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Hello Patrick, Thanks very much for your kind comments, much appreciated. Ah yes, the six inch extension. Charmouth was originally built to squeeze onto the longest wall in my bedroom; quite constricting so the bufferstops were about half an inch from the baseboard end. Eventually exhibition extensions were built for each end but not used at home. I was amazed by the difference that adding that extra few inches made to the visual effect of the layout, quite out of proportion with the work involved. For some reason Railway Modeller wouldn't use my preferred title "Six Inches Makes All The Difference", I cant think why... Thanks very much, my modelling has been strongly influenced by the W&L, particularly its level-crossings and very visible gradients. I was determined to try and incorporate these effects on the layout; Castle and Cyfronydd are two of my favourite locations All the best, Dave.

Having been daunted by the prospect of rebuilding the boiler, it actually proved quite a bit simpler than anticipated. Once again I began by unsoldering and cleaning up; and then re-forming the rather distorted barrel around a length of solid rod. Soldering the etched formers in place held it to shape. The smokebox is designed as a separate entity to be assembled and slid into place over the boiler barrel. However the wrapper had been soldered on directly, and the etched front-plate bore little resemblance to anything. Using the boiler and wrapper as formers, the front-plate was filed to a more accurate and symmetrical shape. The with everything carefully held together the smokebox was rather gingerly soldered together from the front. The result was a perfect push-fit smokebox. That was most of the etching dealt with, the footsteps and sandboxes had already been formed by the owner and just needed soldering in place. Most of the cab interior was already done, but this needed a bit more tweaking to get right. Cheers, Dave.

Straightening out the bunker improved the look of the rear end imediately, so I cracked on with adding the detail bits. The only casualty of this was the coal plate within the bunker, but I was possibly not going to use it anyway. The cab spectacle and side window frames fitted into their half-etched recesses perfectly, but soldering them needed a steady hand and heatproof fingertips. Next job is the boiler. The normally reliable Ian Beattie's drawing in Railway Modeller drawing shows the bunker as tapered, but the Paul Vine drawing in Iain Rice's RailModel Digest shows it straight. A friend of mine has built the O-Gauge version of the same kit with a straight bunker, and it looks absolutely superb. Cheers, Dave.

Very nice indeed Mallard. I see you have got the valvegear blackened, improves its look no end and gives it the perfect oily steel look. Can I ask what sort motor/gearbox you have used? And is the chassis rigid or compensated? Thanks for posting, Dave.

Thanks Pete, I certainly am enjoying this, its a beaut. I would be very interested to see that, Thanks, Dave.

Thanks for your thoughts Gentlemen. I have now managed to remove the taper from the bunker, by unsoldering the bunker rear, bending the sides straight (or straighter than they were) and laminating bits of spare etch to the bunker sides to increase the width before soldering the bunker rear back in place. I thought I might have to replace the bunker rear sheet, but was anxious to retain it as it has all the slots and holes to locate the many lampirons steps and handrails than adorn the rear. It looks a lot better now. Thanks, Dave.

Cab and tank parts fitted together perfectly and all I had to do was make sure everything was at right-angles when soldering. The bunker needed bending to a slight taper before soldering, at that took a bit of trial and error. The amount of taper seems slightly exagerated, but its not apparent unless you look at it from above. We are not convinced that the bunker should taper at all, some photos seem to show the bunker sides parallel, with only the footplate tapering. The bunker is certainly narrower than the tanks, but the inward step is at the cab doors so its not obvious. I've kept everything as the kit intended though, and it looks fine. The blanks in the cab doors have been left in place to maintain strength and shape of the cab, and will be removed once its all soldered to the footplate. Cheers, Dave

The Maunsell Z Class kit from DMR Products in Cornwall has been on the to-do list for a long time but has at last risen to the top of the pile. Initial reaction to the kit is that it is gorgeous, beautifully etched in brass and nickel silver, with numerous superb brass castings and turnings. I've not got very far with it yet, but everything fits together perfectly, with the minimum of fitting. A fair bit of bending and curving is needed, and its a tad fiddly in places, but well repays carefull and methodical assembly. I would go so far to say that its possibly the best kit I've ever built. Did the chassis first, and widened it slightly in order to get a Highlevel gearbox in. Its designed to allow sideplay in the axles, with spacing washers to reduce the sideplay in the first and third axles. By widening the chassis I've taken up the sideplay, but it can be added again by filing down the front of the appropriate bearing bushes. Its 00 by the way, and rigid with no suspension. Power is provided by Mashima 1420 flat can, and Highlevel 80:1 LoadhaulerPlus gearbox. Made my usual cradle to support the footplate and keep is flat and true during assembly. The footplate valences fit into longitudinal slots running the length of the footplate, and there is a beautifully detailed etched overlay for the massive front bufferbeam. Quality of the etched bodywork speaks for itself,offer the parts up to each other and they just click into place ready for soldering. Hope progress reports will be a bit more regular than lately! Dave.

After a lot of scraping, abrading and wire-brushing, not to mention bending and flattening, I've got the body soldered together. At least it looks like a loco again. Next job is the boiler, another rescue mission. I think its going to have to come apart like the rest of the bodywork. Cheers, Dave.

One classic live album thats not been mentioned yet is Mike Oldfield's "Exposed", when he suddenly changed from being a recluse to an extrovert. A very ambitious first tour, featuring not just his band, but choir and orchestra, narrator, and Maddy Prior on vocals! (and lots of paper aeroplanes, but they dont feature on the album) Hmm, should I try and get it on cd... Dave.T

Whatever your favourite live album happens to be, there are certain criteria to be fullfilled: It must be a double-album, in a gatefold sleeve, featuring lots of photos of the band on stage, and of the spectacular light-shows. At least one side (usually side 3 or 4) must contain a maximum of two tracks, less if possible (prog bands have an advantage here) It must be recorded at the height of the band's early creativity, usually when touring their third or fourth album. Anything I've missed? Dave.

After a short and sweet stint on the brakevan its taken a back seat while I finish off a kit for a friend. Belive it or not its standard gauge! An 0-Gauge Hunslet "Jazzer" from an Agenoria Kit. It came to me mostly built, but needing finishing. Unfortunately it had been stored for quite a while and got very mucky, while the flux had attacked the solder joints and they were coming apart. So nothing for it but to dismantle and clean up. This didnt take long with a big iron and scrapers, and the main body components are shown. The body detail is very good and features some very nice riviting. The chassis was complete and painted but needed a good cleanup; then re-soldering of some wiring and tweaking of pickups had it running very nicely. Cheers, Dave

Santana - Caravanserai. Thier fourth album and the first time I've actually heard it. It sees them moving into a jazz-fusion direction; brilliant. Dave.

Hi, Yes, I think you mean this photo? http://www.semgonlin...am/b4class.html I looked at that for a while; The text states that its a different smokebox door, but I think its just been cleaned, rather than it being a different pattern to the others. The only difference I've identified in the various smokebox doors is in the length of the hinge straps. The shorter ones end just over halfway to the centreline of the door, the longer ones go just beyond the centre. Oops, just noticed my cockup, 87 should have the shorter straps! Damn! Boilers did get swapped around; the photo quoted above shows 87 with a rivited smokebox, but late BR period photos of it at Bournemouth & Pool show a plain smokebox. (Either welded or built with countersunk rivits) Many thanks, Dave.

I know this thread has been very quiet for a while, but I've not been idle. I've been building an Adams B4 from the South Eastern Finecast kit. I can't do a blow by blow feature on here as its possibly going to feature in a magazine article at some stage. Heres a small sample of photos though, just to prove I've been active. Cheers, Dave.

Its time to beat this thread into action again. Earlier on, when describing the tramway brakevan construction, I alluded to a second brakevan using the leftover balcony parts from the first conversion. Well here they are; the balcony and steps attached to a section of floor, and the all-important etched grills for the balcony railings. Also shown is my drop-in chassis unit and the remains of the donor Branchlines wagon chassis kit. A complete Clogher Valley Railway wagon chassis kit from Branchlines will form the basis of the detailing for the van underframe. More updates when Theres something to tell! Cheers, Dave.

What a superb finish; particularly so as the lining is done by hand! Not sure what else to say... Dave.T

Great to see some further development of this layout, one of my favourites on RMweb. All the best, Dave.

Not neccessarily, most of mine end up that way round. Its usually due to the needs of the kit design, hiding the motor and gearbox within the tanks or firebox and maintaining any daylight under the boiler. And packing as much extra weight as possible over the drivers. Iain Rice was a big influence on my modelling too, one of his best pieces of advice was: "Always use the biggest motor you can fit in, as long as its invisible on the finished model." He was talking about 4mm scale though, its less of an issue in O Gauge. Lovely model, I'm still not sure what it is though. GW absorbed loco? From the Rhymney or Taff Vale? Cheers, Dave

Lovely modelling, the Armstrong looks great. I really like those coaches as well. How did you get the texture on the roofs, are they covered with tissue paper? You mention editing the title of the thread; its easy enough. Go to the first post, the one you started the thread with, and select the Edit command (its at the bottom). The text appears in a box ready for editing. Down the bottom again is a command "Use Full Editor", select this and you can edit the title of the thread as well. All the best, Dave.T

Thanks for the photos Stu, some interesting views and a scary closeup! I particularly like the view into the exchange shed, have to try that one myself. I thought I had found all the possible photographic angles on this layout, but obviously not. Cheers, Dave.

Thank you very much for such a glowing tribute Patrick, I'm touched; may I use it as a citation? The sort of atmosphere you describe it what I was trying to achieve, with hints of Halesworth, Welshpool etc. I'm quite a fan of "odd corners" myself, so heres a few more photos. Most of them feature the area around the Parcels Shed on the platform All the best, Dave.

Ok, heres another fairly random selection of odd corners of Bridport, starting with the water tower The last picture show the goods exchange shed, which hasnt featured in many photos as I was never very happy with it. It wasnt based on a particular building, I designed it myself but not very successfully. I may yet rebuild it, but it could certainly do with dirtying down somewhat. And the Southern van is far too clean. Theres more to come if anyone is still interested. Cheers, Dave.

Thanks very much for such glowing compliments gentlemen. The running is down to several elements; most locos are fitted with Portescap RG4s, but some have Mashima & Branchlines Multibox. Being multiple wheeled (2-6-2, 4-4-0, 4-6-0, etc) they have pickups on as many wheels as humanly possible, and lastly, they weigh a ton! There are a couple of hefty whitemetal kits, while the scratchbuilt locos have large chunks of lead built into them.. Either, it depends what else is happening at the time; whether or not the loop is occupied, or we need to swap locos over, or if anyone asks to see a particular loco running. In addition its possible to propel from the platform directly to the carriage shed so we can vary the makeup of passenger trains without too much hassle. Many thanks, Dave. PS The plan should help.

Heres a fairly random selection of Bridport Photos, mostly without a train in sight. Cheers, Dave.