L49

Evening all, time for an apologetic and rather embarrassing update. For everyone awaiting the D40, the project is far from dead, but is taking a LOT longer than anticipated. Most people know that we had trouble sourcing wheels in sufficient quantities to get on with the batch building, and therefore ended up with no possible movement for over eight months. The upshot of this was that pretty much any new developments ended up on hold in one way shape or form, while I started pulling my hair out and cringing at every email which just seemed like another excuse. The position now is that we ha e half the wheels, and are slogging through getting them fitted and running. The reason it is a slog has less to do with the difficulty of the task, and more to do with the ongoing mental strain and lack of self confidence that eight months of constant apologising to understandably concerned customers has brought about, (and the fact that a two year old daughter is not the best full time office assistant). Emma and I are determined that at least some will be out in the post before Christmas, simply because we really don't want a D40 shaped sword of damocles hovering over us. We are getting there, we are honouring all orders, and we haven't run off with anyone's money... we are just finding things exceptionally hard going at the moment. Thanks all Charlie and Emma

Morning all. You see before you a very frustrated modeller! About 6 months ago I turned over to using acrylic rather than enamel for the majority of my loco painting, and on the while it was great. I had a few issues with the varnish 'frosting', but it was fairly easy to remedy. However, this last week I have had to strip and repaint at least four locos because not only has the varnish frosted, but it has also lifted the transfers. I do wonder whether temperature and atmospheric humidity might be the cause, meaning that acrylics have just become 'fair weather only' use, but even spraying and leaving to dry in a warm room doesn't seem to be working. Has anyone else experienced similar issues, and has anyone else found a way around them? Thanks folks!

As promised, a couple of comparison shots between the Hornby and Oxford chassis variants of the R1. Maybe an unfair comparison as one is a cut down version and the other has all its full height fittings, but hopefully it shows the differences. The Oxford version is dead on scale length, whereas the Hornby chassis is approx 1.8mm longer. Apologies also for the dubious livery. We have been having a debate recently about whether we have actually seen photos of R1s in olive, or whether we are just so used to seeing the Wrenn one (or Maxitrack) that we all 'think we've seen one in olive. They look nice though!

Thank you for the very comprehensive review. The issue with bowing is one which has plagued us. The best solution I have found is the horizontal reinforcement within the tanks, but the weak spot comes at the front of the tank where it meets the boiler barrel. The height issue comes from the height of the back end of the Jinty motor which is mounted at an angle. I had to thin the area over the firebox down to 0.9mm rather than the 1.5mm which is my preferred thickness for structural parts just to get that little bit more clearance to lower the body onto the chassis. There really isn't a lot of space above that motor! I have been working on an alternative version which fits the Oxford Rail Dean Goods chassis. This has allowed me to reduce the length over buffers to the correct dimension, and brings back the hunkered down look of the prototype. I will hopefully release it in the not too distant future. Obviously this is a more challenging conversion, as it requires some soldering on the chassis to rewire the circuit board which connects the plug to the tender, which obviously has to be removed. I'll try and post a comparison photo later.

Seven years on and the loss of Mount Pleasant is still a painful one. It is a demonstration of the worst that can happen in a club, when one person who has a larger vocal than modelling repertoir starts to take over. It got to stage where the scenic work was so let down, and was almost impossible to remedy without causing a complete dissolution and fall out in the club that in the end we had to opt to simply stop work and start a completely different project. As with all half finished layout ideas, this one is still in my head to be tackled again one day, but not as a club project!

Sorry folks. It takes a bit of balancing between printing, painting, designing and publicising. I get there in the end!

Hello all. This is a bit of a random post, but I was wondering whether anyone remembers or ever got any photos of this layout. I remember considering it to be absolutely iconic when it appeared in Railway Modeller, probably in the early to mid 90s, and I remember seeing it only once at an exhibition. I have tried googling it, and I have had a look through this group here to see if anyone has made mention if it before, but I have drawn a complete blank. I just want to see it again ti see if it was amazing as I remember.

It's not Nellie the elephant...

Cooling in vice... sounds like a visit to Soho police station... Hope she comes out ok. Keep me posted if I can help with anything.

Hi Bruce. I have sent you a PM. The issue seems to be connected to the hot weather, as I have had some issues with the new GER R24 doing similar even after being fully cured for three days or more. I have been experimenting with ways to cure the problem including the cross stay idea, although that is not the most successful. If you run the body under warm to hot water, then it will easily be pushed back Into true. Leave it on its side under some weight to cool and it will be fine.

Unfortunately there were compromises on the NLR tank, largely because the chassis it was designed to fit was H0. I had to remove 3mm overall from the full length of the loco, 1mm between smokebox and tank front, another 1mm from the tank sides, and another 1mm from the cab.

Thanks SEM... just to add to this, the original body which I designed started with mounting to fit the Dapol/Hornby chassis, and lined up correctly for the rear drivers. Unfortunately it became pretty obvious that the wheelbase grew increasingly inaccurate towards the front end. The issue then was how to combat this without causing any distortion to the scale dimensions of the body and still fit the motor etc. Finally the solution was to reverse the chassis, and centre the wheelbase as closely as possible to the prototype. To do this I had to move the backhead further into the cab than is prototypical, but I decided this was a worthwhile compromise. I'll get a body on its chassis in a bit and take some clear broadsides so you can see forn yourselves. I don't know whether the SEF or Gibson chassis will fit. I imagine they would, but will require some fettling, especially to get the mounting points to li e up with those on the body. In the meantime here are a couple of pics in the garden, one of a regular J69, and the other is the test build of the S56. Hope these help...

I don't know whether I ought to reply to this post, as the one who designed them and is printing them, I might be slightly biased! The whole point was to produce a model which was affordable at all levels and required the absolute minimum of skill to use. As Nile has said, they come in plain black with buffer beams and bright work picked out. When I have a quiet week, the cab interiors are painted too. Unfortunately, or maybe I should say fortunately, orders are going up, and finding the time to do cab interiors is a bit tricky, especially with a new baby at home as well. Up tp now I have produced the NLR 75 class with both NLR and LNWR chimneys, the J68 and J69 as well as a GER S56, which is the original J69. Other models are in the pipeline, such as J65s and J67s. Maybe a bit much of a muchness, but I'm trying to offer a variety, all to fit easy to acquire, cheap(ish) chassis. Ok, that's the shameless self publicity done... hope you enjoy them.

I think it was just 60 thou, it may even have been 40 thou. I didn't weight it, simply because it was only for display on the stand. If I was going to add weight, I would have done it inside the underfloor switchgear boxes, which I just represented with black plasticard. Those bogies are so free running that they dont need a lot of weight inside.

This I'd my one which I built to take round the shows. This is just the basic kit with the windows cut out, mounted on acetate. The floor is plasticard and the bogies are Metromodels. The card roof doesnt look too bad, but cruel close up doesnt help... This is a detail of the card frames mounted on the metromodels bogie, the plasticard floor and the supports for the card headstock.

The 35 stock isnt too tricky, especially when you compare it to the 67/72. The roof end might be a challenge, but the milliput idea would work ok just be careful if you are sanding it down to protect the printed sides. On the surface stock, I always used the printed roof details as a guide to add rain strips and ventilators before painting the whole roof either dark brown or grey depending which stock I was working on. Tube stock is a bit trickier, as it has very prominent rivets and overlapping sheets. I would consider using ordinary printer paper to represent the overlapping sheets, and maybe prick the rivets out from behind using a pin or compass point. Ideally, I used to use a light box do I could do this from the back, but if you don't happen to have one in the front room... as not many of us do, me included... then maybe tape the sheet to the window and use the big celestial light box that none of us are allowed to enjoy right now. Bogie wise, go to www.metromodels, erm, its .com or .net. John sells injection moulded bogies as replacements for EFE stock, and they run beautifully. I think I have a built up '35 stock car downstairs somewhere. I'll post some pics in a bit if it helps.

I think you count as part of the team Sir Eustace...

And a new supply of white eco resin to replace that horrible black stuff I have been fighting with for the last week!!!!!!!

Will that now be part of UK border agency training?

... Ok. I now officially hate rattle can nozzles! Just trying to unclog the nozzle on what I took to be an unused can of aerosol varnish. Now also trying to clean the kitchen worktops to get the great splat of Humbrol satin off, and hoping that the airbrush cleaner which I am using to complete the task doesn't stain. Why do some projects seem to go like this...? Grrrrrr

Eventually about 10.30 last night I remembered an old trick... address labels... now you try finding address labels at 10.30 on a Sunday night. I was lucky. I found one solitary label. It was duly painted half in cream and half in blue then left overnight. This afternoon I cut the labels up into 1.5mm strips, and laid them. The cantrail strip was comparatively easy, just straight round, trying to keep the joints invisible. The waist level stripe was more of a pain, having to be laid in and out of all the door recesses. Both have gone on tolerably straight, and I think it looks a lot better. Finally for today was a drop of paint for the interior. The seats were truly horrible colours. Bright green for first class and bright orange for second. I had to make a trip to Hobbycraft to buy the paint, as I don't have anything quite so awful in my paint box already... see what you think. The two grey painted side pieces are an attempt to add some rigidity to the chassis. I was originally just going to have it a push fit into the body using the 1.5mm clear glazing which I haven't cut yet, for strength and levelling. After having the floor flopping all over the place while I was painting the seats, I have revised that plan and added the strengtheners. Hopefully they will all but disappear once the car is finished.

Not a bad day's work on the MP55 today. I had great plans, and possibly delusions of grandeur about making and spraying the car. Delusional, as I really wanted to produce a composite MsL car in the original livery of two tone blue for second class and cream for first. Also delusional, as on opening the toolbox I discovered that I had no jars for the airbrush with me... I ended up opting to hand paint, which I hate doing, but knowing that the car needed to be finished asap I hadn't got much choice. It looked a bit rough last night to be honest, and I was pondering how to do the full length horizontal lining by hand to tidy it all up... especially as the blue is lined in cream and the cream in blue with a hopefully clean cut between them.

The body very loosely sat on the bogie as a check for clearances and bogie centres.

Why is it that I never think to start a topic when I start a project...? I get half way through, and think, "I'd like to have recorded that as it progressed!" Well, I've done it again. This time it is a single car if Paris Metro MP55 stock which I am building in a hurry to run at the Kempston show next Saturday. I did document the Sprague motor car which I built using home made brass etching equipment a year or so back, but this time I have opted to go back to the world of plasticard. I have tried a few innovations, which might be new to me, but I know are old news to many, especially using superglue instead of solvent to laminate sheets in an attempt to reduce warping. It sort of worked! One aspect of these cars which I have tried to replicate is the double skinned sides. I have come to the conclusion that in HO it I is simply not worth it, although once the car is painted, I might change my mind... Ok. Here is the body so far. The sides are built up as three laminations. The outer and inner skins are identical, the middle skin contains the doors. On the prototype the doors slide back between the outer and inner skins of the body, which is only glazed on the inside, unlike contemporary London Underground stock, which used the door pockets effectively as a form.of double glazing. I have tried to show this door gap between the skins, but you have to look so closely to see it, I wonder if it was worth it...? The bogies are being 3d printed as I write. This was the first one off, and I have quickly put it together and dropped the wheelsets in. These are standard Hornby 12mm wheels which I had in stock ages ago, and the pneumatic tyres are from the spares box on the Langley stand. I am recycling them from the first attempt at MP55 stock which I had running a while ago, which is why they are already painted.