Nickey Line

Hi FC, I've just started on some Grampus wagons using this method, but one obvious omission from the bodies is the footstep... Did you fit any? How did you go about it, fettled up from bits of brass? Apologies for hijacking the thread.

Not cheap? No kidding!

Ah! 'V' not 'W'! Thanks.

Hi Tony, I'm intrigued by the solenoids referred to in the above post; try as I might I'm unable to find any further info on these... in this case google is no help! Perhaps you could enlighten us as to where these might be obtained? Thanks. Adrian

Many thanks to you all for your help... managed to get my order for white transfers changed to straw, which would seem to be more appropriate; I was a bit hasty in placing the order!

I've gone for white, seems to be the most common...

Hi, I'm hoping to build some unfitted Grampus wagons from a selection of bits and I'm looking at obtaining transfers. Looking at the ModelMasters website there are 3 sheets (1948-1965) available for engineers wagons; they all appear to be identical other than the colour - white, straw or yellow. This has confused me somewhat as I thought the lettering on unfitted Grampuses was white?? Can anyone shed some light on this? Ta!

I was referring to my own pic! It's a mobile phone pic so is also crap. I didn't make mine full length though; they're cut short behind the wheels. No, I don't know why I did that either...

Well, yes I did, and indeed you can just make them out I think... You need to view the pic full size though. A bit grainy...

Hi Art, this link gives some useful info... http://farnhammrc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/TailLamps-2.pdf One pic obscures the text but you can select, copy, and paste it into a text file to read it.

Hi Art, there is a little room under the ballast to add weight, but I added extra in the underframe, beneath the undersheet, shown in post 34. I suppose it's possible to spray the underframe before assembling the body, but you would have to mask the areas where the body joins the floor, as the underframe is built onto the floor. Parkside don't do a model of this van.

It's been quite a while, but I've finally reached the painting stage... Roof and some other details as yet unattached.

Perhaps you should read Steve Cole's last post... the six monthly subscription continues at 19.99 until you cancel... aah, I see your point... good question. But having looked again, the 6 monthly still works out cheaper, at 3.08 per issue as opposed to 3.46 I suspect that you won't actually miss an issue!

Thank you Steve. Curious... I wonder if anyone goes for the yearly subscription?

I was clearing up a misapprehension of Steve Cole's that I was equating the paper subscription with the digital, no more than that. As far as your comment is concerned, there is nothing on the PocketMags website to suggest the prices are 'special offers'.

If you look at the offers, you will see that 6 month digital subscription is 19.99, and a 12 month DIGITAL subscription is 44.99.I'll leave you to do the maths...☺

I'm currently a paper version subscriber, but I have been vaguely considering going digital for a while, but having just perused the Pocket Mags site via the link, I'm somewhat bemused to learn that a 6 monthly digital subscription (per year) is a whole fiver less than a year's subscription. Am I alone in finding that rather bizarre?

Agreed, no-one throws away models once completed or bought, witness the huge amount of second-hand models at shows; it's the process of building them that's the issue, and I accept that on the grand scale the amounts of waste are small, but they are nevertheless pretty much permanent, and far more mobile than metal particles (and which will eventually break down). Should it not be incumbent on us to minimise the release of any pollutants we create into the environment? After all, anyone can say 'what we do is only a tiny part of the problem'.

Having recently watched the BBC's documentary 'Drowning in Plastic', I wonder if anyone else has considered the plastic waste generated by all modellers in plastic, not just railway modellers? Not so much the large pieces of debris such as sprues etc. which in my case go in the recycling bin, to be either recycled (hopefully), incinerated (more likely), or buried in landfill (worst case), but the vast number of micro plastic particles created (billions? trillions?) when one files, drills or sands plastic. Some of this detritus will undoubtedly be hoovered up and go to incinerators or landfill, but much of it will, via hand washing and clothes washing, go into waste water, then potentially into drinking water or into the sea, where some of it will ultimately enter the food chain... Some may also remain floating in the air in our own homes for a considerable time, to be breathed in. Is there any way of eliminating or at least reducing further the pollution created in this way? I'm considering modelling exclusively in cardboard and metal in future! Any thoughts folks?

Yes, thanks; this is exactly what I did, please see post 34 above...

That's odd - I can see them! I've attempted to link to Google photos, I think I'll go back to the old method... Is that better?

Having started this thread I thought perhaps I should show how far I've got with my build... The space under the undersheet is lead-filled. Phone picture quality isn't that great - sorry!

That's encouraging...

Crikey! So who's going to model that??

Yes, I understand that; however, I think you might be missing the point... the kit has been modified but the instructions have not been updated to reflect this change, i.e. the white metal weight being replaced with a plastic moulding, which I think incorporates some of the detail from the plate. Hope that clears things up!