Bassettblowke

I will close on this, just imagine Joe Public fancies becoming an Army Officer so off he toddles to the recruiting office but flunks the entrance exam and is turned down flat. Next one who rocks up is a very well healed aristocrat, with the best of educations and swimming in cash but sadly somewhat dim and he also flunks the exam. Some 40 odd years later guess which one is poncing around in a Generals uniform. Now he may have only been a weekend warrior and kept at arms length from the regular army but it’s decidedly odd that someone judged incapable of filling a second lieutenants role should end up in charge of the army reserve forces. Sadly he passed away a year or so ago so you could possibly say this argument no longer applies and that society has moved on into the broad sunlit uplands of truly equal opportunities for all. Nah don’t think so

Government, armed forces, judiciary I could go on, representative of society ? they are still there and thriving. No place for Fiona Hill no place for Andrew Carnegie nothing changes.

The great Philanthropist and business man and one time richest man in the world Andrew Carnegie was a Scot born of working class origins, he had little time for the monarchy and its trappings a firm believer in education and self advancement he had no time for privilege and inherited wealth. A great Scot and an even greater American. We have down the road from where I live a Carnegie library provided free gratis by this great man and closed recently due to austerity cuts by the local council. Unfortunately a century later we still live in a society that panders to the privileged with their inherited wealth which stifles opportunity for the vast majority of the population who are constantly drip fed the lie that the greatest talent lies within the privately educated so called elite.

Further thoughts on Chilwell, the shell filling factory was established as a direct result of the shortage of shells being supplied to the Army in France in 1915. The factory was established in great haste and in short order was producing the lions share of shells destined for the western front. Unfortunately the Somme offensive or fortunately if you were on the receiving end revealed a large percentage of duds. This was not necessarily Chilwell’s fault as they only filled the shells and didn’t make the fuses. one of my Grandfathers anecdotes from his time on Vimy Ridge with 2nd Div trench mortars was the Germans putting up a large sign enquiring if the British would like their bombs back as none had gone off.

This one is Marklin, not mine sad to say a tad beyond my pocket but very nice all the same

It was interesting listening to Fiona Hill’s testimony at the impeachment enquiry in the US, whilst her accent has softened during her time in the US it’s still immediately recognisable. What a crying shame for this country that we loose this calibre of person and retain the dross that swills around in our upper echelons.

tanks with the sponsons in shipping mode to keep with in the loading gauge, the gun mounting doesn’t appear to be that sophisticated also of note the nickname HMS Iron Duke painted on the front and Two ROD Locomotives one of which has come to grief.

One of my favourite set of photographs which would be ideal for a finescale modeller the detail is exceptional, British 12” Railway howitzers these were purpose made unlike others which were improvised using existing wagons

I think you are right in surmising the Chilwell stock was for internal use the size of the facility was on a huge scale and dedicated stock for moving munitions and other sundry items would make sense. The sheds themselves were vast, fortunately on the IWM site there are quite a few good quality photographs which show this. The factory was visited by the King and various other dignitaries and an official photographer documented the work being carried out there on at least two occasions. I’ve also seen photographs of loaded trains in the departure sidings but couldn’t make out the markings although someone with a more discerning eye may well be able to identify the type. All the wagons in the pictures appear to be in very good condition so I wonder if they were ordered new when the factory was established from scratch from the Midland Railway who were the preeminent Railway in the local area. Ive also seen other pictures showing wagons from other companies (NE and GWR) in the sheds so I may be wrong, the last photograph I think shows work in progress on the sidings and some recently discovered film footage is also to be found if my memory serves me right on a Nottinghamshire Heritage website. The IWM photo library would be my first port of call.

The two tanks are particularly appealing, sadly I haven’t yet managed to get my grubby mitts on either one, it’s odd how when you are searching for a particular item hoard’s of other stuff springs up to tempt you and shift your focus.

Or a very small Beagle

It either that or a Beagle

Enough of pliers already here’s what Jenolite did to these spare Hornby Series auto couplings. I will certainly give the treacle/water mix a go once I’ve sorted a few suitable guinea pigs.

I shall gladly give it a whirl that’s if my long suffering wife hasn’t had me carted off to the asylum first. Toys Trains was bad enough now the lunatic is mixing potions in the kitchen ! I can hear it now.

The beginnings of a Limerick surely

Not long out of the fluid you can see the reaction to the air kicking in as the surface where rust is still present turns grey, other areas are rust free and they now feel very smooth to the touch and ultra clean. I might give them a quick burnish with the Dremel and then decide what to finish off with. other thoughts, yes agreed a lot of trouble to go to but it wasn’t about a pair of pliers. Would I repeat the process, probably not. I have changed my mind about Jenolite though it will figure in future battles against rust along with the Dremel, abrasive paper, wire wool etc etc. As for the Coke I can only suggest you stick to drinking it I doubt it’s of any use for anything other than it’s intended purpose

You shouldn’t prejudge the issue let’s see what lies beneath the gunge first

Quite a dramatic result on the pliers treated by Jenolite With the Coke the only noticeable change is to one copper coin this was originally fairly bright with a couple of small spots of verdigris, the verdigris is still there and apart from the copper looking itself looking a different hue not much else has changed.

Well I got surprise this morning the Jenolite had stopped it’s frothing which presumably means any sort of chemical reaction has ceased leaving a thick crusty type residue. The Coke looks pretty much exactly the same as when it started except it now looks like flat coke instead of fizzy Coke. Time to see what is revealed after a wash and dry

I also note from Marks bottle some variation in the instructions I wonder if the formula has changed over the years in which case this test is pretty pointless unless you happen to have a ten year old bottle lying around. My Bottle reads “Re-paintable within one hour” Marks Bottle reads “Apply topcoat after minimum of three hours” so I wonder further research reveals that Jenolite is 100% phosphoric acid which is classed as a weak acid, if your really interested Jenolite publish comprehensive data sheets on their website. The percentage of phosphoric acid in soft drinks such as Coke, Dr Pepper etc is very low which thinking logically it would be I can’t imagine anyone wishing to guzzle a glass of high strength acid but then again you never know. This of course casts a downer on my little test, however I will let it run its course if only to see what sort of Job the Jenolite does after a prolonged period.

I was actually aiming for 48hrs, you have a slight advantage over me in the instructions department see below but after a bit of scratching about on tinter-net I discovered the active ingredient is phosphoric acid which purportedly should neutralise the rust by creating a barrier. Hammerite does a similar thing providing you manage 100% coverage with no pinholes. Nothing magical really, the idea behind the 48hr dip was to match it evenly with coke, I suspect the concentration of phosphoric acid in coke is far weaker so the 48 hr was introduced to see if it could perform the same task albeit a lot slower. Also to show the varying degrees of effectiveness of Jenolite which I just happened to have access to free gratis. mentioning Hammerite brings to mind a Petty Officer Instructor who finished virtually every sentence with “am I right” swiftly becoming known as Hammerite to his long suffering instructional class. Anyway stay tuned for the next episode to see if the pliers dissolve in their entirety or emerge covered in red rust.

And a final picture of a Hornby coupling that was chucked into the Jenolite at the same time, after 24 hrs in the mix you can see the result below. what I would say about this is 5 mins with a wire brush in the Dremel would produce the same result, but it’s done what it says on the bottle. If you’re prepared to hang around for 24 hrs I don’t see anything wrong with it. Harking back to my days in the Navy as a very Junior rating when everything had to be done and dusted yesterday this wouldn’t have been given the time of day.

Second up is the Jenolite which is still bubbling away with a fair bit of residue beginning to appear in the mix. This too is on the receiving end of the evil eye. so far no abrasion, rinsing or any other sort of cleansing has been initiated so what you see is the direct result of the actions of the Coke and the Jenolite.

It’s just about 24hrs now so time for a look, first off the Coke only a very slight change in the sample and the chemical reaction as in bubbles seems to have ceased. The least tarnished coin seems to have changed the most but that said it wasn’t that bad in the first place. This stagnant brew is starting to get the evil eye off my wife so another 24 hrs and I will bring my tests to a close.

Having had a sneaky look I suspect the winner will be .........................................the Dremel but you never know I might be surprised.