MrTea

I was glad I checked out this sellers other items. Amongst the nearly £4,000 train sets there’s a set of two Costa coffee cups (with the coffee missing) for £159!

After a bit of a break over Christmas (and a general lack of modelling mojo) I’ve managed to find the time to build a couple more items of rolling stock. The first is this 009 Society 3 plank open wagon kit. It came as a free gift when I joined and went together really nicely. I added a couple of styrene strips between the solebars to hold a small pool of Liquid Gravity held in place with UHU. It can only be a couple of extra grams in total but I think it will make a difference to the running quality. The couplings are mounted in cut down Peco NEM coupler pockets at what I hope is the right height. I had to cut away a small notch in the end to ensure the coupler was high enough and the loop sat above the rail head. All that’s remaining is to fit the hand brake lever and some paint and lettering.

Has anyone suggested a BR Standard 4MT 2-6-4T yet? Would make sense to follow the 9F and it’s a class that has heritage with Hornby going back to the Dublo days.

My daughter (12) and I have just started Andor. I like the vibe of it from the first episode and I’ve heard good things about it from friends and colleagues. We watched the Book of Boba Fett together over the summer. And I watched the Mandalorian on and off over a couple of months. I think I agree with your assessment overall. I’ve been meaning to watch Rogue One again after enjoying it in the cinema and now I have the perfect excuse!

Nice. Is it just me or does anyone else think there’s a hint of Dalek about the way it sits!

Has anyone who’s been at Warley this weekend got any photos of these if there are any samples on the Rapido stand? Thanks in advance! Ian

I’m not sure this counts as a ‘large’ locomotive, but it is in the National Collection? https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/gnr-990-henry-oakley-gnr-990-lner-3990/ Alternatively, what’s large, famous and notably pulled the LNER dynamometer car? 🤔

My Swiss RhB-themed layout Veja Megstra uses the SMS baseboard kits. I've found them to be excellent and a very cost-effective solution in N scale, especially if you're rubbish at carpentry. There are 4 BB001 for the ends and 3x BB002s joined together for the main sections. Before: After:

This is a lovely idea. The NER livery, particularly, looks tempting. And I reckon there’ll find a home on many a micro layout. I do wonder if Rapido have missed a trick by not announcing a 2023-standard model of the Drummond Pug AKA ‘Smokey Joe’ though!

Ooh. That’s exciting. “a large ‘OO’ gauge locomotive for the British market, which Rapido UK will unveil next year” - interesting… That’ll keep us guessing!

Nice. I like it how the NEM pockets are mounted in board a bit so the tension locks don’t stick out ludicrously.

Wasn’t somebody meant to be working on a new HST/Class 43 at some point? I mean it could be Rapido or Dapol, but an Accurascale one would be nice.

We’re on. Exciting!

Anyone else planning on getting up at ‘silly o’clock’ for the launch tomorrow (assuming it goes ahead…)? We were fortunate enough to catch a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch at Kennedy Space Center while we were in Florida over the summer: The sound was something else!

Et voila: This is the Dundas Models DM31 kit: I did add some brass bearings to the basic recipe after my experience with the coach kit. They seem to have helped to make the wheels on this much more free running. I'm not quite sure what to do about mounts for the couplings? The Peco NEM pockets I have in stock have a stepped shank so aren't really suited to the platform end of this wagon (and they're too big for the other end!). The other problem is weight. Apart from the wheels, everything else is lightweight plastic so the model is rather light and I can't see it staying on the track particularly well if in a train. I can add some liquid gravity under the chassis but there isn't exactly a lot of room.

Great stuff. Hope you felt it was worth the trip! Sorry I didn't get chance to say 'hi' too. Ian

If anyone has a sound fitted Fairlie and would like to know a bit more about how to drive it, this cab ride video on YouTube has an interesting/useful segment: This is the part of the journey from Boston Lodge to Minffordd. There are on screen captions of the controls which help place the sounds. One of the things the intrigued me was the use of the injector - I'd tried that on the model but I'd had no idea when to use it. The other one was the period rattling along at full pelt - Out of the 128 speed steps I have often stopped at about 60-something but it turns out I could quite happily 'open the taps' and it wouldn't be ridiculous! 🙂 Ian

Sorry about the lack of updates from Veja Megstra the summer. Life’s kind of got in the way - you know how it is! I was looking through some old photos of my Dad’s from our trip on the RhB in the summer of 1989 the other day and I realised: I’ve only gone and made a model of this bridge in my Dad’s photo! Isn’t it funny how things turn out!

I was fortunate enough to attend the London Premiere of Chris Eden-Green’s forthcoming Steam Locos in Profile in the USA today. It was a fun afternoon and a great chance to catch up with some of the other enthusiasts who helped fund the films. As well as a showing of the first two films featuring the classic Standard American 4-4-0s and the Jones & Laughlin Porter O-4-0STs there was also an informative Q&A session with Chris chaired by @Corbs of this parish For anyone interested in US railways here’s a link to the trailer: I even came back with a goodie bag! The DVD should be available before Christmas: https://www.e-gmedia.co.uk/product-page/steam-locos-in-profile-in-the-usa

After a long break from modelling activities over the summer I’ve finally picked things up on the 009 FR front. The release of Peco’s Quarrymen coaches just before my birthday was just the excuse I needed. Exhibit A: I’ve ordered a number of new kits from Parkside Dundas which should keep me busy during the winter months. And there are some possible plans for a small layout. Exciting times!

Thanks Paul. That’s a really comprehensive and clear explanation of the features in the sound project. I will experiment with these next time I’m having a play!

I had my Bachmann Fairlie out for a ‘play’ over the weekend. I think I’ve mastered most of the sound functions now but there are a couple in the list that I don’t really understand: F10 - Speed Lock F14 - Light Engine Mode F20 - Shunting Mode F14 seems to tone down the momentum so that the loco speeds up and slows down more in line with changes to the regulator. But I can’t quite work out the difference between F14 and F20. If anyone knows about these and can shed any light it would be much appreciated! Apologies if this has been covered before or in another thread. Ian

Official highlights video from RhB: https://youtu.be/yXnRhqtBGTQ

Oh my goodness me. I'd idly though this might be a logical extension to the range but never expected to see complete models in today's announcements...

Hello chaps. Fellow Estate car fan here. We graduated to a VW Passat estate from my Citroen Saxo VTR in 2008/9 when we needed a ‘sensible’ family car and haven’t looked back. Since then I’ve had a BMW 3 Series Touring and earlier this year I swapped to a 2019 Passat again. Loads of space for the kids stuff and camping gear and I dare say it would come in useful for transporting bits of layouts (although that isn’t why I bought it - honest!). Ian