Flymo748

Hi Dave, As I believe they say in the movies - "you have mail..." The Scalefour Society Committee has already been discussing this, and are keen to support a P4 variant if this is a realistic prospect. Thanks, on behalf of all of us, for considering the possibility, and for the flexibility of attitude. We hope that this may be the first of many opportunities to move finescale closer toward RTR. Cheers Paul Willis Scalefour Society Deputy Chairman

And very good they are too... What they also show is how malnourished the original Dapol one is. On the left, the original, on the right, the one fitted with the 51L replacement chimney as part of the project based around installing a High level chassis kit, built to P4. Note that High Level do NOT supply the chimney in their kit. There are a number of lost wax castings, but this is not one of them. The kit is superb, the chimney makes the model that touch better. HTH Flymo

I had the same issues with soldering the smokebox wrapper on my Gibson Y14. It needed the same method as well, with the RSU cranked up. I effectively spot-welded it into place, then used a conventional iron to run a seam around the front and back edges. The use of a brass tube avoids the need to roll boilers by hand, but it does bring complications of its own.

Comments? Very nice indeed. It really brings the bogie to life...

That does look as though it has a lot of promise. It reminds me of the sight of one of my local stations when I was at school. Watch the wrap! http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&q=map+stourbridge+town&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Stourbridge,+Dudley,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ei=e8G8TJrAOMyh4QbxsJXVDA&ved=0CBkQ8gEwAA&ll=52.455339,-2.141481&spn=0.00168,0.003449&t=k&z=18

And thanks from me to Morgan, who very patiently showed me how to get a trackplan scanned from a map into Templot, and start laying track templates over it. He even gave me the two files that he produced to take home and build further onto. Unfortunately, one of them seems to have blank content when I try and load it, but this is why I <heart> Templot so much... Flymo

I was reminded of your model of Clevedon a few weeks ago when I flew out of Bristol on a business trip. Curving around over the Severn Estuary to head to Amsterdam, I could look down between Weston and Clevedon. From the air, it was amazing how much of the route of the railway could still be traced. It was almost entirely visible between the edges of the towns. Having just looked on Google Maps, there is far less identifiable, so it must have been the particular growth of the crops that made it stand out across fields. Have you ever overflown it yourself? Flymo

I agree with Tony, they really should be narrower/shorter. Given the skill level that you've showed with the rest of this build, it should be no problem for you to sweat them onto a piece of scrap brass and file them down to size together. Separate them by heating gently again with the edge of a sharp scalpel inserted in the join. If you've seen my post on Beer & Buckjumpers about making a replacement brakeblock, then you'll see what I mean. Flymo

Do you have an RSU? I suspect that would be a great help. Of course, I keep forgetting that I have one, and keep soldering inappropriate things with a conventional iron :-/ Flymo

Inserts tongue firmly in cheek... Really? Headboards and NG? From our annual private trip and BBQ, just about to leave Tywyn about a month ago. Good luck with the new venture anyway. I hope that it is justifiably popular. Flymo

Not delicate at all. Just one of those unfortunate things that was outside the control of the Scalefour Society. Regrettably, Mostyn withdrew their original acceptance of our invitation to attend. We are currently looking at having one or two D&E layouts attend to replace it, depending on the space available. Mark has very kindly offered Portchullin to us at very short notice, as it was the winner of the Society's D&E Challenge and we would be delighted to have it return. All the best Paul Willis Deputy Chairman (typing this from a very noisy Amsterdam, where Het Oranje are celebrating)

Had you thought of the 3D plastic moulding service of Impossible Creations for the mouldings and brackets? I saw the demonstration production of a sample piece at Missenden and was extremely impressed in the architectural possibilities. For this sort of detailing it seems ideal. Co-incidentally, contact details are in SSF in the latest MRJ, or http://www.impossiblecreations.co.uk/

Hi James, Very nice work there. Can I make one suggestion that will make the soldering much easier for you? Forgive me if you have done this, but it isn't apparent from the photos. If you use a fibreglass pencil or brush to polish the etchings before assembling them, the soldering will be much easier. It physically removes the oxides from the surface, which makes the flux cleaning more effective and the solder "take" to the metal much more cleanly. The etches are obviously not as old as some twenty years ones covered in sellotape from the back of the kit cupboard, but even on good quality etches it will make a difference. Consider the method of making an etched kit, which is based on a resist film and it becomes an even clearer necessity. HTH Flymo

And as there's such interest, I don't think that it would be out of place to mention that there should be a book under the working title "St Merryn - building a finescale model railway" published by the Scalefour Society later this year. I won't make promises about publication dates and content at this point but on the basis of a meeting over a few beers last night, the production of it is going very well. Paul Willis Scalefour Society Deputy Chairman

I don't know what Excel listing of MRJ articles you were referring to, but there is an alternative available: http://www.modelrailwayjournal.com/ The product of a lot of hard work by a chap called Matt Ots (I don't recall if he's on this place or not), he's also recently put a similar index of the Great Western Journal online. I find them absolutely invaluable. HTH Flymo

If it's not going to be a second RMWeb 2010 Challenge layout, what about entering it in the Scalefour Society's Armchair Modeller's Challenge? "The diorama must not exceed 600mm long x 400mm wide x 600mm tall but may be smaller. It must include at least one length of track made to P4 standards and at least one item of stock or a locomotive that must have P4 wheels fitted. The item of stock does not have to be capable of movement. At least two figures must be modelled." It sounds ideal in subject - you don't have to enter the fiddle yard as part of the diorama and the rest may fit nicely. Flymo

If I had the space, I would go for it. It's a far better incentive to have something that is up permanently to work on than constantly be working out of a box. What is the minimum ruling radius? If that is workable in P4 then the visuals will follow along nicely. Flymo

Excellent work. The AJ jigs are the single thing that makes forming and mounting these couplings none of the black art that they used to be. Did you also get a copy of the book published by the Scalefour Society that extends the original articles by the MMRS? It also gives a few alternative methods of mounting the couplings that can be useful on other types of rolling stock. Flymo

I'd agree with your compression factor. It's simply an unfortunate fact of life that railways take up a lot more space in the prototype than we generally have available for them :-( If there is one thing that perhaps you could try, it would be to move the bridge (and thus the whole ensemble) along maybe 15-20 cm towards the baseboard end. That may allow you a little more platform length, and preserve a proper slope down the ramp, as to change that would look odd in the vertical dimension. I believe that for contemporary modelling, the "gaps" such as that between the location of the pacer and the end of the line are essential to give that feeling of space. Not often noticed, but vital. HTH

If you'd like to read another P4 newcomer's first experience of building a P4 turnout, have a look at: http://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=421 Non-members of the Society can view the Scalefour Society Forum and, if they wish, post comments in the Guest Book. There is a slightly longer version of it at http://4mmscaleagonies.blogspot.com/2009/06/make-your-point.html HTH Flymo

Seconded... An excellent piece of kit for the job - which is one that you don't realise is needed until you see how much RTR and kits can vary from each other in this vital dimension. Flymo

Hiya James, Don't worry too much about being quoted three different numbers. They are, in order: 17.67 - the MINIMUM acceptable BtB under P4 standards 17.75 - the MAXIMUM suggested BtB under P4 standards 17.87 - the BtB for S4 modelling, which if you hadn't heard of the difference is a true scaled down set of dimensions. Although you've seen the superb visual benefits of P4 wheels, there are still slight variations from 1:76.2 dimensions for practical and manufacturing purposes. There are a few cracking S4 layouts out there - google Ray Hammond's Buntingham for one - but it is very much the hair-shirt end of the Scalefour Society. The Society Digets on track standards recommends going to the higher end of the BtB as this will give less slop through pointwork, and a generally better ride. I'd go with the 17.75 one if I were you. However, the main thing (as with much of P4 modelling) is that once you've made your choice and bought a gauge, it doesn't matter if it is expressed to four decimal places, it Just Works. FWIW, my BtB for P4, as scribbled on a corner of my workbench, is 17.78mm, as measured on a digital mic. That's just what the Society gauge was when I bought it years ago, and that's what i;ve used ever since! HTH de-mystify things, Flymo

Hi Mikkel You asked: "2. Were locos at any time allowed into these large goods depots?" Well, Buckjumper said the same as I would, that most of the work was done by hydraulic capstan, and of course the ubiquitous railway horse. However before work this morning I pulled my copies of Great Western Miscellany Volumes 1 & 2 to have a look through, as I was sure that there were a couple of photos of large goods sheds there. And indeed there are excellent photos from the early 20th century of the large shed at Birmingham Moor Street. More particularly, in Volume 1 there is a lovely photo as plate 123 that shows the exterior, and the road nearest the platforms clearly shows smoke marks from locomotives above the entry to the goods shed. HTH Flymo

I remember using the same approach of painting Ratio GWR four-wheelers many years ago... If you get the cream colour to the right consistency - thick enough so the the black doesn't shine through, and runny enough so that it flows right up to the corners - it works extremely well. It's helped by the fact that the Ratio panelling is a little over scale depth. You may also find a blunt cocktail stick works better than a brush in teasing the paint up into the corners. Good luck, and I look forward to seeing the results.