wellseasoned

This is really heartening news. I am a member of the 2mm Association which is a bonus. Purely as an example, a number of people have previously expressed an interest in the Hawksworth sleeper etches. As far as I can make out they haven't been produced in a long while. I got into building carriages as looking into my crystal ball around 5 years back, I could see the Farish offerings creeping up towards the £50 RRP, and they are very nearly there. This price tag could inspire others to try their hand at making a carriage. Therefore the continued availability of etches and castings is really good news. Thank you Nigel for passing on this positive news.

DavidK71, Really nice to see a post on this forum after such a long break. You have once again made a lovely job of this sleeper. Does anyone know what will/has become of the E.P. etches and castings? Ray of BH Enterprises has sadly recently passed, so the future of these etches may not be safe. Could we maybe be down to the offerings of Worsley works in the future?

The recent and forthcoming carriages from Farish are now teetering around the £50 per carriage. Yes, some big retailers will offer the 15% discount but they have still become expensive IMO. I really hope that somebody takes on the etched sides from E.P. It would also be good if those who have retreated from the production of etched sides in N, were to consider some limited runs. Maybe they could test the water to see how much interest is out there?

It's all very quiet on here, so I'll try to kick start things. Has anyone heard what is happening with the Etched Pixels range? If, and I hope it's not the case, the range fades into history, who is left doing the etched carriage sides and associated bit and pieces? Nothing in my latest 2mm association magazine which arrived recently.

Thank you for that info' Sithlord75. I am in the 2mm association. They have a range of carriage building parts, that has been steadily increasing in the couple of years I've been a member. I await the outcome of discussion/negotiations with interest.

Has anyone any news on what the future may hold for the E.P. products?

I've bought a few items from N'Tastic. The Brewers dray is very nice. I bought a pack of heavy horses to replace the now crude looking white-metal ones, pulling some of my Langley carts. A massive improvement! Also bought the Karrier refuse wagon, something I remember from my early years. As I model the early/mid 1950s I await more vehicles of this period. It's good to see 70s/80s vehicles for others, often sadly/unbelievably missed by by the major diecast manufacturer.

But then, the vents are really fiddly little devils that take so much time to line up, after achieving hopefully a really straight line of holes. I can invariably manage it, but hey, what a palaver. I have had no experience of 3D roofs, but I had some resin ones. I had a similar problem to Sithlord with thick ends and edges affecting them seating down. A lot of fettling and cussing to achieve an acceptable result. Perhaps the ideal is injection moulded roofs as used on proprietary models, but with that full compliment of vents that can be removed as required. I have some plain injection moulded roofs from the 2mm Association. They are a joy to seat down, but I still have to drill holes.

3d printed roofs are interesting. With so many variations of ventilators on different diagrams, would it be prudent to print them with a full complement of ventilators? Excess to requirements are carved/sanded away as required. Just a thought, although this may already happen? Marking out, drilling and fixing ventilators in unison is probably the most tedious and time consuming aspect for me.

It will be a real shame if it does go the way of the Dodo. The business has changed hands a couple/few times, and IMO still has a future. 3D printing is making ever increasing inroads within our hobby, and 3D carriages are out there. However, I do think that brass etches and actually building a carriage from a collection of parts will remain popular. Anyway, all we can hope is that the business is bought, possibly absorbed into a current range of similar (ish) products. E.Ps Hawksworth carriages are to 2mm scale, so maybe the 2mm association would be interested in these at least? We can only hope it doesn't go the way of the Dodo!

Good to see that things look to be slowly getting back to where they were on this site. Saddened that Etched Pixels is slowly being wound down/business closing. I wonder what will become of this important source of parts for our carriage building?

A heads up guys. I had a hunch this was in the offing due to so many OOS items having been so for so long. Hopefully somebody will take on the business, as it will be a considerable loss to us carriage builders. I placed an order with Alan a few days back.

It was a long time ago and I wonder what became of Jurgen and the layout. I think the very gently curved platforms added a lot of character to it, along with the adjacent babbling stream. I want the best of both World's, a main line and a single track branch line. My work in progress N gauge layout aims to cover both.

I was and remain captivated by the layout called Abermynach back at the beginning/mid 1980s. Indeed I have the three copies of R/M that featured it. Your superb layout is in the same vein and inspires me to build something loosely similar. I am wedded in N gauge and I'm tempted by the soon to be released Sonic models 56xx.

These will keep you busy for a while! I look forward to seeing progress when you are able to start work on them. Etched Pixels is now open for business after being closed for a year. I managed to get an order in quickly for some parts I had run out of. Looking just now a large number of items are now show as out of stock. Perhaps there has been an avalanche of orders leading to this? Alan at E.P. has said that some items will be discontinued/not re-ordered, citing some 3D printed ones. Hopefully this won't be too severe, and etches, buffers vents etc will continue in the range.

Yesterday I had an order delivered from E.P. It was most welcome as I'd run out of some essentials. A lot on the website is now shown as O.O.S. I have to wonder if this is due to an avalanche of orders after a years closure? Alan's message on the website a few days back says that some items will be deleted/not re-stocked. Good that he is open for business though!

These two books have real in depth information on T.P.O.s. There is info' on the train robbery vehicles in the left hand book. They do turn up on ebay.

Alan at Worsley works has said he is working on some LMS T.P.O.s that I'd asked him about. I bet you will love those sets you have ordered!

As always DavidK71, some nice and inspirational modelling. I've struggled a bit with corridors, using clear sheet and some matt brown "sticky back plastic" cut into thin strips and painstakingly applied...but it works. On a separate note, I see that E.P. are remaining closed due to ongoing Covid concerns. We have also needed to shield so I can fully understand.

DavidK71, Thank you for posting about the etching done for you by PPD. I have looked at their website and it's very enlightening as to what is involved. I take it that once you have paid for the initial work, then subsequent etches could potentially be done as orders to re-coup some of the initial costs? Not implying for one moment this is your intention, but it may be something that those with the skills to produce a file for PPD might consider. I imagine there are many out there who like myself do not have the p.c. knowledge to produce carriage sides.

I haven't bought anything yet from the Shapeways site. Can someone explain how it works please?

Doncaster Green (John) Some interesting points your make. I got into building carriages when the NGS were selling off all of their shop stock. They had some LMS/B.R. Ultima porthole etched ides going for a song, so I thought why not give it a go. I used some really thin ply for the chassis bed, and some Plastruct "I" beam channel to replicate the real thing. A case of cobbling together bits and buying cast components from Etched Pixels. A good learning curve, but some of my early builds will eventually get a re-build using skills and knowledge built up along the way. My most recent builds have been from Worsley Works etches. I was very wary of soldering but the fear has somewhat gone. Lack of availability will push some of use to look at ways of making our own bits. Water tanks was something I made from plastic rod...easy really. I think 3D printed parts will come to the fore as more people master it. Job losses may tempt some to try their hand at producing model parts. Possibly a new sort of cottage industry occurring, although Chris Leigh thought differently some while back writing in a copy of Model Rail.

I don't know how much 2mm/N Worsley Works sales, but he is certainly up for suggestions of diagrams to produce. I have asked if he would do some L.M.S. TPOs and he is looking into it. His LMS carriage etches allow, e.g, a Royal Scot train to be formed, as it's a wide range. I have a few Bill Bedford etches that I've had via ebay, but they seem thin on the ground. Using the clouds and silver linings thing, I reckon lockdown may have induced some people to try, or rekindle some hands-on modelling. With the £50 Farish carriage not that far away, hopefully a few more may be spurred on to try their hand at carriage building. Etched Pixels is mothballed until next Spring, Ray of B.H. enterprise is unwell, so this leaves W/works as seemingly the only source of etches at the current time. Unless of course anyone know differently?

Talking of etches, Mounsa models, who I believe is Bill Bedford, was mentioned on the f/book L.M.S. modelling page today. This was in relation to his 4mm etches. I replied saying that I'd asked him if he'd be re-introducing his N gauge carriage sides, and I'd never had a reply. To this there was a reply saying "Mounsa" had said on RMweb if somebody could show it was profitable then he would do it. It seems the availability circle of carriage etches is shrinking?

Great to know that levels of interest are still there, even if other things get in the way. David K71, those etches look interesting. Is this etches from your own design? A few months back I asked Alan at Worsley Works about doing some LMS T.P.O.s. He sounded receptive but I've not heard anything since. T.B.H. I've had a short break from coaches, and built Some Petite Properties buildings. I usually scratch-build but was curious about them. Great pre-cut stout card kits, that allow your to finish and enhance them as you wish. With lockdown mk2 I'll soon be back to coachbuilding.