oily

Thanks Jerry, just what I needed to see, thanks. Oliver

Jerry Do you have a photo of underneath of chassis showing brake rigging cross members and how you did them? And I notice there are rubbing contacts on top of rear drivers, does this mean it is not conventional split axle insulation picking up from chassis/axle each side? or are they just additional "belt and braces" pickups? Oliver

John Turning smokebox doors is one of the easier turning jobs in 2mm modelling, I'm seem to recall several recent articles in 2mm magazine talking about it in various loco contruction articles. I think there's a recent T9 article that had all those catches on them. Indeed Peter Wright wrote some classic papers in the magazine in the 1990's. They ought to appear in the archive index. I think the smokebox door one was about December 1991 but I could be wrong (as I often am these days!!). His one on smokebox doors was also reprinted I believe in the booklet "Loco Bits and Pieces" as chapter I recall "Putting a Bold Face on it" ? There's also a useful article in Roche and Templer's book "Building Model Locomotives" page 47. They say "it is a great temptation to use these (commercial ones) as they are not neat enough. Although here they are talking 7mm scale although the principle is the same. Guy Williams in his "Model Locomotive Construction in 4mm Scale" does a very detailed description on making smokebox doors somewhere about the middle of the book, the chapter on "Boilers" I suspect. He too comments something to the effect that "few castings make a very good job of the centre fittngs". Certainly if there's nothing suitable "of the peg" then a "tailored" job will look better and will be enormously satisfying. And you don't need a fancy lathe, my first turning was done with a small pin chuck glued onto a hefty 12v motor shaft, the motor fixed to a board with a stand to rest a tool on and a foot switch made out a spray can top with press switch glued to a piece of wood to keep it stable on the floor. Only a thought, meant to be helpful and encouraging. Oli

I have a redundant spare unused (as new) Pentroller, the one with inertia and braking controls lurking in a box in my workshop. Is it worth anything these days? Or is it an ebay job lucky to go for 99p and be out of pocket on postage! I have a plain one without inertia or braking that I use regularly for testing locos and motors so the more sophisticated spare one is not really required. Oli

Is that 2mm or N gauge scale? If true 2mm certainly I'll have quite a lot of locos to buld now!

Thanks John Thought I'd never get a response so I bought one and it certainly has it's uses where the single bit is struggling. I wouldn't be without it now. I'm thinking of modifying the handpiece though with (maybe a rod in tube guide) something to stop the ends crossing over so easily. Any ideas? Oli

Don that sounds really most interesting, can you send me a copy off-line via "messages" (to save cluttering these pages) please. I had thought of doing that but have no idea how to achieve it. Many thanks Oli

Does anyone have experience of the use of tweezer handpieces for resistance soldering. There's an example shown at https://www.americanbeautytools.com/Resistance-Soldering/125 This seems to be the cheapest and designed for model work, they make much smaller finer ones that are much more expensive. And chunky one if you want to really heat up something. Oli

Worth looking at Magazine for Feb 2012 p 18 and April 13 p 37. There was also either an article by same author on making both motor and worm gear replaceable but I cannot quickly find it. It's possible that it was described on this site but would take a bit of finding. It even included a description of a very neat aluminium jig for ensuring alignment during assembly. I borrowed it recently and can vouch for its value. Oliver

Does anyone have a few spare 2mm SA handrail knobs for sale? I have a friend who has half finished the handrails on a LSWR T9 and run out of the handrail knobs (mostly because he only just had enough to start with and some have disappeared into the carpet). He can't face having to remove those already in place and start again with a new type. Many thanks if you do Oli

Does anyone have experience and tips for making the clamps on the lower half of an LSWR smokebox door? I guess they'd just have to be a representation only but what shape and size would be best? The door is made (filed down disc of nickel silver) and the hinge and straps ready to solder on but thought it better to wait to see what advice there is about the clamps. Thanks for any advice Oliver

I just tried to put a collection of Proxxon tools on the classified section but couldn't get it to accept! No sure why. But I have a local modelling friend who has a collection of Proxxon items in very good condition for sale and I'm already set up otherwise I'd buy them myself. It's a TBM220 drill with keyed chuck, compound table, vice etc on an extended column which is quite useful as I've copied the idea myself. Also a Micromot 50E hand drill very useful if you don't have a lathe for turning things like domes and chimneys. At new prices there's over £300 of Proxxon items. They're all things I use for 2mm work so I thought it might be of interest here as I failed on the classified. If you're interest contact me and I'll put you in touch as he doesn't use Yahoo Groups!! Oliver

Was helping clear out a workshop and we found the item shown in picture. I think it's a depthing tool because I seem to remember Tim Watson writing an article on gear meshing in an MRJ Compendium a while back using a picture of one that looked like the brother of this one. It seems to be nickel or nickel plated and in good condition. So several questions: Am I correct is it a depthing tool and useful for 2mm gear meshing? Does it have any value nowadays as I guess it pretty antique? If so where should we sell it, indeed is it likely anyone would want to buy it? Or am I asking on the wrong forum perhaps? But having seem the above mentioned article I thought it might be of interest in 2mm work. Many thanks for any information. Oliver

Just having a radical clear out and found "Almark Practical Guides - N Gauge Model Railways by Michael Andress" 1972. Free to anyone who'd like it. Not sure what it would cost to post these days so hope I'm not risking too much!!

Can anyone who has made the Worseley Works GWR 2-8-0T or 2-8-2T please tell me what is the smallest diameter curve it will run around? That's without making special arrangements in the chassis such as removing flanges or cutting away the back of the cylinders etc. Many thanks.

Thanks for that experience of its reliability, I did think of that possibility, but I wondered how Araldite would tolerate strong cleaning and degreasing agents prior to painting.

Does anyone have good advice on fitting steam domes? First there's the problem of holding it in position while soldering it. And the second problem is how to solder it. 1st - Holding it seems to require some sort of screw from below, if you can access it, but is it best to have a tiny screw through a tiny hole or a larger hole in boiler with a smaller screw through a rectangular washer so that it sits better and can be soldered from below while being held in position. Seems quite difficult also to have the undersurface absolutely fitting the boiler curve, and a large hole might help here. 2nd - Is it better to solder from within boiler or around the top (edge of dome) with a soldering iron. There are some fittings soldered into the top of the dome so a blowlamp will certainly disturb them and a even a large iron might if the brass dome gets too hot. And finally it needs to be done so that everything underneath can be removed thus allowing the weights in the boiler to slide into position. What methods have people found works. Many thanks for any tips.

Good suggestion. They've agreed to do a set even after we sent photos and dimensioned drawings so looks like progress! Many thanks for that.

Where can one buy etched cab side number plates for a 2mm scale LSWR/SR 4-4-0 T9? We've tried Kingscross Plates, Guilplates and Diane Carney Nameplates without success. Anyone have any ideas? We're looking for two pairs probably both the same number. Many thanks"

With DG couplings in 2mm scale does it matter which side one solders the dropper wire? Thanks

Just seen an etch for the Dapol/Lima Siphon underframes which looked very impressive. But I gather they come without any instructions and I'm not sure I'd know how to build one. Is there anywhere that I could find guidance or an instruction sheet on how to assemble one? Maybe someone has already written it up or made up something similar and written it up? Thanks Oli

Can I ask a question about the etched chassis for a pannier please. I'm not sure where or which thread to ask about it but here seems a possible place. I've just started in 2mm and would like to make an N gauge pannier look a bit more realistic and I'm sure I saw a discussion and some photographs of this having been done. I've found some information in this thread plus some elsewhere from Missy and Rich Brummitt under "double heading" that's mainly about the etched chassis although missy's seems to have done more what I had in mind about but I was convinced I'd seen even more recent information and in particular photos of scratchbuilt footplates with splashers and other detail added to cut away Farish bodies. Maybe I dreamed it or it on some other website but Googling hasn't revealed anything more. Does anyone know if it was for real. I'd really like to know more about doing something like this myself so any help appreciated.

I wouldn't get too upset bogieman. I saw your reference to a magic circle as humour out of your frustration at trying to find the wire size. I had been reading the messages hoping too to get the answer and being disappointed that I never got the answer and I've been a modeller for years. But please don't anyone take that as another criticism, it's just an observation to make bogieman feel less bad. I'm sure he never thought the remark would be taken as it has. And it does seem he really tried hard to find an answer before he asked here. Perhaps, and this is only a thought as I don't want to offend anyone, we need to be wary of being too quick to be critical of beginners/less informed/strugglers/the curious who seek answers to questions we may regard as basic/obvious/easily found.

Yes I realise all that you've said but if people take on volunteer tasks they should be able to deliver and I've certainly waited over two months and according to Pixie on 18 August he's been waiting over two months still waiting, indeed I've heard recently on the "local grapevine" that there are still orders from May not yet dealt with so while it may not be fair it is true sadly. And I'm not talking about "out of stock items". Oli

And even if they are in stock and assuming you're a member it seems that it can still take 2/3 months to get anything!!