D.Platt

Evercheech Junction, that takes me back to a very pleasant weekend at Halifax , I had a stall on the stage and was able to watch Evercheech all though the weekend, my brother took his newly built DJH WD , after asking on the Saturday and they ran in on the Sunday, think someone from Shipley had evidence that one had run over the S&D ! Happy days. Dennis funny when I look at my photos of the 77xxx the two chimneys look the same ! but when I look at them in the flesh the brass on looks thinner , must be my eyes !!

Good afternoon All First hope everybody has recovered from Christmas and wish you all a back to Normal 2021,and may we all get to see an exhibition sometime this coming year. Like a lot of others on this thread I have benefitted from having this wonderful hobby this last year, the work I’ve completed would have probably taken me two or three years to complete. This is my latest loco build , apart from fixing the cab doors and a clean up I have to decide which chimney to go for ! After looking at lots of photos ,did they have two types fitted ? The white metal one supplied with the kit seems better than the turned brass one that I bought years ago for it, decisions, decisions !!

Just spent a few days going though 154 pages of this thread, lots of information and great photos, thank you for all concerned. Dennis

I think we all know on the railways in steam days it all came down to man power, or boy power at most loco sheds, and labour was in short supply so the young lads soon moved up the grades. Loco sheds like Kings Cross had a team of Polish adult cleaners I believe , and did a brilliant job but , did they have an extra budget for this ? was each loco shed given a budget or did the district hold all the budgetary decisions ?

Hi Tony Bit surprised that you don’t ask your professional painters to finish the locos to a degree of weathering that you would like ! you have remarked before the models are for your pleasure and after your gone you don’t give a **** I always finish mine in ex-works finish, then set about weathering it till I reach the desired level. Dennis PS I thought your weathered J6 looked as if it had just come off a works visit.

I believe the new line speed will be 50 mph

My wife surprised me this week,on Monday she insisted on sending a cheque in response to a advertisement for shoes in a magazine, I said why not just phone them and use your card, but no she posted it off, big surprise they were delivered on the Friday !!

When you think about riveting components together it is to make a strong fixed joint !

Morning Tony Talk of Black fives, I have a DJH model which was my brothers, a Ks kit built one and a Hornby detailed, I bought the RCTS book on Black 5s vol 2 last week (which covers the caprotti version ) I seem to have this thing of liking ugly locos !! I was on Comets website buying bits last week and just about resisted pressing the buy button for their kit ! But one day ! Can’t see that becoming a RTR model ...... can you ? Taking about ugly locos (should I say ungainly) my djh 77xxx is coming along, not the best djh kit when it came to the valve gear, I have had a Kemilway BR mogul fret for years and what a brilliant set of etchings it has turned out to be.

Interesting photos as usual David especially as the last 142 nodding donkey ran last Friday Dennis

Like I said I had used the Halfords grey primer for a few years , and probably didn’t spend enough time preparing my K3 , but I wanted to go back to using an etched primer, so being in lockdown I searched on line, both on Amerzon and eBay and went for the one off eBay. I cleaned the running brass chassis and was expecting a grey spray and was surprised when it came out black or very dark grey ! What I like is the finish and hardness from the product, I had to really scrape it to remove a area to get back to bare brass , if it had been plan grey it would have achieved the desired requirement of etching into the brass. Dennis

Hi I have just checked my eBay and notice it was listed as grey on the listing and dark grey on the product description, I was surprised when It sprayed Matt black and really pleased. The eBay seller goes under “partcentuk” it arrived the following day and came from Redline car parts ltd. Hope this helps Dennis

Morning Tony and all I thought your A4 looked a little different to other Wills A4s I have seen , back in the day when DJH was always releasing 4mm loco kits an A4 was as you would say top of my wish list, I have two Hornby A4s which on my layout pull the nine coach rakes that I run without any problem, one day I may get round to putting comet chassis under them to improve the looks of their valve gear. While I was painting the K3 I started the DJH 77xxx, it was the first chassis that I’ve used the Poppy wood jig on and have used a high level roadrunner gearbox (both purchased after seeing them on here ) I have always made my own motor mounting brackets before but I’am very pleased and impressed with the high level gearbox and will now continue to use them. May I now recommend something, I use to always use etched primer undercoat, the tinlets that Precision made years ago were brilliant but no longer available, I’ve tried the two part mix but had problems with them, so for a while I have been using Halfords grey primer, however maybe because I didn’t clean the loco properly I had trouble with the K3 , so I searched on eBay and sent off for an etched primer spray can, now Tony like you I paint the complete chassis before carrying on with the valve gear, the spray surprised me in the fact it’s black, and it’s turned out so good and a hard finish that it doesn’t require a top coat.

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Morning Tony As with a lot of others people I keep reading this wonderful thread as it moves along at quite a pace ,subjects come and go along with discussions , I once said to you at some exhibition that I was reluctant to seek out this website when my son told me about it, but I’am glad I did , I have picked up so many tips and ideas from reading it. Your description of the faults on the SEF A4 misses the one that has always put me off building it , that is the shape of the front end just in front of the buffers, to me it’s to bulbous in shape , if that makes sense. I have just finished the K3 that I posted on here back at the start of lockdown, I then took the given advice and acquired a SEF fret for different cabs, this brought another problem that was mentioned with my Anchoridge K3, I had to cut the footplate in front of the cab and reform it !! It’s not been an easy kit to build but I’ve signed it off now.

I’am sure you will achieve a good model from your hard work ,it’s always very rewarding and satisfying when you see the transformation. And once again I learn something new “Dettol for paint stripping “ I’ll give that a go ,thank you for showing us, I look forward to seeing the finished loco. Dennis

Morning All Poor old Dr Beeching still being blamed for closing railways , all he did was report and recommend, it was the politicians who did the deed hiding behind his name ! Indeed the Labour Party who won an election on the back of promising to stop the cuts . Then went onto close more track mileage than the previous government, right into the 1970s all in the name of Beeching. On the modelling front I have completed all my track building which has involved making twenty odd points during lockdown, so back to my K3 . Results to follow shortly , I hope. Dennis

Whats behind the tender of the O2 ?

I’ve not noticed on here but Dave Ellis at south east Finecast is operating and providing an excellent service

Morning Tony, Thank you for posting the photos of the K3 I hope mine comes together as well as yours has, a few ! pages back it was mention how cruel it can be on our models when we can zoom in by the touch of fingers, but it’s also a big plus when you can also zoom in on the photos of the real engines like I’ve been able to do with the photos you posted on page 1940 see I know the page off by heart. Dennis

Thanks It will be the bottom left cab I will be using and it’s a old Anchoridge kit that I’am trying to get finished that I started in 1997! Dennis.

Sorry I’ve not got the knowledge of inputting multiple images and text combinations, so carrying on with the K3 the valve gear is free running and clears the slide bars , I went down the road of contacting Dave Ellis and within days received the cab fret which looks brilliant value but no information comes with it, I’ve spoken to Dave but he didn’t have the answer so over to you guys The cab folds , cab sides , floor and spectacle plate then you have separate cab side etching ,I presume you have to sweat these in place onto the folded cab side ? the folded cab side giving you the inside window detail , I’am concerned about the edge of the cab / spectacle plate / footplate so can anyone remember the best way to approach this ? Dennis

Good morning all, Hope everyone is keeping safe and well, my days are spent between working on the layout in the morning then bit of gardening weather permitting (it’s never been so tidy at this time of the year ) and then onto my K3, here’s where I have got to, I have not used the motion that was with the kit it just didn’t look right so it’s mainly made from my collection of spare frets.

Evening All Thanks Tony for the photos of Carlisle, it just made me think (dangerous) obviously I don’t know the owner but the sheer size of the layout , how many operators does he need to see it running as you would expect it to see at that location? On your brilliant layout I know you like to have guests round to run the sequence but if you are alone I would think you can just find your spot to watch the trains go by, which is my other thought for the Carlisle layout just where would you stand to operate it if you were alone ? Or is it like miniature wonderland in Hamburg and has a massive computer running it ? Back to the soldering iron , Dennis

Just to add whenever I have phoned an order he has been very helpful and delivery is usually a week or so.