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I think we will remember the November RM as the "British H0 edition". I have always thought of the J72 as a basis for merely a H0 J73 but the LSWR G6 looks like a more useful prototype. I have one of the current versions of the Bachmann J72 (their 2019 release) and studying it this evening it looks just as suitable for conversion to a G6 - and it has a much better chassis than the Palitoy version. The downside is the coreless motor, it needs a non-feedback controller or DCC which is quite a pain if you have a small shunting layout with only one engine in steam. - Richard.

Please can anyone shed any light on this Electrotren ferry wagon? It measures up fine for the British loading gauge. I wonder if it had a prototype. - Richard.

Jim Read has built at least one 7mm micro with just one point, his "Moxley" layout and what works for 7mm ought to work for 4mm too. https://ogaugemicro.blogspot.com/ Jim has a YouTube channel too, "7mm Micro". He has a lot of fresh ideas going on in small spaces. - Richard.

I built "Fairport" during the winter of 2017/18. Of course it doesn't do very much in its own right but with it connected into my main layout I still enjoy using it, a simple destination to put a wagon or indeed the tram. - Richard.

These have been sitting in on my bench for months. I wonder if anyone can tell me which model they might belong with? Possibly a Dapol 00 Western sold on long ago. They are handed and I suspect there ought to be six not five. Many thanks, - Richard.

Me too. I gave up trying to take my model apart because I thought I would mark the paint. Passed it to a professional who did the work and returned the model with two gouge marks in the sides and explained "this can't be helped". Dismantling was needed to simply apply lubrication. I sold the thing "as seen" on eBay soon afterwards, funny thing was I got most of the original purchase price back. - Richard.

Harry bless him doesn't seem to have a lot on the top story. It has taken me years to reduce his attempts at play from a flesh-piercing wound to a playful nip. Harry's owners think he was taken away from his mother too early. I ran this past my manager at the charity shop and she replied, "it's the same with all males really isn't it?" - Richard.

Maybe Nala could teach Harry how to play. He really hasn't got much of a clue. - Richard.

Well Harry has been a PITA all day and I can only guess it is because of his new-found fame here. In particular he refused the second helping of the tuna he consumed with gusto yesterday and he has been pestering for something else all day. He likes my kitchen table. He gets a dual aspect (garden view + driveway with his owner's house), a radiator, and his feeding bowl two yards away. This photo was also last year, he didn't get his picture taken today. - Richard.

I could post about Harry my neighbour's cat almost every day but I have finally given in. This morning Harry sat on my kitchen table listening to the Today programme. At the 8 o'clock time signal he sat bolt upright as if to attention in front of the radio and listened to the headlines. Something about our prime minister, the virus and an international item. Then another newsreader returned to the first story (the prime minister) ... Harry stood up, turned around, and lay down with his backside against the radio. This is Harry earlier last year: - Richard.

Looking out of my landing window earlier this morning, not uniquely "British" but good to see. - Richard.

Oh. (Pauses to compose) Well clearly it got turned off somehow, and who else could have done this except me? I suspect this goes back many years, to an earlier version of the software. Well many thanks to everyone of course. Now I must remember what was so important I wanted to announce it - Richard.

I am perplexed. I do not doubt the correctness of the instructions above but I do not have this "what's on your mind?" box. Here is how I see View New Content, the text is greeked but this is how I see the page: I have tried all five available themes. - Richard.

From time to time I have found myself wanting to post a single status update but I cannot fathom out how to do it. I can see how to post a public message on someone elese's profile (and see this happening by accident) but what I usually want to do is to make an announcement which seems worthwhile but doesn't really fit in a topic or a blog post. So far I have found this screen: Please, how do I start to add a post to here? I try to look for menu options and buttons from time to time and I cannot find a thing :-) - Richard.

Yes this is a good idea and I will try them again during the week. Update 17/01: I have spoken with Catherine at Slaters and subsequently written to David as he is working from home at the moment. Update 08/02: Three weeks on I have no reply from Slaters so I guess buying a spare smokebox door from them is a non-starter. Nice idea though - thanks. - Richard.

Please, were you able to buy the smokebox door as a spare part from Slaters or maybe it is a left-over from one of their kits? - Richard.

Curses ... undone the keeper plate again to find the width of the original gear. The original gear is 3.5mm wide and the sensible equivalent from kkpmo is 3mm. (The mating gear is 2mm wide). Postage will be 6 Euros to the UK so I will sit back and have a think about anything else I might find useful. Very unlikely but there is no huge urgency to place the order. - Richard.

Thanks for all of this. Experience with my neighbour's cat Harry (who lives in my house and indeed sleeps here given half a chance) has told me to set the one and only rule for the house: the hobby room is out of bounds. Harry knows this, but curiosity often overcomes his training. Kitchen perch: How can this be comfortable? - Richard.

I dropped the wheelsets out this evening. The gear is straight-cut to mesh with another spur gear which is actually larger than this one so the final stage is an increasing ratio: The diameter is a bit wishy-washy, from about 10.9 to 11.0 mm and there are 20 teeth (counted three times!) so the module is I think 11 / 20 = 0.55. These is the wheelset (upside down) in case we need to discuss it: and here is a view of the chassis to show the pickups and the two springs for the rear axle: The pickups sit behind the wheel rims so I think these will work fine with Slater's wheels with their insulating centres. Full marks to Ixion for arranging the brake rodding to simply unplug to allow the keeper plate to simply drop out, and what's more plug back into place without fuss. This is a LOT easier than some 4mm models. - Richard.

In my opening post I asked about feasibility of back-dating the model and at the time I didn't realise, the wheels on the Ixion model represent one of the final changes to the prototypes. Therefore to backdate the model to much anything earlier, I need to change the wheels or, as pointed out earlier, accept I cannot see the spokes when the loco is moving along. I have opened up the model and made some enquiries ... This is fairly self-explanatory. The entire wheel set will drop out if desired: (1) I have exchanged correspondence with Slater's, their 12-spoke wheels p/n 7839HC are correct for earlier locomotives. These wheels use Slater's 1/8 inch axle while the Ixion model has (measured) 3.0mm axles. The Ixion axles cannot be fitted into the Slater's wheels. It would be necessary to use the Slater's axles and to open out the Ixion bearings to suit. (2) A friend has explained, Slater's wheels use a 12BA screw inserted from the back and a nut as the basis for the crankpin. A very flexible arrangement, so I could imagine getting some plain 12BA pillars to pack out the holes in the Ixion side rods. The side rods are detachable by unscrewing the Ixion crankpin screws, which go in from the front. (3) Because this job could "go wrong" I very much favour getting a replacement gear for the new driving axle. This would let me leave the Ixion wheels on their axles. I might even be able to sell them to recoup some of the cost of the new wheels. The Ixion side rods are also wrong for an earlier loco, but somehow they don't seem to look as out of place as the modern wheels. And, I could regard them as a separate project. What I do not know is the practicality of getting a new drive gear. I don't have a clue whether something can be bought, or machined up as a special. If anyone can suggest what can be done, I might proceed with new wheels. - Richard.

I agree entirely, it would be great if we could get notifications to comments in blogs. Even if this was once a week it would be better than never. I keep on forgetting to look at my own blog when it goes for a few months without a new post. So here is a small bounce. - Richard.

My Mid Wales brake van now has its running gear, the wheelbase is eight feet: I am going to call this model 'finished' for the time being. One day I might tackle the running boards or a better roof. Or maybe some thicker hand rails. It all looks better full size than enlarged like this. So - the Halfords 'Ford Polar Grey' here is paler than I would have liked but I am happier with this than the Tamiya 'Haze Gray'. The model turned out flat with no desire to rock, and is nicely free-running too. The story of the prototype is quite interesting. The original Mid Wales brake was transferred to the Elan Valley reservoir scheme and became the resident engineer's saloon. The reservoir scheme was built for the Birmingham Corporation Water Works and the Brake carried the letters BCWW. So I feel I could use it on my layout as a brake van in an early setting or indeed as the chief engineer's accomodation for a later period. - Richard.

My replacement model arrived last week. The running is just as smooth and controllable as the last model, but without the grating noise which preceded the side rod falling off. This photo of Baguley is from the MSC Facebook group. I expect, studying photographs will be as far as I go for a while. I would like to see my replacement model prove its reliability. I had the presence of mind to save the photos posted in this topic but since removed ('Trent' and an unidentified cabless 0-6-0) so if anyone wants to review them just ask and I can send them across in a PM. - Richard.

Please, can we have any advance on "may" here? Or maybe we are constrained by my lighting for the photograph and how it appears on different screens; or indeed what we know for sure about the BR paint? This is a slightly idle question as I am not modelling any BR period (yet) but it would be good to know. Many thanks. - Richard

I have had a correspondence with a mate and in his words, I can make an attempt at lilac grey by taking grey paint and adding homeopathic quantities of red. If I add too much red I will simply get lilac. I will try this for my next wagon project. I made myself a colour chart using four rattle cans of "grey" on three different primers: The photograph doesn't render the colours terribly accurately but it does pick up up the variations. Suitably encouraged I picked up the can of Ford Polar Grey thinking it was the Revell 374 and sprayed it onto my brake van (directly over the Tamiya Haze Gray): Not much different to the Dapol interpetation of BR grey really. There is a part of me which wants to despair but it will be easier to tone this down than to lighten it up. So I have now painted the ironwork. I guess I should have put a primer before the Polar Grey, and used less Polar Grey. The Slaters/Coopercraft kit of a GWR four plank wagon has finally arrived. So after the brake van and after the lilac grey wagon I should be sufficiently organised to return to iron-framed wagons of the GWR :-) - Richard.