Taz

Tony Wright has had nothing but praise to say about the O2 Tango review samples he has had and they have been put to hard work on Little Bytham so I take that as a positive sign for the 47XX.

Ah excellent. If Nick is doing all 32 then it saves me having to build any more

Is a basic loco kit the only way to build up your skill level though? For example you can cut your teeth on white metal wagon kits. Etched brass can be covered by wagon kits again or coach kits. You can get experience on chassis kits to upgrade RTR. Then, when you are ready you can combine it all together on a more complicated loco kit. This is the path I'm taking and I don't feel I'm being held back by the lack of the modern equivalent to Ks.loco kits.

Coach, agree with you completely (although with a Comet kit you did get everything except wheel, paint and solder) and I specifically mentioned excluding my time (as I enjoy it). Paint, solder and transfers can be an expensive up front cost but they can be spread over many builds. I don't necessarily think a £50 coach is expensive but the price differential with a kit (materials only) is rapidly dwindling. Like you, if a RTR option was available I probably wouldn't choose to build a kit. However, all the different coach types I would like will never be covered RTR. Where we might differ is if I had the kit in stock I would probably build it instead. It was only a year or two ago that I set my max ceiling for buying Bachmann Mk1s at £20 (often new as well as second hand) and I wasn't struggling to find examples.

This statement hits the nail on the head for me. Modellers will always want to model, but if you can get a perfectly good xxx loco RTR then why build it when you can use that time to model something not yet available? From my personal perspective there is very little I need in the way of locos that aren't produced RTR. Modelling 50/60s WR I thought the only loco I would have to build myself would be a 1361 but now even that is to be produced RTR. I still want a 47XX and if that isn't available by the time I am ready (I'm sure this will be announced in the next couple of years RTR) I will have a go at building one. In the meantime I am presented with prototype coach rakes made up of dozens, if not hundreds, of subtly different designs which will never all be covered RTR (with the exception of MK1 and Hawksworths) so this is where I choose to devote my modelling time. I think that is a valid point. I know it's not loco building, but I have a stash of Parkside kits that now have, or will have equivalent RTR items which I will still one day build and not buy the RTR version. This is likely to become more common with Wagons as I think in many cases the kit is already the cheaper option (I don't factor in my time as the build is part of the enjoyment) We are nearly there with coaches. As the latest RTR approaches £50 the difference in cost with an etched kit is diminishing. I still think we have a way to go before the same can be said of locos though.

I thought it was easy to tell them apart. Americans: Canadians:

I think this is an interesting and very valid point. If you are building just for yourself and maybe a few friends enjoyment then I agree that modelling to what you can see from 3 foot is a perfectly valid and sensible way to go. However if you have one eye on perhaps getting your layout published in one of the mags one day then it could pay to consider what things look like up close and larger than life. I also think this can counteract one of Tony's fears, that modelling skills are on the decrease as RTR improves. You may not need to build as much stock as before to get the layout you want, but you now have a reason to put more time and effort into the detail levels of the whole layout, adding stuff to a standard that you may struggle to see with the naked eye (at 3' plus) but which stands up to close scrutiny and the digital lens.

Unlikely to be the Cap'n unless it was a hire car. His regular steed is from the stable of another of France's great automotive companies.

Many thanks Mike. I'll speak to them at Scaleforum this weekend. Alternatively does your Star conversion mean you have a spare 'narrow' box type cover that you would be willing to sell? I'd like to renumber one of my castles to one of the Abby rebuilds (I know the chassis frames wouldn't be right but they are already compromised from being 00).

Mike, A quick question if I may. I noticed you have considered changing the inside cylinder cover. Do you know where you can get alternative cylinder covers? I've been pondering a renumber/rename of one of my models which would require a different type of cover but I've struggled to find a source of alternatives. Thanks.

Ah, I don't feel so old now. I was only 6

3 1/2 hours Rob. M5 wasn't too bad but I wouldn't have liked to have been comming the other way which was crawling.

I think if you are sharing a platform with the sisters you wouldn't be without a care in the world....

'Don't believe quotes you read on the internet. You can never validate their source' -Abraham Lincoln.

I see in MR200 that Heljan are planning to use the chassis from their 1366 pannier and introduce their own version of the 1361. Wait for years for one of these and then suddenly 2 turn up at once..... There is currently no planned release date and reading between the lines I doubt much if any work has been started on this. I for one have higher confidence in Kernow / DJM and so will stick with my current order. I think if Heljan have any sense they will quietly drop the idea, but it might provide some impetus to Kernow to move things along a little quicker to ensure they are first to market? .

Good to see you've started a thread at last. So what happened to 00-SF? You change your mind more often than a woman.

I'm so jealous. Makes my 16' by 11' seem somehow inadequate. Superb video of a superb layout. Almost enough to make this Western man migrate eastwards.

At the end of the tax year, The Taxation Office sent an inspector to audit the books of a local hospital. While the agent was checking the books, he turned to the executive of the hospital and said “I notice you buy a lot of bandages. What do you do with the end of the roll when there's too little left to be of any use?" "Good question," noted the executive. "We save them up and send them back to the bandage company and every once in a while, they send us a free roll." "Oh," replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But on he went, in his obnoxious way. "What about all these plaster purchases? What do you do with what's left over after setting a cast on a patient?" "Ah, yes," replied the executive, realising that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. "We save it and send it back to the manufacturer and every so often they send us a free bag of plaster." "I see," replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all executive. "Well, what do you do with all the remains from the circumcision surgeries?" "Here, too, we do not waste," answered the executive.. "What we do is save all the little foreskins and send them to the tax office, and about once a year they send us a complete pr!ck."

A woman comes home and tells her husband, "Remember those headaches I've been having all these years? Well, they're gone." "No more headaches?" the husband asks, ''What happened?" His wife replies, Margie referred me to a hypnotist. He told me to stand in front of a mirror, stare at myself and repeat "I do not Have a Headache; I do not have a headache, I do not have a headache.." It Worked! The headaches are all gone." The husband replies, "Well, that is wonderful." His wife then says, "You know, you haven't been exactly a ball of Fire in the bedroom these last few years. Why don't you go see the Hypnotist and see if he can do anything for that?" The husband agrees to try it Following his appointment, the husband comes home, rips off his clothes, picks up his wife and carries her into the bedroom. He puts her on the bed and says, "Don't move, I'll be right back." He goes into the Bathroom and comes back a few minutes later and jumps into bed and makes passionate love to his wife like never before.. His wife says, "Boy, that was wonderful!" The husband says, "Don't move! I will be right back." He goes back into the bathroom, comes back and round two was even better than the first time. The wife sits up and her head is spinning. Her husband again says, "Don't move, I'll be right back." .. With that, he goes back in the bathroom. This time, his wife quietly follows him and there, in the Bathroom, She sees him standing at the mirror and saying: . "She's not my Wife. She's Not my wife. She's not my wife..." . . . . His funeral service will be held Tomorrow

Tony, I'm curious to know what you have done (if anything) about the livery colour rendition difference between the Hornby and Bachmann Pullmans? It's difficult to tell from the photo above but I recall you mentioning it (and putting it aside for another day) in the excellent Modifying RTR Right Track DVD.

Closest I can find: https://www.flickr.com/photos/47362452@N02/4584233095/in/photostream/

Second please

Stoke Summit is a great layout but it really was about the trains. There can't be that many people who have the funds or stock to do it justice. Unfortunately I also believe second hand layouts just don't realise their true worth (in time materials and effort) when being sold. At DRAG we are currently renovating a superb proffesionally built P4 layout which the late owner's family failed to sell. We saved it from the skip and it cost us nothing. I absolutely loved the concept of Stoke Summit though and if I ever come into infinite time and infinite funds I'd love to build an equivilant for the western region