neilkirby

On my west country it was just stuck down with quite a brittle glue, one twist with the end of a jewellers screwdriver and it was straight off. Usual disclaimer though, yours might not. I had two Maunsell brake coaches that came in the same pack that I wanted to strip down for repainting, on the first one, the windows popped straight out, the second one took hours of fiddling and cursing. and broke between windows. I consider myself lucky that none of the cracks went across the visable areas! Neil

I have seen a 3d printer that can 'Print' metal. Ok, it was for the US army and on the back of a lorry, it worked by firing tiny blobs of molten metal to make the basic shape which when finished looked much like a casting, it was then CNC machined to finish much as you would with a real casting. The idea is that they will be able to make any parts for vehicles etc in theatre, rather than have a long logistical supply chain. IIRC there is a video of this on youtube somewhere. But I cannot see one being on my workbench any time soon! Neil

Hi, I have no horse in this race, but just cannot see how this plan can possibly work, (at least without a Crystal Ball!). According the above Kernow, are below the 75K limit, but just say that by the end of the tax year, due to the extra tax on the likes of Hatton's & RoS, their sales peak at 76K do they then contact all their customers asking for the extra tax. Conversely should Hatton's Australian sales fall below the limit as their customers have been going to non- tax smaller competitors, will they be sending part refunds? Also the tables will be turned the following year, and things could see-saw on into the future. Neil

Just had my 'Great Western' 47xx delivered, But as at work, not been able to do a full inspection. But through the plastic packing everything appears to be in place. Out of interest can anyone tell me if the packaging is the same as the earlier batches which had the problems with arriving damaged? Neil

Just had an email from RoS telling me that my 'Great Western' one is on it's way. Neil

Hi, As I posted the half-built pictures on this thread I thought I might post a couple of the finished article: Neil

Hi, I have changed the title of this post because finally nearly 20 years after I started this project, I am calling this done! Ok for the vast majority of this time it sat on a shelf as an empty shell, with just the brick part, and the frame of the cabin built, It stalled because I could not work out what was going on under the stairs landing. but at the tail end of last year I pushed on past this and done the best i could on what information I had available. It was the same with the paint job, but with no further information or photos available, I just painted in the standard scheme. There are plenty of photos taken after the major refurbishment of 1956, are they very scarce earlier than that. No doubt this post will no bring a glut of photos! First a front view Three quarter view: Rear Three quarter, you can just make out the toilet through the open door : Stairs with 'Kath' Looking out the window: And my favourite view, where I tried to replicate the angle of many well know photos: I know it's not a perfect model, but I learnt a lot. I may well change the chimney cowl at some point, if i can find or make a new one with more of a taper. Also these photos have shown up that the paint on the top of the front windows needs some work. but on the whole I am just pleased to get it finished at last. Neil

Does anyone Know when the other liveries will be arriving? Regards, Neil

Radstock S&D is my long term plan. Inspired originally by Ivo Peters books in the 80's. Exotic mix of locomotives & stock, Station Shed and yard in a fairly compact design. My dad was on the LMS, and my grandad on the LSWR & Southern, so what's not to like? Funny enough I remember my dad telling me to model the S&D long before I saw Ivo's books. but I wanted GWR, as influenced by my Swindon mad uncle on my mum's side. I have now been to Radstock numerous times just to visit the museum,and have a general look around even though practically nothing survives. Neil

There was also a 6 page article titled 'Coaching Stock on the S&D in BR days' in Backtrack April 1995. (Numerous copies are available on Ebay) Neil PS Radstock is what I intend to build. . . . One day

No expert, but you might get some of what you are after here: http://www.matadormodels.co.uk/76B%20PWB/lists%20PWV%20page%201.htm Neil

I have the Djh large boiler version, as well as the Bachmann small boilered version, and a Bachmann small boilered version modified into the large boilered type, and certianly the DJH version is very under nourished for what it is supposed to be, and looks closer to a small boiler than the large. Neil

Love the sideways bricks on the chimney, I wonder what went on there? Neil

I have recently had a go at some of these for a test, and have slipped offcut pieces of wire insulation over the dropper, then slid one leg of the staple under it before applying the glue, seems to work for now, but only time will tell longer term. Neil

Thanks for all the advice, from which I have gone with early emblem with No lining, cost me a bit though. I bought the loco profile book and supplement and realised my Hornby black 5 was the wrong version, so got another 2nd hañď one

Done some more work on this today, it's getting there:

I see this has now docked at Southampton, and the Ship, the MOL Truimph is currently the largest container ship built, carrying over 20,000 containers. What's the betting that ours is the bottom of the pile? Edit: I fibbed, it's not in Southhampton, it's still in Tangiers. I just looked at the map and saw it was in port without checking which port! Neil

Page 99 on mine, I believe it is a first edition (Black edge dust jacket 1986). The revised edition has a blue edged dust jacket, I thought revised versions normally add extra content, not take it away!

Hi, It's in 'The Somerset & Dorset, then & now' by Max Hawkins, I've looked through all my books but still havent found the other one. In my head it is one of only a couple of colour shots in a mainly black and white book, maybe back cover or title page. I've either lost a book, or more likely going mad! Neil

Hi, Just spent a while looking through my books, but could only find this one, Sure I have seen another which is more of a close up

Hi, I have seen at least one colour photo in published books I have, but that is again after the refurbishment, during which I am assuming the cabin was repainted. The base is red brick, I intend to leave the basic colour, but will use a pigments brushed into the gaps for mortar, a few bricks painted slightly different colours, gunge it up a bit with some dark grey and black applied with a small piece of sponge and some more misted on with an airbrush. I will be using acrylics only though, the reason being that way back when I started this project I tried some techniques using enamel washes. Then last year while sorting through the bits and pieces to continue this project I found the test piece of Wills brick sheet and it had gone very brittle, snapping under light finger pressure. so glad I did not do all the base at that time! Neil

Hi, Thank you for taking an interest. The bargeboards are scratch from evergreen strip as described above. This model has a long history. I started it about 20 years ago. and it sat as an empty shell in various places over that time. It has also been knocked to the floor twice by the cat and glued back together. I paused the build originally because I could not work out exactly what was going on under the mid platform of the stairs, there are loads of pictures available after the box was refurbished, with the porch being built (1956?), but have yet to find any clear ones from before. I had misread Chris's book and had thought that the toilet had only been built at this time. so I did not know what was there before. Only last year when re-reading did I realise that the toilet had always been there, just had different walls, that was when I restarted this project. The steps are modified bought items from EMA, they are not quite right, with too many steps, placed closer together than they should be. I think as a result of them being meant for H0? but I am going to live with that. The sides aren't deep enough either, so I added a thin piece of evergreen to both the top and bottom edges. The windows you can see are again scratch made from transparent plasticard and evergreen laid on with a not so steady hand and a lot of cursing. I have also made the facias for the roof sides, these were made from Slaters planked plasticard with holes drilled in the grooves and then a razor saw run up each groove to meet the hole. It took me about 6 goes to get two that I am reasonable happy with, they are not perfect, but not sure I could do them any better if I had another dozen tries. I will post more pictures later. I had actually done most of the top cabin windows when I started it. but over the years the transparent plasticard went yellow, so I stripped them back out. I have kept them as patterns to make new ones though. I even made the sliding ones work by sitting them in runners made of evergreen 'u' channel! Recently I have also done the interior, Including a tiny version of Kath Parker, the signal woman in the early '50s To be honest, this has become a bit obsessive. I still do not know how it was painted at the time I plan to model. If ever I am going to get my layout built I will have to compromise more, or live to about 500. Maybe I should start a thread on here, as with my conversions of 2 Bachmann 7Fs, one to 1914 build , and the other to the large boiler type. it was posting on RMWeb that encouraged me to push on to completion. Neil PS Sorry for rambling on, also sorry for hijacking the thread!

Not much help to the OP, but I have just done some for Radstock North A signal box. Made from Evergreen strip, I stuck on a photocopy from C. Handley's book on with white glue,then cut and drilled to match. Once I had the first one, I clamped it to a new piece of strip and used it as a stencil. It took me 7 goes to get 4 good ones, two of the duff ones were before I had the first good one, then the last duff one was when I got too cocky with my production line! Neil

All gone very quiet over here. Still no parcel for me, Nothing heard From KMC, and no posts here since Christmas. Anyone know what is happening with these? Neil

When I looked through the announcement yesterday, I did not look at the set numbers, just saw that the pictures showed high top windows, and thought 'move on' . Glad you have pointed that out! Neil PS. Just noticed that according to Hornby they operated in the south east, not the south west!