HSB

A moment of reflection today. This Slater's tank wagon was one of the very first 0 Gauge kits I built back before we had even started work on Ramchester. It was named after two of our modelling friends Frank Ewen and John Day who Rod and I had known since we were members of South Devon Model Railway Society back in it's early years around half a century ago. Although we all dropped out of the SDMRS a long time ago we went on to visit many exhibitions together over the years as a 'gang of five' with Brian Harrap, usually going on to visit sites of railway interest on the way home. Sadly, Frank died a few years ago and yesterday Brian and I attended John's funeral.

The 3mm Society have 'fine-scale' standards for 12mm with a maximum wheel width of 1.75mm which, if combined with a 16.25mm axle length, would allow sideframes to be set at the correct distance apart. It might mean modifying PECO points slightly but won't affect trackholding on plain track. I'm waiting to get my first Hornby wagon so I can measure up the wheelsets and find out how long their axles are.

We've had three sessions in Rod's shed this week and I've made a little bit of progress on the brewery but Rod's still struggling to get the Class 20 back together as one end of the body won't sit down properly on the chassis for some reason. I had a quick look today but couldn't spot the problem. I have made a rather simplified version of a launch boiler to go inside the boilerhouse so it doesn't look like just an empty building:- After an experiment with brown timbers I've decided to go with my first thought and gone with a black and white scheme for the lucam (inspired by pictures of Hook Norton Brewery which also has brown window frames).

I have been making some minor alterations to the area where the small workshop will sit to give it a little more space.

Personally, I think PECO have done a pretty good job with their points. They are certainly a lot better than their Code 55 N gauge points which have a pit in the middle for the Code 80 point blades.

Some steady progress made on the brewery this week and I've now reached the stage where I have started to paint some windows and doors and have actually stuck a couple in. I am also making a basic representation of the boiler to go inside although it will just be a vague shape once the windows are glazed and the roof is on.

Karaoke - Japan's revenge for the atom bombs!

Simon was correct - there is a crack! Rod couldn't see it but I managed to find it. Fortunately, when Rod checked the unpowered bogie he found that the gears had all been left in place so he actually has a replacement to hand. Meanwhile I have finally finished painting all the brickwork on the brewery (bar a little touching up here and there). I propped three of the main walls up against the mock-up to take a couple of pics:-

I've now added a bit of vegetation to the recently plastered bit.

One thing the arrival of the club mag cleared up for me was the fact I couldn't see any vents on the 'vent van'. From the side view it looked like a BR Diagram 1/108 and I was hoping they'd produce more of them with different numbers but the picture on page 8 of two preproduction models clearly shows it has planked rather than corrugated steel ends and the vents are almost flush with the ends. This van is being marketeted as both a BR van and an LNER van when it is clearly neither (LNER vans normally had slide rather than hinged doors). The nearest I have been able to find is a GWR van. The good news is that the underframe details look quite fine and they have actually got the brake gear on both sides the right way round, including a representation of the reversing gear, which so many RTR models in the past have got wrong. I do hope they make this underframe available as a spare part as it has possibilities for use under umpteen different bodies!

Not much longer but double the volume!

We had a bit of a running session today as Rod had invited four of our friends round for a get together. Here is John Farmer (Re6/6) getting to grips with DCC control.

I'm disappointed that they're only putting a 6-pin DCC socket in the 08s, especially when you can get one in N with sound and their other locos have 18-pin sockets. The photos look very good but I won't be buying any locos until they're available with sound.

From the view from underneath they are not bogie-mounted. The mount is hidden between the sideframes in the side views.

A bit more work on the brewery this week:-

Was that on Saturday ? if they were still there on Sunday they were bloody well hidden!

I was rather disappointed not to see PECO at the Taunton exhibition at the weekend after reading in the online Exhibition Guide that they would be officially launching their TT:120 range there! Anybody know why they weren't there? They are supposed to be going to Bekra Models in Newton Abbot on November 5th with a TT:120 presentation so hope they turn up for that!

I've started adding a bit of paint to parts of the brewery, starting with the chimney and boiler house.

I think it looks a bit better proportioned now. I just need to get hold of some more slates to stick on the roof.

At one time Heljan were going to bring out a Class 37 as the first of a range of British H0 (I had four on order!) but pulled out because they didn't have the number of pre-orders they wanted. This was at a time when the quality of 00 models was generally very poor compared with Continental products and there was an opportunity to create a new market. When they entered the 0 gauge market their first loco was a Hymek and they have since produced a Western and a Warship. With no mention of any Diesel Hydraulics by Hornby and given the popularity of Western Region prototypes I would think that would have been a good place for them to start in TT.

This lists some of the things available:- https://www.shapeways.com/designer/maridunian/lists/uk-tt120?sort=name

PECO are the only ones currently offering close to scale height rail. With regards to bullhead the equivalent of the code 75 normally used in 4mm works out at a code 47 rail in 1:120 which is not commercially available.

No worse than Heartbeat when they had a Southern liveried loco in one episode.

The front is now finished and painted. I now need to put a new roof on.

Rather a peculiar choice for their first two Mk 1 coaches of a BCK and CK! The BCK is fine - one could even be used as a one coach branch train after coming off one end of a mainline train, but a train made up of all composites is highly unlikely. It would have been better if they had done an SK rather than a CK which would also mean they could have done an SO later using the same body shell.