Arun Sharma

Interesting Jon - I've been designing 7mm road [and rail] models for the last 18 years - I don't recall anyone approaching me at a show ever asking about motorising one of my buses or lorries. Certainly something to think about down the line but probably too late in the design sequence for this particular model.

Given that the telephone pole doesn't appear to be connected to anything, I wonder if that is included in the listing?

Middleton Press's book "Walthamstow & Leyton Tramways" has photographs and maps showing the 1905 Walthamstow Tram Depot on Chingford Road [London E17]. The site became a trolleybus depot in the late 1930s and then a bus garage from around 1960 to quite recently. Most of the site has now been turned into a housing estate named 'Omnibus Way' but the original Tramway offices still survive almost intact and I photographed the building last week: I don't know what the present building is used for though it certainly appears to be occupied and has been Grade 2 Listed since 1993. The frieze shows the original ownership:

Following on designing in CAD a series of 7mm scale single- and double-decker London buses, I attacked the front end of our 'gate guardian' Routemaster at the London Bus Museum [Brooklands, Surrey] with an Artec Leo 3D scanner. This was the result. However this is a very early build vehicle and the later 2ft 6in longer vehicles had several detail front end differences which have been reproduced in the 3D CAD file derived from this series of scans. After about two months of intermittent work, a 'Proof of Concept' aka 'Engineering Prototype' of an entire 30ft RML in 7mm scale has been produced as a CAD file. This has now become hard copy as a series of 3D prints. Some of these prints are rather coarse FDM prints chosen simply because they would likely require modification down the line and FDM prints, whilst dimensionally accurate, are a lot cheaper than high quality/high resolution smooth-surfaced commercial agency Polyjet or SLA prints. Smaller items like the cab and staircase have been printed at home on an Elegoo Mars 2Pro printer and it certainly looks as though the quality of printing bears comparison with expensive commercial agency prints. However, there is a size limit to what can readily be printed on this home printer. The prints have been assembled and sanded/smoothed where possible and given a uniform coat of a grey primer. Items like accurate wheels have also been produced but only place setter blanks have been used on this prototype model as their sole function is to allow me to check ride height and for that I needed the axle ends to protrude very slightly outside the wheel hub. Anyway, here is the completed model - less seats: This will be on display [on the 7mm Finescale Society stand] at the Guildford 7mm Trade Show in three weeks time. Pro tem, I will get the high resolution prints done and sent off to be cast in resin - The final wheels will be cast in white metal. In an ideal world, the model will be available as a kit around March next year - price unknown but most likely marketed through Radley Models. As you can see the FDM process has not been kind to the upper deck front route indicator/destination blind area but this shouldn't be a problem with the high resolution Polyjet parts.

Not difficult at all. An Artec Leo scanner will scan people in sufficiently high resolution for that purpose. Commercial polyjet 3D printers could probably print you in a couple of stages - Even my Elegoo Mars 2+ could print you in four stages. Cost of resin would be about £60 at cost [say, 2 kg?] but commercial charges for printing run to about £6-00 per cc [i.e., 200 times the home print rate] though for large figures which can be made hollow inside, that total sum would come down quite dramatically. 3D print bureaux have software which will happily hollow out figures and generate a minimum of support material inside so as to keep costs down. The only real problem is the scanning and loads of folk [including me] have such scanners. If you want to use a commercial agency with a Leo scanner, then try www.europac3d.com or www.central-scanning.co.uk I've used both for various 3D work in the past and both are able to scan and print. though I should point out that if I do the scanning it would be somewhat cheaper!

Lindsay - I fear you are mistaken. I design from scratch [using 2D and 3D CAD and sometimes with the aid of 3D scanning equipment] kits for road and rail vehicles [mainly 7mm scale] that include lorries, buses, steam locomotives, rail wagons, electric and diesel locomotives/multiple units as well as conversion kits and single/multiple bespoke components for other kit producers. I am regularly tasked with producing 4mm [and other scales] versions of these models. Class 70 20003 in 2mm, 4mm and 7mm would be an example. Using my own CAD data, it takes time but is eminently do-able. Indeed, part of the design work involves keeping a weather eye open just in case someone might want a different scale version one day. Sample examples of this would include reducing the 7mm L&Y 1200V DC EMU kits down to 4mm scale or enlarging my 4mm Lancaster/Heysham EMUs to 7mm scale. I hear what you say regarding wall/window thicknesses and needing different motorising systems and I would not disagree with that in principle. But, I repeat my view that for any major model manufacturer who has produced and owns CAD files of 4mm railway rolling stock should not find it especially onerous to produce different scale models from those files. Similarly, I repeat my view that short runs in less common scales need not be done by going down the production route that would be used for runs of 10000+ units. Agreed, painting and finishing of such shorter runs [in the UK] may be problematic if selling models as RTR but I don't - I produce kits and components and am not aware of any that have been returned by buyers as unbuildable. There are several examples in the various threads of RMWeb should you care to delve deeper.

No reason why they shouldn't have [assuming the source model was accurate in its own right]. As a designer of 7mm scale kits via CAD and occasional 3D scanning of full-size vehicles, I am regularly surprised by the unwillingness of the likes of Hornby, Bachman, Dapol and even Heljan to use the 3D CAD files that their 4mm scale models have been based upon and rescale them to 7mm [or even 'S' scale for that matter]. Whilst rescaling isn't quite as straightforward as using a simple 3D CAD software 'scale' command, it isn't difficult or especially time consuming. Furthermore, for the limited runs that might obtain in these larger scales, resin casting rather than injection moulding is a far more economical process and has the astonishing advantage that the entire process can be done in the UK rather than several thousand miles away. A little known secret is that injection moulding tools no longer need to be metal and produced by expensive spark erosion processes. There are UK companies that will 3D print such tools either in plastic or by metal sintering. Such tools are more than sufficient for RTR and kit runs that are orders of magnitude less than those required for those models/kits imported from China. I would be surprised [indeed, appalled] if the major UK 4mm 'manufacturers' hadn't considered these options but if they have, they are keeping very quiet about why they aren't manufacturing models on this basis.

You have a point - There is a shinyness to his clothing that suggests it might be PPE but then why a waistcoat? The chap also has a scarf-thing hanging down the back of his neck which ought to be a hazard. Most odd.

It's a very strange picture altogether. The ? Sikh chap appears not to be wearing much in the way of recognised 'Orange Army' PPE.

Inside and upstairs in the workshop at NRM you can see on display the original cabside sheets of Duchess of Hamilton which were removed as part of the height lowering process.

Ron - Thanks for the picture of the TIALD [Thermal Imaging and Laser Designator] - That brings back memories of a very hot, dusty place in 1991

Whilst it isn't exactly on the formation of the old GCR, it isn't all that far away! Apropos of nothing whatsoever, 'Tracy' and 'Sandra' were also the names given to the two brand new somewhat bulbous TIALD sensors fitted to RAF Tornado bombers at Tabuk [Saudi Arabia] during the 1991 Gulf War...

Interestingly I was reading an article on the US Supreme Court's ruling on Abortion. It seems that while unknown males in the US are referred to as 'John Doe', unknown females are referred to as 'Jane Roe' - Hence the courtcase known as 'Roe vs Wade'. Afternote: By 'unknown' I also mean 'generic' in this context.

Mine arrived today in OX14. I did note the advert for the latest MRJ index. Unusually it appears to cover 12 issues rather than the usual eight. No matter, saves money getting them bound in 12s rather than 8s!

Well I designed the R49 DM because there was a captive one at the LT Museum Depot. Although the bodyshell of the O,P, Q38 and R stock cars is essentially the same [less a few details like vents/destination indicators], the underframe fittings do vary tremendously. On a 7mm surface stock car, all the underframe bits are highly visible so they have to be accurate so it had to be the R49 car. There are Q38 pilot cars, CP stock DM and [I believe] an R38 DM in preservation so I could produce variants using a slightly modified body shell. I think the R38 DM was at Mangapps Farm but that was some years ago.

Design work has now been completed on bodywork for a 1938 TS DM for Radley Models in 7mm scale. Some work remains on the bogies as they were unique to this stock and employed rather small diameter wheelsets which reduces the available motoring possibilities. Apart from the guard's panels and the driving cab, the trailers and NDMs share the same body shell so 3 and 4 car sets can be readily produced. [This screenshot was done before the underframe bits had been finished]. More information will be available once the bogies are finished. Design work has also been completed on the R49 District Line stock which is rather easier to motorise and has a conventional Radley Models cosmetic outer chassis surrounding a motorised inner one. Whether the R49 is ever released will depend on likely demand bearing in mind that the R Stock ran in 6 car fixed formation sets [albeit with an occasional 2 car unit tacked on one end].

What was interesting about the cross-tunnel film was the unstated amount of destruction of cast concrete rings and the requirement for bespoke replacements. Since the cross-tunnel links two completed running tunnels which are lined with arc slabs as part of their build, any oblique connection has to destroy part of the supporting rings of both tunnels. Since these rings support the tunnels, how do they do that?

Nearholmer You are correct - Holywood Co Down does only have one 'l'.

It will probably depend on what the A1SLT decide to do with Prince of Wales. That gives the option for a modified tender with increased water capacity as used by Tornado. It is possible that A1SLT may well decide on a fictional BR numbering scheme and thence post-war BR blue and lined Brunswick Green become possibilities.

Every pic bar two in Yeadon's Register No:9 of a P2 shows them in lined LNER green. The first exception is one which shows 2004 [also near Stonehaven] in black. The caption says all were painted in unlined black fro Nov 1941 onwards and from Jul 1942, only 'NE' appeared on the tender. 2004 [at least] had its top lam pillar moved downwards as well as having the valance fwd of the cylinders removed similar to A4s. The other pic is one of 2001 in Sep 1942 is less clear regarding livery though could well be all black. It also shows the removal of the valance in front of the cylinders. Hope that helps

I placed a couple of pics of this loco and its nameplates on the 66 thread in 'Prototype Discussions, not Questions' a couple of weeks ago if you're interested.

I wonder if Lionheart would consider producing a 77xxx [the 2-6-0 tender version of this tank engine] afterwards?

Have just ordered a copy on e-bay to see what it is like

It refers to the UK needing to spend more effort on what it does well - in this instance applied biological sciences. The university triangle of Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Imperial College need better physical links. Economist ragards it as unpleasantly laughable that the quickest way by rail between Ox and Camb is via London. It also makes the point that this triangle [especially now that its centre [Stevenage] is becoming home to major medical/pharmaceutical firms] will inevitably become a focal point for [wealthy and higher educated] population movement inwards with the concomitent requirements for better transport links. Basically, if we want to make the best use of our intellectual base, we need appropriate infrastructure. Simples!

Interesting reference to E-W Rail [and the Oxford-Cambridge Expressway] in this week's Economist.