Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

Has anyone else managed to get their copy of the Little Bytham 1938 DVD from BRM yet? The lack of hearing anything is worrying, or is it just me?

 

Stephen

One of my friends (who used to subscribe to BRM) bought a copy of the mag', only to be disappointed that the DVD was not cover-mounted on the shop sales copies. He tried to obtain one by following 'instructions' from the website, but has now given up because the whole thing just seemed too complicated (if it's too complicated for him, then I wouldn't even try to advise). 

 

I have to say, from a purely personal point of view, I was disappointed that it wasn't on a cover-mounted DVD with every copy, but it wasn't my call and there must be good economic reasons for the decision. 

 

The 1958 one just needs a tweak to the commentary, and that'll be then ready to go. I've almost finished the article to go with it. I believe publication will be early next year, but whether it'll be universally cover-mounted, I don't know. 

 

May I please thank again all those who've seen it and commented so favourably?  

[Tony Wright]

 

As previously mentioned, I've started construction of the near-70-year old Acro 4F kit. The tender was part-built, so I've finished that off (apart from adding beading), and I've made a SE Finecast chassis for it. 

 

I love old stuff like this. With an original price tag of 38 shillings and six pence (in 1950 - what's that in today's money, please?), it's very, very basic, and will need a lot of detailing to 'bring it up to standard'. But, that doesn't matter. It's loco-building as it used to be.

[Barry Ten]

Acro 4F 01.jpg

 

As previously mentioned, I've started construction of the near-70-year old Acro 4F kit. The tender was part-built, so I've finished that off (apart from adding beading), and I've made a SE Finecast chassis for it. 

 

I love old stuff like this. With an original price tag of 38 shillings and six pence (in 1950 - what's that in today's money, please?), it's very, very basic, and will need a lot of detailing to 'bring it up to standard'. But, that doesn't matter. It's loco-building as it used to be.

 

 

If I've got my shillings to pounds right, 38 is not far off 2 pounds, which, allowing for inflation between 1950 and 2017, would now be worth 65 pounds.

 

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

 

So perhaps not too far off the cost of a kit in today's market?

 

Al

[Chamby]

Acro 4F 01.jpg

 

As previously mentioned, I've started construction of the near-70-year old Acro 4F kit. The tender was part-built, so I've finished that off (apart from adding beading), and I've made a SE Finecast chassis for it. 

 

I love old stuff like this. With an original price tag of 38 shillings and six pence (in 1950 - what's that in today's money, please?), it's very, very basic, and will need a lot of detailing to 'bring it up to standard'. But, that doesn't matter. It's loco-building as it used to be.

The Internet equates that to about £62 in today’s money.

[jacko]

I have to say, from a purely personal point of view, I was disappointed that it wasn't on a cover-mounted DVD with every copy, but it wasn't my call and there must be good economic reasons for the decision. 

 

 

 

I fail to see how adding the expense of posting the DVD to (potentially) everyone who buys the magazine makes good economic sense.  For what it's worth I'm still waiting for the posted copy of the DVD but I have seen the LB content via other means - it is quite wonderful and inspirational.

 

Graeme

[Tony Wright]

The Internet equates that to about £62 in today’s money.

Many thanks, Phil,

 

So that's relatively cheap for a brass kit. Or is it? There's no chassis, and precious little in the way of detail. For instance, there are no lubricators, no sandboxes, no sandbox fillers, no ejector, no reversing lever, no washout plugs or mudhole door covers, no whistle and no handrail pillars or beading strip. 

 

Produce a body-only kit lacking in so much detail today, ask over 60 quid for it and you'd be laughed at. I imagine a Gibson kit for a 4F would be a fair bit more than £60.00, but far better value. As is the SEF kit.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Edited to include the fact that it doesn't have a backhead, either. I've ordered the extra bits I need from SEF. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by Tony Wright

[Atso]

Hopefully my latest in progress N Gauge development hack displays an acceptable set of compromises.

 

 

 

 

The donor chassis in this case is a Dapol Hall fitted with Britannia driving wheels and the largest of Farish's bogie wheels. Due to the extremely tight clearances, I've had to move the rear bogie wheel forward by 0.3mm to gain enough clearance between this and the leading driving wheel on curves. There is no actual bogie on this model, the bogie wheels are carried as part of a custom designed extension to the Hall frames and quite a bit of side play has been provided to allow the model to negotiate 12" radius curves. Despite the coupled wheelbase being 2" too long, the body is to scale length, but 0.5mm too wide to accommodate the (yet to be fitted) connecting rods, crossheads and slide bars. A Nigel Lawton 8mm motor will eventually be located in the tender and drive the loco chassis as per Dapol's usual practice. This leaves quite a bit of room for weight in the locomotive's body but mostly at the front end of the loco. To help counter this, the bogie wheels are sprung using coupling springs and this seems to work well.

 

The C1 is a locomotive I have long wanted and have so far failed to produce a model that has worked. I hope that this attempt will finally be the successful one.

 

 

[grahame]

Hopefully my latest in progress N Gauge development hack displays an acceptable set of compromises.

 

The donor chassis in this case is a Dapol Hall fitted with Britannia driving wheels and the largest of Farish's bogie wheels. Due to the extremely tight clearances, I've had to move the rear bogie wheel forward by 0.3mm to gain enough clearance between this and the leading driving wheel on curves. There is no actual bogie on this model, the bogie wheels are carried as part of a custom designed extension to the Hall frames and quite a bit of side play has been provided to allow the model to negotiate 12" radius curves. Despite the coupled wheelbase being 2" too long, the body is to scale length, but 0.5mm too wide to accommodate the (yet to be fitted) connecting rods, crossheads and slide bars. A Nigel Lawton 8mm motor will eventually be located in the tender and drive the loco chassis as per Dapol's usual practice. This leaves quite a bit of room for weight in the locomotive's body but mostly at the front end of the loco. To help counter this, the bogie wheels are sprung using coupling springs and this seems to work well.

 

The C1 is a locomotive I have long wanted and have so far failed to produce a model that has worked. I hope that this attempt will finally be the successful one.

Very nice work and innovative solutions to problems encountered, especially in N/2mm. Although to my eye it's quite an ugly looking loco (not that that detracts from the modelling).

 

G

[queensquare]

Very nice work and innovative solutions to problems encountered, especially in N/2mm. Although to my eye it's quite an ugly looking loco (not that that detracts from the modelling).

 

G

 

Its interesting how subjective aesthetics are. I'd agree with everything Grahame said, except the last bit. I think they are particularly handsome locos - I could easily be tempted by a Brighton version of these.

 

I know what you wanted the Hall for now Steve! 

 

Jerry

[Atso]

Very nice work and innovative solutions to problems encountered, especially in N/2mm. Although to my eye it's quite an ugly looking loco (not that that detracts from the modelling).

 

G

 

Thank you Grahame. Personally, I think that the Ivatt C1 is one of the most beautiful steam locomotives ever made and is clearly the intermediate step between Stirling's Single and Gresley's A1/A3s.

 

Its interesting how subjective aesthetics are. I'd agree with everything Grahame said, except the last bit. I think they are particularly handsome locos - I could easily be tempted by a Brighton version of these.

 

I know what you wanted the Hall for now Steve! 

 

Jerry

 

Thanks Jerry. Yes, this is why I was so excited by the Hall chassis - thank you again for it! At 7' centers, it is a little bit too long in the coupled wheelbase for a C1 but only by 2"! The Brighton version was largely based on the GNR drawings so the etched/milled Hall chassis might be a good starting point for a 2mm Finescale version too!

Edited October 17, 2018 by Atso

[Theakerr]

Regarding the DVD, I filled out the 'competition' using the link provided on this thread last week and today I received a very nice e-mail from a lady at BRM providing me with the video link and a note to say my DVD was on its way.

[Willie Whizz]

Late replying again - sorry, a lot "happening" in life at the moment again - but going back to battleships just for a moment; despite what is often said, it wasn't the 1941 loss of the Repulse and Prince of Wales and certainly not Pearl Harbor that signified battleships no longer had a prime place in warfare.  Even after that, battleships successfully resisted conventional air attack many times, and the American successes in 1944-5 against Yamato etc. were primarily down to the availability of attacking aircraft in such sheer overwhelming numbers as were simply unimaginable when the ships were designed.  It had always been, and still was, very difficult to drop bombs accurately on a warship moving at speed, with freedom to manoeuvre, and alert and returning fire.

 

No, if there was one single event that sounded the death-knell of battleships it was, and remains, almost unknown outside naval and 'serious' historical circles - the attack on 9 September 1943 by the Luftwaffe which struck the nearly-new, well-armoured Italian battleship Roma on her way to surrender to the Allies following Italy's withdrawal from the War.  She was struck by two new weapons - PC1400 'Fritz X' radio-guided bombs whose trajectory could be adjusted in flight (somewhat like the laser-guided bombs we see on the TV News today), which penetrated the thick armoured decks and exploded deep within the ship, causing her to blow-up, break in half and sink with heavy loss of life.  Even at the end of the War the Royal Navy still remained interested in constructing new big-gun battleships, but the designers in essence told the Admiralty that to carry enough armour to defeat such new weapons, once perfected, the ships would have to be so very large they would be virtually unbuildable, let alone unaffordable.  There were other reasons too, of course, including economic and manning problems, and (as has been said) the great range now achievable by carrier strike aircraft) but this was the clincher.

 

(And now back to railway modelling - and hopefully I may shortly be able at last to re-start serious work following a long lay-off due to a complicated house move for us and some serious and lengthy illness for both my aged in-laws.  If there is one belated upside to them, most regrettably, now having to move into a care home, well at least Lady Whizz and I may finally start to get some free time back for ourselves.)

Edited October 17, 2018 by Willie Whizz

[CF MRC]

I prefer the small boilered Atlantics. A natural progression from a Single.

 

Tim

[jrg1]

I prefer the small boilered Atlantics. A natural progression from a Single.

 

Tim

I thought the GNR design progression was Small boilered Atlantic, Large Atlantic, then H2-the goods version of the Small Atlantic, then H4 (LNER K3) leading to the A1.

The original H2 and C2 could almost be brother and sister.

[MarkC]

Acro 4F 01.jpg

 

As previously mentioned, I've started construction of the near-70-year old Acro 4F kit. The tender was part-built, so I've finished that off (apart from adding beading), and I've made a SE Finecast chassis for it. 

 

I love old stuff like this. With an original price tag of 38 shillings and six pence (in 1950 - what's that in today's money, please?), it's very, very basic, and will need a lot of detailing to 'bring it up to standard'. But, that doesn't matter. It's loco-building as it used to be.

Shades of Jameson kits (or rather, 'scratch-aids') there, Tony! What a wonderful piece of modelling history that is - I wasn't aware of that kit maker until now.

 

Mark

[Atso]

I prefer the small boilered Atlantics. A natural progression from a Single.

Tim

I like the C2s as well Tim and why (along with the C4s and others) they didn't make it into the 'Apple Green' category after 1928 is a mystery to me. However, simplifying things to three stages, I would pick the C1 over the C2 as the intermediate stage due to its larger boiler and wide firebox showing a design lineage to the A1/A3 class (ok, Gresley got several ideas for the A1 from the American K4 Pacific and Harold Holcroft, as well as a couple of other Gresley locos in between, but that's just complicating things further!).

 

Back to my C1 model for a moment; there appears to be enough room to fit a smaller boiler over the Hall chassis so a C2 might also be possible. This would be another highly desirable loco for me as I have a couple of photographs of the class on stopping trains at Hadley Wood in the mid to late 1930s. The smaller boiler might make putting enough weight in the rear end of the locomotive interesting though and could require a weighted tender to transfer additional weight.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Atso

[StephenB]

Regarding the DVD, I filled out the 'competition' using the link provided on this thread last week and today I received a very nice e-mail from a lady at BRM providing me with the video link and a note to say my DVD was on its way.

That’s actually my experience after I contacted Warner’s to find out what was occurring.

Stephen

[Tony Wright]

Shades of Jameson kits (or rather, 'scratch-aids') there, Tony! What a wonderful piece of modelling history that is - I wasn't aware of that kit maker until now.

 

Mark

Neither was I, Mark.

[MarkC]

Neither was I, Mark.

I feel better for that, Tony!

 

Seriously, though, I do find it fascinating when little gems like this turn up. I wonder what other kits were produced by Acro? Does anyone know?

 

I've had the odd little-known (to me, anyway) kit pass through my hands; a Magna Models MR 3F springs to mind. I think I sold it on still unbuilt, though, as it didn't fit the period I was modelling. 

That must be over 10 years ago, if memory serves.

 

Mark

[CF MRC]

As this has become a bit of a golden oldie reminiscence class, does anyone know much about the Merco brick papers? Colin Albright is researching them on behalf of the HMRS. I will ask at the MRC, but even our members are not that old nowadays....

 

Tim

[jwealleans]

I have a couple of wagon kits, with the boxes. I’ll post a picture later. The boxes are almost identical, but one bears the name ‘Acro’ and the other ‘Nucro’.

 

Is there any way of dating them?

[46256]

I feel better for that, Tony!

 

Seriously, though, I do find it fascinating when little gems like this turn up. I wonder what other kits were produced by Acro? Does anyone know?

 

I've had the odd little-known (to me, anyway) kit pass through my hands; a Magna Models MR 3F springs to mind. I think I sold it on still unbuilt, though, as it didn't fit the period I was modelling. 

That must be over 10 years ago, if memory serves.

 

Mark

The magna model is a lot older Mark seem to remember it back in the eighties. I nearly bought one...whitemetal I believe....I opted for a George Norton brass version....introduced me to the joy of annealing smokebox wrappers...burnt fingers...and new profanities... Best wishes Brian

[MarkC]

The magna model is a lot older Mark seem to remember it back in the eighties. I nearly bought one...whitemetal I believe....I opted for a George Norton brass version....introduced me to the joy of annealing smokebox wrappers...burnt fingers...and new profanities... Best wishes Brian

Hello Brian

 

Yes, it was whitemetal.Not too many individual parts, iirc, and the inevitable solid whitemetal block chassis.

 

We have, in the main, moved on from there...

 

I too remember my first brass kits, for me that was back in the mid-70s - MPD 1F tank and 3F tender locomotives. Really nice to build. The 3F was actually a bit of a composite - there were some large whitemetal castings too. Also plastic axleboxes for the tender, if memory serves?

 

Happy days!

 

Mark

[jwealleans]

One of the two wagon kits I mentioned above.

 

 

The kits are identical. Whitemetal bodies, real wood decking and bolsters. I've made new pins, replaced the handbrake wheel with an etched one and substituted Cambrian diamond frame bogies. They compare quite well to the ABS or Parkside equivalents.

Edited October 18, 2018 by jwealleans

[ScRSG]

My memory might be playing tricks, but I seem to recall that Nucro was the name used for wagon wheels (and others?) which became Romford wheels.