Woodcock29

Gilbert - I imagine the F stop shifted accidentally in manual mode on your Canon G12 assuming you're still using that? I've had that problem with mine - in other words I've accidentally changed it without realising it. Andrew

Despite the fact you had to cut them out - they are the best etched plates in my view and they are still available I understand. Andrew

Yes I would email them. Andrew

My understanding is the A2s were meant to have the flanged Cartazzi wheels provided but they got left out by mistake. Hornby will provide them if you ask for them. Andrew

A most interesting photo. Thanks Mike looks like I was wrong about the 'band' on the edge of the V. The only time I've seen 4771 was my first trip back to UK in 1981. The photos then were slides although I took a range of views I've not yet bothered to find them - looks like I should! Its interesting the handrails are black - I've always imagined they were green on the green parts of a loco. Andrew

The photos above reminded me of mine from 2017. What's also interesting in this shot of a V fronted cab is that there does appear to be a very thin extra band on the front of the V which maybe what Bachmann has tried to reproduce on its V2 albeit much too thick? Andrew

Certainly looks like a V-shape to me. NRM July 2013 Andrew

Tony and Tony Although I can't yet measure the Bachmann cab windows I'm almost certain they are too small. The space between them seems to be too wide for starters. Andrew

I don't think I've ever shown a photo of this V2 I built in 1978 from the Bristol Models kit. Subsequently I decided that the front section of the boiler and smokebox was a bit too small in diameter, ie the opposite to the original Bachmann model. The handrails on the boiler are also a bit too low , their position being governed by the position of the superheater header covers which are a bit too low. It has Ks P2 valve gear as the Bristol Models kit came as only body and tender and a separate brass chassis with no cylinders or valve gear. The cylinders I originally fitted were modified Triang Britannia cylinders but during the 1980s I got a pair of Nucast cylinders and a Nucast chimney for it. Its fitted with a MW005 motor and Romford gears. I originally numbered it 4791 but then changed it to St Peter's School as I wanted a named loco. It looks very bare with no brakes and other finer details. It hasn't been on the layout for a long time. Next time I come across it I should give it a run! I did intend to build a better V2 so purchased the Proscale kit in 1985 - which is another story of course and its still waiting to be built! When I got the Nucast cylinders for the V2 below I also got a Nucast boiler so possibly this could be fitted to the Proscale kit? I do intend to buy a Bachmann LNER V2 so then I'll have 4791 again. But looking at the photos we've seen and as I commented on Gilbert's Peterborough North thread I expect I might need to make a few mods to it but then we are railway modellers and we like changing things - or at least I do. Apologies for the quality of the photo which was taken back in the 90s on a friend's layout. Andrew

This is one of the points I mentioned on the previous page. It probably won't be so obvious on an LNER period loco with countersunk rivets. I might look into slicing the smokebox front off when I get it and reseating it the mm or so further back- might depend on the actual length they've made the smokebox? Further to my comment on the previous page about the extra moulding on the V front of the cab - removing that might open up the gap between cab and firebox? Andrew

One of my first impressions on seeing photos of the new Bachmann V2s is that the cab windows looked too small- that impression hasn't changed. The V front to the cab is strange as it appears Bachmann have moulded a 'boiler band' to the front of the V adjacent to where it meets the firebox. This is not evident in any prototype photos. I'm not sure black and white lining will hide that. However, if like some other recent Bachmann models the body can be disassembled it might be possible to remove it? I agree with the views about how heavy some of the rivets appear to be. Those at the front of the smokebox look to be positioned wrongly due the thickness of the smokebox front evident in the photos above. I'm probably going to get 4791 so the rivets on the smokebox won't be an issue for me as the photos on the Bachmann site show it correctly has countersunk rivets on the smokebox. I think Bachmann have missed a trick with the valve gear as it still quite heavy, particularly when compared to that on the Hornby A2/2 and A2/3. Its probably excessively noticeable because of the brightness of it. Once weathered it won't be as noticeable. It appears to me that at least one of the return cranks is actually centred. Andrew

No to 6. For 7 I can say at BRMA Conventions in Oz as we don't seem to have these at exhibitions much here. For 8 Dad took me in the early 60s before we left UK. No to 15 but its likely in next 12 months. No to 19 although at our last exhibition in Adelaide on the layout we exhibited the locos and other rollingstock was all mine, the scratchbuilt signal box was by me as were the working GN somersault signals. Probably a pass? Andrew

Terry How many do you need? I could supply you with a few to save Tony sending them from UK. Andrew

I should have guessed you had been involved Tony. I had a look at the pilot models running on the Hornby Mag Youtube video. Generally they look very good. But I wasn't overly impressed with chimney. I hope they can get that right as its part of the face of a loco. Andrew.

Tony its a good thing you sold that A5 the other day as Hornby Mag has just announced that Sonic Models (a relative newcomer in railway modelling I believe) are to produce a 4mm model of the A5 and in theory it'll be out around the end of the year. Andrew

In John Crawley's book The Great Northern Railway in Focus there are two photos of GN Ballast Brakes (p118). (If one is not familiar with this book virtually all the photos are of extremely high quality as are the photos in the companion volume The London & North Eastern Railway in Focus.) One is the same photo as in Tatlow Vol 1 referenced previously, and appears to be a works photo. However, the photo is printed nowhere near as overexposed as the one in Tatlow. It clearly shows the lighter ends and they are not white as they are very distinctly different to the white roof. The sides are extremely dark and appear to be similar to the buffers in colour. I would hazard a guess that they might even be black or at least a very dark colour, and the ends red? The other photo of a van in Crawley's GN book is in an earlier livery and is taken in Nov 1899 - also a works photo. It also appears to show that the ends are lighter but then they might be better lit in that photo? On the previous page in Crawley's GN book there is a photo of a Ballast Brake converted from a 4 wheel birdcage 3 compt second class brake in 1914. That is also a works photo and shows the sides to be very dark but could be still in varnished teak as it has a similar appearance to a number of the coaches shown in the book. Interestingly non of the photos of the GN Ballast Brakes, including the two in Tatlow Vol 1 in LNER and BR livery show the tops of oil lamps on the roofs. I make this comment as I have a D&S Ballast Brake kit that I bought built secondhand here in Australia which doesn't have the oil lamp tops fitted compared to the lamp tops on Graeme King's model on the previous page of Wright Writes. I would like to know though whether mine for mid -late 1930s period should have oil lamp tops? Andrew

My understanding is yes. Oxford blue which weathered to a lighter blue. Don't know about GN days. Andrew

Please pm me your email and I'll scan and email a set. Andrew

Sounds like Tony's approach to kit building. Mine's not far off either these days.

Please PM me your email. I have a set of instructions in the box of an unbuilt Proscale V2 I can scan. Andrew

Tony I think the C1 is the WSM kit not Ks. The coal rails on the tender were the initial give away until I looked more closely. They look the same as those on the tender of my WSM J6. For which I've recently started to build a new tender using the upper body - well sides and back minus coal rails from a Ks C1. I'm using a Mainly Trains tender chassis and outer resin frames from Graeme King. It will need a scratchbuilt front and forward part of the top plus coal rails. I'll show pictures in due course. Agree with comment above the 2-4-2T is Cotswold/ Sutherland - I have the later NuCast version. Andrew

My first visit to see Buckingham was 2013 but I did come again with my fellow travellers in 2017 so that's only 4 years ago. Hopefully there might be another time in the future - who knows at the moment? Regards Andrew

Tony (G) Your comments on the dimensions of the Millholme B5 boiler have made me go and measure mine built with high pitched 1930s period boiler back in 1987. It measures 21.2mm. I also have two more, one of which I purchased built but very cheap as it was a non-runner here in Oz. That one measures 21. 4mm. The third one is unbuilt and it's boiler measures 21.4mm (that was also bought second-hand relatively cheap - I'm definitely a sucker for a bargain). The smokeboxes are all around 22.6mm. I intend to use the boiler from the cheap second-hand model for my B9. Which will be built from the Mike Edge etches I got after you showed me yours back in 2013. Andrew

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 for me Brian Initially I wasn't going to vote this time as I've got all these covered, well maybe not quite I don't have a fully valenced D16/3 and my D3 is currently being built with its extended smokebox for a superheated version. However, if any of these were to come onto the RTR market I'm sure I couldn't resist a nice LNER version lined out in red! Or indeed a Royal Claud in green. Andrew

My journey into kit building started when I was about 8 and found an unmade Airfix Presflo kit in Dad's wardrobe. I'm sure he wasn't impressed when he came home from work and saw what I'd been up to? I first started tinkering with w/m metal kits Dad had built before we left the UK in 1964. I think mainly I tried to get them (BEC J52 and BEC J17) to run better on their Triang chassis during my mid teens around 1970. I asked for and got a Wills N7 for my 16th birthday which was duly built and put on a Triang chassis. I think a BEC J11 and D11 were next on their Triang chassis. The D11 eventually got Romford drivers (as did all the others) and a Buhler motor/Ultrascale gearbox and in fact was used about 2 years ago as a practice piece on which to learn how to do the red lining on an LNER black loco with bow pen and lining pen. Its still on the layout now but did undergo a fairly major rebuild back in the 80s. My first go at building a chassis was on a Ks J72 (like John above), which Dad purchased on a holiday to Canberra in 1972. It wasn't very successful and it wasn't until I realised that the frames didn't match that I was able to sort it out. One end axle slot went too high, so I had to solder a piece or brass across the top to line it up with the other two. I've still got it, but it hasn't seen the light of day for a long time. In my late teens I built a Ks C1 which I had great difficulty with because of lack of clearance around the bogie. I had to fit 12 mm bogie wheels and to bend the front of the main frames in - I was trying to get it to go around roughly 2 ft radius. I replaced the Ks Mk 1 motor with an MW005 I think. Next was a Bristol Models V2 where the chassis was simply two pieces of brass, spacers and front and rear pony trucks. There were no cylinders or valve gear and the body castings were very thick. I modified some old Triang Britannia cylinders and purchased a set of Ks P2 valve gear (in fact I got 3 sets, 1 for V2, 1 for a Wills K3 and a spare) - which I've still got!). It actually turned out quite well and I was very proud of it at the time with its brushed paint work, Kingsprint press on lining and lettering. Immediately after that I built the Wills K3 with a similar chassis from Bristol models rather than fitting the recommended but inappropriate Triang 2-6-2T chassis. At that stage I found out about using Holts Duplicolour car spray paint as primer and top coat - gosh what a difference that made for a black loco. A year or two later (1979-80) I built my first brass kit a Craftsman C12. That was the first soldered loco as all the w/m kits had been glued together! I still continued to glue w/m kits together continuing on with the NuCast Q6 and O2/2, DJH U1 (brass soldered but w/m glued), Ks P2, WSM J6....Probably for the next 10-15 years I improved steadily in my ability. I didn't get an air brush until 1987 and around the early 90s I starting to solder w/m together. What this essay is attempting to show is that generally for most people, I believe the art of building locos is a process that can take quite a long time to learn and develop. But it is a journey that I have found most enjoyable and in the past has been used to provide locos that were never likely to be available RTR. I always tried to add a bit of extra detail. Perhaps unlike a lot who build locos, I have never been phased by the need to build Walschaerts valve gear. In fact I started trying to improve the look of valve gear on my Triang A3s back in the early 70s and did in fact fit Ks Black 5 valve gear to the Triang Hornby Black 5 back in the mid 70s. l will continue to enjoy this journey as I have about another 40 locos stashed away to build - mostly of prototypes not likely to be made by RTR manufacturers, including some of South Australian prototypes which can be quite a challenge to build. Alongside this journey I have built hundreds of wagons, lots of coaches and kit-bashed quite a number of RTR locos. Railway modelling is for life! Andrew