Tetarch60

In my forty odd year career on the Railway, ballast that was seen/handled/off loaded out of wagons: red,pink,green,grey and silvery black. this depended on wether it was granite,slag from an iron works or loco ashes. So there is scope for varying the colour of track ballast on a model.

jwealleans The J17 kit sold by PDK, is that the same as the Crownline one you mentioned?

Have you tried advertising in the wanted section of the GOG Gazette advertisement section? Give it a try you may find what you need. Depending on the kit,£300 to £450 perhaps. The latest price for a new kit from MM1 on their website is today (18/07/19) £699.

Have you looked into using the Dave Bradwell J39 chassis kit as this apparently has all these linkages included in the kit. Can be built rigid if you so desire.

I was surprised how quickly you built the Finney A4. The photos Show really good workmanship.This also proves that before commissioning someone to build a model for you a great deal of research into who can build what for the budget you have needs to be done.

Tony, the reason i chose the name is nobody else is using it, a Hornby A3 I have will soon be renamed and renumbered to 60113. this is to suit my personal modelling needs. Since my "modellers" licence is some fifty years old it was about time it was used. A P1 kit from PDK may well end up in BR livery with maybe a double chimney,that decision is yet to be made.

Tony During my researches into A3's I found out that an 0 gauge loco builder charges around £15 an hour, so taking the cost of a Finney A3 0 gauge kit plus Wheels, Tender,motor and gearbox the total cost of the build is around £3500. As for 4mm RTR manufactures getting valve gear wrong, what is annoying is getting the return crank lean wrong, when running the engine doesn't look right. Even Golden Age Models with their expensive brass Eastern Region BR pacifics have got the return crank lean wrong on the Peppercorn A1 and A2s. In 0 gauge these cost around the £3000 pound mark. It seems these days nobody cares about the small details anymore. As the late David Jenkinson once said " It is the small details that make or break a model"and on the evidence of the last few years it certainly looks like he was right.

Thank you for the reply to my query.Does Roy Vinter make the dolly signals from kits or scratchbuild or use both mediums? Tony.

Afternoon all.Tony,that triplet set is absolutely gorgeous,a lovely rich red.how do I contact Rupert Brown to obtain some etchings to produce a similar coach set? Being one of the last luddites of this parish, how do I post any photographs onto these pages?

Morning everyone. Tony, that A5 pictured on your layout looks exquiste, proves the adage,if it looks right then it is right. Should an RTR manufactuer do an A5. I bet it won't have a flywheel drive in it but an obselete mashima motor that is not made anymore. A good kit is available from 52F.have a look on their website, some very good photos on there.

Morning everyone. Looks like there may have been a misunderstanding regarding RTR or kit building. From my needs in a model engine, a flywheel drive is a must, why? To give a momentum effect when running,also smooth out the running on less than clean track.Having seen how some US outline HO diesel and steam outline models run with a flywheel each end of the motor, this high standard is what I am looking for. Have only found it in one British out line steam outline model, that is the Hornby J15 0~6~0 locomotive.Most RTR diesels have this,Why not the steam locos? Now with the cost of RTR escalating, a kit built loco is soon going to become more cost effective,especially large GN mainline steam, Pacifics etc.

Looks very good. Surely it is by DJH and not Crownline? Pity DJH say they will not do the A2/1 in 4mm scale.Still, we can only hope.

Thank you tony for the wonderful photographs. First one is a real beaut, WOOLWINDER, first postwar A3 to be fitted with a double blast and chimney.The second one shows poor SOLARIO, unkempt and looking very uncared for, looking as if it going to it`s own funeral. Must be summer 1959 as SOLARIO was withdrawn in December 1959 to supply parts for FELSTEAD damaged in a derailment. Has Booklaw changed its way it reproduces colour pictures/slides in it`s books. Some of the ones in the Grantham book have smudged numbers and totems and look as if in some photos the colour intensity has been turned up,a similar effect like turning up the colour on an old style TV right up. Totally spoils the enjoyment. One or two pictures have appeared in previous albums and the reproduction was spot on. Has anyone else noticed this? Will there be any goods trains hauled by A3`s in your new book? Especially number one speed fully fitteds?