ian@stenochs

I have an original Pete Stamper kit for the Markham 0-4-0 in 7mm, untouched,surplus to requirements if anyone is interested! Ian.

I have used minced up polyurethane foam. I minced up the offcuts of trackbase left over from tracklaying in a little food processor. The stuff I have is dark grey in colour and the minced particles are not all of the same size but have that kind of honeycomb look of coke. It is quite light too so does not overload the springs! Ian. Ps mine is 7mmscale coke.

Once the plastic solebars get a coat of paint they will be nearer to exact size! Ian

Special one off deliveries would bring one or more 'foreign wagons' onto a railway. Water improvement schemes were a case in point with lots of towns getting running water and new reservoirs. Glenfield and Kennedy in Kilmarnock were major contractors to the water industry and we're famous, still are, for their hydraulic valves. My photo, from a poor original, shows a consignment being shunted by a G&SWR 221class 0-4-2 from the works. The view is circa 1900 and shows some large valves and boxes of fittings loaded on 10 ton open and gland wagons. The perfect excuse to run a small rake of one companies wagons loaded or empty on your railway! Ian.

Yip, a bit of yeast is good for you! Ian.

I use white spirit from B&Q to thin Humbrol for spraying and not found any problems. I use it for Precision paints as well. Ian.

Is CAD and 3D printing modelmaking? To me these are computing tools that commercial manufacturers would use. More computer skills than actual model making. Ian.

There are so many areas on RMWebb that it is not easy to read them all. Some Industrial fans may not yet have seen the poll I voted in the poll despite the fact that I am probably never going to buy an rtr loco. I do however have quite a few industrial locos in my collection, roughly 50/50 scratchbuilt/kits. There are a few more locos that I would like to model and if they become available as decent kits then I will buy one. If not I will hopefully scratcbuild. However many of the prototypes I like are very unlikely to appeal to the mass market! Ian.

I built my first scratchbuilt loco using a WHO drawing from the Modeller! It was a G&SWR 272 class 0-4-0 Tank and I was very pleased with it. However when I later got access to the GA I found that the drawing that I had used was little better than a sketch and my model badly flawed. It takes no more skill to follow an accurate drawing than one which is dimensionally suspect so please don't cut metal until you are sure of your drawings. NB is not my interest but I think the NB study group have drawings available. See here for more info, http://www.nbrstudygroup.co.uk/sales/sales.htm Ian.

Nice layout I particularly like the big Barclay. In the Doon valley the pugs were always well looked after and kept clean. The copious rain and lack of industrial pollution helped of course. Nice to see the Sentinal which was the last commercial working loco on the Waterside system, and still there.However Pecketts were quite rare beasts in Ayrshire and there were none in the West Ayr area of the NCB. There were some examples, the Ayr Harbour board engine being very similar to yours, so modellers licence perfectly valid. Hawthorns of Leith locos were also rare beasts but this one got a rebuild at Dunaskin in 1903. Ian.

Among other odd bits I have this collection of rail chairs. All Glasgow & South Western dating between 1887 and 1920. What is interesting is that the design stayed very similar until the 1920 one which could be for a heavier section of rail. Ian

Richard was at the Glasgow 0 gauge show at the weekend.

The Andrew Barclay collection is held by the Glasgow University Business Archive here. http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/archives/collections/business/. They have the surviving GA drawings and lots of detail drawings. Well worth a visit. Ian.

My experience of moving an industrial loco on a road trailer was that the loco sat on bridge rails set on the deck of the trailer. Bridge rail is shaped Ike an upturned Tee with a wide base and quite a short but fat leg. Both rails were just sitting on the deck with nothing to hold them in position. The loco was chained down at both ends. Something similar would work on a wagon. Ian.

Scrap lead is easily melted in an old tin ladle or even a tin lid over the gas stove or by using a little blow lamp. I cast it into crude moulds made from balsa wood and card shaped to suit exactly where I want to put it. I have also cast a thin sheet which is handy to cut and bend round motors. Only one thing, take care, keep everything dry and have a tray to contain any spills and wear safety specs. Ask your local plumber for some scrap, offer him a few bob it will be more than he will get from the scrappy, Ian.

Nice work, I like your choice of prototype. Scratchbuilding does take time but you have the satisfaction of making something ALL your own. Even if you choose a prototype which exists as a kit, or one appears just as you finish yours, it is a good feeling to refute the inevitable question ' is that the xxx kit? Ian.

I was train spotting somewhere around Dumfries House and this came along!

Hi George, If you haven't already bought the kit, don't! Very few of the Ace kits are value for money and most have quite major problems which means you will be replacing or scratchbuilding parts. Just skim through the reviews and description of builds here on the inter web for evidence. Either scratch build one or save up a wee bit more for the David Andrews kit. Ian.

Quite correct, decent tools last a lifetime and even the raw materials cost very little compared to the cost of kits or rtr. However the biggest plus of building from scratch is the satisfaction of having something unique and personal to oneself. More power to your elbow! One question, in your photo two above, how do the brakes work? I assume some sort of lever device behind the solebars but I have never seen that type before. Ian.

Great to see Scratchbuilding of this quality and of less common prototypes. A breath of fresh air among all the rtr sameness. Keep up the good work. Ian.

Rolling roads are fine for setting up valve gear and tweaking pickups or checking decoder settings. However long term running can cause damage to wheel tyres on the sharp edges of the ball races used on some makes of rolling road. The races are usually hardened steel which is not kind to mild steel or cast iron tyres. For conventional steam locos, with coupling rods, rolling roads do not simulate the effect of running on a continuous rail. You need the resistance of the wheel on the rail actually being driven by the coupling rods to really find out any tight spots. My preference is to use a bit of plain track with a buffer stop and let the loco slip.

Absolutely superb set of pictures which really show the quality of the modelling. Even the peeling overlays and warped sides on some of the buildings look natural. The colours and textures appear fresh and realistic. I remember the black and white Madder Valley from early issus of The Modeller but when I saw it in the flesh at Pendon a few years ago I felt really let down. It looked quite neglected and run down. What rolling stock there was on show was just plonked on, some of it not even on the rails. The buildings looked as though they were covered in dust too. However Andy's set of pictures have reinstated this railway as one of my iconic model railways . Thank you for letting us see them. Ian.

Superb picture spoiled by the toy like crossing gaps in the foreground. Sorry if I offend but that's how I see it. Am I the only one? Ian

That photo of R40 is mine too! I built that using basic information, GA of the frames and a photo taken at Ardrossan with the loco partly obscured by the crossing gates. R47 is the result of a better photo turning up which let me build a much more accurate likeness. As for the 0-4-2s, my favourite SouWest locos. I built one of the original 221 class about 20 years ago only got a record shot to hand but see below. Ian

It takes time to build a Locomotive, especially from scratch, but here is my latest! Posed on 'carpet hill', it's too cold in the layout room just now, and not quite finished, she needs a bit of ageing and dirt on the rods to tone them down a wee bit. One of the 'Fower Wheelers' which were found around the pits of Ayrshire. This one ended her days at Ardrossan and was photographed quite late in life in 1906 still without brakes on the engine and only wooden blocks on the tender. David L Smith describes some of the work these wee locos did in Tales of the G&SWR, worth a read if you haven't already. Ian.