MrWolf

When I had my first " modern" car, (A MK2 Astra GTE) I jammed an orange ping pong ball on top of the roof aerial so that I could find it in car parks. It was never a problem with the lime yellow '61 Cresta I also had at the time, the tail finned back end stuck out a couple of feet.

Parked up in the yard at Embsay, my friend's Marina half ton van was invisible behind a Mini Countryman, we came out of the mess hut and for a moment thought it had been pinched!

About the size of an old FX4 London taxi... Unfortunately, parking spaces are still marked out to a set of parameters designed for MK1 Fiesta's and Austin Allegro's, BUT, people have become lazy and self absorbed, their lard barge "compact cars" have power steering and parking cameras, so there's little excuse. I used to manage to squeeze a 1969 Vauxhall Viscount into a regular parking space, putting my fingers round the door edge as I exited to protect my paint and my neighbour's. I had to laugh the other day at a Fiat 500 it's owner had parked at the sort of angle American airmen used to wear their caps, it absolutely towered over our Triumph Herald. I remember one of my art teachers had an original 500, for a prank we picked it up by its rear bumper and and moved it around the corner like a wheelbarrow.

Sorry, I thought you were following on from @The Johnster's comment there!

Perhaps there are as many sticks as there are brake rods? All about the dog - Pinterest

Because all the blood has rushed elsewhere?

Avec ou sans fioritures old chap. Think Brigitte Bardot circa 1959, you get the picture. 😁

That was probably.me getting hold of the wrong end of the stick to be honest!

Obviously for making those French style wrought iron balcony bras...

Don't knock it, my other half claims that a similar affliction gained her a doctorate!

I've had a lot of good and competitively priced items from TMC, but this I wouldn't touch with a stolen barge pole, especially at that price.

Truly impressive.

That's good news, at least you can complete them now and run them on the layout rather than them going back into the "one day" stash, something that we all seem to possess. I've got a number of wagons I'm not sure I have enough information on to finish off convincingly enough, as I don't know what diagram they are.

I can't fault them either, mine runs locos between brand new and sixty years old without a hitch as well as firing the point motor CDU.

Thanks, a standard wagon plate across all makers and operators would make sense as everything headed towards nationalisation. Spotting those was too much of a coincidence having read this thread about ten minutes before I went out this morning not to take a photograph.

That loco is about thirty years older than the box it's in , (Wrenn R1?) also I suspect are the wagons.

Like everyone else I am sad to see you having to dismantle the layout, but having followed the build it's been like a degree course in practical modelling for you and covered just about every aspect of the hobby, so it's been time well spent. Good to see just how much you're salvaging for MK2, it will come together scenically very quickly, so you can concentrate on the baseboards and track, making a first class job of it from what you've learnt. As we're living in rented accommodation, I built Aston as though it was going to be an exhibition layout, but installed storage beneath it, (subsequently annexed by Miss Riding Hood, perhaps IKEA can make some chests of drawers called Czechoslovakia?) but ultimately capable of being relocated if and when necessary. Bespoke boards either bought in or self built will certainly help there. I'll second the comments on the quality of your buildings.

That would encourage me to finish weathering my CC7!

I saw these two at Bolton toy and model fair this morning and noting the similarity in shape thought I'd share them. Almost as though the foundry had repurposed the LMS pattern block. Note the reinforcement cast around the bolt holes on the Met-Cam version.

Perhaps part scratch build and part Ratio iron mink kits? There was a brass kit for one of the CC vans (I can't remember which offhand) but it doesn't look like brass to me.

If you've still got one of those in good condition, they're worth quite a few train tokens!

Likewise, I don't know what they put in older paints, but I still have some Humbrol tinlets from when I was at school in the 1980s that are still perfectly useable and down in the workshop, some old Dupli-Color touch up tins for things like Vauxhall Eclipse blue and Lambretta Turquoise that are nearly sixty years old and still as good as new.

Seller claims they're £159 a set, making them £39.75 apiece, whichever way I look at it seems like a lot!

Adding the rodding and buffers has certainly taken the kit to the next level, I think that I will be doing the same with my next build. The printed wagons I have all received the necessary rods, having the holes built into the design. If you can get in at a shallow angle, could you drill a small dimple behind each brake shoe pivot and spring in a suitable length of wire secured with a little super glue? If indeed, you can be ar..... 😄

You've definitely nailed it Agefotostock