MPR

Looking at the instructions (and the labelled etch sheets), I would answer “yes” to both questions.

It appears that the 3150 large prairie is almost ready for sale. No pricing yet, design approach looks impressive. https://www.brassmasters.co.uk/gwr_3150_2-6-2t.htm

… and one done (apart from a touch of black on the lamp irons) This will be weathered at a later date, when I have got back into practice with my airbrush, but at least the bogies and wheels are no longer shiny and the end details are in place.

With the layout still packed away, I am taking the opportunity to complete a few half-finished projects, some of which have been hanging around for years. Firstly, the Heljan Hymek that appeared at Wells. The screw link couplings were replaced by slightly longer Smiths parts to overcome the coupling issues seen over the exhibition - this locomotive would really benefit from sprung buffers. I also took the opportunity to remove and repaint the buffer beams and cowlings, also fitting the piping at the same time. Moving on, the fuel tanks and wheels got a coat of under frame dirt - mostly black with about 10% mid grey and 10% dark brown mixed in to lift the shade and thinned down to single cream consistency.It’s not really a weathering mix as such, but intended to kill the shine of the self-coloured plastic and provide a basis for future detail painting and weathering, it also hides the shiny rims of the Ultrascale P4 wheel set. I then painted the bogie cosmetic mouldings with a similar mix. It will all need a second coat before reassembly. I also took the opportunity to convert a Heljan 47 that I have had put by for a number of years. This locomotive is very much a “rule one” choice, as the Brush Type 4s were not regular visitors until long after my supposed time period - I believe the earliest visit was of D1733 with the XP64 train. In any case, the original D1734 had a short and unhappy career, being written off after a collision at Shrewsbury in 1965. This model has also had an unhappy history, having being rebuilt and repaired after its original chassis succumbed to Mazak rot. Fortunately, the corner cracking was confined to one cab and hardly showed on gluing - I haven’t repainted it yet. This locomotive was converted with Branchlines wheels - these required a little more work than the Ultrascale set, as I had to file off the pinpoints on the axles. The gears were the originals, pressed off with a pair of pliers. They slid nicely onto the new axles, which were then checked for back to back with my P4 gauge. No adhesive was needed for any of this. The contacts were then bent outwards to contact the new wheels and the keeper plate and cosmetic bogie sides reattached - it all went at first time of asking. It has now been dismantled again for painting of the under-gubbins. I’m preparing a new, painted and detailed cowled buffer beam for this one too.

Ok, I’ll take the Hinton board.

The gearing means that the loco is very torquay, so I have dinmore puns than expected.

I know what you mean, it does somewhat grate, bear it.

Thanks! It’s not mine, though - it was a guest on the layout over the weekend. It has spurred me on to think about resurrecting a plan to upgrade a Mainline one, though.

Replica / Mainline C77 - over prominent rivet detail on roof. thick and poorly finished window openings, moulded on door handles, sketchy underframe and end detail, shallow detail on bogies. Rocar C77, much, much more refined all round. Similar era brake 3rd 1645 is a D127 1295 is a C74, but similar in construction

A couple more photos from Railwells - the auto coach wasn’t the only visitor from Clinkerford, as Paul brought over this superb C77 (GWR Collett 1938 corridor third), made by Rocar. I’d heard of these before, and seen pictures, but they don’t easily convey just how exquisite both the interior and exterior detailing is. We posed it for photography, then added a Mainline/Replica example of the same diagram for comparison. This model has been the subject of some discussion on the forum recently - I don’t think it is that bad - but its shortcomings are painfully obvious in this comparison photo. (Note: the only changes have been: swap out wheel sets for P4, remove tension locks and mount, drill and slot buffer-beam for Smiths screw-link couplings and swap body for Replica railways carmine and cream spare) The compromised proportions of the ventilators can easily be seen in this image. I am planning a couple of these in upgraded form, starting with chassis detailing, but this comparison has made me look at my stash of etched sides again. More to follow…

Working Caprotti? Simples. How about working sanders? (71000 restarting near Dainton summit, 4th May 2008)

The morning walk to the show was as beautiful as ever, this is a lovely city. All set up and ready to go. The 30 inch cassettes were reasonably easy to handle, but 40 inch examples were rather unwieldy. The return working from Clinkerford - this was a similar conversion to an Airfix auto coach using the Dart castings kit, mine is an A30 retaining the original 9’ bogies, the chocolate and cream visiting example has the flush drivers door and 7’ bogies of an A28.

My pannier tank managed to escape from duty for a short holiday in the Forest of Dean during the Wells show. I forgot to correct the head code, though - oops!

It is often said that British prototypes, with their low running plates, splashers and continuous plate frames are more difficult to model to HO rather than OO - as the key dimension is front face of wheel to front face of wheel - and RTR with its thicker wheels will always cause issues on the "true-to-scale" gauges. The S160 looks to be an exception though - I do wonder how difficult it would be to convert to P4 with minimal accommodation in the design. As far as I can tell, the motion support bracket could be an issue, and obviously clearance behind the connecting rod etc, but most of the usual issues will be absent.

Well, I’m safely home after another excellent Railwells weekend. Many thanks to Chris and the team for putting on another spectacular show, for their hospitality - and all the mugs of tea! It all makes a huge difference for a solo presenter/operator. The layout is safely stowed away in the spare room, ready to be reassembled and the snagging list attended to. Also, many thanks to all the visitors who had kind words and, in many cases, memories of Torre in its WR steam heyday. Similarly, it was great to meet so many RMWEB members in person and chat about our respective projects. Finally, thanks to the Bristol group for the running powers on Clinkerford - photos of some of the return workings may feature in a future post. It is fair to say that the layout did not perform as well as I had hoped. The facing crossover had one failed point for the whole weekend - the fault was localised to the control box, which would have been too chancy to try to repair. Also, the running, particularly onto the cassettes, deteriorated electrically as time went on, and was not mechanically truly reliable either across the joints. This was the first real trial of the long cassettes, which were usable, but rather unwieldy. I will think more on this subject, but am considering a completely new fiddle yard solution before the layout next goes out. Anyway, I have returned home pleased, tired, but thinking about scenic development soon, more stock - and better fiddle yards!

I would attack this in three ways; 1) Make the framing at least 100mm deep - this would also let you use modern underboard point motors like the DCC Cobalt. 2) use triangular bracing - this is hugely effective in increasing torsional stiffness. 3) When you build the boards, build them as a pair, with the opposing framing pieces drilled, dowelled and bolted together before final assembly onto the first board. Use cling film or similar if you are glueing to stop them sticking together. That way, even if they aren’t quite straight, they will be exactly the same as each other and fit snugly.

Visit by 60007 “Sir Nigel Gresley” to Kingswear today.

Looking at photos of Anglia patrol cars, I think that the black window edging is much less pronounced or entirely absent. Also, I vote for matt!

A bit more work on the reduced fiddle yards - I would prefer them to be able to take 40 inch cassettes again, so I have started on a pair of lightweight extensions for the existing boards. They do not need any wiring or substantial strength, so I have made them from 5mm Palight board that I recovered from some old advertising signs that were being scrapped. I bought some 12mm square strip wood to make corner reinforcement, cut the board to shape with a Swann Morton scalpel and glued everything together with cyano. End frame with 12mm square softwood glued in place. This project required basic tools only - I also used a razor saw for the softwood. I now have an end-stop! Finally, I added an off-cut of plywood to match the fascia on the rest of the layout. I’ll add a diagonal brace to stiffen the board up later. One down, one to go - it’s now only a couple of months until Rail Wells, so I need to get a move on!

Swan-Morton SM61 blades (and associated SF1 handle) are useful for this sort of thing.

A few photographs from this weekend’s Torbay air show.

This should please everyone, all together, all at once! (Siphon G at Buckfastleigh, Sep 18th 2005)

I suppose that is a Fairlie good approximation.

This website is no longer updated, but provides lots of useful links to "modern steam" - discussing many of the issues in this thread. I found the DLM website particularly interesting (they built the rack locomotives mentioned earlier in the thread) https://www.martynbane.co.uk/index-old.htm

Ok, courtesy of a visit to the SWAG meeting in Taunton yesterday and acquisition of a number of lovely books from the collection of the late Iain Rice, I think that the carriage in question is a D1999 Third Open. Seven compartments, 57', lavatory at one end, no ventilators over the doors. My only concern is that the lavatory compartment appears to have a solid grey blanking plate rather than obscure glass in the windows. Any thoughts?