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Not going to argue with you Compound. I bought the coaches built & can't be sure they are Larry Goddard kits or that he built them, but they certainly look like he painted them. A variant of "it what it is" might be that "they are what they are" so I was happy to buy them at a very good price. Now how about a go at criticising these _

Tony, You asked for pictures of MR coaches. I have lots but please see the attached which are Larry Goddard built kits similar to the Ratio Suburban coaches. I have several 12-W clerestories & 6-W coaches too all built from brass kits.

Tony, I would like to buy the GN van if it's still available. Regards, William

Has anyone ordered parts successfully from the Alan Gibson Workshop sine 4 June? I phoned to order quite a lot of parts at the beginning of June & left a voice message about what I wanted. As nobody phoned me back after a few days I listed the parts I wanted & a question on an e-mail, but again here was no response, so I left another voice mail & e-mail a few days ago, but as before there has been no response. People are often on holiday at this time of year, but businesses usually leave a message on their website or on their phone if that's the case. Does anybody know what's going on? William

Has anyone ordered parts successfully from the Alan Gibson Workshop sine 4 June? I phoned to order quite a lot of parts at the beginning of June & left a voice message about what I wanted. As nobody phoned me back after a few days I listed the parts I wanted & a question on an e-mail, but again here was no response, so I left another voice mail & e-mail a few days ago, but as before there has been no response. People are often on holiday at this time of year, but businesses usually leave a message on their website or on their phone if that's the case. Does anybody know what's going on? William

Many Thanks James, At the time you kindly sent me details of what I needed to buy to fix the problem with my GAM Silver Jubilee set. I bought the items, but never got round to making the changes. Now I will. William

Does anyone understand their financial statements? The latest for 2022 is just a balance sheet with stocks & funds representing a financially viable company, but there is no Profit & Loss statement. Are they delivering any models to customers as they seem to have significant current assets. In contrast there was a P & L in their previous financial statement for 2019 with a turnover of more than £500,000. Were they just collecting pre-payments for models yet to be delivered? I have a direct interest as I paid in full for an OO gauge streamlined Merchant Navy in 2013 & paid a £250 deposit for a streamlined P2 in 2014. I have heard nothing since! I am feeling considerably more foolish than Tony. William

If they are, they owe me quite a lot of money for models I paid for years ago but subsequently have heard nothing about. William

Remembering seeing amusing text on vehicles when we lived in Belsize Park, London over 30 years ago how about - "a driving school car offering "CRASH COURSES" or 2 Rolls Royces one gold with the registration 14 ME & the other metallic light blue with the registration 14 U. I guess they belonged to a wealthy couple. William

Tony, As far as all the books that I have on the M&GNR the ex-LNWR, ex-NER, ex-MR coaches sent to the line were initially in the LMS or LNER liveries but often renumbered & as they needed repainting they were turned out in Stratford brown, though it's possible that some of the ex-NER coaches were a darker shade? William

Hi Justin, Just for your information Mallard Models kits for the NLR tank come up on eBay quite often as one did recently. I bought one earlier this year & attach a not very good photo of it before it got its LNWR numberplate. Ace Models also released a brass kit recently & it looked quite good so I considered buying one but it was cheaper to buy the older Mallard kit. The CDC resin body looks OK but just isn't as refined as the brass kits but of course it's cheaper & easier to complete. William

I want to second this. I & a friend have ordered many products from both Markits & the Alan Gibson Workshop recently & have had excellent service from both. Perhaps we should all be more grateful for what we have while we still have it & more understanding of the difficulties & frustrations of being a small supplier as they are currently having all sorts of additional problems such as increasing energy prices, shortage or lack of ever more expensive raw materials, etc. William

The heading says it all. I need 2 sets of Sharman 4'9" driving wheels with 13 spokes, but they are out of stock at Phoenix. However, the same wheel is available in P4 so I have been wondering if I could use them on 16.5mm axles & Peco 75 bullhead track especially as all the points are large radius. It probably either isn't possible, or at least is not advisable, but I still wonder that because Sharman wheels are said to be slightly wider than the 2mm P4 standard width so it may be OK is the B2B or better BEF is optimised. This is clearly a complex subject but I guess that there will be experts on Wright Writes, who know the answers either that it's just not possible, or that it may be possible for just 1 loco, which might not run so well with such a compromised set up. Alternatively I could use 4'6" wheels but would probably havre to accept 14 or 15 spokes. William

Thanks for pointing me to Phoenix, but yes I have already been there & unfortunately the driving wheels I want are out of stock in OO/EM but are available in P4, so I have been thinking & reading about using P4 wheels on OO axles as all my track work is Peco75 bullhead & all points are large radius. However, from what i have read so far I don't think that would work, but it might be possible if I get the B2B &/or BEF right. Perhaps another RMweb member could advise? William

It's a long shot but just in case somebody has 2 complete sets with axles I am prepared to pay a very good price. I need them for a Jidenco kit of an HR Jones 4-4-0 tank. Here's hoping, William

Even though the B17 has still to be painted, the station & platforms finished & there is a hole in the baseboards on the right, this photos reminds me of the prototype more than any other I can remember. I can guess why, but perhaps an expert could list what the features are that make it so "realistic" as a guide for others such as me to copy? William

Thanks turbos & uax6, I have e-mailed the HRS but don't hold out much hope that they still have tablet catchers on offer as their latest modelling guide where they are listed is from 2011 & most of the things on it e.g. Lochgorm & Falcon Brass kits are no longer available. William

I asked in the kit & scratch building section if anyone knew a source for a detailed casting for a 4mm scale cabside tablet catcher apparatus as I want to replace the crude ones cast into tank sides on a kit built W/M loco I bought recently & want to upgrade. Stewart Ingram answered that he thought he had read about this on Wright Writes so I am enquiring here too. Thanks, William

Thanks Stewart & Camperdown. Like me you remember reading about it so that's reassuring, but I need a specific indication of where I can source a a detailed casting or failing that a drawing. I thought that I may have read about this on Wright writes so I will also enquire there. William

Can anyone let me know a source of a 4mm scale high quality caddied tablet catcher, please? I am sure that I have read somewhere of a company offers this, or did so in the past, but cannot remember where I read about it. I want to replace the rather crude ones cast together with the tank sides of a loco I am trying to upgrade. Thanks, William

Frank, That may be why some controllers have a selector function so one can switch between conventional & coreless motors, though if I recall correctly the Finney & Smith Penbit controller senses the motor type & adjusts its output automatically. Wiliam

I read some time ago in the modelling section of a magazine possibly the Darjeeling & Himalayan Railway Society magazine or another narrow gauge magazine that coreless motors (I guess small narrow gauge locos often use small coreless motors?) don't like relatively low frequency sampling from feedback controllers so the author, a Hugh Norwood, built one with a much higher sampling rate maybe 10,000Hz. I could be wrong about how high the frequency was, but I bought one from him & in 2014 & it controls Portescap motors on my locos really well. The obvious question if his explanation is correct is why manufacturers of feedback controllers haven't copied what he did. William

Many thanks to all who have kindly suggested ways to remove loco numbers on RTR models. I will start with a new curved scalpel blade & see how that goes before continuing with a fibreglass brush &/or T-Cut if necessary. As the loco I am going to start on is black it won't be too much of a problem if I mess it up. William

I recently bought a new Hornby J36 in LNER livery & want to backdate it to NBR livery so first the current numbers, etc need to be removed. What is the "best" way to do this, please? Searching RMweb produced relatively few recommendations with several quite inconsistent & one saying that a complete repaint is necessary if one removes printed numbers from an RTR loco! However, many on this blog renumber their RTR locos so I am optimistic that it can be done relatively easily with due care.

The ex-MR 3F is beautifully made & weathered, but what stands out is to me is that the central splasher is not centred on the wheel it covers. This must be a fault in the kit, which seems very odd in an otherwise good kit as I recall, because it was the first of the only 2 loco kits I ever built about 45 years ago. It was only when I resurrected it when I took up the hobby again & asked a professional to give it a going over that I saw this fault on its return. Initially I thought that I must have made a mistake building the kit all those years ago, but apparently not? Maybe the original superstructure was intended to go on type of an RTR chassis? William