JDW

On 23/10/2020 at 18:07, woodenhead said:

Have you tried placing a Hornby Clan in a hot oven to shrink it down to 2mm scale? 

Erm, that's clearly not going to work, everyone knows that when things get hot they expand. It would come out 7mm scale...

That's certainly big! Good that you've go some of your enthusiasm back, and quite a nice fleet you have yourself there! I find I struggle for enthusiasm sometimes because I don't know what to do, or have a plan but can't see the next step, so with a blank canvas that big it must be a daunting project! 

Just looking at your last pic though, you might need to tweak the track at the bottom otherwise it looks like anything on the empty track will hit the 27 parked at the front. (An earlier pic shows you have (from right to left) point - short curve - short curve - short straight - short curve, swapping the two underlined should sort it. You might well have already realised but better to say now before you fix it down than an "I saw that coming" later!

Hi @Derekstuart, thanks for the positive comments. 

The 3d-printed 156 parts are from a very nice chap called Daryl over on the DEMU forum, you have to be a member there to see the forum. I fortuitously just got around to joining this year as he happened to be posting about the parts he was designing. Not overly expensive either (I won't post here lest he wants to change the price, I don't want complaints!) and very easy to do especially if you have a Dremel and cutting disc to remove that part of the underframe. 

As for the 142, it was of course designed  at a time when the only liveries were Provincial, GMPTE and 'skipper', so the yellow end was right for those (even if an awful shade!), and then once Regional Railways came in, Hornby either didn't have the ability or didn't want to have to paint the sides of those parts to match. Thankfully that's changed with the later releases, I'd guess coinciding with production shifting to China. It does make a huge difference though, along with correcting the doors and painting in the stripes around the door wells. 

I've never measured but I suspect the body height isn't too far off but the wheels make it too high. It's one of those jobs I ought to do but it's not just a quick wheel swap so I've never got around to it. Plus as it is, it sits at the same height as my DCKits 144 so they look 'right' together. But both look wrong next to a Realtrack 144.

I think with some detailing the Hornby 156 (or Lima with Hornby motor) is a perfectly adequate model. The Realtrack one is fantastic but both too expensive to replace all of mine and would make the rest of my stock look dated. Consistency is as important as perfection I think.

Reminds me of one of our regular nuisance passengers complaining at me that I'd gone down a road (which all buses were being diverted down due to roadworks) that I wasn't supposed to go down and that I'd gone past a weight limit sign. I just nodded and agreed how disgraceful it was, I couldn't be bothered explaining the difference between a red circle with black lettering on a plain white background saying "7.5t" and a red circle with a black silouhette of a lorry on a white background and white lettering in the lorry silouhette saying "7.5t". He'd still have argued that I was wrong.

2 hours ago, ISW said:

 

In Sheffield the bus shelters were painted (?) a drab sort of green colour while SYPTE was in existence, as shown in this photo from ~1981:

 

Ian

That's a nice pic Ian, I'm not old enough to remember them like that though! Interesting to see, do feel free to post any others you have!

It's the 1990s/2000s era blue and yellow scheme I'm going for, which works for things from Sprinter and Regional Railways stuff and is still current in many places now to fit alongside early privatisation and Northern stock, as well as buses in liveries like Yorkshire Traction's white with blue and red lower stripes and FirstGroup's original willow leaf, up to more modern stuff.

Steady progress at sticking stuff together, weighting it down and waiting for it to dry, both ends and one side assembled. I decided to change the windows to blue, which fits the blue shelters, footbridge and other furniture in SYPTE colours. I carefully ran over the printed white windows with a blue marker. A brick finish might have been better than grey stone considering the supposed area but I prefer the stone. 

The windows look a bit bright under the harsh light on my desk but once the roof is on and it is installed it should look ok. I hope so anyway as that's the darkers blue marker pen I have!

Looks excellent, I've always wanted to do something similar but it'll never happen! I've all on to build the one I've got now. That said, a couple more cheap Hornby/Lima ARC "PTA"s arrived the other day to add to my rake - not the most realistic but they look the part behind a 59 with a bit of detailing and weathering at least, and secondhand ones are often to be found reasonably cheap!

I look forward to seeing more of the layout as it grows, and the stock.

After some slicing of parts, the plan seems to be coming together and I think I like it. It fills what would otherwise be a fairly flat space. I think it will give a nice 'end' to the layout.

Very handy that the platform lines up with the bottom of the windows, made cutting easy. I think I will fit windows to the end, not sure about the side yet.

It's been a while since I posted, the 465 parts have gone onto my 'I'll get to it one day' pile and some layout bits have arrived so I've started building the new station.

The platforms have to fit around part of the loft woodwork which has made for a few awkward angles but the hard bit is done, they just need to grow in length now.

Nothing is stuck down as yet, the bus station might end up slightly higher with a ramp to the platforms. A station building might go in at the back somewhere around the centre of the Strathclyde 156, I don't know yet. 

I had the idea of a brick overall roof structure, such as at Malton (athough I know that's a through station) or as seen years ago on a layout that inspired me but I can't remember the name of right now! So I ordered a Metcalfe engine shed wondering if it could be made into something suitable. My plan was to place it at the centre of the platforms as if it had at one time been a through station. Unfortunately it isn't wide enough to span both tracks and platforms. 

So now I'm wondering about having it to the end of the front platform, as if it might once have been a goods shed but has been repurposed as was done at one station (Mansfield?) on the Robin Hood line. Not sure about it though yet: 

The windows on the far side could be opened up as archways, those on the front possibly left unglazed to give a good view inside. Seems a little more interesting than just a row of buffer stops and doesn't obstruct too much the view of trains as only the front half coach would be inside/behind (the 156 is pretty much right up to the buffers inside it)

1 hour ago, petethemole said:

By 'means of propulsion' I meant that if this was real it would have no engine(s); nothing under the cars and nothing inside them.  The full-size 'works' for a Western chassis would fill the coach body.  The actual 'model' presumably goes.

What is that old saying, something about never let the facts get in the way...? 

3 hours ago, Darius43 said:

That’s DMUs for you.

Looks like a Western bogie at one of the cab ends.  Perhaps it’s got a super duper Lima can motor attached.

Cheers

Darius

Its got a whole Western chassis under one coach by the look of it. No doubt runs as good as it looks (... so 4 out of 5!)

Have we had this "DMU" yet...? If not, it's probably because no one could find the right words to describe it.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OO-Gauge-Lima-Class-52-Hybrid/114468967793?hash=item1aa6e1d571:g:HLcAAOSwbq5fi3Vb

Remember, not all auto boxes work like that anyway these days. Take Jaguar's rotary knob for example, it emerges from the dashboard when you switch on the ignition, you just turn it through P-R-N-D to whichever you wish to do.

On 07/10/2020 at 15:43, Derekstuart said:

I realise that this question will be the subject of derision for even asking, but I seem to recall looking at the Hornby 142 and thinking it's a bit 'chunky' and overscale compared to other stock sitting next to it.

Now looking at the real one next to a 143, the real one looks bigger and chunkier too.

So is/ was the Hornby one overscale or is it just the way the real one looks?

I shall be ordering a RT 142 when available. I missed the 143 and 156 (though if they're re-released in BR colours I'll make sure I'm there to order on the first day)

The Hornby 142 is a bit 'chunkier' than other stock. I haven't measured but I think a big part of the problem is that it rides too high on wheels which are a bit on the big side. Certainly nect to something like the Realtrack 144 it's much higher, even accounting for the difference in the squarer roof profile. 

It shouldn't be hard to shorten the huge 'tongue' on the 153 bogies to reduce the gap to something much better. I'd just cut a slice out, then use another piece of plastic glued on top to strengthen the join.

I do so hope one day I'll look in on this thread and find something about GT3 

1 hour ago, Bill Radford said:

This is the latest RAF livery one...

 

The 153s don't have tyres.

Interesting, didn't know that. Seems a backward step but no doubt there was the usual half the [modelling] population moaning it didn't have enough power and now the other half will moan it has traction tyres! I've never found it to be lacking for a two car unit without tyres, I doubt it would handle a long train but that's not what it was designed for. Definitely for a small railcar no tyres and maximum pick ups needed!

If it were me I'd be looking at fitting full depth buffer beams and pipework - for my 66s and 59s I used the Lima/Hornby parts, sliced off the part of the buffer beam that attached it to the bogie and attached it to the chassis, and removed the couling mout from the bogie too. 

Lights are probably available as a kit, though it should be simple enough to produce something home made using LEDs and resistors.

Just thinking out loud as I read this, are there many more modern locomotives left to illustrate? Some of the more recent ones seemed to be clutching at straws somewhat, whereas earlier ones (despite a few errors) were generally very good and informative. 

Are you sure it was the right one? I have three 153s and two 156s (all Hornby) in front of me right now and none of them has tyres. Maybe there are different versions?

Its the same model with an updated motor

Yes, I agree with the above. I wouldn't hesitate to use something like a class 153/156 motor bogie in a small railcar, they are smooth and achieve good slow running.

I wouldn't bother with sound - but then I wouldn't bother with sound on any loco! I think if you're going down the road of investing money in fitting something with sound though, you're better off going with something that has the smooth slow running to match, especially on a depot layout. Most of my Lima stuff that still has original motors runs fine, will start and stop smoothly, etc, but it will never be as good at crawling around a depot layout as a loco with a modern mechanism, which is what you really need for a TMD.

If you were on a very tight budget and just wanted locos then they're probably good enough, especially if you're prepared to invest time and money buying good runners and selling on the less good ones. If you're wanting to synchronise sound, fit details and I guess fit lights too, plus potentially remotor them, you might as well just go with the newer Bachmann, Heljan or ViTrains ones which already have more detail and lights and by the time you've paid for all the parts the price difference will be negligable.

No progress on anything of late, due to travelling for work and lack of time. But I did do something... Since I only have a dozen or so projects ongoing or planned, I did the sensible thing and bought some parts towards another. 

...because what else would you build after a pair of class 323s than a 365 when you model a station served by DMUs in Yorkshire? I have these two shells and one shell+chassis, all three of which have seating and glazing. And today a cheap but damaged unit arrived in the post. Boxed, bodies and chassis fine but bogies all damaged (I do wonder how some people treat their models at times!). Not a huge problem, I knew that before I bought it, and it gives me another pair of shells/chassis. I might see if the motor runs but its not a priority. I doubt it. The underside of the floor above the motor is filthy, as are the wheel treads, so its obviously been well used! I'll still need one 'good' set, but should have enough parts to make up two inner coaches with plenty of bits left over. 

The sharp ones among you are probably thinking "you could use the spare cabs as the start of a 325 too". That thought had already occurred to me. Come back in a decade or so... 

I think we need pictures