philiprporter

I've decided that the time has come to say farewell to Standedge Tunnel and I would like to offer it for sale. I hope its OK to post this here - but I'm looking for about £500 and the only 'condition' of sale is that, should the layout be exhibited in the future or appear in magazines, credit is given to myself as the original builder. It would also be courteous to confirm with David Heys that he is still happy for his images to appear on the front facia. I will try and upload some images of the layout 'set up' in the next few days, but the best source of images remains Model Rail July 2019 which shows everything except for the black curtain around the base of the layout. Layout would need to be collected from Bedfordshire. If you are interested or have any questions, please PM me Thanks, Phil. Also please note the following: Layout has full lighting rig/pelmet and black curtain to hide the legs front and sides. I will supply spare trees, scatter etc. to allow any touching in or development of the scenic areas. Legs are attached with coach bolts (supplied). Boards are joined with coach bolts and have alignment dowels fitted. The layout boards are built partly from foamboard and partly from styrofoam. Wire handrails from the bridge over the canal will need re-fitting and are supplied separately. The electrics will need completing - track feeds are present, but I never got round to wiring up to a control panel. Electrical connections between boards are all wired in and connection is made with multi-pin connectors. Only the scenic point has a point motor installed. Fiddle yard points do not have motors installed. New mounts for supporting the backscene will need to be built - I rigged up temporary Velcro equipped mounts from foamboard, but these had to be removed to allow the layout to be transported in my car when I moved house. The Dapol working signal will need replacing - this got damaged during the aforementioned house move.

I hope this isn't too far off topic, but I've just received the BR blue split head code class 40 with sound fitted - the leaflet says the decoder is an ESU 21MTC Loksound V5 - am I safe to assume this isn't a Loksound 'Select' decoder? I would like to re-blow the chip and fit a better speaker, but I understand that re-blowing isn't possible for the Select decoders? If anyone can confirm either way I'd be really grateful. Many thanks, Phil.

Painted EP sample of the O gauge class 56 has been posted on the Heljan Facebook page.

Could I ask what speakers you used with this sound installation? That Zimo set up does look very neat and useful with the chip just unplugging if needed. Cheers, Phil.

If its any help, the rivets are very subtle and well-executed on my O gauge Peak - they don't look anything like as pronounced as they appear on the top few photos on the Tower Models site (I guess this may be down to contrast/lighting etc.) and I suspect the same will be the case for the OO gauge version. Likewise always loved the Peaks - happy memories of trans-Pennine journeys behind them back in the day!

Likewise 47406 I'm looking forward to this - I have an O gauge Heljan Peak and its a belter - stunning paint job by Lee on the OO gauge pre-production sample too.

I see that Heljan have just announced on their Facebook page a re-run of their original split headcode box class 37 in O gauge. Is this regarded as a decent model as it's an old release and Im struggling to find reviews? Best wishes, Phil

Hi Dave absolutely love this photo (as well as all the others! but the sunlight really does it for me) - I hope you won't mind me asking as I suspect it may have been asked before, but how do you replicate the buffer head grease on your locos? It's a really subtle effect to get right which I can't get right no matter what I try, but it always looks bang on in all your shots! All the best, Phil.

Mark is this the one you were thinking of? It looks cracking although a lot less glass than Hitchin - not for sale yet, but does have a lower 'front door' by the looks of it - my concern with the Heljan one is that the front door is rather high - presumably in case people want to use it as a shed with OHLE?: https://railwaylaserlines.co.uk/product/rll704ss-two-road-servicing-refuelling-shed-in-o-gauge/

Thanks very much indeed Mark - sorry I hadn't seen the Tower Models site - doh! I will have a scan of the laser kits and see what I can find - thanks for the heads up! Best wishes, Phil.

If anyone has this kit would it be possible to let me know the vertical distance from the ground to the top of the main door opening (I.e. the door that locos go in and out of)? I'm possibly looking at using it as a basis for Hitchin shed which has a 'front door' 131mm tall in O gauge. Thanks, Phil

Thats great guys - thanks very much indeed. So will take the plunge and varnish the whole loco after putting on the decals and pray the airbrush behaves!

Thanks guys very helpful. So do you varnish the whole loco with a top coat or just a brief waft with the airbrush over the area that's had the transfers applied? I'm just worried that a brief waft of varnish will show up, unless the airbrushed varnish is an exact match to the factory finish which seems unlikely? Not an issue if you then go on to weather the loco. Thanks, Phil.

I've tried to search for an answer to this but can't find anything so I'm hoping this isn't a repeat question, but with Heljan O gauge diesels mostly coming un-numbered how do people apply number transfers? I know the usual process is to spray gloss varnish to hide the carrier film, apply transfers and then coat with another layer of varnish to seal in the transfers, but I'm wondering if the gloss coat is needed given the factory smooth paint finish and I'm also slightly nervous about spraying a sealing coat of varnish all over a £500 model and so I'm wondering if there is any other method people are using? Thanks, Phil

Really hope this gets the green light. Swallow and Exec expressions of interest duly registered - if I had more money it would be all options!