Nick C

So the 8T van has been progressing - again I've deviated from the instructions a bit to make the best use of gue-drying time. The sequence I went for was, for each side: Axleboxes, brake gear, wait. Axlebox covers, springs, wait. Handbrake levers, wait. I also started adding the overlays to the sides and ends while waiting for the other bits to dry. The sides for the two SECR coaches have also been primed:

The usual one for quite a few of the couriers here is to stick stuff behind our side gate - which is fine, as long as it's not raining. One Amazon driver left a parcel of books there in torrential rain, the box fell apart as I lifted it, but all credit to the packaging, the books were fine! DPD are my preferred one at the moment as they will deliver to our local Halfords, so I can collect on my way home from work. I've also used the eBay 'click and collect' a few times recently, they simply provide the seller with a delivery address in our local Argos, so the seller sends by whichever courier to Argos, and I collect from there. What annoys me is the missed delivery cards with a URL to arrange redelivery - almost invariably I can arrange for delivery at any time I like, as long as it's when I'm at work and so won't be in to receive it...

See Linny's post about the MDF - I discovered their thread in the pre-grouping section a couple of months ago and was following the development of the Stroudley coaches. The vans were only released a week or so back, I think I bought the first batch! I was intrigued to see how the material combinations worked so the first one got bumped up to the top of the queue... It'd be worth trying the coach shells in MDF, I think 1mm would be strong enough, it seems more rigid than the Rowmark and there's no curling of the narrower parts like you've seen with the solebars/footboards of the coaches No progress on the layout though, can't do any scenery until I've done the backscene, and can't do that until I've got hold of some flexible MDF...

Tonight's session saw the solebars attached to the floor Followed by the w-irons At which point I couldn't resist popping the wheels in to see how it ran... Very smoothly, though without any weight on it so it bounced over the points! At this point I figured I ought to let the glue dry, so switched back to another vehicle that's been on the workbench for months, and fitted the remaining handrails to a SECR brake third This is using the Mousa models sides, and will be built up on one of Chris's laser cut rowmark shells. I must say I'm finding the MDF much easier to work with than the rowmark.

According to Michael Caine, it was to switch on the engine and wait for the fuel to run out, thus reducing the weight at the back enough to improve the balance. Apparently the mafia would then get the gold, and the sequel would be Croker's gang trying to get it back again...

I've just started building the first of the 8t vans - I'll try and document it on my Cowes thread

I've not been doing too well at updating this... I've had hardly any modelling time over the summer, so the only progress on the layout itself is that the wiring is finished, and the track has been sprayed with sleeper grime ready for ballasting. Yesterday, however, I went back to the stock box, and started on an interesting new kit - one of @Skinnylinny's new laser-cut mdf/card Stroudley 8T box vans. I started following the instructions, gluing the overlays to the solebars (both two-shoe, as AFAIK all the island vans had 'freighter' brakes) Then, as I had to let those dry, I deviated from the instructions by gluing the bearings into the w-irons and couldn't resist a dry-run of the body... Very impressed so far - the body slotted together using the tabs, and actually held itself quite happily - there's nothing holding it in that photo. I need to work out which van this will be, as in true Island fashion, there's plenty of variation!

One of our cats usuallyappears for his supper at exactly the right time. I've got no idea how he knows what time it is. He even appeared at the right time the day after the clocks changed... Do the marketing people really think we won't notice when the pack gets smaller but the price goes up?

Bear in mind also that a lot of clubs/societys are not permitted to sell anything to non-members for insurance/liability reasons - Obviously I don't know if that's the case for these three.

Four of Linny's 8t LBSCR vans turned up yesterday - I'm looking forward to building them!

Having read various threads on this, I'm thinking of buying a plotter, or asking for one for Christmas... As I'm on a limited budget, would it be a false economy to buy a secondhand one? I'm assuming the blades and mats wear out, are they easy to get replacements for? Are they backwards compatible (i.e. the same in a Portrait 2 as a Portrait)? Are there any other 'gotchas'? Thanks! Nick

The one that's been annoying me recently is the fairly long description, of which one line is about the actual item itself (usually failing to mention anything useful), and the rest (often several screenfuls) is going on about their "terms and conditions" - often trying to alter either ebay's Ts&Cs or the statutory rights...

The previous owners of our house fitted out the entire kitchen from Ikea. We wanted to add a dishwasher, so, thinking it would match, we went to Ikea. They were quite happy to sell us one (at a ludicrous price), but flatly refused to fit it - not just "It will cost more", but "No, we won't do it unless you buy at least 6 cabinets". We walked out, bought one for half the price from John Lewis, and I fitted it myself. Of course the Ikea cabinets aren't a standard size, so there's now a gap. The entire lot has been fitted as drawers, which makes quite a lot of it awkward to use (especially drawers-within-drawers, which are a really bizarre idea), except for the corner cabinet which has a rotating/sliding shelf - which falls off it's bracket about once a month and needs constant adjustment. Overall I'm very unimpressed with their attitude, customer service and quality, so I won't be buying anything from there myself.

Yep, that's why I put it in the jokes thread rather then the collision thread...

I was reminded of this one by the Carnival Horizon thread: Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision. Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision. Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course. Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course. Americans: This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the United States' Atlantic fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. I demand that YOU change your course 15 degrees north, that's one five degrees north, or countermeasures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship. Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

But as the wikipedia article in @009 Micro Modeller's post points out, the coins are neither melted nor broken up, so it is legal - the law doesn't actually mention squishing them (nor glueing them to the inside of a model wagon...)

Ah yes, the car-forum favourite of "all <comapny-x> parts are crap, you should only buy OEM" - regardless of whether the OP had mentioned company X at all.

Which direction are you heading? If you're going north, they are - Scotland is rising by around 10cm/century due to the springboard effect following the end of the last ice age - with no glaciers weighing it down it's literally bouncing back up...

No problem! Two set of independant 2-shoe brakes is exactly what the photos show. I'll be needing several of these for my IOW layout, so I look forward to them being available to order!

Cyclist. noun. Someone who rides a bicycle. Or are you suggesting that there's also a difference between "pedestrian" and "person walking", or between "motorist" and "person driving a car"? I usually see quite a few cyclists around. Some of them ride in an exemplary fashion, obeying all the rules and being courteous. Others don't. Similarly some of the motorists I see drive correctly and courteously, others don't. Generally you tend to notice the people doing stupid things more than you notice the people behaving correctly - regardless of whether they're in a car, on a bike, walking, etc. Fundamentally everyone should be courteous to everyone else, regardless of the mode of transport they're using.

They look good, very clear. One question though - when discussing the brakes, you only show one side. Will the kit include parts to do brakes on both sides (all four wheels)? All the photos in the OPC book from SR days or later show them on both sides - freighter type according to one of the captions. (Sorry for mentioning SR in the pre-grouping section!)

I don't think anyone here is saying that, indeed that's exactly where you should be going. What you shouldn't be doing is using shared use paths for going fast... On a related note, possibly one for the 'driving standards' thread - half an hour ago (full darkness) I passed a cyclist riding through the middle of Basingstoke. He was dressed in dark clothing, had neither lights nor reflectors, and was riding with no hands on the handlebars...

It's not just cyclists that the irresponsible dog owners have no respect for, it's pedestrians as well - My wife has a phobia of large dogs, and many of their owners just let them run around with no control. I think many of them are utterly unaware of how powerful a large animal can be.

I've just checked the Highway Code, rules 13 and 62 apply - but there's no guidance as to which side to use, merely that pedestrians should "Take extra care" and cyclists should "Take care when passing pedestrians, especially children, older or disabled people, and allow them plenty of room. Always be prepared to slow down and stop if necessary."

I'd say walk on the right, for exactly the same reason as you do on the road - so you can see oncoming vehicles - even more important with bikes as they're likely to be quieter than cars...