MrWolf

I've long had a fascination for the old GW brake vans, they must have been murder to operate during a hailstorm though. Does anyone know where I might obtain a drawing of the later, AA16 outside framed van with channel section solebars? Twenty odd years ago I built the old D&S kit, but I no longer have it. I was watching one on that auction site the other week and it went for £64.... I can't justify that for an ancient lump of white metal and if I did, no doubt Miss R R Hood would (quite rightly) chase me round the garden with a sword.... The smarter option would be to scratch build a body on a modified chassis and roof.

Still have a good way to go, interior to fit etc, bu try the basic colours are now on and I think I have got away with the hacking about.

Back together, nothing broken. I will have to do away with the orange lining on the cylinder lagging!

Thank you everyone for your help and advice. The body is off, no damage, no dramas AND I didn't have to resort to Miss R. Riding Hoods' suggestion of how to get the body off...

Thanks Jason, that article is really useful. It also reminds me of a project I had in mind 20 odd years ago. (I have only recently got back into railway modelling, so I hope you will forgive the outdated knowledge!) I thought it would be interesting to build a Great Bear tender behind a Hornby County 4-4-0 and create a County of Leicester. But doing away with the tender drive put me off! Did consider a powered bogie for a while. The moulded mountain on the Dean goods gets a reprieve and no doubt I will run it until it blows up. Gives me time to focus on other projects rather than worrying about what might happen. Looks like I need to scrounge a lump of coal.

Moulded coal is a relic of the days of one piece bodyshells with moulded on handrails. Whilst I appreciate the extra expense involved in the more complex tooling to create the bunker interior, when you consider the price of rtr locos now and the improvements in manufacturing techniques, I don't think it too big an ask. As for front wheel drive, I could go on for hours about the disadvantages, complications and general porkies we've been sold, but consider this: A quadruped is pushed along by more muscular rear legs, steered and supported by lighter, more agile forelegs. Back to bodyshells and coal, I have a couple of old tender drive Dean goods, possibly the worst offenders for having an entire South Wales slagheap in the tender. Other than that, they're pretty good detail wise. At some point I will have to figure out a way of converting them to loco drive, thereby losing the moulded mountain and the mechanism that sounds like it started life in a clockwork Snoopy...

That seems to be a problem with the majority of rtr steam locomotives. It could be worse, you could be trying to coal up something tender drive. I feel the same way about tender drive as I do about front wheel drive cars, it's against nature, against god and just plain wrong.

It runs very smoothly, none of the usual glitches, doesn't sound like a worn out full size WD and no signs so far that the chassis is turning to Weetabix. I'll get the body off it and have a better look. I will have a look at the service sheets, thanks. Are there any particular faults with this model? It would be useful to find such information on all of my locomotives to be honest.

I have considered doing exactly the same thing as you with the little hut, I tend to modify a lot of things. I suspect that whoever designed the kit did so from an old photograph. I have definitely seen a photo of a very similar hut with the window arrangement as per the kit. It looks like one of those Crittall steel frames which date back to the 20s, but to me just looks odd. The six pane window is a definite improvement to my eye. Your paintwork has also lifted it out of the ordinary, it no longer looks like a generic kit seen on every other layout. It shows what a good basis that kit is with a bit of observation of the real thing.

Thanks all for your help on this. I didn't want to be dislodging anything that doesn't need to be by going for the obvious looking screws. Why am I doing this? I was lucky enough to get a 45XX in very good condition very cheaply. The only thing stopping me from buying it was the BR black livery. I then found a brand new body in prewar Great Western livery for half the price of the BR liveried bodies. Even with the postage it cost less than an example in the early livery that had stripped threads in the mountings (so that the body fell off!) and a damn sight cheaper than those offered at exhibitions and swapmeets. So I ordered a new body and bought the 45XX. Forgetting of course, that removal is no longer a matter of a 2BA screw down the chimney

Hopefully someone else out there has removed the body shell from a Bachmann 45XX prairie tank? I have one, cat. No. 32-129 and there doesn't appear to be any advice in the paperwork that accompanies the model on how to do this. Could anyone out there advise please?

The bogies have arrived from 247 Developments, along with a few other bits and pieces. I am currently keeping this project on the back burner whilst I get the layout up and running, (first train ran tonight) I realised that I needed another left hand point, so hopped on the bike and shot off to the local model shop. Idly browsing the secondhand shelves I spotted these two future projects at a fiver each.... This Triang clerestory addiction is escalating... I hate you all....

It could be a case of people wanting the locomotives that they remember, people who went train spotting in the 50s and 60s remember the late versions of those locomotives, a generational thing if you like. Many of the people who remember locomotives in pre nationalisation condition are no longer with us, and those who model an era before their time are a smaller sector of the market. I happen to be a fan of the original Great Western, although it ended decades before I was born and I have noticed that prewar liveried GWR locos are offered generally cheaper than the same thing in late British Railways livery. It's the same way with many things, 1940s cars are comparatively cheaper than 20 years ago, as the generation that bought them as a reminder of their first car have passed on or given up driving. For now, cars from the 70s and 80s are commanding higher prices. Good news for those of us who are different / awkward!

Thanks for sharing your work, the building construction is quite inspirational. It would make sense for me to construct the key buildings for my layout now before I go any further with the scenery. Any excuse, I'm quite looking forward to it!

£200 isn't a lot nowadays. I do think it's a bit steep for what is basically a toy made in the third world, having worked in the aircraft industry, I can tell you that even safety critical parts are still made by the lowest bidder. £200 was more than I earned per week in my first post graduate job in 1990. But £200 does keep two of us fed for over a month, or pays the mortgage, or insures £30,000 worth of vintage motorcycles for a year. Much as I might want to, there is no way I could justify to myself paying someone to build, paint and weather a brass locomotive kit. I prefer to buy secondhand built kits as other posters or secondhand rtr when the dust has settled behind the collectors. As for stock, it's much the same, although I enjoy building kits or modifying rtr as wagons in particular still look a little chunky to me. Money wise, I consider myself quite fortunate, my gripe with the increased price of rtr is that I feel it discourages newcomers and particularly youngsters from the hobby. I'm not tight, I just like to keep a perspective and as much as I love railways, I have a couple of other things in my life that I love more.

Cars were, until well into the 1980s a 'luxury' item, by the standards of today rather crude and basic. But, they weren't throwaway items, people kept them going and did so to keep putting bread on the table. Once cars became relatively cheaper in the early 80s, more people bought them - to the further detriment of the railways. The payoff is, although modern cars are better in many ways, the scrapyards are full of the things thanks to planned obsolescence and irreparable little black boxes that cost more than a used car. If we really are going to 'go green ' and save the planet,we had better start making things that we can fix again. One 1967 Viva, bought second hand by my father in 1971, ran for 186000 miles with only routine maintenance and a salvaged gearbox until it was rear ended by a parcels lorry in 1982. Not a bad return on £350, even 40 years ago. I have worked on the 1970s incarnation of the Viva, mostly welding, they weren't good, nearly as water soluble as contemporary Datsuns, Fords and Fiats and of course, the 21st century bogeyman, plastics, were creeping in.

I think that Middlesea John is also right. The problem with instant collectors items and their inherent price is that once the "Got to have it" brigade have spent their money, there will invariably be the rest of the production batch gathering dust, only to be sold later at a knockdown price. I was at a toy and train fair recently and we saw some of the latest steam cranes for sale at over £200. (not of my money, ever!) Looking around around the secondhand stalls, every one of them had piles of old steam cranes, boxed for about £25 and unboxed for as little as £5. I think all manufacturers should be looking at how they can attract the next generation of modellers and collectors.

Fair point, it does show how money has lost its value. I had a 1960 Bedford camper van which when it was new, cost £1500, the price of a 3 bed semi at the time, I paid £200 for it 20 years ago, even allowing for them climbing in value recently, £5-6000 is all it would be worth. You can easily spend that on renovating one in your own time. At least I am not one of those fools who must have a new or new looking car to show others how well I am doing. As my late father used to say: "Two BMW's on the drive and b****r all in the fridge." I buy things that aren't essentials simply because I like them, that way I won't ever be disappointed.

I remember being in awe of the Japanese brass American steam locos as a child, particularly the complex mallet and Shay types. I am sure that there was also a GWR Castle (Tetsudo?) My father was more in awe of the prices at the time. It was relative, back in 1967, you could buy a brand new Vauxhall Viva for about £670. You can add a nought to that figure now, because nobody put those in a glass case. The good news is that we can pick up some interesting models at a reasonable price and if we wish, run them as intended.

My take on a milk train, as yet unfinished, cut and shut Triang / Ratio V5 PBV and a pair of second-hand K's 6 wheel siphons. Having read this article, I have been reminded to get them all up to scratch. In between a billion other jobs of course.

It was inspired by this old magazine page a friend gave me. I'm sure I have seen the photograph before, but can't remember where it was taken.

Thanks all for your advice. Here we have the loosely assembled results in primer grey, before any detail painting. Although no particular prototype and cobbled together with a few Wills bits, DAS clay and plasticard, it's meant to represent a former timber structure that has had its centre piers raised in blue brick and three iron spans fitted.

A light coat of primer after filling is all I have had time for as I have been busy with the layout and constructing a couple of river bridges but I think I have got away with altering the panels either side of the luggage doors.

Hm, that isn't who I had in mind and I suspect you knew that! Insert list below of all Hollywood actresses you would like to show round your railway room....

Speaking of D&S, the last time I bought an obsolete white metal kit of theirs for an outside framed GWR toad brake van, it cost me £15 on Ebay, I have just watched one hit £64. Is it worth that much? Not to me, but two people who have got to have it and the price isn't important, I guess it was. It's probably more to do with the fact that nobody makes one anymore, but I am convinced that something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it and in some cases, to make sure someone else doesn't get it. I go to a lot of antique auctions with my work and find the whole auction fever bidding war scene just like being back in junior school. It's amusing because it's costing me nothing. Of course, if there's a bidding war over something I found on a junk pile, it's even more amusing!