Stoke Courtenay

[The Fatadder]

I had the same issue with two of my slaters kits, all be it not so pronounced.  I hate building plastic kits from the floor up for that reason (and wouldn’t buy slaters again).  The only one I have that hasn’t bowed was built from spares (sides, ends and roof) so I built it from the roof down.  Despite not having a floor fitted for several years (it will get a comet one in January) it’s still straight 

[checkrail]

Hmm, food for thought re plastic coaches, which is why I put cantrail level cross members on my Slater's ones, one above each compartment.  Of course, Hornby coaches are plastic too, but in one 'monocoque' piece with sides and ends.  Many of you will remember the exquisite GWR coaches ERH Francis used to fashion from Plastikard, featured over the years in Model Railway Constructor.  Works of the finest craftsmanship, but I think I read somewhere that they didn't stand the test of time.

[checkrail]

Here's 4908 accelerating gently from its scheduled stop at Stoke C.  (Must check out the apparent slight lean on that SR open wagon. Are the solebars level I wonder?  Runs ok.)

 

The next photo shows what can happen when you prop the camera up in a position where you can't get your eye behind it.  The intended star of the shot, the mogul, is completely obscured by the up starting signal!

 

Ah, that's better (even if you can see the unpainted side of the running-in board.)  A small prairie has just arrived with the branch train.

 

 

 

John C.

Edited December 13, 2020 by checkrail
missing letter

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

This is why i am not a fan of the Slaters kits.

 

Here are a couple I have been asked to 'rescue', for a friend. Large sum paid for a pro paint job and the sides are all bowed, internals will not allow roof to fir properly, AHH!  Bogies are in the reycling bin being replaced with cast ones. Expensive exercise for a plastic kit.

 

Personally I will stick with brass where a solid box can be soldered up.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

To be fair to Slaters, any plastic coach kit built like that will bow. It needs bracing or a false ceiling (or my preferred method, gluing the roof on solid and having a separate underframe).

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, checkrail said:

Must check out the apparent slight lean on that SR open wagon. Are the solebars level I wonder?  Runs ok.

Looks as though the load has shifted off the centre line...

[checkrail]

13 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Looks as though the load has shifted off the centre line...

On closer inspection I find that the solebar on one side is too high, its top half hidden behind the bottom of the wagon's side - in other words the floor ain't level.  A suitable case for treatment, if not the bin.  I sometimes find getting floors glued on absolutely flush and at a right angle with the bodysides to be quite difficult, which brings us right back to Slater's coach kits .... !

[Clearwater]

20 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Given that an RTR coach is now around the GBP 40 mark or more , twice that for a new Slaters kit wouldn't be too bad. I'm blowed if I'm going to pay that for a second-hand one, sight unseen, though.

Now at £150!  I hope Slaters don’t follow the auctions and get ideas about the right pricing points for a reintroduced range.

[checkrail]

A busy moment as the prairie begins to run round its train while the 63xx keeps on trundling through.

 

I think the last two pics show off the lines of the mogul quite well.  Lovely engine.  

 

You can see that I've restored the smokebox lamp bracket, from a bit of brass strip.  Maybe not quite tall enough - it slipped a bit further down the hole while it was being superglued - but it works.

 

John C.

[Sandhole]

13 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

This is why i am not a fan of the Slaters kits.

 

Here are a couple I have been asked to 'rescue', for a friend. Large sum paid for a pro paint job and the sides are all bowed, internals will not allow roof to fir properly, AHH!  Bogies are in the reycling bin being replaced with cast ones. Expensive exercise for a plastic kit.

 

Personally I will stick with brass where a solid box can be soldered up.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

That's exactly what I'm worried about.
K's B Set is something I'd like. No idea what it's doing in Manchester.
Bit of my youth.
Not gone there 'cos the plastic, as Mike has told me, warps!!

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Sandhole said:

That's exactly what I'm worried about.
K's B Set is something I'd like. No idea what it's doing in Manchester.
Bit of my youth.
Not gone there 'cos the plastic, as Mike has told me, warps!!

I have a pair of B Set coaches that must be close to 50 years old. By fitting a floor and compartment walls as bracing they have not warped or bowed at all.

[checkrail]

Following recent discussion on here about the longevity - or otherwise - of plastic-sided coaches I opened the January RM to find Ian Nuttall's article on his Thames-Clyde express.  These coaches were originally built by his late friend Ron Smith over 50 years ago, and have Plastikard sides with an outer skin of 10 thou.  They look pretty good to me so I'm not going to worry about the life expectancy of mine.

[Sandhole]

On 14/12/2020 at 04:23, St Enodoc said:

I have a pair of B Set coaches that must be close to 50 years old. By fitting a floor and compartment walls as bracing they have not warped or bowed at all.

Mike has a virgin pair of K's kits. The sides are straightish.
He will build them and do exactly what you suggest, good floor and loads of strong bulkheads.
I do that with my Kirk coaches. Some of those are 25yrs old and straight .

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, Sandhole said:

Mike has a virgin pair of K's kits. The sides are straightish.
He will build them and do exactly what you suggest, good floor and loads of strong bulkheads.
I do that with my Kirk coaches. Some of those are 25yrs old and straight .

I made the floor and bulkheads from black styrene. That way the compartments are so dark you don't need to worry about seats, etc.

[DLT]

Very nice indeed.

All the best, Dave.T

[gwrrob]

I know like me John you were worried about the longevity of the coupling between loco/ tender on the Dapol mogul. Spares are now available.

 

https://www.dccsupplies.com/cat-1189/mogul-mogul-oo.htm/5/?pp=9999

[checkrail]

A very happy Christmas to all followers of this thread, and to all others on this forum who have entertained, instructed, informed and assisted me over the year.  In the present situation it's been more significant than ever.

More soon from Stoke C.

 

Regards to all,

John C. 

[Tallpaul69]

Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year John,

And as they say in the best circles:-

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!

Cheers

Paul 

[Nick Gough]

Happy Christmas John!

[Neal Ball]

Merry Christmas John , thanks for the inspiration.

[Limpley Stoker]

Happy Christmas John and thank you !

[checkrail]

TUNNEL VISIONS (1)

 

In the past some folks have mentioned that they like the tunnel mouth shots, so I'm calling this next sequence 'Tunnel Visions' and am trying something a bit different.

 

Like many of us I often photograph a train at various stages as it traverses the layout and passes through the station limits.  But of course that's not how we usually see them in reality.  We're usually more or less in a fixed spot watching the trains go by, which when I think about it was the kind of scenario I was aiming for at the outset.

 

So imagine it's summertime in the late 1930s in south Devon, you're off school and have taken a couple of sandwiches and a bottle of lemonade down to the railway track, along with your all-important trainspotting book and pencil.  Having scrambled over the farmer's fence (naughty I know) you've positioned yourself to wander up and down between the tunnel mouth and road bridge.  Let's see what comes past.

 

First up is 4908 Broome Hall with a Paddington express, including a couple of brake composites ....

 

 

.... followed some minutes later by 8709 on a pick-up goods heading west.

 

John C.

[checkrail]

TUNNEL VISIONS (2)

 

The next train we spot is a class D goods heading east behind Exeter mogul 6305.

 

 

John C.

Edited December 27, 2020 by checkrail

[A Murphy]

Is that Frogmore based E82 John? Whatever it is, it looks just right,

 

Best wishes,

 

Alastair

[checkrail]

It's a very similar D95 Alastair.  Brass sides from an old Blacksmith kit, other bits & bobs from an old PC kit of same dia.  More toplights on workbench, awaiting sprung buffers from MRD.

[checkrail]

TUNNEL VISIONS (3)

 

Well, the down home signal's gone to 'off'.  What are we going to see next?  Wow! It's a King!

 

King Richard I heads west for Penzance, with a couple of recently altered 'Centenary' carriages at the head of the train.

 

 

John C.