buffalo

How about green and gongs? Nick

Well, I have to admit to being too young to have developed a taste for stout at that time. Apart from noticing the change of signs, my main memory of the takeover was of my father telling me of one local who had said "Arr, an 'e need courage to drink the bl**dy stuff too". Nick

That would be the company from London that bought out George's Brewery in 1961. The latter traced its origins back to 1788 and is perhaps more missable than anything with a Courage label Nick

Thanks, Mark. I hadn't realised they also did an interior kit. Nick

Any idea where the seats came from? Presumably they're not part of the Branchlines kit? Nick

One might argue that that is the intention... On the other hand, it all depends on the size of those lumps and the scanned point density. The process of transferring the point cloud to a CAD model is essentially one of fitting surfaces to the points in the cloud. This is where operator intervention is required to determine whether the one or two points that do not fit the surface represent a rivet or bolt head, a lump or dent, or just a scanning error. In addition to the 3D point cloud, most scanners generate matching 2D images (i.e. digital photos) from each scanning location and these are invaluable in resolving such issues. Nick ps. of course, if the scanned point density is too low, it is equally possible to miss some rivets, bolt heads, etc. Laser scanning is not necessarily the rivet-counter's panacea

I doubt if anyone who actually knows anything about laser scanning makes it out to be a panacea, it's more a matter of those who don't imagining it to be. You've identified one fundamental issue, that of identifying edges. The scanner just produces a cloud of points and inserting the edges in the right place and with the right radius/sharpness is part of the skill in converting these to a CAD model. Nick

Thanks for posting these interesting photos, Chris. Just one comment on one of the flickr captions -- it's the Wellow Brook, though it may have other names in different parts of the valley. The Cam Brook is in the next valley to the north. Nick

That looks much better. There's another example here on the Templot forum. Nick

This formation is often referred to as a Barry Slip. I made one in EM as my first foray beyond straight and curved turnouts and found it was much easier to build than I'd expected. I'm sure others will have built them in N and will be better placed to comment on the clearances. Nick

Just returning for a moment to M24466 as photographed in 1951... My D1790 is now sitting here in primer waiting for me to summon the courage to try airbrushing the LMS crimson lake sides. Would both ends be black as on other LMS coaches in this late livery, or would the driving end still be painted red? Nick

You had me wondering for a while what that strange shape was. Then I had to go and check to see whether I'd missed or forgotten something on my 2500 gallon tender. Fortunately for me, the sandboxes on the smaller tender are just simple boxes -- a 'u' shape with a flat lid on top. Looking back at your previous entry I can see the mistake you made with with those tabs. Sorry I didn't notice at the time If it's like the smaller one, you'll find the valances come very close to the edge and, even then, the chassis is a tight fit between them and the steps. Nick

Cue several proposals for rack railways? Nick

Hi Mikkel, An interesting comparison, it got me thinking about why we might find some combinations look right and others don't. Starting from the prototype measurements, the ratio of sleeper length to gauge is about 1.91 for 9' sleepers and 1.81 for 8'6". Applying these to 16.5mm gauge, we get sleeper lengths of about 31.5mm and 29.8mm respectively. These sizes would give us track that is proportionally correct so hopefully would be more likely to 'look correct', even if it is not to scale. Interestingly, Peco code 75 track has 29.5mm sleepers which are close, though fractionally undersize, to the 8'6" ratio. This surprised me as, before measuring them, I'd always imagined them to be much shorter in proportion to the gauge. Whether all of this helps us understand what we percieve, I don't know, but it suggests that trimming the timber sleepers to around 31.5mm might give the best proportional appearance for 9' timbers. Nick ps. in my limited experience, staining timber sleepers with a wood dye or dilute acrylic wash before sticking the chairs down does not cause any problems.

Nice wall, but I think you will find that is 'English Garden Wall Bond'. English bond, and its variants, have separate rows of headers and stretchers. Flemish bond, and its variants, have headers and stretchers in the same row. Nick

Yes, I also found Gibson wheels to be fine over inside keyed track. It's my impression that insidekeyed trackwork is a leftover from the 19th century, though I have no dates for its use in new work. By 1907 it would have been quite rare other than in quiter locations and sidings. There was some at Camerton around that time. Places like that might even have had the occasional bit of baulk track such as on the colliery siding at Radford, about a mile west of Camerton. AFAIK, butanone is the same thing as MEK, but some sources have implied that some of the solvents sold as MEK for modelling purposes are somehow weaker than the stuff supplied by C+L. Nick

Good to see you getting into real track, Mikkel. I think it will make a real difference when viewed close up. I use ordinary Peco stuff for my HO fantasy layout, but have been using C+L and Exactoscale components for EM and P4 for three years and don't think I could ever go back to flexi track for these. It's also reassuring to read Dave's comment that it will last for 20-30 years. I've read so many comments from rivet users that glued plastic chairs on wood sleepers won't last, but it always sounds like prejudice rather than experience. Similarly, comments about needing the strength of rivets; what do these people subject their track to? I can see the need for soldering at board joints and do solder turnout vees to a small plate glued to the timbers but, otherwise find the plastic on wood quite strong enough. Again, you read comments about soldering allowing adjustments to be made. I'm afraid my reaction is to say build it right first time and you don't need adjustments. If you really do, it's easy enough to lift a plastic chair by slipping a scalpel underneath. Don't worry about the chairs on the wrong side, inside keyed track was still to be found on quieter parts of the GWR up to and after WW1. The only problem you might find with it is wheel flanges hitting the tops of the keyed side. Nick

Sean, try a search for something like 'servo turnout motors'. There are several recent threads on the subject, including this, this and this. Be warned, though, some of these threads eventually descend into a tedious 'my way is cheaper than yours' or 'MERG vs the rest' arguments. Nick

That's a neat solution to moving the magnets, Ian. Glad to hear that the pull-up resistors work. I've been wondering about this issue for a while as, although I've no problems with the three servos already installed, I have another dozen or so to add in the coming months. Nick

Looking good, Ian. I seem to remember being caught out with the rivets on the side frames as well Your idea of keeping the bolts in place rather than soldering may be a good idea. On my 2500 gallon version I followed the instructions and soldered it all together but I doubt if it would be easy to remove the wheels if I ever needed to. Nick

Most enjoyable, Mikkel, though I agree it could have been longer. On the second time through I did hit the pause button several times, just to get a better look. It was also great to see the Buffalo on the move. So far, I've only seen mine on the rollers but that's not the same as seeing one moving on track. Thanks for the plug for mine It's approaching the top of the pile again and, with the warmer weather, I'd like to get the painting finished soon... Nick

I agree with craig. That's how I built one a couple of weeks ago and it went together without any problems. Nick

Talking of which, there's another thread here on this line where midlander was asking questions about some of the push pull stock. I could help with some by just reading from Jenkinson & Essery, but there were also questions about ex-LNWR coaches and, as you know, that's something I know nothing about Nick

The invisible ink strikes again See this post.

Thanks, Larry. I thought it would be something like that. Am I right in thinking that the two upper lines are just yellow, without any black? Nick