hayfield

Have you read this thread about the uni frog? http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/121872-unifrog/page-3&do=findComment&comment=2886795 One of the latest entries has a photo of the ubderside of the common crossing (uni frog)

Simon I am certain 3D printing is the thing of the future, initially ordering parts from a business at competitive/affordable prices. Eventually home printing will be of acceptable quality and affordable to all

Seem to be getting good buys on books lately, earlier bought 3 books from Bodmin General shop for £7.50 Today a copy of the Historical Wagon Drawings book by F C Roche arrived with 36 plans (4 x locos, 26 x wagons & 6 coaches) Some blueprints, some plans printed on thin card. the wagon blueprints have 4 wagons per page, 2 of the coach plans are from BSL LNER kits. An A3 size plan of a LNER A1/A3 which I may frame. Anyway £6.71 inc postage, with the cheapest copy on Amazon at £7.29 + £2.80 postage well pleased. Most of the wagon and coach plans will be put on eBay in sets for a nominal fee. May not be the best plan book but will add to my collection Last night I won a copy of the Bradford and Barton Bodmin to Wadebridge Branch line Special for 99p + £1.22 postage Amazon want £19.95 + £2.80, though on eBay one on auction at £2.50 + £2.80. link below http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SOUTHERN-BRANCH-LINE-SPECIAL-NO1-BODMIN-WADEBRIDGE-railways-/292285298386?hash=item440d8fb6d2:g:sS0AAOSw8btZhbWJ Anyway it will add to my collection of SR west country branch line books and is a branch line I am interested in, and only 21p dearer than a sister book I bought at Bodmin. Perhapps I should look for more books on ebay

George This is the part I have been waiting for, and seems well worth the wait

Making a slip in Templot has just become very easy as it has been automated, as for the build using the Exactoscale chair components especially their Common crossing (E4CH 502A) and Slip chairs (E4CH 504A) not only look good but do assist with the build process, and depending of the gauge chosen the Check rail chairs (E4CH403A) One tip for double slips cut the switch rail in to 3 sections using the metal fishplates as the hinge, this frees up the switching dramatically

Ron I changed to Exactoscale chairs two to three years ago for this reason, the moulds are newer and crisper and now no price differential

Just give Phil a call, yes it may be a bit irritating, but if there are some issues with the website he may not be aware of your orders

The Peco geometry is a well tried formula which has stood the test of time and has proved to work in creating turnout and crossing formations. As said from many, space is always a consideration. Yes its a compromise but a compromise which is welcomed by those who use the system. The majority of those wanting this development were asking for a better looking product in 4 mm scale, whilst being able to keep the compatibility with the current system. Peco must be congratulated for this step forward which is aimed at their existing customer base, those wanting something bigger and or to scale will have to either build or have built bespoke items especially when it comes to formations of turnouts and crossings. Putting it simply if they produced an A5 turnout, if the modeller wanted a crossover they would have to splice the two A5's together, not really the plug and use instillation of their existing systems.

Demand for a discontinued kit may not translate into a reintroduction/new kit for a model. Some may be trying to buy it just in case they might need one, or the fact that two or three modellers are willing to pay over the odds to get it The reintroduction of the Southern coach kits will be a good test to see if there is still a demand for reintroducing discontinued items

But as I eluded for something like a glossy book cover, the buyer should expect to be able to remove the label without damaging the cover. Had it been a plain cardboard box then its difference

I looked at the link especially as I am interested in both track building and narrow gauge modelling. I decided it was best not to comment. There are a few things if building a standard gauge turnout that may cause a few problems, with narrow gauge you could say the builder has captured the rustic style of modelling, but full marks for effort in making modellers aware of the ease of building your own track I sense a bit of friction with your reply, here is a link which if you are truly interested in the subject might help, though I think you may well be aware of this area, but the link could assist others http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/160-handbuilt-track-templot/

Could be the quality of the plans(templates) or the fact that communication with other track builders and or the information within Templot Club has enabled the modeller to improve his knowledge and skills base I for one not being in the railway industry had no real idea about trackwork, naively assuming the Peco points were (like locos) scale models of the real thing. Plus many modellers who are willing to both give advice or assist a fellow modeller. Just like this forum

Theft is a big problem with retailing most commodities, with regard to our hobby thankfully it is no where near as bad as other areas. We do have the odd bad apple, but in the main all attending shows are honest.

I am not having a go at Charlie with this reply but the retail trade in general Having being in retail for years in my humble opinion the retailer if selling an item they should take into consideration if sticking a label on an item wold cause a problem if it damaged it, quite simply use the correct type of sticker There are two types of sticker, one which for security reasons is tamper proof and low tack ones designed to be removed without damaging the item its stuck on. Whilst book dust covers original were designed to protect the book, like LP covers those who enjoy or collect such items prefer to have the covers in tip top condition. If its an item where the packaging is thrown away and or needs a security label then use one As for this modern idea of risk managing everything is ludicrous. Its a label on a book, not some hazardous substance.

But a mainline loco will not run over it !! I would guess a small 0-6-0 tank loco would also struggle.

Perhaps we can expect an enterprising manufacturer supplying motorised horses to pull the wagons, but surely the sleepers would be hidden so the horses will not trip over them. Seriously Coachman you have a valid point here, of course there will have to be compromises in most cases, but where is the line to be drawn where the size detracts from the looks. I say looks as most of those 00 modellers want a better looking and in scale track system for 4 mm scale modelling (all be it to a narrower gauge), rather than scale replicas. Lets face it this is what is being brought now in loco's and rolling stock, in far greater numbers

Jeremy The easy answer is yes, no doubt Martin will give you the easy way of doing it, but simply (which is difficult fir some) get a set of switches without any timbers or stock rails and overlay them to match the photo

Tim With copperclad the rail is held vertical As the good captain has said you may need a bit of gauge widening Looks like you have mastered the basics of Templot

Ron Whilst I appreciate the fact that everything is being scratch built to the highest standards there must be a time when certain compromises are worthwhile. Once my railway room is finished I will be building my own version of Bodmin General, trackwork is my main interest and I try and build it to the best of my ability using the plastic components used in the Exactoscale kits but to both 00 and EM gauge standards, this allows me to use the check rail, common crossing and switch rail chairs and if building either diamond crossings or slips the appropriate chairs. As far as I am concerned the trackwork separates into 3 categories First category is fully visible, the second is plain track which is obscured by structures, third catagory is odd scene The first category which includes turnouts, crossings and plain track will all be hand built using separate chairs with key detail The second category will be plain track obscured by platforms, buildings or inlaid track which will be 4 mm scale RTR flexi track The third category will be using the cheapest method available I understand those who wish to add detail which is not seen just because its there, but with any project a line must be drawn somewhere, whilst turnouts are different (in my opinion) any plain track which will be partially or fully obscured is acceptable to be built using commercially made flexitrack, both financial and time saving grounds I am not too certain what Phil's attitude is to giving a discount for large bulk orders, but Peter was always open to discuss discounts on very large orders. Might be worthwhile asking for quotes on bulk packs

I certainly agree with you providing it is not pretending to be something its not. 30 plus years ago we used to buy fake copies (especially when abroad) of something knowing they were fake copies just for a laugh. Trouble is that the world has moved on, least of all we now know more about copyrights, but most of all a lot of these activities are connected with criminal gangs, people trafficking etc

To be frank using thin spacers cut from 1 mm double sided copperclad will be the quickest method, using a slitting disk to remove any excess. I would still go down the route of only soldering every third sleeper and just threading plastic chairs on the rail for the non soldered sleepers, or doing the same but use short panel pins on every third sleeper

Jol Whilst totally agreeing with you about displaying items, people collect things for different reasons. Just look at the various shows which thrive on antiques/second hand goods On the other hand I am very pleased having a collection of all the K's wagon and coach kits in their variants that were available to the retail market (Has anyone got a motor rail kit that don't want). These are in some cases very poor models, but something I like. Just started collecting the 009 kits (well I have 2 examples so far None of these are on display, perhaps they should be ?

I think your assumption on the effect of Peco track would be correct if C&L relied wholly on 00 gauge track. In fact Peco flexi track only completes with half of C&L's 00 gauge flexi track range and its the Exactoscale fast track bases (C&L thick flexi track) I take the opposite view, the introduction of 4 mm scale track in 00 gauge will open up a whole new market where a certain section of 00 gauge modellers will see the visual enhancement that 4 mm trackwork has over 3-5 mm scale trackwork,. Thus wanting items that are not available through Peco and either build or have built items using the C&L and Exactoscale parts. There is even one reply talking about kit bashing the turnout into a different configuration, and the turnout is not even on sale !!. Secondly I think there may well be a small amount of 00 gauge modellers who after seeing the difference scale size and spacing makes in 00 gauge will take the bigger step of going to EM gauge, to visually enhance the looks of trackwork further. In terms of 00 gauge modellers it will be very small, but in terms of those already modelling in EM gauge it will be very large. The next game changer will be further advances in 3D printing

The one issue you will face is that all chairs are designed to hold the rail above the sleeper/timber. Not too certain about whitemetal chairs (the ones I have seen were coarse scale) but the C&L and Exactoscale chairs hold the rail 1 mm above the sleeper/timber. The problem you will encounter if you solder the rail directly to the copperclad is that the chair will not fit into the recesses of the rail as its too high One solution is to raise the rail up by 1 mm. This can be done several ways, one I have used is to use slivers of 1 mm thick copperclad ground back to the width of the rail. drill holes in the copperclad and fit (lill or panel) pins, which can be soldered to both the copperclad and rail. In 00 gauge it was the norm to do this every third sleeper/timber using card or wooden sleepers/timbers in between, given the cost of copperclad this is a very economical building method. C&L or Exactoscale chairs could be used functionally on these and cut in half for the soldered joints To be quite honest unless you have lots of cheap copperclad timber strips, ply strips would be far more cost effective