detheridge

Whoops! I stand corrected.. :-)

Hi Jeff, yes indeedy. You'll find more info on this here: http://www.55n3.org/ Harold Minkwitz's site gives details of converting Bachmann 0n3 locos and stock to 1/55 scale, plus a lot more! :-)

Here's a corner of George Williamson's Tywyn Wharf that will be familiar to all TR fans. Horticulture in 5.5mm scale, and yes, it's all scratchbuilt.

Dolgoch in 5.5mm from George Williamson, complete with smoke unit AND sound! Macolm Savage's take is a well known candidate from the Skarloey Railway. :-)

George then started a smaller TR influenced layout 'Bryn Einon' based loosely on the upper end of the TR. Once again, he made great progress, but decided to sell the layout on Ebay in January 2016! These pics are again from the Ebay listing. Two very lucky people have George's layouts as a result, and yes, he's STILL modelling in 5.5mm scale!

George then started work on 'Tywyn Wharf 2013' and made great headway before a change of address and family expansion led him to sell the layout on Ebay. Here you'll see what a great layout it was. These pics are from the Ebay listing.

Now we move on to the work of George Williamson in 5.5mm. George has been modelling the TR for a couple of years, and produced excellent work, as you will see. These are from his first layout: Fathew Valley. His scenic work is superb.

Here are some more pics of Malcolm Savage's Llugwy Valley taken in 2015.

For those who are wondering about the size of 5.5mm and to help anyone else who'd like to have a bash, here's a 5.5mm scale rule (from Howard Minkwitz's www.55n3.org/ site) and a table of equivalent measurements. Full details of the 5.5mm Association are here: http://www.5andahalf.info/ Membership is only £10 per year. Best wishes David. 5.5mm scale.pdf scale.pdf

Here's some examples of 3' in 5.5mm by the late Dave Scott (of 009 Chelthwaite and Beccadale fame) Dave was a wonderful modeller in both 009 and 5.5mm scale. Note his amazing weathering techniques.

If you want to go up in scale slightly, how about 6mm/foot (1/50)? Here are some pics from the maestro of 6mm: Dennis Harrison. You may have seen his articles in NG&IR in the past. As you can see, his loco building is the finest that you'll see anywhere.

And here's the layout that effectively revived 5.5mm: Gwynant Valley, by Malcolm Savage.

Here are some pics of the master of 5.5mm scale: Malcolm Savage. It was Malcolm's Gwynant Valley layout that first appeared in RM in 1983 that proved to us 5.5mm fans that we weren't alone! I'll post some pics of that layout later on. Following on from that article, Malcolm followed this up with a series of articles on his locos and stock, and I wrote an article for RM in 1993 or thereabouts on the layout pictured here: Llugwy Valley.

Hi Mike, here are some links that may be of interest for you. They also include interwar civilians and other useful stuff for 5.5mm scale: http://www.warlordgames.com/ http://www.renedra.co.uk/index.php http://www.artizandesigns.com/index.php http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Fenris-Games_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm http://www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/ http://www.sloppyjalopy.com/ have a hunt around these and see how you get on. Best wishes, David.

Many thanks Noel. For those who would like to see some '5.5mm porn' here are some pics taken many years ago at the 1994 AGM in Leicester. All this lot wre assembled from only five or so modellers. They include Dennis Coleman's collection of scratch and kitbuilt locos with some ingenious conversions. The L&B looking loco in the pics is actually an 0-4-4 built as a single Fairlie after an article in a 1962 edition of RM (designed for '00n2' as it was known then). The two diesels are Airfix shunters on K's TT motor bogies by Malcolm Savage (5.5mm Association president); the larger one is to go with Malcolm's W&LLR stock. You can see Malcolm's famous scratchbuilt stock (featured in RM in the 80s) here, Alan Catlow's TR locos, my freelance stuff and Gem models, and the slightly tatty locos are Mike Chinery's originals from the 60s, no less. For contrast, the final pic is Mike Chinery's conversion of a Roundhouse HOn3 10.5mm gauge kit to 5.5mm 12mm gauge. Enjoy! David.

Here's more of Andrew Wilson's 5.5mm models. The armoured Simplex is a Malcolm Savage kit, Cadair Idris is a converted Airfix diesel shunter on a BTTB/Tillig chassis, The railbus is an Airfix/Dapol kit on another BTTB chassis, Dolgoch with scratchbuilt and kitbuilt stock, and Mountaineer is scratchbuilt. I could have added a whole bunch more of Andrew's pics, but they're way above the 1MB limit! You can see more on the Facebook page or the 5.5mm Association's website: http://www.5andahalf.info/ Hope this has whetted your appetite to try 5.5mm scale. Please ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer them. Best wishes, David.

Moving on to more recent times, I'm showing Andrew Wilson's work. We start off with his ingenious 'Snowdon Ranger': Kitmaster Italian tank body, BTTB/Tillig 0-8-0 chassis, Gem Prince tender, and assorted bits. You'll see details of how he did it, together with the finished item in all its glory. Since then, he's built two others, each slightly different. More of Andrew's work in a moment.

One of the interesting things about making contact with modellers is finding fellow enthusiasts from decades past, so here's a range of pics posted to the Facebook group from Keith Wallace, who was modelling 5.5mm in the late 60s/early 70s. Keith dug them out from their boxes after a 40 year hiatus. Some of the models were Gem's original display models -including the Double Fairlie shown here.

Here's a small selection of pics from 1984. At the Sandown Park MRE I came across Rod Moore's Beddgelert layout, and Rod graciously allowed me to operate for a while. The layout and stock now reside at the WHLR at Porthmadog, where the stock is on display. David.

The late Roy Schofield was a terrific modeller in 5.5mm scale (I also believe that he was deputy editor of MRN in the 1960s. Here's a selection of pics of his models and layout. Notice that some of the original Gem locos have been modified with scrachbuilt brass chassis. The large can motors are from Maxxon. The layout pics show some ingenious variations on Gem's products. Still more goodies to come! David.

Here are some pics from my Towyn Wharf layout, originally built by Alan Catlow and acquired by me in 1997. Many thanks to the irrepressible Mick Thornton for the pics I'm shown operating itat Kidderminster in 2010, a scratchbuilt Sir Haydn (or a Triang chassis fitted with a 5 pole armature, Titch is a freelance loco again with a Triang chassis and 5 pole armature, Brynglas is a quick and easy conversion of a BTTB/Tillig diesel, Midlander is scratchbuilt over a Japanese motor bogie, and a later version of Dolgoch in 1945/1990s era LNER green, with my dodgy attempts at rub on lining succumbing to the elements. More goodies o follow. David.

Hi folks, Here's a selection of pics from the world of 5.5mm scale modelling, showing what we've been getting up to over the years. We've recently started a Facebook page showing models from the past and present, and anyone interesyed in joing us can go here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1708721226014499/ Let's start with some original Gem models: Malcolm Savage's version of Gem's Linda Kit, one of my Gem Dolgochs, and Andrew Wilson's Double Fairlies (the original behind a scratchbuilt Earl of Meirioneth here's the scratchbuilt version in greater detail

Try here for transfers: http://www.blackhamtransfers.com/ (usual disclaimer) And he can do any of his range to 'unusual' scales. Hope this helps, Best wishes, David.