Bucoops

Manufacturer rejects or overproduction? The seller is in China so...

Absolutely nothing to apologise for, we all know that the whole world is a mess right now, delays are not just expected but pretty much guaranteed at the moment. I can wait for my Meld

Yup definitely chuffed (sorry!) with that buy

Great work as always, I love that you just get on with it and come out with decent results.

Got a bit of an accidental bargain - I can never resist looking at N7 listings and there was an SEF one with a buy it now of £80 with Markits wheels, open frame motor and gearbox but no instructions it caught my interest. I wanted to know if the wheels were all insulated or half and half so tried asking - ebay said something like "because of the number of queries this seller gets they are unable to receive and respond to them". Eh? I don't give up that easily so I put in a silly offer of £60 as you can put a note in - but this was auto declined so I put on in for £70 and this one went through. The seller only came back with a counter offer of £65 so I snapped it up. A £90 kit plus about £40 of wheels plus however much the motor and box is AND it also came with a pickup kit (even though the kit has one anyway). Instructions won't be hard to find. And I can buy 3 wheels to make them all insulated with the £15 saved off the price I was prepared to pay anyway. Lovely Jubbly edit: Turns out I have a scan of the instructions already so sorted

If that's good I'd hate to see bad.... Designed to withstand gentle knocks and pristine BR livery apparently. So presumably it's had non-gentle knocks to lose the chimney, part of the smokey joe name and it looks suspiciously like a wheel is getting ready to drop off. Plus it's filthy, and so on. It's a no from me.

Is there even such a thing any more as an authorised Hornby service centre? I tried to find a list and failed. Found a few threads that the main subject was a lack of them.

Wot 'e said.

Ran short of time but I’ve separated one of the early ones off and put it on a 51ft underframe, I don’t think I have any 60ft ones available at the moment – I don’t think any HD dynamos were fitted to the shorter underframes but it works as a proof of concept sort of thing. It’s held on by being gripped between the solebar and brake v hanger so it is a little wonky. I've not removed a stabilising bar as I don't know which way round I want this one yet as I've not built a catering coach yet (or anything else that might use a heavy duty one). And a quick one of the later type. I also found my open 3rd bodyshell (I built this quite a long time ago, and not very well hence it's not progressed) - Comparing with photos of the LNERCA open coaches at the NYMR they need lifting slightly and moved nearer the outer walls of course - looks like mounting to a plasticard base should allow this.

I searched for ones that had sold rather than ones that were priced for more than you could buy a real one for (although why they are proving so popular is beyond the scope of my pea brain)

Whilst i do agree in principle as I said above, I find so many items listed in the wrong scale I haven't bothered trying to filter to that in a long time. But yes, it would be very helpful if people actually put some effort into listing and filled in at least some of the boxes...

I assume even the plastic passengers want to get off - the 4th photo appears to show a cracked window? Slightly more realistic price for a probably better condition one - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274823052878

So UK site is changing to Railroad. Rude. So many people list their items in the wrong scale I gave up searching specifics a long time ago so that doesn't overly bother me. I see there's a category for empty boxes. Is there really that many listings that it needs its own category?

Here they are - hopefully I will have time tomorrow to extract one of each from the sprue and offer them up to an underframe.

Sounds similar, maybe the treadmill was an optional extra the company went for to really hack us off!

"Stratford" Drawing list - https://www.gersociety.org.uk/index.php/collection/65-stratford-drawings-and-microfilm-lists-nrm-format-7-19 LNER Dwg list - https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-01/London %26 North Eastern Carriage and Wagon.pdf I think where it refers to suburban quad it means the KX ones? However I did see this on page 597: 110 13285 D 31/5/1928 P 51’-0½” Underframe for Articulated Stock 13285.D* Underframe, bogie outer, quad 10” x 5”, twin 9½” x 4 3/8”, inner 10” x 5”; HNG 1/8/1928 But that's it - everything else with "quad" in is for suburban sets or wagons. "Hertford" doesn't reveal anything useful and the lists don't appear to mention diagram numbers.

Looking again at the quint drawings, it's only the outer underframes that have the different height (depth?) trusses - the inner ones are even. Quint coaches are all the same body length so it must be due to the end bogies being set inboard compared to articulated ones. If the H-Quad sets have longer underframes for the outers then it would possibly make sense that all of them were the same depth? I haven't found anything obvious in the Stratford drawings list for your set - will see if I can find the main LNER ones on the NRM site again.

I guess the easiest way to get closer to something you want to see is to cough... No I am not advising you do this

Did you have to use a treadmill whilst wearing it? That's what (very nearly) killed me! Here's one - all these masks offer the same level of protection (FFP3) - The difference is the length of time you can wear them and they keep offering it. The hard part is getting anyone to admit how long each one is good for as there are so many variables. Obviously the full face with power can (in theory) be worn for longer than the disposable but even I know don't know how long they are actually effective for!

A bit late but does the NRM have drawings for the H-Quad underframes? I got some very poor but still just about readable ones for the quints which shows the truss rod arrangement (and confirms the centre ones are lower than the outer ones) but not brake fittings etc. I need to have another trawl to try and find GA ones that show the fittings but it's hard work!

FF rated masks have a caveat - they need a fit test to confirm they are fitted properly. We use them at work (asbestos) and the site staff carry out daily qualitative tests and annual quantitive (however you spell that!) tests.

I'm very pleased to read this part - we have been "venturing out" a bit more, with two visits to Butlins, one to Chessington World of Adventures, and one to the West Somerset Railway in the last few weeks. I think I would be being generous if I said 1% of visitors at both the Skegness and Minehead Butlins wore masks. About 5% of the staff wore them. You would think Covid was gone the way people were mixing and not using the hand gel etc. As a result we cancelled our intended trip to Bognor at Christmas. Chessington was awful - about 75% of the hand sanitiser stations were broken or empty, there were barely any masks, and not a hint of social distancing and the marked one way systems completely ignored. We've been testing ourselves every other day since going and fortunately so far all negative. The WSR was a different story. We booked a compartment so we wouldn't have to wear a mask for the journey - although when we wandered through to the buffet we did notice those sitting the open carriages weren't wearing masks despite the online guidance when booking - there were dividers separating the seating bays, and most people did wear masks when away from their seats so I don't think it was an issue. We were told the whole train had been cleaned before we were allowed on, and it was spotless so we have no reason to doubt it. There were plenty of hand sanitizing pumps and all were fully working. I think it's safe to say we are all fatigued by Covid, but whilst we are permitted to be out and about more, we still need to be cautious. Sadly many are not, I just hope we don't see another "wave" at Christmas. I currently know 4 people with Covid, two of which have compromised immune systems, fortunately all are vaccinated and have relatively mild symptoms but we are far from out of this mess yet.

I have some heading my way of both dynamos so will post pictures when I get them.

Inspired by Disney's Jungle Cruise (the ride, not the film)? https://youtu.be/C_gGD6N4G48?t=443

Apparently you only get one for that price. I've politely mentioned it's worth maybe £10 at most. edit: he's happy with the price apparently. I wished him good luck.