Jump to content
 

fulton

Members
  • Posts

    537
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by fulton

  1. Lots of good advice above, some skill is required to have a reliable, smooth running locomotive, you will obtain those skills by reading up and practice, take easy steps, I would say I am an experianced modeller, but I still find loco kits etched or white metal hard work, but rewarding in the end, good luck.

    • Thanks 1
  2. I use Smiths couplings, yes the normal version is over scale, but at least that gives you half a chance to use them, I would sooner have that comprimise than have an unprototypical alterative, thats my personel view, I use an LED pen torch with a bent wire soldered on to use them, works for me, I like to uncouple where required rather than where the magnets are, having said that I use Kadees on by American layout.

    • Like 1
    • Agree 1
  3. On 18/03/2024 at 15:44, phil-b259 said:

     

    IIRC nothing different from what vehicles have to do when passing through the port of Dover, which isn't much - just a quick visual scan by the passport person that the photos in the passports offed up match the identity of the occupants basically.

     

    Obviously for freight they both Dover and Eurotunnels have x-ray scanners but these are more geared to looking for illegal migrants or, in the case of Eurotunnel other heat sources (which could lead to a repeat of the various fires that have occurred since the tunnel opened).

     

    Certainly there is no requirement for people to vacate their vehicles and march through a security portal while their car gets x-rayed - which is what would happen if the measure demand 'essential' for Europstar were replicated for ALL users of the tunnel....

     

    Not for the first time we see blatant double standards applied - rail passengers facing intense scrutiny despite the transit being between 4 well matched countries who routinely exchange information about illegal activities / threats and who all have good levels of policing etc, but road users face minimal checks (even though blowing up a car ferry would be just as devastating as blowing up a Eurostar)

    Just to add, I travel with Eurotunnel every couple of months, sending this from Germany, did once have my car Xrayed, seemed a novelty to the Frence Police as well, my van sometimes gets pulled over looking for stowaways, I travel on an EU passport, so it just gets scanned, UK passports get stamped as well, but that will be changing sometime when all the tech for finger prints is in place.

    • Informative/Useful 1
  4. I use thin tissue/ tracing paper, the type of thing kits were wrapped in, sprayed black, then lettered by hand using an Epping 0.7mm white gel pen, once crinkled up, the hand lettering looks OK to me, some tarps have various lines as well as lettering, tying ropes (I think called cords in this situation) are glued on, will post photo when back in the UK.

  5. 3 minutes ago, papagolfjuliet said:

     

    One runs parallel to Rochester Avenue just below the surface linking an underground barracks on Delce Road (now a garage) and Fort Clarence, and another links the garage to Fort Pitt. There are tunnel entrances behind the billboards at the bottom of Chatham Hill leading goodness knows where. A large area of the cliff on the Rochester bank of the Medway inland of the bridges was hollowed out during WW2 to create an underground Short Sunderland factory - basically everything under St. Margaret's Street. And so on.

    Thank you, my Dad worked at Shorts and related sheltering in the underground bit during an air raid.

    • Like 2
  6. 16 minutes ago, papagolfjuliet said:

     (just as they don't mention the network of Napoleonic and WW2 tunnels which undermine most of the Medway Towns,

    Interested where this has come from, yes some are known or rumored, living there and working on construction projects there for thirty years never encounted any tunnels, sink holes not uncommon around the Frindsbury Hill area.

    • Interesting/Thought-provoking 1
  7. 8 hours ago, Penrhos1920 said:

    I wonder if Rapido will start selling them unpainted?  At a good discount.  They would be great for applying my own liveries.

    This has come up before, I think the conclusion was that there was very little reduction in cost, but the buyer as you say, expected a good discount, works in the American market as the volume of sales is so much larger, I hate to paint over a nicely applied factory livery just seems wrong.

    • Like 3
    • Agree 1
  8. Nice build, I am building the Impetus 16" Hunslet, I also have the Sentinel kit which is designed to drive on both axles, I bought the kit in 1990, in the box is my original SAE (stamped addressed envelop, remember them) from Robin giving the prices, Sentinel kit plus Tenshodo motor, gears, EM wheels, £52+£1 p&p, I needed to supply Sharman 2x24 tooth gears £1.10 each. Around that time I also built his 16" Bagnal, which I still have, I think 1991, it was running on a friends layout at EXPOEM, Robin remarked it was the first one to be finished and he had sold one more of the twelve kits he had produced in that run.  I lost interest in British 4mm modelling and tried selling various kits, the offers were insultingly low, so everything went into storage, now twenty years later I am back into British 4mm, pleased I kept the kits!

    IMG_0730.JPG

    • Like 9
  9. Similar to above, I paint sleepers first, the rails/chairs then ballast, I try to "plant" things like point rodding bases then ballast around them, to try to get away from the stuck on afterwards look, in this picture have used block paving sand to represent Dungeness beach shingle, favoured by the SECR.

    IMG_0622.JPG

  10. My plates from Light Railway Stores, like Willl, were from their standard custom range, not exactly correct, but for myself quite acceptable, much better than the printed ones, the SE&CR Society has come to the conclusion, subject to more information, that the plates were, cast metal not brass, painted grey with white border and letters.

    • Informative/Useful 2
  11. There have been some recent articles in the SE&CR Society Invicta magazines on this subject, but no clear close up views of the plates, seems they were painted grey with white border and lettering, I had these plates made by Light Railway Stores, I need to paint the border and lettering white, they were cast metal (presumably cast iron). I did originally go for red with brass lettering, my D1 needs to be corrected.

    IMG_0726.JPG

    IMG_0728.JPG

    • Like 2
  12. To me, less is more, try not to fill the space up with track, more sidings does not necessarily mean more car spots, I found the Lance Mindheim books to very helpful, my own layout based on a prototype location serves a pesticide distributors, tank cars, a potato and onion distributors, box cars and reefers, and a timber truss manufacturer, flat cars and centre beams.  I only have four points on the scenic area, serving the three customers, but it still provides plenty of enjoyable switching.

    IMG_0616.JPG

    • Like 1
    • Agree 1
    • Informative/Useful 1
  13. I suspect the Southern Railway fencers dug their post holes exactly the same way you would manually do it today, using a post hole digger, sort of two grafts fixed together, a graft is a type of spade/shovel for heavy digging and a post hole chisel bar, good for getting through rock, stone, light concrete, on site we called the post hole bar, a pin, they were 5' long and weighed at least 20kg.

    • Like 1
  14. 5 hours ago, fulton said:

    also if it is a show I would have been visiting anyway I do not ask for all expenses as I am getting in for free, as well as free teas and a meal. 

    Having looked at my post again, I realized that when I exhibited at Tonbridge last Saturday, I asked for modest expenses, but it was a show me and my mate would have visited anyway, so we saved £7 entry each, plus we would have paid for parking, fuel, cups of tea and a sandwich, so Colin I think I owe you money, if you invite me back next year with my new layout, there will be no expenses.

    • Like 1
  15. Having exhibited various layouts for the last 50 years (that makes me feel so old!) I agree with the previous comments, I enjoy exhibiting and try not to be mercenary  on expenses, where I could have driven home on the Sunday night I have paid for an extra night to make the weekend more enjoyable, also if it is a show I would have been visiting anyway I do not ask for all expenses as I am getting in for free, as well as free teas and a meal. I do treat a commercial show differently to a amateur club show.

    • Like 3
    • Agree 3
  16. On 16/02/2024 at 23:08, Neils WRX said:

     

     

    I was going to hire a van rather than use the family car. The view was using a car you’d be unlikely to get stopped but a van you might have issues.

    I can understand people being nervous about a trip to mainland Europe, especially in a unfamiliar vehicle, driving on the other side, different driving rules and maybe a language problem, but I can only relate my personnel experience, I drive a van, personal use only, I travel every couple of months, last year drove in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland and Switzerland. When booking Eurotunnel I tick the box to confirm my van is not carrying commercial goods, it is then treated the same as a car, get checked maybe one in three trips, no questions about what I am carrying, ( part of my layout has travelled to our flat in Dusseldorf and back ) only seem interested in stowaways. As to a carnet, seek advise, I found HMRC help full, then act on the advise. Reminds me when back after Easter to swop my winter tyres, now a requirement in the whole of Germany, some French cities also require an Emissions sticker, easy and cheap to get on line.

×
×
  • Create New...