hayfield

Not too much done tonight (had to make some jam) The splasher has been filed back, just need to grind the rear back with a mini drill to clear the wheels. Rear step units fitted (nice new castings) along with the cab roof, buffer beam, dome and drivers seat. There is a dent in the side if the fire box that I have just noticed, it needs pushing out a bit and the point of the dent filled. The hand rail nob holes have been filled ans sanded. Also found the tender bufferbeam, so only a tank vent and 2 buffers missing. Happy with progress to date

I have not tried the cylinders again, and will not till I sort out the crossheads. but the footplate castings at that end fitted together quite well. It was soldering the main bit back together again where it had broken that was awkward. Its going to be nothing like a Guy Williams model (I wish) more like a Guy Faulks

It was harder trying to continue someone elses build. Once I stripped it down and started again it was easier, though it might be the case that second time round it i got it right.

For the past 2 weeks I have been building turnouts for others, I think it was 5 00 and 3 EM ones and repaired a 3 way. So I fancied a change. A friend gave me a K's GNR Atlantic kit. It had been built and then dismantled. Well on monday once I had finished and posted everything I decided to have a go at it. The motor turned the wheels but the cylinders had been badly built and they faced a bit inwards so the crossheads rubbed against the drivers. After one of the piston rods snapped I decided to dismantle the cylinders and rebuild them once I had new crossheads. I decided to get on and rebuild the body. As some of the parts were still stuck together I tried to fit them together, as the fit was not to good I got out my old saucepan and dunked the parts into boiling water. Now they were all seperate. The footplate shoud have been in two parts however the larger part had been broken. After a little fettling I got all glued in place except where the footplate had broken in 2 which I soldered back together. Last night all I had time to do was to repair one of the splashers with Milliput, as it had been reduced in size!!. To night I filed it to shape and found that the bottom and other end also had been reduced, so I have built it up and will file to shape tomorrow. I also filled in the hand rail holes which were too big and did a bit of gap filling where the footplate had broken. The tender needs a bit more dismanlting, so the pan will come out again in a bit. I am working in the dark as the kit has no instructions, and I cannot see that any of the mags have done a plan. Still that half the fun. A Bullied coach plan book came in the post this morning that I won on Ebay. The cost of posting it was more than I paid for it including postage, I might send the guy the difference as I feel a bit guilty.

Thought these photos of a Kings Cross coach partly built might be of interest Its a SR composite coach, the solebars are too coarse so plasticard channel will be used. Generic instructions Additional parts I have sourced May not use the CCW bogies as they have screws in the bogie sides to attach to the central bar, good compensation though. Have a Bachmann set to use BSL underframe pack, or I have some square brass bar. PC etchings for hinges handles, knobs etc, also have BSL and NoNosense airvents. All the bits are there but other things have got in the way of the build

There's me thinking you have defected to the GWR !! Mos nice one, I have a set of Mainley trains coupling rods which I want to try on a HD chassis and see if it enhances the looks of the chassis.

I think he's got his boxes mixed up (16ton?) steel open wagon, the container wagon is the one the containers fit on to.

On the face of it this wagon looks expensive, but when 3 buyers are willing to pay £50+ and 2 into the £80's the price might not be so bad. The kit I guess costs about £30 that leaves £50 for the price of building, painting and finishing the wagon. How much would a modelmaker charge to build, paint and finish the item ? Trouble is we are all looking for that bargin and forget the real cost.

Chard I am glad you take out your frustrations in print and that in pratice you have benefited from using Ebay. Over the years their charges have gone up. However selling to a dealer is so expensive as they have to have a good mark up plus pay VAT and overheads. But how is it that we all spend so much time searching Ebay for that elusive item which no one else will have noticed. Or that wrong description, will anyone else spot the mistake and steal that gem from us. Or that badly taken out of focus picture, am I the only one who spotted it. Or that small item that on its own is not worth much, but for you is the last piece of the jigsaw for that loco you are building.Then again you have won an item that most seem to have kept clear from, it arrives and you have found its not what you thought it was. But when that gem does arrive in the post at a bargin price, all is forgotten. Then as a seller, seeing the item you do not want actually sell, the odd one sells for far more than you expected, or the item you thought would sell well struggles to find a buyer. Then you recieve a letter from the buyer taking the trouble to thank you, telling you that this small inexpensive part will allow him to finish his loco. Life would be so dull without Ebay. Chard do have a good week and thanks for the rants will look forward to the next one.

If you dislike Ebay so much and it gets you so worked up, why do you still look at it ? Ebay is not the only place that people sell cheap items, car boot sales, £ shops etc. As far as selling my old unwanted items, even taking Ebays fees off I have sold items for a far greater price than a dealer would have given me. I have also seen the price dealers want for s/h kit built locos, far higher than Ebay prices. And you forget about the bargins we all have brought, An Airfix 14xx with a working Comet chassis, gearbox,motor and wheels all for £15. Even my Compressor and airbrushes from a trader are execelent value and far cheaper than advertised via mags etc. Yes some people do push it, but they are everywhere. Ebay does not force anyone to sell via them or buy through them. What about those auction houses who charge both seller and buyer commission, I see no one complaining about that. Long may Ebay madness reign, not where items are sold above their value, but where we can find cheap good value items, and have a platform where we can sell our unwanted items to like minded modellers at a fair price.

The items are much better making up a missing part in a collection than staying hidden away in a loft. But more to the point their cash is much better in your bank account, I am certain you can make better use of it. Good luck and drip feed them into the market to maximise your profit and kept away from dealers.

The half built loco body went for £36.00 plus postage, the chap still needs a chassis, wheels, gears and motor. For £10 more he could have the updated kit or at £11 less, everything !! I have just brought a working chassis for this kit with a set of Romfords, £21 including postage (as I have the 1864 Saddle tank waiting for one), Ok its not the bargin of the year but its 2/3s of the price of a new set of wheels I think I may have been spoiled as at one time Puffers stocked most things including detail parts, and if they were out or the run of the mill stuff Harrow Model shop was on the way home. I have not realy come to terms with who supplies what on the web. I do not know why this chap did not sell these in either smaller lots or singly, as its much easier to sell a smaller number or single items. Selling it that volume you will onlt attract the traders who want to buy cheap.

Another reason could be the demise of model railway shops. 40+ years ago in Watford we had 3 model shops. Sadly we now have none. That was not too much of a problem as we had Puffers in Kenton and the Harrow model shop and of course a trip to London to W&H. Over the past 10 years (or is it longer) these have all gone as well. So to buy bits its mail order or waiting for exhibitions. Mainly Trains offered a great servive in mail order sadly their range has reduced and the last exhibition I went to (Watford Finescale) the trade support was very dissapointing so obtaining models or parts is becoming harder. We now have to work harder to obtain what we require, many small suppliers either do not have websites or do not take debit or credit cards so its back to the post and cheques (whats going to happen in 2018 ?) With these problems to overcome this is where Ebay wins, its changing from a place to get bargins to easy or instant shopping. Its so easy to see the item you want, click on it and pay. It can be addictive or is it compeditave (or both) we see an Item we want and we must beat others to it and have it for ourselves (auction fever). As for collectors well they will pay what it takes to buy what they need to complete the collection. And there is always that one person who chances his arm putting some thing on very expensive and some poor person falls for it Yes there are still bargins but you have to work harder for them and good value items. Last night a Wills 1864 pannier tank did not sell for the starting price of £25, the kit is now £75.50 Romford wheels must be £27 and a motor £10. OK it had the older chassis, it was not described very well and the photo was not too good. At £25 it would have been a good value buy. No doubt today we shall see more models fetch what we see as silly prices.

He may be willing to, I had a quick chat with him at the weekend, and he is keen to do something railway like. If he will not he knows some one else who takes on work

He may be willing to, I had a quick chat with him at the weekend, and he is keen to do something railway like. If he will not he knows some one else who takes on work

My friend who has the printer brought some samples of rings he printed. His machine prints in wax and they produce high quality wax masters from which moulds can be made, with little of no cleaning required. He is trying to think what he could print (or is it grow) for use in his model railway just for the hell of it.

For the work he is doing its running a good part of the day, whilst it is worth it for makeing high value items on the railway side I doubt if the economics are there at the moment other than for ones own pleasure. No doubt at some point in the future prices will fall, but once you have a master you will have to have a mould made, then get it cast.

I think its about £20,000, not seen it yet but after every layer is printed it cuts the print flat (and hovers the cuttings up), then layes the next print. A slow process but makes a very fine master. It depends on the size but it sometimes takes several hours to produce the item. I should realy go round and see the piece of kit.

I have a friend who is a jewler and has just brought a machine that prints very finely in wax, to make moulds for casting. It was very expensive and not the type of machine a modeller would buy. When he gets time he plans to make some parts for his locos. Cost would be prohibitive as you would have to pay for the master to be printed then the mould making and casting process.

Loyal North lancs The chap who sells the GEM kits is very approachable and helpfull (Very satisfied customer) have a chat with him. The L1 chassis needed I think is the older version (there may not be a newer version!) GEM did do a replacement chassis for the L1 and these do come up on Ebay as do the Hornby L1 chassis, it might be cheaper buying a loco snd reselling the body and tender back on Ebay. Markits sell the Romford replacement axles so you can fit their wheels which would be a great improvement if you use finer scale wheels. The Gem kits fit together very well, take your time fitting the chassis to the footplate and when fitting the cab/firebox, boiler etc check the clearencer around the motor. The LNWR livery can be painted with a couple of spray cans from Halfords, but finish off with a satin varnish. Good luck and keep us informed.

I read your earlier post about the 2 GEM kits and as I replied there was an error, looks like the wrong one was deleted. The original GEM Cauliflower was designed to fit the GEM cast J83 chassis, this chassis would be easy to make other than it was designed to use the K's mk2 motor, this is out of production but was not very good anyway. The wheel base of the J83 is rhe same as the Hornby 0-6-0T but it may be too big as the Cauliflower has a small boiled. I have just brought a GEM Precurser loco and chassis, the loco body's castings are very crisp. However the new etched chassis for this kit whilst highly detailed, looks a bit harder than the normal etched chassis. I do not know how hard the Cauliflower chassis is to build. Is the coal tank you reffered to the 0-6-2T (Watford tank)? If so again it was was designed to fit the GEM cast J83 chassis, but now has a new etched chassis. I have offered up3 different Margate type chassis, none of which looks like they would fit too well as the side tanks may not be tall enough to clear the motor. Another option is the NuCast Webb 0-6-2T which is a bit larger, I think their chassis are quite basic (that's if they are like the K's ones) so may be easier to build. You might even find (as I have) one of the K's kits on Ebay which could even be ready made. On the other hand someone on the Web may be able to build a chassis for you ! Now the Prince of Wales class was designed to fit the Hornby B12 chassis, the George the V the Hornby L1 chassis as was the Precurser tank (and I guess the tender version) The North British Scot, the Deeley, the Johnson class 3 and the Midland compound again were designed to fit the Hornby L1 chassis. Looking at my new GEM kit the footplate still seems the same design as the original GEM version. So one of these other kits might be a better starting place Hopes this helps, Ps go to edit and re-enter your question.

Most items seem to be fetching good prices, great if you a seller but as phil says there are still some gems to be found if you look hard and long enough. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180464226037&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT Turned out to be 2 x Bristol models Jubilee bodies and a Hawksworth GWR tender which will replace one of my Wills Castle tenders (which in turn will go behind a a Wills 22xx as I have a picture of one of these locos with this type of tender. So I will have 2 Kings and 2 Colletts with different tenders and I still have 2 Jubilee bodies to play around with, but I guess one will be sold as I have a K's and Eames Jubilees already. Please keep moaning about Ebay prices and put a few more people off, more for the likes of Phil and myself.

Another alternative is the Southeastern Finecast Star kit. OK its the old Wills kit which has not been updated by them yet. Its designed to take the Triang/ Hornby B12 chassis (so the wheel base / splashers may be slightly out but will be a lot simpler than rebuilding an old Hornby loco. I can see a lot of options re the build. 1, Use the Hornby B12 chassis as is 1a, Re-wheel the B12 chassis with Romfords 2 As the Wills Saint was designed to use the B12 chassis ask SEF if the Saint chassis will work on the Star. 3 Comet sell a Castle/Star chassis and use what ever wheels / motor / gear box combernation you decide on 4 Southeastern Finecast sell an etched Castle chassis so dito above The last option is to buy one of the old Wills Locos which come up on Ebay quite often either built or as an un-made kit. Southeastern Finecast sell spares for all their kits so if you go down this route any parts that are either missing or broken can be replaced. Part built or those that require a re-paint / re-build don't fetch too much. Having said that a new kit with a S/H chassis will still be cheaper than a new loco

I have started to build up the north lights A backing piece of 15 thou, then 2mm strips to build up the window bar detail. I then cut out the window blanks then added 1mm bars on top of the 2mm bars. Hopefully once the bars are painted they will look a bit thinner. Only 40 more to make. I have champhered the tops of the lower pelmet, on the picture the added depth this detail makes is not as noticeable as it is in the flesh. I now need to saw the brick courses in.

The details will be found as per Bernard's reply in the GWR Coach Books. Russells work comes to mind. In my book only a couple in GWR livery, the other variation has the GWR round logo under the second window from the left, Python with tare under the left hand window at the very bottom of the side with XP and number at the bottom of the right hand side right of the right hand window. Someone may help with an articles in the Model Railway Constructor Jun-79 as it has Modelling notes, also MRC July 1976