RobMG

Try Peters Spares. I am fairly sure they have those, but you will have to buy at least a pair possibly 4. This is where having a lathe comes in handy. Whenever I have this problem , I turn up a replacement in Brass or steel. Rob

Does anybody have any idea when or IF the Dapol mogul will ever become available ? Rob

Hi Doug, I turned a new one from Brass for mine. Just the straight part that comes off when you undo the fixing screw . There is no need to remove the whole saddle part, in any case it spoils the look of the loco if you do that. the casting is nowhere as good as the plastic moulding, and in my opinion looks ghastly. If you have a problem finding one I can easily turn one for you. Rob

In answer to your reply Steamport, NOTHING.. We had already paid him when I asked, and he was more than happy to oblige. Anyway I have been connected with the building trade for too many years to get caught like that. If I couldn't get a piece of lead from a builder , I could always go and buy a piece from a local builders supplier. Rob

Re weights for wagons . I use lead sheet as do a lot of folk. I asked a buider who was doing some work on our house, and he gave me a sheet about 2 square feet. So it's simple ask a builder. Rob

Bloomin eck, for a fleeting moment I thought it was real. I am looking forward to getting mine . Just phoned to make sure they had ordered it at the model shop. "Yes sir, couldn't say when it will be here, but we have got it on order" Rob

I would just like anyone who is interested to know I have a good sound set of wheels with coupling rods for the mogul and a Mainline motor in working order. They are here for maybe a swap if anyone needs them. Rob

As a matter of interest, the last engine my dad drove on the day of his retirement was a 61'er and on that last journey a coupling rod came adrift, so he didn't even get the engine back to the sheds ! Reading btw 81D You could try a touch of Lock tight thread sealant on the screw. They use it on tiny screws at the optitians I go to. It won't make the screw impossible to undo, but it will make it less likely to come undone... Rob

I am sorry about my incorrect terminology, I should have said 'New tooled' Thank you for the info on review Rob

I have a Hornby Prairie on order from my local model shop, so I am looking forward to getting this. I cannot however find any info re how good a model it actually is . Does anyone have an opinion on these locos ??? There seems to be no excitement regarding them at all. Am I going to be very disappointed with this engine or what. There must be other people who have them. Rob

If you have a small lathe, the answer is simple, you could make sleeves for the motor shafts. The only other thought I have is to see if you can get some brass tube to make sleeves out of. Recently I needed to fit fine scale wheels in place of Lima coarse wheels , but the Lima wheels had 2.5 mm axles, and the new wheels were 2mm . I found I could get brass tube with 2.5mm od x 2mm id that solved the problem . If however your motor shafts are indeed 2.4mm you might have difficulty finding the right size. You could though, get the 2.5 tube and drill or ream the holes in the gears to 2.5mm. That is about the only way I can see of sorting the prob.. You might feel that is taking a risk with irreplaceable parts. Having a lathe is a great benefit of course. Another way comes to mind, which I would probably do is to make a piece to fit inside the gears, Solder it in and then drill it to the required size . Still sleeve of course... I don't suppose this is of any help, but just my suggestion.. Rob

Well I have the bits here . If you still need them let me know , if not they will stay in my spares box. Rob

Re the safety valve, I searched and they are available from Wizard, and possibly Brassmasters, but I don't know how accurate they might be. Also I didn't want to wait . So I decided to turn one up on my lathe. It took me ages to get the shape right . I had to grind a form tool to do it, but I was pleased with the result, and made one for my Bachmann pannier too. Both models look much improved. Wheels I found on ebay . I was going to use some Romfords that I already had, but spotted some Mike Sharman wheels and bid for them and won. The chimney I made ages ago. Smoke box door etc I made too . All from brass.. I have the original safety valve in good condition if you would like it. It was loose and fell off, which is partly the reason I made a brass one. It's here if you want it . I can stick it in the post for you. Don't want anything for it. If you want a set of Romford wheels too I have those here too. I will want a bit of dosh for those though. say £20 Rob Rob

It's true superglue can have it's shortcomings, but I have managed to stick metal to plastic with it successfully. There is one called Roket Hot, it is very low viscosity, and it's lethal stuff. If you ever try it beware. it will run into a joint and through, possibly damaging anything on the other side. It sets off really quickly and can stick your fingers together in almost an instant. Super care should be observed when using it.. Rob

I have an M&L GWR 850 class saddle tank with etched chassis. I was just looking at it this afternoon, and thinking I must build this. So I soldered the two halves of the saddle tank together to get a better idea of how it might look. The castings are not too bad, Far better than K's would have been , but some bits are a bit chunky and will require some fettling. If I am to carry on with it I must get a temperature controlled soldering iron. I had to heat mine up then switch it off so I could use it without melting the castings. The chassis is very basic , and will need some work to make anything worthwhile of it. All in all though, I think it's worth doing, and one at least did last to the very early 50s at Reading. Rob

I don't see a problem with removing portions of the stepboards on the Hornby underframe. But I have a Comet underframe kit for this model, in which case maybe I don't need to worry. I will check tomorrow.. Rob

I will bear that one in mind, It sounds very useful, but unless it also bonds metal to metal it won't work for the Comet sides. These being brass etchings and the door/grab handles, and hinges are also brass. Rob

A good point re the stepboards, I will look seriously at that problem. Painting... I wondered if you would paint first. but then how to attach the bits after is the next problem. I imagine it is going to have to be superglue, but i am not too happy about trusting it. I think I would fit the handles etc and apply a small amount on the inside. I certainly will not use the very low viscosity glue, because it will run through any gap and knacker the paintwork, but is the strongest glue. It will have to be something like Gorrilla superglue which I use a fair amount of, and seems to be as good as anything. Getting to this stage worries me rather. Rob

I have a drawing if still needed. I started to modify one of these back in the 80s but never finished it due to the fact my wife went off with another bloke, which rather turned my life upside down. I gave the L1 to a friend to finish. I didn't see it again, but I think he did do it. I started to scratch build a chassis , Etched chassis weren't too common in those days. Rob

Yes I was thinking Paul Karau, but I thought I could be wrong, but I remember he was very interested in and knowledgable of GWR wagons, and talked about writing a book on them. It was 2000 when Martin died, He lived Ledbury Herefordshire by that time. He'd retired and was building O gauge kits, for a retirement living. I visited him a few times there. One I had a phone call from him to say he'd been diagnosed with Luekaemia, and was about to go into hospital for treatment. He was very hopefull and confident he would carry on for a good few years. Unfortunately that was not to be. One day His wife Janice phoned me to say, he'd caught an infection and had died. It was a very sad blow, and as I have said I miss him still. We were best friends for many years.. Rob

Brilliant, I am part way through doing a K38 using a Hornby collett coach and Comet sides. I will interested to see how you get on with painting it, masking etc. I am assuming you'll have fitted door and grab handles etc. Rob

I too have only just discovered this post. I grew up in Reading, and used to go to Eames a lot. It was a unique place. There never was , and never will be again a model shop like it. I knew David well he was a really nice bloke, as was his dad Ted. John was more difficult to get to know, to me he always seemed rather distant. I loved that place. Every Saturday morning I would meet up with my Dear friend , the Late Martin Brent, who some people may have heard of. We'd spend a happy hour in there. Then nip into town for whatever, before going back to Martins house or the pub 'The New Inn at Kidmore end . Then back to Martins to tinker with our 1930's MG's another of our common interests. They were great days. Martin died 20 years ago and I miss him to this day. I miss Eames too, we didn't need to go anywhere else, what Eames didn't have in stock they would get very quickly. There was another person who worked in there, I used to get on well with named Paul does that ring a bell with anyone ??? Rob

My grandson, Has decided to get interested in model railways, and has unearthed a Hornby train set he was given when he was about 18 months old. It was put away because he was too young for it at the time. He's quite a clever lad , when he tried it the loco wouldn't run, but he figured out that wheels and pick ups were dirty . He cleaned it now it runs well. He sent me a photo of the loco , a Bulleid pacific and I noticed it was minus it's smoke deflectors . I said I would investigate some replacements. Does anyone know of any etched brass ones I could get him, or is it a spare part I could get from Peters Spares ?? I will check Peters..... Rob

Probably of no interest, but I am currently modifying my Lima 33 bogies using Alan Gibson coach wheels. Ah yes you might cry but AG wheels have 2mm axles, and Lima used 2.5mm. No probs I have used 2mm x 2.5mm brass tube to sleeve the axles. The gears are fairly easy . They are pressed out of the old wheels and the spigot cut off . Glue gear to brass tube, making sure it runs true. The tube can be slipped on to the new axle and glued. If the tube is cut to the length of the required b2b that takes care of b2b when fitting the other wheel. It needs a couple of 2.5mm brass washers on the non gear side to make sure the wheels can't move side to side and allow the gears to go out of mesh. This method works I have done one before and it runs really well. It save the inordinate wait for Ultrascale wheels.. Ok now I am going back in my cold shed to finish the rewheeling job.... Rob

Ah, Looks like I made a mistake, it wasn't here I advertised, Sorry about the confusion.... Rob