billtee

I can’t run locos that long (I would love a class 47!) because my radii just won’t allow it! That goes for Pacific steam locos, too! I’m STILL waiting for Dapol to produce the Class 121 - I’ve been waiting years for it after they made the parcels version - surely it can’t be that difficult to make the body, the underframe, engine details etc are the same, aren’t they? Bill

Had a phone call from Tower Models today, and they are arriving (!) on Monday. Since I have never seen the 1/43 scale signals (only blurry OO model signals) I am agog with excitement. I have looked at the Tower Models website for more information, but apart from saying a control box houses the servos (? Does this mean that servo right-angle arms are involved?) and that we will have a pre-wired switch, not a lot of info! Questions: 1: How long is the wire to the switch (my layout is 17ft x 11ft, so if I have just one signal panel, I will need to extend the switch wires. 2: Tower Models say the signals work on 16v AC - is the 16v AC accessory power feed from DC speed controllers suitable? 3: How much space will I require under my baseboard? I have a jungle of wires under there (yes, I know I should have everything beautifully wired, and clipped, and colour-coded, but life gets in the way!), and as my new signals will be near the end of platforms, there are points with DCC Concepts point motors, and Hex Frogjuicer circuit boards nearby, and wires to my platform lamps, etc. At least I have room vertically below my baseboard which is clear (for said DCC Concepts point motors!). But how much room is required? No clues from Dapol or Tower! Anyway, when they are installed I will report here, and then wait for Dapol to produce left- and right-hand junction signals. I could do with 4 or 5 of those! Bill

Yes, I get the same results! I may HAVE to go to Shapeways - at least that company do (or at least ‘can’!) supply 1/43 scale industrial type waste bins. Anyway, thank you for replying. Bill,

My model railway is requiring lots of little detailing items, but Google search engine produces mainly OO or N scale stuff. It is very frustrating - I put in ‘O gauge’ or ‘0 gauge’ and sure enough, OO and N items appear! Grrrr! i am specifically wanting a 1/43 scale industrial-type waste bin, the type seen most often in factories and on the pavements of Spanish towns (where residents are not issued with waste bins of any type - all waste gets taken to the big bins out on the pavements (my stepdaughter lives in Estepona). Does any British company produce these models? I believe “Shapeways” in the USA have them, but you have to but five! Err, I need just one, perhaps two, but no more. I’m asking all you expert modellers for help, as I am tearing my hair out in frustration, and I am slmost bald now. Many thanks, ‘Baldy’ Bill

Does anyone know if 7mm/ft scale beehives can be purchased? Any replies would be very appreciated.

Thank you, everyone! I’ve just ordered a 7mm porta-cabin from Northumbrian Painting Supplies which will be perfect. I was very impressed by their range of 7mm products, all from a manufacturer I hadn’t discovered previously. I also ordered their picnic bench set (x2) for my (yet to be constructed) pub’s beer garden. Now I’ll have to get a few drinkers to sit at them! I am finding all these details very enjoyable to make. I have just finished ‘planting out’ my 7mm cabbages and cauliflowers, and making several plant tubs to decorate the fronts of my cottages. My model railway’s garden features will soon look better than my real garden! At least they won’t need watering or constant weeding. Anyway, thank you all very much for your help. Bill

Another tricky subject! I am modelling a factory site which requires at least one portable building - those (usually) white former(?) shipping containers with steel reinforcement around tgem so they can be stacked. I used to have a superb model of these types of offices when I modelled in OO, but so far I haven’t seen anything really suitable for O gauge. If nothing is available, I’ll make a single-storey portable office from Plasticard or picture frame mounting card, but I am hoping someone might know a supplier - it would make my work considerably easier as I am presently in the middle of modelling a retail shop which will be highly detailed inside and out, front and rear, as it will be placed just 100mm from the front edge of my loft layout. Thank you for any help you may be able to offer. Bill

Doilum, I do exactly what you are suggesting all of the time, though when I used to build 3.5” gauge live steam locomotives I used proper materials. However, now I am getting a bit too old and doddery to stand at a lathe for years and years, hence I have gone downscale to O gauge after passing through (for a period of about 10 years) a 16mm/ft garden railway, all live steam of course, but radio controlled. My wife died, and now my new partner and I have moved away from the Midlands to Suffolk, about as far away from railways as you can go, if you ignore the Mid Suffolk Rly! My pension allows me to purchase my locomotives (I am far too shaky to do neat soldering now!), so I am very glad for Heljan, Dapol, etc. Anyway, I am still able to do railway modelling - not a long way away from my former job for years as editor of Engineering In Miniature, The Clockmaker magazine, etc. My modelling is not as good as it used to be, but I keep trying. Thank you, everyone, for your help with this subject.

Thank you for your suggestion - I have just ordered (probably far too many items) lots of plants which will be used on my O gauge layout ASAP! The models of everything are absolutely fabulous and I can hardly wait for them to arrive! Thank you for your help.

My layout has a small village (currently in production), and behind some of the cottages I want to make some gardens. Of course, vegetable gardens are, or were, the most popular type of garden. However, I am having great difficulty in finding any British suppliers of 7mm scale vegetables - cabbages, cauliflowers, beans, etc. I can purchase some quite realistic models from the USA, but they would take ages to get here, and I don’t think the prices are reasonable. Surely there must be a small (home-based?) company producing realistic, scale vegetables (in boxes of six or eight to make a ‘proper’ vegetable patch), and not too big! i thought I could use 1/76 scale vegetables, but I found most of them were modelled for 1/87 scale, and I found them far too small to look realistic. can anyone point me to some suppliers, please?

Thank you everyone for your helpful advice. I knew about 1/50 scale front loaders, but I feel they are just a bit too small for my layout - my coaling area is only 2ft from the front edge of my baseboard, so is hardly ‘in the background’! However, I have located a 1/43 Muir Hill loader on eBay and have just purchased it. It was reasonably priced, though slightly paint-chipped, but that won’t matter after a bit of weathering.

I am modelling a freelance modern Heritage steam MPD, and rather than having a very large and dominant coal loading tower, or even a coal loading facility like that at the GWR museum at Didcot, I am hoping to find a JCB-type front-loader for filling tenders like they do at Bridgnorth on the SVR. Does anyone know if a 1/43 scale model vehicle like that exists? Thank you all for any help, however small. Bill

I am getting excited - perhaps Dapol are actually going to be producing and selling GWR signals! Wow - I have gone blue holding my breath waiting! I will DEFINITELY be ordering at least four as starter signals, and if Dapol produce left hand junction signals as they are showing for OO gauge, I’ll have four of those too, please! I might even have five - I can certainly put all signals to good use. And if they have automatic ‘bounce’, I’ll almost be in O gauge modellers’ heaven! Probably I will be - I have only got about another 20 years of life left, and Dapol are so slow in producing anything. Groan!

Bought some 1K resistors (1000ohms) and temporarily attached two in series to the red lead coming from the LED. Applied 12v from a ‘wall wart’ power supply and hey presto, LED lit up. When I tried reversing the power supply leads, LED didn’t work, but this was what I was expecting (LEDs are polarity sensitive!). Then I tried just one 1K resistor, and everything OK. LED is brighter, but not much, so obviously a 1K resistor is sufficient for each LED! Sorted!!! billtee

Thank you, lads! I agree about model railway power supplies - it is difficult to purchase a 12v supply unless you pay a lot of money for it, something I am reluctsnt to do to just power a lot of lights! billtee

I have bought some very nice O gauge ‘wooden pole street lights’ (JP5646) for my goods yard. I do NOT want all the other parts of the Just Plug lighting system, as I am quite able to solder resistors (if necessary) into a simple 12volt supply. However, I am a little confused/puzzled as to whether I need to add a resistor to the feed for each lamp. Can anyone offer some advice about this, please? I don’t want to burn out the LED in each lamp, so I could just put a 1K resistor in the positive (red?) lead and apply some 12v, but I’d rather know beforehand rather than ‘oops, too late! Thank you, everyone, billtee

Found the (tiny!) screws, undid them and removed the body. I carefully filed the slight lips of the footplate where it joins the wheel recesses, and reassembled the loco. Unfortunately, my ‘solution’ has not solved the wheel-rubbing problem - my curve is just too tight and although there is plenty of sideways play on the trailing driver, my radii want to push the wheels even further to the side, hence the wheel rims rub on the footplate. Drats! Looks like I will just have to keep my Schools loco on the ‘main’ line where the radius is a bit bigger. Thank you, everyone, for your help in this matter. Bill

Thank you, Dougal. I have seen two small crosshead screws under the footplate, but have been reluctant to touch them in case I release something I should not release! There may be screws at the front, but I would have to take off the bogie first. I read somewhere that there may also be a screw down the chimney, but again I am wary of undoing things in case problems arise!

I need to remove the body from my San Cheng O gauge Schools class locomotive as the outer faces of the driving wheels are rubbing on the slots in the footplate when the locomotive traverses some very tight (51” radius) curves. I am hoping I can file the wheel slots slightly and that should fix the problem, but I have no user-guide on how to get the body off! Can anyone help me, please?

I notice in several model railway magazines that Dapol might(!) be going to produce working GWR signals in O gauge. I cannot find any further information about them, but as my fingers are far too thick and I am not so deft as I once was making building them a definite 'no-no', I am VERY interested in getting lots. Does anyone know more?

I looked at Humbrol’s Oxford Blue as a start, thinking I could mix it 50:50 with mstt dark grey, but it is completely the wrong shade of blue! It looks like I’ll be using Precision’s Engineering Blue Brick paint! Thank you, everyone, for your help. Bill

Thank you, gents. I think Precision Paints is the way to go, though finding a retailer selling it may be more difficult! I will probably have to buy it by mail-order. Merry Christmas and happy modelling to you both. Bill

I’m building an O gauge layout, but my question is not scale specific. Can anyone give me a clue as to what Humbrol colour is the same (or as close as) blue bricks? I used to see lots of blue brick viaducts around Birmingham, but that was quite a few years ago. Thank you for any help. Bill

I am trying to find an O gauge Heljan class 33, but before I buy one (if I can!), I need to know whether this model will negotiate 4ft radius curves. My layout has curves nearly down to 4ft because my railway room is quite cramped, and I really want a class 33. Can anybody give me some clues please?

I have tried the Peco lights, and I'm not impressed as they are so fiddly to assemble! I'm wanting the electric lights (?) on a tall pole. I have plenty of goods yard and engine storage yard photos, and virtually all show a light post about(!) every four locomotives in distance from the next pole. I can't see any ladders up the poles on several photos, but on others there are ladders even though the lamps (under the shades) appear to be electric. I have looked on the website for them, but can only find them in 4mm scale. Thank you, everyone, for your help. Bill