Chris Higgs

I recently picked up one of the Hattons O Gauge A4s in LNER Garter Blue livery, which I am hoping to detail with "British Railways" in the tender, as I know at least some carried that post-1948 before being fully repainted into BR colours. But I have a couple of questions I would like answers to 1. After the war, I understand that the sideskirts on the A4s were not reinstated. But were the remaining cylinder covers repainted Garter Blue along with the loco, or were they black? 2. Which locos carried the "British Railways" on the tender? I have bought one with a corridor tender and single chimney. I have found photos of "Seagull", but it had a double chimney (I suppose I could change the chimney). Any help would be gratefully received Chris Higgs

I've never supported the other end of the motor using heavy gauge wire myself, but Mick Simpson suggested it to me, and I know he did it with the Class 08 kit. It is easier with a motor that has tags you solder wires to, rather than the one here where the wires come straight out of the casing. But what Nick has done seems a more refined way of handling the motor mount on these type of locos in any case. Chris

Not really an option here as you can see right under the boiler of a J94 so a normal motor mount cannot be used. The cantilever gearbox is a necessity. A very good idea to support the other end of the motor, perhaps with some rigid wires rather than flexible ones.

Yeah, green it is, you can see that where they have cleaned around the numbering. The rest basically might as well be black, it appears just to be covered all over in grime. Nice Stratford 'skinhead' 31 behind! Perhaps your next task? Chris

Etching a set of new ends to your own profile could be a solution. Chris

Having designed a whole lot of resin and later 3D-printed roofs, I can vouch that curving an etched roof to a elliptical or 3-arc profile is a whole order of magnitude more difficult. Not sure what you would see as difficult about the joint between 3D-printed roof and etched end would be - there is the question of differential expansion in varying temperatures I suppose. Chris

Talking of bufferstops, as we approach 100 years since the Grouping, I have come to the conclusion that apart from the buildings and civil engineering structures, bufferstops seem to have lasted the longest. Just this past week I have seen GNR examples at Hitchin, and GER versions at March and Cambridge, with the very latest electric stock parked up against them. I suspect the LBSCR one just north of East Croydon is probably still there too. Chris

Certainly one for those 'fictitious liveries' we tend to see these days. Only requires a set of etched plates. Need to get it out by next May though.

IIRC, a C class has a 8' + 8'6" wheelbase so the Farish Jinty conversion chassis would at least provide some frames. Although given the nature of the Farish construction with the bottom portion of the boiler being part of the chassis, I suspect wheel reprofiling is the path of least resistance. I do recall having drawn up a C class set of frames with the idea of somehow combining them with parts for a Farish 4F but abandoning the idea as too silly, the wheelbase being the only real common factor. Chris

Presumably 6030 "King Charles III"

A point I have seen made is that compensation keeps all the wheels on the track, but not in the same way the prototype does (or at least normally does). Hence don't expect it to ride like the real thing. If you want that, you probably have to spring it. Certainly my fully sprung 4mm CCTs glide along compared to my compensated wagons. Chris

In due course. For now, I am concentrating on getting some new artwork done for certain previous items I have agreed with Tony to get back into the Association range on a permanent basis. One is already with the shop but I will leave him to announce that. Chris

Results from Grainge and Hodder were successful. Bob Jones is also getting PPD to produce etches from some of his ex-PEC photo tools. What this means is that we will not have to produce new tools for some existing Association items previously sourced from PEC. Chris

And looking at photos of the real thing https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brclass45/hbe0eab79#hbe0eab79 (also look at the others in the same collection) it is a minefield to get the combination of axlebox covers right. Chris

What about the depth of the axleboxes and springs? The Bachmann ones are way too shallow to represent the real thing. The original Mainline ones were better in that regard. Chris

Just to say, I am currently liaising with Grainge and Hodder (the other etchers in the model railway business) to use existing ex-PEC photo tools. Hopefully by next week I will see whether this has been successful. Chris

A lot of Continental wheels do not have the NMRA profile Bachmann et al use now. So need the flange depth reducing as well. Chris

2-314 is better, it doesn't need anything cutting off. The main question is whether you would need to cut a slot in the floor to accomodate it. There is a picture in the shop listings. And none of them will work with bogies, that would probably need a specialised etch. Chris

But isn't reversible (in case you ever want to sell the stock). I have used those tools in 4mm, they didn't work as well as advertised. I ended up melting the bearings into place. Which didn't work that well either (as you might expect). Filing down axles takes only a couple of seconds, a lot less time than using one of those tools. And is perhaps a good idea anyway, as the very sharp points on them do have a habit of eating their way into the plastic and out of the front. Chris

I have done this. On lots of Fleischmann coaches and wagons. The 15.2mm works fine, in fact it was me who first arranged for the 15.2mm axles on 6mm plain disc wheels to be done for this purpose. The 14.2mm and 13.7mm were created for the same purpose, as other manufacturers have different axle lengths. And indeed you can take a smigeon off axles on the end. But be careful, you cannot put it back on! It takes the tiniest touch with a file to reduce the length by quite a bit. I have a set of Roco 6-wheel coaches which run quite nicely, they have Cleminson chassis. It always amuses me how the continental manufactures get their coaches to couple up with almost no gap between the corridor connectors when the British RTR seem to think that is impossible. Chris BTW, I find the 14.8mm axles pretty much useless, even for the Peco wagons they are supposed to work with. The coning angle is designed for the Association bearing cups and that is what it works with.

Can't say I agree. If the CoG is towards that end of the loco, there will be tendency for both end wheels to try and touch the ground, surely? Depends on the weight distribution as to whether the other end of the chassis which would have to lift will allow that to happen. Anyway, I still think its an idea that isn't really going to work. Chris

Having thought some more about this, I think even a 6 wheel chassis would drop into the gap running one way or the other. If for example the weight is distributed so that the leading wheels do not fall i.e. it is sitting on its middle and rear axle, then when the rear axle reaches the frog gap, then it should fall in instead. You would need an 8 wheel rigid chassis with centre of gravity between the two middle axles to avoid any chance of falling in. And as by definition any pony trucks will fall in, it had better be an 0-8-0 (or 0-6-2 with radial axle). And if a tender loco, that will need to be an 8 wheel example as well. At least it makes your choice of prototype easy... Chris

That seems a very reasonable price. I doubt I would try adapting 2mm chassis kits though. Probably easier just to cut your own frames. Chris

> I looked at using small 2.3mm muffs for the non-driven axles so I can get the first stage wormwheel down as low as possible. The clearance between the worm wheel and a 1/8” muff is minimal when the second reduction comprises 14t:14t so every fraction helps. Its possible to mill/file a small slot in the 1/8" or 3mm muffs if you want to clear the wormwheel in this configuration. Chris

GWR bufferstops on the S&D?