The LNER Encyclopedia

Hi Mick,,
The more info I receive about my D21 the more confused I get,,,, mongrel is a word which springs to mind.
The cab sides are white metal as supplied,, although I did trim them down considerably on the trailing edge in an attempt to get rid of the "barn door" effect,,, all the castings in my version were very chunky and definitely 1970'esque!!

The roof again is as supplied but if it turns out to be wrong it won't be a difficult job making it disappear,,, my intention to finish off the cab boiler plate and controls is to make it in plastikard & detachable and fit it after painting,,, well that's the plan.

SAD

Reflections off the brass onto the cab sides.

Cab Roof is wrong , it should just be a curved "normal" Roof shape at the rear, and much thinner too as on the cab sides.

Reflections off the brass onto the cab sides.

Cab Roof is wrong , it should just be a curved "normal" Roof shape at the rear, and much thinner too as on the cab sides.

The D21 is now officially in the paint queue and as I have now remembered how to attach pics to my thread I thought this is a good time to offer a long overdue update on progress on the L1 which has had my undivided attention over the past week.

It is running very well,,, the bogie brakes have settled down,, eventually,, I have been doing some cab, bunker smokebox and water tank detailing.
Suddenly it changes from a brass lump into something that resembles an L1.

SAD

I think both the L1 and D21 are remarkable models, look forward to seeing the end product. Any updates on the C4 from a couple of pages back?

Paul

Hello Paul,
Many thanks for your kind words,, after a bit of a break from the modelling I am now back into it and thoroughly enjoying myself.
The C4 got a paint job which turned out to be a Mk1 disaster,,, everything that could have gone wrong did [mutter mutter] and so I bit my tongue and doused it in Nitromors and I am now waiting for the warm weather to heat the garage again and we will have another go.
The way things are I will be doing another batch of black loco's,,, an activity which is well out of my comfort zone,,,, give me a soldering iron any day!!

SAD

A bit more detail added to the tanks and side of the smokebox.
Also started on the smokebox door,, with the distinctive hinge arrangement,,, very JGR.
Cold garage stopped play!!

SAD

Getting down to the nitty gritty with the L1.
A fair weekend has produced a grand sum of 8 lamp irons, 2 vac pipes and 4 steps,, 2 for the tank fronts and 2 for smokebox area.
Time consuming in the extreme but I really enjoy fabricating all the tiny bits.
Invested in a decent temperature controlled soldering station which has sat on the cabinet collecting dust for the past 18 months but I experimented with it for the first time on this little batch of bits and in some respects it is much easier.
What is becoming evident is my close up eyesight is not keeping pace with my enthusiasm,,, so I am taking regular breaks from the close up work and attempting to finish off an equally dusty N4 which as been sat next to the solder station for far too long.
More on that little project later.

SAD

One of 2 Millholme Models N4's purchased many years ago from their shop in Nottingham.
They closed way back when which was a shame as it was a proper modellers shop run by modellers who knew what they were talking about.
I understand you can now get etchings for the side tanks and bunkers with accurate rivet detail but not when this one was built.
Most definitely a "layout loco" that looks fine from about a 6 feet.
It has an MW5 pole motor running old school without a gearbox,, and it's fine,, but I will have to get a portly driver and fireman to hide the magnet!!
I still have about 4 similar motors to use up before I can catch up with the 21st century and get involved with gearboxes,,, which will be fun.
SAD

Not been inactive but the digital camera threw a wobbler and so I have not been able to update with any pics.

New Panasonic arrived this morning and so we are back in action. SAD

Hmmm, digital cameras: Very useful and versatile, there's no doubt about that, but I'm not convinced that those compact types I've used could be described as anything like "thoroughly developed to ensure reliability, robustness and durability". Having been forced to give up on numerous past occasions when trying to make continued use of a Samsung item with seemingly insatiable appetite for power that no batteries could survive, and even finding that after a while its dedicated mains power pack could no longer feed the thing, I switched for a while to a Nikon Coolpix, whose lens jammed in the fully extended position after not a lot of use. It won't power up with the lens jammed! I'm now back with the Samsung, using a cobbled-together arrangement featuring a non-original power pack and a substitute connection to the battery contacts rather than the dedicated socket - because that socket doesn't work any more either!

The Zeppelin is looking nice though.

Thanks Graeme,

I'm no expert but I found this guy on flee-market who seemed to know what he was talking about.
Told him I wanted something good at closeups and he recommended a Panasonic TZ35,,,, early days as it only arrive yesterday but I can certainly get a lot closer than I could with a Fuji Finepix F10,,, which one day was fine and the next it decided it had had enough!!! Thanks for that.

Really need to get down to reading the manual and finding out what it is capable of, never been my strong suit reading manuals.

The Zeppelin is moving slowly as I am also rebuilding an LMS Scot,,, so I won't bore you with that on here as you may break out in hives!!!!
Anybody know what is happening on the dark side,,, I haven't been able to get on for about 4 days now!!

SAD

RMWeb would appear to be moving their hosting service. They've used the term "migrating" on their Facebook page so would suggest something is being shifted.

L1 is looking superb, boiler fittings have bought it life.

Paul

Managed to get a couple of productive sessions back on the L1.
Cab roof starting to come together after a bit of a calamity with the first attempt.
Also fitted the small lubricators to the front face of the side tanks. SAD

Beautiful work.