I've cought the bug...

I've finally managed to log in! (With some difficulty though)
Now then... the Earls body is finished! Here it is;

The only thing that it needs now is the 4 nameplates. 2 of which are the "Fairlie's Patent" and the other two are "Irallt Merionydd". Before anyone asks why I haven't used the English nameplates on one side, it's simply because I wanted to use the Welsh ones.
When I bought the Langley kit (including the nameplates) it was pretty old. The etched brass pieces where dull and had a coating of what I can presume to be a chemical that was used in the etching process left fingerprints and all sort of patterns on them. So as I am writing this they are soaking in a tub of vinegar, hopefully this will clean them up a bit. If not, I will order new ones from Narrow Planet.
The chassis needs 3 of the wheels to be drilled 0.8mm and the rods etc attaching and it’s ready to go.
Now... on to this 'bug' I have...
A locomotive I would love to have running on Traeth Mawr is the infamous Ffestiniog Railway/WDLR ALCo-Cooke 2-6-2 'Mountaineer'. It currently resides at Glanypwll Workshops, patiently waiting for the day (hopefully soon) which it will be restored to running order. Here is a picture of it from last September.

I have managed to find a drawing, but some pieces are unclear and other details simply aren’t there, so in the next few weeks, i will measure the bits which arn't clear. I have a Lilliput chassis which will need two pony trucks, otherwise it's perfect for the job.

Bodywork

I've finished the construction of the Earl's body. Unfortunetly I can't log on to blogger with my laptop to post the pictures. If you want to see the body painted with some matt black with brass chimney rings etc have a look on TMR's Facebook profile. I will post pictures here as soon as I can.

All squared away.

Today, the majority of things was finished off on the Earl's body was finished. The toolboxes, smoke boxes, domes and cab where glued on. I then proceeded to make those little 45 degree angles at the base of the cab.
They where made by mixing some Milliput and shaping it with a scalpel. It will be sanded smooth once it has set. The excess Milliput was put against the 'greedy boards' on the coal bunkers to put a bit of shape into the bunkers.
I then went on to trying to make some handrails. There are only two each side of the doors, these where made by cutting a staple's arms short, then gluing it into place into small 'indentations' made by turning a small drill the wrong way. I'm not going to try to make the handrails for the smoke box, it looks fine without them.
The chassis still needs its rods etc putting on. I'm just trying to find a 1/32 inch reamer for the pins! Then it needs to be tested, and finally painted where you can see it (inside of the cab).

Earl of Merioneth / Irallt Meirionnydd

I've made some good progress on my scratch built / lightly kit bashed Earl. The chassis is the chassis you build from the Langley Double Fairlie kit with parts from the Bachmann GP50 chassis.
The tanks and carrier frame are made from 20 and 30 thou plasticard. The ends of the boiler barrels and the smoke boxes are made from aluminium bar turned on a 'pencil sharper' lathe. The domes are made from a M8 steel bolt, turned on the lathe. The only 'off the shelf' items i have used are the Langley white metal castings for the smoke box door, chimneys, toolboxes and cabs.

This is a photo of how it currently looks. I still need to attach the cab to the body, and i need to make those slopes each side of the cab. I am quite proud of this model, it isn't perfect, but I think it's a good result for my first time scratch building a locomotive. I am still unsure what to so with the livery, I think the real Earl of Merioneth looked stunning in the black livery it carried during it's running in period and first few weeks in service back in August 2007.
Whilst on the 'Double Fairlie' subject, I’d like to ask other modellers about the condition that Langley Models send out they're kits. Is the one/ones you've bought of good quality?
The kit that I bough, I wouldn't have said it was worth £63. The casting quality was, to be honest, quite poor. The amount of 'flash' on the kits was unbelievable, especially on the casting for the tanks/boiler, the new chassis block and the carrier frame.
I am now tempted in the future, to save up for a bit longer to buy a Backwoods Miniatures kit, which are of unbelievable quality, rather than buying the (in my opinion) overpriced and low quality kits from Langley.
Anybody guessed what a 'Fair-ratt' is yet?