Guy Rixon

This other thread has some details: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2511-ratio-lnwr-wagon-kits/

Would you be interested in doing these in 4mm scale?

The moulding depressions on the inside of the sides can be filled easily enough and the plank gaps re-cut. I use Humbrol model filler for this. If one was motivated to improve the inside, it would be good to represent the side knees - i.e. the structural brackets holding the side planks to the underframe. There would be a knee either side of the door, lining up with the washer plates on the outside. They would be L-shaped iron brackets, with the vertical leg visible and the horizontal leg hidden under the floor planks. There was, presumably, some ironwork on the inside in line with the corner plates, but I don't know how the Midland arranged this..

Pre-grouping railways had more open wagons than vans and the proportion of vans increased with time. IIRC, the ordinary vans, excluding specials like meat vans, were about a third of the wagon fleet in the 1930s and about half the fleet in the 1960s. I'd guess about 5-10% vans around 1900. Therefore, pre-WW1, almost anything that moved in an unfitted train would be in an open wagon; but anything that could possibly be damaged by weather would be sheeted over. The sheets were also used to restrain loose loads and may have helped avoid pilfering. The oil barrels might even have been sheeted to ward off sparks from the locos. Inventing loads that don't need sheeting is fairly taxing. I'm planning to run quite a few wagons of building materials, given that my location (London) saw much development in my period (c. 1908). I'll have bricks, roofing slates (Cambrian Railways wagons), roofing beams (on bolsters), stone setts for paving the roads (in the PO wagons of the quarries, possibly from Clee Hill) and probably some building stone (1-plank wagons, either PO or railway owned). Cement may also feature, but that did travel in vans.

Much coverage of Windows 10 on this site: http://www.theregister.co.uk/. The consensus seems to be that you shouldn't use it yet - it's still broken and urgent fixes will be around soon. If you do need/want to try it now, don't install with Microsoft Update as that is very broken; instead, download an ISO image and install from that. (And if you don't know what an ISO image is, I'd suggest waiting until they get it working from Microsoft Update).

If you did a Humber keel in 2mm scale I'd buy one, possibly two. I'd prefer 1:152 but British N scale would do.

Presumably you mean the 10-ton mineral wagon to the RCH's spec c. 1907? If so, then I second that. For me, "definitive" would mean that the body was the right length and width; that the exterior detail was accurate for one of the major wagon-works; that the interior was fully modelled with proper planks, ironwork and bottom doors; that it was available in end-door and no-end-door variants; and that a range of pre-printed liveries was available, either from the original manufacturer or from a 3rd-party. I'm less worried about the running gear as I'd be replacing that anyway. If the wagon was good on the outside but one still had to model the interior, it would be less attractive as we can already get such wagons as kits from POWsides. If it was accurately detailed inside and out but the livery had to be done as transfers, then that also would be less attractive as we can already that from Cambrian.

It's a couple of thousand pounds now for a 40ft box from China to Europe (according to my neighbour, who, until this year, imported goods from Chinese factories). £200 per box is a last-decade price at best.

An Antex XS25 is a decent iron and not too expensive. You need a stand for it, but they're cheap; you don't have to buy the Antex one. You don't need an expensive soldering station for most work and you don't need a 50W iron for working in thin metal.