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Jon, Are you aware of this page? http://unimat.homestead.com/motortips.html This was my first strating point when recently repairing a Unimat 3 motor. I didn't need to replace the bearings but it gave some useful tips on what to expect when stripping the motor down. I'm not that familiar with the SL motor that you mention but given a careful strip down it might be possible to assess the condition and size of the Oilite bearings to see if replacements can but found. A quick web search found plenty of hits for Oilite bearings in a variety of sizes. Here are a couple of examples.... http://www.bowman.co.uk/products/oilite_flanged http://www.bearingboys.co.uk/Oilite__Bearing_Bushes_-1011-c Cheers....Morgan

Not hypocrisy. It is your trainset Tony so more a case of whatever makes you happy. An excellent video. Well done all! Morgan

Dave, I took this photo of a Hornby BTK top and tailed with a Bachmann CK and TK. The portholes are too low altogether and I suspect that is down to the "HO-peless" bogies. As I'm converting to P4 replacement bogies are going to be fitted anyway. Also sprung buffers and working gangways will be needed for close coupling. It should help match things up between the two sources of supply. Cheers....Morgan

An update on my situation. My discussions with Rails (3 e-mails and 2 phone calls) have yielded an equitable solution although not at the price I had agreed to pay when the order was placed. Hattons certainly appear to have the upper hand in terms of planning, communication and the business philosophy (possibly selling some products at a loss) to keep customers happy. I just hope the coaches live up to expectations when they finally arrive...

I did a similar pre-order to Larry in May 2014 but with Rails for a similar price (£23.50 each). The email I had from them yesterday morning indicated that they were not going to honour their 12 month price guarantee anyway. I've challenged this as it is not at all clear nor is it possible to find the T&Cs on the Rails website. It is not something that I had noticed until needing it but I suspect there is no contract with them yet. Just my acceptance of their offer to sell at the price they now will not honour. When you've preordered 8 of them to be told you have to pay more than 30% extra per coach a week before shipment is taking the piss irrespective of whether they have any control of the Bachmann price rise or not. Not much goodwill and a rather disrespectful attitude to their customers is putting it mildly.

It's not a rebuilt Paddlebox but Martin Finney's model of the original T14 was a worthy winner of a top award at Scaleforum a few years ago. Photo credit: Philip Hall

No. Look here along with the two following pages of the thread and you will find details.

Damn, too late! That might be a wise move noting Ivan's additional comments. Assuming you are using the old metal Exactoscale hornblocks and guides IIRC they are 5mm extreme width whereas most others are 6mm. A good trick I found is to just put one slit up the centre of the cut out and then fold out each resulting side of the cut out to 90 degrees. The resulting slot comes out very close to 5mm and then the Exactoscale guide can be slid into place. It worked a treat on a set of Comet Black 5 frames. I don't see why the technique could not be applied to other designs with nominal 6mm wide cut outs that are half etched. Morgan

You will also find that the frames for the Cartazzi on the Comet V2 are too deep. There are two options. Remove material from the bottom and reshape to accurate profile or take the material off the top. I have not tried the latter option so there may be other problems as a consequency of removing material off the top edge. The consequency of doing the former and reprofiling means the footstep slots need to be recut. Better to know all this before you have soldered them to the frames. I hope that is your situation. I discovered the problem after attachment to the mainframes and they were a b****r to modifiy in situ. There are some excellent prototype pictures here. Compare to the latest picture of the Comet V2. It's also a good idea to replace the Comet axlebox with a more accurate Cartazzi from ABS models. cheers...Morgan

Are those guards off the SEF etch or from another source? Perhaps a leading question but with good motives. I have wondered about doing a specific etch of cinder guards because I only put one pair on the Gilbert/King detail etch fret. In hindsight I should have put more on. Cheers....Morgan

Some excellent photos Tony and it is great to see Great Northern and all the other locos doing the business round your layout. It looks like a good day/weekend was had by all. All the best....Morgan

Very nice indeed. IMHO you can't beat a Princess or Duchess in maroon.

Not really. You can get the OPC drawings (Pipe & Rod and G.A.) from the NRM for the D10, D11/1 and D11/2. Microfilm aperture card references D10: 10386 (Full detail of cab and splashers), 12384 (GA) D11/1 : 10382 (P&R), 12388 (GA) D11/2: 10391 (GA)*, 10740 (GA)*, 12082 (GA), 12083 (P&R), 13153 (GA)* The asterisk* means that it is not immediately obvious from the OPC description if is relates to the D11/2 but it is most likely that it does. Also there is a reference, below, that clearly has an error in wheel arrangement or loco class. All these cards can be viewed freely in the NRM search engine and copies ordered. 10406: Full longitudinal section of 4-6-0 passr engine D11 GC/LNE

Wells done chaps! Adding chairs is a thankless task but makes all the difference.

Steve, I had that problem with the rung and stile ladders until I came up with a simple solution. Prepare the rung and stile ladders with over length pieces of wire threaded through the holes and a dab of solder cream added on each end at the joint with the stile. When it's all ready just place it on a baking tray in the oven at 200degC. After a few minutes the solder will have melted, made the joints and the ladder will be perfectly straight. Clean up takes a while but is eased by using a cutting disc in the mini drill. cheer....Morgan

Thanks for the kind words Tony and of course you are right to query the firebox bulge. On the balance of probabilities it shouldn't really be there. At the time I took the commission, despite trying, I failed to find a good photo of 62038. I also didn't have the Yeadon's volume and had to rely on what was in the green book without specific dates on the discontinuation of the bulge. You live and learn and so unfortunately I cannot help you finish the class research. Although it now seems unlikely if I build another DMR K1 I'll also be filing out the cab window half etch and adding a new beading from soft wire. This, I think, would get them to about the right size. I really can't see the junk you speak of in the photos. It's a typically neat and tidy (and most liekly extremely fast) Tony Wright loco build. Now that you say it I also recall having to use an escapment file to fettle the cross head slots. I'm not averse to using brass pins but a couple of years ago I discovered the Markits nickel silver valve gear rivets in 3 different sizes. They deform easily and in extremis can be soldered. Far better than the steel rivets I tried in the past and also found very frustrating. Cheers.....Morgan

Beat me to it Mike. The wheels since Colin took over have taken a quantum leap in quality. Tony, some interesting comments on the K1 valve gear. Some of the issues I found are listed on my blog here.... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/281/entry-7108-fresh-from-the-plant/ ....the body was certainly easy to put together although someone pointed out to me after the event that the cab windows are a bit on the small side. Cheers...Morgan

Mike, I think the enlarged picture helps see the improvement your brush work creates as I found the unweathered roof and underframe a bit distracting. To me some weathering on the rest of the coach will help with the overall effect. Also I feel that the Hornby printing on the panels is a bit too much of the same thing. It needs more variety of graining, longer streaks, waviness etc... less of the elliptical shapes/knotting and, perhaps, a bit more colour variation. Well done with what you've done so far. It is showing us the way. Cheers....Morgan

Hi Dave, a couple of weeks Robin and I were looking at a photo of a FPL fouling bar in some track work near Barrow Road. It looked to be a similar length to yours and seemed to have pivot supports every other sleeper. However, in some cases it was every third sleeper. I'm sure a message to Robin would get you a copy of the picture. Morgan

More nice pictures again David. Thanks for posting. One small correction for you. Photo vol7037 is a Fowler 3P 2-6-2T. The Fowler 4P 2-6-4T did not have the two coal rails around the bunker. Cheers....Morgan

David, How about a trip down memory lane? http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C386258 Cheers....Morgan

Hi David, I've been following this photo thread avidly since you started posting pictures of Nottingham Vic in the late 40s/early 50s. Fascinating stuff of subjects not often seen. Many thanks to you for posting them and to your Dad for taking them. I've held off posting until I had something to contribute. The photo (4126) of the 8F at Loughborough is I believe 48035 not 48835. The curved reverser reach rod gives it away. Cheers....Morgan

DeathWatch, The replacement planks are simply picked out with a light grey or natural wood paint colour over the original wagon finish. Successive applications of dirty washes and paint streaking give the grain effect. Cheers....Morgan

As a brief respite from bigger projects I've spent a pleasant evening trying out some weathering techniques on a ubiquitous RCH mineral wagon. It is no secret to those that know me that the long term aspiration for my ultimate train set will be set in the 1948-50 period on the ex GN and GC lines around Nottingham. As a result I'm going to need a lot of wooden bodied mineral wagons painted and weathered to show how they looked at the end of their life. The wagon shown below started life as a bog standard Bachmann "Barnsley Main" 1923 RCH mineral. The running gear is an Exactoscale sprung 9ft underframe on wheels from the same source. I reused the Bachmann brake blocks and push rods but substituted the safety loops with etched strip. The brake levers and guards are Craigwelsh items, and damn fiddly they are too, but they do look the part. Buffers are from Dave Franks (Lanarkshire Models & Supplies) and were drilled out to accept replacement sprung heads from MJT. The paint job started by distressing the original finish with a fibreglass scratch brush. Throughout I've only used acrylic paints and translucent washes from the Vallejo range. This made it possible to do the whole job in one evening. The underframe was painted dark grey followed by a few planks in a nautral wood colour to represent unpainted replacements. Black data patches were next and hand lettering with a fine sable brush. The weathering then commenced with a lot of drybrushing of silvery grey paint onto the plank edges to represent areas where paint has worn off the original private owner livery. A bit of graining was also picked out in the replacement planks. When this was dry successive washes of black, dark grey and brown were applied to add depth to the finish and tone down the brightness of the numbering etc.... The final step, so far, was to drybrush and wash a bit of orangey rust colour onto the iron work to give a feeling a complete neglect. I'm contemplating a final light airbrush of an underframe dirt mix to finsh it off. The results look ok to my eye but I'd be interested to see what others think. Is the air of decrepitude too much, about right or not enough? Following the feedback below, thanks chaps, I've added a couple more photos for comparison. A little more toning down of the "freshly sawn" plank, addition of the end door stripe and a light blow over with the airbush. I think I'll call it done. AJ couplings now added ready for service on Clinkerford at York over Easter.