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Great Western Railway Hall Class

GWR Rood Ashton Hall - model in 7mm scale (O Gauge) by David L O Smith

A 7mm scale (O Gauge) model of Rood Ashton Hall, an early member of the Great Western Railway hall class of locomotives built in November, 1930, withdrawn in December, 1963 and currently preserved at Tyseley Locomotive Works (more details of the prototype Rood Ashton Hall).  The model is RTR by FineScaleBrass but I extensively dismantled it and rebuilt it with many added small details and rather less 'backlash' in the axles and rods, and with lower rate (ie 'softer') springs.  I undertook a similar exercises to rework other models and I have illustrated and explained these in greater detail, paricularly in reworking a Stanier 8F and a Jubilee and Black Five.

This is a remarkably well engineered and accurate model, in my view; the only significant error (rather than modelling compromise) that I came across was the right hand centre splasher, which was the same width as the others and so had to be widened (as per the prototype) to accommodate the nameplate in front of the reversing rod.  Whilst I was undertaking this exercise, I added brass beadings and also widened the aperture in the running plate.  On this occasion, I did not add electric pickups to the tender but I shall do if it proves desirable.  A Badger airbrush and a lining pen were used to apply the paint and the lining with Humbrol colours, followed by a coat Floquil flat finish.

RTR GWR Hall by FineScaleBrass

The RTR model as purchased in 2009.  (I ordered an unpainted model but one in green appeared for the same price, which was considerably less than that of today.)

Reducing axles

Reducing the centre portion of the bogie and tender axles so that they may be painted and replaced through the bearings without damaging the paint.

 

Fabricated injector under the RHS of the cab.

GWR Injector detail on Hall
Modified big ends for Rood Ashton Hall

The big ends on a hall are, well, big They are certainly rather 'chunkier' than depicted on the original model (shewn on the right in image to the left) so I made larger ones (in the image to the right, one is shewn being sliced off the stock with a slitting saw) and silver soldered them to the truncated conrods (shewn on the left in image to the left)

Slitting saw

From experience, I do know that I could have built as good a model from scratch, or from a kit; if I had all the time in the world, that is what I would have done.  As it is, I am not sure if this was a truly worthwhile exercise as it is the building, rather than the painting and finishing or owning, that I really enjoy.

More 7mm scale railway models