Focalplane

Par of the real Legge Lane in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter did burn down.  The site is currently being redeveloped into luxury apartments!

Street view:

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.4842967,-1.9124499,3a,75y,271.05h,99.14t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sDPERJGC5193lcamaAt_EsQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

You do speak the truth about some of the new 7mm scale RTR offerings but quality kits still make up the bulk of steam loco offerings.  Your efforts are excellent and much better than plastic bodied look-a-likes.

That being said, my project is going to have a mix of kit and RTR because like all of us I only have so long on this planet and I really need to take a few short cuts.  If an RTR loco or coach or wagon is available I will probably buy it.  But when choosing which loco to run I know it will more likely be one of "mine".

Those are four very nice locos!

What used to be Metalsmiths, now Midland Railway Centre, make a GWR turntable kit which, if it is like their R&R kit I built, is a good buy to anyone with some kit experience.  Dave Smith may have a waiting list as he has been working part time recently.  Give him a call, Paul

http://www.midrailcentre.com

Generally I think the plungers work well if you follow Jim McGeown's recommendations.  I also think it is a good idea to drill and ream the holes in the frames before commencing assembly, testing the fit.  But don't fit the plungers until much later!  My 14XX has one plunger on the front driver, two on the rear driver and none on the trailing axle.  It works well but this may also be due to the beam suspension keeping the wheels on the rails.

The intermediate supports have been added and the sag is much less obvious.  It is a delight to switch on the lights at any time and enjoy Legge Lane.  Quelle Difference!

Hi Mikkel!  The phone is a video phone to answer the apartment block door.  Mainly used by La Poste when they deliver much needed kits and parts from England!

Very very nice!  The cab interior would have to be ex-works!

It's been a delight to follow this build.

Paul

Mike

You are right, photos can be very cruel!  At 1:1 scale it does look better than over-enlarged.  I am pleased with it and it seems a shame to hide it all inside Collett's comfortable cab!

Go to a cooks shop and get one of those little (over priced!), torches that are meant for caramalising the tops of Creme Brulee - they refill from lighter fluid canisters - you could even make a cracking pud with it!

Thanks, good idea!

I drove to Narbonne this afternoon and bought a Camping Gaz (electric) 80 watt soldering iron.  No gas butane options available at the larger bricolage there either.  I am not sure exactly how many soldering irons I now own but I will admit that some of them are going to be disposed of as useless.

Don

It's a strange thing, but my father was a metallurgist.  He died long before I went to university, so your comment has made me realize that we had this much in common - grinding down and polishing surfaces.  I was told at the age of 12 that I would not be going into the family business (metal finishing) and eventually decided on geology.  My current modelling projects have taken me closer to my father's calling and as a result I am currently researching the history of Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter.

Back to thin sections - as a student we had to make our slices 30 microns thin and one addition circular motion could be one too many.  It was an art!  Meantime the lab technicians had their mechanical carriers.  But I think I may have been more efficient as I made over 700 in two years!

OK, back to the 14XX - the pickups have been wired up and everything works.  The circuit board has not been fixed in place as I need to check clearances when the body shell is completed.  So that is my next focus - finishing the body.

And there I was thinking that tab and slot would be too small to be of use at 4mm scale, never mind 2mm!

Looking very good, I admire your lning efforts, they make the model. The black sheen is also perfect.

Ex LNW loco next.

It was going to be a G2A but now it is going to have to be a surprise!

Mikkel, thank you for your comments.  I learned years ago that the best way to exceed your target is to be conservative in defining it!

I will post some photos of the York windows when I get back to modelling next week.

46132 (Correct name The King's Regiment Liverpool) is also the subject of a painting by Philip Hawkins, a print of which hangs above Legge Lane.  Tamworth was one of my favourite trainspotting locations, so the memories tie together very well.

I too was wondering!  What great work, Mikkel, always inspirational.  I am on a temporary break but your post has me itching to get back to France and carry on.

A long way south of you in Languedoc and I model 7mm 1950s.  But I do drive through your area once in a while.

The reason I switched was simple. I could not see or pick up a 4mm lamp bracket for a Dean Goods I was building. Now I have tackled greater detail in 7mm and succeeded.

I think the moral of my story is that you do what is best for you.

Dave, I have just read your entry with interest. I am only 70 but have just retired and have switched to Gauge O, partly a response to stiffening finger jonts and bifocal eyesight. I am really enjoying it and am achieving more, now retired, than I could ever do when working (my work took me overseas all the time).

I reckon I have possibly a good ten years of modeling to go but I hope more. Cod liver oil tablets seem to work and my long time love affair with the Mediterranean lifestyle is also a good omen. My wife is convinced we can outlive our common sense and I hope she is right.

My saddest conclusion, though, is that all these modeling skills and results are of little interest to anyone in the family. So what I do is simply for me; it feels quite strange to write something do "selfish".

And I have just added a Brake Third Corridor Mark 1 kit to the rake, which makes 4 in all out of a minimum rake of 6.  The remaining two will be Sidelines LMS Period III coaches.  Expect an update soon on progress with the Sidelines Kitchen Car.

Yes, Wenlock, they are huge compared with 4mm, using a lot more materials to produce the same effect.  Though I must say I do prefer the larger scale as I can see things!

Progress is going quite well, the architecture tends to evolve from day to day with constant references to my various resources in print.

Re. the Finecast chassis, I am sure Dave Ellis would sell you the brass frames, etc. to replace the white metal chassis.  He is usually very helpful with such matters.  I did much the same with a 1960s Wills Finecast King though I will have to admit that I have not progressed very far with it, 7mm scale having "taken over".

Yes, brilliant is a good description!  Thank you for such inspiring posts.

Paul

I just checked the supply of TCS mini connectors as this seems to be something I should have more of in my spares box.  But they cost £8.30 each in the UK and that's far more than I paid for the two I just used.  A different source may be needed!

That looks very nice indeed.  You have earned that "longish lay down".

My experience with brass boiler bands is far more positive than I had expected at the outset.  One thought would be to use a lower melt solder paste if you go the brass route.  That brass boiler does look as though it would need a lot of heat to sweat the brass bands onto it.  Which may be why Slaters provide plastic bands as an alternative?