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Ian Kirk

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  • Location
    Scotland
  • Interests
    Wide ranging interests in N through to O

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  1. Well done your wagon looks to me exactly like the original last time I saw it. I should explain that I am not quite as old as that but this kit was originally in my range. Then Parkside, now Peco. Pete Westwater who did the original detail tooling (I completed it to run on one of my machines) had actually bought a 12 inch to the foot example which had been until then in use at a government establishment. This was duly repainted into NBR livery pretty well exactly as you have it (I can't remember the number) and is now preserved at the Kingdom of Fife Preservation Society. We got the painting details from a works photo showing one of these just finished by the builders Hurst Nelson of Motherwell. I tried to find the photo but so far no luck. I have gathered an awful lot of stuff in my 50+ years in the Trade. best wishes, Ian
  2. Hi, Looks an interesting project. THe Library of Scotland has a good digital collection of old maps and the 25 inches to one mile ones have sufficient detail to give the track plans which did not change much pre 1960. There is a gap in the collection over the open countryside and Rannoch is not included there is a satellite view of the present and it has a measuring feature. THe platform would seem to be 440 ft long If you have the Callander and Oban book you will realise that prior to 1965 the trains to Oban ran underneath the West Highland at Crianlarich ( Crianlarich lower station) the junction being rarely used and the through West Highland trains were on their way to Fort William. In the 1960s Mark 1s were still fairly new and some west highland trains included a few ex LNER types. The only DMU I can recall in that period was on a Railtour called something like "the five Lochs tour" . best wishes, Ian
  3. Good to see something of mine being put to good use so long after I made it. The tank fillers were originally on the roof. on the prototype there was steps on the end and a step on the roof each end. I did not put that on the roof mould as the full brakes didn't have them and it gave good modellers something to do (I notice that Phoenix have moulded them on their new roof). I think that the removal of steps from the end and the filling pipes down the end came in with electrification and although fitted in preservation were not on the originals. I produced this type as it was the last kit I needed to cover the entire 1926 Flying Scotsman set. I produced some factory assembled/painted sets in glass fronted display boxes. The advert stated that the first set ordered would be delivered by a flying Scotsman. I duly flew the first set down and met the customer at Halfpenny green airfield. Unfortunately for me I didn't get the intended free advertising in the RM as the photograph of me handing the kit over in front of my Cessna did not come out properly. The negative was fogged as I must have put the camera through an x ray security. Photographs of me setting off were taken on a different camera and came out fine. best wishes, Ian
  4. The Chap in London was Tony Brown. He sold the by then combined ranges on when he retired. I agree that my old LNER Coach range could probably do with up grading if it could be saved. Some of the tooling is now 40 years old and what was considered to be state of the art forty years ago does not compare with now. I continue to be surprised that there is a demand when much of the range is duplicated by RTR from Hornby. Despite being stored in less than satisfactory conditions I am fairly sure the tooling could be polished up again. If Pheonix were to get them they have I believe a new roof moulding for the 61ft 6 Gresleys and seem to have managed production of the SR ones. Putting the range back into production would not be easy but by no means impossible. I made them so I could fix them. Colin Ashby (like me in semi retirement) still has one of the "stretched" Austin Allen machines that I designed especially for the long mouldings so production is certainly possible too. Interesting Times.... best wishes, Ian
  5. I believe that the specification for LNER coaches was 3 inch square timber planed half round on top. This would then be screwed to the roof and allowed to adopt a curve as has been suggested over a 60 ft length I think that this would happen easily. (try lifting say an 8ft length of 1/4 dowel by the middle. It will curve naturally.) In my O gauge kits I supply specially long lengths of Slaters rod. This once cemented in place, if the cementing and painting can be made to fill the slight undercut gives I think a good representation of a square section with the top planed half round. best wishes, Ian
  6. Only found this thread just now. I will be interested to see the build of the Pickersgill. I have one to build myself if I ever get around to it. I bought it a year or two ago from Finecast when I thought that they were not going to be produced again. This was one of "Mine" in that I produced the original brass patterns for Nu Cast and although I got to build the first off castings I had to give the model back to Nu Cast so I don't have one of my own. Inflation meant that I paid almost as much for the kit as I was paid long ago for the original pattern making. best wishes, Ian
  7. While I had the kits that became Parkside (including the first four O gauge ones) They were always moulded in standard HIPS. ABS (which is more difficult to work with) was only ever used for a few small mouldings (buffers etc.) where the added strength was useful. And I don't imagine Parkside did any thing differently. HIPS becomes brittle if moulded at too high a temperature, or later in life if aged exposed to UV light. Otherwise all should be well. best wishes, Ian
  8. Back in the mists of time I produced a 2Bil kit. This went to Colin Ashby but fortunately did not go on to the dreaded non producing them firm in Somerset like my LNER coach range. I believe that the moulds went to Phoenix so it is probably still available but for most people replaced by a RTR set from Hornby. There was a thread on here about building /detailing a kit a few years ago. best wishes, Ian
  9. In 1983 I bought a Capricorn Trade Directory for Model Shops and used it to go round trying to sell kits to shop owners. In the 80s most model railway outlets had a small display of the bright yellow packaging of my 00 Coach range. I never throw much away and I found the Guide recently. It is staggering how few of the class of 83 seem to be still extant. AS an example from the Guide: Lancashire had 33, London 34, West Midlands 34. That is just the ones the Guide found. I knew of one or two that they had missed. Lots of them gone now. "Sic in transit gloria mundi " best wishes, Ian
  10. White painted smokebox door handles and hinges, sometimes buffer heads too I always associate with an ordinary locomotive that was "bulled up" by the shed staff for working some special train. Back in the glory days of my youth there were a good number of enthusiasts specials, In Scotland worked often by one or more of the 4 owned by BR preserved locos that there were at the time : Glen Douglas, Gordon Highlander, Jones goods and the Caley Single. There was usually a "back up loco" allocated too, usually one of the 0-6-0 goods types specially cleaned by the shed staff. I recall for example a Glen Douglas tour from I think Glasgow where the Glen came off at Thornton for turning and servicing while a bulled up J37 took the train round the Fife coast line and rejoined the Glen later. I am fairly sure I have seen a photo of a 2P on an enthusiasts special with the white painted "embellishments". IIRC some of the preserved locos had these in polished steel. That would take a lot of work but a touch of white paint was quick. best wishers, Ian
  11. Aircraft have pre flight checks. I don't know about the modern computer driven ones but 50+ years ago RAF Service types, more recent light aircraft and vintage examples all had a well established series of checks in a book of words. I have never in all my time flown an aircraft without doing a full pre flight check and I would not want to. After all it was my soft little body that was going to be in it. I should imagine it would be the same with drivers on the railway. Old age catches up with you and I am no longer flying so now qualify for being an old pilot. There was a saying: "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots". best wishes, Ian
  12. As far as I am aware all of the British outline RTR (except for the expensive brass ones) produced recently have been designed to go around the set track curves. This has opened up the possibility of a continuous run layout in spaces under 12 ft wide. Problem comes and the same can be said about 00 layouts involving R1 and R2 curves if you want to try and run big locos and full length coaches in that they look decidedly unrealistic on the curves. The late CJF designed one 00 trackplan to deal with this, basically an oval with very tight curves in tunnels either end, fiddle yard at back and station (viewed area) at the front. THe spectators never saw the undignified progress around the curves. So gentle curves on most of the layout and hide the tighter bits seems to work. Alternatively model an industrial scene with small locos and these tight radii are prototypical. In O gauge I am working on a harbour model using quite a lot of setrack curves. I have found by experiment though that small locos can go down tighter yet. In real life short wheelbase 4 wheel wagons and small industrial 0-4-0 tanks were designed to go round one chain radius (66ft) which works out about 18 inches. I have some bits of 2ft radius and the 0-4-0 "pugs" go round that fine. If the bigger 0-6-0T locos won't, no problem, they would not have been allowed there in real life anyhow. best wishes, Ian
  13. Whenever I read one of these threads I am reminded of the difference between running a small business with 7 or 8 employees (as I once did) and being a sole trader (as I am in semi retirement). Someone being unwell can be an inconvenience for the first but it wipes the second out altogether so I am inclined to sympathise with "one man bands" when they are criticised for delays. Some of course deserve it, witness the threads on here about the current owner of my former4mm coach range but I am sure that some others do not. My Grandmother used to say "do your best. No one can do better than that." I am sure Markits are doing their best. In these troubled times it is not just the small outfits that have delays. Last month I was looking for some Peco O gauge track/points, tried everywhere and the result was "pre order" then delivery is promised for sometime this month. Which I am sure it will be. I remain patient. It shows though that even if you have a whole factory you can't always stock all of the items all of the time. best wishes, Ian who if he is spared will soon have been in the Trade for 50 years
  14. Looks OK to me and remember most goods wagons had a hard life and would have to have repairs from time to time . The local preserved railway has a van where soft, potentially rotted timber has been cut away and replaced in a similar way to yours. best wishers, Ian
  15. Not the "first" train set that I can remember but the first "layout" from Santa was on a sheet of plywood and had green "grass" grey roads a station platform, a garage and a circuit of very tight radius (1ft I think) tinplate track, more of a square really as there were straights as well. The "train set " bit comprised a green clockwork 0-4-0 tender engine and two very short bogie tinplate pullmans. (ostensibly 0 gauge) I think probably mettoy. I have no real memory of this, other than what I was later told. However being a "canny" family the " baseboard" was later used inverted on a 00 layout that ran around my bedroom wall. When this was recovered model railway archaeology revealed what had gone before. Apparently there was also a clockwork car and a level crossing. The car if setoff to cross the crossing followed the roads by banging into carefully angled stretches of (cream painted) walls and ended up in the garage. I am told that I preferred to set it off the other way in the hope that it would collide with the circling train. The first real train set I can remember, again from "Santa" was a Hornby Clockwork LNER green 0-4-0T and three "teak brown" coaches. I still have this. It's last outing was when as The Scottish Area rep for the Gauge O Guild I used it as part of my "sixty years of O gauge" display at some of the Shows I attended. A few Christmases later I got my first electric 00 set a Triang Jinty and two very short red coaches. The rest as they say is history....... best wishes, Ian
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