[Norway poles]

Nick, up to your usual high very standards.  

[GWR Horsebox N4 - part 1]

Delightful modelling as always from your workbench. I find the outside pull rods wonderful and so atmospheric and not very often modeled. I have only built one model with this feature on a NLR brakevan.  I can't wait for the next instalment. 

[GWR 1-plank (part 2)]

Another top quality model again. But I am intrigued to know how you get the wheels in after you have soldered the W-irons onto the printed circuit board. 

Mike

[GWR 1-plank (part 1)]

Another excellent wagon with so much character. The wheels certainly look so much more impressive than the finescale equivalent would have done in my opinion.  I hope the decision to go S7 proves to be the right one for you. Another plus point will be the cost of this wagon against a kit built one.

I scratch build because I am hopeless at kit building and couldn't even put a Coopercraft wagon together.  I hope this will be the start of more of the same and I will look forward to see what comes 

from your workbench. 

 

Mike 

[Wagon Wheels - a beauty contest (and an annoucement)]

Welcome to the world of S7. 

 

Hopefully changing to S7 now will not cause to much stress to you in your plans. A bonus point is you can get 10% discount on your purchases from Slaters if you join the Scaleseven society.  

Personally the standard of your modelling cries out to be taken to the next level. It does of course bring its own problems especially with track layouts requiring more space than finescale but you will of course be familiar with that having previously worked in P4. 

 

Mike

[Private owner wagon 'United']

Excellent as usual.  You are setting the bar for us mere mortals. 

[GWR 2-plank open wagon]

Nick,

I use Slaters wagon wheels. I do use them as they come or modify some of them by trimming the back of them to remove the heavy look so they are more like worn wheels after years in service. 

Loco wheels are a mixture of Slaters or cast iron from various sources.  Slaters provide wheels to the S7 society but all the Slaters range can be reprofiled by a member of the society. Slaters provide a 10% discount to S7 society members. 

 

Mike

[GWR 2-plank open wagon]

I am slightly surprised that someone who previously modelled in P4 when going upscale to 7mm would choose to adopt 31.5mm track. But as you say it is a personal choice which I respect. 

I am aware that the vast majority who model in 7mm have far more opportunities to join clubs or groups and run there pride and Joy's with other like minded individuals.  

I myself tried to model in finescale but became disappointed with my local groups who appeared to be quite happy to accept kit built wagons without internal details that bowed in alarmingly going around a test track for a couple of hours. A couple of my wagons with different springs. 

[A CR D34 Trolley, part 2, in service]

Fabulous work as usual. It is a pleasure to see scratch building of this quality. 

[Bricks & Mortar (1)]

Thank you for your reply.  Just as I asked the question about how long it took to emboss the brickwork you were answering Mikkel post. 

Timing is everything.  If I had only waited a couple more minutes I would have had my answer. 

 

[Bricks & Mortar (1)]

Now you have out attention we need more information about the printing the brickwork and the glue used to attach it to the mounting board. 

And can you tell us how many hours it took to scribe the brickwork please and the tool used. I presume you scribe the horizontal lines first before the vertical course, but how do you keep such discipline over such a large area.  Excellent work as always. 

[Swan Hill at Christmas 2021]

Absolutely first class model making. 

[CR D21 Loco coal wagons, part 1]

Dave, looking at the photograph that you kindly provided they do look suitable for 7mm scale with a bit of modification.

Can I now ask from what material they are made from ?

Mike

[CR D21 Loco coal wagons, part 1]

Dave, can I ask what are the dimensions of the lamps please. Would they be suitable for 7mm scale ?

Can you provide a link to where you purchased them from. 

Mike

[Powsides/Slaters Private Owner wagons]

The Getty photograph of Bradwell Wood wagon was featured in a book on the NLR  published jointly by the National Railway and Science Museums in 1979. It doesn't mention who took the photograph only that they were official NLR ones. 

Close up of the wagon brings many features including both square nuts as well as hexagonal ones on the solebars together. The corner plates and other ironwork have a variety of coach bolts some with washers behind but the majority without. I know this would be difficult to achieve in 4mm scale but I model in 7mm and try to include them when ever possible.  

[...no story but a few details]

Top quality as usual. 

[CR D27 machinery wagon , part 2]

It's a pleasure to see such an excellent model of an unusual prototype. The chain's and shackles make the model come alive.

[Modelling in the Antipodes]

Hello Richard, you are man after my own heart. I try to take some modelling project with me when travelling. Time is so precious that I feel it is a crime to waste what time we have been given. I model in 7mm scale and managed to part build over 300 wagons in works time/down time/diner time. I even managed to take a large bag of white metal castings to clean up while waiting to go into court when on jury duty.

 

Regards Mike