pete_mcfarlane

The Motor coach front end has been detailed, and it now looks a lot more like the real thing. The etched parts are from NNK, and the cast ones from MJT. The gap in the buffer beam is for a Kadee coupled mounted where the real thing had its buckeye. I'm now waiting on some EMU motor bogies from MJT. The underframe gear will be a mix of scratchbuilt, a set of Hornby 73 fuel tanks and some odds and ends from Southern pride. The roof is also under construction, using the same method as the trailer second, with formers on a very soldi (3 layers of 400 thou) base. It's clamped to a set of bending bars whilst it sets to ensure that it's a straight as possible. Lastly, a bit more work has been done on the ex-EPB driving trailer, again using MJT parts.

Must remember that for next time I get lost in the countryside. There was a deliberate error in the map, and it's not my dodgy map reading ;-) As for the models, it is telling that all of the models have been available from other sources in shape or another. I'd expect an actual list of Great British Locos to include all sorts of things that have never seen the light of day in RTR - GWR broad gauge stuff, LNWR DX goods, Lion, LBSC I3, SECR D Class, Midland Spinners, Hardwicke, the list goes on.

I've seen mirrored thin card in craft shops - I wonder if the Silhouette could cut that?

If you don't mind me asking, why 1990? A few years earlier and you could have class 33 loco hauled trains as well as the Thumpers.

Colin, I'm not brave enough to try Geoff Kent's approach of glueing the roof firmly in place. So I'm going to do what I've done with some of my kit built coaches, and glue it in place with PVA or Copydex, so it will come off if I ever need to replace a window or stick a passnger back in place.

After a week and a bit the roof showed no signs of distortion, so it has been cut to shape, and detailed. The lighting conduits use guitar string wire and Southern Pride turnings, and the rood vents are MJT. I copied the seemingly random mix of dome and shell vents from the photos. The trailer secondis now doone, apart from the bogie side frames. These are slowly taking shape, using (I think) Replica BR1 bogie kits. The bolster detail was removed and various detail added from scrap plastic. There's still a bit to do. The motor coach and driving trailer are now at this stage. The motor coach is on it's Black Beetle bogies. Since I'm using MJT sideframes these are 34mm wheelbase rather than the correct 35mm, but I have managed to get the powered bogie at the correct (inner) end. The driving trailer is not quite so far advanced. The sides were curved by rubbing them with a knife handle and then laminating the various layers together. After a week or so any distortions were removed by dunking them in a sink full of hot water. I'm still experimenting with these coaches to avoid warping. The motor coach has it's cross partitions glued to the floor, but not to the sides, and the driving trailer has them glued in place using superglue. I'll report back in a week or so on whether they've warped.

The current Nottingham tram depot has a loop like that. I've always assumed it's so that the trams can be periodically turned to even out the wear on the wheels.

It's actually on Lower Parliament Street. You can see the fan of sidings inside the shed from the road. There's also a set of rails protruding above the tarmac at the entrance. I know, because I nearly tripped up on them when walking past once.....

That photo, and the one in the Bradford Barton album seem to show one of the driving motors as having a wraparound yellow end.

I've long been intrigued by the test unit 051. Have you managed to track down enough information to build it? I've only ever seen one poor quality photo of it actually in use.

Afraid no - the second layer (attached with MekPak) has covered the distorted bit. So far this is sag free (although I did feel the need to check *again* before posting that.....)

That's pretty much what I did - apply the solvent at the roof edge, and the area immediately above it went soft and sagged. It's possible that I'd applied too much solvent to the area, and that's the cause of the problems.

I have tried Limonene for some of the joins after reading about it in the MRJ. Experience so far backs what others say - it's less agressive than MekPak but takes longer to set. I did find that the long setting time was an issue on parts of the first layer of 10 thou on the roof. The plastic was soft for a couple of days and so the unsupported bits sagged a little. The second layer as fixed with MekPak and had no such issues. So it looks like a case of different tools for different jobs.

I've tweaked the drawings to match Dave's dimensions. Mine were a long way out, and the less said about the ones in the Cheona book the better. This is now ready for cutting on Wednesday night. I'm now on my third go at the roof for the trailer second, the first couple of goes having succumbed to distortion. This time I took no chances - the base is 3 layers of 40 thou laminated together and clamped against my bending bars whist they set. The roof formers were then added, along with some cross pieces to stop the roof going banana shaped and holes to let any solvent fumes out. . It's now have 2 layers of 10 thou plasticard wrapped over it (with solvent applied only at the edges), and now will be put aside for a week or so to check for any distortion Then I'll cut it to shape and detail it.

Something similar happened where my brother lives. the people who'd bought new houses objected to more new houses being built and spoiling their view. The extra houses were of course part of the original planning application, and some of the access roads and sewers had been put in at the same time as the first set of houses. So it shouldn't have come as a complete surprise.

Surely one of the key skills for a backbench MP is the ability to differentiate between issues that seriously impact their consitituents, and issues that a few of their consitituents are making a lot of noise about. The two aren't the same. I suspect part of the issue is that HS2 will happen. Labour also back it (despite the attempts of the media to present every minor concern they raise as an attempt to kill of the scheme). So there will be more than enough MPs from all 3 parties to get the legislation through parliament. So Mr Backbnch MP feels the need to make as much noise as possible to 'prove' that he tried to stop the scheme.

I bet he's got a special folder for letters like this. If flooding from HS2 is such a massive issue, why didn't they raise it before the recent floods? I sense a bandwaggon being jumped on.

And it's not 'new' if it's been in someone's collection. Do people really collect Lima stuff?

Are those military ambulances loaded on to warflats in the background?

They could rebuild the Doric Arch whilst they are at it.

Thanks - they're still useful, despite the phone quality. Especially the shots of the underframe gear. So far I've been tweaking the trailer coach to match the photos. I'd got the door stops in the wrong place, so these were removed and new ones fitted (and the Inkscape drawings updated). The biggest surprise was the missing corridor connection at the end towards the driving trailer. I'd assumed that these had been left in situ, but it looks as though the connector was mostly removed, but the fixed parts left in situ so that it could be reinstated. So the Comet casting I fitted has been carefully removed, and I'll need to do some scratchbuilding.

I ask, because I've got a Branchlines kit with a similar roof and I've not tackled one of those before. Any gotchas with them, or is it just a case of bending round suitable tubes and then applying a spot of solder on the inside to keep it in shape?

I find this thread mildly annoying, because you can build etched kits a lot faster than I can manage....... Are the roofs on those Bill Bedford coaches half etched on the inside to help you bend them?

The ability to make banana shaped sides might actually be useful. Those short wheelbase LNER cattle wagons for example, which ended up decided bowed looking.

Thanks, those are extremely useful. My next step is going to be comparing your dimensions against my Inkscape drawing and seeing how good my guesswork is. My drivers offside door is wrong for starters......