Yorkshire Square

Despite the plethora of RTR wagons out there, it's good to see members scratchbuilding and kitbuilding wagons. Following a long absence, the LMS Box Van (Twin Pack) kit is available again. I'm just awaiting a new price from the Sales Officer: This will build up into one vertical planked and one horizontal planked body with a choice of three different ends. Additionally, following a much shorter absence, 8 spoke wheels on 15.2mm axles are back in stock: Finally, please note that 2-460, the 5' wagon spring casting is now totally sold out and will not be replaced. If your chassis etch doesn't have axleboxes and springs in the etch, a number of standalone etches of the same are available. Thanks!

Chris The wheels are 11.0mm across faces which as you say will leave them pretty tight to Association kits; 0.625mm each side. The back to backs are c 7.5mm which seems to be pretty standard for N gauge.

Back in stock N Gauge (!?) wheels to suit Association chassis kits: 6mm 3HD available from Shop 2. 7mm disc wheels available from Shops 2 and 3 (Shop 3 has the majority of stock being mainly coaching). Both of these are now £2.20 per axle, the cost reflecting the small runs involved. The N Gauge conversion axles are still out of stock and we are awaiting a committee decision as to whether to continue stocking these. Our intrepid manufacturers (thanks Al!) advise me that PCB sleepers and sleeper strip are also back in stock in Shop 1. What'yer waiting for?

Back in stock, this handy little jig to bend the channel on the steel underframe kits: Unfortunately I am still out of 2-047 - 12.25mm axles for RP25 wheelsets. Those of you who have ordered by Paypal and not received will still be on back-order and I'll email you as soon as I have some to send you. Thanks!

Hi Edward The gauge is designed to sit the coupling on a mount 5.5mm above rail height giving a distance between rail height and bottom of buffing plate of 4.5mm. According to my measurement anyway!

Nigel (Webm I'm glad somebody does! Yes, the height gauge is available now, although it might take a while to appear on the web-page. Put a comment in your email for PayPal orders or handwrite it on cheque/card orders by snailmail.

Just a gentle reminder to everyone to email me direct with queries. I don't monitor this page, so I might not get your question for some time. General questions can be addressed to other members in the "Any Questions Answered" thread. Cheers!

It's been rather quiet in here. Mainly because I'm out of very little. However! New in shop 2, the opportunity to get your DG couplings bang on: A veritable bargain at £4.00. Just don't eat chocolate whilst using it, you may get confused!

Ketton Cement. Very attractive modern image:

Swinton. Including those long points and some very neat modelling:

An Clar. Exquisite:

Lighterman's Yard. I'm afraid I took mainly houses too!

Interesting. Certainly weathered, but I see very little black in that shot.

Never had a problem with Tortoise direct drive into a hole drilled into a PCB tie bar. From my brief experience of Cobalts, they don't stall so you need switches that have a centre off.

I'd recommend something like: http://www.polycell.co.uk/product/polycell-plaster-repair-polyfilla-ready-mixed/ I used this for the scenery on Brafferton including all of the road/yard surfaces. Unlike most plasters or groups it is relatively soft when set and can be easily carved and cleaned up. Adding a fine abrasive or dusting it when laid would give a good representation of fine ballast. It takes colouring very well be it paint, stains or powders.

I'm sure some of the exhibitors at York this weekend are on hallucinogenic drugs. Electric blue backscenes, tangerine rockfaces and emerald foliage all searing my retinas. And then that Jerry Clifford guy with his hookah in the corner...

One of my pet peeves are layouts at shows with masses of black everywhere. Black walls, black tarmac, black ballast. I'm usually amazed that the trees aren't black too...

Back in stock are the full range of Buffer Heads: Useful for kits with integral buffer beams and buffer bodies. Also back in stock: particularly suitable for rewheeling any of the Mathieson wagons. Finally a staple wheel now available again: Enjoy!

Does anyone have a pair of 7mm pony truck wheels lying in a gloat box that they might be willing to sell. Willing to pay current shop price plus p&p. Cheers. Tony.

A wee hiatus for my business year end and a stock count for the Association shop 2 year end. Also it was a bit one step forward two steps back with the F3. Having soldered the front splashers on, I filed the sandboxes down to height to meet the plate at the front of the smokebox. It was immediately apparent that the splashers were too large and didn't look right in comparison. Rather than try to shape them in situ, I reluctantly removed them . I then decided that I ought to get the chassis in place so I could see what clearances were needed for the splashers before hacking them around. Fortunately I got the splashers off without disturbing the blocks of brass just forward of the wheels. Unfortunately I damaged the splashers beyond repair, so I'll need to fabricate some more. Anyway on with the chassis. In the absence of any 9mm wheels in shop 3, I stripped out my J94 which had oversize wheels (and for which I have a set of more suitable 8mm wheels). The frames were attacked with my biggest file (a 6" beastie) and then fettled with more finesse and smaller abrasives. The frames were soldered up and the wheels fitted. The axles on the wheels do show a little bit of wear (they are around twenty years old), but I think they should be alright: https://youtu.be/zKjZqESCoMY I had to nibble a bit of the cab floor away so that the rearmost drivers cleared it. I think I will end up cutting it all out and adding a bit of black plasticard to the chassis: https://youtu.be/9NFtyI-_A3s

It's a very nice model. Well done guys! It reminds me very much of the paintings of GW Birks both in structure and tonality. Perhaps there are some Birks fans in the YAG?

That looks excellent John. Very attractive pots; well worth the effort!

Do they skid on purpose? It looks like they're epoxyed in. Could they not just rotate?

Advance niotice. I will be closing the shop on 27th March for year end stock-taking purposes. If you require anything fairly urgently, get your order in now. Anything received after that date will be processed on 1 April when the shop resumes normal service. I'd expect that Gareth and Steve will be doing something similar. You have been warned!

Brafferton is built with radial splines at the same frequency although that is made of five baseboards with three cells per section rather than three baseboards with five cells each. I have had no issues in the eight years it has been built; the space between each spline is little miore than 12" at its widest. Phil's layout is slightly smaller than Brafferton - 5'6" o/d as against Braffertion's 6' sio should have even less of an issue. I should point out that Brafferton was built with the slightly superior Yorkshire system of "mono cock"...