robmanchester

The website at Dingham.co.uk works fine but I ordered some couplings a few weeks back and sent money by Paypal. I haven't had any response or acknowledgement of my order. He ( Trevor ? ) may just be on holiday or similar. Rob

Hi, Has anybody ordered any Dingham couplers recently and if so is the contact still couplers...at...dingham dot co dot uk ? I haven't been able to obtain a reply from this address. Rob

Thanks Izzy, I had previously got it into my head that Mek/Butanone was stronger than Plastic Weld, possibly because several sources of track parts offered Butanone alongside the chairs and sleepers but Martin however remembers Exactoscale supplying Polypipe. A popular track building method for me is C&L or Exactoscale chairs and plastikard sleepers cut to the sizes required from sheets of the stuff. I like to be able to use any of the thickness sheets available ( 0.040, 0.030, 0.020" etc ). The thiner sleepers I like for goods yards and similar as it makes the application of cinder ballast much quicker than having to build up the depth. Rob

The tests with the Plastic Weld on Peco chairs showed much better adhesion ( for me ) on ply sleepers. Thanks for the suggestions. Peco 4mm plastic sleepers and turnout timbers are both solid which is fine but I seem to remember the 7mm scale ones were hollow and didn't work too well. Pity Peco stopped supplying the IL-115 rail. Just right for UK 4mm FB track with a scale head width. Rob

Hi John, That is the technique I had been using to test the 'quality' of the bonds. Plastic sleeper+plastic chair(C&L,Exactoscale,Peco)+Butanone = good bond. Ply sleeper+plastic chair(C&L,Exactoscale)+Butanone = good bond. Ply sleeper+plastic chair(Peco)+Butanone = poor bond. Ply sleeper+plastic chair(Peco)+EMA Plastic Weld = unknown until tomorrow when test piece fully cured. Ply sleeper+plastic chair(Peco)+(Polypipe or Polypipe&Butanone) = unknown as I haven't got any Polypipe! My suggestion is that the Butanone doesn't 'melt' the Peco plastic well enough to key into ply. Never had any problems with C&L or Exactoscale plastic on ply or plastic sleepers. Rob

Hi Dave, Thanks for your post. My memory seems to remember something along those lines now you mention it. I just looked at the data sheet for Polypipe and it is made mainly from Butanone with a small amount of epoxy type material and tetra******* plus another item. The data sheet warns of exploding bottles and other not very nice things but seeing as plumbers get along with it I suspect they are just covering themselves. Like most things just go sensibly. I will bear it in mind. Rob

Hello John and Izzy, Thanks for your thoughts. I have just dug out a bottle of Plastic Weld which I had forgotten about and glued up some test pieces ( with the extractor fan on! ) I will let you know how I get on when they have fully set. I am using ply sleepers ( although I had the same results with Butanone on Basswood ) in both 4mm and 7mm scales. Rob

Hello, Can anybody throw out a suggestion for a glue suitable for Peco 4mm and 7mm scale track chairs that works on wood timbers ? The bond is weak when using Butanone. Butanone is fine on plastic timbers but when using Peco chairs this solvent doesn't seem to 'melt' the Peco plastic to allow it to grip properly onto the wood. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks Rob

Hi Wayne, I was expecting some high-tech workshop facility but to see the vacuum machine in the lounge with the wedding photo(?) in the background was quite a shock Shooting too early isn't usually a problem - gives time for getting your feet up and a cigar...... Off now to solder up some crossing vees. Keep the thread rolling and well done. Rob

Maybe a new career for somebody - transforming the kits into ready to lay items ? And it is nearly christmas - judging by the roads round here most families seem intent on going out and about ( all those essential trips in Tier 3 areas ) Rob

Hello Wayne, I think what you are doing with the new track range is great. A couple of questions, for now : 1) What is the width of the plain track sleepers and the crossing timbers used on the turnouts ? Is the underneath of the timbers solid plastic or is it hollowed out. 2) There is mention that the rail will be SMP/C&L type. Does that imply a correct head width for 1:76 scale. If it does be careful when moving on to the FB rail system as there doesn't seem to be any rail available with a correct head width - C&L and even the scale societies supply rail which is under-fed in the head department. The discontinued Peco IL-115 rail was the last available scale width head I know about. 3) Possibly an unfair question given that you have your hands rather full at present but are you planning to cater for different company chair types ( 2-bolt for us GWR fans, 4-bolt etc ) You may just have caused a stir down in South Devon........ Rob

Ruffnut, Thank you again. What a good article you linked to. Rob

Hi Ruffnut, Wow, thanks for the posting - very comprehensive. I have been doing some searhcing and recent Blue Spot vans do indeed have NEM sockets. Looking more carefully at the wagons I have would suggest that somebody has changed the chassis on some of them !!! I do have a Hornby vee tank cement wagon that came from the Lima range and that takes the non-NEM push in type you pictured. Armed with you very useful information I shall take a further look when I can find the time. BTW why are the fish-tail sockets on the base of Hornby, Bachmann and Oxford Rail wagon different sizes ?? If you take a Bachmann NEM coupler and its NEM box and try to plug it into an Oxford or Hornby wagon it either won't go in or just falls out when you turn the wagon over. The Bachmann coupler and box seem to be identified by small single character code printed on both items. Oxford and Hornby are, or so it appears, usually plain with no markings. Sorry, that wasn't actually meant as a direct question to you, just me having a rant...... Rob

No spamcan61 it isn't. Thanks for the attempt. I will take a picture later if nobody has come through with an answer. There is a peg that it needs to fit over and then be retained by the clip ( which I have ). I don't know if the part includes the actual coupler or just provides an NEM socket into which you plug the coupler. Rob

The ones I have are latest models Phil, the same as available new now. Yes I did try Mr. Google but he wasn't very helpful. I hadn't realised they had made them before. Rob

Hello, I have a few Hornby Blue Spot fish vans. When purchased I took off the couplings intending to fit scale ones. Now I wish to refit the original couplings to some of them but can't figure out what the actual coupling should look like. I have the small clips that hold the coupling in place but can't locate the couplings in my mega box of couplings. Anybody help me ? Regards Rob

Hi Jason, Thanks again. So on 247's list small belpaire(BH5) refers to ones suitable for Dean goods or is it the 57XX type (BH15) ? And the Gibson Type 1 equates to Large belpaire and type 2 equates to medium ? Rob

Hi Jason, Great, many thanks. Funny, I was on GWR.org last night looking at wagon and coach liveries but didn't think to look at boilers. Rob

Hi, Anybody any ideas on the loco types suitable for "Alan Gibson's" GWR cab backhead castings as listed in his catalogue. I am refering to 4mm scale. Listed are :- Type 1 GWR Type 2 GWR GWR Tank - belpaire GWR Tank - round top GWR 850 The last one is self explanatory assuming it refers to the 850 class saddle/pannier tanks which he has produced a kit for in the past. If possible I am after round and belpaire backheads for Dean Goods locos / 517 class and other similar period locos. I have left a message for Colin at AG to contact me but thought maybe somebody on here would know ? Many thanks Rob

Hi Andy, That is usually the case. There was an article in, I think, Model Railway Journal, a good while back where the chap was suggesting that EM-SF held some benefits in running qualities. I couldn't understand if it was going to be worth it but at some point I made some trial pointwork, modified some back to backs on the wheels and gave it a go. It ran well and later when I tried different stock on it I was impressed that the pointwork was performing well. You don't get the choice of simply using RTR wheels ( Hornby, Bachmann etc ) as the flanges are too thick, so it needs to be Gibson, Ultrascale or a trip to the lathe. Wheels that run on EM-SF are happy to run on other people layouts building to standard EM so you are not isolating yourself too much. It was only later when I noticed it was much better visually. This is because the flangeway gaps are now less than the rail head width, which is what we are used to seeing on 1:1 scale railways. This now only applies on bullhead turnouts as there now isn't a 0.9mm head width flat bottom rail available ( since the demise of Peco IL-115). Surely 'viable' in your quote can apply to the visual aspects of track and not just to the running qualities ? Rob

Hello, Does anybody have a GW Models 6" rail bender ? A few questions if anybody can help me :- a) What rail sizes will it work with ? b) Does it work with BH and FB rail ? I really need it for FB rail. c) Does it keep the rail from twisting when bending ? The latest price list from GW I can find on here lists it at £55 plus £7 postage - anybody know if this is still correct ? Thanks Rob

Thank you, I hadn't intended stirring up trouble. Kind of you to take the trouble to check sizes for me. Rob

Hello, Can anybody confirm a few details about the EMGS/Peco RTL EM track please ? I gave up after reading 4 pages of the thread....... What is the head width of the rails ? Can you join the rails to C&L type BH code 75 rail with scale type fishplates ? I understand the chairs are 3 bolt. Correct ? The dimensions of the sleepers on plain track ( Width x Length x depth ) ? What proportion of the height of the sleepers has the joining web attached to it ( or in reverse )how much ballast depth needs to be used to cover the web ? Is the flexitrack being supplied with spare rail at the ends of the sleepered sections as I read above ? Surely it can't be labelled as 'yard lengths' unless all of it is usable. Whatever the answers to the above Peco/EMGS are to be given a slap on the back for bringing this out. Rob

It isn't usually the postman who bends long items sent by Royal Mail, it is often the sorting conveyors they use in the regional mail centres. Long items get jammed up at corners and junctions resulting in getting bent ( by machine or human force ). Tubes are stronger than long square section ( Peco ) boxes. Does anybody think, like me, that putting fake wood grain on 1:76 scale timbers is a waste of time ? Rob

Hello, Anybody know of a supplier of brass 4mm scale w-irons that cater for the reduced space available on wagons with solebars slimmer than the normal 12" size ? A number of pre-1923 private owner and company wagons have solebars only 9 or 10" deep and there is not enough room for any of the w-irons I have tried. It occured to me it may be possible to make a new pivot arrangement for the rocking end as some of the pivots supplied leave a lot of movement and you shouldn't need that much to ensure good running. Rob