Royal42

Hi Tony, yes, I used to travel with a funfair, Bob Wilsons of Birmingham, and my boss had two Matadors. I was thinking more of general stuff that wouldn't have looked out of place on the high street etc. cheers, Mike

I am looking for ideas on placing ex WD vehicles in postwar civilian settings. There are the obvious types, such as the AEC Matador and Bedford O series but what about others, especially smaller vehicles? These views appear to show ex WD vehicles at the GPO sorting office in Birmingham. Also, I understand that Austin tilly's were used commercially but I haven't been able to find any photos of them in civilian use. I would be grateful to hear about any such vehicles in civilian use postwar, even better with photos showing liveries etc. cheers, Mike

Can anyone please help in my search for a model of a Michigan 75DS tractor, by Rosencombe Replicas? If not, does anyone know of any kit of this, or a Michigan 175DS tractor? Scale not necessarily a problem, as I could measure it and scratchbuild another to scale if necessary. cheers, Mike

Hello drduncan, Apologies for not responding sooner, I had been distracted by family issues. I use Inkscape for drawing up the files for cutting. It is free and fairly easy to use. The cutter I have is a Silver Bullet but I believe any of the other types, such as Cricut or silhouette should be capable of doing this work. Cheers, Mike

Hello all, I am looking for advice on which mould making rubber to get next, as my current stock is running out. I currently use Sylmasta moulding rubber 380; however I'm not certain it is the best for making moulds for casting fairly thin car/coach shells etc. I have been using mine for solids until now. Before I buy fresh supplies, I thought I would ask here as to what it is deemed the best for making moulds of thin-sided items. I have heard of Tiranti and watched a tutorial video about Smooth-On but not used those. Can anyone recommend a good mould making solution for such components or do I already have the best stuff? cheers, Mike

I received the book a few weeks ago and I am very pleased with the content; thank you again for the recommendation Keith. I now have all three volumes of Richard Foster's books and have started on the Queens Hotel section of the station. I do have a query, if anyone can help with the station buildings within. The plan below shows the ground floor of the Queens Hotel, with the passage to the station platforms at the centre. Either side of the passage is a ticket/booking office; each measuring about 27ft x 12ft. One is for the LNWR and the other the Midland Railway. Can anyone help with what the external views of these offices would have looked like? I am trying to identify what the walls were made of and their colour; how many ticketing windows and where they would be positioned etc. cheers, Mike

That doesn't help with my query and the video just distracts others from helping. Mike

Many of us probably remember when Ian Allan's closed their Birmingham branch, but when did they first open there? I remember their bookshop being in Stephenson Street in my teenage years, they were situated on the same side as New Street Station, under the Pallasades just down from where the Queens Hotel was. Later, they moved across the road to the junction with Ethel Street. Does anyone know the full history of the Birmingham store? I have a little project on the go which involves the location of Ian Allans, especially if they were in Birmingham between 1950 and 1965. cheers, Mike

Thanks Julia, that is the most likely way I shall do it. Cheers Jeff, As with Julia's recommendation, I shall give it a go using card on shaped supports. Mike

Ah! the pen plotter...... tac tac tac tac tac tac tac tac tac tac tac tac tac tac tac tac tac tac My understanding is that all the cutters in the range can do the work of cutting plastic, but it would be the amount of passes (cuts) that would be needed to do the job; it's no different than cutting by hand with a modelling knife. The main benefits are accuracy and less stress on your wrists and fingers. If I have simple cuts, as with the section frames (the large V shaped pieces on my ship model) then I just make a couple of passes on the cutter and then snap the resididue away by hand. Complex stuff, involving bends and internal shapes etc., tend to need about five maybe six passes to cut through the plastic. Plasticard does need a new, sharp blade for any extensive work so there is an overhead on that. One caveat on budget brands, you invariably get what you pay for. Mike

As well as my railway stuff, I also build model ships. My largest project is an almost N Gauge (1:144 scale) scratchbuild of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal. It has been made using plasticard and all the parts, including the masts, were cut entirely on the cutter. Every single frame section is there. Plasticard thickness varied between 10 and 30 thou (0.25 and 0.75mm). Mike

Hello Jim, I have had a cutter for seven years and still use it, even though I also have a 3D printer. I use the cutter for card and plastic sheet and, like you, I do find working with styrene sheet/plasticard quite satisfying. I use Inkscape to draw the pieces, mainly as it is free software. cheers, Mike

I normally upgrade each version as it is released, have been doing that since Windows 3.1; however, having done the Windows Health Check, it appears that my PC cannot be upgraded to Win 11. I have an HP Envy, Intel i-7 quad core with 39Gb RAM but that seems not to be enough. I cannot afford to replace my PC therefore it looks as if I shall be staying with Win 10 Mike

Hello everyone, thanks for your responses on baseboards; however, I don't have any problems with that part of the layout, just the undulating shape above the baseboard. As I mentioned, the layout will be a city scape; with roads and buildings above the track level. The surface levels above the station range, in N Gauge, between 8mm and 100mm generally undulating from left to right and from rear to front. I believe Robert Stokes provided a good suggestion with cross-pieces of board or card slatted together, similar to those found in wine and mineral cases. I plan to try that first. cheers, Mike

The book has arrived and it has an excellent plan of the ground floor of the Queens Hotel. The book also has plans of the platform level below the hotel, which means that I can work out a continuous rear facia for the hotel. The Midland station is also shown at ground, first and second floor levels; there are even floor plans for various buildings on the platforms. All these will be beneficial to working out what goes where when I eventually come to that phase. As to the canopies, I found the details somewhere; but cannot remember where, that the dimensions were: Min. width = 58ft wide Max. width = 67ft wide Min. length = 600ft Max. length = 620ft Total length of platforms (Midland side?) = 2850 yards. I don't know how I could progress without those images from Warwickshirerailways, they are definitely my go-to site for this project. I have seen that image, nwrbns str130 but I cannot identify the canopy or arch girders from it. I think I can see them now! Thanks all for your responses, I do appreciate it very much. cheers, Mike