Thomas collection and projects

[AJW98Productions]

Mr. Bob, if you don't mind me asking, how did you model Gresley's (somewhat) famous "hush hush" W1 class? I know a person who has considered that projects, and whilst I don't have the confidence to undertake it right now, I'd love take a crack at it myself in the future. You did an amazing job on it

Also, totally unrelated but I'm glad to see another Australian on the board, this is probably long overdue, but welcome, SeaEagle

One last remark, to anyone who seeks to run Red Coaches more accurate to those in Seasons 2 and 3, have you considered repainting the roofs and the coaches, and "filling in" the back windows, or by that point is it just better to use a kit to make them?

Regards to all,

~Alex

[MrBob]

Cheers for the advice, I'll give it a try this weekend. I was thinking of just leaving them as is, I like the end windows and not sure if my modelling skills are up to cutting one end off to glue on another and doing a good job of it. Obviously that still leaves the noses, it's comical just thinking about it but it won't bother me too much one it's done (I think haha). Also, I'd like to add lights to all my passenger coaches too, so that way the end windows will still be effective.

its not as hard as it seems to cut the ends off, if you use a new retractable Utility knife blade it cuts the plastic like butter, just cut more off then you need and trim it down to size one its off the model

you can also use the blade to scrap the noses off the window ends and then use fine sand paper to sand the rest off, using finer and finer sand paper till there's nothing left of the nose and you have removed all the scratches

I plan to collect some non Thomas locos as well, aleady have a Flying Scotsman, got that when I was a kid. But I love those BR Prairie tanks so I'll get one of those and a standard pannier tank as well for starters. It should all fit with the Thomas stuff contextually, my layout will be small town/countryside Britain circa 1930's/40's. The only departure from that will be two great Australian loco's (I'm Aussie): The 3801 and the Hudson R761.  Hopefully two main lines for parallel runs and a branch line for the smaller engines with fiddle yard for the shunters.

Good to hear you've got some track underway, keen to see some of these trains pounding the rails.

I have a Bachmann pannier I got when I was a good few years younger as it was ducks basis, fantastic model as well, will pull anything with no fuss, however I am a bit of on an LNER fan and it doesn't really fit with the rest of my models

your plans sounds like it covers all the bases, are UK models easy to come by in Australia? I've been to Perth, Melbourne and Sydney but never had time to look into models shops when I was there

that 3801 looks impressive, will need to show it off when you do it

will need to wait till I get a better camera as its in my loft with 2 lights its a bit dark and the video quality isn't great

Mr. Bob, if you don't mind me asking, how did you model Gresley's (somewhat) famous "hush hush" W1 class? I know a person who has considered that projects, and whilst I don't have the confidence to undertake it right now, I'd love take a crack at it myself in the future. You did an amazing job on it

It is a kit from a company called southeastern finecast, the kit is the body work, tender and chassis however they can supply a motor/gearbox and wheels/axles as well at an extra cost to make the complete running model, you need supply glue or solder (its a metal kit), paint and the transfers to fully finish, they also do the rebuilt W1 with the A4 style streamlining

however I only used the body work/rear under cab pony truck and fitted it to a Hornby A4 Ready To Run chassis and Hornby RTR tender, again not sure how easy these parts would be to source in Australia but southeastern finecast are a great bunch of people more then happy to help with anything they can

Also, totally unrelated but I'm glad to see another Australian on the board, this is probably long overdue, but welcome, SeaEagle

One last remark, to anyone who seeks to run Red Coaches more accurate to those in Seasons 2 and 3, have you considered repainting the roofs and the coaches, and "filling in" the back windows, or by that point is it just better to use a kit to make them?

Regards to all,

~Alex

The Bachmann red coaches are a great representation of the coaches in the later seasons and in CGI, there is no denying that, and just like their annie/clarables there great quality items

However if like me you're after the season 2/3 coaches the kits are exactly spot on as the Bachmann ones would be 1 window too short if you where to blank off the windows for the brake coach

With that said the kits are expensive and a bit of work to run correctly, using the supplied wheels they are not free running and I have had to drill out the axle boxes and glue in brass bushes for the axle ends to sit in then fill in the holes and repaint the chassis other wise the Thomas models struggled to pull them

[AJW98Productions]

Thank you very much for the information, Mr.Bob, and models of UK engines, be it through Bachmann or Hornby's respective OO ranges are quite easy to come by, easier in fact, than models of Australian engines. I think I read somewhere that Australia is Bachmann UK's and Hornby's largest consumer outside of Britain and the US.

Ah, I didn't realise they were one window shorter in the CGI seasons, but as you said it's a hard kit, I feel I'd start somewhere else, maybe something easier. I have a mate who used a Ratio kit to create a good looking pair of "the Old Coaches" from Season 1, with the main assembly he did not seem to have much of an issue.

I plan to collect some non Thomas locos as well, aleady have a Flying Scotsman, got that when I was a kid. But I love those BR Prairie tanks so I'll get one of those and a standard pannier tank as well for starters. It should all fit with the Thomas stuff contextually, my layout will be small town/countryside Britain circa 1930's/40's. The only departure from that will be two great Australian loco's (I'm Aussie): The 3801 and the Hudson R761.  Hopefully two main lines for parallel runs and a branch line for the smaller engines with fiddle yard for the shunters.

SeaEagle, I haven't seen either of those loco's selling for anything resembling a reasonable price, did you manage to get them for a reasonable price? And also, what company produces them? Sorry for the questions, I am just rather curious about those 2 engines. I must admit, I've taken a brief pause from my Thomas collection to build up a collection of circa BR engines, but I intend to return to the Thomas collection as soon as possible, but I have digressed way too far.

Thank you for all your help, Mr.Bob, and best of luck in your endeavors, SeaEagle,
~Alex

[SeaEagle]

SeaEagle, I haven't seen either of those loco's selling for anything resembling a reasonable price, did you manage to get them for a reasonable price? And also, what company produces them? Sorry for the questions, I am just rather curious about those 2 engines. I must admit, I've taken a brief pause from my Thomas collection to build up a collection of circa BR engines, but I intend to return to the Thomas collection as soon as possible, but I have digressed way too far.

Thank you for all your help, Mr.Bob, and best of luck in your endeavors, SeaEagle,
~Alex
[/quote]

Cheers for the welcome Alex, didn't think there'd be many Australian's here but good to know. I don't have either of those loco's yet, and yes, as you suggested they're about $600 a pop!! A company called Eureka Models seems to make them but they seem to only do limited runs of them based on demand. You're right, Australian models get almost zero exposure overseas so there will never be great demand for them, hence the higher price. Those models look quality though.

If you're interested, there's a documentary called Pure Steam. I had it on video when I was a kid and watched it to death. It's about the 3801 and R761 touring together in 1988 for our Bicentenary, the Flying Scotsman is in there too and that's why they're my 3 favourite 'big' loco's. It's on DVD too, I found it at an ABC shop. It's called 'The Flying Scotsman Down Under'. The link to Pure Steam is below, Mr. Bob you might enjoy it too.

Also, where do you buy your Bachmann Thomas stuff here? I find it hard to come by, and eBay prices are going up as our dollar goes down 

https://youtu.be/1TXp0SV2JII

[SeaEagle]

Mr Bob,

Not sure how all this quoting business works haha. In my experience British models have always been easy to come across. As Alex said, usually easier than the Australian stuff. I find the Bachmann Thomas range harder to find than Hornby. I live near Sydney and the main model railway shop 'Hobbyco' only stocks Hornby, unless things have changes since I was last there. I'm not too keen on Hornby Thomas engines because as you have also said they aren't TV series accurate, however I don't mind their rolling stock so Hobbyco is always an option there. I started my Bachmann engine collection 4 or 5 years ago buying off eBay from the US. I have Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy and Diesel. Still have Toby, Henrietta and Duck to complete my immediate collection. I like the look of Bill and Ben/Donald and Douglas, but they might have to wait a little while yet, priorities. If Bachmann announce Daisy I'll grab her straight away, that would be a great addition to the collection.

Cheers for the feedback, I think I might just try and slice the noses off and buff it all up, see how that turns out?

[SeaEagle]

I'm James by the way and hence my favourite engine as a kid. Good to meet you guys.

[AJW98Productions]

Cheers for the welcome Alex, didn't think there'd be many Australian's here but good to know. I don't have either of those loco's yet, and yes, as you suggested they're about $600 a pop!! A company called Eureka Models seems to make them but they seem to only do limited runs of them based on demand. You're right, Australian models get almost zero exposure overseas so there will never be great demand for them, hence the higher price. Those models look quality though.

If you're interested, there's a documentary called Pure Steam. I had it on video when I was a kid and watched it to death. It's about the 3801 and R761 touring together in 1988 for our Bicentenary, the Flying Scotsman is in there too and that's why they're my 3 favourite 'big' loco's. It's on DVD too, I found it at an ABC shop. It's called 'The Flying Scotsman Down Under'. The link to Pure Steam is below, Mr. Bob you might enjoy it too.

Also, where do you buy your Bachmann Thomas stuff here? I find it hard to come by, and eBay prices are going up as our dollar goes down  

https://youtu.be/1TXp0SV2JII

Hi James,

I usually bought from a local hobby stores (when I first started collecting I was in Canberra, but usually got something from stores in Sydney when visiting family (but it was usually all Hornby and from Hobbyco, once a cousin found a store in Sydney that stocked Bachmann Thomas but I have since forgotten its name), I now live in WA, but I haven't bought anything in a while, I drifted away from the hobby a while ago, and it took me a little while to drift back in, now that I have, I've wanted to get some circa 1950 BR stuff. I used to buy online, especially when the US dollar was beneath the AUS dollar a few years ago. My family visited the US during that time period too, I got a Bachmann Diesel and an Ice Cream Van in New York City they were very cheap. Train shows are always a good place to attend to, I managed to pick up a barely used Hornby 9F with a friend for only $60.00AUS each. He is very proud of our little 9F, I think we should nickname her [the 9F], but I'm unsure of what

And thank you for the documentary and the name of the company, I expected expensive, but around $500AUS, oh well, I guess I'll have the money one day, something gives me the feeling those 2 engines would look good with some BR (ex-LNER) Crimson and Cream Gresley corridor express coaches, or BR MKI Maroon Coaches, ah the possibilities.

Those 3 are some of my favourite loco's, Flying Scotsman is after all, the engine that brought me into liking real life engines more and more,there are plenty of other loco's I love though. But I feel if I go on much longer I'll drift a little too far from the topic at hand, I could always PM you later about it I guess

So, BOT (Back On Topic), fantastic models, Mr.Bob and James, I'm sure you'll get the hang of quoting soon. Anyway, regards all,

~Alex

[MrBob]

Back to the Thomas projects

finally got a toad!



as well as a S.C.Ruffy, will be trying to make them more model era screen accurate, all it needs now is an Oliver to complet that pic

[JLK2707]

Your bachmann Toad and S.C. Ruffey just look great! I am going to get a bachmann Toad soon!

[james p]

Really nice job on capturing the classic series, nice to see since most people are focusing on the new cgi series. One suggestion I would make is making the roof of the red express coaches black like it was in series 2-3,