Nig H

Hi, The manufacturer told me a while back he has stopped production. Nig H

Hello David, Here are two pics of a pony truck for a WD 2-8-0. I use something very similar for the pony trucks for the Dapol Ivatt. Something like this would isolate the wheels but I'm not sure about clearance of wheels and the frames in the LRM kit. It will depend on what width spacers you use. What is the distance between the wheel and pivot centrelines of the LRM pony truck? The width over the WD pony truck is 7.5mm, so that may not fit inside the LRM frames. (The bits at the top of the first pic are double sided 0.25mm pcb.) Nig H

Not on the workbench (which got rather muddy on Boxing Day) as such, but a new design I thought I might as well work on until the kitchen (workshop) is useable again. L & Y 0-8-0 GA 2016 feb 04.docx L & Y 0-8-0 GA 2016 feb 04.doc Not sure if this has worked as intended. I seem to have done something wrong with the files! Nig H

Does this pic help? Nig H

Hi David, Concerning the footplate and room for the gears, I'd usually put a hole in the footplate after I had completed all the building work because you have a stronger structure to hack/ grind away at. If you put the hole in the footplate before you've added the superstructure you might find the footplate is quite weak and easily bent whilst cleaning up etc. So, I think you've done the right thing in completing the body first. I reckon that it won't take long to grind a hole in the footplate with a slitting disk in a minidrill. If that is all that is required to get the body over the gears, then I would have thought the footplate included in the LRM etch would suffice, rather than go to the trouble of etching a custom 2mm version. I too am following this topic with interest and looking forward to getting my etch. Nig H

Oh no they're not! Nig H

Hi David, What is the distance between the outer edges of the slots in the footplate for the driving wheels and splashers? Nig H

Hi Andy and Jerry, Is this the pic? If so, it is my chemical pan wagon. Nig H Pic courtesy British Railway Modelling

Ian, I think it looks very nice and not over-slated at all. Nig H

I meant to post some pics of the chassis of my Belpaire 3P a while ago to compare with Jerry's superior arrangement. This was my second loco, and the first with a partially scratchbuilt chassis. I assumed I would have to have a series of spur gears included but my teacher, Mike Raithby, suggested a 38:1 worm wheel on one of the drivers, so that is what I did. At the time I didn't know such a set up was allowed. Anyway, it works reasonably well and is relatively simple to make. I hope the pics are clear enough. Nig H

After much procrastination, I got round to finishing off this coach by adding some LNWR 'Cauliflower' motifs (thanks Andy H). The coach is actually a model of the Highland Railway directors saloon, scrapped in 1947. In my model world, it was saved from the scrap heap by Sir Henry Rawlinson (a character invented by Viv Stanshall), a great admirer of all things London North Western, and repainted in pseudo-LNWR livery for use as his private carriage. As part of the purchase agreement, the LMS agreed to Sir Henry being able to attach his carriage to ordinary timetabled passenger trains, or behind his ex-LSWR T9. Nig H

Here are some more pics of my Midland six wheel brake van, now painted and awaiting light weathering. A bit rough and ready in places (solebars) but I'll settle for how its turned out. Nig H

That's very nice Jerry. How are you going to do the pipework behind the dome? There is a suggested method in Pete Wright's 'Loco bits' book, I think. Nig H

Thanks David, and Adrian too. I notice Chronos do some 0.1mm rod as well. That might come in useful. David, I have built loads of wagons including c. 80 mineral wagons, 25 fitted vans, a dozen pipe wagons plus a variety of others. In the main they were made many years ago from various plastic kits and are fairly unremarkable as models go. I'm happy to leave experts such as yourself, Steve Harris and Steve Sykes to entertain us on the wagon front. Nig H

Thanks John. I saw you van, that's why I posted these pics in case they might be of use. You and Jerry might be interested in a topic I've started in kitbuilding and scratch building re building LNWR G2s. Nig H

Here are some pics of a MR 6 wheel brake van I built from a David Eveleigh etch, now ready for painting. The handrails are from 8 thou steel, and seem to have rusted a bit. I had quite a battle with the solebar/ step assemblies, and they won. You can tell they are a bit wobbly. Nig H

I took one wheel off the Dapol axle then put the axle and remaining wheel in a minidrill. I used a needle file to grind the metal tyre away, leaving the plastic centre. I reduced the diameter of the centre until it would pass through an Assoc wheel rim. I took this centre off the axle, put the other wheel on the axle and repeated the process. After cleaning up the plastic centres I epoxied them into the Assoc wheel rims. Pics attached. I am not sure how concentric the wheels will be once mounted back on the Dapol axles, and I may have to come up with another solution. Nig H

Thanks Chris. It should be within my capabilities to make a set from scrap nickel silver, or I could look at levers on other etches to see if they are long enough. I measured the Dapol and Worsley Works union links and connecting rods and the Dapol ones were longer between centres, so I suppose that also explains the angle of union link to combination lever in the fuzzy pic. I really don't want to dismantle the valve gear again apart from the combination lever, but maybe I'll have to to sort it properly. I managed to remove the Dapol tyres from the bogie wheels and I am optimistic that I'll be able to fit Association rims. I think I'll be able to do the pony truck wheels in similar fashion. Nig H

I have now assembled the replacement valve gear on the Dapol Brit. Here it is before connecting everything up. When I'd re-connected the valve gear etc. I gave the loco a quick test run. it seemed stiff so I ran it with Cif on the various soldered joints of the rods and gear. After about 15 minutes of running, I cleaned the Cif off, oiled round and then re-tested. There was a vast improvement, although I'm not happy with the way the combination lever and union link end up as shown in the fuzzy pic below. The WW combination lever is too short, as I suspected it would be. Bother!! Nig H

The pic below shows my first attempt at finescaling a Dapol Britannia. I tried using etched backing pieces behind the Dapol connecting rods and eccentric rods so I could connect these up to Association wheels with 0.5mm crankpins. I wasn't happy with the results, especially the overlarge rear end of the connecting rods, but also the large rivet heads on the union link, combination lever and eccentric rod, so I'm trying to see if I can use the motion parts from a Worsley Works Britannia chassis etch so I can use smaller washers and 0.3mm nickel silver rod to join bits together. Main issues are connecting the WW union link and connecting rod to the plastic crosshead moulding, connecting the WW eccentric rod to the Dapol expansion link, and connecting the WW combination lever to the Dapol radius rod. Then there's the bogie, pony truck and tender to sort out........ Beginning to feel this could all go pear-shaped etc. Nig H

I have just finished writing instructions for a finescaling kit for this loco. Details are now available on my products page on the Association website. Nig H

You'll be wanting a finescale conversion kit then? Nig H

Hi Valentin, I'd solder the couplings in place before painting as I think its more robust than using glue. Your model looks really good, but the pics on your blog gave me the impression that the dome or chimney have a very slight lean to one side. Maybe my eyes are malfunctioning but it might be worthwhile double checking. This potential problem is why I always epoxy chimneys and domes in place. You can make small corrections to the alignment while the glue goes off. Nig H

Here are some pics showing the loco basically now finished. I added N Brass Fairburn steps at the front. Plastic ones are not included in the GF model accessory pack. I'm not sure how much they restrict side play on curves. Nig H

While I had my camera out for the saddle tank, I thought I'd post a couple of pics of Rebuilt Royal Scot 46127 'Old Contemptibles', having recently finally applied the nameplates. The loco is made from a Farish body on an etched finescale chassis. Looks like there is some very heavy coal in the front of the tender! Nig H