shipbadger

If you are adding it to a baseboard as an alternative to the chicken wire and paper mache method you should have no problem. If you intend to lay track on it then that requires some different techniques. I have made a lot of scenery from expanded polystyrene, often scrap packaging. I usually glue it together with a low melt glue gun but of course other adhesives are available, but don't use solvent based ones. One of the advantages that I like is that it is possible to carve/sculpt the landforms in situ and further removal or addition is easy. You will need a vacuum cleaner hose in one hand and something like an old bread knife in the other. A small sized surform is also handy. Nowadays I tend to give the foam a hard shell with a product from DeLuxe, sorry the name escapes me as my pot was a trial sample and the name was changed when it went on general sale. If you are going to cover the foam with something like static grass give it a good covering of acrylic/emulsion paint first or you will have whatever colour the foam was glaring through. If you want to give it a thin skim of plaster, ready mixed wall skim or repair plaster is ideal, paint a layer of PVA on to the foam first. This helps adhesion and helps the plaster resist knocks. As a final comment if you really want to use it to lay the track on you really need extruded foam. In the US this is the blue or pink stuff you may see them using. In the UK it was blue but is now changing to grey. Tony Comber

Does terrible things to saws. Each time my son lays a laminate floor he borrows my mitre saw which despite having a tungsten carbide tipped blade requires a trip to the saw doctor for a re-sharpen each time. I have a spare pack of laminate after flooring my train shed but think they will stay spare unless there is a catastrophe. I do however use odd bits for jig making where their stability (if kept dry) can be of benefit. Tony Comber

I've had the problem of holes enlarging in tie bars before, as a result of wear. Rounding the 'slot' carefully and inserting a short length of brass tube cured the problem. Tony Comber

Dean Sidings used to produce these in resin. Dean Sidings is now under the Phoenix Paints umbrella, you can use the link above but note their comments on quality and the steps being taken and the catering car components are not listed on the website. May be worth contacting to ask. Tony Comber

There are shortages of all types of timber at present. I've just collected twelve sheets of plywood from a specialist panel supplier. Normally that quantity would have qualified for free delivery but they have just doubled the minimum spend to qualify. The 'excuse' was that they are rushed off their feet. This firm now supplies nothing but imported materials and the pandemic has caused problems all over the world so supply chains are disrupted. My air compressor needs a spare part and that will not arrive (from Italy I think) for another fourteen days but they can't tell me how long it will take to get from dockside to my front door. Tony Comber

Thixofix, a contact adhesive that allows some re-positioning when bringing the parts together rather than just giving you the one chance to get it right. You may need to search around for it nowadays as not all hardware shops stock it. My last tin actually came from B&Q. Used to be sold as Dunlop Thixofix but there is no mention of Dunlop on my latest can. Tony Comber

I use Woodland Scenics Lightweight Hydrocal when I need rocks. Once dry I then saw the mouldings into smaller sections to either use as smaller pieces or to re-arrange them so that they don't all look as if they are from the same mould :-) I've never had any break up whilst being sawn or used in the way. I even have a box of bits for the 'come in useful one day' stash. Tony Comber

If you don't like blue and yellow they come in silver as well. I bought a couple of additional irons for mine so bit changing is just a matter of swapping plugs around. My additional irons came from ebay at about the time the original distributor changed over to the current one. Don't know if that affected the price I paid.

Some years ago Lydney station had the old fencing replaced with the modern metal fencing, all the way along behind the platforms. I must admit that I was a little surprised as when they erected it it was obviously made of galvanised components which should have reduced maintenance but they then went and painted it all black.

About five years ago my son was still working in general haulage and was delivering architectural aluminium from Gloucestershire to the north-east. (The atrium for a shopping centre.) The customer insisted that the load be sheeted and roped. The firm my son worked for had long since disposed of any rope (probably into various car boots!) so I had a call, 'dad can I have any rope you have?'. Final idiocy of all this was on arrival the H&S guy told him he couldn't climb up on the trailer to get the sheets off. The lad asked him how he thought they had got up there in the first place and the H&S guy relented. Incidentally when I learned to tie dolly knots the chap in Devon who taught me called them sled drivers knots. No idea where that come from.

I use a low melt glue gun for gluing polystyrene foams. My gun is called 'Little Princess' on the side! Someone somewhere in a marketing department will know why. Tony Comber

Will probably become the standard work on the subject. It is not a quick and easy read because of the amount of information it contains. I went through and read all the picture captions first so as not to be distracted from the text! Much to digest but well worth it.

Iv'e just read a posting over on Facebook which indicates that the Model Bus Federation have purchased the moulds and castings marketed by ABS. They were asked if they knew what was to happen to the railway side but did not know. Does anyone else have any information about this development?

Try a post in 'Skills and Knowledge, Road Vehicles' you may get a more comprehensive reponse.

I have no idea what the production figures for the Trader vs TK are but growing up within a couple of miles of Grahams' 'old village of England' Thames Traders seemed to be everywhere. I have no idea of the respective costs but the Trader seemed more likely to be owned by someone running a single truck of their own whilst the TK it seemed was more likely to be part of a fleet. Later in the early seventies whilst working out at Chobham on the nurseries we had a TK and a D Series. For the TK you needed an HGV licence but the D series was on fairly small wheels and to save weight carried no spare so could be driven by those of us without the HGV licence. This was the old under three tons unladen rule. Tony Comber

I have used one of the lightweight fillers from the DIY sheds or Screwfix/Tool Station. These are the ones which when you pick up the pot you wonder if there is anything in them. Doesn't add much to the weight of a baseboard. For all these 'plaster' tasks I always add PVA to the mix or brush it on to the surface I'm about to cover. Tony

Some years ago now but I had Bill Bedford produce a batch of his sprung bogie etches for me in 3.5mm scale. I had one on the stand at Warley a few years back. Tony

I think that you may get some more responses in the 'Road Vehicles' section of this forum. Sources of wheels and various alternatives are subjects which are often discussed.

looks like another of the same make here http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=38140&sid=2550563d4baf64ecdbc086c4f72f28c7 Tony Comber

In an idle moment I had a quick search on Google but drew a blank. Shame as when I built a mobile home park for my US layout I found a manufacturer who had drawings of the vans going back pre-war to the start of the business. My only suggestion is to search for the Retro, Period & Classic and Classic Caravan clubs. I think they all have various publications or may be able to direct you to a source. Big problem is that although the names persist the actual firms often change hands, several times in some cases. When I was young we had a big site near us mainly of people who had been bombed out of London living in caravans. The one they all 'lusted' after was the Bluebird Caribbean, although there were also some home built on ex-WD chassis. Many of the owners worked at Vickers, Weybridge and had appropriate skills to do this. Hope this helps a bit. Tony Comber

I noticed the OP said bolt heads in reference to the inside of wagons. Most would have been built with countersunk head nib bolts when new. Think of a countersunk head screw with a plain head and a bump to stop it rotating. The nuts are on the outside, no washers. Sometimes a row of bolts will have a long metal strip referred to as a washer plate under the nuts. This is used if the nut would otherwise tighten against the wood. The heads of the bolts present a flush appearance if fitted correctly. Countersunk head nib bolts are now very expensive so many wagons on heritage railways will have ordinary coach blots fitted to save costs. I use a counterbore to inset the heads into the wood to try and preserve the flush appearance. Short CSK head nib bolts are available incidentally in most agricultural merchants as they are used to fix plough shares to the body. Tony Comber

You can buy the individual strands of elastic. I bought some a while back to simulate the electrical connections between coaches. Look for 'thonging' on Ebay. Tony Comber

I don't have any involvement with S&T work on the heritage railway I am a volunteer on but do know that much of our signalling equipment has come via contacts in Network Rail. With the current removal of old mechanical boxes I suspect this is probably the only was of obtaining materials before the scrap man has them. So make contact with NR explaining what you want and see if you get anywhere. If looking for new stuff I suspect only somewhere like India is making any. It's where things like vacuum brake seals come from nowadays. Tony Comber

No No, I'll be there doing a demo. I promised I'd have a go at a MSE lever frame somebody was given and passed to me. Unfortunately the first job looks like I'll be undoing the work done so far :-( Tony Comber

My nearest town has a launderette which expanded into the shop next door a couple of years back. We also have a pawnbrokers again, although it trades under a more modern title. Who will be the first to model a food bank as a sign of the times? Tony Comber