Woodcock29

Gilbert although I like the view, the saturation level is too high for an English sky in my opinion. If it could be lightened gradually to the horizon it would be better but still more like an Aussie sky.

Tony it dos certainly appear to be the Nucast C13. Unfortunately Nucast made the tanks and bunker marginally high so in some ways its a compromise between a C13 and C14 - which did have taller tanks and bunker. It has the main C13 features - cab style and roof and the bunker. The raised section of cab roof on a C14 was even higher. Here's a picture of my Nucast C13 finished about 12 years ago. I made the cab opening a bit larger but didn't realise until it was mostly built that the tanks and bunker were a bit too high otherwise I would have altered them. A photo of the other side would be useful as its fitted with vacuum operated push-pull gear. Hence the conduit on the top of the bunker. Its also fitted with a Millholme N5 chimney as I always thought the Nucast chimney looked too chunky. It has Maygib sprung GC 14" buffers. I should really have lined it in red - a job still to be done I guess - when I'm more confident at doing that - something I'm practising at at the moment. I also have an unmade Nucast C13 which I plan to build one day as a C14 - unfortunately its a very old kit with the w/m chassis block. Still if Dave Ellis reintroduces this kit I could probably get a brass chassis. Andrew

I think there is a full height GN cab version coming. I'm hoping I can actually buy spare parts as we could with the first round of O2s. I need a full height cab and the lower centre type footplate to rebuild a second-hand first round version that I was offered very cheaply. I don't think they are going to revise the incorrect expansion link arrangement as that would have been shown as I understand the very malleable valve gear material has been replaced with something far more robust in nature and I'm assuming that is what we're seeing on these pre-production models? Tony - pair of the the expansion links I got from you recently will be used on this second-hand first release model I have stashed away. As mentioned above a wide range of Bachmann spares are available via a dedicated Bachmann spares website. I recently purchased a range of J11 tender underframes and wheels and other bits and pieces from LNER models for my kit-bashing projects. At a quick glance a C1 tender (GN Ivatt B type tender) in LNER lined green would be £20 for the body and £16 for the black frames lined in red with wheels. Given its painted that's pretty good value in my book - £36 in total. You'd need to add your own vacuum pipe! Andrew

By gently squeezing the coal rails together the coal and coal rails can be lifted out of the bunker. This exposes a screw at the base of the rear of the cab in the bunker. After removing the screw the rear of the cab can be lifted upwards and the front gently released from under the rear of the tank tops where the lugs on the cab front fit. Hope this makes sense - its very easy - might just need to push the sides of the cab front in a bit as you do this. Great for fitting crew. I also removed the glazing from the front and side windows (they didn't seem to be glued and simply pushed inwards) - then I carefully painted the edges black to reduce the prismatic effects - I didn't refit the rear side windows. I didn't try to remove the rear spectacle windows as these are more securely fitted. Andrew

I have now replaced the chimney on my A5 with a PDK turned brass O4 chimney. I've also removed the moulded smokebox door handle and replaced the fitted express headcode lamps with lamp irons. I'm yet to modify the front tension lock coupling but that will be undertaken. I'm currently contemplating replacing the moulded plastic coal rails with etched brass coal rails that happen to have. The vacuum pipes have been bent so they are swayed across as per the prototype. Repainting the smokebox was easy as the boiler unit can be removed from the rest of the body after the cab top is removed. Care needs to be taken in extracting the metal boiler handrails from the front of the tanks during this process. So its easy to mask the rest of the boiler and just spray the smokebox once I had completed the work. For comparison:

Brassmasters make a nickel silver etch of oval buffer heads designed to be fitted to round heads. You file the round head flat and solder the overlay on. There are two sizes of oval heads designed to be fitted to 16mm diameter or 13mm heads unfortunately I think the GC oval heads are somewhere in between the two sixes but it's possible to file the larger ones down down to size. I'll be fitting mine to 14mm Maygib GC buffers obtsined from Branchlines. There are 40 of the larger heads and 24 of the small heads - so more than enough to last most 4mm scale modellers a long time. I got mine from the bits and Bob's in a deceased estate a few years ago hete in Oz.

John I suppose it depends on whether you like open frame motors and old Romford gears? Certainly not my preference. It's also worth noting that these kits are extremely heavy. The F1 certainly is and didn't ever run well with an open frame motor that I fitted when first built in the mid 90s. The Portescap was probably fitted 15 years ago maybe. Andrew

Graham - I'd suggest later Romfords or Markits driving wheels, different motor and a gearbox. You'd need to file/mill out the slot for the gearbox but as Mike said these milled brass chassis blocks run well. I fitted a Portescap into an ex GC F1 and have a Q2 to build. I've also got a spare F1 chassis I've partly prepared to fit one of GK's D7s. Andrew

I've just been examining it and note the chimney appears to be part of the smokebox/boiler moulding so it will need to be cut off and cleaned up. The chimney on the model is 6.6mm tall, so 1'8"compared with the height of 1'9" quoted in Yeadon. The top rim appears to be rather flat - not tall enough to truly represent the original Robinson chimney in my view. I'll be fitting a brass LNER O4 chimney from PDK. This is 1'5" tall and has a pretty good profile. The smokebox front is a separate moulding and seems to be slightly bigger in diameter than the smokebox - it's probably not that noticeable.

Just received my 5024 this morning here in Adelaide. Its only had a few laps so far but seems to be smooth and quiet. There is slight bend in footplate upwards each side of the side tanks. But if you didn't know it's there you probably wouldn't notice. Haven't measured height of chimney yet (I'm currently out) but I'm planning on replacing it as its too tall for my period. Its been modelled as the original Robinson GC shape and height which were all replaced by the LNER from at least 1930 onwards, firstly by a plant pot style then the LNER cast version similar but different in shape to the original GC type. That's what I'll fit. The lettering whilst neat and tidy is missing the fine white edging between the yellow and the red and brown shading. The red lining is extremely well done but I think the jury is still out on whether the wheels should be lined or not. Buffer shanks need to be painted black for LNER black livery. Andrew

Love the lighting on this photo of Tracery Gibert- terrific in fact. Andrew

I'm also planning on going over in 2024. Possibly April-May. Can't believe it will be 7 years since the last trip then - but we did lose a few years! Andrew

I've had the same view about the lettering not having the fine white edging to the main lettering colour but was waiting until my black 5024 arrives to make any comment. Looking at some photos I was starting to think maybe it is there but very subdued. I'll comment more once mine has arrived, hopefully within the next week.

In some ways I don't want to get back on this subject - Jesse's D2. Tony G is right about the chimney position. Tony W has corrected the height issue which was really only marginal. The reason it looks odd is that the bogie wheels are under size and I think Tony W mentioned this in the first instance but also the splashers are oversize which makes the driving wheels look too small and the handrail too close to the top of the splashers. The handrail is in the correct position. There's not much Tony W could have done about the splashers. Its much easier to make them larger (which I did on a Bec D11) than make them smaller. Andrew

Tony I hope you got the personal email I sent you late last night your time? Andrew

I would guess it's going to disappear! Not much call for bankers on LB.

Thanks for this info Jonathan. I've been looking at passenger tank photos in particular tonight. Maybe I can see red lining on some N2 wheels in Yeadon Vol 25. Before, I thought these lines were the joint between the wheel rims and the tyres or between the wheel centre and the axle. In Vol 16 on V1s, V3s and Thompson L1s (which I must admit I've hardly looked at) its very clear that on freshly shopped V1s and V3s they had red lining on the wheels. In Vol 21 which includes the A5s there is no clear evidence of any red-lined black A5s with red-lined wheels. I've learnt a lot tonight - at least some classes, other than J72s, clearly had red-lined wheels. So the lining on the wheels of my Sonic A5 will remain at least for the moment. Andrew

They do look very nice Tony. I remain to be convinced they should have red-lined wheels. I can't find any evidence of this in any books (and I have most Yeadons and a lot of others) other than on the J72s I mentioned previously. The tender on the D2 above is lined incorrectly in my view. The red lining shouldn't go up on to the flare of the side. It should be like the C2 tender. I didn't mention it previously when you posted that photo earlier. Are you still connected to the LNER Soc? Surely someone in that org would know about the wheels? Andrew

Tony My LNER black lined in red model of 5024 is on its way to me and will hopefully arrive late next week. I've been following the development of this model since its first announcement back in 2021. Overall it appears to be a good model of the prototype. One thing that strikes me though is the chimney. All the various model versions appear to be fitted with the same chimney yet there were three different chimneys fitted to the class across their life. None of the models appear to require the Gresley flowerpot chimney fitted late 20s-early 30s which was rather ugly (note this is what anyone contemplating converting the model to replicate one of the LNER built versions will require). However, the LNER black 5024 and the BR versions should all be fitted with the LNER cast chimney, similar to but different to the original GC chimney as well as being slightly shorter. Unfortunately the GC chimney they've fitted them all with doesn't reflect the elegant curves of the original. The main body of the chimney is too tapered towards the top it should curve out wider beneath the wide top rim. As the chimney is part of the face of the loco this is unfortunate in my view. Fortunately I have a couple of options for what I might use to replace it - a spare Craftsman A5 chimney and a PDK O4 chimney. There are a couple of livery issues but these are easily fixed. The LNER versions should have black buffer shanks not red and my understanding is that the LNER black 5024 should not have red lining on its wheels. I'd love someone to prove that wrong so I don't need to paint the wheels black but as far as I can discover only a few J72s had red lining on their wheels. The bogie wheels look quite good on this model - what's you opinion? It will be interesting to compare it to my Craftsman kit that I built back in the 1980s. I know the Craftsman model is a bit too too narrow across the bunker. Andrew

Tony To commemorate Flying Scotsman's 100th here are a few of my photos of her in Australia. They're all scanned from slides or in the case of the Mile End shot from a hard copy photo. The coaching stock is NSW stock. Andrew At Goulburn in NSW With NSWGR 3801 - Flying Scotsman's equivalent in Oz. 8th July 1989 At Albury on the border with Victoria. 9th July 1989 Crossing the River Murray into Victoria. 9th July 1989 At Benalla in Victoria. 9th July 1989 At Mile End in Adelaide. 25 August 1989 Andrew

I could certainly have a look at it for him. Someone suggested it might be a WSM kit which from my experience with a J6 aren't that great to start with - so this could be correct. The ride height in that case was about 1mm too high with the tender but the engine was ok. The tender does look the same. It's not the Models & Leisure/Premier kits model which was for both D2 or D3 and was the flat footplate version (unless they also made one of this type?). I've currently got one on the work bench but I've had to strip the paint as I wasn't happy with the finish. I take the point about not spending excessive time on something that's not a good model in the first place. However, like Tony Gee, I also quite like taking something that I know needs a lot of work to make something good out of a poor model. Andrew

I hate to say this Tony, but Jesse's D2 appears to be sitting very high on its chassis. Both engine and tender. Andrew

My 5024 is now on the way to Oz. The livery generally looks to be well applied on all the different versions. Looking at the good photo of 5024 above I can now see why I thought the buffer shanks looked odd. To stop the oval buffers rotating they apear to be square in section inside the shanks. Because they're incorrectly painted red this gave them a strange look. In LNER days the shanks were black not red. I'm still far from convinced the wheels should be lined out in red. As far as I can tell this was only applied to a few J72s. It'll be a shame to paint them black but that's what I'll be doing. Also my earlier reservations about the chimney remain - it has too much of taper in it towards the top. It should curve out more towards the rim. It appears also that all models have the same chimney whereas the later period models should have a slightly shorter chimney as these were later LNER replacements for the original Robinson design that was prone to cracking (ignoring the period with short flower pot chimneys in late 20s-early 30s). Still its nice to have another RTR GC loco. It'll be nice to compare it to my 35+ year old Craftsman kit built example. Andrew

Tony here's my B5 built in 1987. Gosh I've had it 35 years. The Millholme kit of course. The Millholme tender isn't great as the body is too long in relation to the soleplate and frames. It should have a much larger protruding section of the soleplate at the back. I have a part built Q4 that's been sitting around for a few years - I'll be pairing that with an upgraded Bachmann tender. Andrew

I'm sure I got in first😀