SteelShadow104

Man your rolling stock is making me jealous. I know that they are way out of era, but I think the coaches look great and can always be used for a branchline scene since they tend to use older stock. Plus they are no where close to being as expensive as the MK1 kits I've seen. I just with they offered a brake variant instead of the bird cage.

That's why I bought so many haha. I was planning on building the 4 wheel coaches next that connoisseur offers, that way I can get used to the build and get solder practice before tackling a loco. I already played around a bit with a Wizards Mk1 kit. Plus another good thing about O is that you can work features in much more easily for extra detail

That is a very nice Jinty. You make me envious, but I'd rather build kits, very eager to get further on my soldering. I feel much more satisfied knowing I spent the money to build a loco and get a good looking loco that I built rather than just buying one. Especially since they're roughly the same price and or cheaper than factory made. Only my modelling skills will decide that! As I said, I'm young and anything can change when I am able to settle down and start the process of a layout. The wagons aren't really dictating my layout limits, like I said I'm just building my stock. Whatever I go with (which will mostly likely be ex-GWR or ex-LMS) I just won't use the incrorrect wagons. Only thing I'm worried about is if I really wanna stick with O. I can get much more scenery and landscape if I go with OO, and I already have a decent stock of locos and wagons, but I'm really enjoying the size of O as it's much easier to work with and has a satisfying feel. Whatever I decide, I'm enjoying doing these kits, and I can always use them to make a shelf shunting layout if I get bored.

Also, you bet I went and opened one of those van's to check this. Sadly same issue with the excess brass in the buffers. Brand new spruce yet I still have to go through the torture of cleaning these out Definitely making sure I do these later

As much as I would love to build a layout, sadly I'm not at the state to where I can. I don't my own house/property yet, so I don't really have any space for anything. Not even much to build these kits. I plan on just building up my inventory, as kits don't take much space, and it's what I'll enjoy doing to practice my skills and creativeness as a modeller. As for region ideas, interest may change over time. Before I was thinking about going with a GWR, but I might go with LMS instead. Who knows! I love both railways and it makes it hard to choose. So far the only big project I'm wanting to try to work toward right now, is to build either a connoisseur Jinty or a J71 to go with my arsenal of wagons

Just an update. Think I got a little carried away ordering more wagons to build haha. Can't wait to get started on them, but I'm not too eager to do more van's again. However Slater's got a little confused on my order and sent me a 7 plank with a sheet rail when I ordered a 5 plank open. What's weird is that both have the same product number so don't know what happened there. Gonna be a bit more of a hassel for me to sort this out though since they're on the other side of the Atlantic

Will definitely give it a go, tired of holding fragile pieces and blowing on it for a solid 5 min just to redo it again haha. Also y'all have any tips or details I should know about for the BR brake van? That belly shot saved me for the Std van

I believe 1/32" and I don't know the depth. Just chose whatever was easier to manipulate I only used epoxy because its the only stuff I have to bond brass and plastic. Believe me I have so many epoxy pools on a plate from every time I've had to used it haha

If you're talking about these, then I'm way ahead of ya haha. Suckers snapped apart the moment I tried cleaning any of the feed from the spruce. I just bought a brass strip, a pair of needle nose, and the unbroken loops as a template and ended up pretty clean. However, it was a huge headache trying to get them to stand straight as the epoxy took awhile to cure, and any slight movent would knock them over.

Humorous story haha and believe me mine are no better, I do electrical for a living right now and my fingers get torn up on a daily basis. Plus hand drilling with such small bits tend to lead to plenty of punctures. As for drilling the buffers, I figured putting them on a slightly tight vise would be the easiest, which it was, but the drill wasn't able to grab the bit tight enough to do anything

Are those casted or brass? Because the 7 plank wagon I did has brass bodies that weren't on a spruce, while the van's were casted and had to be cut and sanded off a spruce. Could possibly be a bad batch that I may have received in the brake and Std van kits? Either way here's the kits for reference if needed

I just got some thicker plastic that perfectly matches the size for the W irons rather what came in the kit. The brass felt nearly just as flimsy as the plastic so I didn't bother with it. Figured plastic on plastic would form a smoother and stronger bond than epoxy. And yes I did see the release agent before hand and was able to clean that out, but all 8 buffers for both the van and brake van have these casting burrs inside that prevent the buffer shafts from sliding in, like I said to SM42 I was able to take a round file to them and was able to drill them out, but these are further inside and I can barely even see them. It's so much work to get these cleaned out and I have more coming in the mail soon

Had the same issue with the van's buffers, but they were much closer to the opening so I was able to get a round file on it, but these are for a brake van I'm working on now and are further inside to where I can't reach them

Got the van finished a few days ago, but finally got the plastic to complete the tie bars. Still not happy having plastic for them but I wasn't about to epoxy brass as I feel that will be just as weak. Already had hell with the vacuum pipes . Any opinions or tips about the van? Now for the next problem. How do y'all deal with cleaning out the buffer bodies that Slater provides? I was able to manage with the van, but took me awhile to do so. Every pin vise drill I've tried hasn't been able to break it, and I've even resorted to using a power drill with no luck. Simply too hard and just the size to where I can't find a tool to grip the bit good enough to break it. Getting very frustrated as I don't understand why that's even there in the first place. Appreciate the help, Steven

That was the only thing I figured, and they also give you a choice of shock springs too. I just don't see why they would send me a whole extra set when I already have a set with customization. Just seems like a waste of material for them. I just wasn't sure if there was a little extra detail between them that I didn't notice that was for Morton or vacuum versions or something. Appreciate the comment

Morning, I had some questions about a BR 12T standard van I'm working on, and I was curious to know if y'all could fill me in. The kit comes with parts for a van with Morton side and vacuum side. What's the difference supposed to be between them and why would I choose to fit one over the other? Next two long springs are provided with the buffer set and I don't know what's that's for? They already have the springs for the buffers already on them and I don't see anywhere on the instructions what they are supposed to be used for. Then I noticed there was a second set of buffer beams on a spruce, but I don't see what's the difference between that and the one already on the ends. Finally there are 3 spruces that were provided for the wheel frames, springs and shoes. 2 of which are needed to be put together, while one spruce was a cast and has all four fully complete. Is there supposed to be a difference between these and the build able ones? And one minor question what was the point of having the middle link in the couplings be different than other wagons. I know these are very small specific questions about the kit, but I just wanna be sure I'm not accidentally mixing different versions together or leaving out extra details Here are some pictures: Appreciate any help, Steven

Can't relate. Been waiting nearly a week for my wagon kits just for the payment to go through. I know we have Covid right now, but they haven't even responded to my email about it

I can understand that, but I'm new to kit building so I'm starting with the small locos first, so no need for super duty motors and gears for them. Plus I really don't wanna have to spend more money if it isn't necessary, but I see that being a necessity for the large passenger or freight locos. Be a shame to see a King only pulling a handful of coaches lmao

Thank you for the information, since Connoisseur doesn't really have any of the "Large" locos other than the B12 I should be fine with the weaker motor and gearbox, as long as they run good. How strong would that be though? I'm trying to make all my rolling stock, so mainly brass for coaches and plastic for wagons

Evening, I've been thinking about buying a 7mm kit from either Gladiator or Connoisseur, but I was curious about the quality of the Motors and gearboxes. Gladiators recommendation for few certain models were a ABC gearbox and a Maxon motor, but that comes out to be £120. While Connoisseur offers their own motors and gears for only about £45. Is there really a big difference in the quality? Appreciate any feedback, Steven

I was wondering if anyone knew of a company that can make custom etched nameplates and headboards and ship to the US for cheap. I'm trying to rename and renumber a loco to match the "Drysllwyn Castle", but the only decent supplier I found was narrow planet; who dont make any GWR nameplates. I'm also curious if there is a supplier that can create the headboard and code for 'The Bristolian'. I'd go through The Model Centre when buying the engine to do it for me, but their prices start to get really high once you start customizing. So if there is any advice or knowledge of a supplier that can help, it'd be much appreciated. Steven

Alright so I just got done switching the chip and finally got the loco running. But just to clarify the blue one is my dcc decoder, and the black is just a blank board to make it run like a DC loco correct? And if that is the case, then just means I got a bad decoder then?

Really didnt want to get too much into taking it apart in fear of either breaking it or not able to put it together again. Like I said, everything seems to be good. All the wire and boards for the dcc in the tender are clean and make contact, and all the wire and resistors are clean and intact on the motor. The loco and its innards all still look brand new.

I'll look into doing that, but whenever I did take apart the tender everything seemed to be fine. Both boards seemed clean, but I'll see if it works and update with y'all.

Hi, I got this loco as a present from ehattons a few Christmases ago, and havent been able to run it since. It's been awhile so my memory is a bit foggy about the loco. So for some reason the loco will not run what so ever. I have tried running it with dcc and DC with no luck. I have taken the engine apart to troubleshoot and got no where. I have checked the pickups and seem to be fine and even test to see if the engine even get power. I'm not sure what is wrong with it, but would appreciate any feedback about the loco. I'd like to keep the loco and enjoy it, but I am also interested in just selling it to replace it with a new loco. So if anyone is interested please let me know