Dave John

A good discussion on portescaps. I always liked them, the spur gearing adding a touch of inertia to movement. Just out of interest, if you come across what looks like a portescap but which has milled brass sides then it could well be a rebuild using MJT milled sides which varied the position of the drive shaft so it went under the cab floor. I noticed that some of the conversion kits are still available from Dart castings when I was buying other stuff recently. Anyway, here is one I made last century......

Looks good to me. My browns go a bit greeny under yellowish light too., even if I set the white balance on the camera. A whiter light helps a bit. Just a case of messing about until you get a pic you like.

Very interesting idea. As Mikkel says you are ahead of the rest of us.

I applaud what you are trying to do Tony, your support of CRUK is appreciated. On a personal note I love to see well made kit or scratchbuilt models. Any sort of model, not just railways. I fully appreciate the skill and time that has gone into making them. But my enjoyment of the hobby is sitting down and scratch or kit building a model for myself. A lot of folk are the same as me, they just like the making side of things. So no matter how well made a model is I wouldn't be tempted since I would not have the enjoyment of making it. Not all people are like me though we are I think a significant sectio , but I suppose it does reduce the number of potential buyers for made up kits.

Makeup brushes Tony. I dust stock regularly, and I think it also slows the rate of fluff getting into mechanisms. This sort of thing. I bought a set years ago, nice soft brushes for dusting models. Hoover with a bit of fine cloth over the nozzle in case any bits fall off the layout or loco, brush the dust off with one of those. These days even blokes of our age can buy a set without raising too many eyebrows.....

Oh, some of us do look at trackwork Sandra. Indeed, yours is well worth looking at a few times .

A lot of good advice above, I now tend to have a tube in the frames and short .45 wire on the hangers, mainly to make painting easier. I just use a spot of paint to secure the wire to the tube at final assembly, easily taken apart if the need arises. In this example the rear tube was soldered through , then the portion between the frames cut away to clear the gearbox. The front tube conveniently doubles up as the pivot for the compensating beam.

I did some light up signs with overhead projector film for inkjet printers. I would suggest LED rather than gow lamps to keep the heat as low as possible.

Yep, they can be a bit sharp KitPW. Advantage is that they solder very easily. I did learn that once soldered and cleaned up it helps to slap a bit of varnish on them, the cut edges rust very rapidly with subsequent washings of the body.

Hi Mikkel. The cantrail ones are 2mm dia x 2mm long, 0.13 kg pull. The floor ones are 1mm dia x 2mm long, 0.03 kg pull. I had a mess about a bit with various sizes on a dummy side. The force increases significantly if it is magnet to magnet ( maybe doubles ? ) I have found that if you want to reduce the pull the simple trick is to separate the magnet and the keeper. For instance if you glue a bit of styrene onto the tinplate surface the force needed to pull the magnet off is reduced. Magnets have a very shiny surface, difficult to glue them directly to things, hence the supporting brass.

Carrying on ... The sides have the floor section removed and the cantrail fold cut back to 2mm. small brass blocks at cantrail height and a 2mm brass bar at floor level to stiffen it up. Note the holes match up with those tabs. A coat of primer on to seal it all. Then the sides. I mentioned those tabs. Well, they are not brass, but tinplate. Cut from this kind of paper fastener, convenient 5 mm strips of 10 thou tinplate. So with magnets in the holes in the side support bar and in the little blocks at cantrail height I can just attach and remove the sides as many times as I like. Now I can well imagine folk thinking that all that is a lot of messing about. Why not just build the coach , then paint it and line it ? Well, therein lies the problem. I am not good at painting and lining. So, for me being able to do that with the sides on the flat makes the chance of success a bit greater. If I make a mess it is just a side to strip, not a whole coach. Ok, the next three……

A blog in several parts, due to photo size. The kit is designed so that the body folds up from the floor in two halves jointed at the floor centreline, with quite large gaps to be filled with card. The corridor wall is then soldered in. I thought about this and decided it worried me. The sides fold inwards about 5 mm at cantrail height narrowing the aperture to get in and do the interior. I made coaches this way in the past and it was a real hassle getting in to add details and glaze the windows. That was with full compartment stock, I don’t know how folk manage to paint the corridor side. So, a bit of lateral thinking. Firstly the roof and ends. Some delicate forming of the roof section, then the support structure and ends. I worked off a board with it all clamped down to keep it square. Lighting is in place, lamps are central to the compartments. Note the little tabs soldered to the support structure at cantrail height. They line up with compartment partitions. A coat of white primer on the inside. One of the features of these coaches was that the body sat on a set of rubber blocks. I haven’t quite gone that far, but here is the floor cut from 10 thou brass, studs to fix it to the frames and the corridor etch soldered in. Again, note the little tabs soldered to the floor. I spent a fair time thinking about lighting. I tried latching reeds a long time ago, temperamental and delicate.So I needed a switch, but where to put it? The obvious answer was battery in one toilet and switch in the other, but how to operate the switch? It dawned on me, there are four small holes in the roof for the toilet tank fillers. Made from 1.5 mm tube, three dummies and one leading down to the switch. Just push a bit of wire down to turn the lights on and off. So here it is on the frames. Plenty of access to fit the compartments and seating. Easy battery change. And the next bit ...

Ah, sorry Tony, I thought the wee pug was on ebay with a published sell price. Jidenco did the etch for the anchoridge kit, from memory it did mention that in the instructions.

Ok, I know it is mainly big engines here , but I'll bite. How much did the anchorage pug sell for? Not that I'm selling mine, a bit scruffy it may be, but it runs like a dream. Compensation and tender pickups help.

I do like that chassis design. Food for thought.