Norwenglish

Thank you both very much for your help. Stuart

Good Afternoon, I'm hoping someone here is able to help, I started to build the kit mentioned in the title a while ago, but took a break after finishing the bodyshell, I've now come back to it to get the underframe details done and have found that I've managed to loose the instructions, and definitely don't feel comfortable tackling the break gear etc without help. So I was wondering if anyone here had a copy of the instructions for the kit that they could photograph or scan and send to me? I've emailed Peco a while ago asking the same, but unfortunately haven't had any reply. Stuart

Certainly getting very tired of these emails, especially with there being so little updates on the projects that I've actually signed up for (Bellerophon and the 4DD).

I know it's a year since anyone has posted here, but does anyone know how the crankpins are held in to the wheels? My Victory has one that isn't all the way in on one of the leading wheels that collides enough with the valve gear while running to bring the whole model to a stop, gave me a huge fright the first time as it stopped dead and the sound went in to full speed chuffing.

Santa? I know I've got a belly and a beard, but I'm definitely not dressed in red and cheerful all the time!

Is the coach the LBSC Directors Saloon that now lives at Bluebell? If so then sides, ends and floor can be obtained from Worsley Works. Although the ends are for building it before the end doors and gangways were fitted. If you want, then I can get a picture of the etches I have sitting here for one, I'm just having problems finding out what the interior layout of it is before I start trying to build it. Stuart

Give me a shout if you're after one of these Phil, we have one doing absolutely nothing which you can have. Stuart

Hi Phil, Great to see you're back in action again! We really should try doing the same here, but someone keeps flying back to the UK to see the real thing when we have free time! Stuart

Does this happen to mean you'll be there on the 27th of this month? Dad and I are flying over on that day and making a trip up to the Cotswolds and had talked about making a visit to Didcot on the journey up there. Stuart

Edwardian's method is pretty much the same as mine, so he's saved me from doing the step by step i was going to do. Vallejo acrylics are a good choice (it's what I use, especially after games workshop changed their paint range), they have a incredibly large range and go on very nicely, but for metals I use their model air range and brush them on, as the ones I have bought from their main range seem to be very think and don't respond well to watering down. Also they have a much finer pigment than for example Game Workshop's range, so be careful handling the figures after painting as there can be problems with the paint rubbing off if they havn't been varnished. Stuart

Hi Gary, The fences have really framed everything nicely! It's interesting how just adding fencing seems to improve the look of layouts quite considerably. Those seem to be some very nicely cast Langley figures as well, we've had the bad luck of picking up some that were cast nowhere near as nicely. If you would like, I can throw together a step by step guide that I can put here or on our workbench thread of how I paint figures, as I'm due to do some this week. Stuart

We needed something small and sweet to counterbalance all these big beastly engines that Dad is building! Stuart

What with Dad's speedy progress on building things, I've been inspired to get myself down to the railway room and work on a few projects. The Q now has a fully functioning chassis underneath it (it looks a little out of line in this picture, but looks right in person). Next up for the Q is to get the tender chassis finished including electrical pick-ups, touch up the paintwork on the body and add some more details to it including brass clack valves and safety valves from Markits, and add a cab interior now that it doesn't have an XO4 taking up the cab space. The other project I'm working on is an A12 that I picked up off of a well known auction site. It ran very nicely out of the box, so all I have had to do is add a flywheel, paint the frames and do a bit of rewiring as it ran the opposite way to the controller and was wired in a way that took up a lot of space. Next up with this is also a tender chassis with pick ups (once wheels have been ordered from Markits), and then it's just the cosmetic work of painting and lining in olive green, and try to straighten the running boards, which I have only noticed just noticed after seeing the picture below. Stuart

I wish it was so easy obtaining the magazines over here, I don't know how people on eBay think £8 postage to Norway is reasonable! Stuart

Hi Mikkel, I was wondering if there was any feature or pictures from the Bergen model railway exhibition in the magazine? As they were taking lots of pictures of our layout when we were there, and we were thinking of getting a copy in case any of the pictures made the cut. Thanks, Stuart

Unfortunately, due to the terrible weather, Father Christmas has had to substitute his sleigh for something ground based and a little less susceptible to the wind! With this we would like to wish all our followers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Stuart and Richard

Unfortunately, due to the terrible weather, Father Christmas has had to substitute his sleigh for something ground based and a little less susceptible to the wind! With this we would like to wish all our followers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Stuart and Richard

As promised the diesel shunter is finished and heres a picture; Originally I thought this would be a straight forward build and paint, until Sunday when I thought I was nearly done, looked up at a works drawing I have framed on the wall and realised it needed a line of handrails along the doors. Once this was done yesterday I had it painted, varnished and ready for transfers and windows, only to look up at the drawing again and realise that I had glued the roof on back to front above the engine area! As can be imagined, I'm quite happy that it's now finished Next up for me will now be finishing the etched chassis that I've started for the Q Class earlier in this thread. Stuart

I would also like to add my thanks for these superb little engines! The original plan was only to buy one! Like many others have said, the running qualities are superb, and with 68 becoming our go to engine at our first exhibition when everything else decided it was one of those days, I just had to have another! Stuart

Thanks Chris! Funny you should mention detailing older RTR models as that's what my latest project has been whilst off work with the flu. Here we have a Bachmann Austerity that I picked up a while ago secondhand, which has had a new motor installed (it sort of ran a bit then died), it has also had it's shedplate and smokebox door numberplate removed and been renumbered to represent 77259 when it apparently carried sunshine lettering. The idea came to me after reading an old copy of model rail, which mentioned that there are pictures of 2 Austerities carrying sunshine lettering, so it seemed a fun thing to do, what with me being a fan of the Southern and I've always wanted an Austerity 2-8-0 in my collection. Next up I'll hopefully have pictures of the Maunsell 350hp Shunter in it's finished state, quite possibly tomorrow providing no more problems arise! Stuart

It must be the norwegians keeping the kålrabi market afloat then...they can't seem to get enough of them over here! Stuart

Had no idea photobucket was down! But we hope you enjoyed your read Unfortunately there is very little progress for us to show now, as our attentions have moved over to our rolling stock projects, and also we havn't really decided what we'll do next on the layout. Although there are some people waiting to be painted and placed around which I might start on tomorrow as my rolling stock projects have halted due to waiting for a few bits and pieces to arrive from the UK. Stuart

Well it's about time I write a bit of a report of our experiences from the exhibition! Overall, it was a fantastic weekend with all 3 of us who were operating the layout thoroughly enjoying ourselves, as can be seen in the picture below! From left to right we have; a school friend of mine (who made a 7 and a half hour train journey across the country to help us), myself and Dad. The exhibition was very well organised, with large amounts of space for people to walk around the layouts (it sometimes seemed people were more interested in looking in on the fiddle yard than the layout!), the organisers were very helpful and friendly and kept all of us well fed! We also met a few more fellow UK escapees with interest in the railways. The layout itself was very popular, what with it being the only english layout there, and we found that one of the biggest talking points was how the layout operated, as the majority of layouts over here are round and round layouts with very little in the way of shunting in goods yards etc, with the other discussions mostly being people asking if we had different classes of engines as they had seen them on visits to preserved lines in the UK. We also discovered some problems, and areas to improve on the layout which will be addressed before next year's exhibition (if we are wanted back of course). The biggest problem was inconsistency in the couplings and weights of rolling stock, which meant we couldn't carry out our plan of Maunsell era southern stock being run, and resutled in me bending wire to create coupling loops for engines while operating the fiddle yard. The other problem was that some of our isolating sections decided to stop functioning at random times, with them either being permanently dead or the permanently live, so this will also be looked into. As for areas for improvement, the controller and control panel set-up wasn't optimal with us getting in each other's way when trying to make different engine movements, so we are now going to be looking into creating 3 separate control panel (goods yard, station area and one for other functions), these will also be built to have space for switches for operating signals and automatic uncoupling to be added in the future. The 'Other Functions' panel we are thinking of having for operating fiddle yard point motors, control of the main line switch and a transformer to provide power to auxiliary systems such as point motors, signals, uncouplers and lights (we have noticed the lights have started flickering when older engines are run). Uncoupling was also difficult with the backscene being a bit of a hindrance for hand of god uncoupling and peco uncoupling ramps lifting engines off the track in the station (mostly Dad's growing horde of Terriers!), so we are looking into other uncoupling systems, with a gaugemaster one on it's way for trials and testing. I think that is all for now, although Dad will probably add anything that I've forgotten (I know he has a video of another of his Terrier Takeover's which he has been talking about uploading). To finish I have some more pictures of the layout which a friend took while visiting the exhibition, which we have been given permission to use, as we took very few ourselves due to being too busy playing trains! Last but not least, the small part that I'm rather proud of, the layout's new shiny badge! Stuart

I thought I would make a quick progress (or lack of) update. Unfortunately today someone (who shall remain nameless) received a new Terrier today, so all work has halted while the layout was subjected to a Terrier Takeover! Normal service will hopefully resume tomorrow....as long as nothing else arrives in the post! Stuart

I just thought I would add a post to show that I have also been doing some modelling. Here we have a resin body kit for a Maunsell 350hp Diesel Shunter from Golden Arrow which now just awaits painting and glazing. I'm also working on a chassis for the Q Class shown earlier in this thread which Dad kindly bought me for my birthday a few months ago. Although this is going rather slowly as the majority of our free time and energy is being put into working on our layout ready for our first exhibition on the 1st and 2nd October. Which in itself is quite exciting, but also quite daunting as it is the largest model railway exhibition in Norway! Stuart