Mike Harvey

Image from the Oxford website. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0488/9369/0011/products/NVOL4007Size_993x376.jpg?v=1600714935

@acg5324 Andy. I had to smile at the fuel price. The price per gallon then is almost the price per litre now.

Found some rubber tyred road wheels at DMToys. Cars https://www.dm-toys.de/en/product-details/DM-Toys_17600.html Trucks https://www.dm-toys.de/en/product-details/DM-Toys_17500.html

Meantime we will have to go on using modified rolling stock handbrake wheels. The smallest of these N Brass locomotives ones are 1.9mm diameter. https://www.nbrasslocos.co.uk/kitimages/fitcoach/n23265wheelhandweb.gif My first car in the 1950s was retrofitted with 3 inch diameter wing mirrors, so 0.5mm, and a half inch arm between mirror and wing. Later edit:- Mirrors from FKS Modeelbau:- https://www.dm-toys.de/files/produktfotos/FKS/2018/FKS_160-038-02.jpg

Looks like Faish are upping their game with the Class 319……through wiring so only one decoder, only one screw needs to be undone to fit the decoder, factory installed interior lights, pre-fitted loudspeaker so factory provision to easily install sound., all for not much more than the price of the Kato Class 800 after adding the cost of DCC decoders, interior lighting and a speaker.

To accompany the Husky, you might have spotted the Commer K1 fire engine in Richards whole range line up.

Found it. SRV95. http://www.johndaymodels.co.uk/our-models/cars/#jp-carousel-144

I had a beaten up old pedal car jeep in the early1950s. My Dad gave it a snazzy maroon paint job. Never saw a real one locally. The pedal car was passed along to subsequent generations but eventually went to the scrap yard.

I have snipped a tiny portion out of a photo from the "Firefighting in Kent" book by Roger C. Mardon and John Meakins to show the style of grille on the Kent 1956 Husky radio cars. These replaced 1948 Austin A40 estate cars with Martin Walter bodies, and were followed by later Mk Huskies. http://

I thought I had made a 1/76 model of the Kent Husky from a white metal kit. Seen here with an early test print for a Kent K1 appliance from 1954. The kit may have been Canterbury Commercials - can't see it in the R.Parker or John Day ranges.

My local fire service in Kent had a fleet of Husky estates in a pale institutional green colour. They always looked like they rode nose high because of the weight of equipment in the back, but I think it was an illusion caused by the shape of the rear mudguard. This photo of a more jazzed-up version looks a bit nose high. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Hillman_husky_mark1.jpg

The BP version is now showing in stock at Oxford:- https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/collections/new-in/products/po-tank-wagon-bp-no-1061-or76tk2007 OXFORD RAIL 1:76 Scale PO Tank Wagon BP No 1061 — Oxford Diecast

Now showing in stock at Oxford. https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/collections/new-in/products/j27-lner-no-1010

They are looking really good Richard. I like the concept of building a family around the same base design. The fire engine is looking very much like the one which served my home village in the late 1960s through to the late 1970s.

Oxford provided an impromptu announcement of new info on 1/76 and 1/87 items yesterday on the OD Collectors Facebook Group. Trade announcement will be made just after the Bank Holiday weekend. Not a lot to get excited about, and nothing for O gauge or N gauge.

I wonder how Hornby classifies the efficiency of its own online selling operation. For years now I have ordered continental items from Hornby. On several occasions all the pre-orders have arrived in the warehouse on the same day, and been shipped in one parcel. Unfortunately I have always been charged a separate shipping fee for each item so sometimes over £50 in overpaid shipping. It then takes a phone call, and a wait, whilst each individual shipping fee is returned one by one to my credit card. Does that sound like Tier 1? Plenty of the Tier 3 stores offer much more customer oriented processes.

Maybe worth revising the thread title to answer the question with a “Yes”.

Did the Swiss Federal Railways (Italian language branch) have Class 128s?

I cannot see Shapeways starting a British operation, and many designers do not want the hassle of arranging printing in the UK and then packing and sending the prints out to buyers. Although I have made most of my print files available for people to print at home or through a UK printing house, for most designers who have committed thousands of hours to designing a range of products, selling a print file and losing control of it, is not an attractive proposition when they can monetise the design work through Shapeways. My designs were never intended to make money for me, and being in a very niche market, I have been happy to give mine away to people who want the models. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/155813-free-stl-files-for-sncf-corail-including-b6dux-bodies-1160/

Kato seem to be cautious in specifying the minimum radius and the straight between opposing curves. There are reports of the train passing without problem through 228.6mm radius curves (my experience too) against Kato 282mm minimum specification. The #4 has a radius of 481mm and the train will probably pass through without any problem.

At least they have avoided the Farish solution on the the Class 350 which was to mould the jumper cables as a solid mass.

I have used Hexa-cubed with satisfting results.

@Tricky-CRS Richard, I have some rear views of the Kent version, which I will PM you tomorrow. It may or may not correspond to the one you have all round photos for. There was also 3 page Vintage Roadscene article in the last two years.

the Commer is an excellent choice @Tricky-CRSHow about a nice simple fire engine. This one is a Kent V AKS with a body by HCB, but others had similar. The boxy body might help in design. The photo is from Roger Mardon's excellent fire history site. http://www.romar.org.uk/_wp_generated/wp6a3ffd50.jpg

I have now uploaded links to 25 .stl files for interiors for the whole Corail Vu family in 1/160:- https://tinyurl.com/ys7dzd8z A friend in France has been road-testing these and they incorporate improvements derived from his experiences. Using an Anycubic Photon Mono X he is able to print four files for bodies/chassis/interiors at once flat on the build plate with a print time below three hours. 3D printing and N scale seem to work well together.