JLTRT Clayton Kit pt2

One thing that came to my attention before starting the build, was how little turning circle the Clayton seems to have, this is due to its much narrower bonnets compared with normal bodied locos. This probably wouldn’t be a problem for myself, as any layout I’m likely to buil, would be an end to end plank with no curves. But if I ever wanted to run it around a test track or a roundy roundy layout, I may be restricted on its turning circle, so I decided to do a few mods before I started the kit.

The problem with most diesel kits is that they require Delrin drive to run other axles within the bogie and this means offsetting the motor/gearbox to one side of the axle to allow for this. Not a problem with most diesels as you have plenty of room within the body, but with the Clayton’s narrow bonnets this causes further restrictions.

So to get around this I had to remove some of the polyurethane resin inside the bonnets. This was done by hand using various burrs in a Dremel drill, nothing difficult here, but advise you take your time when doing so, as you could easily get carried away. You also only have to do this on the one side, to compensate for the offset of the motor/gearbox.

You will also need to do similar work to the chassis as shown in this picture.

Another job that need doing is the bogie pivot plate is restricted on its available turning circle. This was overcome by removing a bit of the brass material from the four corners of the bogie pivot plate, as shown in these pictures.

And here it shows how much more available turning circle it now has, probably more than it will ever need.

The instructions suggest using the Slaters GB14 motor/gearboxes, again fine in a normal diesel, but due to the Clayton’s bonnet being much lower the “GB14” sits to high and wont fit. I’ve took some measurements and the “DBG1 Diesel Bogie Gearbox” fitted with a “Mashimi 1824” motor from ABC Gears, should do the job with no problems. But I’ll wait till I get the Clayton together before I order them, just to be sure.

Another job I did while I had the Dremel out was to mill a slot in the tank under the cab floor, this will allow me to run some wires through from one bonnet to the other should I need too.

Next I should get onto the more exciting stuff, the build itself.

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JLTRT Clayton Kit pt1

Diverging away from EM stuff for a while, I have been doing a bit of 7mm modelling and although I’ve done the scale on and off for about twenty years. I have recently returned to the 7mm after purchasing a model of the Heljan class 26 just before Christmas and I thought what better to compliment this, than a kit of the Clayton from “Just Like The Real Thing”.

The kit comes with the usual instructions, which has the usual step by step text and pictures on how to build the kit, which points out anything to look out for along the way. Some people feel the instruction sheets that come with these kits are a bit basic, but if you have previous modelling skills, then you should have no problem following them, as the models can almost build themselves. What would be nice though would be some better quality photos of the build, the ones that come with the instructions are rather small and can be difficult to see. Perhaps if the photos were accessible from their website, that would be very helpful.

Following on from the instructions you have the parts that make up the kit and probably the most impressive looking are the polyurethane resin parts, which make up the the body, chassis and bogies.

To compliment this you also get a vast range of lost wax detailing parts, again very impressive and these will certainly make the model come to life.

Finally you have yet more detailing parts, this time made in whitemetal. Along with some etched brass parts for the bogie pivots and fan grilles, laser cut glazing and a bag of hardware which includes screws, nuts, bearings etc. to complete the kit.

Hopefully next I’ll have something to show of the build.

Playing about with the class 22 cabs

Not being happy with the cab interiors on the Dapol D63xx’s, I looked into weather I could improve their appearance. The main problem was the bulges in the front and rear bulkheads, which I presume were their to allow for the lighting on the loco. But with a bit more thought on the original design, I’m sure they could of easily still incorporated the lighting.

I kept it reasonably straight forward with the detailing, just cutting the offending bulges out and replacing with bits of plasticard, to rebuild the bulkheads and desks.

A few photos of the work done.

NBL Class 22’s get a step closer

After much time the my NBL D63xx locos got a step closer to completion.

This project seem to take a lot longer than I hoped for, but after walking away from them a couple of times and making the decision to take the much easier route of simplifying the amount of detail work, I must confess I’m much happier with their outcome.

With the locos now all to EM gauge and any detail work now done, I now just need to check any work that is outstanding. Before going on to the weathering stage, followed by fitting of the glazing and wipers.

The three models are based on locos that were sub-sheded to Horton Road, Gloucester, around 1970/1.

The Cement Continuation

Progress on the Presflo’s still continues, with all 18 wagons now at the same stage as my earlier posting.

On further discovery it has been noted that the yellow oval APCM running number on the solebar was a later addition and also the companies wagon plate should be at a more central position on one side of the solebar. I’m hoping to have different running numbers for each wagon, so the above will be rectified at the same time.

Also I have noticed the operator instruction board to the right of the discharge pipe, doesn’t seem to of been carried at any time, so these will need removing as well, all in all, still a bit of work to be carrying on with.

Blue Circle Presflo’s

Like many of us I guess, we all have part started and unfinished modeling projects. So for my first post I thought I’d start with something a little easier.

Presflo wagons have always been one of those wagons that has always interested me and has been something I always want to model, going back as far as the old Airfix (later Dapol) model kit. These days it’s a lot more easier with the introduction of a ready to run model from Bachmann.

On trawling through pictures, I came across a few images of the grey “Blue Circle” Presflo’s complete with their company boards and running in bulk formation around the southern region in the late 60’s and early 70’s. An ideal candidate for the Bachmann model (38-270).

I have done a few small detail modifications to the model. Most pictures I came across didn’t seem to have the word “Snowcrete” on the boards, so I removed this from the model. The wheels were changed to “Romford’s”, which were opened to EM gauge. My prefered coupling, “Smiths” instanter couplings were fitted, although the “Smiths” coupling hook is overscale, thoughts of not getting any younger always deter me away from the scale size examples on the market. The last change was to fit whitemetal oleo buffers, available from “Lanarkshire Models & Supplies”, which were a huge improvement on the ones that came on the model.

With weathering to be done, hopefully I shall have a small rake to run behind a D65xx (cl33) or even possibly a E61xx (cl74).