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

Ha! reminds me of bottle of pop in cardboard crates. Good idea and I can work to that, thanks. The layout will be a city setting with building and tarmac or cobbled roads and pavings etc. Mike

Hello again Robert, I like that idea of using cardboard formers. I am a bit of a hoarder, as is my wife, and we still have the cardboard boxes that we used to move to the house we now live in. They are thicker than that cereal boxes and I'm sure would be sturdy and light when laminated together. Thanks for that suggestion. The other suggestions are also worth a look and I shall give them a try. I have a small piece of spare plywood that I could have to practice with. cheers, Mike

Hello Chris, I hadn't considered expanded polystyrene as a supporting frame, that is interesting and could look into that. cheers, Mike

Hi Jeff, A good point and not rude at all, perhaps I should have explained myself better. After all my outgoings, my pension has a little left which I can use for my modelling but I have to be circumspect on what that goes on. I have found previously that, when asking for advice, there is a tendency for people to recommend this book or that which sometimes only has a minute amount of detail on the subject required. I'm not against buying books, in fact I have just bought three on the recommendation from a previous query and, again, only about three pages helped with my query. The cost of books impacts on what is left of my budget, for buying the wood, tracks and all other elements required to make a layout. Where possible, I shall try to re-use materials from previous, non-railway, modelling setups; I am currently saving loads of cereal boxes in order to make card buildings and structures with them etc. Before retiring, I would have no hesitation to go out and buy everything that was recommended but, now, I have to be more minimalist in my approach to this. As such, I am looking to advice on how to go about it by asking those who have done it before "how did they do it?". cheers, Mike

Hi Robert, as to the size, I was just generalising; I don't think it matters at this stage what the size will be, although I shall edit my post to just feet and inches for now. It is just the principle of how to go about building up the framework to lay upon the baseboard that I am keen to know about. I would like it to be lightweight but sturdy. As to the track, that will be level throughout; therefore, the ground will be measured upwards from the track base. cheers, Mike

Hello all, I am planning my first layout, it will be 2mm/N gauge and approximately 2.4m x 1.2m. The surface above track level undulates between 1mm and 100mm; however, the gradients do not take a uniform slope but dips and peaks in various places, north to south and east to west. I have worked out the scale heights, including distances between them, and I just need to learn what would be the best way to make some form of lightweight framework. Can anyone please advise me how best to make up the framework for such a layout? I cannot afford to go buying books on the subject, if such exist, so perhaps someone could provide advice or links to online tutorials or other useful sites? Thank you in anticipation. Mike

Hello all, I am still struggling continuing with my build of the Queens Hotel at New St Station; however, the book I ordered over a week ago has not arrived yet. Evidently it has a chapter on the hotel plus a floorplan. Whilst waiting in the meantime, I have started doing some research on the canopy over the Midland section of the station. This one survived after the war and wasn't demolished until after 1963; therefore, well within the time scope for my build. Unfortunately, I have already hit a problem in that I cannot find any dimensions for these canopies, which occupied the southern half of the station. There's plenty of information on the large LNWR canopy, on the north side, including width and length but that was demolished, due to bomb damage, either during the war or soon after and, therefore, out of scope for me. This image shows the canopies on the southern side of the station. Does anyone have any information on what width and height these canopies were please? Also, if possible, what would the regulation distances for each supporting pillar be? photos source: warwickshirerailways cheers, Mike

Hello Ayjay, The future may sound somewhat daunting; however, it could also be the best thing that happens. I have been retired over 10 years and, like you, I loved my last job in I.T. but I like retirement even better. One interesting element that I found almost immediately on retirement, that is how quickly work colleagues forget you. Over the years, I have found that there seems to be two main types of retirees: the get-up-and-go and the what-shall-I-do-now types. Other members might tell you that they have never been busier, or happier, since retirement and this is also true with me. Personally, I would recommend a complete break from past employment attachments; it can be quite a tie and any beneifts aren't worth it. My wife and I were quite specific about this, we even moved house and also bought a nice large shed for my modelling. We each have different spaces within the house, I have a small mancave for computing and modelling (on cold or inclement days) and she has a section of the lounge for her hobbies. As to routines on retirement, we still keep to similar routines; getting up as early as is manageable, shower and breakfast as normal but then, instead of setting off for work we each set to getting the days utilities out of the way before going to our individual hobbies or meeting friends for coffee etc. How to encapsulate retirement in a sentence? Don't linger in the past, put work and associated elements behind you and look to the future with gusto! Mike

Thanks Keith, I have found a copy online and placed an order for it. cheers, Mike

Hello Keith, which book series is that; also, would you know which number/copy the floor plans of the Queens Hotel are in? cheers, Mike