Dave Hunt

11 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

So what is the effect of Brylcreem  provided in a service environment.

 

(Asking for a friend)

Didn't me much good did it? And I was in the RAF for forty years.

Dave (AKA slaphead)

We once lived near a farm where a huge mound of chicken sh!t was delivered for fertilising purposes - and when I say huge we're talking quite a few big lorry loads from, we found out later, some battery hen factories. For a while the smell was appalling until after some months it rotted down sufficiently and the neighbourhood became tenable again. I think that the farmer was somewhat taken aback by the number of complaints that were made to the environmental health people, apparently including one from the farmer next door, and it was rumoured that his wife gave him grief over the reaction around the village. Certainly it never happened again.

Dave

Today I managed, with the help of a very nice social services lady, to get to the bottom of why Dad was transferred to a nursing home and refused any more physiotherapy unless he paid for it. Basically, the doctor at Whitchurch hospital classified him as not wanting to return to his own home but preferring to go permanently into a care home and that I had been consulted and agreed. I have made it abundantly clear that she was, shall we say charitably, mistaken (other descriptors are available) and social services are now working on getting him reclassified and receiving physiotherapy. I live in hope. My private thoughts on the subject can probably be imagined.

I am also without Jill's presence for a week as she is now having some R&R at her sister's in Devon so I am living in a state of squalor and deprivation. Hence I have been forced to forget my lonely existence by spending time in the workshop, sustain myself with meagre rations consisting of a mixed grill accompanied by a Merlot, pass the long, empty evening hours watching some recorded rugby on TV, and retire to my bed consoling myself with a glass of Lagavulin whilst I attend RMWeb. Will I survive? 

Ta ta everyone

Dave

4 hours ago, Adam88 said:

 

How can you get irradiated by a lump of concrete?

 

Just to set the record straight, the famous 'Blue Circle' ADV Tornadoes were only four in number and were delivered without the Foxhunter radars so that ground and aircrews could start getting used to the airframes. Actually, the whole aircraft was something of a non-starter as it (the F2) didn't have the uprated engines that were in the F3s, which were the actual operational version, and some other systems were sub-standard. The handful of F2s were very short-lived.

Dave

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Dave will never be a Hippo:

 

He's not short sighted, grey or bad tempered.

That's the nicest thing anyone's said about me in ages. Do you owe me money, Richard?

Dave 

Jill bought me a new shirt....

Is this a potentially tragic mistake?

Dave

On my first Phantom squadron I used to write the monthly Squadron article for the station magazine. One month I included the joke, "There was a Rockape (RAF Regiment person) standing outside SHQ with a donkey on a lead. A chap came up and asked, 'Where did you get that?' And the donkey replied, 'Catterick (main base RAF Regt.)'."

Boy, did I get some vitriolic flak over that so when I next saw the Station Commander in the bar I expected a bollo**ing but instead he said, "Don't look so worried, David - just shows that the Rocks don't have a sense of humour."

Dave

I think that Crimson Rambler is the chap to consult on the FPL/double slip question. Maybe a PM to him would help?

Quite agree with Jamie's post above though.

Dave

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I used to enjoy Air Clues, especially the  'What I learned about flying from that' column.

 

Did you ever manage to read 'British Army Review'?  There was always a rather satirical article, poking fun at rules regulations and the top brass by 'Sustainer' (Who turned out to be a Lt Col in the Catering Corps.)

 

When the latest edition of BAR appeared, it was not a case of checking on the headline article on latest military thinking by some big wig, but what 'Sustainer' had to say this quarter!

Yes, I did see copies of BAR from time to time and do recall the 'Sustainer' column. I once had an article published in the 'I learned about flying from that' part of Air Clues, anonymously as they all were, but the funniest articles were, in my opinion, the 'A day in the life of Flying Officer X' that lampooned the transition of a young second tourist from being a transport copilot to a QFI instructing on Jet Provosts. A typical example was when asked by his instructor at CFS to do some aerobatics he mused, "Can't really get enthused about hanging upside down looking up at feet but will try to mollify large, scowling individual across cockpit. Perform rate 2 climbing turn".

Dave

I think that Stephen is spot on regarding the identities of the vehicles in the picture that Nick posted. As to the class of train, though, I can't make out the headlamp code but the composition would fit in with Stephen's suggestion that it was an express. Such a train would have given the late Jack Braithwaite hours of satisfaction as he regarded the 60 Class as some of the loveliest engines of Johnson's superintendency (beaten only by No. 33) and the Bain clerestories as the finest rolling stock of the era.

I think he had a point.

I also think that it's time Jamie wrote the definitive work on the Morecambe electrification 

Dave

2 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Afternoon all,

 

Progress is going well, the front bogie part of the frames has been profiled and all the holes for the frame stretchers in the frames have been drilled. However, the frame stretchers are proving to be a but of a problem, do to my not being the greatest at bending steel. However, I am thinking of using some very hard hardwood, which one can then drill and tap, and if needed you can strengthen the threads by putting in some very liquid superglue.

 

Douglas

You could use the old tried and trusted method of making frame spacers from brass bar. Cut some lengths of bar slightly oversize then face off one end of each piece in the lathe. Reverse and face off the other ends. Measure the lengths  with a vernier then face off to get to the length you want, drill through tapping size then tap to a depth to suit the screws you are going to use. Drill clearance holes in the frames and screw the frames to the spacers. I suggest that this would be preferable to using wood, no matter how hard (unless you use lignite).

I often use such spacers that I have made previously to hold the frames at the correct spacing and alignment while I fix the proper stretchers, motion brackets etc. in place.

Dave

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

I think that was the best railway April fool ever - the letters were hilarious.

Not railway related but shortly after we joined the EU (or EEC I think it was then) the RAF internal magazine for aircrew and engineers, called Air Clues, ran a piece on April 1st stating that European aviation was going over to the metric compass where a full circle was 100 degrees, each divided into ten millidegrees, and that all aircraft, radar stations etc. would be modified at a date to be advised. Much to general amazement there were quite a few fish caught on that particular hook.

Dave 

2 minutes ago, Canal Digger said:

I have a book "Modelling in '000' Gauge" by E.F. Carter (ie pre-N Gauge bit not Lone Star) where he describes making wheels [from rod], extruding his own rail [from wire] and winding his own motors! Does anyone still do the last 2? 

Only masochists I suspect. The last person I knew who sometimes wound his own motors was Sid Stubbs and even he didn't go as far as extruding his own rail. I have on occasion made a few wheels from scratch or had them cast from my patterns but some time ago realised that although I enjoy scratch building there is a limit to the earthly time allotted to me and if good quality rail, wheels and motors are available I'll use them. I do sometimes make my own gearboxes, albeit using commercially available gears.

Dave

The advantage of soldering frame plates together is, for me, that you can then cut lightening holes etc. that are close together or near other gaps without running the risk of the saw, drill, whatever, catching and distorting the thin metal of one layer. Admittedly, this shouldn't be a problem if using steel but I'm naturally cautious when the possibility of ruining several hours' work is involved. The other thing I have found easier when using plates that are soldered together is clamping them onto base plates for drilling or milling as there aren't any bolt heads etc. to get in the way.

Having said that, HH is right in suggesting that the task of cleaning up is largely avoided but I think we are now entering the realms of what works best for a particular modeller.

Dave

Welcome to the wonderful world of locomotive scratchbuilding, Douglas. I find that the sight of a locomotive that I have made from scratch (well, usually excluding the motor and wheel castings, or sometimes the finished wheels) one of the most satisfying things.

As Jamie suggests, frames should be cut when fixed together to ensure that everything is square when they are erected. I too use steel for frames (20 or 25 thou as that is about scale in 7mm) and solder the blanks together with a gas torch before cutting and drilling then unsolder, again with the gas torch, before cleaning up, which is the biggest job.

As far as getting long wheelbase engines round curves is concerned, judicious use of sideplay on the intermediate wheelsets will usually do the job. In Gauge 1 the typical minimum radius curve that such 'real' engines would negotiate without restriction would scale to about 15 feet but with a bit of sideplay built in that can easily be reduced to a more manageable size. My S7 engines, even the Compound and the Schenectady Mogul, will negotiate 7ft curves quite happily and that's with hardly any extra sideplay at all.

I wish you every bit of luck in your endeavour.

Dave

34 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Come to think of it, making a small pillbox type structure at that location would be very comfy with an armchair instead of an insulated mat. A table, coffee sandwiches, the extension cable for the electric kettle etc.

Don't you find them a bit soggy?

Dave

No.2 son is a hydrogeologist. DiL says that he's only really happy when looking at wet rocks.

Dave

7 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Not ideal, but necessary due to fellow ER'ers needing to get permission to go out and "play" from SWMBO....

Air support will be dependent on movement clearance from the authorities (SWMBO) and can only happen once the shopping has been done.

Dave

When we moved into a previous house I discovered to my horror that the electric cooker feed had been taken off a lighting circuit and the fuse replaced by piece of fence wire or similar. The fuse box casing was charred by the connection and the fact that the house was still standing and wasn't a pile of ash seemed something of a miracle.

Dave

Mike, I have relatives and forebears who worked for both the Midland and the LNWR, the LMS and BR(LMR) so you are on safe ground. BUT having had forebears who worked for the Midland YOU should be a member of the Midland Railway Society!

(and you'd probably walk away with the Chairman's Cup for your models).

Dave

Sadly there aren't any anti-stupidity, anti-selfishness or anti-moronity (if there is such a word?) vaccines. I think that the airlines catering for such people should be renamed Lemmingair.

Dave