hayfield

I seem to remember as a child anyone who had employed a poor craftsman or brought a dodgy item said they had a bit of bad luck and got on with life, Now we have a mentality of sue for anything we don't like. 7 years ago we had an extension built, after 2 or 3 months we had to part company with the first builder. If we lost money it was in the low £100's not £1000's. As it was a question of the builders cash flow a clean brake was the cheapest solution Now if said builder failed to honor the contract through no fault of yours, in my opinion out of sheer good will certainly a partial refund if not a full refund should be fourth coming. The one contentious issue is the kit being incomplete !! was that true and were you asked to supply the missing parts ? If you only have paid a deposit and the builder supplied parts was what its cost wort it, secondly how much is it costing to rectify incorrect work ? I do agree with chiefpenguin, sometimes its far easier just to put it down to experience if you are not out of pocket by much. Good will does go a long way

A good visit to Alley Pally yesterday and I was able to obtain all the main items I required. A really good show, with some excellent layouts, plenty of different interests covered, and it was very busy so hopefully financially worth doing. Two disappointments very few traders selling parts and tools, lack of specialist traders. Good to see lots of demonstration stands but I went in that area at lunchtime. It was nice to get a free BRN mag but the show guide lacked the usual layout descriptions, but as usual both free parking and courtesy bus from carparks. A big thanks to BRM and I guess the model railway club for an excellent show which was well run and more importantly is well worth going to Whilst I brought a few more bits these are for the kits in question. Thanks to Squires, H&A Models and those on stand 42 (electrical components where I got some thin and flexible wire for the plunger pickups 10m for £1.50 Also you can see a 12ba spinner. Another good find was an 1833 Mishama, unused for £10, I declined the gears and gearbox despite being a name I recognized it had a plastic worm.

There are no reasonably priced hotels near St Pancras, We have booked one of those mentioned and its coat us £180 for the night. You are right to stay overnight, last year we had an 8:00 start which meant leaving the hotel just after 6:00 We have a lie in this year as our train leaves at 9:00. Do pick either Travel Lodge, Premier of other large chain. We had a less than pleasant experience in an dear smaller hotel last year very close to the station

Not if you measure rail head to rail head which was quoted earlier and to what I was replying to. The coach is to 4mm scale, narrowing the gauge will move both lines closer together. As said using track center lines would be far more accurate.

The trouble is the rolling stock is 4mm scale but 00 gauge track is 3.5mm scale. Thus in 00 gauge the rail is 1mm each side too far in. for 00 gauge you have to increase the 6' gauge by about 2.3mm. Even in EM gauge us under gauge. Still the 6' way is the minimum

I had been looking for the 3 parts which make up 112 (steam brake cylinder and support). then realized it had been built and had the piston rod broken off, as was the crank on part 105 ( brake shaft ) The first job was to drill out the old piston rod and replace it The piston rod made from brass rod and some whitemetal scrap was cut to size for the brake crank The parts fitted, the length and size may be incorrect, but under normal circumstances will not be in view Painted dirty dull black which is drying matt Another job ticked off

Firstly can I say these are super detailed kits with high quality castings. They do differ from 4mm whitemetal kits in the way they are assembled where the main part do not necessarily have joining tabs, and I guess owing to the size of the castings may have to be made in several pieces. Also probably because I have been taking over part built kits not until recently twigged how the instructions work, as you have several A3 pages of schematic diagrams and a few A4 written instructions I brought these two kits 2 years apart, one builder being excellent at soldering, the other very good at assembling using glue. Both builders seemingly struggled with with the chassis. The messed up kit (14xx) which was the first kit I brought had an excellent chassis, but a body build which had to be seen to be believed. I doubt the chassis was built by the same person as the body In my opinion the front footplate must be soldered, all wheels are Slaters. All in all enjoyable kits to build Thanks again for your insight in the build process

Tonight's fettling The bottom part of the cabs rear wall stuck in place, each cab side are in 2 parts, the joint was soldered from the inside and gap on the outside filled Tidied up the blemish on the boiled, now smooth to the touch. The smokebox casting is a bit speckled, so am giving it a light sand to smooth The gap between the cab rear wall and cab floor has been filled with Milliput, now waiting for it to harden to enable me to smooth it. All done whilst watching West Ham

I never quoted any country or operator, good to see you state its an option.

adb968008 I have read elsewhere its the lack of border staff or Eurostar unwilling to pay for them at Ashford and Ebbsfleet There is more car parking space at Ebbsfleet than St Pancras so that is a red herring, its more of transport from other stations / bus routes / taxis or friends picking up I understand just before covid signaling at Ashford and Ebbsfleet to enable trains to stop. Its the usual French reluctance to loose their monopoly, which I believe will change in time by commercial pressure

In some ways quite true, but with turnouts it can easily be smoothed out, With a diamond the important thing is the distance between the Vee tips, only 1 vee in a turnout

only reduced or waved landing and handling fees for the airline. = subsidy You won’t see anything like that at the likes of Geneva, or any of the London airports. Said Irish company uses secondary airports I don't know how they get their fares that low, what I do know is regular complaints about additional charges etc, so unless you follow prescribed procedure to the letter and only have hand luggage, few end up paying £25 each was My daughter has a friend in Switzerland and went to see her for the weekend, also ended up paying £25 for both flights, but only hand luggage which other than the extra clothes she wore on the flight everything else was in her hand luggage, however everything else the passenger has to do.

As I need some 12ba washers and 6ba cheese head bolts and nuts to finish this part of the chassis build, I am just tidying up loose ends. In this shot garden wire holds the motor in place, much better than the elastic bands. Runs smooth both ways. There was a gouge out of the boiler, which was easier to feel than see. I thin down Grey Squadron filler with Liquid Poly and leave overnight to set hard, this makes a better bond to the main parts Sanded down, but still a bit low in 1 place to the feel A second application now drying Another job to remove then replace the lower rear cab wall as the lower edge could be seen in the doorway. Something which was annoying me. I also think I will attach a flywheel for a bit of delayed action First coat of Prussian blue on the cylinders for the Manning Wardle, I think the loco will look better in this shade of darker blue Now as I await parts I will read the body instructions and plans to understand what goes together in each stage and perhaps group the parts into build stages, I am also waiting for a missing part which holds the G bracket of the motion, giving it far more strength

Whilst you are probably right, you will have more chance if you do than do nothing There is another review underway about increasing numbers by 50%, and with less and less space needed for administration I am certain the required space can be found even if it means relocating or loosing some retail space. Just needs someone with a bit of vision and being deaf to the neigh-sayers. Before someone gets off with the time taken to turn the trains around, they should get advice from F1 teams. Simply where there is a will a way will be found. And yes I do use Eurostar and believe its a great asset which should and I think will be used more

Re the low cost airfares, I believe its down to subsidies given by the local governments to promote tourism. lobby your local politicians to equally support rail travel

The faint hearted may have said a disaster occurred, the plastic worm decided to have a melt down. As it happens not as much of an issue as perhaps feared. I need to phone Graham at Springside as I need a set of steps for this loco and a couple of parts for the 45xx. I told graham of the issue and he said the kit comes with a metal worm not a plastic one !!! Clearly the previous builder had issues building the chassis and one being the meshing of the gears, and replaced the metal gears with this plastic one. Still if nothing else its pushed me into ordering the parts I required I enjoy building models and especially rescuing something that doesn't work. I think this kit has probably cost me less than £40 for the instructions and missing/broken parts, I brought this kit so well its not an issue having to pay a few £'s more especially when you are improving the model I do hope these builds encourage others to have a go, the loco kit second hand market is very popular but do be careful. Unless the listing or seller states the kit is complete do think carefully about its value. This is the third or fourth incomplete Springside kit I have brought, so have a clear idea of the possible costs. Most importantly if the company is still trading and the owner is happy to supply instructions and parts, the kit is much more valuable than one which is discontinued. Southeastern Finecast is another good supplier of parts and instructions. And only base your bid on what you can see. I tend to base my bid on "if its not worth building, how much can I get for the parts " Have an exit strategy. Don't get carried away On a positive note Jazz of this parish has been extremely helpful in giving me advice on both fitting Slaters crankpins and the fitting of their wheels. its a great hobby we enjoy being in with many very willing to help others. Thanks again Jazz most kind of you

Jazz Thank you very much and you have confirmed my own thoughts, that not to the bearings flush, but also not too sloppy. I am rebuilding a model that someone started but then found some issues which they could not overcome. I am starting to understand that the Springside instructions are not a part by part set of actions but a visual guild with some written notes Another issue is one wheel has a bit of a wobble, I had sanded the backs of the wheels at the start, I may either swap axles or turn it round to see if its the wheel or axle to resolve the issue, having said this the loco runs well on the track. Thanks again for sharing both your time and knowledge

Jazz I am newish to building in 7mm scale and would like to ask you a question about fitting Slaters crankpins I am rebuilding a Springside GWR 45xx. In the instructions it states I should file the crankpin top hat bushes of the leading drivers (which are behind the motion) flush with the coupling rods (I am using the coupling and connecting rods supplied in the kit which are 0.94mm thick) for clearance with the crosshead. Looking at the other 2 drivers, the top hat bearings are much longer than the thickness of the coupling rods, allowing up to 1.5mm side play. The question is should I also reduce the length of the top hat bearings by a mm or so for the remaining 2 pairs of drivers ? As the coupling rods also use the same top hat bearings I assume I should do the same with them ?

If you go to the Branchlines blog https://branchlines.blogspot.com/ On the blog page (seems to be no longer updated) there is a link to their email which when clicked on seems to work, access I think access to their email is via this blog page

Rolling roads in use, I have found that probably as the center wheel is slightly higher than the outer two, the chassis runs better with two trucks. Using an independent motor mount/gearbox seems to make for better running/easier meshing, but the motor must be held in place/stopped rotating. Thankfully there is a strong wire across the chassis under the motor. I might try some garden plastic coated wire next

Moxey As Graham has said you can email Dave Ellis, the other half of the partnership is Branchlines sales@branchlines.com

I not only have the shrink wrap* but the de-solder (hot air) station to shrink them * Lidl center isle

doilum Thanks for the advice I am going to Alley Pally at the weekend and its on the shopping list, the black wire is much thinner than the red and more flexible As it is the wires are all too long as I have not decided how to join them, they will be much shorter and neater

Pleased so far with the progress, the plunger pickups were cleaned and fitted to the chassis, then wires attached and as per advice in another thread each one was tested for current connectivity. I must ask Graham what make they are. Wheels were fitted with the motor placed on the center driver as per instructions, again I tested the motor turns the middle wheel I have temporally fitted the coupling rods to do a motor test, all is fine. I am now going to read the chassis instructions mainly to see where to join all the wires together, but check all has been done I must admit all seems fine I could not resist to wire up one pair of plunger pickups and see it running

Manic few days of modelling, Saturday I narrowly avoided disaster when soldering up the front lower footplate to the main footplate. I put on a larger tip but forgot to reduce the temperature to 300c, as soon as the iron touched the solder on the joint it melted too quickly, I took the iron off as soon as I realized. once the iron cooled to 300c I filled the dip and now have a much stronger joint, took a little while to smooth the slight bump and only casualties were 3 rivets under the front boiler. I also ordered 3 rolling road trucks https://www.flair-rail.co.uk/shop/ This morning was little better as I plan to fit the plunger pickups and motor and gears I got off to a good start in taking the chassis apart But it took me over an hour to find the brass plungers and springs, over the past week I have been tidying up the workbench little by little. This morning I started to look for them, opening every box I could remember opening, as a couple of trays with spares from the job lot I brought. Been out over midday and carried on looking on my return. In a light bulb moment I looked in the 12ba draw and there they were. I have no box for this loco, lesson learned get one. In the meantime use a tray Next job is to fit them and the motor,