Arun Sharma

As a fairly long tern project, I am building a 1/200 scale model [49inches long] of the 1946 battleship HMS Vanguard. The available plans lend themselves to 3D CAD design particularly with things like lofting together hull cross sections and printing in ABS. Large areas without much surface detail can of course be printed relatively cheaply in ABS on a FDM printer and good surface results obtained by sanding. This shows the 15in turret barbettes with the 'B' turret and one of the 5.25 in turrets in approximate position. The fwd, mid and aft superstructures have been printed in ABS but the rather more detailed 'flag' bridges which sit on top of them will be SLA printed in resin [as were of course the various small ship's boats]. Vulnerable parts such as gun barrels, propellors, mast fittings etc., will be 3D printed in resin and then used as masters for casting in brass. interestingly, the hull is 49 inches in length overall but the superstructure and main armament gun turrets only occupy about half of the length of the ship. You can see that the hull is made up of 22 lofted cross-sections and then smoothed overall. The sections are glued with MEK. M6 nuts, washers and bolts are also used to make sure the whole thing remains rigid. Jut to add additional stiffness, the bottom inch of the hull is also filled with two-part casting resin. The filler used is Isopon car scratch filler which is ideal for this sort of work.

It's on RMWeb- In the Modelling chapter there is a section called the Prototype chapter which has a sub section called Special Interests and that has a sub sub section called London Underground and that has a sub sub sub section called Radley Models.

Please see Modelling Zone>Prototype>Special Interests>London Underground>Radley Models for clearance sale of 7mm road vehicle kits. This is not a complete listing as some other kits will be made available once a few additional parts/castings are sourced.

Go to: RMWeb>Modelling Zone>Prototype>Special Interests>London Underground>Radley Models for an update on the availability of 7mm models previously sold under the banner of Radley Models.

Go to: RMWeb>Modelling Zone>Prototype>Special Interests>London Underground>Radley Models for an update on the availability of 7mm models previously sold under the banner of Radley Models.

Road Vehicles Continued: Bedford RL - a complex kit with lost wax, White metal, etched and resin components. However a waterslide decal sheet of formation signs is included! Cost £95 and available immediately. I have a couple of variants of the Ford Thames Trader available. The first is the basic dropside lorry at £50 which is largely resin though does include a vacform prototypical curved windscreen. Virtually all of my road vehicle designs have full chassis detail so lend themselves to being rebodies should the mood take you. The other available Ford TT is the crewcab workshop variant. I have included a photograph to show the chassis - so this could readily be rebodied as a long wheelbase dropside. The model is based on the preserved LT emergency breakdown tender so includes a couple of cab roof emergency beacons. Available off the shelf at £75.

Further to the above Railway Models there is one other railway kit: Essentially a shorter 10Ton version of the 30T flat wagon shown above, there were only four prototypes built in 1930. One still exists in preservation at Quainton Road. Available at £35. Most of the remaining kits are true 7mm scale road vehicles: Staying with London Transport, there are two versions of the 1936 AEC Mercury/Monarch Tower Wagon which were found all over the tram and trolleybus network until 1962. Whilst the bodies of these vehicles are resin, the towers are entirely lost wax brass hence - so whilst a few are available off the shelf there might be a delay into the New Year before more are available. Both retail at £110 each - because of the cost of the brass castings: JCB Mk3C An unusual probably unique kit. Resin with lost wax brass elements. Ideal for scenarios involving coaling preserved steam locos perhaps. This kit [as shown] doesn't have the 'backacter' which was always available as a separate kit when the model was first introduced. if required, these could be be resurrected. Cost £120 and available immediately. Greenline RF coach. A kit produced specifically for the enormous "Surburbiton" private layout, these 39 seater coaches were the mainstay of LT single deck one-person operation from 1951 to 1979. Cost £110.

I will probably need to produce this listing in several parts . Firstly, everything here is 7mm. The few LT 4mm kits [such as the 1985 Battery Loco, Class 487 W&C Trailer and 1925 Standard stock DM] that I designed all sold out ages ago. That doesn't mean that they can't be resurrected but they are not available off the shelf. Some of these 7mm models are only available singly, others I have several of. Since it is a clearance sale, prices could be negotiable. All models would be delivered by Royal Mail SD so think about adding about £6 to £10 to the prices. Instructions sheets for these models are not included - they mostly all exist as pdf files [photographed blow by blow files] and will be sent to purchasers. I am a kit designer not a shop/website owner so BACS transfer or cheques are acceptable. Cards are not. Anyway: 7mm Railway Models: 1939 LT Battery Loco I have a couple of these at £180 each. Will be available from mid-Jan as I need to order sets of LW castings. 30Ton GRCW dropside Flat wagon. I have three of these at £70 each. Ideal vehicles to find behind LT pannier tanks on Croxley tip workings. The Class 487 DMSO - operated as single cars on the Waterloo & City Railway in off peak hours. This represents the vehicles as post-1959 when they were given new LT-designed bogies. A couple available at £155 each.

Having had a 'plug' in that issue I am pleased.

I seem to recall that Stagecoach's X5 bus which used to run between Oxford-Bicester North-Buckingham-Milton Keynes-Bedford-St Neots-Cambridge took a a little longer than 2hrs30. Now that the X5 now only runs Oxford to Bedford and connects with another bus from Bedford to Cambridge [with all the same intermediate stops], the journey may well take a little longer. That comparison between different modes of public transport is probably a more realistic comparison of passenger times - Especially as my experince of the old X5 was that few people actually went all the way from Oxford to Cambridge. Secondly, the arguably more [?most] useful function of the E-W route is to join freight lines from Southampton docks and the West to the OW&W, WCML, MML and eventually ECML and perhaps East Anglian ports. In that sense, whether or not any passengers choose to use the railway is almost irrelevant.

Thank you - I hadn't seen that Met centenary pic of L52 before. On the odd occasion I saw the engine passing Neasden it was always the RHS I saw.

There is an almost broadside photo of a clean L52 on page 57 of the 1963 Ian Allan LT 'spotters' book - also pics in "Workhorses of the London Underground". The wheels and footsteps are also lined as are the cab sides - I don't know for certain about the cab front or the tank fronts but it doesn't look they were lined. Dont forget to add the long cylindrical air tank that sits on the right hand tank top.

It seems there is a Press Association statement today saying that the Dept. of Transport wants to get 75% more freight onto the railway. Perhaps Phase 2 HS2 could be being resurrected? There again has an enabling act beeen passed to overturn the original act of Parliament authorising it yet.

It would also have an interesting possible effect on the somewhat sparse road system around there as well as a perhaps justifying an increase in train frequency between Bedford-Bletchley-MK.

Even more embarassing being caught short in a 2-NOL!

A very nice, informative bit of film - succinct and to the point. Is there any news on whether the Aylesbury Vale Parkway station will eventually be offering direct [rail] services to Bletchley/MK?

Regaring non-railway uses of tunneling equipment.... Several deep tunnel shelters for civil servants, air raid shelterers and storing artworks etc., were built prior to and during WW2 utilising greathead shields and similar. Now that HMG has turned over our existing ex-secret Regional Centres of Government and other underground shelters to English Heritage and sundry mushroom growers, it would make sense for the Govt. to use the extant tunelling machinery to dig some new ones in unknown places [but vaguely in the 'reliable' home counties].

Whilst on my wanderings around german museums, this Tiger 2 was 'lurking' in the Munsterlager Tank Museum [a short train jouney North of Celle] It is a seriously imposing beast. The rather imposing half-seen vehicle next to it is also a Tiger - the 38cm barrelled 'SturmTiger' mortar.

This photo was taken a couple of months ago in the railway section of the Berlin Technology Museum. Where it can illustrate a point from history, there appears to be no restriction on the display of swastikas. The Germans are very much against rewriting history and pretending things didn't happen.

Given the lack of apparent movement from Sushila and Caroline, they might be being employed at digging some secret slightly off-route bunkers for DfT folk to hide in.

As a kit designer [mainly 7mm] I go to shows as: 1. A demonstrator on society stands 2. To visit trade stands to buy tools, kits and small castings etc., 3. To meet other designers to swap ideas - a significant numbers of kits have several parents, godparents, uncles etc., 4. To meet customers to deliver products safely and thus reduce exorbitant delivery charges as well as to discuss further bespoke items that might be desired 5. I personally have not much interest in layouts. I prefer trade and specialist society/scale [gauge] shows. Of the big shows, Ally Pally and RAILEX are, in my opinion, the best for my purposes. Of the smaller shows, the DEMU Showcase and the Guildford group's trade show are musts either as a demonstator or a trader. However, I do appreciate that few other folk will have the same criteria.

Good point, I think small traders are feeling the pinch especially as many found that, as a result of Covid, they were selling more stock with fewer overheads via mail order than they ever had at shows. Don't forget the cost of diesel, hotel accom, car park charges and that's before considering stand/table/power charges.

What a superb piece of artwork!

If true, that would make sense. Both models and their injection moulding tools are nowadays designed by 3D CAD processes and whilst not as easy as you might think, models can be scaled up or down in size fairly readily.