Michael Edge

I think mine are on something like 23v but they are OK on 15v. Going through Barry's wagons in the last few weeks I've found a lot more non-magnetic stainless steel wire droppers - fortunately I still have a decent supply of the iron wire we used to make the old club couplings out of, this makes a big difference in operation. We ought to get the Morris brothers to 3D print some bobbins. I've used sprung switches in the fiddle yard, they should be more reliable than a lot of the push buttons I've used - some of them fail to contact but worse still some weld themselves shut.

Much the same at Herculaneum Dock in Liverpool, the cranes could pick the wagons up and tip them either way.

So would I, Strafford sub station is on my new layout.

That's more or less what I've been saying all through this - I've had no problem with the hundreds of Portescap motors of all kinds on any of the wide variety of controllers they have been run with. There's an awful lot of erudite theory above and not much practical experience - as usual.

What's the wire you are using? I've long since run out of the magnets we used to buy and I've been using coils from old half dead point motors recently.

N5 castings are available from South Eastern Finecast.

I don't recall having any real difficulty with the roof but as i said I'm building another one so I'll check then.

I've got the test etch, I was waiting to hear from you after I sent the quote.

With most of the layout up and running there's some opportunity for photography. The Canon SX730 camera I bought last year does a good job without my trying too hard, the flip up screen is great for layout photos. View from the long footbridge, 40936 running under clear signals, the MR 3F shunting coal wagons in the exchange yard. A closer shot of the same scene from ground level.

I don't know which layout we're going to run all these Roadrailers (I've got some as well) but for now back to the LSW C14. Beading added to the cab/tanks/bunker. I don't much like etched on beading, it always looks too flat when it should be rounded and I find it very easy to add with soft brass wire. The strip along the bunker back is some half round copper since this is quite different - can't remember where it came from though. The beading round the cab opening should actually be strip on the edge, it can be done like this but I find it very fiddly to get neat, this is 30swg soft brass wire (stretched to straighten it) soldered on the edge. This is then filed smooth and makes a passable representation - it is possible to repeat this on the inside as well but I don't often do this. Next up is the boiler, seen at the right. The smokebox front includes the wing plates (half etched) and location etches for the boiler and smokebox. Rivets marked on here but not required for this early SR model. Two layers of .010" brass thicken up the end for the smokebox wrapper, boiler barrel rolled from .010" brass as usual. The boiler looks unusually messy at this point with a lot of solder on the outside but.... The boiler now goes out to the big lathe in the garage to be cleaned up - not with the parting tool in this shot but carefully with needle files. Carefully means holding them in both hands either side of the work and in this case keeping clear of the whirling smokebox wing plates. The big lathe is a 6" Milnes, about 5ft long and 103 years old with a 1/2hp motor - it doesn't take prisoners. Boiler all cleaned up and soldered to the smokebox base plate and cab front, cladding band positions scribed on while in the flat. That's it for work this week, back to it on Monday. Meanwhile 40936 has been lined out and finished ready for service on Herculaneum Dock. Seen here passing Brunswick shed with some LMS coaches - fresh out of Derby works evidently, needs some attention from BarryO now.

I don't know what you do but i wipe the rail tops with kitchen roll while the paint is wet, keeping my finger round the gauge corner. When it's dry the rail head just needs a rub with a very fine abrasive rubber.

I use SMP plastic rail joiners in some places, much better than the Peco ones but still a bit bulky.

All our 4mm kits are etched in.015", brass or n/s. Those lamp covers were very fragile, looking through photos many of them are battered, bent, broken or just missing.

The "dome thing" looks like an air filter to me - but I've not built one of these Barclays.

I think I got a bit confused there, that's not the 03 is it!

That works reasonably well despite the incorrect wheelbase, body looks good too.

The 15mm square motor seems to be very good but it does run a bit warm - doesn't appear to come to any harm though.

They fit perfectly on most code 75 rail - the Peco rail has a much larger foot, in fact it's really double head rail, not bullhead.

Some answers to these points. As part of the construction sequence a lot of the interior of our cabs has to be done from the top, even though finished access will be from below. I take your point about adding extra material to make the bending easier - I'll look into this with the next design which comes up against this problem. i have to build another one of these soon for our exhibition display, I'll check just how hard it is. I was also going to point out how straight and square your model is - using thicker material does make this easier. If your are pressing out rivets with a pin, the key is using the right surface to support the etch on. I do this sometimes with rivets which are too closely spaced for any of my riveting tools, I hold a hard steel pin with forceps and drop a hammer on the top, underneath is a piece of aluminium angle held in the vice. If you do this on too soft a surface the metal distorts around the rivet, too hard and you don't get of an impression.

You have all the etched parts from the 4mm kit there unless they were too small to etch properly, if you want the drawing bigger print off the attached pdf at whatever scale you like. This is the GA from the 4mm kit - it prints out better than it looks on the screen! HE 16in 0-6-0ST GA.PDF

They are a bit tight on Peco rail but they do at least grip it well unlike some earlier offerings and they are the right length for once.

Looks like it to me, just about the crudest effort I've seen though. They were probably welded on horizontally but there's nothing to stop the buffer heads turning.

That's quite a lot of comments, first of all I know the n/s is harder to form - that\s why we usually use brass but these Fowlers normally had bright coupling and con rods. Keeping everything on one sheet is one of the ways we keep prices down. Annealing is more or less essential with this material, should be heated red hot and left to cool - if it work hardens, do it again. For the same reason everything is either 0.015" thick or half of that so there are compromises here and there, the steps could have been either - I went for half etch. I agree about the bend lines on these components but I think for most builders they have to be marked in some way, I usually run a skrawker along the line as well. Using .015" material does result in robust models, flat where they should be, I've built plenty of other kits which could easily be dented by finger pressure just by picking them up. One piece cab side and roof is just not the way I want to go, no full size loco was ever made like this and it would make the bends more difficult in most cases. Some builders do still prefer a separate roof anyway, at least this gives them the choice. I put joins in the best place I can, preferably where they can be disguised with rainstrips etc. but I agree that sometimes bending them is a bit difficult (once again, easier in brass). There are all sorts of variations in these locos, including air reservoirs and exhausts - you should have had four moulded air reservoirs and the large gas conditioner exhaust. The handbrake linkage (30), I think this got left out because it's completely hidden behind the step. Your mysterious circular parts are headlights, fitted on the locos with the large radiator casing which you haven't used - there is a similar headlight on the other end of these locos as well. Coupler pockets are etched in two shapes with different number of layers, these vary quite a lot, build them up as appropriate for your loco. It's not very clear whether the loco in your picture has the gas conditioner exhaust but I think it does. I think you have misunderstood the buffer beam gussets (perhaps I didn't explain it well enough though). This kit has provision for three different frame widths, the gussets bend up in the obvious way for 00 gauge, with flanges on the same side. The other two lines are not fold lines but places to crack off for EM and P4 gauges, in these two cases the flange with press out rivets is to be cracked off and fitted separately. I do know about the spacer with the name on but if it gets hidden - too bad, it still works. Thanks for all your comments, all very clearly put. I'll have a look at the instructions and see if I can make some things a bit clearer.

We might do but no promises.

More trouble than it's worth Mike - these Gibsons are a fairly tight fit on the axles, one removal won't hurt them.