Foden

For me, within my scope of interest I’d have to say the 158. It took a while, but well worth the wait, the detail is exquisite, and it’s set the bar very high for what to expect from second gen DMUs. Possibly an odd opinion to many, but a shout out to the class 37 also. I appreciate others point to its supposed flaws, the cab windows seem to be a common one, but ever since these ‘new’ ones have been released many a year ago I’ve loved them, and have more than I dare admit to. They look the part, they’re well detailed, pull well, and over the years have been available in most of the liveries I’ve wanted. If I had to run just one train for half an hour, a Bach 37 would be one I’d pick........ but which one?! (Split headcode Dutch 37, my first of the collection...... probably)

I subconsciously note how many sleepers disappear under my trains as they pass, and scale my control from there. No equations, no fancy gizmos, blissful happiness.

Seller soaks up the PayPal fees as they do currently. You can of course pay for many number of things using PayPal as the middle man for the transaction, I paid for a pizza the other night this way, this would be no different. That’s my understanding.

The all too often forgotten number one rule. I've recently been having great fun with spare half hours (all I can afford lately) shunting around any mixture of locos and stock, from any era I please, based entirely on which one(s) I like the look of most in any given moment. It's actually incredibly liberating!

Rest In Peace Sir. A beacon of hope and optimism in dark times. Very sad news.

Whilst I’m a modern image modeller, this looks fantastic, and agreeing with previous comments, what fantastic value by current comparisons! Great to see Accurascale going from strength to strength, well done guys.

I'm not saying I disagree with you there, and I'll stop short of speculating on what constitutes a good business case versus good customer rapport, it's not necessary here. I'm content with my decision, and I'll keep my eyes peeled for any future (corrected) release, if they're as nicely detailed as these are, they'll have my business again for sure.

If that were the case, someone at Toton would need their head looking at if they were paying B&Q prices for bin stickers. Poundland, any day of the week!

I can't speak for others, but for me it's important to distinguish between being happy with the model, and wanting an immediate refund. It didn't take too long after becoming aware of the scale issue for me to make my mind up that I wasn't happy with the model as I purchased it, for the price I'd paid, and I wasn't waiting for an email asking me if I wanted to accept a XX% refund, let's be realistic, that's not the way it works. What I didn't necessarily want to do was pull the money I spent back out of a small business IF there was a chance things might be able to be corrected. I own a small business, I know how important cashflow is, and whilst I have no idea what Footplate's accounts look like, I have been in a position where I've been unable to offer a service to a client as expected due to a third party, and had the client at the time demanded an instant refund, it would have had very dire consequences for my business, such is the risk we take. This is my hobby, not my industry, so I might be naive in my assumptions, but I thought it reasonable not to make a knee jerk reaction to the disappointment without knowing the facts and reasons behind it. I don't know how much Footplate/Flangeway did on their own, and how much was subcontracted to others, so therefore have no idea where the burden of responsibility lies with the mistake, and what rectifications could be made.

May I ask what the response was in regard to what they need paperwork wise for the refund?

Well I’m afraid as the calendar draws toward the end of the month with no current public acknowledgment from Footplate, I’m forced to make a decision myself on these, and unfortunately at £50 a wagon that decision is regrettably going to be to return them. Whilst I note Mr York’s comments on them being aware, and investigating the issue, the clock runs down for us who received our pre-orders to have a legal right to return them, and it’s unfortunate that no words have come from them in regard to people who have taken delivery and awaiting a response. I acknowledge a lot of effort went into producing these, and I’m more than happy to put my money behind small business ventures like this when the product appeals. However with no official response, and time being limited, I don’t want to be left with no legal rights to return, even though my hopes were to hear what the company proposed before asking for a return and money back. Sad, I sincerely hope this doesn’t hurt them badly. Mistakes happen, and I don’t think anyone here, myself included wants to see the ‘little guy’ buried because of them.

Speaking personally, and frankly, probably a good while. They were always going to be a purchase for the future for me, I wouldn’t have noticed until I went to model an example with a scale length track panel, then the penny would drop. I sang its praises because it was a good model, it still is, which is even more disappointing in a way. Well being already over that I guess I’m stuck with taking a chance then by waiting and seeing what they say. I’ve no animosity towards them, it’s clearly an error, I would hope they would have the decency to offer some kind of amendment once they know where they are at with it.

The shorty Mk3s also came in trainsets, and were perhaps a little more common amongst the casual loop of track on the carpet hobbyists than an engineers flat wagon would be. I suspect most people after these know exactly what they are, and what they're after, and they're going to care that they aren't close to scale size once they realise.

I think I’ll just wait to hear what they say before I make a decision one way or the other.

This is always going to be a very subjective matter, what one person is happy with won’t necessarily be suitable for another. For me however, I was very happy with chinchilla dust on my last project in OO

I quite agree. It's such a shame, I almost wish I didn't know. I was very happy indeed with the model beforehand, the size issue doesn't change that the model is very pleasing in every other aspect, but as others before have noted, I cannot unsee, or unknow what I now do. As a small supplier I genuinely hope that the error, however it arrived, was in a part of the process that they (Footplate) have some degree of comeback on.

Hugely disappointing to hear this, and I feel a bit of a mug now for singing the model's praises so highly. I'd sold off all but one of my Cambrian Salmons, which was damaged, and didn't even think to compare the two as they looked right (to my eye atleast) out the box, but having dug the Cambrian out, and compared them, that's quite a shocking disparity! (assuming the Cambrian is correct) I've 18 of these, and wished to model some with scale track panels, quite gutted to hear about this, especially after having sunk over £900 into them

Moving on then, and it was time to tackle the decorating of the fuel point. I wanted to emphasise the feeling that this whole place is pretty rundown, and probably near the end of its working life. I'd found as reference a great photo of fuel oil storage tanks from Estonia, and it featured very heavy flaking and rusting of the tanks, which was the effect I wanted to aim for. To achieve this, I used a technique pioneered by John Hayward that I've used a few times before on wargaming terrain, but never tried it on this scale before. The method is pretty simple, you use rust coloured weathering powders mixed with enamel thinners and matt varnish to create a rust effect layer, use latex mask to apply chips to the surface, then apply an acrylic base coat over the top. When the acrylic coat is dry, you remove the latex mask to reveal the rust 'chips'. What really makes this effect pop though, is you can then use enamel thinners to reactivate the rust mixture, and wash it down the base coat. Simple, but very effective, and quite a rewarding process. Here's how I did it... Firstly, using an airbrush, I apply a good coat of black primer. Mig 'oneshot' primer is relabelled Badger Stynylrez acrylic primer, it's the best acrylic primer I've come across, I swear by it. Next step after a few days to cure is to use a mix of enamel thinners and matt varnish, and select a couple of varying shades of weathering powders to act as a rust base layer. Using the thinned matt varnish to paint on areas as an anchor for the powders to go ontop. Blending lighter and darker shades of rust for the desired result. I try to smooth out big lumps of powder as to not provide too much texture for the base coat to follow. It doesn't take too long for the rust layer to dry, and as soon as it does, I start to create the rust chips/flakes using latex mask, in this case Humbrol's Maskol. A small amount is decanted into a suitable palette, and then using a piece of fine sponge ripped to give a mildly rough edge, I dab some of the mask on the sponge, and test the finish on a piece of clear plastic to make sure I'm applying the mask in as small small flecks as desired, and not large thick layers. The latex mask doesn't take long to dry, and as soon as it does I get the airbrush back out to apply the base colour layer. Although the enamel rust layer is dry, it's not cured, and it's important to get the base coat on before this happens, so I can use thinners to rework the rust layer later. My reference photo shows a light grey colour for the tanks, so this is what I make for mine, mixing a little more white in to highlight the top, where the sunlight bleaches the base colour. Obviously, as enamel thinners are to be used after to rework the rust layer, the base coat needs to be an acrylic to localise the later effects. Being acrylic, the base coat is dry in no time, and now the latex mask can be pulled away to reveal the rust underneath. Bigger blobs can be picked off quite easily, but an easy way to get the lots of tiny flecks off is to run over some blu-tac or similar. It's also possible to use a tooth pick to scratch off some more base coat in areas that don't have as much mask, or to join up some of the chips to create larger areas of rust that's broken through. My reference photo showed larger areas of rust lower down the sides, so I duly copied this. If there's any areas where there was some clumpy weathering powder, if it's not too large this can add to the effect of rust bubbling up below the base coat. Now for the effect that really sells this method for me, getting the rust layer underneath to bleed, and wash down the base coat. Using a brush damped with enamel thinners, I gently apply small amounts of the thinners onto the individual chips or larger areas of exposed rust. After a few seconds the thinners react with the enamel rust layer, and I gently brush vertically downwards to create the effect of rust being washed down the sides. It's important not to go too heavy with the thinners or all the rust layer will be pulled away quickly, but the great thing about having the black undercoat is that as the rust layer gets thinner it gets darker as it bites through as far as the undercoat, creating darker areas of rust, and if it goes too far, repairs can be made by re-adding spot areas of weathering powder with the original mix of thinners and varnish. For the walking grate on the top of the tank, I dry brush a metallic metal on, in this case Leadbelcher from the Citadel range (Citadel use some crazy names for their paints, but their ranges are fantastic, and for me, their metallic metals and golds are the best available). I then wash this with some black wash, Nuln oil, again from Citadel. (Notice the fragile bloody hoops on the ladder have since been removed, to be reinstated at a later point!) My storage tanks now look suitably rusty, and knackered, but not very dirty. So the next effect is to add streaking grime in some areas to weather them up a little. Mig Ammo brush streaker 'Starship Grime' is the grime of choice. A little is placed on, and in some cases ran down, and then a flat brush damped in thinners used to wash it down the sides... filthy! To finish up with this tank, I decided to deviate a little from the photos and add another effect, I'm not sure if it would be prototypical of a fixed storage tank, but added a fuel stain down the side where the pipe will eventually be fixed. AK Interactive's AK025 fuel stains doing the dirty deed, applied a little more willingly, but otherwise the same as the previous grime. Attention now turns to the concrete base. Pleasingly, the kit comes with a very nice base with pre moulded concrete texture, no need for an airbrush here, Army Painter Uniform Grey from a can gets applied in a few thin layers as both the primer and base colour. Once dry, the colour is washed with a mix of further grey from Vallejo, and the previously used Nuln Oil to bring out the detail, and look more weathered. The two remaining tanks are painted up using the same methods, but as they were sitting horizontally, and were basically going to be placed next to idling diesel engines, I thought the tops of them would be quite sooty, so used the airbrush to give a quick dusting over with Railmatch acrylic 2403 Roof Dirt. I was pretty happy with the colours of the small pumping shed, they just needed toning down a little. So another wash, this time 'Agrax Eathshade', another Citadel wash, which I think is great for weathering down any kind of wood to a damp effect finish. So to cut an already long story short, I finished building the kit, and for the final touch of weathering, added some green moss effects to the concrete base, and also the roofs of the buildings and especially inside the bunding for the tanks using Mig Ammo nature effects 1410 'Slimey Grime Dark', one of my most used weathering effects. And finally, the finished fuel point... I wasn't happy with the fuel delivery pumps that I'd fitted into the shelter, so used pieces from a Knightwing kit to make my own version. The pipe is massively overscale, and I'll come back to it at a later date. I also added a patch to one of the tanks to represent a repair, to prolong the life of these nearly life expired ones a little perhaps. Final touch was for a fluorescent light from Express Models to be added. The light was a little bright, but rather than add a beefier resistor to dull it down, I thought I'd add a little paint over to change the colour to more of that orange that was so prevalent in street lights of the era, changing the colour and toning down the brightness at the same time. The single unit was also painted black to blend it in with the roof of the shelter, and painted in the middle to make it appear as if it's two lights instead of one. Away from this little project, there's also been slow progress on the rest of the layout. Timber frames have been fixed in place for the rear retaining wall, and what will become the upper street base, and I've started fixing the resin retaining wall moulds from Skytrex into place on 6mm MDF. That's it updated for now. Next to follow will be completing, painting, and installing some more lights into the retaining wall, and work on the hidden fiddle yard, which I now have the track, and point motors for.

I’m really rather ashamed to say that other than my local small show in Hinckley, the only other regular show I attend, which was also my last, is Warley. I’ve set a goal to find more time to go to other events when normality resumes, God willing. This wretched virus has really highlighted to me the importance of making more time for ones own life, not just ones own work. Excellent thread, I’ve really enjoyed reading this.

Don’t be silly, it’s a train driver!

You’ll just need to find Gavin from Autoglass to do the voice recordings (make sure to catch him on a bad day for the full ‘I couldn’t give a toss’ aura), and you’ll have a pretty authentic station announcement for New St in the 80s/90s! Nice product.

In fairness, Bachmann do produce a very similar magnetic knuckle coupler to the Kadee called the E-Z mate, as far as I'm aware they operate in exactly the same way from their appearance. I've read they're generally inferior, and more fragile, although I couldn't honestly say myself what they are like in operation, as I've never used them, nor do I know if they are compatible with Kadee branded couplers (I suspect they are). The copies never seem to have taken the world by storm though, with the Kadee always seeming to be the most popular, which maybe tells its own story.

When I was a young lad, and I'd seen photos and models of any loco without outside cylinders, I used to think it was some sort of witchcraft!

I use neodymium rare earth magnets to operate my Kadees. As above if these are to be fitted unseen under the sleepers it’s obviously best to do this before track setting and certainly before ballast is applied. The exact ones I’ve used are two pairs of 20x5x3mm N50 magnets dug into a 6mm recess in the cork under the sleepers. The pairs sit just inside the four foot separated by a suitably cut size of plastic sprue from an old kit, in order to keep them apart until the glue settles. You can (and should) of course experiment with your own combinations to see what works for you. Consider also that the further the magnets are from the trip pins the stronger they need to be, and when selecting rare earth magnets the ‘N’ value denotes the strength, the higher being stronger. Don’t assume though that the highest is necessarily the best, as too much magnetisation can cause unwanted uncoupling, and in some cases attracting metal parts of the rolling stock, which can lead to some rather peculiar operational anomalies! As said above, best bet is to experiment. Buy a small selection of magnets (they’re quite cheap really), and lay them in a recessed section of scrap baseboard with a small tack of superglue such as they’re easy to remove. Then lay some spare track over the magnets and see what works best for your stock, and what you want to achieve.

Mullet! (that was a request, not an insult I hasten to add)