Jol Wilkinson

I hadn't thought of using 70 deg low melt. When I designed the 2500g tender for LRM I put in an additional separate etch for the corner flares. This has a strip of curved bead with inward facing "fingers" that close up as you form the corner and are easier to fill in. I'll have to see if I have any bits of test etches left.

Sandy, I used 145 deg solder with a 50W Antex TCU. As you say, the zinc really absorbs the heat. I wonder if Carrs 100 deg solder might also work. To fit the thin overlays on the tender soldbars I used my RSU, with a chisel shaped carbon probe. The job I have the biggest difficulty with is filling in the "fingers" on the corners of the flares. Jol

Next projects are to finish this, rather a departure for me and London Road, but the first of the locos I designed for LRM that I have got around to building for myself. It it a NER G1 (LNER D23) and will be used with some D&S NER Clerestory coaches being built by my friend Richard McLachan and will run as an Excursion on the layout. The ride height needs sorting at the front - I think the pickups, which sit on top of the tyre/rim are exerting too much force and the packing between the sprung bogie and frames needs reducing. I have Fox transfers to try for the first time, Narrow Planet made the plates for it. and it has a LRM 3038 gallon tender I've also building a LNWR Jubilee, another kit I designed for LRM. As usual I started with the tender, a 2000g version, as I like to get that out of the way before I start on the loco. Clearance forP4 wheels is fairly tight. The tender was designed by the late George Norton, who built in EM and didn't worry about P4. This is the sixth LRM Webb tender kit I have built so I know what I need to do now. I've also put the body of a LNWR/WCJS 42' D 54 all third together, using Trevor Charlton etched zinc sides and ends. This will now go on the back burner until the Worsley Works "kit" for a D71 42' Brake Third arrives. That is a "handed" Diagram and will give me a rake of 42' carriages with all the corridors on the same side.

You raised the subject of pedantry, so I guess you must know a lot about it it. Despite your advice, I'll continue with the model making I enjoy.

Oddly, I can find no reference to car numberplates in any of the Scalefour Society's Digests. Further, I have fitted pressed aluminium numberplates to my 73 MGB roadster, which may be incorrect for that year. Does this mean I have to resign from the S4 Socety, scrap all my P4 models,rip up the 18.83mm track on my layout and start collecting OO RTR stuff? I worked for the Opel Division of GM Ltd. from 71 to 81, during which time Vauxhall Motors started building and selling Vauxhall badged Opels, having lost largely lost responsibility for car design. It was not a happy time, especially for the Opel Dealers.

Perhaps one of the benefits of modelling a pre-grouping Edwardian railway - with previously no RTR models - is that we mainly get asked "which kit is that from?" or "how do you paint and line those?". With the introduction of the Bachmann Coal Tank, exclamations of "Oh look, that's the Bachmann one" will be met with a swift and pointed response.

Page 49 of the LNWRS Bill Finch Portfolio has a drawing of the pick up parts in question, I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier. The isometric drawings gives some dimensions but would need to be used in conjunction with the tender GA. Bill Finch researched both Hardwicke and the Cola Tank to get information for his 5" gauge Jumbo "Miranda", one of finest built. The Portfolio is still available from the LNWR Society. For copyright reasons I don't think it would be correct to scan and post the drawings in question here.

Sandy, the one book I haven't looked in is the LNWRS Portfolio of Bill Finches Drawibgs for his 5" gauge Miranda. I'll dig that out, as it may have something. Jol

Modellers World? Although that was rather more east than south.

That will be the tender attached to Hardwicke. AFAIK it is the only one in existence. The photos contain some useful information, especially about the pivot support brackets for the lower part of the scoop and the rods running forward and upwards from these, presumably to take the force of water against the scoop when it is lowered. There is also what looks like a circular balance weight on the scoop operating arm. The overall shape of the scoop is captured well in the LRM (ev Geo. Norton) kit for the LNWR 1800 and 2000 gallon tenders, but they don't have the details of the pivot castings. I have a scanned copy of the GA for the 2500 gallon tender, but the detail is unclear as there is so much shown in this area and the drawing/scan is not very good. I can now see what the angled rods do and where they attach, but can't make out the rest of the detail with any clarity. Edited to add; I have just started a 2000g tender for a Jubilee and may try to work out how to represent the pivot brackets and support rods.The operating linkage and scoop are included in the kit.

Nig, the rear radial axle has little sideways movement on the real thing and with model curves, you may well get a problem with the wheels meeting the back of the cab steps. My two 4mm P4 versions will go through B6 points and around a 5' radius curve but I've not tried them on anything sharper. The Bachmann OO version seems happy with train set points, but has the benefit of an extra 1 mm clearance either side. The front footsteps can also be a problem in 4mm too. Careless handling can squeeze the steps inwards, resulting in a clash between the rods and the step and head scratching while you work out why a loco that was running perfectly has either a limp or comes to a dead halt. Jol

The photos of the LNWR locos in Modelu's website are of engines from London Road's roster, the one pictured above being a Watford Tank from the LRM kit. For those wishing to enhance their Chinese version, Andrew Stadden has also introduced some excellent Victorian and Edwardian loco crew. These have a selection of arms so can be "posed" to suit. https://www.acstadden.co.uk/shop-3

The boyfriend of the young lady owner is a "car mechanic" and it is he who has apparently condemned the Polo. I just had a look on eBay and they are very common S/H for little money, so it would be worth a try. It says little for his initiative. I'll mention it to her when I see her.

I don't think that there was built in obsolescence for cars of that era, just the inability to design/build things that lasted for any length of time. Rot on older cars was due to poor corrosion protection understanding and processes. My 72 MGB was, according to it's history, rebuilt with new sills, wings, etc in 1991, only nineteen years old. Most modern cars will easily get past that, although will probably be scrapped when some expensive electronics box fails, that costs more than the cars current value. This has happened to a neighbours granddaughter's 52 plate Polo, which is now being allowed to rot on granny's drive.

Mike, I assumed it was a 3000, but it did not have a grille so difficult to be sure. I wandered over to have quick look at it while Paul and June were getting out. I commented that it was a good thing I hadn't brought my MGB as it would have been rather surpassed. The Ford Coupe on the left was a "oily rag" restoration, but fitted with a small block Chevy motor. THe floor had rotted through and been plated over with USA number plates. The silver AMG Merc. towards the back was owned by a person drinking Foster's from a can, who took delight in deafening people by revving it and then telling his mates how fast he had driven it on the A14. Some people, it seems, never grow up and have more money than sense (or taste)

I used Balls F3 Styccobond (a carpet adhesive) for both fixing closed cell black foam underlay to baseboards, the track to the underlay and, thinned with water, fixing ballast. So far, after six years, there has been no apparent deterioration. It also has the benefit that it can be "softened" with white spirit or lighter fluid for a time after application for minor track realignment. The track in question was ply sleepered, mainly with plastic chairs and some rivet and ply in the points.

Halfords also stock interlocking floor mats under Garage Essentials. I bought two sets, which made up mats for each of the three operating positions, when we took London Road to Warley 2016. The NEC has concrete floors and we found the mats worthwhile. All the other shows we have done had timber floors (sports halls) and we haven't found a need to use mats at those. In response to David's question about "riders", I have never added any, other than checking whether barriers are provided. However, in an ideal world I would like a ban on; Clever b*st*r*s who like to show their knowledge by loudly pointing out a "mistake" on a layout. People who hang there cameras over the layout with the strap dangling near signals, buildings, etc. Parents lifting their children over the barriers, with kicking legs getting very close to the layout as they do. People sneaking around the end of the layout to look at the fiddle yards and disrupting the operators concentration. Ban certain traders from the loading area after a show until everyone else has got away safely (I could name names, but won't). Of course, these are things that an exhibition manager can't control, but it gave me a good opportunity to let off steam. Jol

I claim for the van hire and fuel. Are we missing out on something?

You could always make your own. There are plenty of kits and materials available plus and books on the subject to guide you. That way you get to create a unique model.

Brian I guess that'll depend on how far he got with it. While I can see PPP getting the kits the took over back into production eventually, I don't feel it's likely they will complete unfinished projects or add anything new.

Tony, I believe it tends to depend on the show and the audience it attracts. Families and many modellers just want to see trains running, something we found at shows like the CMRA St Albans (now Stevenage) show. At a show like Railex there are more knowledgeable visitors to whom complex movements/operations are interesting. I would also suggest that a regular stream of trains going past are more interesting to most folks than the most accurately modeled small industrial shunting layout. Over the years it has been my observation that layouts like Stoke Summit, Horfield, Fencehouses, Holiday Haunts and Gresley Beat to name just a few, attract the most interest. Of course there are exceptions to that at most shows where "high profile" layouts, such as Geoff William's Aylesbury at Railex in 2016, also attract a lot of attention. That's probably down to the amount of pre-show publicity they get. Jol

Hi Peter, the Carrs stuff is on there but the kits section does seem rather empty. I spoke with Chris Stapleton at Railex and, IIRC, he said the 7mm DMR kits are available. Perhaps it is just that they haven't got around to adding them yet. Jol

The new Phoenix Precision Paints website is now "live". I can access in my pc and a iPad, but not on my Android tablet, although that may be peculiar to my own Samsung. https://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/

At Railex I was asked by a Mr Denis West if I could help him with a membership application for the LNWR Society, as he had been unable to contact to contact the membership secretary through the Society website. Mr West provided his email address which I have forwarded to the LNWRS Mem. Sec. but an email to that address has been "rejected". If Mr West is a RMweb member, or anyone knows him, can they ask him to contact me through a PM. Jol Wilkinson

The owners of Cygnet Publications arrived at Railex in a green AH 3000, with what seemed like rally spec. bodywork.