PatB

7 hours ago, eastglosmog said:

But maybe not so safe from the offspring of the cat who lived in the triangle of lines on the underground at Gloucester Road junction where the lines to Earls Court leave the Inner Circle.  Never got electrocuted and neither did any of her many kittens.

I suspect that most of the likely contact points of the average cat are too well insulated, with either fur or thick, dry skin, to provide an attractive path to earth. The one vulnerable spot would be the nose, and that's hedged about with sensitive whiskers which I would not be at all surprised to find can detect dangerous voltages long before contact is made. 

2 hours ago, southern42 said:

Another thought is how the wee chicks cope with the noise and rumble.  My guess is it will be part and parcel of their being so highly likely they will stay around the railway line.

 

But what a great idea for a layout; and one for the kids (and grown ups!) to spot at exhibitions.

I suspect they'll cope just fine, just like the abundant and healthy wildlife in motorway and other rail corridors, military ranges, and other, superficially unattractive and sometimes noisy places which are off limits to the general public. 

I dunno. Relatively safe from human predation, unless the crossing needs work, within easy reach of a steady food source (human generated garbage), and well sheltered on 3 sides. Pretty good thinking for a brain the size of a peanut. 

On 17/05/2021 at 20:50, RichardT said:

The long high-level tracking shot at the beginning which ends with a zoom-in between the wagons & then cutaway to the real actors talking in the car would have been quite a feat in real life with 1930s equipment - no cherry pickers or drones.  But we take that kind of shot done in real life so much for granted these days that we don’t notice it, and see how models would have made it much easier for Hitchcock.  
 

Ironically the “close shave”  action sequences on a working steam railway probably would have been just as easy for Hitchcock to do in real life with clever editing  - but nowadays *they* would be the ones for which we’d need models or CGI (which doesn’t always convince - see the BBC John Malkovich “Poirot” from a couple of years ago...)

 

Richard T

I agree with that last bit. I actually enjoyed that take on The ABC Murders, and Poirot in general, but the chase across the railway lines was just ridiculous. Especially the Triang inspired colour light signal. Rather took the gloss off the whole thing. 

Is this a current profit, actually available in Hornby's bank account, or an announcement of a profit that can be pre-ordered for delivery estimated to be Q4 2025? 

Actually, I may have to revise my opinion of Sam's Trains. As I'm going through a slot car phase, I was googling around the subject and stumbled across his vids on Wrenn's Formula 152 slotcar system. Whilst not exactly historical reference material, I found the contents both interesting and informative, and there was plenty of footage of the cars running which is, after all, the point of slot cars (although many makers of slot car vids seem to forget that little point). Even Sam himself was less annoying than he sometimes is. Maybe I'll be less inclined to skip to something else next time.

6 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Yes, just the hood decal was not OEM……looks well kept.

Did they drop the Wolfrace Sonic wheels that,IIRC, came on the early ones?

As a bodger who lives in a dry  (usually, it's tipping down and 150% humidity right now) climate, assuming the concrete is still structurally competent, I would be tempted to fix battens to the deteriorating surface, and clad with something more attractive (weatherboard, decorative corrugated tin, what have you) to protect the exposed rebar from direct weathering. Obviously it would be important not to protrude beyond the roof overhang, and the gap twixt concrete and cladding would need to be open to atmosphere top and bottom to allow air circulation. Guttering (which doesn't seem to be fitted at the mo) would be needed to keep things dryish.

Then I'd think about framing out the inside to (a) provide somewhere to put insulation, (b) create a structure that will keep things upright if/when the concrete crumbles to dust, and (c) allow you to screw things to the inside walls.

Pretty much all of it should be possible with secondhand materials to keep costs within reason.

I make no claim to this meeting local (or, indeed, any) building regs, or guarantee of it working acceptably in the perpetually damp UK.

If you're feeling a little creative, a simple Darlington pair transistor controller is dead easy and cheap to construct and can work very well. I have a minor hobby of breadboarding Roger Amos' designs (with adaptations to suit components that are locally available and/or didn't go out of production 30 years ago), and have found them all to be pretty good with the limited variety of motors I have available for testing. Basically, X04s, the cans used in the Chinese Smokey Joe, and the open can thingy in recent Hornby 0-6-0s. Oh, and, in substantially beefed up form, the ancient and current hungry wound field pancake in vintage US made Marx 0 gauge stuff, but that's probably a bit niche to be relevant.

And, yes, I'm well aware that real electronics experts consider the Darlington pair to be ridiculously outdated. Quite possibly true, but I like simple and cheap, and it works for me.

My only experience of a GM V6 was the 3.8 in my company Holden Commodore. It was quite nice, with a moderately lazy 200 bhp available. I'd be interested to have a go in one of the (factory) supercharged ones.

9 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

I’m sorry but.......................classic Mr Bean

 

Ouch....presumably you got away with most fingers as your typing seems pretty good now 

 

 

No permanent damage done, but it took what felt like an eternity of seesawing the drum off the hub, a tenth of a thou' a side at a time, and the top joints of all my fingers had gone an interesting shade of purple by the time I got them back. 

I must have been young and stupid at the time as, round about then, I was taking the steering wheel off the same Landie and it was, again, a bit reluctant. So I thumped the backs of the spokes a bit. Obviously it immediately de-stuck and smacked me across the bridge of the nose with its rim, which was a "valuable educational experience", both for me and for anyone within earshot. 

Come to think of it, I used to quite regularly damage myself in new and innovative ways whilst working on vehicles. Teenage idiocy will out I suppose. 

13 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

But. There are far better video reviews by the magazines than anything that Sam Strains is doing.

 

A rival magazine. But far better watching the running on this video than somebody running a model on his mum's carpet.

 

 

 

Or this.

 

 

And these. A bit more amateurish in presentation, but still more far informative than anything done by Sam.

 

 

 

 

Yet, those videos are getting a fraction of the views. Why?

 

 

 

Jason

Does it matter? Perhaps the videos you link to are being watched by those with a very specific interest in the models reviewed (and so, arguably, are reaching the audience that counts for their specific subject matter), whereas Sam's Trains vids get watched by a much more general audience. Not saying that is the case, it's just one possible explanation. 

Regardless, I think you've actually rather neatly made the point that Sam's Trains is not the only source of video reviews out there, and there is material available that may appeal more to those who find Sam to be the YT equivalent of nails down a blackboard. 

2 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Mind you, I have nearly taken fingers off releasing some drum brake springs 

Alone in the shed, late one night, I did once attach myself to a Land Rover by the fingers, when I was thumping a reluctant brake drum into place and it suddenly went, trapping both hands between drum and backplate. Of course, it then stuck firmly, leaving me unable to reach any useful levering tools, and beyond earshot of any likely assistance.. 

And now a perfect example of why some people shouldn't be allowed to own... well, anything really. 

https://www.autoshrine.com/registry/1966-Triumph-Spitfire-MkII-FC64791.6739/

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and pour bleach in my eyes. 

I don't know that living vicariously through a screen is really more of a problem now than it was a few decades ago. An awful lot of people spent an awful lot of hours in front of the TV in the '70s, when there were 3 channels and most of the content was banal cr@p. And I'm sure the same pertained 20 years earlier, with even fewer channels, only access to the medium (basically, disposable income) limiting consumption. Plus ca change and all that. 

5 hours ago, ianmacc said:

They’ve used less than that to “rebuild” spitfires !

Not to mention at least one Cricklewood Bentley that started out as a pair of headlamps. 

Hasn't the standard advice, for decades, to newcomers to the hobby, been "join a club and see what more experienced modellers are doing"? Well, what is YouTube but a vast, multi-interest, international club? Suppose your local club (even if there is one, and joining is an option) doesn't have a track building expert and you want to learn to build track. Or your interest is learning to build etched brass kits of pre-grouping prototypes and the local group only does post-privatisation rtr. Or the only bod who knows how to do figure painting won't talk to anyone who hasn't done 20 years of being club gofer? 

Pre-internet/YouTube, there were any number of ways that an individual modeller could find themselves isolated from the hobby at large. Now anyone with a data connection and a mobile phone can see what thousands of others are up to. 

That's not to mention the potential for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Military modellers, RCers, electronics buffs, slotcar enthusiasts, plastic kit builders, dolls-house creators, photography experts, etc. all have tips, techniques and pointers that can be useful in railway modelling, and I'm sure at least some of us are able to reciprocate. That sort of potential breadth of interaction just isn't going to happen in most clubs. 

On the downside, as others have noted, YT is a largely unrestricted public platform, so it's going to contain an awful lot of dross. Unless your search skills are better than mine it's a fair bit of work sifting through the rubbish to find the useful stuff. However, I've found that I can generally tell within the first 30 seconds whether a given vid is going to be of any interest/use, and it doesn't take all that many goes to work out that a particular channel/poster isn't worth bothering with. What is/is not worth bothering with will vary for the individual viewer. Personally I avoid Sam's Trains as I find Sam irritating, and he doesn't cover much of interest to me personally. However, the apparent success of his channel suggests that others enjoy his work, and who am I to say they shouldn't?

Stuff like running a train set in a paddling pool is more of a stunt than railway modelling (though I'm interested to find that it works), as is stuff like "Thomas vs dog racing". It might or might not be amusing, but it's fairly obviously not railway modelling, so don't watch it if you're looking for P4 perfection. It's really not hard to tell. 

Then there are the vids by people who are clearly very expert in their field but who are, shall we say, somewhat challenged in the areas of public speaking, teaching and video editing, which deficiencies can overshadow the genuinely useful information. No shame in that. All those things are also skills which need to be learned, and at least they're having a go. The tedious repetition, pointless digressions, andlong pauses while repositioning the camera are easily enough avoided by skipping forward a bit. 

All in all, YouTube is a resource, like any other. A very useful one, IMHO. But like any other resource it requires some practice, familiarity and discrimination to use effectively. 

Or we could go back to maybe 3 magazines a month, containing a few dozen B&W photos and 15-20 contributors. At least they took toy trains seriously. 

7 hours ago, alastairq said:

 

That includes fitting flashing indicators....especially when fitted where other drives out there expect to see indicators?

Which was a common upgrade in the 1950s/60's.

I should, perhaps, emphasise that I have no problem with the fitment of flashing indicators. It is, indeed, sensible, if not absolutely essential. My problem is with installations done appallingly badly, and cheaply, when better methods, materials and budget are easily available and don't involve butchering panels that have survived 60-70 years intact. 

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I've had quite a few cars that came with lots of spares. They turned out to be parts that had either fallen off or been removed during the initial burst of the previous owner's enthusiasm.

And half a washing machine in bits, don't forget. 

Thing is, it's only (relatively) recently* that alloys have become affordable and robust enough for daily use. Although I wasn't actually there, even I'm aware that a set of 6J steelies was about as exotic as it got on even fairly hot road cars, apart from real exotica. C1970, even stuff like T-buckets had to make do with banded steel on the back and, maybe, Rostyles on the front. 

45 minutes ago, alastairq said:

Original?

Folk need to watch their wording, honestly!

 

Bet the air in the tyres isn't 'original?'

Come to that, has anyone tried to buy new crossply tyres with the sort of tread available to motorists back in the 40's and 50's?

 

[Plus, I bet back then, they didn't pay Blockley tyres prices, either?}

I bet the new brake linings are nothing like the texture or density of the originals? { A  problem/failure of modern day owners is to have modern brake lining materials fitted, think that modern must be better?   The original brake linings would have been of a softer material [with asbestos?] which meant the original brakes performed better than they do today with modern materials]

There are brake lining firms who sell lining material which better matches the characteristics of 1950's brake materials.  ]

Fitting these makes one's Morris Minor on drum brakes, stop better than a Lexus!

 

Anyway, the petrol isn't like the original stuff either [nothing like it!!]  so those fancy ''classic'' motors that are 'as they left the factory' original aren't anything like as such.

My biggest beef when looking round classic car displays, concerns the use of 2-pack paint!

There's no way 2-pack paint resembles the original finishes [celulose, or enamel?] in the slightest.

Yet, folk go for it in a big way.

2nd biggest beef concerns the sports car owners who equip their  precious [Sprite? Precious??] classic cars with the obligatory wicker picnic baskets strapped to the boot lid !!!

I cannot recall ever seeing a sports car back in the 1960's or 70's having such an accessory displayed on the bootlid.

So, why now?  Do the classic car 'look-at-me'' owners really believe that's what owners did back in the day?

More like grandads in their Ford Pops, out for a sunday drive, and having a rest in a handy layby.  {Try getting your deckchairs out in one of today's laybys??]

 

Why can't folk simply keep their old cars ''honest?''

My own pet hates are, in order, cutting original steel to install the cheapest, ugliest, least appropriate indicators available, spending loads on having the interior reupholstered but only springing for vinyl that would have been rejected by the most tasteless of '70s discount sofa manufacturers, and putting bloody whitewalls on everything pre-65.

Oh, and I'm not keen on chrome wire wheels either. Silver-grey (or other) paint was the go originally, and doesn't make you look like an East End wide-boy showing off his ill-gotten gains. 

On 02/06/2021 at 23:56, kevinlms said:

Well that's broken and isn't going to be repaired in a hurry!

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-02/qld-cs-energy-releases-photo-of-damaged-callide-power-station/100186330

They'll be needing the bastard file and the big hammer on that. 

Funnily enough we heard nothing about it here in the west, presumably because it couldn't be blamed on renewables. 

19 hours ago, Paul H Vigor said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313553755586?hash=item4901429dc2:g:A-MAAOSwRGNguUTh

 

"STEAM LOCOMOTIVE PARTS IDEAL FOR SCRATCHBUILDER" - Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to scratchbuild a working loco from these bits! 

The main challenge being to find a prototype only requiring one, slightly wobbly, connecting rod and crosshead. 

As I discovered, during my air cooled VW phase (I'm much better now, thanks), all advertised Beetles and buses are rotten, worn out, bodged up rubbish. Yes, even the shiny ones that have had squillion spent on them. Even ones where the right bits have had money spent on them are rubbish, because the parts all come from Brazil or Mexico and are about 60% junk, straight from the factory, with the remaining 40% ranging from "probably won't kill you first time out" to "almost OK if there's really no alternative". German parts are very nice, where available, but are expensive so nobody buys them. 

I'm unimpressed with the fabled knowledge base too. In years of reading VW content on the 'net, I've found maybe 2 writers who I'd judge to actually know what they're talking about, and the better of those was inconsiderate enough to die a decade ago, thus halving the pool of useful information. 

So, in summary, I wouldn't touch another Beetle without a verifiable and continuous history from the moment it left Wolfsburg, detailed receipts for every component ever fitted, and the credentials of everyone who's ever done more than put petrol in it. And if such are car exists, I can't afford it. [/rant] 

On 03/06/2021 at 10:04, Darius43 said:

Another gem from our favourite vendor.

 

For those that want to replace the Hornby body with something hideous.

 

As he says “what you see is what you get”.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

I'm pretty sure it's not GEM, unless the LNWR had an experimental diesel design .