Silly Moo

I’m not great at ballasting track either and I’ve been modelling for over 20 years! With N gauge you need to be meticulous about track laying and ballasting otherwise you get poor running. I’m getting to the stage where Kato track is beginning to look appealing. All I can say is that you shouldn’t be afraid to re do things if you aren’t happy with the result. I have often resorted to re doing scenery, it’s part of the learning process.

I used Humbrol Acrylic aerosol paint (Purple 68) on a Graham Farish N gauge loco body and a Triang Nellie 0-4-0 body. Whether or not it is exactly the right shade of purple is difficult to judge but it is a pleasant shade. The lining is going to be a challenge, especially in N!

Nellie’s regal sister Betty A Triang Nellie 0-4-0 repainted with Humbrol Acrylic Spray Paint.

I’m in the process of building a 00 roundy-roundy with a 50mm styrofoam base boards. I have put plywood round the outside of the stryofoam and pasted lining paper onto the underside of the boards. When in use the layout rests on a fold up table. It breaks down into two boards that fit into a wardrobe. I have always used styrofoam as we don’t have the tools at home for building wooden baseboards. I also like having light baseboards that can be easily moved around. The only snag I have found is that installing point motors could be difficult. I see no reason for cardboard not working just as well as long as you don’t intend flinging your layout into the back of a lorry!

I’m one mother who would love a Hornby loco for Mother’s Day but I don’t think my children will be getting me one. I am starting to get them trained (pardon the pun) into buying model railway gift vouchers for Christmas and birthdays. I bought a Hornby Terrier for my birthday causing my daughter to remark “ Do you really need another loco?” What a silly question : )

Mine has to be an N gauge Dapol pannier tank which was making dreadful screeching noises. A drop of oil on the motor bearings was suggested. Despite being given instructions on how to remove the body, the delicate detail and the fact that the body seemed to have been glued to the chassis caused me to admit defeat before I wrecked it. I don’t think modern N gauge locos are designed to be taken apart! The loco continued to screech until it cured itself - touch wood. I’m in awe of the people who assemble and repair tiny N gauge tank engines.

Anyone know why Corgi and Scalextric don’t seem to have been featured at all? Is there another series on the cards?

I’m going to be using it on mine along with a modified Trackmat track layout. Chris Nevard has done a beautiful ‘Train Set’ layout for Kernow Model Railways using set track. With careful ballasting and weathering set track can look good.

Getting back to suitable paint, I repainted some of my tattier Lone Star stock using aerosol enamel paint. I’m sure you will find something suitable at Halfords. I have quite a collection, kept for sentimental reasons, as they are what got me interested in model railways when I was four or five.

When your loco is too long for your Ratio engine shed. Seen at the Swanage Railway.

I’m after a drawbar pick up for a Hornby BoB which is out of stock at Peter’s Spares and presumably Hornby too. I was rather alarmed to see that the latter will charge £5 for postage if they do ever get it in stock!

There are quite a few model railway selling groups on Facebook. I have bought quite a few items that way, the prices are higher than what you as a seller would get from retailers but lower for the buyer than new prices. Most of the groups stipulate PayPal as a means of payment. Another option might be contacting a local model railway club and advertising to their members who could buy directly from your house avoiding having to post things.

I’m a bit mystified by your post, Bachmann do Underground Ernie and are about to reintroduce Thomas, Hornby do Harry Potter and the Hornby Junior Range with a Paddington train. There is also the Hornby Railroad Range. Not forgetting Lego Trains. I’m sure they are all available second hand if you are on a budget.

Where are you in South Africa? Humbrol paints are available from local model shops. If no one comes up with a recipe for Tamiya paints try: Hobbies and Models, Herbert Evans, The Aviation Shop or Esswex Hobbies in Johannesburg or Grand Prix Models in Boksburg who should be able to send them to you via Postnet.

I started off with Lone Star 000 push along when I was very young and the smaller size of N has always appealed, so when I saw some early Farish models in Hamleys in the late 70s I bought a Black Five, two coaches and a length of Peco flexi track. That got me started in N. The early Farish models did not compare well with their European counterparts detail and running wise but I stuck to British outline N and was pleased to see continual improvement. The latest Chinese made models are really good. Of my older Poole models a few have survived most having been upgraded but my favourites are a trio of 2-6-0 ‘Crabs’ which run really well indeed. Other survivors are pannier tanks and a rebuilt Merchant Navy. I have a really growly brass geared class 37 that I like too. There is no doubt that without Graham Farish British N gauge would be a lot different and might not have survived commercially at all.

Here is a link to some Farish catalogues http://www.ness-st.co.uk/N-gauge-catalogues.html The site belongs to Julian Thornhill (who might be a member of RMweb) His layout of the Hayling Island line featuring the Langston Bridge has appeared at quite a few exhibitions.

Back to Terriers, could anyone recommend suitable loco crew figures? I have a single 0 scale Terrier and ordered figures from Modelu, one of them was too tall to fit in the cab and had to have his legs shortened so I know that finding suitable figures to fit in an 00 Terrier cab could be tricky. I was hoping that one of the 3D companies might produce some figures especially for the new Terriers both Hornby and Dapol.

I looked on YouTube to see if anyone on there had any ideas and someone had used Vaseline on fogged clear plastic. It might be worth a try. Rather than trying to remove the superglue (and probably the paint as well) perhaps something oily applied to the fogged area might restore the colour of the paint beneath? Could you replicate the fogging on something else not so valuable, say a wagon or a plastic building and then experiment with different substances? Please let us know what eventually works.

I’m very pleased to hear that you have a good replacement model but puzzled by the fact that had you replaced the broken parts on the faulty one you would have invalidated the warranty. Does this mean that any minor cosmetic modifications or repairs will invalidate the warranty? A complete range of spare detail parts is supposed to be available. If for instance, I knock the steps off my model and glue them back on again and the next week the motor packs up does that mean I have invalidated the warranty and the motor isn’t covered?

I prefer oval layouts and lean towards micros due to the fact that I have limited funds and space, even without those constraints I don’t think I’d ever want an enormous layout. I quite like the challenge of trying to design compact layouts that look reasonably realistic. I also like to sit back and watch the trains go by.

Not only did Rails take delivery of the locos at a difficult time, the actual human beings who assembled them are most likely recovering either directly or indirectly from the affects of the virus.

I am very happy to report that my replacement Terrier arrived today and it is a little beauty. I now have the pick of the litter. I can’t find any cosmetic faults at all and it runs beautifully. I really like the firebox flicker. I am impressed by the packaging and comprehensive instructions and the ability to obtain spare parts. Thanks to all at Rails for the quick turn around.

Look at the buffers, they appear to be different sizes, I suspect it’s more a case of distortion caused by the camera angle.

Mine was made on a Monday. I decided to look very carefully at my loco, it has a detached handrail, badly fitted brake rodding that fouls one of the wheels and glue on the dome. It also looks as though it has already been run. There is an oily finger print on the top of the body. It will be going back without me having test run it : ( I only hope there is someone at Rails who can find me a good replacement. If I hadn’t paid a premium for it I may have tried to remedy some of the faults myself but I shouldn’t have to do that should I?

Mine arrived like this and I was about to send it straight back but the pipe is slightly loose and I was able to gently nudge it back into position. The cab rails look a bit wonky so I will have a look at those too. I’ll reserve judgement for now. I will go over it very carefully and give it a test run tomorrow. I am very impressed with the packaging and paperwork that comes with the model. I’m one of those who probably would have been very happy with the Hornby model as I don’t know enough about the finer details of the class to compare the two (I did however notice the wonky pipe straight away) . I am, however very pleased that we have an expert here who has helped get it as close to the prototype as possible.