Jol Wilkinson

Anyone thought of contacting "Rip Off Britain"? Probably do no good but might help let to a bit of steam. I think that this problem will probably come to a natural conclusion as the business seems to be steadily slowing/failing. The more done to publicise the problems in dealing with Coopercraft will hasten its demise. Those who are out of pocket will probably and sadly remain so.

With the exception of Ferrari. and to some extent Mercedes, the idea of the car's colour being based on the teams "nationality" has been overtaken by the need to satisfy the sponsors. The concept of a teams nationality relating to where they are based is also no longer applicable, it is down to who pays the money and therefore where they are registered. Of the seven teams based wholly or partly in the UK, only Williams and McLaren are registered here.

Designed for maximum pedestrian damage and promoted by the crusader for (necessary) motor racing safety improvements.

Richard, I am a model builder and my fleet currently runs to only eleven with two more nearly complete. Unfortunately, converting any of them to battery power would require major rebuilds or complete replacements. So, much as I like the concept, I'll stick with old fashioned DC. Those with fleets of two hundred plus probably couldn't contemplate the effort/cost involved in adopting what is would be a costly change to new technology requiring reasonably complicated installation. Jol (Eleven plus two equals thirteen, I'd better open another kit box quick! I think a LNWR 4' 6" Radial Tank will be the fastest build. )

A bit more progress on the LNWR Jubilee The frames are now almost complete, just need to add the brake gear to cylinder link. The motor is a Mashima 1424 which fits between P4 spaced frames if mounted like this. I used a High Level gearbox and adapted the mounting holes to get the motor "flats" vertical. I normally use LRM motor mounts and gears, but though I would try a HL one for a change. The body is ready for painting. The boiler is not yet bolted to the cab/running plate so both can be sprayed and lined separately before final assembly. The dark "patches" are from metal blackening over spill; where I have been colouring the running plate edges, etc. to hopefully avoid shiny metal if the paint gets rubbed or chipped.

I've always used flat, square nosed pliers to gently form the flat firebox sides, after soldering the boiler bottom seam. Gripping the lower edge with the pliers along the boiler line and slowly "pulling" the edge out/down.starts to form the straight lower side and the reverse curve. It is then a matter of gently flattening the lower firebox sides with the pliers and tweaking to get the curve correct. This has worked with both .012" brass and .015" n/s. You may be able to rescue your existing kit, using square nosed pliers to flatten the firebox lower sides. My pliers came from Eileens Emporium, but Phil at Hobby Hobbies also does them. Jewelry bits and tool suppliers like Cooksongold also have a good range.

Old fashioned gas tap? I can't find anything like that in several online sites illustrating car dashboard signal (the Sun do one, presumably for their more intelligent readers). A drawing might help.

If its the same for diesel, that would take my car 55 miles.

Probably mainly down to poor maintenance, i.e. not getting things fixed when needed. Sometimes people ignore the warning messages on the dash when the car is still running apparently okay. Likewise, many drivers don't understand they are driving a complex piece of machinery and don't look out for the obvious signs that something is wrong. "Black smoke, what black smoke?". "The red light said stop, but I waited until I got home." Of course, as we live in an increasingly "it's someone else's fault" society, people don't see the need to look after their property, preferring to blame the manufacturer/retailer when it goes wrong. The pollution story is a new one on me, although I had read that it applied to the Toyota Prius Hybrid, owing to the pollution involved in mining and transporting the materials for the batteries as well as manufacturing them. It seems that people and the media now see the motor industry as rather an easy target since VAG (and others) created the USA emission scandal. I wonder how polluting is the total manufacturing process of all the other consumer goods people like to enjoy, especially those made in India and China?

I think I'll try presenting the bowl of treats with the "In the true spirit of Halloween, several of these contain poison" notice on it. Personally, I feel frightened when I see the shelves of Halloween tat for sale in the local Tesco's and realise the Merkin's have foisted another worthless profit making scam on us. What next?

Easily, unless you are A4 enthusiast and want a collection with every known variation.

It is partly down to the special treatment that Ferrari has received over the years (largest share of team payout, right to veto proposed rules, etc. ) that F1 has poor credibility. Fortunately for them, the casual fan that the F1 circus is trying to attract won't be aware of all that, but for me it makes their attempts to beat the other teams even more pathetic. While we can debate the correctness of MV's action, the inconsistency of the stewards in applying the rules as defined and communicated to the teams, etc. it has to be remembered that this was "racing" with split second decisions. MV couldn't know if KR was going to turn further into him (unlike you could with Vettel off the start line), he couldn't know if KR was aware of how close he was. If they had collided I am sure MV would have been seen as the guilty party, which would probably have been justified. It is racing so was he justified in going for it? Of course he was. Should the stewards have penalised him? Possibly, but the way in which rules seem to be applied inconsistently once the lights go out is something that needs addressing. The penalty for going outside track limits at Monaco, Singapore, etc. is very clear. The same should apply elsewhere.

I find the latest Audi "Bring on the Clowns" TV advert rather ironic, as they don't seem to realise the song title applies to many drivers of their cars.

FIA press release. Ferrari to be rebranded as Jammy Dodgers for 2018.

Just watched the drivers intro, etc. F1 has reached a new low!

A fan of the Midland Railway and its locos, Iain? No, black engines and lake/white carriages are much to be preferred. I became disillusioned with the MR when I got interested in the LMS and and over time read up on the early days when the MR management took over the major positions in the LMS. They effectively held things back for years by failing to recognise that their policies weren't really suitable for the new LMS. So to despoil Camden Shed with indifferent MR locos is not a good thing. Jol

MIG weathering powders have been available from Phil at Hobby Holidays for some time. The AK products are also reputedly very good. http://www.hobbyholidays.co.uk/categories.php?cat=57

What a terrible sight. a bl**dy MR 4F on Camden shed.

The BIWO "A" Class kit has been marketed by LRM for it's designer/manufacturer. While technically no longer in production I believe that at least one small batch was produced earlier this year, It's disappointing that Brislines doesn't want to build his, preferring to hang on to it as a collectors investment. An A Class could be produced from a LRM C class. Roger Stapleton made several of the LNWR eight coupled variants from the C kit for his LNWR Steam Shed OO layout. The LRM ClassC is a pretty straightforward kit so I expect the A shouldn't be too difficult, although I haven't built one.. You could always get a professional builder to do the boiler/smokebox for you and do the rest yourself. I prefer the C and the F to all the other eight coupled LNWR locos but there isn't a kit for the F Class AFAIK and I don't fancy kit bashing one, I've plenty of other stuff in the stack as it is.

Cue Horsetan and motoring wishlist.

Possibly, in part. However, there is a definite (in my view) increasingly selfish disregard for those around us. Whether it is the way people drive, throw away litter, block the supermarket aisles, don't say thank you when you make way for them, etc. people are increasingly inconsiderate of others.

An excellent example of one of the benefits of social media. For me however, Facebook still remains something I would like to live without. Having seen the recent performance of their representative on BBC News at the launch of an Internet anti bullying campaign, my views are even stronger. I wonder if their "management" meetings are like those on the BBC's W1A series?

Anyone would think that rust was restricted to Citroens, although 2CVs seemed reasonably immune. British cars were no better. Quite simply the production technology for rust preventative coatings didn't really get developed until the 1980's. Car design was also improved to avoid corrosion areas as far as possible, although existing models remained as designed. MGBs (we have a 73 roadster) often suffered from major problems after fifteen or so years. Ford Anglia 105Es suffered problems at the top strut mounting where several pieces of steel were spot welded together. The welding caused changes to the metal structure and the lack of a good corrosion prevention coating led to problems. I have no doubt other cars suffered from their own, idiosyncratic, problems.

George Nutt, who ran the grocery and a small property empire in Dunchurch, Warwickshire had one. I remember seeing it daily as as a child and thinking how superior it was to my uncle's Rover.

No if they are travelling from London, she is enquiring why Pie and Mash isn't on the menu.