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tomparryharry

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Everything posted by tomparryharry

  1. Aha! I can see it now! To the mark the occasion, perhaps Hornby might release some limited edition Flying Scotsman jogging bottoms, with Beatles motifs on the posterior of said owner/wearer* * Prospective purchasers are advised to buy the double tender version, for the larger 'fit'....
  2. Just an observation, if I may. Put yourself in the shoes of the people who walk around; shunting, coupling, calling on/off. Do they float around on a magic carpet, or do they leave footprints, such a 'desire lines? Regardless of my post, it looks bl**dy good from here.
  3. That is exquisite. Full credit for that little Hunslet. You've captured it beautifully.
  4. I bought my 42xx kits donkey years ago, at (that time) highly advantageous prices. The largest problem I could see was wagons 60-70. if your radius is too small, you have a very real risk of cutting the chord. BertieDog of this parish said his 72xx was good for 100 wagons on test so it's a excellent benchmark.
  5. The problems with your highlighted models, is the lack of actual 20/20 detail observation. If us Western modellers get a 2" rivet out by as much as 10 thou, the echoes will be heard as far away as the Moon. Then, it's demographics. does anyone remember the actual locomotive? Will it sell? Can we make a profit? Putting my business head on, and if I was in the room, the reaction to the idea might be "Hmm; don't know" Notwithstanding that I'm 100% Western steam in this discussion, you have to be pragmatic. This rather nicely brings us back to the original opening post. On my proposed project, the locomotive stock precludes things like 47xx,Kings, Castles, Saints & Counties. All wonderful locomotives, but they didn't really make it over to my semi-rural backwater. Nucast & others have closed some gaps with the A1, Rhymney and others. Even to the point of Rhondda & Swansea Bay Kitson locomotives. All good stuff!
  6. I still have 42xx kits in whitemetal, and when I compare the weight of those with Hornby; well.... For any hand-built model, you ideally need as many reference points as you can. If you go over to RTR, then you are relying on the manufacturers to make those decisions for you. This means, of course, is that you might not get exactly what you want. " That colour green is not the right colour green, and that black is not dark enough" sort of thing. There must be about 1,000 posts on the forum about top feed; mostly put there by me, sadly.... Finecast make the Taff Vale U1, which can make the Taff Vale N, O, O1 and O2 without much bother. Whitemetal allows us to get into niche models a lot easier than RTR. Manufacturers are closing down the gaps, but only up to a point. Would you commit to a production run for an Andrew Barclay 0-6-2t for the Alexandra, Newport, Docks & Railway? Only three of those, and were very location specific? Somehow, no.... I think we've honestly seen the last Western model for Bachmann, where the 94xx model was completed, and then held back until the RTR value had risen enough to make the model financially viable. You can't blame Bachmann as such. After all, they are a business, but the clamouring doesn't help. Bottom line is that personally, I'll buy what I need, for when I would like to buy it. People like Dave Ellis & associates fully deserve all of recognition & credit for getting us this far. Western Top Feed, anyone?
  7. Well, I guess so. I can think of a dozen sheds within a 10 mile radius of my proposed location. However, I'm not sure I want to do a shed location, or a station, for that matter. A locomotive 'on shed' although nice, is not uppermost in my mind right now. Of course, I could change my mind.... Mrs. Smith has just informed me that "you've got several gallons of paint 'in stock' that I have apparently forgotten about, so to quote the Pythons:- Ethel the Aardvark goes quantity surveying.
  8. Many thanks one & all for your inputs and observations. I'm off this afternoon to have a serious look at Goose Down as a ceiling. Before that, however, there remains a lot of 'stuff' that needs moving to one side to allow Michelangelo to do his stuff. I'm not Michelangelo, BTW. Some have said I look like a short Pavarotti. Pavarotti? I'll pinch his biscuits... BAH!
  9. You can do a lot of things with that size of availability; very nice indeed. What scale would you envisage? If you have worked a layout before, then which ones do you have most recall with? Personally, I have 2 or 3 locations which I know to the inch in 00, but my operating desires will most probably lean towards a roundy-roundy, because I like to sit & watch the trains go by. Apparently, it's very theraputic for a nutter like me. No stations, but a bit of working, such as a pair of loops in an artistic setting. Bliss; pure bliss.
  10. Well, a mile in 4mm is what:- 70 feet? I'd dearly love to be able to recreate something on that overall scale. The last time I seriously considered a properly scaled layout, my neighbours on both sides were alarmed when the bulldozers turned up... A 40-wagon mineral train is somewhere about 10' in 00. Proper length passenger trains even longer. Any station is longer as well, so you might want to leave out things like platforms, etc. There is a fine line between a properly proportioned scenario, and a highly squeezed Waterloo Approach. A lot of railway locations are way off-scene, sometimes miles away. Getting from one railway route to another is commonplace with junctions within junctions, all on the same line. A classic example is the station throat for Waterloo, which commences at Clapham Junction, Queenstown Road, and finally Waterloo itself. If you have the space & resources, then go for it. if I could, I would. On the other hand, Mrs. Smith might complain... "Ian, the neighbours at number 3 are complaining about the pilot working, and the Down Starter signal is disturbing the budgie...".
  11. Cheers John. The legs for the baseboard have been 'in stock'* for about 9-10 years. That said, it's still early doors. The last segment of 150mm Kingspan has just been fitted, so I'm having a cuppa as I write this. The last piece of OSB (about 4x4') is the last bit, so I might do this after tea. * One of my mentors was one Malcolm Rowe, a third-generation steelworker from Cardiff East Moors. He was forever putting stuff aside for 'that'll come in handy for....' As industrious as he was for collecting stuff, he would also pass stuff on if he thought it would help. Some might have called him a scrounger, but he was an excellent facilitator way before the phrase became popular. 'I've got that in stock' was his regular phrase. I still use it, and I'm glad to say others now use it. A true gentleman of his time; sadly missed.
  12. Thanks to one & all for your kind comments. So, what's happened? I stopped completely for the last year, but progress has started to pick up. I'm currently putting the ceiling up, in 10mm OSB. Prior to that, the insulation is 150mm Kingspan, but I think I've mentioned that before. I should finish the ceiling this week, and then some painting. After that, some surface mounted electrics. I will get some photos, weather permitting. Naughty Black Dog! Down Boy: Down!
  13. Well Folks, a fortnight onwards, and much improved. The work regarding the shed has re-started, and I should complete it sometime this summer. Common Branch Junction awaits....
  14. Gender shouldn't be entirely relevant in this day & age. Anne Diamond is well known for her model-making, and I guess it's only a lack of publicity that more ladies aren't involved. As for driving, gender is most certainly not an issue. I've met highly competent & skilled lady drivers. On the other side of the coin, I've worked with men who can't drive if their very life depended on it. And that's regardless of scale. 'Right person, right place, right time, right job, right result.
  15. Depending on what you are doing, those little N20/30 motors are pretty good. I've converted the gearbox to accept Romford/Markits axles. They are a bit 'tight' for 00, but with EM or P4, I'd guess they are a better size fit. Lots of posts on the forum about these. With the proper gears of choice, they are indeed quite powerful.
  16. Not my scale, but that A4 pacific in TT does look good.
  17. The dreaded Mojo has given me a kicking for the last couple of years, but thanks in large part to the RMWeb community, I'm still here. Well; I think I'm still here.... The problem is this... I keep seeing nice things on here. and naturally, I want to emulate those nice things. However, the model railway scene is somewhere down the 'to-do' list, behind turning lead into Gold, anti-gravity mats, etc, etc, etc... Anyhow, thanks for being hereabouts. Cheers, Ian.
  18. A quick addendum to these posts. Internal condition of the water spaces varied enormously area by area. Whereas locomotive boilers were washed out on a regular basis, tanks were very rarely washed out. Water from the Thames Basin is fairly hard, but the water coming off the Brecon Beacons is very soft, almost acidic* Locomotives working in south Wales were prone to shorter working lives, especially if they stayed for a long working life. Boilers were less of a problem, due to the inspection regime, but a leaky tank only showed up on a drivers' fault card. When TVR 28 was first steamed, you could hear the chalk coating 'pinging off' as the boiler warmed up. This softer hot water got underneath the chalk coating, and effectively cleaned it all off. Later on, the side tanks did start to rot through, especially at the riveted joints below the normal tank water line. 56xx locomotives spent almost all of their working lives in soft water areas, at least for the majority of the class. * The people at Pontypool & Blaenavon regularly check the PH level, and make additive on a daily steaming basis.
  19. In his book about Caerphilly Works, Eric Mountford mentioned that a 'Tank Shop' was proposed for the works. It never happened, as closure overtook the proposal. However, side tank locomotives, such as the 56-66xx had renewals to the lower portions, on an 'as needed' basis. In addition, the 42-52-72xx, as well as the Prairies, came under this repair requirement. Seam welding is the better repair, although somewhat unattractive. If you don't have the time or money, then welding is quick & efficient. In terms of era it will limit the scope for modellers. I wouldn't think that the Western would allow a non-standard repair prior to the 1950's. You wouldn't see a 1960-repaired loco on a 1930 era layout!
  20. An idle browse though 'Bay reveals that some 'Brand New' DJM 18" Austerities are on sale. Are these re-discovered models from some long-defunct retail source? Perhaps my ambition of re-creating Haulwen No2 (Mountain Ash) is still alive after all...
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