number6

Definition of 'Beauty in the eye of the beholder!' Most excellent. I was rifling around for some transfers the other day and the remains of some sheets are painful memories of major struggles. Just one small curved corner left over or every straight section missing.

Agree with Nile. The one issue is if lots of paint is going on then sometimes they can begin to disappear a bit. I've put them on a first coat of black then added a second lighter coat afterwards. Another thing to watch out for is a single rivet going missing in the process!

No complaints here. I would err on the side of robust over scale and perhaps that is an argument against Gibsons as well? I have locos running on both. I tend to think the bigger the driving wheel the greater the swing toward Gibsons. I built a bit of a wobbly Terrier on Gibsons and have a second running beautifully on Romfords but the former definitely had the edge in looks. Some disguise to the wheel boss perhaps is worth it on a Romford but there is so much to else to distract your attention on the E5X. I built this I3 a while ago and decided to use Gibson wheels under it because of the size of the drivers - the Romford versions of the wheel just didn't look right. And then half the wheel ends up hidden so perhaps not worth it after all? I would also say that they require much more fettling to run smoothly through 00 pointwork because of the inherent slop in the gauge coupled with the thin tyres and shallow flanges. They have to be set quite wide on the back to backs. I'll also put this image here to prove why Dave is better suited to built the E5X than me! Dave and I have been discussing how to fit kadee couplings [yes I know - sacrilege on a model like this] but I can report that the distances are fine between fixing and buffers for me to fit them. Cheers Raphael

That would have been my Dad. Although his were about Genetics and it was sideburns not beard. I sort of enjoyed this programme but can't stand the endless 'maybe it won't get finished in time, maybe they'll drop an escalator, maybe the train won't fit down the tunnel' manufactured peril.

"Resounding applause and cheers" Looks like I might have to beef up the legs on the layout a bit.

This is true of 319s which have wide aisles with narrow and low seats. Southern Electrostars can vary too - some feeling quite cramped mostly down to the 3+2 seating. You also remind me of how I used to prefer earlier 4CIGs to the later versions - first batch had the black BR seat covering - upholstered padding up the side of the windows, headrests on the aisle seats and individual lamps overhead. The later versions of the CIGs had thin blue [and greasy brown] seats no padding against the walls and fluorescent lights. But every seat had a window and all 2+2...!

For those of us that weren't there and/or don't care for the scale wars: what was the layout that suffered the derailments? Why be so coy?! The layout I was pleased that never seemed to suffer many was the big gauge 1 live steam one with the electric branch that wrapped around and underneath I remember as a kid a Westminster central halls. Large, heavy, hot trains flying past with operators sprinting around after them. I assume these things sometimes end up in flower beds on garden lines?

Brilliant: Not seen all of those designs before. And top marks for the windscreens looks very good. One less plastic bottle ending up in the ocean!

Did you paint your own rendition of those Eddie Ponds or use a photo? Weren't they signed Edward Pond on some of the posher routes?! You never said how you formed the windscreens...

I remember your comments on the loco Pete. If it wasn't clear I meant one of the etched ACE kit versions. I get a bit defensive over them despite come criticisms as they do produce locos in 4mm that aren't available elsewhere - even if there are some 'reduced from 7mm' problems here and there!

The boiler is from an ACE models kit for the C2X - I have raided it for various bits and bobs so there isn't much of it left now! It is possible you could roll your own for the bother of getting just this part? The domes Dave have are also from the kit. So it is possible you could get these as separate items from ACE. Can't say I have knowingly ever seen a completed one of these models - the DJH one is wrong in some places but certainly builds into a good looking loco.

Think of the Wills kit as the artists maquette.

Definitely be very careful using images of any of the other [3] locos in this class for details – as Dave says they are all different. The route of some pipes and the bends in them probably depended on how close it was to knocking off time at works rather than any drawn plan. And a small drain pipe like that is verging on insanity! I feel that some of those very small details end up slightly over scale and then draw attention to themselves for all the wrong reasons. The work on these details is really superb. Cheers.

Thank you The Johnster for the mention of the 4COR. There is a particuarly good article on them in Railway World around the time they finally gave up the Portsmouth direct. It tells of taking off over level crossings, and the audible 'cer-lunk' as the motor bogie set off before the rest of the train followed. A lively run down Falmer Bank in one is an abiding early memory for me. Maybe off topic : but I'd always choose the motor coach in an SR unit for its ride characteristics. First gen CIGs at the end of their lives gave alarming lurches at times.

I don’t like the term cheque book modeller. It isn’t very nuanced. It feels to me what is being implied here is a lack of acknowledgment of who did what. But is that actually a thing? How many people are actively misrepresenting someone else’s work as their own? I suppose what I don’t like is righteousness which might be related [?]. One meets lots of that in this hobby and amongst railway enthusiasts in general! I am sure we all have had that character identified: the rivet counter; the ‘I wouldn’t do it like that’ bloke; the visitor at an exhibition spouting off complete nonsense; the overly confident know-it-all, or even the rank-pulling put-down merchant. Of course I wouldn’t include any of us in those descriptions. :wink: Having said that all the people I’ve written cheques for over the years have been, almost without exception, nothing but kind, gracious and and unassuming, delivering lots of patience and advice in addition to the ‘thing’ I felt unable to produce myself. They have also saved me hours, days and probably years of time which I have put to other uses better suited to my skillset. Perhaps most of all I have learnt from their skills and ways of doing things by owning their work and put that into my own projects. Dare I say it I have also improved upon and repaired and detailed their work - much like I do to RTR. So by that I don’t see anything extraordinary or wrong in cheque writing. Nothing but good that can come of commissioning: someone gets paid, another gets what they want and couldn’t create and they also get a window into a world of skills they can aspire to and work towards should they wish. Should say I wish to thank: Norman Saunders, Dave King and Paul Hill, Peter Leyland, Adrian Prescott, Mike Waldron and David Bickerton for taking on my tasks. I should also mention that I had to put a Schools class that I obtained from ebay through a heavy intermediate repair and it had a certain Mr Wright's signature on it! Edit: ARGG! I forgot to mention Dave Taylor who is doing the most amazing work on a mongrel of a loco right at this very moment. Sorry Dave.

Thanks Nick. Very interesting. There is a photo of a very nice E5X in Ian Rathbone's gallery http://www.ianrathbonemodelpainting.co.uk/gallery-2---4mm-scale.php and that shows three rivets along the top of these brackets. At the risk of using another model as a guide this does suggest they were attached to the boiler and doing some sort of structural job. Have been looking for works images as I'm sure I've seen a Radial with the tanks removed and brackets like this visible.

https://youtu.be/WMBbUheRxUY One of my favourite youtubes: Some rock steady locos and some moderately bouncy rolling stock - even over the slips - and this is 1947 when the railways were recovering from the war and its pressures on maintenance There is another similar sequence of an A1 on the ECML from the 50s filmed with a telephoto which is perhaps a bit more lively but can't find that at the moment. Anyone? Found! https://youtu.be/NEtEpsUfWlU

Re the tank top objects. They are tank straps - chunky brackets to hold the tanks to the boiler. Sounds ridiculous until you think about them filled with water and attached only to the cab at the rear and that they are also set wider on the frames? So as the boiler is pitched higher there isn't much to attach to... I am assuming there is something similar on the other radial tanks but hidden behind? Now I'm looking for photos of the locos in works without tanks. Cropped this from an image on Geograph. You can see them on the E5X and how much higher the boiler is to the E4 behind. from Ben brooksbank http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2649681

Been looking at all the photos I have again to investigate those parts. I think you are off to Uckfield with Bridport? re using the Albion kit as a basis: There isn't actually much of that etch that can be used or would have needed lots of adaption in the same way that the whitemetal one has gone by the wayside. Perhaps only the footplate is the same and perhaps the bunker - but even then I think it is the LBSCR version not the later filled in raves? When Dave and I discussed this project quite quickly the whitemetal kit was obviously not going to be of much use but you have to start somewhere! I may have looked at how to adapt it to the rebuilt loco while thinking about my skills and perhaps not thinking enough about what Dave is capable of.

Simply excellent! There is a forehead slappingly obvious solution to every ticklish problem here. The levelling wire through the handrail knobs is so good! And earlier posts about the pickups and chassis arrangements equally useful for those of us also contemplating a scratchbuild too-far. Much appreciated. Sorry I missed the request about the safety valve - that is where I would have gone for a part - SE Finecast are very obliging and super fast with any bit from all of their kits. I have every likely looking part from them which probably constitute less than 5% of an I1X. Dave has already told me what he thinks of taking that particular challenge on...!

Graham - you missed one opportunity. Image from: here

Yes sorry H16! Although see below an N15 is described as rough in this quote below! Re the Baltic tanks on the Brighton - there is a photo in Oakwood Press' The "Brighton Baltics" A C Perryman of 328 with mock up lower tanks as a result of the roll these locos suffered. Not very attractive. The tanks themselves only came to about 1ft below the centreline of the boiler although the sidesheets were much higher. A quote from Perryman in the book is quite interesting; 'No. 327 left Brighton Works in April 1914, and it was not long before it was in trouble. The loco was sprung throughout with helical springs, even on the bogies. During my stay at the works in 1928 to 1936 I repeatedly heard from several different men rumours to the effect that the coupled wheels used to leave the road at times and then re-rail themselves later on. They insisted that marks on the sleepers testified to this. Luckily the engine did not derail, causing loss of life, as did the later 2-6-4 "River" tank at Sevenoaks in 1927. Certainly there were tell-tale marks on the sleepers in the latter case.' And in a later chapter relating the experiences of Jim a Fireman - who described the early Baltics as 'none too steady on the road' after lowering the centre of gravity and replacing the springs they were obviously transformed: 'They were also very smooth riding machines, vastly superior to the "Arthurs". At one time Jim was Posted to "King Arthur" No.797, and says it so shook him up that he was laid up for 3 months. He asked to be posted back on Baltics upon returning to duty. He considers all locos with no carrying wheels under the cab to be "rough riders".'

The W tanks were banned from passenger work [apart from ECS] - could this have been a legacy of that too? I don't think they even appeared on any specials - unlike the H15s which did at the end of steam on the SR and were likewise not rostered for anything but ecs and freight.

The Ticklish job. There's a new thread title for you. You aren't going to notice a generic blackhead while marvelling at those handrails. Better not put a fireman hanging out the side hitting the Westinghouse pump with a coal hammer you won't notice the handrails! Superb work Dave - very much appreciated - I do think that this is definitely a scratch build rather than a 'tickling up' of an old kit. Moral of the story is a bit like that story of asking an Irish farmer for directions and he says 'Well, I would start from here if I were you.'

Nearly. Set 373 was sent to Newhaven for scrapping... instead of going to the Bluebell. http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/history/earlydays5.html Photos here http://www.bluebell-railway-museum.co.uk/archive/photos/jjs/b03/3-54-4.htm http://www.bluebell-railway-museum.co.uk/archive/photos/jjs/b03/3-54-5.htm