97406

I love the picture at the end with them cleaning the rail! 🙂

I’ve been on a bike ride before work this morning and yesterday too. Lovely and crisp, but you gotta get the layering right!

Happy to oblige there, Fran…!

The 81's body's painted and awaiting transfers. I've started weathering the chassis. Not too sure about the lifting points (just behind the cab doors) as they should be level with the bodyside but these are stuck to the chassis so can be easily redone. Once I have applied transfers, varnish and weathering, then the lights, roof details and glazing can go in and we're done.

I used to work in the bitumen industry and xylene or naptha were great at removing tar off your hands! I also remember when plastic weld was chloroform!

Yes, they’ll arrive when they arrive and it will be worth the wait, just like the Accurascale preorders. One will have to fill the time with a little modelling!

Just spotted this thread and I enjoyed this over the Christmas break with D318 as the star….

Whatever the reason, it still does you good!

A modular Class 304 tooling could also provide the basis for 305s and 308s as well as other slam door EMUs such as Classes 302 (I think they may have been slightly longer) and 307. Being based on the 63’ Mk1 suburban there are a lot of possibilities and even potential to use some of the exiting 57’ Mk1 suburban components. To expand on my earlier post I’d go for a 3 car 304/2 or 304/3 in blue/grey to start, but a 4 car blue 304 (any subclass) would follow after the layout gets extended which will be in the next 10 years or so. These will join the kitbash 304/1 which is progressing at the moment. A GMPTE 303 would be an early acquisition followed by a blue and grey one after the layout extension. Both unrefurbished. A blue 4 car Class 310 would be of interest after the layout extension as you did got the odd one on the old MSJ&A in the 70s and 80s. They glided along so smoothly after being accustomed to the bouncy castles.

It was the windscreen shape that was/is the worst problem on that particular model. A double whammy as I wanted 45106 with its window frames picked out neatly in silver.

In the meantime, after much squinting and filing, I think I've managed to get a symmetrical Class 304 cab front. The race is on.....

I’m grateful to have sampled the delights of 2 Warley shows, the first one after the pandemic was especially good. There are plenty of other large shows to fill the void with the Doncaster Festival of Model Railways perhaps being my favourite of the large shows and Ally Pally being one of the closest in terms of manufacturer attendance. Similarly I have shopped at Hattons a lot and I mourn their passing but then there’s still Rails, Kernow and a whole host of other retailers out there. The sheer number of new models in the pipeline paints a rosy picture of the hobby too. I’ll wager there is a significant number of people like me, still a few years off retirement that will suddenly have a lot more spare time to indulge in the hobby in the not-too-distant future. In my case it will involve breaking out of the confines of depot modelling and installing some running lines and some sort of industrial operation which will involve a whole raft of modelling and fresh purchases. Working is such an inconvenience when it comes to modelling at the end of the day! 😃

When I was into railway modelling in my teens in the 80s, I modelled the current scene as it was what I was interested in at the time. When I got back into modelling recently, I chose the same time period for reasons of nostalgia. I wonder how many other modellers do that and if I’m quite typical?

No, just the vanilla one with no sound. Sound would be good “Ticker, ticker, ticker, ticker, whooosh!”.

Indeed. Fair exchange for one in GMPTE brown and orange in my case. With the 304 it would be a fair trade for not having to get those cab windscreens right on the DC Kits mouldings. Currently driving myself slightly mad with one at the moment! 🤪

I’d pay a good £300 or £400 for a 3 car RTR Class 303 or 304, but I’d only get one of each for now, until the layout gets extended when there will be decent track and the right scene to run them on.

When I was a kid, my Dad's Hillman Imp used to tramline in the ruts worn into the surface by HGVs on the inner lane of the motorway. It was a little light at the front end due to the engine being at the back. It ended up with a bag of cement permanently in the 'boot' at the front!

We regularly get some nugget driving up the tram tracks in Nottingham. If only there were some signs to warn drivers against doing this….

Not recommended on a pushbike either!

To be fair, when I’m driving and there’s tramlines in the road, I do try and line my wheels up with the rails and pretend I’m driving a tram. The rails help steer the car to a degree too. The important thing is remember to stop following the rails when the tramlines leave the road! 🤪

My folks paid in the region of £2500 for their semi near Navi Road station in 1966! Anyhow back to the EMU.

No problem. It makes me want to progress my Class 304 which is a long term project based on Replica suburbans.

Most of the underframe detail has been scratchbuilt or adapted from the Bachmann mouldings. Just the lifting points and the central support brackets to fit which will follow after painting so they don't get broken by handling the body.

Try this…. https://www.altrinchamheritage.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Souvenir-May-11th-1931-Manchester-Altrincham-Electric-Train-Service.pdf