cctransuk

.... and you really can't see the virtually identical colour tone / shade between the bodysides and the battery-box? Regards, John Isherwood.

REALLY ????? If that battery box is black - I'm a Dutchman !! Regards, John Isherwood.

I had wondered about Type H containers - this form of loading them, if that's what they are - is interesting though, and almost demands modelling. Any futher opinions / information would be welcomed. Regards, John Isherwood.

Ignoring the loco in the foreground - can anyone identify the containers that are loaded three to what appear to be PLATE wagons? This is a loading arrangement that I have not come across before. Regards, John Isherwood.

With reference to Rob's photos; last time there was some objections raised to his clogging threads with his 'photo manipulations', he agreed to open a thread specifically for that purpose; if he did so, he has sadly lapsed again. If, as he has contended, his images can stand on their own merits, a dedicated thread is the ideal solution. Those interested in his output can 'Follow' the thread; those who are not can 'Ignore' the thread; (as I do). As things stand, I cannot get away from the impression that Rob is taking every possible opportunity, in every slightly relevant thread, to announce to the membership "Look what I did"! This would be fine if the images were of models that he had built / enhanced, but they are not. This is a railway modelling forum, not one for photo manipulation. .... and yes, I am aware of Rob's disabilities. Regards, John Isherwood.

Sorry, the overwhelming evidence is to the contrary. ALL as-delivered colour photos that I've seen show, without a shadow of doubt, green battery boxes. NOTE TO KERNOW - Please save us the job of overpainting black battery boxes in green; (or include a tin of matching green paint in the box)! Regards, John Isherwood.

I would strongly recommend that you purchase a set of cutting broaches - do an ebay search on "cutting broaches set". You don't need anything too expensive - this looks OK :- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SET-OF-10-CLOCK-CUTTING-BROACHES-SET-0-9-4mm-FOR-BUSHING-SERVICE-REPAIRS/360554497317?hash=item53f2b90525:g:BboAAMXQ~6VQ5svn Regards, John Isherwood.

Nile, The Super Deluxe ones that I have are threaded the full length of the pin, and come with top-hat shaped threaded bushes. The smaller diameter part of the bush is 1.5 - 1.6mm. diameter to fit through the rod, and the larger diameter retains the rod and is slotted on its edges to fit the Romford screwdriver. The bushes are screwed down tight against the flange of the crankpin, and the surplus threaded pin is cut and filed flush to the bush; no soldering is required. There would appear to be at least two lengths of bushes - short for single etch rods, and longer for double laminated rods. The downside it that some etched rods are too slim to take the larger bush diameter of 1.5 - 1.6mm. Regards, John Isherwood.

Nope. 1.5mm., then opened out with a broach to 1.6mm. for clearance for the top-hat threaded securing bushes. 1.0mm. is for the bog-standard Romford / Markits plain crankpins. 1.6mm. can be VERY tight in some etched coupling rods. Regards, John Isherwood.

What you need are very fine, pointed tweezers such as https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Rolson-Number-Seven-Stainless-Steel-Tweezers/1028412158 . Grip the pick-up where it leaves the chassis and GENTLY bend it outwards towards the wheel back. This will increase the contact pressure of the pick-up. Regards, John Isherwood.

Looks like the RH end of the centre vehicle in the triplet set would benefit from a spacing washer on the bogie pivot. Regards, John Isherwood.

You don't specify the type or make of transfers - I can only advise on the waterslide type. Lay the dry transfer / backing paper on the model, along the line of it's final position, but approximately 10 mm. to the right. Apply plenty of water to the transfer / backing paper, so that it forms a puddle under and around it. Leave this for as long as it takes for the transfer to become free of the backing paper, but NOT floating on the water. At this point, gently slide the transfer to the left, off the backing paper, until the end is in its final position. Then, anchor the free end with a finger of your left hand, and VERY GENTLY pull the backing paper, to the right, from beneath the transfer. Don't both to try and get the transfer to conform to detail at this stage - just let it span hinges, door handles, ventilators, etc. As the transfer will be under light tension, it should come off the backing paper in a straight line, and you can carefully adjust the pull, up or down, to keep it aligned. Any final adjustment to the alignment can be maded with a damp brush. Allow the transfer to dry full before applying an decal softening solution. The essential point is to slide the backing paper from beneath the transfer, rather than sliding the transfer off the backing paper. Regards, John Isherwood, Cambridge Custom Transfers. https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm

There is a typo in the symbols chart; the last one - T - is for 1956, not 1957. Regards, John Isherwood.

Try a Google search on "british railways wagon books" - that'll keep you occupied for a while. I do think that your project is perhaps a little ambitious for someone with no personal knowledge of 1950s / 60s British Railways, and little or no access to printed reference material. Regards, John Isherwood.

You really need to do a lot of research into this subject - by that, I mean reading books and studying websites. Your knowledge of BR-era wagon markings is clearly pretty basic, and I would respectfully suggest that simply asking a myriad of questions on a group such as this is not a reasonable approach to acquiring the depth of knowledge that you seek. I have been interested in BR wagons for in excess of fifty years, and in that time I have spent a LOT of money on specialist wagon books, and innumerable hours reading specialist websites and records. Whilst this group is intended for modellers to share knowledge, it is not unreasonable to expect seekers after detailed knowledge to invest some time and money in their research. A font identifer is all very well in today's technology, but what exactly have you learned from it - that the personal style of painter Fred Bloggs is something like computer font XYZ? If you are really serious about this line of study, a pre-arranged visit to the NRM (aka TRM) to consult their wagon markings records is an essential first step. I suspect, (though I may be wholly incorrect), that you are seeking to reproduce 1950s / 60s wagon lettering using modern IT methods; hopefully by using readily available computer fonts. If this is the case, I'm afraid that you will be disappointed - an awful lot of digital drawing will be involved, as I can assert from much personal experience. Regards, John Isherwood.

Easily done ! I am currently assembling Comet etched chassis for three Airfix 4Fs; Comet coupling rods are quite substantial - two layers of thickish nickel silver. Nonetheless, having soldered up the first set of rods; (rigid, in the best Tony Wright fashion); I then set to opening out the crankpin holes with a broach. The rods are etched with 1.0mm. holes; Markits' deluxe crankpins, (the threaded ones), require 1.5mm. holes. Broaching the holes raised burrs on the outside faces of the rods and, I discovered, BETWEEN the rod laminations, to the extent that the soldered joint failed locally. That was fun to sort out - NOT. That was yesterday - today I tried a different approach with the second set of rods, and opened up the holes to 1.4mm with successively larger drills, in 0.1mm. steps, to 1.4mm. I then soldered the laminations together, and only then did I use the broach to open up the last bit to 1.5mm. Opening up holes with drills goes against the grain, but going from 1.0mm. to 1.5mm. using just a broach was just not on. Markits' deluxe crankpins are very nice, and do away with the need to solder rod retainers, but they do require largish holes in substantial rods. Regards, John Isherwood.

Did not Heljan start out as a producer of plastic kits? Perhaps the policy of providing as many parts as possible for the modeller to assemble has misguidedly carried over into their RTR(?) operation? Regards, John Isherwood.

Those will be the magazines that don't / won't in future be carrying Heljan advertisements, I presume? Regards, John Isherwood.

Ron, The best advice that I can give is for you to beg / borrow / purchase as many wagon photo books as possible, and to visit as many on-line wagon photo sites as you can find. These will indicate that, whilst there were definite trends, the actuality bore very little resemblance to the theory. Regards, John Isherwood.

Judging by the buffers and roof profile, this particular vehicle is a converted GWR bogie SIPHON. Regards, John Isherwood.

You're going to drive yourself nuts with this. You simply cannot put an identification on wagon lettering - right up to the end of Gill Sans - because the vast majority was hand painted. There were as many variants as there were wagon painters. They had a working knowledge of what to paint, and a general idea of where to paint it; they may even have known (or not?) what Gill Sans was meant to look like. Beyond that, if the information painted was correct and legible - who cared? What did you do if the necessary lettering would not fit - at the prescribed size - into the space available? You squashed it up - or as you phrase it, 'compressed' it. What did you do if you'd spent the last thirty-odd years lettering wagons in the LMS block style - change to Gill Sans overnight and decimate your work output (piece-rate?)? Nope, you carried on regardless; perhaps just amending what information was put where, if necessary. One thing that you learn when designing wagon transfers from prototype photos is that, whilst you may know what the BR prescribed way of doing it was - very few wagon painters either knew or cared !! Regards, John Isherwood. https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm

Fresh from its final overhaul, 10203 displays twin horns in place of the whistles, additional cab roof ventilators, small yellow warning panels; grey roof, overhead live wire plaques and shedplates; (plus Peco / Hornby Dublo couplings). Regards, John Isherwood.

BR 1/246 banana van. Regards, John Isherwood.

Firstly, fonts didn't exist in the 1950s / 60s - there were what I believed may have been called typefaces or letterforms Gill Sans - the BR version was of a medium weight which does not match any of the currently available Gill Sans computer fonts - I had to design a BR Gill Sans font from examples of BR lettering / numbering before I could design transfers for BR liveries. Lettering / numbering was applied in numerous ways, from transfers, through stencils, to freehand painting by unskilled staff - no wonder there were so many apparent variations. If you intend to study / categorise the styles of lettering / numbering used by BR you will have a lifetime task - though rules and guidelines existed, practicality and the available resources dictated the actual outcome. When designing my transfers, I try and incorporate some of these variations in order to add authenticity to the products. Regards, John Isherwood. https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm

If it's a Dapol release - it's pretty certain to be pure make-believe. They have no conscience, but if it sells .................. !! Regards, John Isherwood.