RBTKraisee

Thanks Phil, Also, for my regular day job, our flight hardware just started arriving on Friday for our satellite, which is aimed to launch next year. It's exciting times for sure, and all this stuff going on will likely mean that my posting here on the thread might get even more spurious than it has been in recent weeks. Please bear with me - I will still get these Gresley's finished soon and I really want to get back to doing my King's Cross model and then on to Magical places of a certain repute! Ross.

Just a quick update with, sadly, no pictures I've been working on the Gresley's because I found a problem with the bearing between the coaches - it has broken on me now three times, always in the same place on the Kitchen side, so I've decided it needed a redesign. The changes haven't quite come out as I wished either, so I'm in the middle of another re-design which will take a few more days. I'm also taking this opportunity to add some additional details, partly inspired by details I found on the Dapol Gresley that are also on some of my RTS reference pictures too, but I hadn't included yet. I'm also awaiting a batch of black resin to arrive, which I intend to use on these coaches because it will prevent light escaping from anywhere except the windows - something the transparent plastic fails to do well, even if primed with black paint inside. My 1.5mm electrical pickup springs arrived today (sorry, no pics but you can see them via the link) from DCC Concepts. Now I'm just waiting for my DCC controlled ESU lighting kits to arrive from CR Signals. On a loosely related subject, for the last month I've also been working on the financial and business plan for a model museum broadly similar to Miniatur Wunderland, to be located near me, in Orlando. The financial projections look very good, so I'm getting a presentation ready to start showing to the first accredited investors next week. Interestingly, everyone involved seems to agree that regardless of whatever happens with Covid19 over the coming year (and the latest numbers from John's Hopkins suggest it's about to get a LOT worse here in the coming months - wave 1 part 2, wave 2 won't be until the winter comes), by this time next year there will be a whole load of Americans (and others) enormously frustrated and tired of staying indoors, who lost all of their vacation days in 2020, and who will just decide to do a blow-out holiday next summer, come hell or high water. So if we can get an attraction up and running by then, we have an opportunity. Wish us luck! Ross.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll go check it out. Ross.

Your work amazed me *before* you said that, its all the more impressive now. It gives me hope! Mike's vids were actually the reason why I just got myself a set of ruling pens and have now started practising I'm still a long way from being any good, but I do see a little improvement each time I try - and just as with the teaking technique that you and Mike have been pioneering, I'm gradually getting better at it. I really appreciate both of you guys taking the time to share not just images of your work, but also your techniques! Thanks for the recommendation of Ian's book, I'll definitely get a copy. And this Silver Link above is just stunning! Ross.

Thanks for looking the info up and for providing the references. It's very helpful, and when I have spare time I'd really like to correct the coach numbers to match these. Having said that though, because there appears to be a discrepancy between the filming information and what actually shows in the movie, I'm going to use what appears in the 6th movie product as the final canon for making my personal decisions. I acknowledge that the rake might not be the same for every film - and we know it wasn't - but that's the reference point I'm choosing for my layout because I've got my best reference imagery of the train from that movie. I went and looked up the scene a few seconds after the image above, just as Harry is 'instant darkening' the Slytherin coach, and it sheds a bit more, errr, light on the subject It is clear to see that following the loco is a BSK. After that is an SK - you can see the internal door frames. Then the third coach is the one Harry darkens, and we know that the Slytherins are sitting in TSO 2-aisle-2 seating, so that's the TSO. Behind that I'm seeing a pair of identical SK's, because you can see the compartment walls through the windows at this angle. So using your coach number references from above, I'm inclined to use the following rake to represent the train as it appears in this scene: 99312 BSK 99716 SK 99317 TSO 99718 SK 99721 SK That's good enough for me, though I'll understand if you choose differently. Ross. PS - Just looked, and you don't get a good view from the side of the 5-rake train 45 minutes into Deathly Hallows 1 - its just a distant Helicopter shot, and then a ground shot from the front as the train comes to a stop, with steam blocking most of the rake. But the picture you showed above, of the train (w/ Diesel) heading for Rannoch Moor for filming, might be from filming that year, which is why the rake is different from the year previous. The 4-coach rake must be from one of the earlier films.

That's great info, thanks! I had done my own research too, but not down to the coach number level, so that's very interesting to see. Do you happen to have a specific date reference for when those particular coaches made up that rake? Regarding three SK's, this high res image from movie 6 has been one of my main reference pics: In this shot there is no second BSK at the rear. Its difficult to see, but looking through the windows, it looks to me like the second and third - and probably also the fourth coach - are all compartment coaches. To my eye, it looks like the last coach is the open - and that would be logical in terms of easily adding it on to the end of the rake specifically for filming. I also believe that the SO should actually be a TSO. According to my only solid reference (BR Diagram Book 200) Mk 1 SO's have a 1-aisle-2 seating arrangement, and TSO's have a 2-aisle-2 arrangement. In the 6th movie the interior shots of the Slytherin coach show it to be 2-aisle-2. I will add the proviso that the coach used for interior shots might well be a different unit from the one used for exterior shooting, leading to potential discrepancies. I'm choosing to model the interior arrangements accurately. Finally, I don't see any "1"s on any doors, so this all appears to be second class, again logical for a dedicated school run. Together, this is why I concluded that my rake should probably be BSK, SK, SK, SK, TSO. The third SK *might* be another TSO. Ross.

And now with bodies (only base coated)... Ross.

Good advice. I used to be a computer uber-geek, so I should know better FYI, ebay doesn't always list everything globally. I've noticed that foreign (not the seller's country) versions of the sites only show items if the seller has included international shipping info. If that's missing then it sometimes appears elsewhere, sometimes does not. There appear to be a few other clauses that change listings too, but I haven't isolated the causes yet. Oh, and just for fun, this one is a puzzle. It lists on the first page in google.com when you search for the product number "Dapol 2S-011-005" but doesn't turn up in *ANY* ebay search on *ANY* of ebay's sites that I can find, not even ebay.ie! I really thought about buying it, but as I don't have sound on any of my other trains, the £395 price tag seems a bit high (especially given Dapol's catalogue says they're going to do new Flying Scotsman's in 2020, so I'm likely to have to wait for that): https://www.ebay.ie/itm/2S-011-005-DCC-SOUND-Dapol-A3-FLYING-SCOTSMAN-4472-LNER-APPLE-GREEN-TRAIN-PACK-/371850745886?hash=item569408181e%3Ag%3ASfMAAOSwUKxYds2s&_trkparms=pageci%3A8f43e90e-4218-11e7-a1c9-74dbd180e546%7Cparentrq%3A44fa90f115c0ab4cad5c323fffff323a%7Ciid%3A2 Ross.

If the prices are like that (I guess in OO gauge?) it makes me doubly glad I'm collecting N There was a used Farish Maroon Mk1 BSK on ebay the other day that, including shipping to me here in the US, would have cost me about 65 quid to win. I dropped out of the bidding below 50 quid because I can buy two brand new coaches of a different style for that. I could even buy two BCK's almost anywhere, afford to wreck the first one while practicing removing the "1" off the door and still pay less than £65! Mind, I'm fairly sure I'll find a reasonably priced BSK from somewhere in the end. It's a definite pity that this is the case, but when the market is relatively small, it seems to be what manufacturers need to do in order to keep their business healthy. When push comes to shove, I'd definitely rather have to deal with reissues every few years than see any of these companies go to the wall. Ross.

Rich, it hasn't escaped my notice that there are a lot of double standards over here US behaviour only ever comes into sharp focus when you consider everything through the "follow the money" lens. But I digress. Back to the stuff that makes me happy... For the very first time, I put the three Gresley RTS underframes on the track with a loco tonight and ran them under power!!! Everything seems to be working perfectly so far! I've been priming the new body pieces and they're still drying, so they aren't shown here just yet, I don't have a coupling designed either so I'm running the train backwards, but I thought you might like to see it because I consider it a fairly significant milestone I'll put the bodies on and do another video later. Ross.

That would be great! Now how do I obtain some of them? I check ebay every day, and not just .co.uk, I check .com and .ie routinely too and sometimes even farther afield. I do the Google searches every few days too - I actually spend a horrendous amount of time looking and should be doing other, more productive things, but I seem to have developed a slight case of the "must haves" right now, precisely because so many of the things I want appear to be unavailable anywhere And I've had four adverts in the Wanted section of this forum, looking for specific things. They've been up long enough to have slipped to page 2, but so far I've had zip responses. On another thread I did get a ping when I mentioned I wanted a Class 43 HST in GNER livery. They appear to be one of these people with a model still sitting on the shelf, but they unfortunately haven't been able to turn it up in their storage, so that looks like a dead end for me too. Are there other means available for reaching out to these owners of pristine no-longer-new models who might be willing to part with them? Ross.

I have to be honest, regardless of what might be different in real life, and what might have been retouched in post-production for the movies, I do want mine to look seamless. One of my biggest problems is sourcing the right paint on this side of the pond. Paints can't be shipped from the UK because they are technically defined as toxic substances, and neither Phoenix or RailMatch have any distribution lines over here I can order Humbrol from US shops, but I don't know if they do a good shade of Maroon that will closely match my Graham Farish Mk1's - and that's the ultimate baseline - I don't want to repaint the hole rake, so the loco needs to match GF's factory Maroon colour. I asked Farish if they could provide a RAL / Pantone or other spec for their particular colour, but they said it wasn't available from the factory Based on other info from the web I've been experimenting with Vallejo acrylic 70.926 Red with a variety of different primer/base colours under it. The paint is supposedly RAL 3004 while BR Maroon is apparently RAL 3005 - so very close. Not sure what Farish's Maroon is. Using an undercoat of black or brown seems to get me into the right neighbourhood. I just need to experiment further to find a repeatable combination that works. I also picked up a handful of really cheap spare (read: broken!) railcars from a local dealer that just closed-down, to use for experimenting and refining my airbrushing techniques on, before I go anywhere near my new Hall! And I still need to find a GF Maroon BSK and three SK coaches from somewhere, to complete the rake accurately. There was a BSK on ebay a few days ago but it went for about twice the price of a new one, so I let that escape. Ross.

Hmmm. This subject has me a touch puzzled. The two pictures below include a bit of maroon coach in the picture and I detect a lighter shade on the loco. It's probably subtle enough - and my painting skills not advanced enough - that unlikely to be able to replicate such a small difference myself, but the topic of colour for this loco is definitely on my radar. Ross.

Pristine unused is certainly acceptable to me, and I have been trawling ebay sites around the world for specific things. I have managed to find a few items that meet this standard. This forum is also a potential source; an excellent Mk1 coach from John Upton on here comes to mind. Personally I don't even mind lightly used condition - as long as I know how well - or more importantly, how badly - it has been treated, and that's the rub: There are few ways to tell before purchase and even with a deep inspection on receipt of a delivery it is still difficult to tell the difference between whether a loco was oiled and run-in correctly vs. never maintained at all. And given the delicacy of some of these loco's, and their price, longevity is a requirement so prior treatment of used equipment becomes a real issue. Forester: Now you have track, let your trains live! ;) Ross.

Interesting observations and they appear to ring true. I certainly do hope there will be a pendulum swing from young folk's activity being exclusively on these 5 inch screens everywhere and back to things in the real world again! The few kids that I know over here in Florida seem genuinely excited when they find things away from their phones. I do archery and kayaking and I've found that giving a kid a chance to do things like that genuinely opens up whole new worlds to them! I'm still finding my feet in this hobby again, but I do think that creatively making things with your hands is an art people of all ages appreciate if given the opportunity. Yes, that is wonderful news. I had found this after Mike mentioned C&M's website and after a brief search on there I definitely want a City of Edinburgh 11 car! I hope they also consider reissuing the Poppylino again as I really want one of those too. The Revolution/Rapido trains seem to be really excellent products judging by how well received they were by everyone, but I know Kato has a reputation for high quality products too. I've had my eye on one of their JR500 Shinkansen's and a Eurostar too, so if these 80x's are of that same quality they'll be great. Now, if only I can find me some GNER Class 43 HST's (and I wrote to Cavalex expressing my interest in their Class 91's in N, to encourage them to proceed) I'll be doing a lot better particularly as Dapol say they aren't doing that livery in their next batch :( I might just have to buy another livery and try repaint them myself. Ross.

Mike, that's a very good point. I've already started to do that, particularly in my hunt for an Apple Green A3 4468 Flying Scotsman, because it appears to only be available as part of a kit that isn't stocked any more. I've exhausted Google's pages at least once a week on that search alone - I do a minimum of 10 google pages, or give up when all the links on a page are no longer in English! Mind you, I have found the odd item I want in places as far afield as Holland and New Zealand! I don't care where it comes from, as long as I can get what I want! :) I hate to say this Mike, but all those searches never actually turned up your shop. I was delighted to see you pipe-up and mention C&M, and I had a good look around your website - I was pleasantly surprised to find a few things I'd like that I haven't found elsewhere yet. Your prices seem fairly competitive and because you contributed to the thread here, I'm planning an order soon, by means of a thank you! Over here in the US, houses for sale are all listed on a common database that all agents use to advertise on, and any house buyer can search easily. It's called the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS. The thought occurs to me that a similar system would be beneficial to smaller dealers who don't have the advertising power of the big boys. You'd need to submit all your products, prices and stock levels and then customers could search for what they want and have a decent chance of finding even the rarest items *somewhere*. It would potentially be a good way for shops to clear some of their inventory too. The down-side to such a system would be that for items where there are many suppliers, customers will shop for the lowest price first, leaving the higher priced items on the shelf at the smaller stores. Of course, as availability dwindles, those items become rarer and might command a slightly higher price as a result. I wonder if dealers like you would be interested in such a system, and what pricing model such a system would use? Would it be better to charge a fee for each item listed, or charge customers for access to the database... But this is an interesting question for a totally different thread me-thinks! Ross.

After a long work day it has been rounded out really nicely - I finally have some live track and my first loco's arrived from DCC Supplies! My new Dapol A4 "Mallard" is running-in gently, as I speak! Woo hoo! Up next will be a Dapol Class 4900 "Cranmore Hall" that will - in time - get a repaint to resemble a certain famous movie star loco I got a few other bits at the same time, including one of Dapol's Gresley 3rd's, a set of Dapol magnetic couplers for me to play with on my RTS and some little bits and bobs for my spares box. Soon I'll take some more pictures of my Gresley's and the Dapol example, to show off the comparison - and I'll do a detailed review. For now, let me just say that I'm quite happy with how mine stack up against Dapol's :) I've setup a simple oval of track and I'm using a simple DC controller for the running-in, but I previously tested the track with my Arduino DCC++ controller and JMRI andeverything seems to be working perfectly - amazing to think that I paid less than $25 for full DCC control and the ability to control everything from my PC and my phone! Separately, yesterday I also received my Tam Valley Octopus Aligner to work with my Octopus III. Everything is coming together nicely. Ross.

Great responses so far guys, thanks. Please keep these comments and insights coming - I think a greater understanding of the industry actually helps everyone. You've all helped to paint the picture fairly well and I'm beginning to understand the market and business dynamics. Some interesting and careful balancing acts are clearly at work within the supply companies. While I personally remain a tad frustrated being unable to buy what I want, I can still appreciate how difficult it is for those companies to negotiate this tightrope. I'm guesing that the gradual contraction of the market place has had significant impacts, and the lack of younger modellers entering the hobby also poses potentially serious concerns for the future. On that particular score I'm actually working on some plans that, if I'm right, could do a lot to turn the general trend around. Ross. PS - Particular thanks for the recommendations to check out Revolution, Cavalex and KMR. Seems I missed those Pendolino's but perhaps I can get in on a more detailed 91. And I just picked up the last non-DCC Class 33 Eastleigh that Hattons had, to make sure I didn't miss it. Cabbed that loco one time, from Portsmouth to Fareham when I was a kid!

Not a question specifically aimed at Dapol - it's equally applicable to Bachmann/Graham Farish too, but I'm posting it here because the majority of the N-gauge products that I'm after are from Dapol and I'm just trying to understand how the market operates... I've only recently been getting back into this hobby after a 25 year break, but I'm finding it *really* difficult to find new versions of almost all of the products that I want. My list covers what I think must be fairly popular and thus "high demand" things, including locomotives like original A3 Flying Scotsman, A4 Mallard, Tornado, HST's, new-tooling Maroon Mk1 coaches - in fact all the accurate rakes of coaches. But when I go hunting for these things, hardly any of these are currently available *new*. You can find the odd one on ebay now and again, but you never quite know how it has been treated, so that isn't ideal. I understand that the UK market for such products has its limits and production runs are deliberately sized to sell out all of the products - that's good business sense - and it might account for what I'm seeing. But my core question is this: Is this just a temporary situation caused by some of the recent current affairs impacting production runs in one way or another, or is this actually normal and everyone in across the hobby just gets used to it? Ross.

Awesome pictures. There's no question I'd like a chance to crawl all over it, but I'd also love to see it running. I'll have to get in contact with the operators to get the timing of my visit "just right" Ross.

Overscale? Yikes. Great idea with the tape. I'll try that approach when I can muster the courage! And I'm always so impressed with your paintwork. Beautiful lining and details there. Picked up some ruling pens recently and I'll be trying that soon too, but my eyes aren't sharp enough and my hands not steady enough to have a hope of getting your level of detail - but your models are an inspiration none-the-less. Ross.

Thanks Steve, this is a very useful insight. I'm learning a lot about 3D printing things in N, so tips like this are really going to help me improve things. Coincidentally, I just received my first handrail knobs from N Brass too. Shocked how small they are, not sure I have the skill to do them properly, but I'm going to give it a bash and see if I can get something to look half as good as yours! Cheers, Ross.

And finally for today, as I mentioned above, my order from N Brass arrived! Transit was only 11 days, which is a big improvement from a few weeks ago when deliveries from Blighty to Florida were taking 3 weeks or more. C'mon my Hall and A4, c'mon... Because postage is always a factor I decided to get a fair sized pack of different things from N Brass, all in one go. This order included drivers & firemen for my steam loco's, a variety of coach connectors covering all eras, some close couplings to experiment with, 6.2mm and 7.2mm wheel-sets, some amazingly tiny handrail knobs, wheel pinpoint bearings and a back-to-back gauge. Big smile on my face When the package arrived I found a plastic box inside the envelope. Initially I thought packaging it in a plastic box was a bit of overkill, but I quickly changed my mind: Given the delicacy of some of these parts I actually think this is a truly brilliant choice by Nick Tilsston. It's a great way to guarantee all the products arrive in perfect shape every time, and for the customer it makes for an excellent place to store everything until it gets used - and I have no doubt that when the box is empty of these parts, I'll find other uses for it! So my hat is off to Nick for this choice! Ross.

My postings today seem to be a bit like buses... Here are a few more detail pics of the Gresley RTS progress. First are the three underframe/interiors without the coach bodies. The Kitchen car has only one clear window, which looks into a single room. So only that has been included as an interior: Here is that Kitchen car, mainly to show the common bearings above the bogie, for attaching the restaurant cars either side: Here is the Kitchen car with body, mounted to its two bogies and showing the common bearing where the Restaurant cars will attach: Here is one of the common bearings shown with the coach body clearances as they appear on 18 inch radius track: Ross.

Got to put my hands up and admit a silly fact... I currently don't have a single piece of powered track operating yet, and my very first N gauge loco's are still in transit coming from DCC Supplies! Ain't that crazy, huh? Ross.