Halvarras

Regarding the boiler compartment roof panel and because a picture is worth a thousand words (well, a few dozen), here's one I made earlier which may yet find its way onto a similar conversion (I knew I had it somewhere......) - this is 10thou plasticard, it may be possible to create it from 5thou for a flusher appearance but it would be very close to cutting, drilling and filing paper.........perhaps not impossible, I've never tried it! Looks like it still needs a bit of tidying-up (thank you, digital photography, grrrr!)

So it's true then - the excitement of replacing the final Mirrlees power unit with an EE lump in the first-built Brush Type 2 thus concluding the re-engining programme resulted in the fitment of windscreen washers and shields being overlooked! 🤔🤭

The Parkin book on BR Mark 1 stock has a colour photo of choc/cream CK and FK vehicles end-to-end with yellow stripes, but comments that it was an unusual combination as by the time the stripes were coming in the choc/cream livery was already on its way out (BSK W34885 still extant in summer 1968 didn't get the memo!) Yellow stripe on green DMU stock does seem to have been unusual to rare but examples did exist post-1966 - a quick scan of my DMU books found such treatment applied to Classes 100, 108 and Derby Lightweight vehicles. In 1969 I regularly saw Class 120 W51576/59582/51590, a late survivor in green (a couple of other sets had already progressed from green through plain blue to blue/grey by then), but now wish I could recall whether it had acquired yellow first class stripes by such a late date.....not something the young me would have paid much attention to 🥴!

Another point about the first three, confirmed by the photo - they didn't have the 'catwalks' over the fan grilles.

Yes I agree, it looks like the Craftsman kit. It appears that all of the disc headcode locos received yellow panels except (because there always seems to be an exception*) D803 'Albion' which was still running in beaten-up plain green livery as late as October 1964 and was modified early the following year. When these 13 were modified to headcode panels D801/4 retained the centre lamp bracket and headboard clips, D806/9/12 retained just the lamp bracket and the rest retained neither. 'Book of the Warships' enables these to be listed in order of date of modification, and guess what? - D801/4 were done first, then D806/9/12, and then the rest - so Swindon clearly decided to simplify the task as they worked their way through them! (Sorry, can't list them in correct numerical order right now as can't access the book.) *Think D6301, D6109, D6123, D5701, D5909, etc!

D800 in green or D804 in blue, by any chance? These seem to be the Mazak victims....... I have five Mainline bodies on Lima chassis, created during the 1990s - no gear issues or bent chassis (except one which has developed droopy ends over the years - I'll fix it one day).

An elevated photo on the Cornwall Railway Society website taken over the wall at Penzance may help - you won't need to scroll down too far to find it: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/penzance-area-to-marazion.html Note that the circular boiler compartment panel is off-centre compared to the in-line roof fan grilles. I've made a few of these in the past for D600 and D800 Warships, some from 10thou plasticard and others using self-adhesive paper (plasticard is easier as it can be drilled and filed - paper has to be cut right first time, although gives a flusher finish) - I used a compass to draw a 14mm diameter circle (estimated overall size), then two more inside this at 12 & 13mm; lines were drawn dividing it into four quarters, then again dividing it into eight segments; within each a 'curved sausage' shaped opening was then drawn between the 12 & 13mm lines and formed by drilling holes at each end, cutting away most of the infill with a scalpel and filing to shape with mini and 'rat-tail' files. Yes it's fiddly but AFAIK an etched item has never been available. Once glued to the roof you could open it up properly by drilling and filing the eight openings through the roof but life is too short so I painted them black instead (you could attach it over one circular hole which would look great but IMO be too fragile without additional support - more fiddliness!) Both Warships in the Penzance view have short nose-top handrails, identifying them as two of the first three as built (neither appear to have long thin nameplates so these must be D801/2). Since your model already has long handrails perhaps avoid these three, which also had cab door handrails with top and bottom ends curved in, but not difficult to amend if desired. Other differences between D800-12 and the rest include the twin access panels on the lower cabsides being removable not hinged along the top edge; side engine room grilles having single not twin support struts (aarrgghh grilles! - too much work to do neatly and life still too short!); and a plainer appearance to the lower side valances with fewer obvious openings. It depends how far you want to go....🙂

Agree on both (can't remember the title of the first one either, only seen it the once), but they're comedies so I guess they're supposed to be a bit silly 🤪!

I wonder where the '7s' with curved stems came from - these were not 'corporate'. They even appeared on Large Logo Blue, 47467 being one example IIRC. I had some old waterslide transfer sheets with curved '7s' (SMS I think) which I had to use as nothing else was available at the time, although they always looked wrong to me.......

Another vote for the arrival of Mainline and Airfix in the late 1970s. Up until then I hadn't paid much attention to wagons, they were adequate but generally not impressive, however Airfix managed to turn the humble 5-plank open wagon into a thing of beauty, particularly IMO the BR grey version with its top edge rivetting, door bangers, slender buffers, brake shoes in line with the wheels, matt paint finish and accurate number font. It looked so right and made Mainline's take on it appear deficient in comparison (nice try with the woodgrain effect but it looked overscale) and they later retooled their 10' chassis with in-line brake shoes in response. Airfix's choice of a Fleischmann-esque coupling design was brave and a statement of intent - it was a pity that they had to capitulate and switch to a conventional design which was larger than it really needed to be. I was so impressed by the underframe I used it under many Mainline, Hornby Dublo and (unpainted £1) Wrenn bodies and standardised on the small coupling too (I removed the hook from one end which allowed the coupling to be fixed rigidly to non-Airfix underframes and use of a magnetic shunter's pole for uncoupling - except on very early products on which I discovered the hooks were made of brass!) As we now know it wasn't all rosy - the revolutionary decoration was somewhat undermined by the imperfect locomotive drive systems - my smart green Mainline Class 03 had a wheelset fall apart before I got to use it, the Warship's split drive gear issues are legendary, as are the melting plunger pick-up springs in the Airfix 14xx, and how they managed to make the 5-pole motor in the Class 31 sound like a bag of nails in a washing machine is a mystery. But a very encouraging direction of travel had been established. I would also praise Lima's tooling abilities, especially during the 1980s - although not always perfect in terms of shape (e.g. Class 37/40 windscreens) the grille work showed a level of finesse which made that displayed by Bachmann's first Class 25 releases look clumsy by comparison (although the same could be said for Hornby's Class 25 too, which is why many still rate its bodyshell over Bachmann's). I remember seeing the EPs for the first Bachmann Class 25 and Class 08, with its multitude of separately-fitted handrails and other detail parts, in a magazine around the turn of the millennium and thinking that things were about to change for the better - the growing criticism of cheap motors had been heard by one manufacturer at least.........

Nice - I used to see the real one in Taunton's Fairwater Yard on spotting trips to Bristol in the late 60s/early 70s. However although I could excuse one I'm going to pass.

Interesting, this appears to be a Mainline body flushglazed with Lima cab windows - never seen that done before! It looks good - Craftsman conversion kit for the Lima model applied to the Mainline version I reckon. Quite right about the vent, the disc locos had a circular plate with openings around the periphery between the fan grilles instead (so did D866-70). The underframe was also plainer on these, and the cab door kickplates were sheet rubber instead of ribbed aluminium. There were a few other minor differences too. My easiest fixes of recent(ish) times - two mint boxed "non-runners" from Hattons: a blue Hornby Class 20 20035 with working motor for £30, I reckoned (correctly) that the drive shaft had been dislodged as the Lima original could suffer the same problem if clouted in its box - fixed in less than 5 minutes. Also a Lima 47564 in large logo blue with a loose trailing bogie for £21 - the clip had slipped, fixed even faster! Many models described as "poor runners" (which at least confirms the motor works) usually just need their pick-ups adjusting and a clean - mint Heljan Western D1041 in maroon fye livery for £48 (Hattons again! - sadly these kinds of bargains appear to be a thing of the past, the odd one can still slip through although these days I let others have the benefit as I have too many projects already 😀!)

I've never owned a Trix Warship but I did once paint one for a friend who had chopped up the cast metal body and Araldited in various bits of metal (aluminium IIRC) to get it to something like scale dimensions. I can't remember now how he'd tackled the ends but he must have converted it from disc headcode to panels as I finished it as 824 'Highflyer' in blue full yellow livery. Would have been 1976 as I was a bit miffed I just missed D1013 'Western Ranger' passing through Reading station with its newly-acquired red-backed name and number plates cos I was in the Eames model shop down the road buying the etched plates for the Warship at the time.........the things one remembers decades later 😀! Around that time an article appeared in one of the model mags in which someone described how he'd managed to stretch a Lima HO gauge Class 33 to OO dimensions, again by sawing it up and inserting bits of plasticard - in unpainted condition it resembled 'crazy paving' (remember that? Is it still a thing or am I showing my age now?!) but looked quite presentable when finished. Both of these models involved a lot of effort by their creators which was undermined (very quickly with regard to the '33') when OO versions were released by Lima. So having one's latest project rapidly surpassed by an unexpected RTR announcement 🤬 is nothing new!

That's the great thing about cheap Mainline Warship non-runners - perfect for double-heading with the Bachmann all-wheel-drive version, which is so powerful it doesn't even notice its twin 'dead in tow'!

The gear-splitting is not 100%, but the chances of getting two good gears on one model seem to be slim, so well done for finding a slim one 😃!

This scene looks odd now without the trees lining the background, even though I was familiar with it 1972-77. What a curious future this Peak was going to have, discarded in a hedge. Is it still there, or has its charmed existence finally come to an end.....anyone know?

No split drive gears then? 😜!

Are we talking about the same website? I can't see any stock quantities being stated, only "Sorry, but this item is temporarily out of stock please email for Del. Date". If this message isn't shown it's logical to assume that the item is in stock, but a random check of Bachmann wagons shows around half stated as out of stock and at the (very) old prices shown I suspect most of the remainder are not in stock either (pity, I'd have had a weathered Traffic Services Polybulk at £51!) There is no doubt that these days products this old are out of stock permanently, not temporarily, so sending an email for a delivery date would be pointless (even if any attention were paid to it........) Yep, it's fair to say the website is not being updated correctly 🤨!

Well that's interesting - I see there is another thread running on 'Osborn's Models Exclusives' TT120 laser-cut ply kits, and an order placed last Friday arrived 24 hours later. The packaging confirms it's the same Osborn's (obviously I had to check!) So.........if you order items which are in stock you can enjoy exemplary service; but if you order items which are not in stock - silence. But the lack of communication means you don't really know whether the items are in stock or not, it's just an assumption! I have reason to believe that the items I have ordered will become available again in the not-too-distant future, but under current economic conditions nothing is certain and I should have been given the choice of confirming the order and waiting, or cancelling it. But that would take 'communication'.......

I have my own pic of this one on Swindon SP. 37245 was the same. Then there were 37232 & 37250 green with arrow logos.......

Same here - ordered some items towards the end of February, nothing since the automated confirmation. Phone call unanswered, one email so far likewise. I'll try again.......Their website indicated availability of all items ordered (by not specifically stating 'out of stock' as many other items do) but the statement on the order confirmation email "order confirmation is not confirmation of stock availability" indicates an inability to keep the website updated at a fairly basic level and is a surefire way of irritating customers. If I'd spotted that while placing the order I wouldn't have bothered. The statement then goes on to say "please contact us with any enquiries". Yeah, well....... Still, it does say my order "will be processed as soon as possible" - which could mean tomorrow, next week, next month or next year.......sort of wish I'd paid by PayPal as well now. This is disappointing as their website looks at least as good as anyone else's and I was pleased to support a family-run business, but this is not looking good.......

I think you've been rumbled 33C - the label inside the tin lid says "hours of fun", they can't be referring to the set as supplied cos even relaying the track in different shapes would cause my idea of 'fun' to evaporate after about 15 minutes, so they must be referring to expanded possibilities via a pile of plasticard, i.e. they've seen your thread! And I still think the wind-up 'Rocket' is very neatly done and pure genius 😃!

'British Rail Fleet Survey 2 - Western Region Diesel-Hydraulics' page 30 shows D811 'Daring' working the up 'Mayflower' on 27th July 1960 - as a named express the main part of the train is chocolate and cream Mark 1 stock but this is separated from the loco by a tidy-looking maroon Gresley SK (I think - not an expert on Mr G's output!) Close examination of D811 reveals a right-facing BR emblem, unique I believe to this loco amongst all diesel-hydraulics.......anyway, back on-topic!....... During its final years Cornwall's Truro - Newquay via Chacewater/Perranporth line was worked by ex-Midland stock, one of my books identifies a non-corridor Brake Second as M20766M in lined maroon (a livery not yet produced by Hornby on their range AFAIK).

It was I believe THE first release of all. Always worth checking that the motor is actually dead by applying power directly to it - I have a 'lights on but no-one at home' Dapol Class 22 on which the motor would run fine when directly powered - because it was awkward to get at it took me ages to discover that the solder had parted company with one of the carbon brush holders. Fixed now.

I have a bottle which by the sound of it is considerably older than yours, as I don't build kits, just occasionally wiring and small-scale assemblies, so I've been using it very slowly. Last year I thought it had finally gone off, then realised that my Antex soldering iron simply wasn't getting hot enough..........but having bought it half a century ago perhaps it had had a good innings....! Anyway, new iron purchased and as far as I can tell the Carrs still seems to be working OK. For kit use though it would be good to get confirmation of its longevity from another kit builder, just to be on the safe side.