Bucoops

An I the only one picturing a Skaledale piece turning up?

I briefly toyed with buying a J69 from LRM and they said they had a gearbox (might have just been a single worm and gear rather than a gearbox as such) to suit - so they maybe able to advise on that kit too?

Not the way I'm building it As a first build I'm not planning on adding much detail. Frames and a lot of the fittings are brass, body is nickel silver. Rest is white metal.

Me too! It's a Jamieson A1/A3 (being built as an A1 - still don't know what one yet though...).

I did have to slightly elongate the hole in one of them to suit a slightly wandered drill in the crossmember! But when the "bus bars" are soldered in place it then can't move. I will point out that these contacts have never been actually tested yet...

Good luck

Well soldering the tender dome wasn't pretty. I tried the coal side first in case I made a mess - easier to hide! Glad I did as I flooded too much solder in. The other side is neater but still a lot of cleaning. Unfortunately I've scratched the nickel silver quite a bit being a bit careless with a scraper. Should have stuck to the rather laborious fibreglass brush...

I do like the J69s What other stock would an N pull in the 30s? It's mainly associated with articulated sets but it must have had other duties?

Thanks both - struggling to find anything remotely 54' kit wise There is a picture of a Quint set on the Steve Banks site near Brentwood (presumed excursion) so there's hope for that! I guess I'm just trying to find an excuse for running an N7 with a quint set on the Chelmsford line (without falling back to rule 1). I'll try not to hijack the thread any more Thanks

Just got the announcement email - thought I'd have a nose but website crashed lol

Great thanks - such a shame D&S is so hard to get at the moment. I have written asking for availability but not had a reply as yet. Would the Quints have headed towards Shenfield at all?

Does anyone know what stock was used (I'm talking mid 1930s) to Shenfield - and was it N7 hauled? And what was used loco and stock wise for runs to Chelmsford etc.? N7/3 2600 was a Chelmsford loco for most of its life according to RCTS - any idea what it was used for? Thanks

Love it Your procurement process reminds me of when I used to work for an engineering company as a designer. Every now and then a part wouldn't fit the machine. But somehow, as if my magic, it would fit my car

This is my 3rd kit - way back when I glued together a J50 and a J70. The J50 was a DJH - was quite happy with the build but ruined the paintwork. The J70 was a slight improvement. I may still have them somewhere. This is my first real attempt though and the others were 20+ years ago. The A1 I'm still looking at it in a it's a basic kit eye. Yes I've changed the motion to something more modern. It's not going to have rivets etc in line with its origins. The N7 whilst still an old kit (1980s?) Has a lot more etched detail and again that will be built mostly to its origins. I'm not sure I'll ever go down a super detail/accuracy route. These will definitely be layout locos! I do like Tony's V2 though lol. As you hint at, his builds aren't just layout locos!

Mine is still very much a work in progress but this is my first attempt at contacts The actual contacts are from DCC Concepts.

Thanks I did toy with the idea of splitting the dome in two but don't trust myself to do that neatly and figured this would be a lot better anyway. "The position of all parts is clearly shown on the constructional drawing" and "mark and drill small holes for the spigots of the dome and/or filler" is about it for where and how. The rest is the order to assemble the main parts (which I ignored largely - it says to start the whole build with the tender for example as practice - boring lol). The instructions overall are pretty generic with sections for belpaire fireboxes etc. It's definitely a very crude kit but I still like it and am enjoying it frustrations and all!

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Rapido-News-UK-Vol--15---Happy-New-Year-.html?soid=1101318906379&aid=hCwiII2wwA8

Just to prove I'm not ignoring the A1 I've carrried on a little bit with the tender. The bulkhead for the dome was solid but decided to do an undersize notch and then do a small cut into the dome so it blends together a bit better. Nothing's fixed to the tender top yet but it's ready to be.

I'm still scared of it lol!

Pictures so far as promised And there's a lot of other brass bits to work through! The wheels have gone rusty - not surprised, I have no idea how long this kit has sat in the loft at my parents! Hopefully will just polish off. Does anyone have the Yeadon's book on the N7 they can PM me a quick view of the photos of 2600? I've got one on order but I need to cut the holes for the bunker footsteps before proceeding as apparently they can vary. Thanks

Still struggling to find anything in plastic remotely close so have emailed SE Finecast. I suspect I will need to buy a large etch that has more than brakes, but you can never have too many spares bits, right? Meanwhile, now Christmas is over and back to work, I want to try and get things done even when I'm pondering over what to do with the A1. I know way back when I started the class 15 kit but I'm still not confident with whitemetal soldering but I have decided to have 2 kits on the go. My choice was either an Alan Gibson J15 or I also found a Stelfox N7/3. I wanted to do the J15 but I also wanted to get a kit finished some time soon...! So I have picked the N7 - no tender for one thing. I've made a start - chassis is folded, bushes jigged and soldered. Footplate has the valances and buffer beams attached, and I've (with great difficulty) rolled the back of the bunker. Next time I have a roll that tight I will have a crack at annealing it first. There is an error on the bunker back though - it should have a curved top but it's flat. Photos to follow but here's the isometric drawing (which shows a curved bunker back!): One nice advantage to the kit is it's 100% brass - no white metal. It has a nice solid boiler machined from tube and even has the luxury of location marks and even some slots and tabs. Wow. I have pretty much decided to model number 2600 (later 9702 then 69702) - the first of the Doncaster build and allocated locally to me for a lot of its life. I've not found any pictures yet, but apparently there are a couple in the Yeadon's book. I have found that it started life with a non-GE style smokebox door. It did get one at some point but no idea when. Hopefully by 1935 as that's what comes in the kit - and looks so much better. It's also useful that there's the real N7 (albeit not a part 3) just up the road. Saw it over the Christmas period, looking all sad. Put a few pennies in the restoration fund whilst taking photos. I've also ordered from the GE society a CD fo loco drawings which will have both the N7 and J15. Photos of the work so far tomorrow

Looks like a bulkhead to the frame of a helicopter - the grey plastic being the rear part of the frame including the bit that the tail rotor hangs off?

Happy New Year everyone and thanks for your support and advice

When I did my degree it was a cashless society - we'd all spent it on copious quantities of beer.

I'm just 40 and tend to use about 6-8 cheques a year. Not many but still enough to need a cheque book. Ground rent payments for example they only accept it as a cheque.