Barry Ten

Pushing on with the B17...

8 minutes ago, n9 said:

I'd be interested to know how you get on, so if you'll be posting progress somewhere, please share.

 

I'm wondering about curved turnouts - or the apparent lack thereof in kit form from Finetrax, both in the 2FS shop or with the C40 equivalents direct from British Finescale. This post from Martin Wynne suggests cutting the webbing on straight turnouts, at least for 00. Is this still the way to approach curved turnouts when using such kits?

 

 

I needed a curved turnout for the front siding on Paynestown, so I took the Finetrax sleeper base and cut notches into it along one side to make it flexible. I then built it as per the instructions but with a bit of a bend in the desired direction. It doesn't correspond to any sensible turnout geometry but it worked as intended although in hindsight I needn't have made it quite so sharp. I illustrate this only to show that a hamfisted bodger with no real prior experience in tracklaying can build and adapt the Finetrax stuff, although there are many things I'd do differently next time.

I built a small GWR branch terminus using Finetrax kits:

I built one point first then tested a variety of stock through it, mostly US stuff from the last 20 years as I didn't have much UK N at the start of the project. I didn't find anything that wouldn't go through. Since then I've acquired a few GWR locos and rolling stock from Farish, Sonic and Dapol, all of which works well through the crossings.

That said, my American layout has over 50 points and several scale miles of track, and if I was starting again I'd probably still go down the Peco Code 55 (or possibly Atlas) route.

On 01/01/2024 at 12:38, JZ said:

 

What I have done with my Airfix one and any other metal finish aircraft, is to pick out the odd panel in different shades of silver/aluminium.

I've had a go with this, just using some silver from the tin:

7 hours ago, The Johnster said:

 

I'll hear nothing against The Mount, spend many happy hours mucking about with steam engines up there,  The town is a dump, though, only built so that Aberdare people had someone to feel superior to...

Although you won't find a warmer place than Mountain Ash on Dec 31st for the annual Nos Galan road races:

I'm grateful to C-Rail for the early containers and liveries they've now done. I wonder if any others are feasible - eg Containerway ones? I don't know if these could be done using the existing moulds but they would add some extra variety to be mixed in with early Freightliner containers. I've done some CTi ones using the C-Rail kits and decals.

The ML one is the ribbed type, not the earlier style. Here are some I picked up at Warley:

It's a camping coach, yes.

B17 with main coat of paint on. I spent as long preparing and masking it as I did all the work before.

I did a painting based on the 1937 photo, which should give an idea of the setting:

On 30/12/2023 at 19:24, Captain Kernow said:

I can only echo this comment and would have made it myself, had Welchester not beat me to it. This book is absolutely excellent and if you live in Tintern, I would have thought that - once you have checked it out - that a copy should occupy a permanent place on your bookshelf!

 

That double-page colour photo of the whole station is, in my view, one of the very best railway photographs ever taken.

My wife and I used to have the same "there must be a piece missing" conversation so often that in the end we got a post-it and stuck "There are no pieces missing!" on the cupboard above the jigsaw table.

Some overhead wiring has appeared at Aberdare over Christmas. They were certainly busy with machinery moving up and down the line on Christmas day.

I've started a 1/72nd Academy B17G which has been in my stash for years. 

I tend to build in 1/48 or larger but I can see the benefits of 1/72nd here, it's much easier to work with on a small workbench and it won't take anywhere near as much room as the 1/48 Monogram B17 I built as a kid.

1 hour ago, Keith Turbutt said:

Hi Tony,

Glad to hear it represents an actual prototype. I wonder if it was changed later on to the more familiar shape. I have a few 'Locomotives Illustrated' , I'll check if I have that one.

Thanks for your reply

It's the tall LSWR chimney as originally fitted to the Urie S15s. I had trouble figuring out the timeline for when alteration to the shorter chimney happened, but if I understood it properly, some locos could have run with the tall ones and smoke deflectors.

A most enjoyable issue, some cracking and inspiring modelling and very nice "write-ups" using proper English and that. Particularly enjoyed seeing the snaps of Mr Williams' Hereford project, and look forward to more on that. I notice no facilities for turning locos so presumably engines will depart and arrive "light" from an off-scene MPD.

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I've reached a point now where I'll do no more to the DJH S15 I've featured of late, leaving my friend to complete it.

 

 

Which he'll do when he visits in January. 

 

 

Some of the pictures I took of mine under construction survived the RMweb image crash. This was from back in 2015 and was my first go at both soldering white metal (as well as brass to white metal) and valve gear. I got her out for a spin last week and was pleased that she ran well straight out of storage, although one of the front steps needed repair.

1 hour ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

The thang be that English not ours but everyones.  Across the North Sea, I have been one of the most 'relaxter' of UK nationals these last forty years. Elsewhere far away  I was much amused to hear of suspected felons departing on 'fleet foots'; and while in yet another location, happily remember the taxi tout that asked me 'If I wanted a driving where too?'.  I suspect that while grammarians might not approve, it did the job and he magicked me a taxi very swiftly, when there hadn't been a vehicle in sight  during the previous quarter hour.

That makes perfectly senselylode. Deep joy.

I tend to be fairly relaxed about shifting English usage but one that does grate with me lately is "aircrafts". Has it now

been decided that "aircraft" is singular only, or is it simply ignorance? I've seen it employed in both BBC news reports and in The Guardian.

15 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Readers might recall my reporting of the building of a DJH S15 earlier this year. 

 

I was building it for a friend, but now the plan has changed (for the better). Early in the new year, he and his lovely wife are coming to stay, so that he and I can spend a couple of days in the workshop completing it together (the girls will have plenty to get on with as well!). 

 

He's never built outside motion (or inside), so this evening I've started the preparation..............

 

 

 

 

It might depend on whether it's a Urie or Maunsell variant but I found I needed to remove a great deal of brass from the frames to get the motion bracket to sit low enough (or as low as I could get it).

Picking up on the earlier observation by Giles concerning improved running with graphite applied to the track, I also found that my Alice greatly benefited from this. It would run very smoothly (on DC) until asked to stop and change direction, at which point it was prone to sticking. The graphite more or less eliminated this at a stroke. It's become my go-to treatment for getting reliable running in N and 009. A single graphite stick will last a very long time as you only need tiny amounts to make a difference.