C&L Finescale

[purplepiepete]

The stainless bullhead rail has to be treated very carefully as it is very 'soft'. Our reason for using the stuff was for on the viaduct as it was claimed to be 'dirt resistant'. That turned out to be a costly mistake (a lot was bought!) as any bends made, both accidental or deliberate, are impossible to straighten and I'm not particularly hamfisted! It will be used elsewhere in the future!

 

It was all replaced with C&L's 'Hi-NI'.

 

002. Surprised but I guess although maybe more resistant to corrosion, Stainless appears 'inferior' to Nickel Silver for rail.  Guess it may also be harder to solder without a specialist flux.

 

Price wise it's virtually the same for a 10m pack. I have always used the C&L HiNi (with ply sleepers) in both 4mm and 7mm and never had a problem other than it gets a bit of oxidation. I'll stick with this then !

 

Pete,

[gismorail]

As an occasional user of C&L track components I have always found that the service to have been spot on and having spoken to the new owner at the Warley Show I do hope that this service can be matched in the future. I do understand the poor guys frustration if the web site is not coming up to expectations and if I were in his position I would be asking questions of the previous owner and seeking some form of help to sort out the problems. I'm sure that the business did not to come cheap and it must be something of a worrying situation for the new owner ...

[Greenmodelmonkey]

As an occasional user of C&L track components I have always found that the service to have been spot on and having spoken to the new owner at the Warley Show I do hope that this service can be matched in the future. I do understand the poor guys frustration if the web site is not coming up to expectations and if I were in his position I would be asking questions of the previous owner and seeking some form of help to sort out the problems. I'm sure that the business did not to come cheap and it must be something of a worrying situation for the new owner ...

I did look at what the business had to offer but for me I decided the business and manufacturing risk was too high. I was also led to believe the design rights etc were still retained by the original product owners, which was rather limiting to future expansion. I do have a good idea of what price was being asked for the whole business, so think we need to wait patiently and trust that everything will come good in the future as it's not a trivial matter to take on a new businees with so many hazards which may end up tripping you up. Full marks to the man for taking this business on as no one else was prepared to at the time!!

[Re6/6]

 

Surprised but I guess although maybe more resistant to corrosion, Stainless appears 'inferior' to Nickel Silver for rail.  Guess it may also be harder to solder without a specialist flux.

 

Yes, I think that you're wise Pete to avoid the stuff. I did forget to mention the soldering difficulty (well l found it difficult even using their own flux!). The other difficulty was that it doesn't cut with the Xurons only squashing it. Perhaps l need a new sharp set!

[Stephen Freeman]

Flux - I found the DCC no-clean flux works fine with everything except their rail, especially good on ordinary steel rail but for the rail I found, as previously mentioned, that the Building 0 Gauge safety flux better. For cutting, the only satisfactory method I found was a slitting disc.

 

Personally I found the slight difficulties are worth it. It looks more realistic (to me) and the lack of tarnish is an important plus.

[Junctionmad]

Flux - I found the DCC no-clean flux works fine with everything except their rail, especially good on ordinary steel rail but for the rail I found, as previously mentioned, that the Building 0 Gauge safety flux better. For cutting, the only satisfactory method I found was a slitting disc.

 

Personally I found the slight difficulties are worth it. It looks more realistic (to me) and the lack of tarnish is an important plus.

I bought some to test , won't touch it with a barge pole now , difficult to file , solder , bend , very very few advantages and loads of disadvantages, a solution looking for a problem

[hayfield]

I find the C&L HiNi rail the best all round product and against other nickle silver rail, its the less yellowish.

 

Personally I have kept away from stainless steel after the many replies stating the problems involved

 

With steel rail it does look a bit better, but I find it is both too soft (kinks easily) and rusts far too easily

 

I have been told wheels with steel tyres work better on steel rail, but that's mainly for the P4 and some EM gauge modellers

[JeffP]

Stainless is difficult to machine in any way.

 

I once made a bike chainwhip to remove the rear sprockets on a mountain bike. It had a piece of stainless as a handle, about 6mm thick. Took me an age to drill it, even with a pillar drill.

[Siberian Snooper]

Stainless is difficult to machine in any way.

 

I once made a bike chainwhip to remove the rear sprockets on a mountain bike. It had a piece of stainless as a handle, about 6mm thick. Took me an age to drill it, even with a pillar drill.

When I was drilling stainless for a living, I always started with a 1/16th or 1.50mm drill dipped in grinding paste first and worked my way up, doubling the size of the drill as I went, always with grinding paste. Once above a 1/4 inch, if I needed to go larger I used a cobalt drill used usually for drilling armour plate. No such luck on board of using a pillar drill, a length of wood and a length of rope to secure it and give a pivot point.

[purplepiepete]

Wow, If I ever go down the route of Stainless Steel rail it sounds like I had better invest in a Plasma Cutter and MIG Welder first then !

[Stephen Freeman]

I find the C&L HiNi rail the best all round product and against other nickle silver rail, its the less yellowish.

 

Personally I have kept away from stainless steel after the many replies stating the problems involved

 

With steel rail it does look a bit better, but I find it is both too soft (kinks easily) and rusts far too easily

 

I have been told wheels with steel tyres work better on steel rail, but that's mainly for the P4 and some EM gauge modellers

Well at least the stainless won't rust!

 

In my experience, for soldering steel rail any flux that works rusts normal steel except for DCC Concepts Sapphire no clean but I wouldn't use it on their stainless steel rail.

 

For stainless steel rail, cutting and machining is best done with a slitting disc, anything else is not worth bothering with.

[Re6/6]

Thanks Stephen with the slitting disc advice. I wish that l'd thought of that. Knowing that now, there is salvation for all those metres of the stuff and they won't be wasted!

Edited January 6, 2018 by Re6/6

[Junctionmad]

When I was drilling stainless for a living, I always started with a 1/16th or 1.50mm drill dipped in grinding paste first and worked my way up, doubling the size of the drill as I went, always with grinding paste. Once above a 1/4 inch, if I needed to go larger I used a cobalt drill used usually for drilling armour plate. No such luck on board of using a pillar drill, a length of wood and a length of rope to secure it and give a pivot point.

 

this is of course because stainless steel work hardens as its its cut or drilled and if chip production is poor , it rapidly becomes almost unworkable 

[nickwood]

I'm surprised comments stopped on this thread back in November. I have a problem with a P4 point kit bought from C&L which has a pair of mismatched switch rails. I have tried phoning, the phone continually rings with no answer and he doesn't respond to messages on his website contact form. I last tried to contact him using the website form on 20th Nov and would have expected to receive a reply by now. The delay has probably sounded the death knell of the cameo competition layout I was going to build. As it was to be a temporary change of gauge for me it probably will also be a good few quid wasted.

 

How long should someone make allowances and maintain patience? It was early October when I first tried to make contact and I really think he should have cleared his backlog of orders and queries by now.  I see C&L will be at the Southampton show and I hope that he will be accomodating when I visit his stand.

[martin_wynne]

I'm surprised comments stopped on this thread back in November.

 

Hi Nick,

 

Discussion has shifted to this topic instead: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/127088-ordering-from-cl/

 

Martin.

[nickwood]

Hi Nick,

 

Discussion has shifted to this topic instead: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/127088-ordering-from-cl/

 

Martin.

Thanks Martin

 

I have had a PM from Hayfield and hopefully we can get it resolved at Southampton later this month.

[polybear]

I believe C&L will be at the Stevenage exhibition this weekend.

[Flymo748]

I believe C&L will be at the Stevenage exhibition this weekend.

 

That is correct.  I'm sure that if anyone has any questions, Phil will be happy to answer them in person.  I had a good chat with him about things this afternoon.

 

BTW, excellent show.  Highly recommended.  I'll be back again tomorrow on the Scalefour Society Stand.

 

Cheers

Flymo

[MikeH_83]

That is correct.  I'm sure that if anyone has any questions, Phil will be happy to answer them in person.  I had a good chat with him about things this afternoon.

 

BTW, excellent show.  Highly recommended.  I'll be back again tomorrow on the Scalefour Society Stand.

 

Cheers

Flymo

 

I think he must be slowly getting on top of things,  I had one of my orders come through before Christmas and just waiting on the last 1 now.  I am sure it'll all come together in the end

[hayfield]

I think he must be slowly getting on top of things,  I had one of my orders come through before Christmas and just waiting on the last 1 now.  I am sure it'll all come together in the end

 

 

I was with Phil at the weekend and the advice he was giving folk was to phone him rather than email (he has a few issues with emails and with the spam filter either being too good or not good enough), also has spent the past 2 weeks meeting with suppliers picking up stock, supplies had been run down by the previous owner and apparently stock mixed up and unpacked.

 

He now has got most of the items back in stock, but needing packing up into retail sizes. Also has been chatting about which Exactoscale items could be commercially viable in the future.

 

Unlike Peter Phil is on his own, has no staff so if he is making up packs of parts then he is not addressing orders etc. He is doing his best to try and keep as many happy as he can,

 

Phoning is the best method of contacting him at this moment 

[Junctionmad]

Anyone know of he's attending Modelrailscotland ?

Edited January 15, 2018 by Junctionmad

[hayfield]

Anyone know of he's attending Modelrailscotland ?

 

 

Not on his list of shows at the moment, trouble being he lives south of the Thames

[Junctionmad]

Not on his list of shows at the moment, trouble being he lives south of the Thames

 

you'd think it was the USA , I mean the distances involved , the travel , the injuns......

[hayfield]

you'd think it was the USA , I mean the distances involved , the travel , the injuns......

 

Very funny and shows how little you know about running a business and attending shows on a regular basis

 

If you are trading at a 2 day show (within a few hours drive from home) the day before is for packing the van and setting up at the show, 2 days trading and the morning of the 4th day unpacking. For a company in the South East attending a Scottish show, then packing up the van is the Thursday afternoon, one days travelling and setting up, 3 night stay, the Monday spent travelling back and the Tuesday morning unpacking. So a 2 day show is eating up the best of 5 days. These guys are driving loaded up vans, not drinking wine whilst being flown across the Atlantic !!

 

Those are just the days committed to the show, given that the person would have started working on the Monday that means 12 days without a break, a local show will eat up 3.5 days, a trip to Scotland and back the best part of 5 days, On top of that you expect the trader to run a mail order business the week before and the week after. I guess you then expect goods sent out by return even when the one man business is attending shows.

 

Would I be a trader attending shows, no way. Happy to help out now and then providing I can go home easily between the 2 days the show is open.  To be quite honest I have no idea how some actually cope where they attend lots of shows

[roythebus]

you'd think it was the USA , I mean the distances involved , the travel , the injuns......

 

I too live "sarf o' the river" as the london cabbies say, near Ashford, Kent. 5 minutes form the M20. I drive on a fairly regular basis to South Mimms, where the M25 and A1 cross, to drive rail replacement buses. A distance of about 84 miles, it can "sometimes be done in 75 minutes; sometimes it has taken 5 hours. 

 

For the chap from C&L who I believe lives in Epsom, his journey to Stevenage could take far longer as he has not only half the M25 to contend with but possibly the Dartford Crossing, depending what way he goes round! His journey is probably the same as mine, about 84 miles and if he went on a Friday to a show in Stevenage could be faced with the 5 hour M25 chaos! Yes indeed, we might just as well be in America!

 

Meanwhile I'll try phoning again tomorrow and see if I get an answer.

 

Is he likely to be at the Canterbury show?

Edited January 18, 2018 by roythebus