GJChurchward

BTW I sent you a PM. Hope I did that correctly and it's found its way to you... Andy

That looks very good. I started but haven't finished an AA1 (6-wheeled van). I left everything alone when small children were around, but I'm itching to get started again.

Wow - that was quick! I don't think I've PMed anyone before using RMWeb, however I'm investigating right now, how to do that. Thanks a lot! Andy

Hi all. I used to own a copy of an old issue of either Railway Modeller or MRC, in which details were given for producing various other diagrams from the Ratio GWR Brake Van kit. My copy has gone missing (I expect 'someone' has been tidying up and thrown it out). I'm keen to do some more kitbashing of the Ratio kit, and would like to see the article again. Does anyone here happen to recall the article or indeed have a copy of it? Cheers Andy

It's great to see this project gathering pace again. Each new post causes my jaw to drop.

There's going to be a whole raft of problems to deal with there. The earliest an insurance company can send someone is going to be Monday, by which time the scene will have reverted back to its intended purpose. The school needs to use its space again.

Of course, there are many different reasons for people to enjoy modelling. If I were happy to run r-t-r stock on a layout I've created, financial compensation from an insurance claim would go a long way towards restoring what I might have lost, should I be in the very unfortunate position of being one of those exhibitors affected by this. But what if I have spent many long hours building stock (or anything else on the layout) by hand? No financial payout could ever repair the damage done. If another modeller kindly offered his time and skills to help replace lost models, even though his modelling may be far better than mine, it would never be the same. My kicks in modelling come from being able to say 'I made this', even though I recognize that others are capable of producing a better result. I could only ever recover by starting again, from scratch, with no assistance from anyone else. I can't imagine what those exhibitors must be going through right now.

This thread has gone disappointingly quiet. Everything OK, Ron?

I've arrived at this thread, which I see is reasonably current, having asked myself the question 'How do I provide my layout with a passable 2251?' I see a lot of discussion about the history of Mainline and Bachmann offerings, which will be very interesting to some, but probably doesn't help me much. I can't remember how long ago I acquired a Mainline 2251. (Also a Manor, and an Airfix 14xx.) Pretty soon after that, I decided that the chassis just had to be thrown away and replaced with Perseverance kits. I now realize that they, too, are slightly fictitious, however I obtained them, and have had these three projects tucked away for years while building all the stock for them to haul, satisfying myself with continuously improving rtr models of other prototypes. I have the Manor on the workbench at the moment, but one eye is on the 2251. My aim is to bring them all up to the same visual standard as modern products, at least such that it's not obvious that they have different parentages. For example, the Manor needs to sit alongside my two Hornby Granges and several Bachmann Halls without looking like it was made for more easily-pleased modellers. The Mainline 2251 body shell has some clear faults, even without getting out any drawings or measuring equipment. There's the missing backhead, of course - and without the original chassis, there's a big chunk missing from the underside of the boiler. I suppose I could dissect the chassis to recover the bottom of the boiler, and permanently glue it in place, but is it really worth the effort, if the Bachmann 2251 body shell is more accurate and will take less fettling? There's no real need for me to reuse the Mainline body shell - I just need a 2251. What's the better solution? Do I persist with the Mainline body shell I already have, or find a Bachmann body to go on the Percy chassis? How much working up is needed? I'm not afraid to throw scalpels and files at it, but I do need a reasonably quick project.

This is my first post in this forum. I did some Superquick modelling many years ago, but I'm considering myself a relative newbie in card modelling, having seen some of the great models made by people in this forum. I bought a couple of Metcalfe kits for OO/HO. I have their wayside station and station shelter. They were originally intended as a rapid and economical means to upgrade my two young boys' model train setup, which is rapidly merging with my own modelling interests. They've expressed an interest in having interior lighting (easy enough) and therefore I think there has to be some basic representation of interior wall detail. The bare grey card would otherwise stick out like a sore thumb when the lights are on. I'm starting with the station shelter, since it's the smaller building, and if I make a complete mess of it I'll have lost a smaller investment of effort. I've gone round the inside of the two main rooms, filling the gaps between tabs and window/door frames with grey card infills, and I've prepared another layer of grey card to fit inside these, with just the window apertures cut out. The final wall thickness will therefore be about the same as three layers of grey card. Before fitting the inner layer, I want to print some interior detail overlays using my colour printer. I'm very sure some of you will have done something similar in the past, and I wonder if you can recommend a suitable graphics package? So far I've looked at DrawPlus and Blender. Both appear to provide a lot of functionality I don't need, but have a long learning curve before I can do anything simple with them. Freeware is obviously attractive. Do you just use Windows Paint?

My comments were made slightly tongue-in-cheek, and I agree with everyone else's sentiments about Ron's skills and dedication, however I can't help but think that paying close attention to this thread is like viewing a DVD of Ron's life in fast-forward, stopping only to watch 'the good bits'. I like to enjoy seeing each new development as it appears, and I'm not at all impatient to fast-forward right to the end, however much I would like to see the finished project!

I can't help but think that the posts on this thread went a little off-topic on 14 April. Ron hasn't posted anything since 16 April, and I hope he's just giving us a lesson in patience.

This could be a good reason to experiment with 3D printing. What a pity the dolls house hobby doesn't use 1/76 scale!

That wasn't intended to sound critical, by the way, just an observation. The support is likely to be steel wire under tension, which is probably a lot thinner than copper cable(s) with insulated casings. A

Ron, Do you not think that in the photograph, the power cables are visually much more prominent than the support wire? Andy

Ron, Am I correct in understanding that the power supply to those LEDs is through the thin wires hung from the horizontals? Damn it, this is astonishingly fine work, especially for one small corner of a project on such a majestic scale. Andy

I hope this isn't just an excuse for getting a repeat prescription for your lantern pills.

Hi Ron Good to see things are moving along again. I think Araldite (regular) is a much better adhesive for metal-to-plastic joints. You get a lot more time for adjusting components into precise position, and it seems to absorb shocks a lot better than cyano. It's also easier to remove surplus adhesive squeezed out from joints (isopropyl alcohol on a cotton bud works well). Andy

This must be extremely frustrating. Hope you're back to normal PDQ. Andy

This has now become 'off-topic', since Ron has decided to continue with using his drop press. However, I would be interested to know how to get better performance from my rivet press. Mine is not that from GW Models, the quality of which I am sure is unequalled. I do have a rolling mill from the same stable, and I fully agree with your comment about it. I purchased a press tool for other purposes, and a set of rivet punches and dies was an optional accessory which I decided to have in order to speed up the pressing of half-etched rivets in brass kits. I was disappointed with the results for various reasons, some of which were due to my lack of experience with the technique, and perhaps I am now able to produce better rivets. I have great difficulty producing a straight line of rivets, since the half-etched recess is invariably too wide to be an accurate location for the tip of the punch. The width of the recess determines the diameter of the rivet head. If I place the tip of a punch into the recess, it's not guaranteed to be in the centre. Hence the line of recesses is nice and straight, but my line of rivets is not. Although my rivet press is inferior to the GW Models press, this problem seems more dependent on the process than its execution. Please tell me what I am doing wrong! Andy

Ron, I've been wondering whether to add my piece here, since several others agree that the use of a rivet press is a good idea. However, if you have, as I assume, had the rivet positions half-etched, then a drop punch may be a quicker method. I have found that when using a rivet press, I have to make sure the punch is correctly located in the recess before making the impression, and this means gently pressing the job upwards against the punch with one hand while gingerly bringing the punch and job downwards to meet the die with the other. The rivet press technique is better when no half-etching has been done, using the indexing table to position each rivet. Andy

I would definitely consider 3d printing, or casting in resin, with 75 to produce!

I'm looking forward to this...

Ron, What software are you using to create your solid entities? Apologies if you've already said so elsewhere. There's a lot of material to search through in order to find it! Andy