Wright writes.....

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, Bernard Lamb said:

Did Ks make them?

Horrible little bits of deformed black plastic that looked like mouse droppings.

I never did manage to actually fit wire through them.

Bernard

 

Why would you want to thread mouse droppings onto a piece of wire? What scale were the mice?😉

 

CJI.

 

 

[Tony Wright]

9 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

Did Ks make them?

Horrible little bits of deformed black plastic that looked like mouse droppings.

I never did manage to actually fit wire through them.

Bernard

Good evening Bernard,

 

I believe so - K's certainly provided black plastic handrail pillars in their own kits, as well as plastic 8BA nuts and bolts! 

 

In the early Banbury days, K's made kits for DJH - typically with flat brass, screw-together frames, lacking in detail but usually accurate. The A1 was the watershed for DJH (I doubt if K's had anything to do with it, even though both firms were based in Banbury). It was the first of the true 'mixed media' kits, with etchings where appropriate, as well as high-quality white metal castings - a boiler and smokebox cast in one piece, for instance. Every subsequent DJH loco kit followed this practice, making them (at least to me), the finest kits on the market (as long as you only model in OO or EM - their frames are hopeless for P4). 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[paul.anderson@poptel.org]

I'm late to the latest eBay conversation, but I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the best way to pick up bargains on eBay -- which is to use a sniping app such as Gixen, which essentially makes your bid automatically for you (unseen by anyone else and undeclared on eBay) seconds before an auction ends. Some people say it's cheating, but it's a very easy way to avoid bidding wars. You put what you are prepared to pay into the sniping app well before the eBay auction ends and leave it. If you win, you win at a price you can afford; if someone else has sniped a bigger bid or lodged one directly, you lose. Rule of thumb: never bid more on a sniping app than Honest Tone would sell for to raise money for CRUK!

 

Edited April 13, 2023 by paul.anderson@poptel.org

[Chas Levin]

Evening all, another Ebay technique I've found very useful where I'm interested in buying something from a seller I haven't dealt with before is to ask a question or two, well before the auction's end. Any question, it doesn't matter what, just to see how they are to deal with. If they reply - ideally in a friendly and helpful manner - I proceed with bidding, or buying; if they don't bother to reply, or if their reply suggests they may be difficult to deal with, I drop it... unless it's something I'm extremely keen to get of course!

I also try to stick - where possible - to sellers with 100% positive feedback. Not always possible with private sellers and collectable items, but if you're buying from business sellers where there's a choice of them all offering the same item - modelling supplies such as paint, for instance - I always go with the 100% one, even if it means paying a few pence more.

[Bucoops]

34 minutes ago, paul.anderson@poptel.org said:

I'm late to the latest eBay conversation, but I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the best way to pick up bargains on eBay -- which is to use a sniping app such as Gixen, which essentially makes your bid automatically for you (unseen by anyone else and undeclared on eBay) seconds before an auction ends. Some people say it's cheating, but it's a very easy way to avoid bidding wars. You put what you are prepared to pay into the sniping app well before the eBay auction ends and leave it. If you win, you win at a price you can afford; if someone else has sniped a bigger bid or lodged one directly, you lose. Rule of thumb: never bid more on a sniping app than Honest Tone would sell for to raise money for CRUK!

 

 

Shhh! Don't tell everyone or they'll all do it 😄

[DenysW]

For traditional auctions I use www.the-saleroom.com - you get charged 6%+VAT over and above the house auction fees, but it then behaves as @paul.anderson@poptel.org describes. Unlike eBay, please note traditional auction prices do not include fees (typically 25% + VAT) or shipping. It provides a search facility by brand and by location of the auction, but not by scale of the models.

[FarrMan]

12 hours ago, paul.anderson@poptel.org said:

I'm late to the latest eBay conversation, but I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the best way to pick up bargains on eBay -- which is to use a sniping app such as Gixen, which essentially makes your bid automatically for you (unseen by anyone else and undeclared on eBay) seconds before an auction ends. Some people say it's cheating, but it's a very easy way to avoid bidding wars. You put what you are prepared to pay into the sniping app well before the eBay auction ends and leave it. If you win, you win at a price you can afford; if someone else has sniped a bigger bid or lodged one directly, you lose. Rule of thumb: never bid more on a sniping app than Honest Tone would sell for to raise money for CRUK!

 

My wife often uses this or something similar for non-model railway stuff, and has always found it good. It sets a maximum price so that you do not get carried away with bidding, but you only get charged just above the second highest bid, so don't spend more than you would anyway. I think that was how she got my last suit a few years ago - for £10.

 

Lloyd

[Northmoor]

36 minutes ago, FarrMan said:

My wife often uses this or something similar for non-model railway stuff, and has always found it good. It sets a maximum price so that you do not get carried away with bidding, but you only get charged just above the second highest bid, so don't spend more than you would anyway. I think that was how she got my last suit a few years ago - for £10.

 

Lloyd

I'm not sure this is any different to how eBay auctions* work anyway which many, many of it's users don't seem to understand.  If you put in a bid of £1000 for something with a second highest bid of £20, you will pay £20.50 (I think that's the increment at that price range).  If you put in a single bid at the maximum you are prepared to pay and don't increase it, you cannot pay more than that amount and may well pay much less.  It is funny watching items where someone is making multiple bids increasing 20p at a time trying to find the winning bid price, when eBay's software does it for them if they just put in what they are prepared to pay.  EBay's software works like a real saleroom where the bidders in the room are instantly told every time they bid £1 higher that they have been outbid by a telephone bidder.

*This is an important distinction; if you offer £1000 for a £20 fixed price item, the seller can instantly accept your offer and you are committed to payment.

[Andy Hayter]

2 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

I'm not sure this is any different to how eBay auctions* work anyway which many, many of it's users don't seem to understand.  If you put in a bid of £1000 for something with a second highest bid of £20, you will pay £20.50 (I think that's the increment at that price range).  If you put in a single bid at the maximum you are prepared to pay and don't increase it, you cannot pay more than that amount and may well pay much less.  It is funny watching items where someone is making multiple bids increasing 20p at a time trying to find the winning bid price, when eBay's software does it for them if they just put in what they are prepared to pay.  EBay's software works like a real saleroom where the bidders in the room are instantly told every time they bid £1 higher that they have been outbid by a telephone bidder.

*This is an important distinction; if you offer £1000 for a £20 fixed price item, the seller can instantly accept your offer and you are committed to payment.

 

That was my thought too but there is a subtle difference.  Some bidders do not seem to appreciate the point you make about setting the price at the maximum they will pay and will say bid £20.50 and when someone comes in with a £21 bid then bid £21.50 and so on.  The last minute/second bid system stops these bidding warmongers in their tracks.

[Tony Wright]

Some little time ago I posted a picture of Ian Wilson's latest Pacific Models train destination boards. 

 

Ian was unhappy with the board (not unhappy with my picture, which was cruel), so he's revised the range for clearer definition. 

 

Here's the result...........

 

 

He also does the full range of loco front numberplates and shedcodes. 

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

I'm not sure this is any different to how eBay auctions* work anyway which many, many of it's users don't seem to understand.  If you put in a bid of £1000 for something with a second highest bid of £20, you will pay £20.50 (I think that's the increment at that price range).  If you put in a single bid at the maximum you are prepared to pay and don't increase it, you cannot pay more than that amount and may well pay much less.  It is funny watching items where someone is making multiple bids increasing 20p at a time trying to find the winning bid price, when eBay's software does it for them if they just put in what they are prepared to pay.  EBay's software works like a real saleroom where the bidders in the room are instantly told every time they bid £1 higher that they have been outbid by a telephone bidder.

 

1 hour ago, Andy Hayter said:

 

That was my thought too but there is a subtle difference.  Some bidders do not seem to appreciate the point you make about setting the price at the maximum they will pay and will say bid £20.50 and when someone comes in with a £21 bid then bid £21.50 and so on.  The last minute/second bid system stops these bidding warmongers in their tracks.

Yes - but the point is that, using this example, if you decide that £25 is the most you are prepared to pay then that's the maximum bid you place. If nobody bids higher, you win. If they do, you lose. It doesn't matter whether your bid is placed one week or one microsecond before the auction closes. It's how auctions work.

 

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

*This is an important distinction; if you offer £1000 for a £20 fixed price item, the seller can instantly accept your offer and you are committed to payment.

If you offer more than the fixed price for a fixed price item, you're a mug!

[FarrMan]

Now that my wife is up and come round a bit, (She sleeps better when I am not in bed with her, so I go to bed and get up early, and she goes to bed and gets up late! It may be the CPAP that I use for sleep apnoea that disturbs her), the one she uses is Auction Sniper.

 

Lloyd

[Andy Hayter]

6 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

 

Yes - but the point is that, using this example, if you decide that £25 is the most you are prepared to pay then that's the maximum bid you place. If nobody bids higher, you win. If they do, you lose. It doesn't matter whether your bid is placed one week or one microsecond before the auction closes. It's how auctions work.

 

 

Yes but no.

 

If you set £25 as your maximum bid, then our bidder can raise his bids stepwise until he reaches £25.50.  Or not if that is how he feels.

 

If you use the last second bidding system set at £25 max, his bid of £20.50 stays in place until the last second when you seize the item at £21

 

What happens if two last minute bid systems play against one another I have no idea.

 

 

[Tony Wright]

Having bought an item from the late Brian Lee's collection, the chap has now decided it's not quite what he wants (he's a BR modeller).

 

Thus, it's now come back to me to try and re-sell.................

 

 

It's a rather nice Comet LMS push-pull Auto-coach.

 

I'm asking £50.00, should anyone be interested. As usual, please PM me if so (£10.00 will go to CRUK).

 

 

[paul.anderson@poptel.org]

If two last-second automatic sniping bids are received the winner is resolved by eBay.  

[Bucoops]

29 minutes ago, paul.anderson@poptel.org said:

If two last-second automatic sniping bids are received the winner is resolved by eBay.  

 

Indeed, sometimes at the end if you are watching the screen it will pause, with a message saying determining winner.

[Jamiel]

I had a lovely chat with Tony at the end of the first day of the York show’s first day last week. I thanked him, and by inference, everyone else who contributes to this thread for the inspiration to me, and other modellers.
 

Tony asked if I post to the thread, which I do very occasionally. Here are some photos of current and past work to give some contribution. I am a particularly slow modeller, so I tend not to post in progress work here, as the finished things may a be a couple or more years away. I am also very bad at starting new project before finishing the last one.
 

Class 124 Transpennine DMU, 6 car in progress.

 

 

Thank you for suggestions for curving the tumbleholme on the Worsley Works etches a while ago. I tried various suggestions, but think the safest thing will be to pay someone with a roller of suitable length to do the rolling. I don’t have the expertise to do it myself without the worry of ruining an etch.
 

The 124's are a mix of Worsely Works, Comet, MJT, Replica Railways, DC Kits, Craftsman, A1, Dapol spares/cast off in resin, and host of other bits.
 

Class 120 Swinden units, a bit dusty from sitting on the shelf. Middle unit still in progress, waiting for some parts.

 

 

Class 129 parcels unit, tempted to lower the bogies/frame on this a little.

 

L&Y Class23 from a London Road kit. An actually finished project.

 

 

Comet Caprotti Black 5, needs finishing, probably with a little help.

 

Horby Crosti 9F detailed and weathered to an utterly filthy state. May go back and do a better job on the brakes.

 

A couple of RTR diesels weathered. Bachmann LMS twin and Heljan Co-bo.

 

 

 

It is making buildings I feel most comfortable with though.
 

Department store kit bashed from two Walthers buildings.

 

 

Main station building scratch built based on the Midland Hendon Station and plans seen at the NRM, with a slightly bashed, or anglicized Kibri shop next door.

 

 

Arcade currently in progress. Parts of the same Kibri kit as above, with resin cast off sections and scratch built sections. Based on the Vicar Lane Arcades in Leeds.

 

Water tower based on the West Ham one, scratch built, the first building I made.

 

 

Goods office, scratch built, based on a building at Birmingham New Street.

 

Various other projects, some actually finished on my layout thread, kit wagons, signal box, Comet LMS inspection coach, etc. The layout is a fictional location set on the BR Midland region in the 60’s, but drawing on a number of different references.

Unfortunately, the layout is stored in the garage as I had to pack away my shed due to space when we moved a couple of years ago. Hopefully it will all get set up again, and the things I have been building will start to fit together.

Thanks for the inspiration from Tony and others shown on this thread and I will post again, at some point. Sorry for the long post.
 

Jamie

Edited April 14, 2023 by Jamiel

[Bernard Lamb]

I do not often look at ebay UK for model items. However I was looking for a couple of old Bachmann or even mainline crocodiles to carve up to make one of the longer variants. Condition was not important and with a bit of waiting and not bidding over the odds I ended up with two for about the usual price of one.

With German stuff I have noticed some strange prices recently. There is a lot of rubbish about with silly starting prices. However there are bargains if you keep yor eyes open.

A loco of a class of which I cannot get enough sold for about half the usual price. I was annoyed that I had missed it but kept my eyes open to see if another appeared. Sure enough a couple of months later one did and I got it for a few quid lesss than the first one went for. A coach that sells new for around £60 came up with a very poor description and I got it for £14. I have seen more than that as the starting price for an empty box.

Bernard

[Northmoor]

EBay has changed a lot since I started buying and selling on it over 15 years ago.  It is now dominated by genuine traders and rather too many traders who are pretending not to be.

 

One change, brought on by eBay changing it's listing price structure, is that there are now more listings of individual (and often very low value) items.  The sort of Triang wagons that you would reluctantly pay £3 for at a swapmeet are often listed individually at £6-7 plus postage; previously these would be bundled into job lots as the only economic way to offload them.  This isn't a problem for me in the sense that I want these items which have become so much more expensive, it is that the site is cluttered with so many listings that have almost no chance of making a sale; "You have to sort through a lot of chaff to find the wheat".

[DenysW]

4 hours ago, Northmoor said:

"You have to sort through a lot of chaff to find the wheat".

I call going through both EBay and traditional auctions as Kissing Frogs for exactly that reason and as a shorthand when the better half asks what I'm up to.

[chris p bacon]

This is typical of eBay bidding and how people don't know the value of what they are purchasing.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275780772284

Today 6 Used Markits axles sold for £17.75 inc postage.

 

Or you can buy 6 (or more) new ones from Andrew at Wizard for £15.42 inc Postage

https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/wheels/00axle/

 

Or the new slotted ones for £15.78 inc postage

https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/wheels/00slotaxle/

 

I know who I'd rather purchase from.

 

[cctransuk]

9 minutes ago, chris p bacon said:

This is typical of eBay bidding and how people don't know the value of what they are purchasing.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275780772284

Today 6 Used Markits axles sold for £17.75 inc postage.

 

Or you can buy 6 (or more) new ones from Andrew at Wizard for £15.42 inc Postage

https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/wheels/00axle

 

 

.... not from Wizard models at present - I had the last few and, on advice, won't expect the balance of the order any time soon.

 

CJI.

[chris p bacon]

1 minute ago, cctransuk said:

 

.... not from Wizard models at present - I had the last few and, on advice, won't expect the balance of the order any time soon.

 

CJI.

Andrew does have a note on the axle page

 

Please note that this item might not be restocked, as Markits may be switching production wholly to the slotted type (our code 00SLOTAXLE).

 

I purchased 10 of the slotted ones a couple of weeks ago, very handy for the grub screw on a high level box. 

[Tony Wright]

7 hours ago, Jamiel said:

I had a lovely chat with Tony at the end of the first day of the York show’s first day last week. I thanked him, and by inference, everyone else who contributes to this thread for the inspiration to me, and other modellers.
 

Tony asked if I post to the thread, which I do very occasionally. Here are some photos of current and past work to give some contribution. I am a particularly slow modeller, so I tend not to post in progress work here, as the finished things may a be a couple or more years away. I am also very bad at starting new project before finishing the last one.
 

Class 124 Transpennine DMU, 6 car in progress.

 

 

Thank you for suggestions for curving the tumbleholme on the Worsley Works etches a while ago. I tried various suggestions, but think the safest thing will be to pay someone with a roller of suitable length to do the rolling. I don’t have the expertise to do it myself without the worry of ruining an etch.
 

The 124's are a mix of Worsely Works, Comet, MJT, Replica Railways, DC Kits, Craftsman, A1, Dapol spares/cast off in resin, and host of other bits.
 

Class 120 Swinden units, a bit dusty from sitting on the shelf. Middle unit still in progress, waiting for some parts.

 

 

Class 129 parcels unit, tempted to lower the bogies/frame on this a little.

 

L&Y Class23 from a London Road kit. An actually finished project.

 

 

Comet Caprotti Black 5, needs finishing, probably with a little help.

 

Horby Crosti 9F detailed and weathered to an utterly filthy state. May go back and do a better job on the brakes.

 

A couple of RTR diesels weathered. Bachmann LMS twin and Heljan Co-bo.

 

 

 

It is making buildings I feel most comfortable with though.
 

Department store kit bashed from two Walthers buildings.

 

 

Main station building scratch built based on the Midland Hendon Station and plans seen at the NRM, with a slightly bashed, or anglicized Kibri shop next door.

 

 

Arcade currently in progress. Parts of the same Kibri kit as above, with resin cast off sections and scratch built sections. Based on the Vicar Lane Arcades in Leeds.

 

Water tower based on the West Ham one, scratch built, the first building I made.

 

 

Goods office, scratch built, based on a building at Birmingham New Street.

 

Various other projects, some actually finished on my layout thread, kit wagons, signal box, Comet LMS inspection coach, etc. The layout is a fictional location set on the BR Midland region in the 60’s, but drawing on a number of different references.

Unfortunately, the layout is stored in the garage as I had to pack away my shed due to space when we moved a couple of years ago. Hopefully it will all get set up again, and the things I have been building will start to fit together.

Thanks for the inspiration from Tony and others shown on this thread and I will post again, at some point. Sorry for the long post.
 

Jamie

What terrific stuff!

 

Thanks so much for posting.

 

Best regards,

 

Tony. 

[Bucoops]

55 minutes ago, chris p bacon said:

Andrew does have a note on the axle page

 

Please note that this item might not be restocked, as Markits may be switching production wholly to the slotted type (our code 00SLOTAXLE).

 

I purchased 10 of the slotted ones a couple of weeks ago, very handy for the grub screw on a high level box. 

 

Interesting - I bought some slotted ones a while back and when I tried one with a Roadrunner 45:1 and the offset grub screw made contact too far out for it to go into the slot.

 

I wonder if anyone will use the slot to mount a magnet to rig something (sound?) that needs axle revolution counts.

Edited April 14, 2023 by Bucoops