karabuni

Slight correction: Colin's "Newhaven Harbour" layout wasn't actually Railway of the month, in the May 2011 Railway Modeller, as I posted previously.

Colin's funeral was held in Llanddewi Brefi last Thursday (14th March). It was well attended, with probably about 50 people present in the church, and afterwards on the walk behind the hearse to the cemetery.

Barry.

20 hours ago, Kirby Uncoupler said:

This is a tragedy. To lose such a talented modeller in the prime of life, just think of all the masterpieces he might have made in the years to come?

It must have been two or three years ago, when Colin emailed me, to advise of his illness, I remember googling the details at the time, the prognosis

 was very poor. He had to put up with some gruesome chemotherapy, and other medical procedures, but he remained upbeat and positive.

     I first met Colin in the 1970s, when I used to work at the King's Cross model shop, he and Barry  used to deliver their Cambrian wagon kits in bulk, since we were their distributors. This involved driving up from far-flung West Wales (Tregaron), in a green or grey three-wheel Robin Reliant van (think Del Boy), the vehicle rammed full with plastic wagon kits. In later years Colin and his family lived in Llanddewi Brefi, made famous in recent years by the "Little Britain" comedy series, Colin used to report that fans of the show, kept pinching the village road signs!

      I think anyone who ever met him in person, or just contacted him via this forum, soon realized that he was a very nice chap, He would never talk down to a fellow modeller, or try and score points, his method was to offer gentle advice and encouragement

                                           Rest in peace Colin.

                                                                                                      Brian Kirby.

 

You have a long memory! Delivering in the Reliant Robin (It was green), was from about 1976 - until January 1983. As it was a five hour (and more) drive each way, we also took it in turns to bring kits in two suitcases, down on the train from Aberystwyth to Euston. The day return was cheaper than the petrol, and more relaxing, with one or two exceptions.

Kings Cross might have continued, perhaps not at the same location, but it, like W & H Models, passed to a son who didn't seem that interested in carrying it on, once offered money by developers. At least they didn't owe us money at the end, unlike W & H.

Barry.

On 03/03/2019 at 17:46, griffgriff said:

In much the same way I’ve been rereading his various threads. The 4 CIG topic in particular demonstrated Colin’s unwillingness to compromise on prototype fidelity and it’s a ‘must read’ for anyone who has designs on EMU or coach scratch building using plastic sheet. I can only imagine how his next layout (which would probably have been built to P4 standards) would have looked like.

 

 

Griff

We looked at the layout in Colin's workshop yesterday, which he described as a "test track". It is, indeed, to S4 standards.

Seems to be rather more than a test, though as most of it is ballasted, and has outlines of the platform and signal box marked. Colin's friend, Mark, who lives nearby (in Welsh miles, though) , thinks that it was to be another version of "Newhaven Harbour". This isn't immediately apparent from the track layout, however.

Barry.

Thank you to all those who have added their kind words.
Colin's family knew that ultimately he would lose his battle, but we did not expect his end to be yet, or so sudden.
I spoke to him at length, about a week before he died, and he talked of coming over to see us in the summer. We talked also of modelling - I think he had a new layout in mind, but had only built an S4 test track.

His funeral is being held tomorrow, in the west Wales village of Llanddewi Brefi*, where he had lived for around 30 years.

* Yes, the name "used" in the Little Britain "Only gay in the village" sketches. Before taking up modelling again, Colin played guitar in bands for many years, and the last one had T-shirts printed with "The only band in the village". This is Colin, on the right, Ysbryd on YouTube 1982 in a Welsh language band.

Barry Parks.

Exactly, one under frame mould for several different wagons. A new mould isn't cheap, so making one mould tooling that can be used for different wagons makes more chance of getting what we want.

This was the possible solution for achieving two different wheelbases (attached picture). Solebars would have been different to suit the particular prototype.

One-piece underframes: the mould fits under the injection nozzle vertically, which limits its length, so underframes cannot be much longer than the LSWR one. The Sole/Haddock might just go on the mould, but not Dogfish/Catfish.

BAA/BBA (FBT6) bogies: these would have been turned into one-piece, but the mould for these has the detail on one side of the mould, and the cavity on the other. Most of the other older bogies (e.g. Y25, Turbot & Gloucester) had the detail in the bottom of the cavity, allowing them to be used on the on-piece bogie mould without complete re-tooling.

Graham Taylor, the new Cambrian owner, is hoping to introduce some new kits, and I may be doing the tooling for one or more next year.

Barry,

(ex-Cambrian Models, now deangoods.co.uk)

Ebay searched, wagons to follow

 

Sorry to say I only have about 30 of theirs

 

I have met them though on a few occasions, I didn't think they were old enough to retire!

I'm afraid we are old enough, at least to semi-retire. I am 66 and my wife, Jean, is 68. She has done getting on for half the actual moulding since 1985, and our machines are not automatic. 

We are passing on some stock, but there are 4 or 5 trade orders that will also be passed, that will easily use up what there is, for quite a few of the kits.

We hope that the range continues to grow in Graham Taylor's ownership. 

Barry & Jean

Cambrian Models

Will post a free-standing Thankyou later (probably tomorrow))

Still no identity for the new owner? Will the new owner have website ordering or deal through retailers with websites? Will the new owners have a different insurance company that allows sales to litigious North America? 

The new owner is planning website ordering. Supplying to the trade will continue, as far as I know.

Our insurers would have allowed supplies to N. America, but the extra premium was more than previous sales' value had been. You can order through a retailer (e.g. Kernow) who has insurance cover for N. America, AFAIK.

Barry,

Cambrian.

Listened to Scott Walker's cunningly titled third solo album 'Scott 3' in the wee small hours the other day, coming home in the works van... I'd fogotten just how good (most of) it is.

 

Also been listening to a Velvet Underground compilation that surfaced in the car this week - their later stuff tends to get overlooked sometimes, tracks like 'Pale Blue Eyes and 'What Goes On'... the latter has a fantastic guitar sound and certainly doesn't sound forty years old. 'Sweet Jane' and 'Rock & Roll' are especially good too.

I bought the first VU album from seeing the cover - when it had pictures of the band and their light show, not the later banana cover. Their songs, although, er, sometimes a bit odd, stand the test of time. In 1968, I had't heard anything that ended the way "All tomorrow's parties" does. (This does of course live on as the name of the weekend music events held at Minehead, and before that Camber Sands)

VU songs covered (& sometimes done better) by other artists:

"Pale blues eyes" - Counting Crows/Sheryl Crow,

"Sweet Jane" - Sugarcubes (demo, ends suddenly), and Cowboy Junkies,

"ATP" - Japan, and Iron & Wine/Calexico,

"I'm Waiting for the Man" - Vanessa Paradis,

"Sunday Morning" - Mathew Sweet/Suzanna Hoffs (ex-Bangles).

"Heroin" - Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star), Sinead O'Connor/U2 (boring version, unlike the other covers, but then that's U2 for you).

A VU song done by Joy Formidable could be interesting - saw them a couple of years ago in Norwich - seemed promising, if a bit under-rehearsed.

Currently listening to: 'Allo Darlin' and their label-mates "The Loves" (now no more).

Barry

Stars: The best of the Cranberries 1992-2002

Saw them on their first (?) tour at the Cavern in Exeter (old wine cellar). Excellent and only £3.00 to get in! Still have their first single on the Xeric label.

Currently listening to Metric, fronted by Emily Haines who is aka Emily Haines and the Soft Skeletons.

Both these, and many others can be heard or downloaded from the US public radio site NPR Concerts

(but I bought their album as well)

Also listening to Yacht (not on NPR) - off the wall electro-pop, a good example track being Psychic City.

Barry.

...

 

I know that Barry "Karabuni" of Cambrian has suggested that he may produce a kit for the 1/420, so here are a few references and notes ;

 

On the cover of David Larkin's "green book" is a shot of empty B455555 at Lowestoft in September 1969, and inside is a shot of two Dia 1/420s at Portishead in 1972.

 

A number of the vehicles were converted to runner wagons (TOPS code RRV) by cutting the vertical end panels and securing them to the deck.

 

David Larkin in the "grey book" (69-82) publishes a picture of B455519 at Tring in September 1982.

 

 

My interest is actually in the private owner British Steel Company wagons (TOPS code PXV) which appear identical to the Dia 1/420 design, although these were apparently built by SRW in 1966.

 

Paul Bartlett's excellent website holds images of both the standard design (BSCO 40xx), as well as the lengthened, and heightened PXVs in the BSCO 42xx number series.

 

http://gallery6801.f...t/c1493324.html

 

 

The 15T vehicles were intended for use from Eastern ports with sawn timber, whereas the Timber Ps appear to have spent their career in Scotland hauling logs.

 

 

 

Perhaps Karabuni might like to comment on developments ?

The D1/420 is still in the "not sure when" class of forthcoming kits at the moment.

There is one of the BSC wagons at the Rutland Railway Museum, but haven't been to see it yet.

Barry

Cambrian Models

The board system says you aren't allowed to upload this kind of file.

If you send a PM with an email address, I'll attach the files (ttf format)

Barry.

...

 

I have a feeling the Parkside 5 plank LNER wagon is wartime build - as far as I know the pre war LNER 6 plank is only available from ABS as a whitemetal kit , and getting hold of ABS is not easy either. His stand at Warley is the best bet , which is no help if you live outside the UK. Parkside also do the ex LNER steel High - which dates from 1945

From Cambrian Models:

The early type of LNER 6 plank with a wood underframe is now in our range (since Dec. 2009), as Kit C81. It's only been sent out to two retailers (who have "standing orders" for new kits) so far, others that have ordered them will be getting them soon.

Barry

Cambrian