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Flymo748

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Everything posted by Flymo748

  1. Ah, you bought the Black Hawthorn... I was seriously tempted, as I enjoyed building the similar GER Coffee Pot so much. However sanity of the number of unmade loco kits in the pile won out. I can't remember - have you built one of Chris's kits before? Cheers Flymo
  2. From the Scaleforum Guide, details of one of our demonstrations. Howard will be bolted to his chair (although I don't know if we are using two, three or four bolts) throughout the weekend to help visitors: "Basic track construction The advent of kits for turnout construction and making of plain track have made the business of track building much easier and quicker but for those who need a special turnout formation or something out of the ordinary, track made using rail and sleepers is needed. Expert track builder Howard Bolton will be showing how crossing vees and switch rails can be made and will help you to make your own examples. Stay long enough and you will be able to take home a complete common crossing." For anyone that has not seen his work, Howard must be amongst the top two or three 4mm trackbuilders in the country... The full show guide is a free download at http://www.scalefour.org/downloads/2015/scaleforum2015guide.pdf HTH Paul Willis Scalefour Society Deputy Chairman
  3. I just wanted to say that it's really nice to see some quality scratchbuilding taking place. As someone that also has pre-Grouping interests, I wish you all the best with it, and you can consider this topic "followed". Cheers Flymo
  4. Why on earth would anyone mind building a High Level kit? They are an absolute joy, and the results are superb. This is my "Pug", in industrial guise, and it runs slowly enough to be almost impossible to perceive moving. That's the joy of a 108:1 gearbox for you. The High Level kit also gives you full cab detail, and plenty of room to fit a DCC chip as well. This is it going in between the frames, wrapped in red heatshrink just in case of an accidental short: Enjoy building the chassis kit. You'll not find a better quality one anywhere. Cheers Flymo
  5. Hi Marcus, Is there a way of subscribing to follow the blog as a whole, rather than just individual entries? I'd hate to miss an episode of this (particularly as Widford is just up the road) and the RMWeb interface seems nothing like as user friendly as (say) Blogspot... Cheers Flymo
  6. Some of us are quietly having a go at it... GER lined black is not exactly SECR in complexity, but this is the first locomotive that I've sprayed in cellulose (a revelation, even if this is only good enough for a shunting engine) and my second ever attempt at lining that doesn't involve transfers. As Jol knows, the next model will be more complex, as it involves 1906 LNWR lining... And yes, the compensated/rigid/sprung combination that we discussed on Thursday evening seems to work well. I set the frames up on the Avonside jig last night :-) Cheers Flymo
  7. Hi Colin, I also had a chat with Iain yesterday at Scaleforum. Not only did he repeat that he was very happy for you to continue your "companion" to his book on RMWeb, he was particularly pleased that you found it so useful and practical. He was genuinely chuffed that it was appreciated so much. Despite being one of the seminal writers on finescale modelling over the years - perhaps, given the number of volumes produced, THE seminal writer on finescale - he is still somewhat modest about the impact that his various writings on locomotives, kits and layout has had. Cheers Paul Willis Scalefour Society Deputy Chairman
  8. It's available now :-) Free to download for both members and non-members of the Scalefour Society. http://www.scalefour.org/shows/scaleforumguide2013.pdf I hope to see many RMWebbers at Scaleforum at the end of September. Do come over and say hello on the Society Stand. Cheers Paul Willis Scalefour Society Marketing Manager
  9. I would echo exactly that for the Great Eastern Railway Society. Lots and lots of knowledge, but the emphasis is mostly on timetables/loco-spotting/rolling stock usage and not information that is useful for modelling. The GERS email list would complement a section on RMWeb, not be in competition with it. I would certainly be a frequent visitor (and hopefully contributor) to a Pre-Grouping Forum over here. Cheers Flymo
  10. The Scalefour Society has a policy that it will make items that are generally useful to all finescale modellers available to all through its Public E-Shop. The lever frames, which are produced by one of the Society's Area Groups, definitely fall into this category, and we have known plenty of them purchased by modellers in other scales apart from 4mm as well. I recently had an enquiry from someone building a 1/24 scale model signal box and actually wanted to use them inside it... You can find them to purchase at http://www.scalefour.org/eshop/eshop.html Scroll to halfway down the page, and don't forget the handles! HTH Paul Willis Scalefour Society Deputy Chairman
  11. Looking good Knuckles. All these little trials and tribulations are part of trying something new and learning new skills. Yes, the plastic fishplates are remarkably fragile - I've broken a fair few myself. However remember that they aren't truly structural, and you can actually use them for their intended purposes - keeping the electrically live ends of the rail apart, and looking prototypical, by gluing them in place in separate pieces, or from both sides. This is what I've done ;-) P4 isn't about perfection in everything you know... Keep it up!F Flymo
  12. Flymo748

    Dapol Class 22

    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
  13. 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
  14. 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.
  15. Comments? Very nice indeed. It really brings the bogie to life...
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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)
  23. 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/
  24. 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
  25. 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
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