bertiedog

Has the cab been altered over the years, as older shots show the rounded cab side cut out rather than squarer shape with the smaller rounded corners.? Stephen

That chimney has got to go as well!...far to slim and wrong profile, with no taper. Also the cab side sheet needs the right shape in the doorway top. Stephen

Obviously there are a few things to re-paint or remove and replace, to convert to nearer scale appearance for actual use. The face can be removed, and new front and smoke box door made and added to the diecast body. The windows in the cab need brass rims turned up in the lathe. plus hand rail details. The crosshead in plastic can be made in nickel silver, the side rods look OK as supplied. The rest is the addition of the black footplate and other black areas. finer details like the whistle etc can be added, along with crew members. The coupling can have the loop removed, leaving just the hook to couple. Stephen

One on order here as well, hope it runs as well as the 042 Skarloey which is excellent on a feedback controller. Must order a couple of the Peco mainline 009 points to complete the Towyn like terminus station under construction as a small shelf layout. The Peco stock from the L&B can now be used until some order returns to the supply of the Heljan locos they never supplied here, despite the years of waiting. The ones they are doing next year are apparently not in the first batch liveries, as though in in some way Heljan believe they for-filled the orders! Stephen.

Try Nigel Lawton's web site, he does various brass sleeves for gears and fly wheels. Stephen

If anybody has the fixed rear wheel Hornby dodge on the Pacifics, then for no possibility of a short, replace with suitable flangeless plastic wheels......they barely show anyway. Stephen

The width of the front plate across the cylinders is the factor with the castings it must be under the back to back, and I would assume the castings were for 00 gauge.if the cylinders do fit the back to back, then the drawing may be wrongly scaled. The. proportions of the casting look about right if the BB fits. They could have allowed more for 18/P4 of course, but, but I would take the front as correct, although it could be lowered a bit by removal above the cylinder end plates and the smoke box Stephen.

Never trust old drawings, often wrong in detail, but overall correct to accompany a book, pamphlet, or The Engineer. Ahrons simply took many of his republished drawings from old sources that bore no dimensions at all. If it look a right to surviving photos, it probably is as accurate as your going to find, bar going through works drawings in the NRM, and even then there legends of errors. One of the worst offenders was The Engineer, whose engraved drawings are magnificent art, but are often wrong. We forget that Steam engines were the equivalent of rocket science to Victorians, the engravers did not understand complex steam engines. The Engraver would not specialise in the early days, his daily round might have been Punch or The Illustrated News. The illustrations were drawn out by the contributor, who then employed the engravers. I is perfectly obvious that some engravings were sized to fit the format of the printing plates as well. Best course with Victorian locos is to work from the middle outwards, say on a single assume the driven axle is correct, and work away from that datum, keeping proportion in mind rather than exact dimensions. Stephen

RE- 71000 Quoting me, his reply is about as relevant to Peco Bullhead as the price of fish in Whitby..........i never mentioned their website and what has tamping got to do with model track, or indeed this thread. On Peco and websites.....well it has been raised before with them, and until recently they referred customers to the printed catalogue or a Peco stockist......certainly not the modern way of constant updates on the web. Peco far prefer to rely on what is basically a house journal, The Railway Modeller Magazine, for it's own in house advertising for new products,as it sells direct to the market.place and customers. Stephen

Well, if you consider Peco are in error in the design of model track, note; not an exact museum model, then simply write to them and tell them.......I am sure they will appreciate the feed back and correct the mistakes............... in the meantime, I, and most other users will continue with the product at the current price, before it sky rockets in price to meet the highest museum class display standards.....in various versions for Victorian railway companies, pre grouping post grouping, wartime, BR early and late...and various bolt patterns...... In real life, there are compromises, and the Bullhead points design used fits most peoples requirements. We can all find tiny faults, and if you want perfection it is available from P4 suppliers or build your own. Peco is a mass market model production, not a dead scale representation, even before P4 there were several bullhead tracks available for 00 in the post war period, Hamblings marketed a code 75/80, (ref is poor), with cast chairs made by SME, but these failed on straight cost and complexity in point making. The standards of the Peco track is first class. quite stunning for a ready to lay product, and sales show they know what they doing. The pressure on Peco is to expand the range for actual users of the track, not to fiddle with minor details. Stephen.

Yes, the Crane sounds nice, but the thread is about Bachmann in general and I wondered if the New WW1 Narrow gauge items were on display or featured, the Baldwins or stock. Stephen.

FIRST try your computer's history function, unless you daily clear it, it should list all viewed content..........

Well, the types covered by the first release are now in use on the Middlechurch Marsh layout, L/R , Y, and two radius's curved points custom laid to the planned scenery. and all from one basic type. The unifrog works well, but demands switching for sidings, (DC), although the lot is set to take my Lenz DCC as well. I would not dream of knocking the use of foam ballast, many users find it trouble free compared to solid ballast. Stephen.

Looks like delivery soon from Tootally Thomas, maybe be even for Xmas. Stephen.

As Peco now do the bullhead points the layouts required and they form Y and curved in medium, the work can be resumed over Christmas on the light railway trackwork with bullhead section track. Board end for the beach top end being added today, and some landscaping with plaster bandage over foam to add. The lifting bridge has been mechanised, details to follow. It is a little bit more substantial than the Selsey original to allow larger locos. The operation is cam based, and takes about 30 seconds to rise and fall The cam also sets danger signals as it operates, and sets LEd's on the control panel,[flashing red, when open. [up], [green, when closed,[down]. The motor is a gearhead Maxon from Ebay, plus belt driven cam plate. The Maxon is silent in operation, so the lights are needed to confirm up or down. The track remains live via jumpers to save switching and contact failure. Stephen.

No actual change in design will work, it is nothing to do with flat pack or quality, but simple science, any object against a wall will topple away from it unless bolted to the floor or wall, it would help if the base had wings to make it bigger at the base, but the design would look awful. Also an issue is stud walling, the boards alone would not take the strain, the fasteners must be to the framing, and the chest of drawers may not match the spacing. Easy to sort out for a carpenter, but not everybody is good at DIY.

I found that Mig wire, 0.8 /0.9 was too thick; and for use in micro bore PTFE , 0.3 Steel or brass wire works better. I put a small brass ferule on the end of the tube, push on the o/d to allow the end to be secured down or soldered to where the ends are gathered up in front of the point lever frame, or fed to a point motor. I generally stick to manual frames, silent slow motion, visual remote indication, and centralised electrical switching........and low cost and resembles the real thing. Always use Omega loops in the feeds to provide automatic tension and just the right amount of movement.[or use V springs instead]. Another additional advantage is the extension of the wire to signals is easy. The end of the wire is terminated at the signal end to a small spring to keep tension. Make the spring from 0.1 steel or 0.3 brass. or old biro springs. The Mig size wire may be better run through a system of eyelets, or eyelets with short pieces of tube soldered into them to keep the springy wire under control. With piano wire it is best done in straight runs with T cranks at corners, via brass miniature eyelets. The eyelets are sold on ebay, or make them from 1 mm brass, and glue into pre drilled holes as there will be no thread. I use eyelets to guide the PTFE tube when on a longer run. Check out the prices for such tube , in coils from Ebay it is a lot cheaper. The PVC tubing can give a lot of friction on longer runs, OK for up to 2/3 feet with no sharp curves. Sharp corners demand PTFE or copper, but best of all is a crank. For under to over an S bend in copper works with all tubes, as does the equivalent in PTFE. Mercontrol may still make sub surface to surface cranks in cast metal, or they can be made from metal tube with a brass arm. The whole variety of ways can be mixed and matched as needed for the layout, and once set up is very reliable indeed.

"Not my responsibility Guv"....I have to say that most items do arrive by carrier not Post Office, but there are exceptions. In the regulations are included batteries etc., as well. The ball is in the senders court. Stephen

There may be confusion between lighter fuel and gas , butane is used in gas lighters, with liquid petrol in lighters , but the US call petrol gas........lighter fluid certainly can be used as a good degreasing cleaner. but ethanol smells less and is freely available by mail order or a proper Chemist supply house.The Uk chemist shop are dispensing chemists tied to parent companies who simply do not stock chemicals. Stephen

From Youtube ... Big Clive [the electrical guru] and testing things electrical, tried Meths to find out if if the chemicals added make it undrinkable. Warning...... contains strong reactive language.....and is funny.

It is very much a forgotten issue with all chests of drawers, that only one drawer at once can be safely opened without risking over balance. This was addressed in the past, this was why so many chests were fitted with locks and keys. not just security, but a key reminded people not to open more than were safe. No design can prevent toppling, it has to be proper fastenings to the wall that will prevent accidents. Stephen

Perhaps comparison with imported track for H0 is stretching the review of a home produced 00 Bullhead product, not knocking H0, I use it, the main issue is what's next in Bullhead, and a single slip would aid layout design. There's a lot of difference between copy prototype layout, and being practical given the small space available for loop lines in most British houses. This moves longer points further down the priority list for most people. A medium Y is dealt with with the points already, as they curve perfectly into a Y...even the sleepering is acceptable. It would be nice to see a tight radius short, but it would only suit very cramped spaces or Industrial lines.Also the flatbottom type may do better anyway. The Slip seems to rise in popularity, single or double, and crossings in bullhead to match the code75 offerings. The three way point comes last, as it might be too costly to do in Bullhead. So slips and crossings next?.....maybe Warley will reveal more, I do hope if and when DCC get into production the points will not duplicate Peco's chosen sizes. After shopping around for supplies at first the availability seems much better now, although local shop supplies are still low. No troubles with any of these fine first class points after careful laying, and quite a lot of test running.

I presume that there may be after market parts, if you hear of any please post details of suppliers on here. Mainly the smoke box front, and if needed the motion parts. Stephen

One on order to go with the previous loco, Bachmann certainly take their time with these 009 items, but are worth the wait. Stephen.

Another bonus to these fine points is they are quieter than the equivalent flat bottom versions, with hinged blades, as stock runs through. It does need a touch more care on fixing down to ensure the pressure of any fastening, pins or screws does not distort the top from being level. The bending of the point seems OK, but carefully check the gauge at the max amount of bend. This flexibility allows much finer visual and mechanical performance, with smoother curve transitions. Laying more track and points over the weekend on Middlechurch Marsh layout, some flat bottom track to remove first. Stephen.