow. The coach represents a clean sided one even though the chassis and roof carry the usual weathering. One coat of Halfords Matt Lacquer was enough to dull the gloss down. I avoided a second coat as it would have produced a matt finish....
WEB GWR E157 4.jpg

Two E157's showing early and later 1950s liveries. I remember how dowdy real maroon coaches looked in the dark winter months and wet weather...
WEB GWR E157 6.jpg
 
Last edited:
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
I dont know why the GWR fitted continuous rainstrips to its modern coaches when they didn't appear on others from the same diagram. One clue might be they didn't have a normal gutter, so maybe there were clearance problems on some branches.

I re-spayed the E157's roof grey this morning and weathered it to give the rainstrips more prominence. The 'Guard' transfer is now on the correct door! This was a grab shot in limited light just as the heavens opened...
WEB GWR E157 7.jpg
 
Last edited:
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
By way of a change, this was on my WB about 20 years ago for Dave Holt of this parish. It is an LNWR Dia. M52 push pull driving trailer with passengers stood in the corridor as per a photo taken at Delph during the final week of services. It has a BSL roof but the etches were re-done later on to take an extruded roof. The etches were very simple in the beginning and it was the first corridor coach I produced, the others being LNWR open saloons. Adrian Rowland did the CADs.

I rode home from Greenfield in this coach during Easter school holidays on Saturday 10 April 1955 little knowing the services would end on the 30th. I do remember the train was packed and some of my school chums were standing, so it is possible "local" enthusiasts were helping to fill the trains in their final weeks.
WEB LNWR M52.jpg
 
Last edited:
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
The GWR E147 B-set was built last August but is only now entering the sprayshop. These models did not get the plastikard middle and top hinges at the time of building, so that chore fell to me this morning ~ 72 hinges in all.

On real GWR coaches built up to 1938, the gutter was rather deep and it appeared to sit on top of the coach sides, as the the coach was 8ft 7ins wide over roof panels, but 8ft 11½ins over cornice plates. In short, the roof was narrower than the sides. I added a gutter on top of the extruded gutter using 10 Plastikard. It was glued on with Evostik contact adhesive. A rub with the finger removed all excess glue. These were among the last GWR coaches to be built with roof panel covering strips...
WEB GWR E147 4.jpg
 
LarryG

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Delays waiting for something are the story of my life at the mo. I need the two coaches in the B-set to match in colour and so they are held up waiting for Rover Damask Red to arrive. As stated before, it adds brightness when sprayed on top of my cellulose and it ensures the HMRS 'Methfix' transfers adhere to the paint properly.

EDIT: 6th Jan. Rover Damask Red arrived this morning and was tested beside Halfords paint. It covers better and the colours are as identical as makes no difference...
WEB Damask Red.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
What's New?
Top