SHerr

“These distinctive hoppers look rather attractive in this livery too!” A HTV in an Accurascale box would look even better

I have a question/request please. I am looking at Sound options for my 2 Dapol class 29’s, I know this is very subjective as there seems to be not archive recordings of them and therefore the sound files available seem to differ somewhat. I’ve seen videos of Dapol’s own, Digitains and Roads and Rails. The first 2 have gone down the route of ‘baby HST’ with a very loud high pitched and fairly unpleasant squeal. The Roads and Rails offering is much more muted and therefore pleasant to hear and probably my choice at present . However I have not seen any videos of the Leggomanbiffo version- does anyone have a clip they can share or a link to a clip please? Im more tempted to go down the route of something I can bear listening to at the moment but interested if anyone has any long lasting memories - I’m sure if they were that unpleasant a sound there would have been anecdotal stories!

Well that answers my question from a week ago about the class 27s advertised as ‘warranty repaired’. I’m not touching those with a barge pole.

Thanks, don’t know how I’ve missed that topic!

The station building looks excellent with the cladding. I was considering the Dornoch building but wasn’t sure you could get the right board and battern embossed sheets but thankfully you’ve pointed me in the right direction. Out of interest what have you used on the roof?

I’d never noticed that before but your right. I’ve found one quite fuzzy picture in George O’Hara’s book that ‘might’ have the catcher in place but you can’t tell for sure. I suppose I had assumed that Dapol would do like Heljan and Bachmann and have it as something that you fit yourself but could be part of the reason. However, lots of pictures of all green ones with recess so still surprised that option has been omitted especially when all green is being produced on the non tablet catcher version. Just nice to see them doing this option really, I’d thought they might not have as quite a lot of 21s still seem to be unsold.

Good stuff, I’ve used a few Pop Up Designs kits and if you treat them as a base to start around you can get something quite good. The likes of Dornoch with the improved recessed windows give more depth. I’ve also used the Peco cabin - 1 bit of advice, paint the door before you complete the porch, I didn’t and you can’t have it in a different colour as you can’t get in to paint it!

Interesting idea, my current and much bigger layout concept (late 60s Scottish) started with me playing around with a similar sized board and a plan loosely based on a scaled back version of Lossiemouth. The original concept was not too dissimilar and was meant to be a small portable extra layout but ended up in me scrapping the main layout and developing the theme further! Are you setting the layout in a particular area/territory or general Scottish? Ie any pre-grouping architectural style? Good luck, will follow with interest.

Great news re tablet catcher versions, although a push I can probably just about justify one. Oddly though, no all green with tablet catcher which seems a little strange?

Thanks that’s brilliant, just what I wanted to know.

Thanks, Phillip explained it was a special decoder mainly describing the extra features being around how you drive the loco. It’s the lightning I was looking for some feedback on as if they won’t work I definitely won’t be doing it as it’s the headlight fitted 24/1 I have ordered.

Track laying is progressing quite well, between this I have slowly been building the Popup Designs Rannoch Signal cabin for Foyers. I intended to build as is apart from Slaters plasticard on the brick base, however after inspection of the parts I decided to fine tune it a little more. The new style recessed windows are a big improvement but still sit inside a 3 ply thick window frame. The Windows themselves are only 1 ply and much finer so I decided to take some brave pills and cut out the individual Windows and glue them between the posts with less recess. The results are worth the fiddling about. I have some interior detailing to fit after painting but will also make a new roof out of Wills sheets which again will give a lot finer look. results so far although plenty to do, apologies for dodgy photography.

I have a couple of questions if anyone has any experience please? I have a 24/1 on order already; 1. has anyone re-numbered a SLW class 24 and if so how easy do the numbers come off? I find a lot of recent Bachmann and even Heljan diesel numbers come off with very light stretching with either finger nail or fine end of wire leaving no visible signs which is excellent when dealing with an expensive loco (especially having gone through the paint on some older Heljan locos with low quants of thinner. I might accidentally order another one if it’s low risk of damage. 2. when I ordered my class 24/1 I spoke to Phillip Sutton re DCC and was initially surprised they didn’t offer a standard DCC fitted but no sound option. Phillip explained that due to the way you drive the loco there would have been very little difference in price between DCC and DCC Sound. Has anyone retro fitted a standard decoder and if so what is the impact? Do you loose lots of functions (ie lighting) or just drives more like a normal DCC product from elsewhere? Many Thanks in advance, I’ve currently ordered as DC but really need DCC so tying to work out whether to go sound as I will then have to fit it to 10-15 other locos!

Olivia’s are currently advertising a number of Class 27s as ‘warranty repaired’ - most recent batch of locos at £102 vs £130 for the normal product. There seem to be quite a few so seem like a batch they have had from Heljan rather than their own returns (but could be wrong) Does anyone have any experience of these? No description of what the repair is so presumably could be anything from bending a contact strip to full PCB issues and anything in between. Actual experience of the described items (ie warranty repaired) please rather than general views on Olivia’s which I know can vary.

Brilliant, thanks for sharing. Usual case of knowing where to look, there’s more on here than everywhere else I have tried to Google!

To my mind if we are talking about stealing from under Hornbys noses ( and from a D&E perspective why not as Hornby have displayed only minimal regard over the last 30 years plus to this area) then surely the most prosperous picking is the class 31? Hornby have missed so many opportunities here that the model deserves a good airing of Accurascale detail and variations. never had :- 31/1 refurbished BR blue, orig Railfreight and only 1 run of each headcode version of red stripe. 31/4 blue - plus other liveries (mainline?) lots of versions that are staple 70s, 80s and 90s that have only had a couple of runs and all those Mazak repaired models waiting for a new version. To my mind this has the most commercial opportunity of the lot and would complement the 37 very well.

Apologies for gate crashing this thread, but does anyone have any photos of the insides of the WHL cabins please? ie various equipment, levers, desks, stoves etc. I am currently using the Pop Up designs kit as a basis of a cabin but looking to enhance the detail etc and obviously with the design of these the insides are quite visible. Many Thanks

I have managed some meaningful progress over the last week or so. Firstly, I have completed to woodwork/baseboards for the Inverness/Lochend end fiddle yard and managed to fit beyond the loft hatch so I don't have to worry about a lift/fold out section which I was hoping for but wasn't convinced it would work. Also more work around the Lochend track plan which I still wasn't fully happy with but couldn't quite figure out why. I chance posting on the fabulous Kinlochmore layout gave me a bit of a eureka moment realising that I was just trying to get too much in. I have scaled the station back to 1 platform and a loop that is used for freight services, also I have reduced some of the sidings. I have also moved the distillery buildings back to the scenic break so that whilst some sidings are 'on scene' the main grain siding is shunted off scene which allows a bit move interest and a more spacious feel. The updated plan is below. Continuing the Lochend work, my theory is that the Highland Railway under the joint railway agreement built the Inverness to Lochend section so have duly treated myself to the lovely Peco HR Signal cabin. Finally some progress on the scenic section, I had a dilemma that the Lochend baseboards were lower that the Foyers boards mainly down to the fact that they were always intended to be 2 separate layouts. I wasn't fancying reworking these and decided to go with a gradient using the Woodland scenics 2% inclines. These have now been marked out using Tracksetta 30" radius curve and glued in place along with a bridge that will allow a Kyle line style loch inlet with Loch Ness behind. Hopefully the incline will allow a good bit of thrash up the hill from the sound fitted loco's.

Hope everything is ok after storage, if it helps with your mojo seeing a post on Crinan reappear has made my day. I find the more Scottish layout posts on RMWeb, the more interest I have in modelling!

Thanks, that’s interesting- I wouldn’t have thought of them for ballast/gravel.

Out of interest, what have you used for the river bank stones/rocks? the size and mixture looks just right.

Looking fantastic- the way the grassland blends into the back scene is superb. I now need to get my act together!

Brilliant news. Not sure why I even doubted anything else!

One question I do have around the Scottish 37’s and apologies if the answer is buried in 53 pages. What is the intention re snowploughs? Are there going to be options for those that use couplings/NEM sockets? It’s a big frustration that for the large majority who use couplings that you can’t fit the ploughs with only the original Baccy ones and VI Trains that had the option. It would be a great to at least be able to have the outers in place even if sold as a separate item.

Well I’ve got 37043 on order so I’m just waiting for the Scottish headlight fitted centre head code 37/0s to be announced to keep it company. IS and ED versions and I’ll be buying a few!