MrWolf

Not had much time to do anything else this week as I've been building a contraption. Or rather a rack for bottles of spirits using bits of old brewery pipework. Originally it was going to be just straight piping, but I found an old steam condensation trap and bypass and it was just too tempting to make something arty that gives the idea of an illicit still. No room in The Profanium at the moment, so I have had to borrow a bit elsewhere. I have managed to measure up for a post for the field gate below the tree and a few fence rails nailed between it and the tree in typical fashion. I've temporarily planted the tree to get the measurements for it.

I read the O.T. as far as them endorsing slavery and demonising women and thought - Nope!* But it does make you realise why they murdered the hero in part two. *Interchangeable with the other Abrahamic religions.

They look really convincing and remind me of the school buses we had in the 80s, most of them twenty years old and still plodding on. They all had impressive names such as Duple Vega and Plaxton Panorama, which always seemed a bit ironic. 😆

I hope it's ok to reproduce here for illustrative purposes. A Wills' N7 (Not N2 as I thought) posed over a shed inspection pit, used on a mid 1960s edition of MRC. Taken from Model Railway Constructor Annual 1983, published Ian Allan 1982* *I was eleven!!

Back on the subject of driving standards, I had an interesting experience on the way home tonight around 10:30. Coming home from a quiz night I was following a car out of the village which was trundling along just under 30mph, all fine so far, until we came to the 50mph section, clearly signposted and with repeaters. The car in front didn't speed up and there wasn't room to pass as traffic built up behind. Over a small roundabout and onto the bypass, a very wide single carriageway where the national limit applies. Still the car in front was doing about 28mph and hogging the white line. The road ahead being completely empty in both directions, I overtook the slowcoach and wound up to sixty, as did the three cars behind me. The driver of the slow car seemed oblivious to all of this. It was then I spotted the next car pull out and begin overtaking everyone, despite the fact that we were driving at or just over the limit. They were driving a tiny white Ford with a go faster stripe which barely seemed to have enough power to get past and the two occupants were staring across at us like they'd seen a flying saucer. They indicated and pulled across with a bit of a wobble and of course slowed down. I think that driver one was probably drunk and driver two had little idea of their or their car's limitations. That's the polite verdict BTW.

It ended when I was still in school somewhere mid eighties. I found it a very good read, I would say that BRM is the modern equivalent.

No worries, I have a nasty habit of trying (and failing) to keep my responses concise and end up jumping to the next thing I have in mind.

Dusted.

Yes, the mechanical bits are dropped in before the body is fitted. I've done a few Heralds and Spitfires over the years. Most other cars of the era you have to crawl about underneath to remove the gearbox, which is slightly less of a PITA than doing something FWD where it's easier to drop the whole engine and box out from underneath. The only really hateful job on a Triumph with a chassis is removing the differential, but still not as bad as the setup on 70s jaguars.

About 25 years ago I had a motorcycle stolen, it hadn't been on the road in decades so there was no logbook. I knew who had stolen it and contacted the police. It didn't even get to court. The thief swore blind I'd given it to them and had already sold it. No further action taken. I told the police that I knew where there was a 1940s Bentley rotting in a shed and was it alright if I went and dragged it out? No. That would be theft. But what if I insisted that someone gave it to me?

I take it you mean the world famous Flying Backwards?

Being in Lancashire, it's often heard when someone has something stolen that it will have been down at cash converters by 9am. When my late friend had his antiques and collectibles shop, we used to insist on taking photo ID from anyone coming in off the street selling items. It paid off a few times. Not that the perpetrators ever seemed to get locked up though.

The Haynes manuals probably missed the important bit about taking the four bolts out and removing the passenger seat. Even easier with both seats out. Not the most fun of jobs, but much better than crawling around under what is a very low car getting showered with muck with the 75lb gearbox balanced on your ribs trying to wriggle the input shaft back into the clutch splines..

Probably sold to them by a skinny chap with a nervous tic and no front teeth. Comes in every day regular as clockwork.

They did an N2 parked over the pit in a shed with the picture taken from down one end of the pit I recall. Long before my time, but it was shown in an article in one of the 1980s yearbooks.

The usual problem with a sticky pre-engaged starter was a chewed up ring gear, often caused by a motor that was loose, or badly fitted. I've seen one on a Toyota recently that had a bent shaft after a clutch change because it hadn't been tightened up properly. Not a pleasant job changing the ring gear on a Land Rover, (Or a FWD Toyota!) the Toyota we got away with by poking a small file through the starter aperture and fettling the damaged teeth, otherwise an engine out job. Some modern era cars had been designed with maintenance in mind. The front drive Cavalier II/III and Astra I/II could have their clutches changed without splitting the engine and box. The AA used to carry clutches in their vans and could change them at the side of the road in twenty minutes. Can't imagine trying to do that now, even on an A road, let alone an (allegedly) smart motorway. 🤣

I'm assuming that you are talking about the lateral fixing of the tank to the solebars? That's generally known as a strap bolt, although that one is obviously made as a dedicated component. I think that it came up in one of the wagon threads.

Much easier to wait until the rear subframe falls off, greatly improving access. We knew that it was the beginning of the "Take me to your dealer" era when we started to get things like the Opel Kadett / Vauxhall Chevette where in order to remove the starter motor, you had to detach the exhaust header pipes from the manifold and then remove the left hand engine mounting in order to remove the starter motor that in itself was a two minute operation to remove. Things have been going downhill ever since!🤣

Here's hoping that you can make the most of the changes you're facing and can salvage plenty of the excellent modelling you've created here into CR MK2. One good thing if you are moving back to the UK is it's going to be easier and cheaper to source all that you need to build another layout.

I get a lot of bits and pieces from here, they certainly do tank and tender fillers of all types: http://247developments.co.uk/#

If it's a good one, the seals should cope with any oil based paint. But as has been pointed out, clean it immediately afterwards and don't leave it soaking in thinners Also, as Notenoughpanniers has rightly pointed out, a gentleman doesn't wipe it on the curtains...

Yes thanks and fortunately it wasn't too expensive for an old school battery that you can check the levels on, unlike the previous sealed for life death item.

I had the same fun and games with a 1966 Wolseley Hornet that I picked up for £150 years ago as what would now be called a "barn find" (and suitably overpriced on eBay!) the previous owner had abandoned it in a shed because it had failed the MOT on the rack and didn't fancy paying to have it fixed. It took two of us a day to sort out and about a month's worth of tea, cigarettes and swear box contributions. By comparison, unseizing the rear suspension and handbrake quadrants was a pleasure.

A dose of firm hold hairspray and some "leaves" applied using a sieve. A wire tea strainer would be better, but somebody would not be happy if there were bits of the wrong kind of tree in her tea. Tomorrow I'll give it a waft of acrylic matt varnish to get rid of the waxy sheen on the trunk and secure the leaves permanently. Then it's a case of whitening the dead branches and getting it planted.

A little progress on experimental Ash tree #1. I've been busy this week and battling the second part of the annoying cold that everyone has been getting around here. I've been reminded by @Bluemonkey presents.... that I need to get it done and build those AERO wagons.... Many grey green washes, a little dry brushing and general breaking up of the colour and I thought a little more about the canopy. I initially thought about using postiche, but I don't think that I have enough fine branches for it to work. Ready made canopy material I prefer to use in the background, I've seen it too often in rather flat slabs on branches, which is fine for Lebanon Cedar, but not much else. Amongst the stash was some Woodland Scenics poly fiber, which I haven't used for years. It's easy to tease out into more 3d shapes, so I used that, secured with a light dusting of grey primer to blend it in. The grey shows it up as a particularly untidy bush (fnaar fnaar etc) so it's getting a trim. It's not as dense in the flesh, only time will tell!