Jol Wilkinson

I parked my MGB in Woodbridge yesterday when the sun was shining, but nobody took a photo of it!

Very few, if any, suppliers of etched kits or parts do their own etching. Not legislation but economics are the primary reason. Like 3D printing, "all" you need to do is design the artwork which nowadays means sitting at a computer keyboard.

The quality of older RTR made kit building desirable if you wanted better models. At the same time, RTR pricing set the levels that people were willing to pay for a kit. High volume, low margin items were okay but it was always more difficult for those operating at the other end of the scale. The current quality of RTR is having an impact on kit building and therefore sales. However, unless you want another "looks alike" layout, you would want to make your own models from the wide range that is available. There are other influences, including the unwillingness of many people to learn new skills.

Kevin, forums such as RMweb do that, so do the EMGS and S4 websites , as do WSP do it through their excellent books, by the likes of Iain Rice, John Hayes, Gordon and Maggie Gravett, Barry Norman and others (other publishers/writers are available). What the mainstream magazines don't do, as far as I can see, is provide a simple introduction to the "alternatives". A sidebar next to a EM, P4, OO7, etc. layout article, explaining simply what is the scale/gauge and how you find out more for example, might begin to increase peoples awareness. Unless people know what the alternatives are, how can they decide if they want to explore further? Jol

Baz, I don't know. John Redrup owns LRM and I just help out at some shows, with some artwork design and "PR". He is based in Watford and I am in Suffolk, I don't speak to him daily and don't know what the stock situation is, which is why I suggested you contact him direct. I don't know who Nick Easton uses to produce his etches, but the two main suppliers for the model railway kit makers take four to six weeks to turn round an order, sometimes longer in one case. Jol

That's an experience I share. I've met a number of modellers who aren't aware of anything outside N, OO or O gauges (and often don't know what "scale" means) Perhaps it isn't so surprising when you consider the exposure of various product ranges in magazines, which tends to concentrate on the mass market /gauges/ranges. While "other" scales and gauges get mentioned, there is usually no in depth explanation of what that means.

He had a couple at the Leamington and Warwick Show at the beginning of March, which sold that weekend. He is reliant on Nick Easton (BIWO kits) who designed the etches for supply, which is why they don't appear on the website as a regular LRM product. Best thing would be to contact John directly: https://traders.scalefour.org/LondonRoadModels/contact-us/

One of the reasons I opted for the MERG Servo 4 originally was the excellent remote setting box that is available for it. I note that the Megapoints unit has the facility to connect remote switches for ease of setting up a controller in an inaccessible location. However, do you still have to count the flashing LEDs on the main board?

The latest new kits from London Road Models are; LNWR Water Column This is the type that was controlled by a below ground valve and which were both ground and platform mounted. Sometimes they were mounted straight into the platform without the base being visible and without the drain A split cover gave access to underground located valve. The kit has options to produce either. The column is lost wax cast brass, with etched parts for the base, drain, valve shaft support, etc. section of textured "hose" and instructions. £9:00 LNWR Station Hand Cart This kit produces a model of the small hand cart used on LNWR stations as shown in Fig 8 and Plate 2/148 on pages 66 and 67 of LMS Lineside (WSP). They were mainly used for small parcels, books and magazines (WHS had bookshops on larger LNWR stations), blankets and foot wamers for passengers in earlier days, etc. They were painted LNWR carriage lake, with black metalwork. The kit contains .012" brass etch and brass wire to make one trolley with instructions. £4.90 LNWR Four wheel station trolley. This is a model of one of the common LNWR 4W station trolleys. The kit makes the 6ft standard type as shown on page 70 of LMS Lineside (WSP). Used for larger parcels and packages, mail bags, etc. they lasted into BR days and were a common sight on station platforms. The kit contains .012" brass etch and brass wire to make one trolley with instructions. £4.90 LNWR Fog Shelter Fog shelters were provided at signals to provide shelter for the fogman who would put detonators out to protect trains. This kit produces a Fogman’s shelter as shown in “LNWR Portrayed by Jack Nelson. During the summer months when not needed they could be found stored near signal boxes for maintenance. It is likely that the shelters were generally painted black, although typically few photos of such mundane items are hard to find. The photo shows the test etch model. Production etches have the door opening blanked out, as they normally appeared. The kit contains a .012" brass etch to make one shelter and instructions. £4.95. Full details will be available shortly on the London Road Models website at; https://traders.scalefour.org/LondonRoadModels/various/architectural-kits/ THey will also be available from LRM at Scalefour North on 1st and 2nd April; https://www.scalefour.org/scalefournorth/2017/

Andy, for those that don't know, back numbers of MRJ can be found here; http://www.titfield.co.uk/Wild-Swan/MRJ-Journal.htm Edited to add that there is a great searchable online index, to be found at ; http://www.modelrailwayjournal.com/

Might I suggest that the idea of "gauge wars" seems to be alive and well mainly among members of RMweb, not in the pages of MRJ. Wild Swan and now Cygnet publications have probably done more than any other publisher to promote "better" modelling in all it's guises, irrespective of scale, gauge, etc.

AFAIK, production of the Slater's kits did not pass to him. I believe it was a marketing agreement, in exchange for Slaters selling the CC 7mm kits. These may be the ones which do not have a "buy" link on the Slaters website (my knowledge of 7mm kits, especially GWR is very limited).

You might well be right Bill, but low cost, simple plastic wagon kits do offer an entry level way into model making. With CC (and currently Slaters) 4mm kits unobtainable, the opportunity for someone to pick a model relevant to their interests is diminished.

In the right hands it could be, as it was once.

I'd agree with Bill B's comment except it seems more than likely the CC plastic kits that haven't been produced for some time won't ever become available again. For too long the same excuses have been used and any attempts to provide help seem to have been ignored. The etched item's are manufactured by etchers who hold the tools, so production of those is independent of the moulding problems that he can't sort out.

The W&T wheels look like the original Romford wheels, possibly before the RP25 profile tyre was introduced. Markits "absorbed" the Romford range and Mark Arscott seems to believe that prototype specific, rather than generic, wheel sets are what the market needs. That's rather what all the other 4mm wheel suppliers have done, although you can usually find something that will match the diameter you need, if not number os spokes, crank pin placement, etc. Your findings on the Mitsumi motors are useful, since the cessation of Mashima's production. Mashima had become the default motor in 4mm, providing good specifications, performance and reliability.

MRJ used to be more so, especially in the early days. It still has "how to" articles although they seem to be more "focused" on specific subjects/models, such as John's article on the Brit. Perhaps the publishers feel that the MRJ reader is nowadays more experienced than all those years ago. BRM, RM, etc. are where the "how to " articles are really needed, to introduce those modellers who haven't yet gone beyond RTR to the joys on actually making something with your own hands. What I don't understand is why it's largely accepted that you will have to make your own baseboards and scenery to create your unique layout, yet anything else should simply be bought in a red, blue or green box. Larry, you are very naughty and guilty of showing initiative and other traits not available to most people today. This approach has no place in today's "why doesn't someone make a?" society. Where would we be if people started doing things for themselves? Jol

If you want to build kits in 4mm, look no further than then the excellent range of books from Wild Swan and others. Invariably written by modellers with experience, they are excellent reference books and can always be to hand. Forum advice is at best "variable", so unless you have some experience yourself, then you cannot decide if it is worth following or not.

Hold and Fold. Very useful - even vital - for long folds. A decent pair of pliers will do for small items.

Baz, Vernier calipers are great for measuring B2B and other things, but Gauges are best for setting B2B. Which is why I have both. Jol

Up to five feet long. There are three semaphore and four ground signals on one board, one semaphore and two ground signals on another. This is on a portable exhibition layout so each board is fed by an separate multiple way cable (or two) and the servo controllers are mounted on the boards. One reason for choosing the MERG Servo 4 controllers is the excellent remote set up controller, which makes adjustment easy. Twitching may not be such an issue with servo point motors, but it is very visible with semaphore signals and can be damaging to mechanisms. One thing that became apparent during my early discussions is that DCC equipped locos were claimed to have far fewer problems than DC kit built ones. Pickup created interference was considered one issue, so I experimented with suppression, both on locos and power feed to the servo controllers. As the layout often has guest locos, I tried to take out the problem by adapting the layout, so that we would avoid it whenever possible.

I would support Tony's view that you should alsways buy the best you can. A poor workman blames his tools - probably because he bought cheap ones. Tony's list is very extensive but probably similar to what those of use that have been model making for years have acquired. Assuming Jesse is starting with a kit(s) rather than scratch building, I would suggest Tony's list could be abbreviated as follows. Jesse could then add other items as he finds a need 25 Watt iron with 3mm chisel bit, ;145 solders and flux. A 50W or greater TCU is a real asset but don't buy cheap (Ersa, Atten, Antex, etc. are waht you should aim for) Pliers - snipe-nosed, round-nosed, flat-nosed. Always stipulate box pliers (Klein are good).. Swann Moreton scalpels - straight and curved blades Range of Swiss files. Screwdrivers - slotted-head and Philips. Romford screwdriver if using Markits wheels. Box spanners in smaller BA sizes. Tweezers. Pin chuck and range of smaller drills. Fibreglass propelling pencil, range of emery papers and rubbing boards. Scrapers. 6 and 12 inch engineers steel rules (double as set squares). Scriber. Adhesives epoxy and thin cyano. Back-to-back gauge Model oil. This is a much more basic list, but when I look around the tools scattered around the bench at the end of the day, this is what I mainly use. Beyond that - other than a RSU, jewelers vice, etch tag chisel, 2oz hammer and a variable speed mini drill - all of which are more expensive "advanced" tools to do things quicker - anything else is very occasionally used. Over the years you develop your own "special" tools as well, those that work best for you or which you adapt to your own way of working. Jol

This may be of interest: https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2227 One reason I haven't considered the Megapoints controller instead of the MERG Servo 4 units I already have is that my signals are fairly well spread about and therefore long servo leads would required. Despite the assurances of Mr Megapoints that this wouldn't be the case I am not willing to risk the investment, given my experiences. I am about to test a Heathcliff two servo controller, to see if that offers any benefits. I have also bought a Tam Valley Octopus, but can't get on with it's remote set up controller, although the main unit does seem quite stable, so that will be going on eBay. I will also try a bigger power supply, although this never came up in all the previous discussions I had. Adding a simple suppressor circuit to the feed voltage input to the Servo 4 dis seem to help though in addition to the other suggestions re feed wires, etc. in Suzie and other's posts. The jury is still out on servos, although cheaper analogue ones do seem to suffer more problems. Ultimately I come back to the view, as AndyID says, that we are trying to use a technology that isn't fully suited to our needs at present.

Andy, it's all about marketing to people who like showing off - "my so and so is bigger than yours". Why else do yummy mummies drive Chelsea Tractors, sales reps drive BMWs or Audis rather than Fords or Nissans? Young men who can't afford those go for lowered Citroens and Honda's with a 1000 watts of thumping noise, so they hope they will be noticed. Just human nature really, as with people who need to have a collection of 200 plus locos to feel good. Jol

That used to be so, more than it is today. Increasingly some Small Suppliers are happy to duplicate other peoples products, especially where they think they can provide a better kit/model. The definition of better may mean more complex, dearer, incorporate new but inappropriate production technology, etc.