Halvarras

This reminds me - and because thread drift can be fun 😁 - that Traction magazine celebrated Issue no 1 with a string of images showing Class 44 1, Class 45s 11 & 111, Class 47 1111 and Class 04 11111 (being devoid of serifs the latter almost resembled a bar code...... "What's a bar code?", says 11111's 1950s BR driver. Ah, you need an optical scanner to........oh never mind 🤭)

Certainly true of diesels (can't confirm or deny the nickname, not 'my' region), although when the Class 91 electrics were modified and renumbered 91 011 became 91 111. 31 111 had probably been despatched by then though (I know very little about '91s'..........and now I come to think about it I don't think I ever actually saw one!!)

Gosh, you have been busy. Again! Several steps up from press studs, that's for sure 😃! Methinks this one is going to look spectacular.........

And D5021 also Bsyp with BR lion-and-wheel emblem using their new tooling - twin pack material 😉?! Maybe not, thinking of the £...... Regarding Model Zone's D5218, this model was a disappointment because it used the tooling for the BR Blue '25' with welded-up end gangway doors, as well as boiler compartment grille blanks (I did a straight repaint of a Hornby model years ago and it was more accurate!) Kernow's weathered two-tone green Class 24 D5072 suffered similarly with an incorrect later 'de-valanced' underframe and those blanks again. I've often wondered whether these glaring errors were done deliberately for some reason...........anyway, hopefully any future releases of these subjects would be taken more seriously.

I built an MTK Hawksworth SK kit as W1719W in blue/grey in the late 1990s (have previously posted a pic elsewhere on RMweb, probably MTK thread), I would certainly buy a Hornby one myself to accompany my Kernow blue D600 'Active'. I've considered the possibility of repainting one but the chances of getting the glazing out without damage*, and even if I could refitting it without cracking the paint around most if not every window opening (because the glazing fits so tightly), puts me off the idea. As does 'simply' masking off all those windows - no thanks! As a stand-in I have a Hornby maroon Hawksworth SK for the catering trolley service, as illustrated on page 33 of 'The Heyday of the Hydraulics', D604 'Cossack' at Redruth with 1V33 down 'Cornishman' on 19th August 1967 with one of these immediately behind the loco (D604 must have been just days away from its 3-month South Wales holiday). *Many of these models exhibit 'dimpling' on the lower sides where excessive glue has softened the thin shell!

Already?! Reminds me that maybe 35 years ago now somebody handed me a pair of thick plastic Derby Lightweight bodyshells (presumably Kirdon....??) with a request to see if I could create this Ultrasonic Test Unit on Hornby Class 110 chassis. The mission was accomplished, despite having few photos to work from - consequently the wheelskate thingy was basic but it looked the part as a layout model. I finished it in blue full yellow livery but can't recall much else about it now, especially how I tackled the transfers, other than I somehow managed with what was available at the time. I often wonder whether the multitude of models I completed during the 1970s and 1980s, either for myself and subsequently passed on, or following requests like this one, are still out there somewhere. One of the reasons I kept an eye on Hattons pre-owned listings, just in case. Needless to say it never happened......!

Ta-daaaaa!

I saw these vans working up through Cornwall quite often in the early 1970s, always at the head of the 6B59 Ponsandane to Tavistock Junction freight service. The topic @Downendian links to above suggests that these were in use for National Carriers Ltd (NCL) traffic. I took very few photos which included them but here are a couple dated 21st & 23rd May 1975 when 25306 was in charge on both days - first approaching Saveock, the summit between Chacewater and Truro, and then passing 47247 on the down 1B45 ('CRE' I believe) at Truro. The first shot appears to be a Diagram 800 followed by two 801s...... ......and this one has two 801s followed by two 800s. I think!

Another lovely job, and a change from the usual BR green and blue (one door excepted!) May I enquire as to your reasoning for completing the two vehicles separately in this way? Back in 1997/8 I converted two Hornby Class 29s into Class 22s using A1 Models conversion kits but I deviated considerably from the instructions (including using chassis from Lima South African overhead electrics) - I knew 'doing it my way' was going to create a lot of extra work and that if I did them one at a time the second one may never get finished as I couldn't face doing all that again, so they were worked on side-by-side. This had the advantage of batch-producing the Plastruct and Plasticard parts (which you may have done here of course) so although they took around 9 months to finish I felt doing them 'in parallel' rather than 'in series', as it were, was both quicker and easier overall. In my case one was finished in green and the other in blue, so it didn't matter too much if the surface finishes differed slightly, but with a 2-car unit using the method you've employed with this project I'd be concerned that the surface finishes may not match - due to slightly different paint/varnish thinning, different atmospheric conditions, etc. You do seem to achieve a consistent finish with your MTK output so I'm sure it will be fine, but I'm still still curious about your 'one then the other' approach to this build - personally I may have found my motivation for Round 2 somewhat lacking 😊!

31215 - took 'skinhead' Class 31 to a whole new level.....! (Flickr pic)

31111 donated a cab to 31444 which had started out as 5555. Just thought I'd drop that mind-boggling piece of information in here 🤪!

Plastic cab door handrails = early release too. Ex-47059?

Some more Tri-ang and Hornby Dublo chassis and parts up for grabs at Elaine's emporium this morning: https://elaines-trains.co.uk/index.php?pg=new Keeping an eye on Elaine's Trains website has become my new 'addiction' following the loss of Hattons, because you never know what's going to appear.......such as that Tri-ang clockwork NBL shunter body I mentioned last Thursday. Probably the wrong course of action then for somebody desperately trying to avoid adding new projects to The Pile..........🤭 However from time to time parts come up which could assist with completing projects already in that Pile and push them along the path to completion - that's my excuse anyway!

Slicing to make sandwiches would be closer to one of its nicknames........!

Not sure about that one myself, having no need for a '67', but your question did remind me of this one..... Bachmann's first release of their PNA open wagon (38-100) was incorrectly lettered "Railways" instead of "Railway". This was corrected on subsequent releases. (Perhaps if Railtrack had fully upheld their own advertised mission statement, regardless of the spelling, it would still be with us......)