Bucoops

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.

With the extreme volatility of it I'd be surprised if any take it?

Are there any suitable locos in the Southeastern Finecast range? Dave at SE Finecast is great for supplying spare parts. http://www.sefinecast.co.uk/Locomotives/New%20and%20Revised%20Loco%20Kits%20Page%201.htm

I just need someone who is skilled in producing etched coaches to produce a quint-art set and I'm all set...

I'll take the 7 o'clock we got!

Happy Christmas everyone The littlun (well she's 4 so not so little) is thoroughly worn out from over excitement so fingers crossed she's not the first one up (ha ha!).

I would agree that the Mousa site is a little strange, but at least it is clear at the point of ordering when/if you are likely to receive the product and a small deposit is taken rather than a full product cost. Is taking a deposit for a prospective product the right way to do it? Debatable, but it would probably prevent someone pre-ordering one of everything with little actual prospect of following up with the full payment? At some point when I'm a little more up to speed with building kits I would like to order some coach bits. I would however like to see more information on the site (and this is the same for other sites that sell coach kits in different levels of completeness). Coach sides are fine - but what's actually in a coach etch kit? What's needed to complete? What's in a coach kit? What's needed to complete? I'm sure people who have built many kits don't need the info, but occasional builders or new to the range do. Whilst I'd much prefer a one-stop shop for a complete kit (minus wheels, paint and transfer of course) I do understand that that's not always practical.

Oh ok they're the equivalent of tesco value motors are they?

His website was certainly taking money in July: And it would seem I am one of the lucky ones - it "only" took 3 months of requesting to get it back:

I sold a new unused vintage motor for £15 recently - a D11. That's half your kit price back towards a modern replacement.

Happy Christmas to you too I fully believe you - and still don't understand why he hasn't refunded you.

I do think that metal brake gear would be better, but there really isn't much clearance and I do still have my L plates on I found a Jamieson V2 build in Tony Wright's thread where he has added brakes to it and he (obviously) makes it look very good indeed - but the axle spacing and therefore clearance on the V2 is more than the A1 - and of course I can't compare skill levels!. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/64295-wright-writes/page-56&do=findComment&comment=1469320

Hi John, Yes I saw those but as the loco has 6'8" wheels that's quite a jump up from the sizes quoted

Re-read the instructions - apparently there's some half-round wire in the kit for making the coal rails. Can't say I'm looking forward to THAT little exercise! I see more modern kits have them as one piece etches. Hurrah for technological advances I've ordered some Slaters brake shoe things. Still not 100% that I'm going to fit them (it is of course an old kit that didn't have them so wouldn't be appropriate to fit them - that's what I keep trying to tell myself anyway!).

Couldn't see anything in the Gibson catalogue, or Markits (not that you can buy from them...). The Slaters don't look right but might be able to do something with them. Thanks both

You could paint it to look like ice and have it in an arctic layout? That's some heavy paint!

I can't see any plastic brake parts on the Roxey site? Only thing I have at present with curves is a few 2nd radius Hornby points - The bogies are very loose (described as clearance for the shoulder screws by Jamieson) but the axles also have a lot of sidewys play. I'm thinking a pretty thin bit of wire just for a little bit of flex control, but can always nip it off later if need be?

So managed to get a bit more done on the tender. Tank is just sat on top for the first pic - little bit of the trademark wavy in evidence to try and sort. The bogies that the wheels attach to have a little bit of pivot that isn't really needed and risks shorts so I think I'm going to link them with a bit of thin-ish brass rod, that can flex a bit but not too much. The frame width was a bit of a compromise - I think it should be ever so slightly narrower but then it would hit the buffers.