davknigh

Not for the faint of heart. It puts me in mind of some of the Fred Dibnah clips I’ve seen. Cheers, David

I have a question regarding safety cages on ladders attached to buildings. The building in question is the Scalescenes water tower illustrated here: https://scalescenes.com/product/t024d-industrial-d-water-tower/ It has a hatch on the roof which, to my mind, would be accessed by a ladder on the outside of the building. Given that the roof scales out at 40’ above the ground my 21st century mind says that the ladder should have a safety cage around it, but my model is set in the early ‘50s. Can anyone give me some hints as to what the standards would have been at the time? TIA Cheers, David

Waiting with bated breath. Cheers, David

Here’s a link to the classic switching layout from the “Wizard of Monterey” John Allen. http://www.sdgrs.com/pictures/timesaver-switching-puzzle HTH David

That’s good news Marc. I look forward to seeing them and the modifications you’ve made. Cheers, David

Annealing the metal first by heating it to dull red and allowing to cool slowly will help cut down the springiness. Test drive the technique with a few bits of scrap first. HTH, David

After ages trying to deal with Indigo for my MRJ fix I gave up and went through Newsstand and took out a sub via them. Still subject to the whims of the supply chain AKA Canada Post but most issues have come through. If things go pear shaped, as they did on one occasion when an issue disappeared, there’s always Titfield as a fallback. I get Bylines direct from the publisher and you could set your clock by them as the copy turns up every month right on time, I must ask how they can do it when others can’t. Cheers, David

Actually, Jason has a P4 modeller on staff at Rapido HQ. Cheers, David

As did I for all of the above reasons. Curiously when I clicked submit it asked me to please wait and remained in that state until I finally closed the window. But I’m not worried as Rapido (assuming Covid is not playing the spoiler, again,) is supposed to be in attendance at the Great British Train Show (April 30, May1, at the James Archdekin Arena in Brampton,Ontario) so I can tell them all the same information then. Cheers, David

Good idea William, you need to have a play every so often to remind yourself why you’re building the thing. Grand progress BTW. Cheers, David

I look forward to seeing/hearing about the 4mm version. I can understand why you might not want to be posting any pics at this stage. What methods of payment will you’re accepting? Cheers, David

A simple trick to avoiding or minimizing paint splatter when using a powered paint stirrer is to first place an empty toilet paper centre over the tin/jar to be stirred and grip at the bottom. The cardboard tube is soft enough that this should not be a problem and even if you do accidentally raise the stirrer above the top of the container the spray will be limited (I am assuming we all put some form of paper underneath the paint container in the first place). Cheers, David

To counterbalance the connecting rod. Cheers, David

The soldered wires are a replacement for a strip of spring brass that used to transfer power from the bogies to the motor that was always a source of trouble and dodgy contact. You may be able to get replacement bits from Athearn should the need arise http://www.athearn.com/Search/Default.aspx?CatId=THCR The horn(s) are not original. Cheers, David

"The wheels will get 'cross cornered' on the track and the vehicle won't move." Not my experience. I have a P4 Judith Edge Ruston 48DS. The BtoB is 17.7mm on 18.83 track. It does not 'crab' or waddle, it is a most reliable runner and will pull up to 12 wagons on straight track despite weighing in at only 65g. FWIW it is compensated and has stylus type pickups that bear down on the wheel treads so you could, at a stretch, say it was partly sprung. Curves and point work do not present any problems with running. It is one of my most reliable engines. Cheers, David