pete_mcfarlane

Didn't someone on here correct the SEF D1 by shortening the bunker?

Would that give them extra capacity to run more trains and provide more seats? Every time I've been on it recently the trains were full to bursting, so adding more capacity would help.

The only other Heritage railway type place I've encountered it is the Tramway museum at Crich, although it makes more sense for them as their model is for people to have multiple short tram trips, look round the museum, and then use the pub and cafe. That's something that can stand repeat visits. I suspect there might be a bit of "we did it this way in my previous job so it must work everywhere" going on with the NYMR adopting this.

Nowadays you can order the sides as spares from the Phoenix Paints website. So it should be even more straightforward to do.

Yes, you get common parts for the D1 and E1 with half etched lines to trim some of them for a D1(*). Otherwise it flies together. * In case anyone is thinking that Albion cheated and used the same body for both types and ignored the dimensional differences, like Finecast did.

Aren't the grilles slightly different between the two? In a way that 10 years ago wouldn't have mattered to a RTR manufacturer....

And here's the finished photo (ran out of space on the previous post) So a lot of work, but the result looks OK. Also slowly progressing are a couple of more modern EMUs. I succumbed during lockdown to the urge to buy one of the 3D printed PEP emus sold by Modern Multiple Units on EBay. Again a lot of cleaning up, but these come with some nice etched windows. This was one of the earlier kits with multiple body sections. Curing on the window ledge - they were a bit sticky when I got them Filling and rubbing down. And the current state of play. I'm struggling a bit with underframe detail. The kit comes with some generic 3D printed parts, which don't quite match the photos of the real thing (which are generally 3/4 views, so the rear bit of underframe details are less clear). I also suspect that the two motor coaches are different - they certainly have different vehicle codes. Also moving slowly is this Bratchell 455 (with another 3D printed trailer, so represent one of the units with ex-508 trailers) And the other incursion into much more modern stock is another Southern Pride Mk2, in this case a Mk2a brake. I seem to have acquired or have on order some 1980s diesels, so this will be part of a rake behind them. My first attempt as NSE livery - the stripes are from Fox. SR green units are a lot easier.... On the previous Mk2 I made the roof removable as per the instructions, and there was a slight height mismatch. This one has the roof fixed and blended in with filler, and looks better as a result. Next step is to do the window transfers, and then it just needs final assembly.

A year later and the latest Kirk 2-BIL (2091) is finished. Part of the reason is that I sprayed a load of green EMUs in one go, which (as we would say at work) reduced the effort but increased elapsed time. Here they all are being varnished (along with a Mikro-Mir DH-88 racer in 1/48, possibly the worst plastic aircraft kit I've ever built). It then took forever to add handrails, glazing, seats, window labels etc etc. But I'm there now. The NNK underframe kit was very nice - it's a shame it is no longer available, unlike the Kirk 2-Bil which is available again despite the Hornby RTR model. I'm presumably not the only person stupid enough to enjoy building these kits. The scratchbuilt BUF is also slowly progressing, and is at the painted stage needing interiors and so on. This is the buffet car, which is going to have a detailed interior. The art-deco counters and tables are drawn but just need cutting out on the Silhouette. One of the challenges I was expecting was sourcing a Pullman steward, but luckily Bachmann have done a set of these in the last few years. The MLV is also finished. It's not perfect (the Hornby bogie needed a press stud at the top, which forced me to make the roof removable, so there's a visible join. Future MJT based units will use the Comet approach of body/roof and chassis as two units. But from this (c1996) To this is a big improvement. Finished as one of the original pair when they'd just entered service, with silver window surrounds, light coloured roof etc. Other stuff that I've been working on include this Isinglass 3D printed LNER full brake. I'd fancied trying one of these for a while, and went with a full brake as they did turn up on the Southern (the model is based on a photo of one of the ex-Flying Scotsman ones at Feltham). The kit itself gives you these bits. I struggled with the brittle 3d printed bogies, and so replaced them (and some of the other underframe bits with MJT parts). The sides needed a lot of cleaning up, priming and sanding down to get a smooth finish. They were also a bit thick, so I ended up glazing them with 'Glue n Glaze' which is Ok for the tiny windows on a full brake. So the Jury is still out - it worked out quite expensive with all the extra bits, and I may have got a better finish from the Comet kit for this vehicles. But he does do a vast range of LNER vehicles, and other people have got good results from these kits.

Presumably you can use tender wheels, which is my eventual (i.e. I ordered the wheels from Ultrascale) plan, or use those 1/8" to 2mm reducing bushes that Branchlines sell with a set of Gibson loco wheels. Consensus at the local S4 group is that the frames *might* need moving out a tiny bit to fit P4 wheels.

Repainting something (badly) doesn't make it 'rare' or add value....

As people have pointed out, those were built after WW2. For an actual WW2 vintage LMS shunter you need to look at 700.003 (ex LMS 7106) which is still working in Italy. Mike Edge even does a HO scale kit for it.... Not a train, but you can still travel on Furness Railway and LMS built ships in regular passenger service on Windermere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SY_Tern

I guess this is another sign that the hobby is in terminal decline.....

Golding is definitely wrong on the 4-BUF buffet car windows, so other drawings are likely to be incorrect. You'd be better off getting hold of the Mike King drawings. He does all of the various catering vehicles. The preserved one did get hauled by a Nord De Glehn 4-6-0 at one point, so you never know....

This is a useful resource for BR upholstery colours: https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/cw/moquette/1960s.html

My 48DS is from the A1 kit (with a RT models chassis) and is also single axle drive (with a High level gearbox). It will manage about 5-6 wagons, depending on how heavy they are. The thing is packed full of lead and has a brass flywheel on the motor, and even has a whitemetal crew rather than plastic. So you can get decent performance out of a single axle drive.

It's always high up the priority list for armchair admirals (and their unlimited budgets).

No idea why the Royal Navy never bought these. Must be stupid politicans or something. https://www.twz.com/news-features/cmv-22b-osprey-not-operationally-suitable-according-to-test-report

Great announcement. Nobody has ever done a decent 4mm scale model of that class before.......

Have you picked up on the different motor bogies fitted to these units? More info here (and helpfully a photo of a 4-GRI with the same type of bogies you've used) tl:dr is that they all had equalising beam bogies from new, but some were refitted with the leaf spring bogies from PUL/PAN units, so pick unit number carefully.

Is this the train? I came across a photo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1513662615439289&set=pcb.2649206025170508

If you employ more than about 10 people then you really don't want to be running anything important using Excel spreadsheets.

Which in turn looked like something the PLM would have built 30 years previously. https://www.flickr.com/photos/76677346@N04/43200601220

There's a lot of models as well, including a rather nice Cambrian 4-4-0 built at Oswestry works by apprentices. Models don't always fare well in modern museums, so hopefully there's a decent plan for these.

The droplights look a bit odd - the tops are far too curved (I have a vague memory of differences between batches, but none of them looked like that)

The media obsession with 2% GDP target also masks the fact that the UK, France and US historically spent a much higher percentage of their budgets on equipment than the other European NATO members. That has changed for the better over the last few year as European countries have ended conscription and moved from the model of lots of conscripts with lorries and rifles and (not much else) to the all professional model with less but better equipment. https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2023/7/pdf/230707-def-exp-2023-en.pdf I can't help thinking that a lot of the criticism is down to us (for once) collectively preparing for the next war, so our forces are no longer able to fight the 1980s version of WW3.