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Love the Walking Dead poster haha!

The Class 50 and Mk2s are looking excellent! Hope all is well at your new job

I commute from the Midlands to London 4 days a week so spend a lot of time in, around or on my way to Euston so very keen to see how your project develops!

They're starting to come along really nicely!

Looking forward to seeing the results :-)

I thought WR sets only had one TF? Or is that just XC rakes?

Thanks very much :-)

Why does the HST in the link directly above me have that formation? It's missing a TS and has an extra TF?

Sorry to hear about your father in law. Glad to see progress with your layout. Shame to not see another photo of Pepper "helping" though! This may have been mentioned already but I missed it - what is the size of your layout please?

Is the Class 31 high intensity light available as a spare? Do you happen to know the part code? Thanks

First time I had contact with them was for a mail order of some used Lima Mk3 coaches. Very competitively priced. Subsequent to that I have visited them twice. I think their prices are a little on the high side, but they are well stocked and very helpful.

What I'm not a big fan of is the mish mash of Hornby derived and Lima derived Mk3s. In a passing rake you don't notice too much, but it would be nice to have some uniformity. I've achieved this by sticking to detailing Lima Mk3s (which have slightly more correct details for BR anyway) and Lima derived Hornby coaches. I think certain types of Mk3 need to be made too - LHCS Mk3as and Mk3bs and a true TRSB to start with. An INTERCITY Swallow RFM would be nice too. Considering that Bachmann have a Class 90 on the way, these coaches should be sought after to go with it!

Thanks, I've been doing a lot of reading about the Mk2s and have invested in Michael Harris' book on the subject. (Stupidly it cost less for me to get a copy of that book from Amazon Germany including postage than it did to get it from Amazon UK!) I think I've managed to get around most of the detail differences behind this supposedly "standard" design! I've stockpiled a few cheap Bachmann Mk2 brake coaches and FKs which are going to lend their roofs and chassis (suitably altered) to the Lima coaches. I'm planning on trimming down the extra height at the bottom of the Lima body, removing the paint guide line on the body and then attaching the Bachmann chassis. The Bachmann roof goes straight on once they're trimmed by about 2mm at either end. I'll probably use as much of the Bachmann glazing as I can as well. Any left over I was planning on using SE Finecast glazing which seems acceptable to me based on photos I've seen. As I mentioned this is all very experimental so the less money I can spend the better. If I can get a convincing result I may consider Shawplan parts in the future. No doubt they are going to be high quality, but you pay for that quality! It would be wasted on before I got some practice in first.

Tbh if you're modelling blue grey, you might as well get the Lima ones. The Lima Mk3 details are more accurate than the Hornby ones (no door lock lights for example) and with some flush glazing look just as good. I have the super detail Hornby Swallow power cars, but all my Mk3s (with the exception of two) are Lima or Hornby's Lima derived coaches. Defo agree with you on the model shops bit. Found a lot of hard to find and bargain items at old dusty model shops.

Lol my concern there is price - a lot of their detailing parts are more expensive than the coaches they'll be used on! If I was convinced I could get a good result I wouldn't mind the cost so much, but this will be my first attempt at coach conversions, so the cheaper the better.

Do you know if they're available to purchase? I've decided I want to bash some Lima Mk2Bs and those would be ideal.

Where did you get the roof details, toilet window and vents from please?

Ok thanks mate. HST looks well mate

Doesn't sound like good news for the Mk2Fs then. The guiaranteed pre order price is £25.46, but new Mk2As are closer to the £40 mark which is probably indicative of the actual price once they come to market. I've had quite a few on order for a couple of years now but both out of principle and because of the cost I won't be buying any if the price is going to be increased by 60% after I placed an order at a guaranteed order price. I understand Hattons have to make money and I wouldn't expect them to sell items at a loss or jeopardise their contract with one of their biggest suppliers. It's Bachmann's new trading terms and frankly ridiculous rolling stock prices that I don't agree with.

Just got a Lima Mk2B for £4.57 delivered. Perfect for bashing

The reassuring thing is that the MR and Flying Scotsman sets sold out. I was expecting both of them to bomb tbh. Proves there is a market for the Class 91 out there.

Excellent work yet again! How do the HEAs come apart please?

Not geographically correct for me but I could be tempted by a set. At £24 I think they would be good value for money - certainly when compared to Bachmann's silly rolling stock prices.

The best way is to flick the gangway ends off, break the tab holding the clear bit of plastic and then (and I know it sounds extreme) use a mini drill and cutting disc and cut down the middle of the body on the end. The floor is still held together, so you can pry apart the top and remove the roof from that side. Then do what you need to do and glue the whole lot back together again. http://s374444733.websitehome.co.uk/class-43nmt/index-coaches.htm Someone else has done a run through of what to do about 1/3 of the way down using a Lima based TGS.

Airfix don't make Mk3 coaches?