daifly

Alan Gibson used to sell a set of profile milled mainframes for this loco. They can probably still be obtained via the "one-off" service advertised. Slater's do the correct wheels. You'll need 1/8" bearings/hornblocks. I have a suspicion that Laurie produced the castings sets for Wild Swan so he may a good source if WS can't help. He certainly does the connecting and coupling rods as mentioned above. They are beautiful castings but mine cost £32 for the set so they're not cheap! Dave

When you do, allow yourself time to visit The Titfield Thunderbolt bookshop. It's a brisk 20m walk from the city centre or there are plenty of buses to take you. The bookshop has a super selection of railway titles and the owner is now the publisher of the Wild Swan range. http://www.titfield.co.uk/index.htm No connection other than as a very satisfied customer! Dave

Did my unacknowledged link on the Guild forum help you?

Before you get too carried away, please see my post here Dave

It was me and it was here Dave

True - but mostly because of technological change. Put simply, the design of aircraft air conditioning systems has become more sophisticated over the years. The air is bled from the engine compressor (so it is hot from the compression) and mixed with colder air to provide the requisite temperatures throughout the cabin. This engine air bleed is at a cost in terms of the engine performance and hence fuel consumption. To reduce this cost, a large amount of the conditioned air is filtered and recirculated before eventually being dumped overboard. There are two main valves which control this and the aft (rear) valve opens slightly more than the forward valve to promote an airflow from front to back through the cabin. This is largely historical, dating from when smoking was permitted, and ensures that the smoke got carried overboard through the aft outflow valve. The banning of smoking has permitted modern aircraft to employ recirculating systems to reduce operating costs. Cheers Dave (flying big jets since 1972)

I suspect that it's this

Please explain (or show show) what hange is, Mr Proof-Reader! HNY Dave

Ragstone Models do some very nice accessory castings of GW (and other companies) fire devils and a water funnel.Dave

Correct URL is http://www.tdmrc.org.uk/ Cheers Dave

Yes and correct! I believe the College Models range passed to Acme Models if that helps to give you a flavour.

Up to and including AM41 are the Pete Stamper designed kits. Since the range was sold to him, Mike Williams (ex-College Models - nuff said!) has added to the range but appears to have failed to maintain the design quality of Pete's kits.

It wasn't quite as simple as this. Slater's MW wheels (which come with 1/8" axles) were to be used with the gear pinion transferred. A specific - but easily found chassis was to be used (I cannot now recall which). A 4mm Jinty chassis for example with 8' + 8'6" wheelbase scales to about 4'7" + 4'10" in 7mm. Assuming that Triang or Hornby had got close to the original dimensions, a short wheelbase 0-6-0 with 3'1" wheels would be entirely feasible with a similar chassis.

Some time ago I had one of Jim Harris' Little Jem (or Gem) kits of a Manning Wardle K class as I recall. This used a 00 0-6-0 chassis as the basis for building the kit, so it has been done before. I sold mine on, untouched. Good luck! Dave

Ray I have sent you a PM with the current Westdale catalogue attached. Dick Taylor, the proprietor, doesn't do email/internet. Cheers Dave

I remembered that I have a 6-66 GWR Armstrong/Dean chimney intended for a 517 or Dean Goods (can't remember which one I bought it for!) I've just measured it and it is too slim and too short for your purposes. (c15" diameter and c33" high) Cheers Dave

Have you looked at Laurie Griffin's chimney offerings? He does an 850 class and also a copper-topped 517 class chimney! Dave

Seek and ye shall findhttp://www.finescale.org.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=656&product_id=8162 Dave

The locos involved were mostly Halls, Castles and Kings and there was little doubt that the sounds 'followed' the loco rather than coming from it. There was quite a lineside discussion about it amongst the model gricers and all were agreed that it was very noticeable from close up. Further away, the noise in the hall made that judgement difficult but one would not have that distraction in e.g. a domestic situation and I suggest that it would be noticeable at most viewing distances.Dave

Can I make a plea that you don't put the speaker in the tender. Whilst at the Swindon Steam exhibition a few days back I was disappointed to see this option had been adopted on a number of locos running on..... I'll just say a large layout featuring an incline to avoid their blushes.... and it just seems completely wrong when the sounds come from some distance away from the noise-making area of a locomotive.Dave

http://www.esu.eu/en/products/decoder-tester/

I suspect that there are a few of us that would love to but with the S7 bash at Mark, Somerset on 18th, the chances of 2 pass outs for the same weekend are remote!

Chaz It will be worth taking it with you to Guildex and dragging Steph Dale off the Technical Committee stand - he's a real boffin on all things DCC and ESU in particular. It might well be worth contacting him directly in advance - he's a very helpful chap. Contact via http://www.stephdale.co.uk/ or http://www.euram-online.co.uk/contents.htm HTH Dave

Thanks Chaz I have one of these to build but with BR numberplates - am I forgiven? Dave

Chaz Just to be clear, is this a Type E Peckett that became 'Susan'? Dave