Chas Levin

That's very interesting too Jon, thank you: I've thought about pieces of stone... Doesn't it act as a bit of a heatsink? I've also tried a sort of stand, with a thin piece some kind of stone-like material on a board base (and with aluminium clips on arms to hold workpieces, but that's not relevant here) and the stone-like surface, whatever it is, did act as a heatsink which is largely why I stopped using it. It even felt very cold to the touch: is granite better, from a heatsink point of view?

Wow - there are so many different things out there, aren't there? Thanks Rich - is that a flexible mat, like a normal cutting mat? I can't tell from the Ebay listing. Doesit stop heat going through it and heating whatever surface the mat is resting on? Clearly it's going to me dust-free though, I guess?

Interesting, Mick, thank you: that looks similar to the white one I tried but it must be a different type because mine was so dusty!

Ok, gradually getting back in the saddle after weeks of other things having to take precedence but amongst other things, I do now have a much better working space. So, to the Sentinel body. As @Jon4470 pointed out, there are internal partitions of course. How had I forgotten about them? Well, I have a habit of boxing up parts of an ongoing build to guard against losing them while I'm working no some other area and that's fine, but... sometimes, I forget that there are other part in other boxes!! I've half a mind to use the two white-metal partitions that are part of the original Nu-Cast kit with which I started, if nothing else for their weight, but your suggestion Jon of starting with them as fixed width guides means I suspect that I'd be better off cutting my own out of thick brass, as they'll be more accurate. In fact, while I was up at the NRM recently doing some research, I also asked to view a pair of diagrams of the Sentinels which give quite detailed outlines of the profile so I intend reducing one of those down to 4mm scale and using that to cut templates. There are also two end fold-ups that come as part of the Worsley Works etches, that will form very useful end points I think: I'm inclined to agree, Rich @Bucoops that a five sided box that detaches from the chassis is the best bet. This does highlight some aspects of the differences between a full kit build and an 'assisted scratchbuild' though. I'm used to relying on instructions and even though I know this is quite a simple box, it's still taxing my ingenuity a little at the moment. I'd hoped to keep the sides attached to their surrounding etch pieces for as long as possible, because they have no bottom pieces in the doorways and will therefore be quite flimsy, but I'm at the point where I need to assess dimensions and joining points without those surrounding pieces in the way, so I soldered a piece of scrap etch across each set of doorways to keep things straight once they're snipped free; I'm not hugely keen on doing this as I've had occasional issue de-soldering delicate parts but there seems no other option and it'll be good practice: Underneath the etches you can see one of those honeycombed ceramic soldering blocks or panels, which I'm trying out. I tried a plain, solid white one before and that was very powdery, leaving a white coating on anything it touched - including my bench and my fingers! This one's a lot better but still sheds a little residue and I need to find something to fix it to that'll serve as a base so I don't have to keep cleaning up whatever it's been sitting on - the current piece of cardboard is temporary... It certainly avoids acting as a heatsink, or releasing anything that marks the workpiece, as wood sometimes does; neither does it seem to mind phosphoric acid flux... What do other people use please, and am I the only one to find the powdery residue annoying?

Morning Tony, I'd have to agree with @davidw's post that it's a fascinating set of pictures and that in a visual comparison each team's players stand up very well. Equally fascinating to read that only the Heljan 02/3 matches kit-built pulling power... Well done Heljan! I also see lots of small differences between the RTR and kit versions, in the way of chimney shapes, domes, boiler outlines etc; I'm nowhere near expert enough to know whether these reflect genuine prototype differences or whether some are more accurate than others. Probably a can of worms, but interesting nonetheless...

Who cares about sanity with results like these? 🤪 Top notch stuff Sir...

I was sitting down; I still fell over 😬.

That's very interesting Rob; likewise I've been troubled by lead fixing methods and thought solder better than glue where possible, but mechanical fixing is better still. My first builds were araldited, then moving to solder and now, a combination of solder and/or mechanical.

Morning John, what a coincidence: this is the second kit in a row on this thread that I too have, and I only have a very few K's kits! Nice job you've done there - I will make a note for when I come to build mine. The kit I have is a set, with the loco and two 4-wheel carriages, all in the same box: is yours like that too?

Morning Rodney, yes, my kit has the same deformity: So I too will be adding someone else's underframe. Not a problem, as I'm currently building my first sprung wagon and I'm keen to try more...

Very pleased to see this: I have one in the pile, positioned towards the front (i.e. I actusally do intend building it quite soon!). With old kits, it's always encouraging to see someone make a really good job of it to modern standards - shows what can be done!

Excellent: always good to get something moving under its own steam!

Happy anniversary; unhappy wagon 🥲.

Nice work Nick, following with interest. Always good to go from undernourished to 'fat boy'! 😄

That is just superb, Rob: my favourite bit of modelling so far this year!

That sounds like another welcome opportunity Graeme to celebrate the wonderful diversity of human behaviour... with perhaps some diverse language too!

Thanks Mike and Rowan, nice to be able to narrow it down to a year or two with accuracy: so many photos are so difficult to date.

One of the great questions of the Modern Modelling Age: to what extent should we worry about ever so slightly less than perfect things which won't be visible once the model's completed, but which we shall know are there?

Similarly Tony, my wife is always telling me I'm too backward in coming forward: noted for next time and thank you! Yes, it was definitely more of a modellers' show, more kits and demos, fewer box-shifters - no disrespect intended, the only item I actually bought was RTR...

John Redrup is always exceedingly helpful and happy to supply parts where he can so I'd suggest asking if he can do so in this case...

Good morning Tony, I was at York too, for the first time, and stopped by your table a few times to say hello in person, but you were deep in a very long conversation with two gents and we had to leave before you'd finished, though to be fair, we didn't find your spot until we'd already been round the upper floors, having started at the top! It was a very busy show (this was the Saturday morning) and with a greater sense of bustle and excitement than the recent Ally Pally one, we thought. It also seemed to have stands - trade, demo, trader, Society and whatever else) crammed into every available spot in the building, again in some contrast to Ally Pally, where we thought there were fewer stands than last year. It was quite heartening, especially in view of recent conversations about the state of the hobby. Was it unusually busy for this venue? Is it by any chance a bit of a North/South thing? I've no view or agenda in asking that (I live in London), just that it occurred to me and I wondered what others thought... Nice Restaurant Car there - is that your ex-GCR resin one?

That's a very neat system - I've used it and it looks good, the brake gear slips off easily but it kept in place securely 👍

Is it perhaps an older title they no longer stock?

Very interesting Jon: you're the first person 've spoken to who has used Chat GPT for something genuinely useful and who has spoken positively about it!

Very good place to post it in Jon IMHO! I was at the york show on Saturday - pity we weren't there on the same day! I saw the NERA stand and scanned the titles out on the table but I didn't see this one (or perhaps they didn't have it out that day) as I'd have picked it up too! I'd share your interest in the wider background of these vehicles. I often 'read around' something I'm building and have read some other books on the Sentinel company too. I take it though that there's nothing that might be of direct use for modelling purposes? Very interesting point about the lack of back-up data. Is there no chance that they had obtained the data, but just hadn't included it in the report? Why has business report preparation changed so much - why is there pressure to obtain (or present) so much more data than before, do you think?