BernardTPM

Pretty sure they are the wheels that were on my Cortina and my friends Capri.

They were a quite widely used type from the early '70s to early '80s so they would be suitable for both the Oxford Mk.3 Cortina and late Capri, depending on variant of course! I believe they replaced the Rostyles on the Cortina GXL around 1971/2 (probably to save cost).

I have a Becon models MK 5 Cortina painted like the one I owned but I am not happy with the wheels do you do any to suit?

I'm not sure. There's nothing suitable at present, but I did have centres etched for Ford's 'steel sport' pattern wheel as shown here that might suit some late Cortinas.

Most Mk.3 Escorts had a rubbing strip along the lower flanks, apart from the base models and early 'L'. They tended to be thicker on the more expensive models, particularly the Ghia, and there was a tendency 'uprate' the lower models as time went on. If you add one, don't forget to gap the rubbing strip at the doors!

The Escort wheels I do are really suited to base/L models. I might do a proper set of 'cloverleaf' wheels specifically for the Oxford XR3i. Correctly there's a spoiler cast into the front that flares down ahead of the front wheels and up the leading edge of the wheelarch, but isn't normally picked out. The black window area should extend to the gutter lines. This is a really clear view of the front and here the back too. Note the middle metal part of the bumper is body coloured.

By way of comparison, this is the version my kit covers. Much less black trim.

That's the 'Douglas' kit, the second GEM 009 kit, introduced around 1970. Basically it's an Andrew Barclay industrial with a filled-in back to the cab, added by the Talyllyn when they aquired the loco in the 1950s. It runs on the old Arnold 0-4-0T chassis, but it can be a bit back heavy. Taking off the TR additions (which makes it more like the standard Barclay design) helps with the balance.

Not necessarily more Westerns and Hymeks, but there could have been another more powerful class. Krauss-Maffei was building 3000hp diesel hydraulics at the time the Westerns appeared and 4000hp locos only 5 years later. There could very easily have been a 3000+hp 100mph diesel hydraulics on WR in the late 60s and potentially even a 4000hp

Drawings for just such an engine were prepared: two uprated Hymek engines in a Western bodyshell (it's in the David & Charles book on W.R. hydraulics).

The ridges onthe light clusters are an anti climb device to prevent the wagons riding up and onto the loco in the event of a collision. However for them to work surely the wagons too must be fitted with anti climb devices?

It's not to stop the wagons over-riding, it's to stop a second Class 70 from over-riding when double-heading or crashing head-on at low speed; nothing else is fitted with them at that height. In other words, they're to mitigate the most unlikely of events (one would hope that the ordianry buffers deal with any shunting incidents around depots!).

Minor little point on the Bedford HA; you shouldn't have the small red double arrow on the back, just the small 'British Rail' in black on the RH doors. Same applies to other vehicles too, according to the BR Spec.

Ah, the only ones I've bought are Springside, took one look and put back in box !

I've been working on and (more) off on one of their Rover 2200 models since they came out and I'm still not entirely satisfied with it yet, but it's getting close!

The Parker kits are much easier and actually come in the right shape to start with!

Can any one also tell me if I'm imagining it, but did some of the silver bullets carry the "Caledonian Paper" logo instead of either the ECC one or the NACCO one?

There were some, but they were to a different design.

The celebrity "Intercity 21" repaint worn by 86426 was criticised at the time, but Rail Blue was pretty close to the original livery worn by the first few members of the class and alot more accurate than the "ooh, electric blue is so pretty" repaints on 86233 and 86259.

The first AL6s were in Rail blue, rather than Electric blue, though they did still have the old 'trim' (white cab roofs, cast aluminium lion) - this was remarked on in 'Modern Railways' at the time they came out (1965). Interestingly they didn't have yellow warming panels when delivered. Another livery 'trap' was that the EE Vulcan built locos had red bufferbeams, while the BR Crewe built ones had Rail blue bufferbeams.

Of course, we don't yet have the original style AL6, but hopefully that will come in due course.

Hi

I would like to see 86235 Novelty with the 150 celebration marking but I don't think it would come out too well in 1/148.

Cheers

Paul

Hopefully it will come out as 'Novelty' rather than 'Navalty' like the Lima model!

Does any one know of any good books or weblinks that deal with fabric patterns and colours? This one element really is looking a bit like a 'can of worms'. For the pre-70's seat colours maybe a range of generic 'best guess' patterns and colours might be the only option.

There are some details of the Mk.1 Pullman and some of the later Restaurant interior colours given in the Parkin Mk.1 book, but I would suggest looking through some old BTP DVDs for '50s and '60s colour interior shots; I doubt you'll find many colour interior phots from before the 1960s (I've got some good ones of XP64 in 'Transport Age' from 1964). Another possible lead would be to enquire with some of the larger preserved railways. I believe they have, in some cases, had old upholstery material remade, involving co-operation between them to get a good bulk order together; I'm sure I read that somewhere in the last few years. The Bluebell or Severn Valley would be the obvious ones to contact first.

I agree - it does help being able to zoom in (and being able to use layers so the carpet can be 'worn').

Given that in 4mm the Bachmann Mk.1 is the 'default' model, might it be worthwhile making them fit that? The same would apply to the forthcoming Farish ones too. Both types are likely to be current for many years.

Here's some of my own efforts (for OO9):

Terribly tiny, I know, but I'm always blown away by the "smoking"/"no smoking" window labels on my Hornby Maunsells.

These are included on the HMRS (formerly PC Models) BR coach transfer sheet. They have been printed so that when applied to the inside of the glazing the wording shows outwards. The ones I have are Methfix, but they were done as Pressfix too.

I think Fox do them as waterslides.

Printed seating material would be good. One familiar type from the '60s was Trojan, a dark grey with small black, white and red squares. Same goes for the wood veneers. I agree that the Peco interiors are very good given they're half-a-century old, though Mk.1s probably got retrimmed many times through their lives so the upholstery patterns better suit the '50s/'60s rather than the '70s or later. Some late ones had laminate finishes too. There are plenty of preserved Mk.1s about, but you'd need to take care; not of of them will be 'authentic' by now.

For a 50 year old piece of tooling it's really very good. Though the bogies are short to scale but the bodywork is pretty much spot on. Just a pity they moulded in ribs for the green livery's orange lining.

Interesting fact: the unpowered bogie on the EM2 is on its own separate clip-in floor and there's the fitting moulded in the bodyshell to pivot a second motor bogie, provision not repeated on any other models using the same family of power bogies (Brush Type 2, EE Type 3 and Hymek).

If you could get hold of some spare unpowered bogies (which are in black polystyrene) you could probably cut and shut them to the correct scale wheelbase (as well as cutting out the webbing). It would take serious milling machinery to do that to the metal power bogies though!

Everyone who is waxing lyrical about the Class 60 seems to either forgotten or be unaware of how long it took to get them into traffic and working reliably. BR could afford this lengthy period of bedding in, but there's no way today's freight companies would be that patient.

It's true it took a while to sort out teething troubles and then retrofit while construction was under way, but that had been done before the new companies came into existence. It was a new design and even now in advance of some aspects, such as fuel economy, of the Class 70 (even ignoring aesthetics).

The Class 66s may be crude and less powerful, but they worked pretty well straight from the start without any major problems which couldn't be said about the Class 60.

From the driver's point of view they weren't so great - noisy cab and uncomfortable ride (as told to me by a driver).

Now where do I find that video ?

Merfyn

I wish I could be more specific, but I can't remember which one it is. There was a Mk.1 Escort van in the same livery on another (DVD actually, so many films collated). The Minor was more of a surprise, I'll admit!

They produced Minor vans up to 1971 and I've seen one in a BTP video in that livery, so that's fine!

I photographed various experimental versions of the new livery at Temple Mills Wagon Works back in April 1979, including one in grey and yellow, quite a few years before it became the Civil Engineers livery. Note that HEA on Paul's site has non-standard application with the red going right down the ends (as done with vans and opens). A lot of stock was repainted quite quickly in the '79-81 period and some of the later wagons (like SPAs) appeared in red from new so the colours were quite well established on wagons before application to the Class 58s.

Impressed with your North West Gas Knowledge chaps

'Mr.Therm' was used nationally; I remember he featured on the door of our local North Thames Gas Board showroom (pre- the British Gas triple blue and white era).

The Ford Thames looks like the livery of North Western Gas, coke deliveries ?

I thought that looked like 'Mr. Therm' on the door!

That R is an A! (1983-84)

 

My last HA with BT was a Y plate registered in Leicester in 1983, they went on to Itals after that.

Ooops! Yes, that's that odd typeface they used for a while in the '80s! Nice co-incidence then that the first HAs (cars, not vans) were introduced in 1963 so would have qualified for the original 'A' reg suffix (at least in some places).

Mine originally registered and used in Chester, One of the last HA's ever built, I think only 3 chassis numbers went higher than mine! I located it in County Durham, and drove her home for a thorough restoration. I have had some silly offers for the van, but she's going nowhere!!

Looks brilliant! Presumably the 'R' reg is not original; I'd have thought the last would be V or W (1982 when the first Astravan appeared)?

Last address I have for them is 36 Gray Gardens, Rainham, Essex, RM13 7NH. Bernard TPM of this parish may know more, I believe he has some contact with them.

I'll probably be going there next week; the owner is in the process of retiring, but only a bit at a time! I'll ask about the CMSC range and Sherpas in particular.

There's a really good view of the back of a Mk.2 Escort van here. The Mk.1 looked much the same except that the bumpers were chrome and there was no fog light. This view also shows the extra section above the doors and how much higher up the panel area should go.