roythebus1

The Victorian brick-built tunnels on the Metropolitan railway have lasted a lot longer. 160 years is it?

The "used" 31 I got was missing a couple of cab handrails. the previous owner has made a bit of a mess with super glue trying to stick them back on which explained why I had a problem getting the body off the chassis. I used to wrk on the 31s as a secondman at KX, loved doing the all-stations suburban trains from Welwyn to Moorgate and th Cambridge buffet expresses.

There's one at East Ham on the District Line. And another at Barking sidings!

Now sorted, a reasonably easy conversion. there's a bit fouling on the front valances under the cab, it would appear the Hornby version has shortened these a bit to clear the bogie swing. The problem with them all is that the middle axle on the real thing was 3' diameter, not the 3/6 of the powered axles! But with all 12 wheels driven, it ought to go better than the Lima chassis with no traction tyres. Anybody want a set of Peters Spares wheels??

Thanks, that's most helpful. i'll have to try to find the pest-ridden 31 now! Shame as it had the early body without headcode boxes. At least the mechanism won't go to waste. As you say it's a pity the Lima mech isn't very well engineered on this one. Presumably the bogies pivot on the white plasticard bits seen in your photos? It seems a more sensible way than the very awkward Lima method. Is there a way to fit NEM coupler boxes or Kadees on your conversion?

I renectly read on here that the Lima class 31 is a fairly decent model so I ought a used version from an ebay source. The model runs well, but not on my hand-built track! despite pushing out the b-2b-b to 14.5,, I found there's so much slop in the axle slots on the trailing bogie that ny decent running may be near impossible. I got a set of replacement wheels from Peter's spares, they arrived today so I fitted those. No improvement as there's still the problem of 2.5mm ales flopping around in 3.5mm slots with the middle axle tending to run sideways and derailing on single and double slips. Short of digging out my ancient Unimat and making some axle bushes, does anyone have an easier answer to the problem? I've also thought of making a couple of frams out of scrap n/s etch as an axle runner between the centre axle and one of the outer axles. Sadly my super-details Hornby (China) 31 suffered badly from mazak pest so is unusable.

I have a huge stock of disc-braked 12mm wheels to RP25 spec that I had made to special order for my VGA wagon kits. They are excellent replacements for the Jouef cheesecutter wheels. Hunt coupling, not tried them yet but have some on order. Along with Kean close-coupling units, I think I will have the right answer.

All this suggests nothing wrong with the scale loco, it just won't run properly on train set corners and gradients, just like the real thing. they were limited to a certain minimum radius and speed restrictions on those curves.

Take note of my comment about import duties on orders over £110! The additional postage is cheaper than the duty and UK VAT you will have to pay.

I worked in Patricks toy shop in Fulham when I left school in 1967 (I think). the Lima N gauge range was introduced around then. There was a nice looking class 86, an awful BR standard tank that appeared in an MRC review at the top of the page comparing it to a very nice Arnold DB 2-10-0. There really was no comparison. We had Lima BR coaches which were to a totally different scale to the Minitrix BR coaches. Which was a great shame as we were trying to promote the "new " N gauge through the display railway in the front window which was operated by a penny in the slot!e Lima range from day 1. ISTR Wrenn selling the Lima range from day 1 whenever that was, the Triang involvement was later on.

I had another go this morning, I may have the wrong combination of nozzle and needle! It seems I have a medium needle, 2 notches in the end and an unidentifiable nozzle, the needle seems to stick through too far, maybe 3mm out of the end. But at last I'm getting results at last using abut 15psi/1 bar. Part of the problem was a build-up of paint inside the nozzle. a good spray with some old Badger reamer cleared it, but that stuff seem to be no longer available from Barwell. Cellulose thinners may be the answer, I've got a 5 litre can in the workshop. Any idea how to identify the nozzle size?

I suppose the higher the pressure the more chance of paint drying in the nozzle before it's done anything useful? I'll give the tip another blast with Badger reamer cleaner and see what happens.

Most bicycles in the world use British Cycle threads, as do AEC buses and lorries on their air pipes. And fuel cap threads are British Cycle! It's also odd the amount of British pipe threads I find abroad, in Belgium especially the Brico warehouses always offer metric pie fittings and BSP and British gas threads.

What is the Chesham set made from? Resin/3d printed/plastic?? I've ordered a set and am curious. I produced a body kit for the F class back in the late 1970s/early 1980s under the GS Models name but never got round to doing a chassis kit for it. SE Finecast also do the F class and the E class.

I've been struggling with my rather ancient Badger airbrush for years. Way back when I gave it to the Badger rep at the Wembley show and he gave it a good cleaning and got it working. More recently I've strted to try to use it again and it suffers the same problems as others have mentioned above. Not picking paint up, blotches, the lot. I discovered the neoprene washer that sits in the nozzle had gone walkabout so ordered some more from the supplier. itted a new one this evening and guess what, no improvement! I've stripped the brush down at least 3 times, each time it picks up thinners then blocks again. I eventually dismantled the needle and found it wasn't going right through the nozzle. I used some Badger airbrush reamer, that seems to have shifted a blockage in the nozzle. It was getting late so I did't try a 3rd lot tonight, maybe tomorrow! Also, my compressor broke last week! I've had it since about 1971, got it from EAMES when they were ar Kings Cross! I'd changed the air pipe adaptor and the replacement did't have a pressure relief hole, so pressure built up and eventually the end of the motor shaft broke. I think I'd had my money's worth. However, I have a portable Clarks compressor in the workshop, got that running with an additional regulator. What pressure do others use for spraying models? I know when I'm spraying full size buses I use about 20 psi, on models they seem to need a lot more pressure. I suppose trial and error will come into the equation tomorrow.

Have a look on the "collectors" group on here, lots there about the Trix AL1. Originally built with 2 pantos, they were converted to single pan when the got fitted with air brakes.

Black Beetle far from extinct, I've had quite a few from Australia in the last year or so. The firm thet made the motors closed down so the guy in Aus bought the remaining stock. Once they're used, then they will be extinct. But he assures me stock are far from selling out quickly. Be warned, items over £120 will attract UK import duty and VAT. I made the mistake of placing a "big" order thinking I'd save on carriage, but that was the problem as I had to pay the duty and vat!!

I must admit it's years since I've used Methfix transfers!. If it says use meths, then use meths, it's what they're designed for. Donate the rest to local wino!

Kenline produced card bodied wagon kits up to the late 1960s.

Do you mean Methfix transfer?

Hmmm, not very well thought out then!

Got my name on the list, thanks. I had a set of vacuum formed plastic sides done back in the 1970s by someone, but cutting out all the windows was too much for me!

The first train I secondmanned on BR was a parcels from Rugby to Crewe. A class 81 with a SR 4-wheel parcels van! Guard rode in the back cab. December 1974.

I don't recall seeing b/g stock on the Kings Cross suburban trains in my time at KX. For a start the Widened Lines couldn't take 63' coaches round the corners under York Way and Hotel Curve. But that wouldn't prevent their use on outer suburban sets. On the South Western there's a few pics of corridor and non-corridor sets working stopping trains to Basingstoke, with n/c stock in the middle and corridor stock at the outer ends due to limited platform lengths. S100S was a "regular" on the Kenny Belle set along with a Bullied brake along with 2 other n/g coaches. there was also a set of short maroon suburban coaches renumbered with S prefix on the Southern for a while. That too appeared on the Kenny Belle. The 6TC appeared on the Kenny Belle a few times as well.