MisterT

Hi David - Is it this coming Thursday, 20th July? What time does it start? And is there an entrance charge? I just looked at the Bourne End Community Centre "What's On" and I couldn't see it listed there? Thanks, Ed

Hi David, Weird ... I was only thinking about this again the other day, and thinking that I should pop over to Bourne End sometime soon to take some measurements. So yes - I would indeed be very interested to see the original contract drawings for Wheatley! Where on earth did you find something like this? I spent a couple of hours yesterday searching online for GWR station drawings, and I couldn't finr anything relevant. So yes - please do send a copy over. I think you've probably still got my email addresss? Let me know if not. Thanks! Ed 🙂

Thanks Andy, Sorry, I didn't notice that. Ed

Hi All, I was browsing the the Shops page on the 2mm website earlier, and my interest was piqued by the following new product description: "3-125 - Crankpin: Flanged: 0.5mm dia: 0.75mm Base for Mk6 and later Wheels: Turned Brass. These are designed for use with the forthcoming Mk6 driving wheels and are not suitable for use with Mk5 or earlier wheels." Maybe I have missed or overlooked a recent announcement, but what are/will be the Mk6 driving wheels? Thanks, Ed

Hi Don - thanks for your reply 🙂 As you can probably guess, I am a complete novice at track building (and 2mm), hence why the advent of Wayne's kits is so appealing to someone like me. I hope to be able to use Wayne's kits for as many turnouts as possible on my planned layout ... mostly laid "asis" but maybe also adapting a few. Thanks again for your thoughts, Ed

Hi Martin - Thanks for your quick reply! 🙂 I hadn't thought about the need for special chairs and fixings around the centre part of the turnout, so what you say about equalized timbers in that part of the slip makes complete sense - thanks! And as you say, whatever I do about other timbers in the slip, or adjacent turnouts, will obviously require some degree of kit-bashing, or hand-building. Thanks again, Ed 🙂

Wayne - Thank you so much for all this development that you are doing! The turnout kits look really great, and I am eagerly looking forward to more sizes becoming available in 2mm fs 9.42mm gauge! 🙂 Martin - Thank you very much for your example of how a single slip would work on an up/down line. This is exactly the situation on the prototype that I am starting to model (Wheatley on the Princes Risborough to Oxford line) so it is really helpful to me to have a clear explanation of the order in which the point blades would be set. 🙂 However, could I please ask you (and maybe others?) about the alignment of the sleepers in such a situation? Looking at the photos that I can find of Wheatley station, it appears that the sleeper arrangement is probably as in my first diagram, with all sleepers laid perpendicular to the running lines. However, looking at all commercially available single slip turnouts/kits, the sleepers always seem to be arranged perpendicular to the the centre line of the slip (not sure if I have described that very well?) as highlighted in red in my second diagram. Do you know what the normal prototype practice would be? Or does it vary between regions/locations? Thanks, Ed

Can I also echo the comments of others ... as a complete newbie to 2mm it was great to have the chance to see so many of these wonderful layouts in one place, and it was especially nice to be able to get very close up to them without barriers in the way. I thought the range of layouts was excellent - not only the bigger and more established and well known layouts, but also lots of interesting and different ideas on the challenge layouts. A big thank you to everyone involved in organising the weekend, especially all those who travelled and set up the layouts on a very hot Friday! Thanks again to all involved for a very well managed and inspirational weekend! Ed

Hi all - thanks for the feedback. It sounds pretty much like "anything will be OK" ... I have a couple of those retailers quite near me, so I'll see what I can pick up. Thanks again, Ed

Hi All, I'm very new to all of this ... I'm trying to buy a self healing cutting mat, and I'm a bit overwhelmed/confused with all the choice out there ... whether mats do actually heal or not, and some mats say you can only use a rotary blade on them ... can anyone recommend a brand/supplier of mat that does actually self-heal (to some degree) and remain relatively smooth? This is mainly for using a modelling knife to cut paper/thin card. And I will probably get an A3 mat. Thanks, Ed

Hi Richard, Thanks for your reply, that makes things clearer. I've just created an account, and downloaded design space, and had a quick play. It looks like you can import different file types (including svg or dxf) so I'll have to give that a go and see how well that works. I'm thinking of buying a machine this autumn, I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again for your help, Ed

Hi Richard, Thanks for replying about the Cricut questions; what you've said all sounds pretty positive and encouraging. Can I please ask you another couple of things? - What is the smallest diameter circle you have managed to successfully cut in paper or thin card? (I'm thinking about how to cut a few "layers" and then align them using (small) drills or rods through alignment holes.) Also, how have you got on with the software - Cricut Design Space? Do you just design your buildings, windows etc. in some other software, and then import into Design Space? And I'm a bit confused about some of the things I've read: - Is the Design Space installed on your own PC, or is it on the web? - Do you have to pay anything to upload and cut your own images, or is it all free? I've read something about being restricted to 20 uploads per month unless you subscribe to Cricut Access? - It looks like you have to log into Design Space with a userid and password? Which means that it may not be possible to buy a Cricut maker second-hand? I may have to buy a new one so that I can register a userid? Thanks again for your help, Ed

Hi Richard, Great looking layout I am especially impressed by your use of the Cricut Maker ... could I ask you a few questions? - What thickness card do you use for your building shells? - Which blade are you using to cut the main card shells for your buildings out of thick card - would it be the "Deep Point Blade" or the "Knife Blade"? - What is the actual width of the cuts made by these blades? - And how closely can you space the cuts? I'm working in 2mm scale, and I plan on making a lot of buildings, and I'm weighing up whether to buy one of these machines. I'm guessing it should be fine for cutting the basic building card shells and window/door openings. But I'm not sure whether it would be possible to cut window frames/glazing bars in 2mm scale? (Probably I may need to get windows etched.) I'd be interested in any thoughts you have based on your experience of using the machine. Thanks, Ed

Thanks for the feedback, Dave. I've just measured the roof pitch on my station building mock-up and actually it's almost exactly 40%, maybe just a shade over; so, a happy coincidence that you reckon it should be around 40%. Based on your comments about the window spacing I've taken another look, and I think you're right, I do need to bring the windows a bit closer together; and also widen the entrance to the indoor area; I think a bit like the picture I've attached. Anyway, yes, I'll PM you to get the drawings of Bourne End - that's very kind of you. And yes, I do have the Lingard book, so I'll take a closer look at that drawing of Princes Risborough to get better aligned with that. Thanks again for your help with this, Ed

Thanks @David Bigcheeseplantfor the photos and additional info I think all of the Wheatley-specific photos are now available on the Wheatley Archives, so thanks very much for sharing those with us. (I am not directly involved in the archives, but I talk occasionally to the person that maintains the entries on the website.) I am planning to model Wheatley as it was in the 1950s, so with the extra third window on the front and the increased gable projection on the rear. When all these lockdowns are finally over I will pop over to Bledlow or Bourne End to see if I can take some measurements of door/window sizes, etc. In the meantime I have knocked up some rough-and-ready paper/card mockups of the station buildings to give me an idea of how the layout will look, until I get around to building the proper versions. I hope I've captured the overall look, although I'm not sure I've got the correct door arrangement on the signal box? But please don't zoom in too closely! Thanks again for all your help, Ed