Helmdon
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Posts posted by Helmdon
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Hi all,
not sure where to start with this one or where to put it. I'm building a small diorama of the Mid Suffolk, and thoroughly enjoying it. But I've been collecting stock, for a planned 16 x 12 OO gauge layout over the past 8 years, and now thanks to a change in living arrangements am having to look at what I can do with more like 8 x 5 in N.
so, what's the best way to dispose of everything - am I best trying to drip it out on well known auction sites (I know I'll get more money overall) or just bite the bullet and get it all gone to one of the high street buyers of collections?
Part of me just wants it gone at this point, to free up space and cash to get on with what I can do, rather than what I've come accept I'll never do.
thoughts/advice welcome
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8 ton L&B open wagon arrived yesterday, brilliant service as always. Favourite online model dealer by a long way.
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4 minutes ago, Hroth said:I'm feeling like a vulture, but I've probably just made my last purchases from Hattons.
As I said earlier, I wish the company and their staff well in the future.
They are trading and will be until they stop. It’s not being a vulture, it’s a transaction. Gutted to see them go but they haven’t gone bust. It’s all money in the till until the doors are locked for the last time.
if anything, people are a bit stunned - me included - to see a company closing down the old fashioned ethical way, having become used to the ‘we’ve gone bust, please buy everything including the fixtures and fittings from an administrator’
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4 hours ago, Ravenser said:
One A1 didn't make it to A3 - I'm guessing that was Great Northern , butchered by Thompson as an act of spite.
A fact which has been repeated by ‘historians’ down the years as gospel despite being demonstrably not true.
quite apart from anything else, Great Northern wasn’t even selected for rebuilding by Thompson!
See Simon A C Martin’s book on Thompson from the other year.
The choice of locomotive was made by GA Musgrave, Southern Locomotive Superintendent of the LNER, conforming to the totally normal practice of CME proposing the design, a Locomotive Running Superintendent proposing the locomotive due a shopping that fitted the bill, and the LNER board signing off on it.
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1 hour ago, Nova Scotian said:
- Hornby Clan class (reckon it's time to see one again)
You mean in addition to Clan Stewart and Clan Macdonald which are still around new in shops? I reckon the Clan demand might just have been satisfied for now.
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2 hours ago, davidw said:
Absolutely. Add to that the Elizabethan, and other named expresses. Huge gaps all regions and eras...
Though amazingly you can do a passable early 1950s Master Cutler
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2 hours ago, MarkC said:
We've discussed a RTR B16 in the recent past, along with A8s & Raven Atlantics, of course. Big potential problem, of course, would be clearance between the bogie wheels & the cylinders.
NER coaches? Ooh, yes, both clerestory and "normal" roofed stock.
Mark
I’ve got two DJH ones (B16) though, and would happily have an RTR polished up version of their compromises
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On 07/12/2023 at 09:34, Andy Kirkham said:
I think that without exception, all the Lynton & Barnstaple models I have seen have represented the Southern era; also, both replica L&B locos have always carried Southern livery (although for some reason the L&B coaches are in the old company livery).
Why should this be? The original L&B loco livery was (IMHO) extremely attractive; while the Southen coach livery was rather drab. And, apart from the addition of Lew, there was scarcely any physical difference between the line in the Southern era and the independent era.
certainly in terms of locomotives they reached their final form in Southern ownership, so technically if you want to portray things like steam heating (or Lew) then the livery decision makes itself.However, I’ve always suspected (and I’ve got an L&B Southern era OO9 set up) that it’s the legitimate ability to represent a mainline company livery on the narrow gauge
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Bigger potential issue (and I realise that this is picking nits on nits) for me would be an instinct that that driver is going to work better with a right hand drive locomotive…
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1 hour ago, Mallard60022 said:
I'm desperately trying to think of how the Longmoor Loco made it to Exmouth Junction in the early 60s!
Ummmm!
P
LCGB Railtour. When in doubt, always an LCGB railtour.
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If it fits with what I need and I think it’ll sell out I do. One variant of the A5, the LNWR liveried Precedent, now Gordon (from ECR)
almost everything else I buy is second hand anyway
I did pre-order the second batch run of GT3, but only because I missed the boat the first time and the reviews by that stage were positive
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still want a B16...
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5 hours ago, spackz said:
I'm going to say B16, mainly due to the variants comment and they've never been done RTR before. B16/1, B16/2 and B16/3.
Would be a pleasant surprise.
It would be a serious wallet emptier for me
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4 hours ago, Giannis Halkis said:
As a usually H0 scale modeller - I am tempted!
This is a very high specification model (brass bearings, die cast metal boiler, chassis etc) and for this specification in H0, I would expect to pay more than the quoted price so yes, it’s expensive but I’d rather pay for quality than quantity.
Well done Clark Railworks.
Giannis.
Exactly - I’ve gone for Gordon as a big part of my childhood. It’s expensive but seems fair.
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19 hours ago, Typeapproval said:
Hi, initially I thought I was ploughing a lone furrow, Its reassuring to see another.
The roof: I carefully filed off 90% of the resin after removing the finials. Then overlaid using 'Slaters' corrugated plastic sheet and a ridge of 'Evergreen' angle. The illustrations in either of the books show the roof panels simply butted together so no "dividers" are required. I discovered that my wife's Silicon glue worked best on the two dissimilar materials (She a crafter) of Resin and Plastic sheet. The Bargeboards are fabricated from plastic strip.
The Grey is easily reproduced using 'Hycote' Grey Primer.
I have adapted the track plan from "Thaxted" station. As my location is fictitious (The Village of "Akenfield" only existed in the book of the same name) I had no qualms about it not being a copy of any of the MSLR stations.
Of course by 1950 the line was almost totally the preserve of the J15 and the Hornby model is pretty good. Coaching stock is more problematic. Plenty of good RTR freight wagons available though.
I hope this helps.
Regards
David.
thanks - that's all really helpful, and much appreciated. I actually know the remains of Thaxted reasonably well as family friends lived there when I was growing up and I spent more time than was probably sensible crawling around it all. Also a big fan of Akenfield, and Ronald Blythe in general.
I've got a J15, and a couple of crimson Hornby generics, so let's see what happens...
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On 17/09/2023 at 22:42, Typeapproval said:
Members
28
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk UK
Edit
Posted 1 hour ago
Hello,
Been a while since I added anything, The station building is partly modified, Corrugated roof rather than the plain thing that came out of the Hornby box. Internal walls to the 'Waiting Area' with a central roof support. A 'Gents' added. After much hair pulling I managed to mix a 99.9% colour match to be used on the gents and the 'parcel shed'. The basic framework for the platform is also well into production, A wooden frame covered in 'Art Board' well painted with Shellac and edged with Slaters brick plasticard. I have been experimenting with colour mixing to produce "Suffolk white" for the brickwork. (Please can anybody confirm that the platform was indeed this colour? its virtually impossible to discern the colour from the illustrations in either of the MSLR books).
As a practical start, I constructed three "Transportable" baseboards in well ventilated marine ply, The staton board 72" x 18" and a country board 48" x 18'" with a four track storage board of similar size. Luckily I have a workshop for the carpentry and a very forgiving 'domestic authority' so I can to real modelling in the conservatory.
Nearly 50 years ago I planned to build a model railway in the loft of our first house. Life as usual conspired to frustrate (The old "Man Plans and God Laughs!) my ambition. A job that took me to Sweden and the Netherlands, three very active children (Dancing, Swimming, Gymnastics, Football to name just some). Does focus the mind away from personal hobbies.
At the time of this first dream, my wife pandered to what I'm sure at the time she considered an odd thing for a grown man to do, and purchased yards of "GraFar" OO flexible track. In my humble opinion better looking than PECO. Sadly as we know 'Graham Farish' as was, has been absorbed into the Bachmann empire and now is totally N gauge. I did manage to find some OO 'FORMOWAY' points though the cost badly upset my accountant! (Wife, you know what the say about accountants, "They know the cost of everything and the value of nothing!).
The basic track plan is down, the 'Station area' laid, at 7' extending onto the 'country board' and the four track storage area laid and wired.
So I think I can say I have actually made a start this time.
Kind Regards
David.
PS. My Wife genuinely is an Accountant 🤔.
Great to stumble across this thread this morning and have a read through. I think we're on parallel lines...
I'm just starting my own 'shunting plank' based on the MSLR and have got the same building for the same reasons. Mine is set in 1951 and I'm still fiddling with the trackplan - I'm modelling Arcady as per Love on a Branch Line (novel rather than the 1990s tv adaptation) so there's scope for a few changes to real life - it's mainly an excuse for a traction engine in the station yard and a cricket match in what's supposed to mainly be a test piece to improve my modelling skills rather than a full-on layout.
I've looked at the Mendlesham trackplan but think I might get bored quickly from an operating pov, which is tipping me back towards something that looks more like Laxfield.
Anyway, I've got a couple of questions if I may given you're a couple of steps ahead of me?
I've already partitioned off the interior (great minds!) and wondered what you've used for the corrugated iron on the roof (and if you just cut it to size and stuck it over the top? I've been staring at mine for a couple of days wondering whether I couldn't just score lines into the resin of the roof....
Secondly, and I throw this open to the wider readership of the thread, given I'm doing the early 1950s I've a feeling the building should be a sort of washed out grey... can anyone suggest either the closest paint or point me to a colour picture of the sort of shade I should be aiming for (doesn't have to be of a building, anything the right grey will do)?
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23 minutes ago, didcot said:
Thanks Andy.
I did initially think about having it the other way around, but decided against it as the main station building would have its back towards you.
I suppose you could always model it in heavy fog! In terms of scenery, are you thinking contemporary or period? I always thought an Arley backscene featuring the authentic gothic riot that was Arley Castle, and which must have prominently loomed over the station (to the left as you look at it in your orientation), would be interesting...
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This is very much at the musing stage. My main interests are the GC and the L&B, both very much based on plug and play items in the main, with the GC layout in particular still awaiting construction of a room in the garden that will give room to do it properly.
In the meantime, I've got this internal space, about 8' x 2', a J15 and a copy of Love on a Branchline....
So the intention, as a winter project, is a little essay on the MSLR designed to practice all my skills again after nearly 30 years (aside from the last 2 years membership of a club) before I start work on a GC London Extension which will be more like 18' x 12'. So practicing tracklaying, ballasting, scratchbuilding, kitbuilding, scenics etc. DC with motorised points, potentially some of the space to be fiddleyard/casette or similar.
First up though, any suggestions for operational interest? I'm thinking at the moment roughly the Mendlesham trackplan - so single line with a siding and headshunt, unless someone with more specific local knowledge reckons I've got the space to have a go at Laxfield....?
Anyway, just putting it out there as a statement of intent/encouragement to self to get on with it.
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On 08/09/2023 at 11:45, RAF96 said:
Folk have adjusted the complex speed curve to better synch the chuffs, which works well and other folk have reported the P2 has a reluctor dusk fitted to the 2nd driver set for the future purposes of exactly synchronising chuff sound and smoke effect from the atomising steam unit (ASU).I think the turbine loco steam rush in the video is akin to the difference between a piston engined and jet engined aircraft.
Note that the Turbomotive has two turbines, a big one for forward and a smaller one for limited speed and haulage capacity in reverse. The design concept being the loco would always haul forwards but needed reverse capability for local manoeuvring. Normal reversing techniques of course are not possible on a turbine drive.
Normal techniques aren’t, but the Former naval officer in me is now going down all sorts of by-ways in my head about how you could (given limitless budget and technology/ideas that didn’t really have currency at the time) apply the principle of controllable pitch propellers somehow….
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2 minutes ago, JShow said:
Now that Seaham Harbour has been mentioned, I'd love a model of Milo or Mars. Not going to happen, I know, but they would make fantastic models. Accurascale Fran posted a picture of Milo on the chaldron thread with favorable comments, but they're doubtful as a commercial product.
more mileage in a coffee pot I think, though the Lewin wouldn't vastly surprise me either...
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2 hours ago, Mallard60022 said:
You've more chance of Lambton Worum hinny.
P
had ya gob*
*sometimes having had a grandfather from Seaham Harbour comes in handy. Not often I'll grant you, but sometimes...
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I'm another firmly in the 'please can I have a B16/1?' camp - despite the fact I've now got 2 DJH ones, one of which is fully operational and the other coming along.
So being purely selfish, please can I have a GCR Class 8/LNER B5 fish engine? Preferably in BR black...
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11 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:
Instead of rollers, crematoria could lay down some track and a dozen or so locos could shunt your coffin into the flames.
Nothing says dignified like being propelled towards the flames at 450mph (from a standing start) by a dozen Smokey Joes...
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there are times that I really hate modelling the GC mainline in 1950s Northants...
I think I'll just hoover up all the kits that are about to have a massive price drop.
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starting again in a new scale - advice on disposal
in Modelling Questions, Help and Tips
Posted
I’ll reply more properly/acknowledge people tomorrow - many thanks all- but am working late tonight. I have actually thought of this but didn’t know where to start. Definitely worth some consideration and thanks for the link!