Neal Ball

A variation on the theme of the SRM - at least you can see the passengers insode.

10 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

As a general rule lamps in driving compartments, when in use, were turned off.

Of course yes. But at the engine end there is no lamp in the cringing, engine end of the SRM, switchable or otherwise.

7 hours ago, sjrixon said:

Very smart.. I'll sit here at Reading waiting for it to arrive.. 

 

Which end is the driver? Or did you go for it and put someone in both ends?

There are only crew and passengers at one end at the moment. The driving end (unlit - I wonder why), will also have a driver.

5 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

Or you could try and build your own from a kit!

 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145652659094?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=44071d86bf2b469c89d15c1a633a3e54&bu=43054345708&ut=RU&osub=-1~1&crd=20240307063934&segname=11021

 

That looks good - but I only need one SRM 😎

1 hour ago, Darwinian said:

Ah yes but that's a different diagram to the Kernow ones which are Diag. R and O.

Typical of Blacksmith/Mallard kits not easy but basically sound.

This is mine built at least 30 years ago. It came with the vac-formed styrene roof and I built replacement cylinders because I thought the casting was a bit puny.

 

 

 

Very nice

As promised the "night time" photo of SRM no 97 ready to depart for Reading.

You can just see the passengers inside!

56 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

I don't think you need to worry about central door locking. There aren't any doors.

34 minutes ago, Nick Gough said:

 

Best not to mention it or you will have to put a diesel on the back of every train too!

Thankfully, the doors are now back on - although we have obviously gone to DOO 100+ years early! - There is no guard 🤣

4 minutes ago, Nick Gough said:

 

Watch out!

You'll get a prohibition notice from 'The Office of Road and Rail' for carrying passengers like that!

No central door locking - no doors!

Thankfully by not having any toilets, we don't need to fit retention tanks :-)

Shall I apply for an extension to the central door locking issue? After all West Coast got away with it for ages 🤣

1 hour ago, Andy Keane said:

Neal they are looking very fine - you have done a lovely job of painting your little people up.

Thanks Andy. I left the SD card downstairs yesterday as I had taken some "night-time" photos with the DSLR - I will focus merge them later and post. Bear in mind that these are Modelu figures are HO scale. 

1 hour ago, Star-rider said:

The roof tanks look smart on the E112 - what are you using?

 

They look like the ones I used to fit, which were whitemetal and purchased from 247 Developments. It's another thing that I have exhausted my supply of and they're no longer listed.

 

Pete.

Thanks very much for that Pete. The filler lid is from the Comet range of roof ventilators.....

The tank itself.... is simply a section of plasticard. Nothing fancy.... glued down with superglue!

I would have liked to say it was something fancy, but it isn't.

9 hours ago, mikesndbs said:

 

Morning, I get that but due to the complexity and so the viewer can see what the modification looks like a video was really the only way.

I know what you mean about box opening, I hope none of mine ever fall into that category 😉

Did you consider adding a resister into this Blue / White / Yellow feed? If you did and it was rejected - why wouldn’t that have worked?

Apologies if it’s an obvious non-starter.

This is a fascinating topic, thats for all the details.

48 minutes ago, KNP said:

Meanwhile back over on the main line some of our train spotter friends have sent in some pictures of the passing WKT.

One was even hanging off the branch of a tree!!!

 

 

"Different times" 😎

That weedkiller solution is obviously lethal, its killed all the weeds straight away. 😎 

I cant understand why the "big railway" allows all that Budleia to grow beside the line so profusely.

Lovely scenes Kevin.

1 hour ago, sjrixon said:

SRM looks good at Henley... I know what you mean about weathering, I think mine is going to have a clean roof for a while yet..

I reckon I will do the roof when I add the passengers and crew.

1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

Have you fitted the smaller "scroll irons"?

 

BTW: That's the correct terminology - at least for the most visible vertical parts. In the prototype they are part of the suspension system that holds the body above the power unit.

 

Thanks Phil, Yes I fitted them and they were sufficient to get into Platform 2.

15 hours ago, Graham T said:

 

That was the only version!

 

 

Not yet, but I have to leave the flat before the end of April.  So hopefully will have completed by then...

 

Keep chasing the agent and solicitor.

A good agent should be “checking the chain” every week.*

I am always amazed when I hear of purchasers / sellers who don’t chase!

*Checking the chain means that the agent phones every agent in the sale chain every week to check on any issues further up the chain - a good agent will know of any potential issues along the way. Data protection doesn’t come into it - they should all be talking.

Good luck Graham.

21 minutes ago, Coach bogie said:

I am down to my last two 'shorter' toplights. Only a few 70 footers left on the shelf. I never appear to have enough thirds when making up trains so Dapol could be solution. It depends if Mark Seward beats them to market with his Blacksmith C30/1

 

Mike Wiltshire

That looks very nice Mike. When you return to Aus, you must have a suitcase just if kits to build 😎

16 minutes ago, gwrrob said:

 

I'm finding it hard to resist buying a twin cities example...

I agree Robin - but I am determined to wait for the shirtbutton livery.... it's still tempting though :-)

Whilst waiting for the SRM to arrive, I fished the cylinders; soldered the axle pins and fitted the decoder and stay-alive.

At speed step 10, it runs very slowly.

It's only a short video - the decoder etc. has now been squeezed inside.

20 minutes ago, sjrixon said:

I spoke to Dapol at Warley.. They said they were doing the Toplights..

 

Sales of the current coaches were positive, so they were going ahead. 

 

Fingers crossed. 2025 is fine as I've spent too much this year and it's only February! 

Thanks for this. 
 

I certainly know what you mean… I’ve just looked at my stash of carriage kits - there are six I have yet to start on!

On 26/02/2024 at 13:58, lezz01 said:

Wheel balance weights are a much more cost effective method of adding....

Adding weight? 

Is it the sort of thing I could buy in a car repair shop? aka Halfords or the equivalent here in Spain. I need extra weights for the County tank loco and the 5g or 10g weights look to be ideal.

Thanks.

1 hour ago, lezz01 said:

Have you tried Gibson's? For the wheels I mean.

Regards Lez.

No I hadn't tried there, but thank you.

1 hour ago, Star-rider said:

I too would be happy to be involved in splitting the cost of a Brassmasters bulk order for window grills, but let's see what the response is from Blacksmith first in case that's a more viable option.

 

With regard to 14mm wheels I usually just buy the Hornby or Bachmann 14.1mm ones which are always on the shelf somewhere. I don't know if this is some sort of Faux Pas with regard to GWR models but you  only actually see the bottom few millimetres! In fact I'm literally about to place an order somewhere - the Bachmann 36-033 are just shading it on price at the moment £17.95 for 10 axles at Rails of Sheffield.

Excellent thanks for the Rails comment. I'm placing an order with Rails....

Lots of comments about window grills and corridor rails thank you.

1 hour ago, Star-rider said:

Unfortunately the Brassmasters' minimum charge is now £20 and as there is nothing else that I need from them I would have to buy 10 etches to get my money's worth. Factor in another £4.00 for P&P and it gets expensive to finish off two or three coaches.

 

Looking at their exhibition diary I can't see anywhere I'd be likely to attend this year so that avenue is closed. Logically perhaps I should ask nicely if Wizzard would add something to their Comet range - this is where most of my kits are sourced from and I'm sure that I can't be their only customer in need.

 

The subject of corridor handrails has vexed me as well. Some of mine have a length of Microstrip painted red/brown but most run without. If the diagram of coach has a good continuous run of corridor it's worth a go, but where there are intermediate doors it's best left alone.

I too saw the Brassmasters min charge of £20 but I couldn’t actually find the window grills themselves. I think on the show list they say they are going to be at Scaleforum South in May.

1 hour ago, Tim Dubya said:

 

I was going to say that the price they fetch on eBay is comparable to the new city toplights, if not more.  I thought I saw a comment from Dapol somewhere in the parish saying they are being produced... of course I can't find it now / may have been hallucinating 🤷🤔

The list of the corridor Toplights appears on Robins @gwrrob ANTB thread from time to time.

The last I heard, Dapol wanted to evaluate the sales of the mainline and city carriages first before pressing ahead. That might have changed given how delayed the current carriages are.

1 hour ago, Star-rider said:

Just a follow-on regarding the window grills - I've noticed that the new Blacksmith website is now (sort of) up and running and I've made an enquiry about a 70' First which is hopefully my next build.

 

While requesting a cost for this I've enquired if he does a window grill etch as I've picked up a hint that something was in the Blacksmith range historically.

 

I will of course share any information.

 

Pete.

That’ll be interesting Pete - on both counts,

34 minutes ago, checkrail said:

I use Slaters plastic rod, bought in 'assorted sizes' packs. Handily it also comes in assorted colours, including red/brown!

I was looking for Dean style carriage buffers yesterday and came across some Slaters ones at Peters Spares.

I guess any micro rod would do, it’s doesn’t have to be Slaters.

5 minutes ago, checkrail said:

I suppose, if one could be bothered,  one might buy 20 quid's worth and sell on those surplus to requirements on eBay to cover costs?  I might soon be reduced to this.  Here are my last two sets, already primed and painted before removal from the fret. They carry Martin Finney's name.  Note one thing that Hornby missed with their printed versions: the double spacing between vertical bars in the bottom right quarter of the left hand door. When building my first brake coach I puzzled over this for a while until the penny dropped: it's so the guard can get his hand through to turn the door handle from the inside.  I nearly put the first one in back to front, if not upside down!

 

 

John C.

I would split the cost with you John - if you had to buy a quantity of etches I would take a couple off your hands.

Does anyone know what’s the score with 14mm dia OO wheels? They’ve been out of stock at Wizard for ages… at least since November - due in stock in January, which went passed… everyone seems to be out of stock.

Together with Dean buffers at Dart castings, hence Googling yesterday.

24 minutes ago, checkrail said:

Had a look at mine and, yes, they are more noticeable than I thought so worth doing, especially when there's light behind them. Here are the Brassmasters items (forgive the dirty windows!):

 

And here the Hornby ones:

 

Going back to internal corridor handrails one of the weirdest things I found with Slaters toplight kits was that there were little notches or pegs for these handrails but you had to remove them to fit the glazing in, unless you cut glazing to the exact dimensions of the window aperture and glued them in flush (a la Laserglaze). But there's nothing on the instructions which suggests or advises that approach - which would have been beyond me in any case.

 

John C.

Those glazing bars do look good John.

I also  seem to remember a pip inside the window on the Slaters Toplights. I wonder if Slaters will ever release those kits again?

Thanks, Neal.