Barry Ten

In the 80s, at least in Newcastle, it would have been a brave student who attempted to open an account with Barclays. I think there was a kind of picket-line you had to cross. I went with Lloyds, much easier.

Just my minor contribution to the chassis topic, but I don't (usually) bolt them on at each end. I fix one end tightly, but arrange the other to be retained, but allowed some slight give (both lengthways and sideways). Often that retention is achieved by just sliding the front frame spacer beneath the back of the screw-link coupling.

As long as we don't mind a bit of RTR here's a somewhat improved Bachmann 93XX mogul... reworked from a GWR example. The front frames have been cut and shut to get the drop in the right place, new Comet cylinders grafted over the old, loco-tender gap reduced, crew and DCC added, and then a mild re-livery job using T-cut to remove the GWR letters from the tender, followed by BR transfers from HMRS. Not sure exactly sure if any 93XX carried plain green (especially before renumbering into the 73XX series) but it's the bare minimum I felt like doing rather than a full repaint or relining job, so it'll stand until I dig out more reference material.

Most (all?) of the Comet chassis I've built do have the centre axle hole etched slightly higher than the outer ones - you can tell as soon as you put the wheels in as the middle ones will just "skate" along the rail tops. I can only speak from experience but the chassis do seem to work very well with this arrangement when built fully rigid.

I think it's a fair observation about the 15XX. There have been numerous reports of tight spots, waddling, pickup malfunction and paint/glue assembly issues. Even mine isn't perfect - there's a glue blemish on one cylinder, a minor waddle and a small but noticeable tight spot at low speed, tiny yes but more than I would have accepted if I were building a chassis. It is potentially a very nice model but it seems to have been afflicted by more than the usual number of issues. Looking at the thread on the new GWR railmotor, there seem to be quite a few snags with this model as well.

Cheers, Mikkel. Hopefully Brian from 247 Developments will be at the RMweb SWAG do in Taunton in a couple of months, (he normally attends) so I can pick up some suitable chimneys for my moguls.

Following on from my post of a month or so back about accepting yesterday's standards as being "good enough", here's the sort of finished 93XX, now with the Comet cylinders as promised. They make a big difference I reckon. I say "sort of" finished because the livery and tender transfers are just to get something into BR service without doing a full repaint from the original GWR green. I removed the latter's lettering with T-cut, then added HMRS transfers for the late crest. I opted for the larger of the two sizes as these seemed about right for a photo I had of a Collett goods tender in unlined green. Now I have to fess up and say I've not been working from a photo of a 93 in similar condition, but I've made the assumption some would have carried this scheme - however that could be an assumption too far! However as mentioned, it's the easiest route to getting it into BR condition without a repaint into black or fully lined green. Another consideration is that the model as it stands lacks the weight added behind the buffer beam that was eventually removed and the engines then renumbered into the 73XX series. However, for now... The model was already DCC fitted using a hardwired Digitrax decoder, but after extensive running I found the performance a bit sluggish and inconsistent in speed. I've found that the inexpensive Laisdcc decoders seem to work well straight out of the box, so the model was taken apart and rewired, this time incorporating an 8-pin socket in the tender. A Laisdcc decoder was tested and resulted in an immediate improvement in the running, having lots more power in reserve and not being prone to inconsistent speed in different parts of the layout. I'm no expert but my guess is that older decoders like the Digitrax one seem to be much more sensitive to varying current draw and voltage irregularities. In any case the cost of a Laisdcc decoder is low enough that I won't hesitate to try a swap if I suspect an older decoder isn't getting the best out of a loco.

See above.

Here are two more Lima conversions, a pair of 94XXs using Bachmann chassis. This one uses a split chassis unit. The main work to the body is filling in the steps on the starboard side of the cab. This one uses the more recent Pannier chassis, although both run on DCC. The black one has the later style of front frames without the plating between them. The black one is stuffed with lead and will pull anything. Al

From recollection it was the loco that was too narrow. There was an article in which the footplate was widened by adding plastic strips, and I think the cab widened as well. It looked OK because as you say, that was the only "easy" way to get a Crab. The theory was that the Lima designers had interpreted the difference in width between cab and tender as a mistake in the drawings, and "corrected" accordingly. The roughly contemporaneous Hornby Patriot had the opposite problem in that tender was too wide and long. There was another article showing how the tender body and cosmetic frames could be cut down to something more realistic, all without requiring any alteration to the mechanism. It was a bit of a mystery why Hornby had made the tender oversized to begin with as they needn't have.

Seen before, but my 6006 is a much-loved Lima King on a Comet chassis. The bogie is the original Lima one with (I think) Gibson wheels as Comet didn't offer a suitable part.

And here's that Wills station with the roof replaced: Some minor filling still to be done, but otherwise, job's a good 'un.

Hi RCP - I doubt I have the original pics but I can easily take some new ones. I'll have a look tomorrow.

A case in point might be this Wills station I built at the end of last year ( it's pretty good as a representation of an LBSC building). I was dead pleased with it for at least a week until I realised I'd managed to get the roof tiles on the wrong way up on the "road" facing side! Even though I thought I could live with this, since the wrong bit would never be seen, I've decided to bite the bullet and redo that bit of the roof. In fact I bought the relevant Wills sheets yesterday. The upside down sheet is the one over the porch. It's surprisingly easy not to notice unless the light hits in the right direction but it must go!

Thanks Keith. I can't remember the name of the firm, but I found a period brochure for another caravan manufacturer with a very similar model (oval window in the side etc), so perhaps there were several brands offering similar-looking products.

"The Password is Courage" https://railwaymoviedatabase.com/the-password-is-courage/

This is my 1981 Hornby 4P as it now stands. I modified the cab window cutouts to the narrower type (one of the first bits of RTR modification I did) then repainted in BR black. The original moulded handrails are still there on the rear bunker but the boiler-side ones were always separate. The chassis is Comet as the original one never ran well and sounded like a cement mixer. The front steps are scratchbuilt and seem ok on my 30 inch curves. Definitely one of my favorite models.

I'm not sure if there's any science to back up the following anecdotal observation, but in line with the weakness of brass, I find that when forming sharp bends in wire (eg for handrails or Spratt & Winkle loops) if I form the bend slowly, it seems to tolerate being undone and adjusted more than if the bend is formed quickly. Could be complete cobblers of course.

Following the theme of the last entry, here are two more cheap and cheerful vehicular restorations. The 3.4 litre Jag is a Lesney model that was in a very tatty state. I flush-glazed it from the outside using Glue-n-glaze as I didn't want to faff around getting into the rivetted interior. It worked surprisingly well although I've not always had success with glazing big gaps like the windscreen. The model was repainted. The Lesney wheels were retained, but I swapped the original crude axles for new ones which slightly improves the look. I'm not sure if this is the same type of Jag as driven by Morse but I couldn't resist painting it red. The Rolls takes bargain modelling to the extreme - this one started off as very basic plastic toy in a Christmas cracker. I dismantled it, glazed it, added a rudimentary interior, and then painted it the same red as the Jag. It retains the original wheels but moved slightly out on their axles for a better look. Both models will benefit from numberplates when I can source some suitable items.

I find the gearing on the Bachmann Std 5s to be a bit on the slow side for express passenger service.

After a trip to the dentist last week I treated myself by popping into the toys & collectables shop on our high street. They sometimes have some railway stuff and I had my eye on a Superquick church kit that I'd spotted in the window a week or two earlier. Alas, the aforementioned ecclesiastical structure had gone but a rummage in one of the bins turned up a nice little white metal car kit in the John Day range. Although I didn't realise it at the time, it's a prewar/war Hillman Minx. The kit was remarkably simple, consisting of just two main castings, one for the body and one for the chassis/wheels. The castings were of excellent quality and needed minimal attention. The only other bits were two castings for the headlamps, and a vac-formed glazing piece. I discarded the latter, preferring to make up my own windows from spare transparent packaging. It took several goes for the front windscreen but I think the end result is preferable. The model was "assembled" using cyano for the metal and glue-n-glaze for the windows, then brushed with Humbrol enamels. I thought it was a cracking kit so will be investigating more from the very inexpensive John Day range. Another second-hand find was a very tatty old Lesney caravan that my wife found for me in an antiques market or similar. After languishing in my get-around-to-it-one-day box, I bit the bullet last week. The model was dismantled, cleaned up, repainted and flush-glazed (there was none with the original) using the same material as the Minx. The original was a very pale blue so I went for a similar Humbrol colour (also treating the Oxford diecast car at the same time). It's one of those vaguely depressing, institutional-looking 1950s colours that look good on Fender guitars and not much else! I don't know anything about road-vermin (sorry, caravans) but I think it looks 50s ish to my untrained eye. And there you have it, a couple of bargain- bin finds now given new life, which I very much enjoy.

What an inspired idea, and so well executed!

There's a mild tight spot on mine which isn't severe enough to have disturbed me, but I'll see if I can see anything going on with the return crank.

There's a bit of everything here (with apologies for reposting an image I put on another thread last night): Printed card (the corner bar and adjacent building to the right), resin (the ornate building in the background), plastic kit (the building to the left of the bar), scratchbuilt, and use of Redutex embossed sheets, as well as Faller and Wills plastic sheets. I've used a similar mix and match on all my layouts. There's no brick paper in shot in the view below but I have used Scalescenes downloads elsewhere on the layout, especially their concrete texture. The main buildings are a mix of resin, plastic kit and scratchbuilt card and Slaters sheets, while the walling in the foreground is plaster-cast in reusable rubber moulds.

Evening in Paris (or thereabouts) as a 141R drifts in at the end of its journey.