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Dapol Kitmaster Wagon Kits - coupling


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I think that you'd find that, if push came to shove, 'squishing' UK coins would be interpreted as 'broken up' - as would any action that rendered them illegible or incapable of use / unacceptable as legal tender.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

The laws passed back in the early 1970's came about where old half-crowns were filed down to resemble to the (then new) 50 pence pieces. Basically, taking lower denomination currency, and bumping it to a higher valuation by fraud. The (then new) 5p piece was held back for several years to get the old shilling out of circulation.

 

What you do with your money is your own, except where it is used for fraudulent purposes, then the trouble starts. Damaging coin is your affair: The right to refuse tender is the legal right of the vendor; not the purchaser.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

Edited by tomparryharry
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Ecky thump we don't half cover some odd ground on some of these threads; great fun and instructive though!  I wonder when anyone was last prosecuted for disfiguring a coin in this way, and suspect that, while it is still certainly agin the law and on the statute books, any action by the Public Prosecutor would be dependent on the intention to defraud implicit by using such a coin as currency.  Using it as a weight, for which you could argue that you have paid the proper amount in terms of the face value of the coin, is probably not even on the Prosecutor's radar!  

 

The pennies that are used to regulate Big Ben's clock mechanism are of course no longer legal tender, but for much of the period of their use in this way were and could be used as currency.

 

Halfpennies with one side filed and polished down to use on shove ha'penny boards presumably contravened the law at the time when they were legal tender.  I recall playing in one Forest of Dean pub many years ago where the landlord claimed that he'd polished the 'tails' sides because he'd heard that disfiguring the monarch's image was High Treason and still subject to the death penalty.  Hmmm...

The last prosecution I heard of where counterfeit coins was in (I think) 1982-ish. The counterfeiter couldn't do a passable legend on the Mill (that's the corrugated bit around the coin), and as such, got caught. Apparently it was a very good, but incorrect, rendition.

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

Edited by tomparryharry
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What have I started? :jester:

 

I think if this law was being strictly enforced they would go after the manufacturers of penny presses first. Incidentally I once found an old penny in a field that looked like it had been shot.

 

Now that does sound like treason!

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The (then new) 5p piece was held back for several years to get the old shilling out of circulation.

Erm, complete rot...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_of_the_pound_sterling#Decimalisation

 

The 5p and the 10p were in fact introduced pre-decimalisation as they shared weight, dimensions and value with the coins they would eventually replace, but the old shilling and florin remained legal tender up until 1990 and 1993 respectively.

Edited by frobisher
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Guest teacupteacup

Hello folks, thanks for you insight on the coupling and weight. I will look into parkside nem sockets and the Bachmann coupling. I think my grandfather has a bunch of old nuts and bolts in his garage so might go dig through that for weights since people seem to be suggesting options like that seem to be ok to pop in the wagons.

 

I should have also explained alittle that the wagons are not going to be running in long trains or any real long distance running. I'm currently in the process of building a Ingenook 5-3-3 setup and will be using a Peckett and J50 so far for locos, so as long as the wagons can move through peco streamline medium points and can withstand abit of back and forth then that should be fine.

 

Again its abit of something new and I wanted to try out some wagon kit building, I'm not actually new to plastic model building as I do 1 in 350 ships and wargaming but not done model railway so just wanted to check with other folks who had put kits together. I could have gone with parkside dundas but the packs required me to get extra wheels since they only had plastic wheels in and I'm abit of sticklier for metal wheels for running quality and also feel eventually plastic wheels have the chance to be worn out over time while a metal one is going to require infinitely longer running before they show issue at all.

 

I'll have a go at the wagon kits on the weekend and see how it goes.

 

Thanks once again.

 

Parkside kits come with metal wheels

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Erm, complete rot...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_of_the_pound_sterling#Decimalisation

 

The 5p and the 10p were in fact introduced pre-decimalisation as they shared weight, dimensions and value with the coins they would eventually replace, but the old shilling and florin remained legal tender up until 1990 and 1993 respectively.

 

It might have been legal tender, but it was held back in terms of numbers produced. Being a son of a Royal Mint manager, I saw decimalisation first hand. I can't remember exactly, but the first 10 pences were struck at the improvised mint in Bridgend, South Wales, 1968.

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

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Erm, complete rot...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_of_the_pound_sterling#Decimalisation

 

The 5p and the 10p were in fact introduced pre-decimalisation as they shared weight, dimensions and value with the coins they would eventually replace, but the old shilling and florin remained legal tender up until 1990 and 1993 respectively.

I've just checked my old notes, and you are quite right. I got confused with the old (then new) 5 pence piece, and the newer 5 pence piece.

 

Sorry for the confusion everyone, still working with my black & white radio!

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

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I well remember needing a washer the size of a 5p in Penzance when the Vectra decided to shed its radiator and found the cost 99p for a pack. I smashed a hole in a 5p piece instead and used that.   I guess there is a statute of Limitations on mangling coin of the realm.

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I well remember needing a washer the size of a 5p in Penzance when the Vectra decided to shed its radiator and found the cost 99p for a pack. I smashed a hole in a 5p piece instead and used that. I guess there is a statute of Limitations on mangling coin of the realm.

In some countries the hole would have been made for you: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Coins_with_round_hole

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Parkside kits come with metal wheels

 

This seems to have caught a few out. Years ago they came with Romford wheels which look metal. Currently they come with Alan Gibson wheels which have blackened steel axles and tyres on plastic centres. From outside the plastic bag they look like plastic, hence fooling some.

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Low-value coins don't actually make very satisfactory wagon weights - they are much less dense than lead. To get a plastic kit wagon up to the canonical 25g per axle, you need around 10p or 12p's worth which takes up quite a lot of space. 

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This seems to have caught a few out. Years ago they came with Romford wheels which look metal. Currently they come with Alan Gibson wheels which have blackened steel axles and tyres on plastic centres. From outside the plastic bag they look like plastic, hence fooling some.

How recent is this Nile, is it due to the Peco takeover?

 

All the kits I've bought over the past 10+ years have come with metal wheesets (no plastic centres)

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How recent is this Nile, is it due to the Peco takeover?

 

All the kits I've bought over the past 10+ years have come with metal wheesets (no plastic centres)

It may be co-incident with the Peco take-over. Romfords seem to be significantly more expensive than Gibsons at present, so they may be trying to keep prices down. One thing I have found with Gibsons is that it is quite easy to push them out-of-true when fitting them to the wagon; good practice would seem to be to fit them before the joint between solebar and wagon floor has set completely.

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This seems to have caught a few out. Years ago they came with Romford wheels which look metal. Currently they come with Alan Gibson wheels which have blackened steel axles and tyres on plastic centres. From outside the plastic bag they look like plastic, hence fooling some.

Oh, that could be why I thought they were plastic at the local model shop. They looked plastic since they were all black like old plastic kits so I was put off from getting them. Shop assistant always thought they were plastic wheels to, will have to let them know when I'm next in.

 

Thanks.

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The changeover pre-dates the Peco takeover, I think it was due to the difficulty of getting wheels from Markits, but price could also be the reason.

Take a magnet with you to the shop, it should stick to the wheels.

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The changeover pre-dates the Peco takeover, I think it was due to the difficulty of getting wheels from Markits, but price could also be the reason.

Take a magnet with you to the shop, it should stick to the wheels.

I've been looking at photos' of the Peco branded packets online and all look metal, unfortunately I don't have a model shop that stocks any railway stuff within a 35 miles radius, and those that stock railway items look at you funny if you mention anything other than Hornby.   Last time I was in one of them I asked if they had any plans to stock Bachmann products and was told they only sell "trains that run on britains railways"  If I mentioned Parkside to them they'd probably have a meltdown!

 

Think I'll need to purchase a couple of kits to see what the wheel situation is.  Not the end of the world if they are plastic centred, as I'll replace them with metal ones

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I'm building up a mixture of Dapol-Airfix 16 ton mineral kits. They are all Either Dapol, Bachmann or Hornby 3-hole disc wheels. They are all metal, with a plastic insulation insert on the axle. I'll normally drill out the recess with a 2mm drill, and glue in a Romford brass insert.They've all been pretty good so far.

 

 

Edit: Just had a look this morning, and these wheels have a code.        Wheels disc, pack of 20.

Hope this helps,

 

Ian.

Edited by tomparryharry
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I've been looking at photos' of the Peco branded packets online and all look metal

AFAIK Peco wheels have always been moulded plastic? Even with Peco kits I junk them and replace them with Gibson or Wizard metal ones

 

HTH, Tim T

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AFAIK Peco wheels have always been moulded plastic? Even with Peco kits I junk them and replace them with Gibson or Wizard metal ones

 

HTH, Tim T

 

This particular discussion relates to the new Peco-branded ex-Parkside kits - which formerly were supplied with Markits wheels but now, apparently, are supplied with Gibson wheels.

 

The wheels supplied with the venerable Peco Wonderful Wagons kits were (are still?) moulded in hard nylon - 'Hardlon' in Peco-speak.

 

These were (are?) commendably concentric and free-rolling - but they attract track-muck like magnets; (static electricity, being nylon)?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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Quite right Jason. However, I'm of an age where the words 'Kitmaster' 'Dapol' 'Airfix' are used pretty much universally. I'd guess that a large percentage of RM Webbers would mentally translate the words simultaneously. I'm also guessing that both you & I are in that percentage.

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

 

Now, where's my Kitmaster City of Truro (boxed, unmade)?

 

I'm afraid Kitmaster went bust about ten years before I was born and Dapol didn't appear until I was a teenager so it was always Airfix to me.

 

 

 

 

Jason

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It may be co-incident with the Peco take-over. Romfords seem to be significantly more expensive than Gibsons at present, so they may be trying to keep prices down. One thing I have found with Gibsons is that it is quite easy to push them out-of-true when fitting them to the wagon; good practice would seem to be to fit them before the joint between solebar and wagon floor has set completely.

 

Put a drop of Loctite 601 behind each wheel and allow to set before fitting the wheelsets.

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This particular discussion relates to the new Peco-branded ex-Parkside kits - which formerly were supplied with Markits wheels but now, apparently, are supplied with Gibson wheels.

 

The wheels supplied with the venerable Peco Wonderful Wagons kits were (are still?) moulded in hard nylon - 'Hardlon' in Peco-speak.

 

These were (are?) commendably concentric and free-rolling - but they attract track-muck like magnets; (static electricity, being nylon)?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

 

I remember long ago Dapol used to advertise that property of their plastic wheels as a virtue, claiming they cleaned the track.

 

Parkside kits had plastic wheels up until the mid 1980s then they started supplying them with Romfords. It was about the time they changed the packaging colour from pink to red.

 

 

 

 

Jason

 

Would that be when they joined with Dundas Models?

 

Incidentally Ratio kits (also owned by Peco) used to come with plastic wheels, most (or all?) now include Gibson wheels.

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