hayfield

49 minutes ago, Sjcm said:

I think they look for keywords in your messages. I had a very odd experience when I bought some items in the usual way. The buyer didn't want to send through the post so offered to deliver. because he only lived about 20miles away I offered to meet him at a motorway service station half way. The problems started when we tried to swop mobile numbers as ebay would delete them. They obviously weren't reading them manually  because I had paid and ebay had been paid.

 

 I agree with you on the unsoliticed offers though. My experience is they're normally dealers, and have the attitude that they're doing you a favour by offering (usually) less than it would go for if you let the auction run. I usually tell them I never cancel an auction ahead of time, but there's always the possibility that they get the hump, buy it anyway, and then leave crappy feedback

 

 

Usually if not always I politely decline offers even if they are way over the starting bid (certainly not if below) as I feel its not fair on those watching and waiting till the end of the listing intending to bid at the last moment. My one fear of this action is to discourage the modeler who desperately needs the part. But to maximize the sale value I always try to end the listing early on a Sunday evening.  But I must admit to starting prices close to the items value so rarely get requests/offers.

Quote

"As I am 80 this year I have finally decided to retire.  So with immediate effect Nucast at Forest Row has ceased trading.  All of the stock of the reissue kits I held is being passed to Brian at Branchlines who is not closing down.

The future of the Nucast range has not been decided yet and is currently on hold. The moulds and casting machines are now in storage.  We are unable to provide any spares or special orders from the range, or produce more stock.

Please contact Brian on 01373 822231 as he's currently experiencing email problems.2

I either missed this quote or misread it, its a very sad day where the range has been put on hold again, I totally understand Dave's position and as well as thanking him for the dedication and service to railway (and car) modelers I wish him well in his retirement

But a range we thought was being brought back into circulation, now has an uncertain future again. Personally I think its sad these kits are not readily available again, lets hope a solution to the issues can be found

Two of my Springside locos are box-less and as I had a sheet of lightweight 1/8th ply and a bit of 9mm ply. I took them to the workshop and cut them to the required size

  Simple but joints were decided on

  9 mm bottom had sides and ends pinned and glued to it

  The plan was to have the top and top of the front side hinged

   Not either been on Amazon or gone to B&Q yet for light weight piano hinges and clip

  Clip catch(s) needed on the front

All seems OK the inside vertical joints will get some quadrant beading for greater strength. I forgot the exact length measurement and could have been 1/2 to 1" shorter for the 45xx

I decided to settle on 4.5" width and depth. I will put foam padding in and go from there, but the width could go down to 3.5" . I have looked at Pannier and 14xx which need a box 9.5" long box 4.5" height is fine, width 4" or 3.5" The sizes for width and depth were based on Springside cardboard kit boxes

This loco is an eBay find and came as you see it, its a 7mm kit build

  I am hoping that someone can identify it for me please

  I know I can get some missing parts from NGTrains

I do have some part used etched detail parts including the roof

As for the chassis at worst I can make a simple bar frame chassis

Thanks in advance

I am afraid to say I have no idea about either the RTR or collecting (RTR) side of our hobby. But kits and kit building is another story, my knowledge mainly lies in 4mm scale and now learning about 7mm.

I would not know a good buy in the RTR/collecting area and thankfully no one has asked me to assist in disposing of their stock. I buy to improve my own collection or find parts to assist in building kits I have. However I am getting much better at letting things go that I don't need, in fact selling these unwanted items actually is much appreciated by like minded modeler's who actually want/need the items I don't require and reduces the cost of my modelling activities

My last job lot allowed me to sell off unwanted items at starting prices far below what I would list my own items I want to dispose of, in fact made the items I wanted very cheap (for once). The bulk of which has now gone bar a few items, which hopefully will have totally gone in a month, probably with the exception of 1 item I don't need but is so rare I will not sell it off cheap

  These are 32mm 0 gauge track gages, the top two are very similar to the Brook Smith P4 track gauges, which in

themselves are not too common, but I have never seen them in 7 mm scale. With the inception of Templot plug track the need for gauges is very limited, but to a track builder like myself I would only want to let them (the two black ones) go to someone who would treasure them as I do. I seem to value them far more than anyone else.

I enjoyed seeing the station in the flesh, an excellent model. Thank you 

6 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

You miss the point.

Comparisons with airports (with respect to security needs) are largely invalid - airports deal with flights from a huge number of countries whose risk levels vary widely - very different from a facility which only deals with travel to EU countries (Dover, Folkestone, St Pancras) and can, broadly speaking, assume a certain level of risk applies to all those who pass through the facility and taylor what they do to that narrow passenger base.

 

And I repeat a bomb going off on a ro-ro ferry could cause just as much loss of life as a bomb set off in the channel tunnel and a car stuffed with drugs will cause much more harm that a person carrying them in their suitcase will…..

Departures from the UK outside this country carry the same risk whether by passenger train or by air. I agree incoming flights do differ by country of origin.

As for the different methods between Le Shuttle or ferry I agree with abd968008 reply

17 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

 

Not for the first time we see blatant double standards applied - rail passengers facing intense scrutiny despite the transit being between 4 well matched countries who routinely exchange information about illegal activities / threats and who all have good levels of policing etc, but road users face minimal checks (even though blowing up a car ferry would be just as devastating as blowing up a Eurostar)

Double standards ?

We used Eurostar last year and we passed through security and French passport control very easily and quickly, just like any international airport with the exception that on Eurostar you can take bottles of liquid with you

The return journey was much the same in Paris other than both French and British passport controls

If anything we were treated better than we have been treated at airports.

I seem to remember as a child anyone who had employed a poor craftsman or brought a dodgy item said they had a bit of bad luck and got on with life, Now we have a mentality of sue for anything we don't like. 7 years ago we had an extension built, after 2 or 3 months we had to part company with the first builder. If we lost money it was in the low £100's not £1000's. As it was a question of the builders cash flow a clean brake was the cheapest solution

Now if said builder failed to honor the contract through no fault of yours, in my opinion out of sheer good will certainly a partial refund if not a full refund should be fourth coming. The one contentious issue is the kit being incomplete  !! was  that true and were you asked to supply the missing parts ?

If you only have paid a deposit and the builder supplied parts was what its cost wort it, secondly how much is it costing to rectify incorrect work ?

I do agree with chiefpenguin, sometimes its far easier just to put it down to experience if you are not out of pocket by much. Good will does go a long way

A good visit to Alley Pally yesterday and I was able to obtain all the main items I required. A really good show, with some excellent layouts, plenty of different interests covered, and it was very busy so hopefully financially worth doing. Two disappointments very few traders selling parts and tools, lack of specialist traders. Good to see lots of demonstration stands but I went in that area at lunchtime.  It was nice to get a free BRN mag but the show guide lacked the usual layout descriptions, but as usual both free parking and courtesy bus from carparks. 

A big thanks to BRM and I guess the model railway club for an excellent show which was well run and more importantly is well worth going to

Whilst I brought a few more bits these are for the kits in question. Thanks to Squires, H&A Models and those on stand 42 (electrical components where I got some thin and flexible wire for the plunger pickups 10m for £1.50

Also you can see a 12ba spinner. Another good find was an 1833 Mishama, unused for £10, I declined the gears and gearbox despite being a name I recognized it had a plastic worm.

8 hours ago, burgundy said:

For those who have shown the determination to patronise Eurostar, can anyone recommend a decently priced hotel near St Pancras for an earlyish Eurostar train please?

Best wishes 

Eric  

There are no reasonably priced hotels near St Pancras, We have booked one of those mentioned and its coat us £180 for the night. You are right to stay overnight, last year we had an 8:00 start which meant leaving the hotel just after 6:00

We have a lie in this year as our train leaves at 9:00. Do pick either Travel Lodge, Premier of other large chain. We had a less than pleasant experience in an dear smaller hotel last year very close to the station

9 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Agreed.

 

But it's only the track gauge that is narrower. The trains are the same width and the minimum clearance between them must stay the same.

 

That's exactly what I was trying to say earlier in the topic.

Not if you measure rail head to rail head which was quoted earlier and to what I was replying to. The coach is to 4mm scale, narrowing the gauge will  move both lines closer together.

As said using track center lines would be far more accurate.

37 minutes ago, Jeff Smith said:

Scale centre lines will put the rolling stock in the same place regardless of gauge.  In OO the 6' way is wider than 6'.  A scale 6' from running line to running line is only correct in P4.

The trouble is the rolling stock is 4mm scale but 00 gauge track is 3.5mm scale. Thus in 00 gauge the rail is 1mm each side too far in. for 00 gauge you have to increase the 6' gauge  by about 2.3mm. Even in EM gauge us under gauge.

Still the 6' way is the minimum

I had been looking for the 3 parts which make up 112 (steam brake cylinder and support). then realized it had been built and had the piston rod broken off, as was the crank on part 105 ( brake shaft )

The first job was to drill out the old piston rod and replace it

The piston rod made from brass rod and some whitemetal scrap was cut to size for the brake crank

The parts fitted, the length and size may be incorrect, but under normal circumstances will not be in view

Painted dirty dull black which is drying matt

Another job ticked off

9 hours ago, LaScala said:

Looks awfully familiar!  I also bought a part built (ie messed up) kit and had enough slack to buy missing bits.

 

I have same problem with droopy front footplate.

 

I also had problems with eccentric wheels so replaced with Slaters.

 

Certainly no issue with slipping with that huge chunk of white metal.

 

I do recall that I spent a long time trying to get the safety valve bonnet to sit vertically.

 

The Springside kits have been passed by with mixed media offerings and even RTR for many years, but still make good models IMHO

 

 

Firstly can I say these are super detailed kits with high quality castings. They do differ from 4mm whitemetal kits in the way they are assembled where the main part do not necessarily have joining tabs, and I guess owing to the size of the castings may have to be made in several pieces. Also probably because I have been taking over part built kits not until recently twigged how the instructions work, as you have several A3 pages of schematic diagrams and a few A4 written instructions

I brought these two kits 2 years apart, one builder being excellent at soldering, the other very good at assembling using glue. Both builders seemingly struggled with with the chassis. The messed up kit (14xx) which was the first kit I brought had an excellent chassis, but a body build which had to be seen to be believed. I doubt the chassis was built by the same person as the body

In my opinion the front footplate must be soldered, all wheels are Slaters. All in all enjoyable kits to build

Thanks again for your insight in the build process

Tonight's fettling

The bottom part of the cabs rear wall stuck in place, each cab side are in 2 parts, the joint was soldered from the inside and gap on the outside filled

Tidied up the blemish on the boiled, now smooth to the touch. The smokebox casting is a bit speckled, so am giving it a light sand to smooth

The gap between the cab rear wall and cab floor has been filled with Milliput, now waiting for it to harden to enable me to smooth it. All done whilst watching West Ham

31 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Agree.

 

to me a 3rd country operator on HS1 is pie in the sky thinking.

 

First is the horrendous land and set up costs for servicing in the UK, and secondly is the walls and barriers the French would put up.

 

The best chance is DB via Amsterdam, 2nd best is a UK home grown option.

 

But stories of Swiss, Spanish operators setting up is for the birds, unless youve got the French onside you wont even reach the tunnel.

 

I never quoted any country or operator, good to see you state its an option. 

adb968008

I have read elsewhere its the lack of border staff or Eurostar unwilling to pay for them at Ashford and Ebbsfleet

There is more car parking space at Ebbsfleet than St Pancras so that is a red herring, its more of transport from other stations / bus routes / taxis or friends picking up

I understand just before covid signaling at  Ashford and Ebbsfleet to enable trains to stop. Its the usual French reluctance to loose their monopoly, which I believe will change in time by commercial pressure

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

But this is an issue with ordinary pointwork too, as the gauge affects the distance between crossing and switch. Thus any formation of pointwork in 00 takes up less space than the same formation in EM or P4, which is something to be borne in mind if trying to model a real location in 00 - the narrow gauge is an aid to compression.

In some ways quite true, but with turnouts it can easily be smoothed out, 

With a diamond the important thing is the distance between the Vee tips, only 1 vee in a turnout

52 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

That has only occurred at some marginal examples, such as the deals struck by a certain Irish based airliner, with some very small regional airports in Europe.

There is no subsidy on the fares, only reduced or waved landing and handling fees for the airline.

You won’t see anything like that at the likes of Geneva, or any of the London airports.

 

.

only reduced or waved landing and handling fees for the airline.  = subsidy 

You won’t see anything like that at the likes of Geneva, or any of the London airports.  Said Irish company uses secondary airports

I don't know how they get their fares that low, what I do know is regular complaints about additional charges etc, so unless you follow prescribed procedure to the letter and only have hand luggage, few end up paying £25 each was

My daughter has a friend in Switzerland and went to see her for the weekend, also ended up paying £25 for both flights, but only hand luggage which other than the extra clothes she wore on the flight everything else was in her hand luggage, however everything else the passenger has to do. 

As I need some 12ba washers and 6ba cheese head bolts and nuts to finish this part of the chassis build, I am just tidying up loose ends. In this shot garden wire holds the motor in place, much better than the elastic bands. Runs smooth both ways.

There was a gouge out of the boiler, which was easier to feel than see. I thin down Grey Squadron filler with Liquid Poly and leave overnight to set hard, this makes a better bond to the main parts

Sanded down, but still a bit low in 1 place to the feel

A second application now drying

Another job to remove then replace the lower rear cab wall as the lower edge could be seen in the doorway. Something which was annoying me.

I also think I will attach a flywheel for a bit of delayed action

First coat of Prussian blue on the cylinders for the Manning Wardle, I think the loco will look better in this shade of darker blue

Now as I await parts I will read the body instructions and plans to understand what goes together in each stage and perhaps group the parts into build stages,

I am also waiting for a missing part which holds the G bracket of the motion, giving it far more strength 

39 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Lobbying them on green issues (rail less polluting than air) stands more chance of success than attacking subsidies for tourism.

 

 

So don't use St Pancras - couldn't they build an International Station at Waterloo?

Whilst you are probably right, you will have more chance if you do than do nothing

There is another review underway about increasing numbers by 50%, and with less and less space needed for administration I am certain the required space can be found even if it means relocating or loosing some retail space. Just needs someone with a bit of vision and being deaf to the neigh-sayers. Before someone gets off with the time taken to turn the trains around, they should get advice from F1 teams.

Simply where there is a will a way will be found. And yes I do use Eurostar and believe its a great asset which should and I think will be used more

22 minutes ago, ruggedpeak said:

A petition has been started here in Switzerland for a direct Geneva to London service if anyone wants to sign. I have, although how rail will compete with the £30 air fares I pay at this time of year for the same trip I am not sure!

 

https://chng.it/b7vQvkR65n

 

 

Re the low cost airfares, I believe its down to subsidies given by the local governments to promote tourism. lobby your local politicians to equally support rail travel

The faint hearted may have said a disaster occurred, the plastic worm decided to have a melt down. As it happens not as much of an issue as perhaps feared. I need to phone Graham at Springside as I need a set of steps for this loco and a couple of parts for the 45xx. I told graham of the issue and he said the kit comes with a metal worm not a plastic one !!! Clearly the previous builder had issues building the chassis and one being the meshing of the gears, and replaced the metal gears with this plastic one. Still if nothing else its pushed me into ordering the parts I required

I enjoy building models and especially rescuing something that doesn't work. I think this kit has probably cost me less than £40 for the instructions and missing/broken parts, I brought this kit so well its not an issue having to pay a few £'s more especially when you are improving the model

I do hope these builds encourage others to have a go, the loco kit second hand market is very popular but do be careful. Unless the listing or seller states the kit is complete do think carefully about its value. This is the third or fourth incomplete Springside kit I have brought, so have a clear idea of the possible costs. Most importantly if the company is still trading and the owner is happy to supply instructions and parts, the kit is much more valuable than one which is discontinued.

Southeastern Finecast is another good supplier of parts and instructions. And only base your bid on what you can see.

I tend to base my bid on "if its not worth building, how much can I get for the parts "  Have an exit strategy. Don't get carried away

On a positive note Jazz of this parish has been extremely helpful in giving me advice on both fitting Slaters crankpins and the fitting of their wheels. its a great hobby we enjoy being in with many very willing to help others. Thanks again Jazz most kind of you  

Jazz

Thank you very much and you have confirmed my own thoughts, that not to the bearings flush, but also not too sloppy.

I am rebuilding a model that someone started but then found some issues which they could not overcome. I am starting to understand that the Springside instructions are not a part by part set of actions but a visual guild with some written notes

Another issue is one wheel has a bit of a wobble, I had sanded the backs of the wheels at the start, I may either swap axles or turn it round to see if its the wheel or axle to resolve the issue, having said this the loco runs well on the track.

Thanks again for sharing both your time and knowledge