Gareth Collier

Hi, Aeolus class number 532 has been released by the paint shop and is just about finished. One or two bits need fettling, the quartering is a fraction out as it has a slight wobble. Once done it can start earning its keep by entering traffic. Don't you just hate these cruel enlargements, the whole loco is only 61mm over the buffers. Gareth

Morning, Everything that needs soldering has been with the remaining detail succumbing to glue. Tool boxes and springs on the footplate have been omitted at the moment to aid painting later as they can get in the way. It has been given a coat of primer and there are no obvious holes, gaps etc,so time to move on to designing the transfers. I usually prime in grey as it shows flaws up better but I've gone down the white route as I've only clear transfer paper to hand and it needs a white background. Gareth

Hi Guy, The chopper has come out rather well hasn't it Gareth

But was that the 3.5mm or 2mm one? Initially I retained the original pick up strips but they caused too much drag on the front wheels so they wouldn't turn so as 313 and the Coffee Pot run fine and this has a bigger wheelbase I chopped them off! Go on then, tell me if I built it to 2mm standards the split frame would have resulted in pick up from all wheels, you know you want to Gareth

What a WAG your are Guy............. At the next meeting I'll show you how to solder 2 frames together to shape them then get them apart again afterwards Gareth

Hi, I've already done a few. How I do the transfers has changed loco by loco until now when I draw up most of the livery elements on Word and then print them out on Crafty Computer Paper. Gareth

Hi Nick, I gave up trying to find a plan but I have numerous photos with one a very good side on shot. I knew wheel diameter/base etc so strained the brain cell with the aid of a calculator to work out the rest of the dimensions. At the end of the day it is N which is already a compromise so as long as it is not glaringly wrong I'm happy and hopefully not many people will have a clue what the loco is anyway so won't be able to catch me out! Gareth p.s. don't tell anyone!

Greetings, A quick update after a few more bits have been soldered on at the expense of my fingers! Whilst recovering I've been snapping drill bits creating the various holes required for pipe work and hand rails. Luckily I had a set of spare footsteps from an old etched kit which were suitable. Boiler fittings are modified N Brass. Gareth

Greetings, Alright, not quite a day but here's the basic body parts soldered together. Singed fingers drew a close to proceedings. That's the trouble with N in brass especially with no handy locating tabs found on etches. It's what happens first, the solder flows into the joint or the pain gets too much! The boiler is brass tube whilst everything else is off cuts of brass sheet from completed etched kits or courtesy of Allan at Worsley Works. If you ever see him at a show he has bags of brass strips left over from etches he gives away Gareth

Greetings, I missed the start of the 'build a loco challenge' and normally post my projects on another nameless 'forum of N gauge', sorry, so thought I'd share on here. Just to be awkward I model the SECR, LBSCR and LSWR in N gauge (and the GER). This does involve quite a bit of kit/scratch building as there isn't a lot available RTR! Taking advantage of some time off work after a hernia op I've been putting together a number of locos over the last few weeks. I started the SECR Aeolus last week so will spread the updates over the next few days. Apologies to those who have already seen this on the 'other forum'. The make or break on most N scratch building projects is sourcing or building a suitable chassis. Building to 2mm finescale would probably be easier as often pointed out to me at my local 2mm SA meetings. The chassis for the Aeolus is a bit of a mongrel. The chassis block is from a Farish 94xx, the leading wheel is a large Farish bogie wheel and the drivers are Farish outside crank 08 wheels. I used the 2 non geared ones and added the gear from the donor 94xx. The width of the cranks do tend to threaten platforms so I took 1mm out of them to bring the rods in. As a power source I have used a Nigel Lawton 8mm motor and Farish worm which I have used in numerous locos. I have rerouted the pickups under the chassis as the Farish one normally brings one up in front of the worm. The body is to be constructed from brass with boiler fittings from N Brass. Gareth

Brighton's finish to the season was a typical performance. Tight at the back but absolutely nothing up front. Only 5 teams conceded less but only 4 scored less. Our 5 recognised strikers managed 5 between them whilst the top scorer got 7 and he's a centre back. Chris Houghton won't have too many tricky decisions to make in the summer, buy a striker! Gareth

Don't count your chickens yet Bournemouth. Middlesbrough are playing my lot on Saturday and, let's face it, we aren't going to score any time soon so that goal difference will be in threat. Gareth

Greetings, Can't see me going this year. RAC Route Planner says it's 327 miles and 5 hours 15 minutes and then I've got to go home afterwards! Gareth

Hi, The tender is powered by my tried and trusted method of stripping down a Dapol Terrier. Basically all the body and splashers are removed and the footplate reduced in width and it slips into the heavy tender body. The wheelbase is a fraction out but not noticeable behind the frames. This means you can fill in the missing bit of boiler where the Farish chassis got in the way and fit a backhead. Also the lack of motor filling up the boiler means you can get the body to sit down lower. Despite being in the 2mmSA I still model N so the loco uses Minitrix Britannia drivers and the bogie is the spare you get with the latest Farish 4-6-0's. HTH Gareth

A great pity. I think I have built an example of every one of your loco kits. They were IMHO the best white metal offerings available and unmade ones still go for silly prices on a certain auction site. I did manage to get hold of a Southern L1 kit towards the end of last year. I gave it a tender drive so only had to use part of the horrible Farish 4P chassis but, still, a lovely kit to build. Gareth

This topic has been discussed in depth on another forum but basically Hattons have been unable to honor pre order prices following Bachmann's price rises and their requirement that dealers can only discount up to 15% for the first 12 weeks after release. However as Hattons were aware of this perhaps they should have removed their pre order price guarantee from their website. Gareth

I ordered a Brighton Belle from Locomotion Models at Shildon and paid £7.50 P&P. UkMail were the couriers and this morning I received a text from them saying my one hour delivery window was in around 20 minutes. Great service, pity I was at work so I was wondering where I'd have to pick it up from. Needn't have worried, it was leaning against the front door in full view! Gareth

When using Crafty Computer Paper for transfers I find it is always best to give the sheet a good going over with paper kitchen towels to remove any grease etc, left by fingers. I've many a transfer sheet ruined as per your first photo. I've used the technique of printing whole panels for SECR locos with success although in 'N'. To colour match I've painted a scrap of plasticard with the required colour then scanned it in to the PC. I've then used this to draw colour from when creating the artwork. Gareth

It depends on who's delivering it. Any courier company can leave it on your doorstep, the only exception is Royal Mail due to the regulator/laws in this country. RM delivers the 'Queens Mail' hence her face on the stamps. Unlike every other courier it has different restrictions governing security of the mail and if your postie does leave a parcel in an unsecure location which is basically anywhere other than the post box or a locked, fastened down container he is committing a criminal offence! Until recently RM weren't even allowed to leave a parcel with a neighbour even if the recipient asked for it. It took a lot of lobbying and a law change to permit RM to start doing it. Level playing fields comes to mind. Gareth (a postie)

I think you'll find that the perfect age was eight but I must concur with everything else I still think Empire was the best film of the lot and had the biggest effect on me. You could argue it ruined the innocence of childhood but until I saw that film the goodies always won and that was just how the world worked. I left the cinema stunned; had I just witnessed the rebellion being beaten, Han a prisoner and my hero's father the baddie? I was already a fan and had all the action figures but now I was hooked and always will be despite the appearance of Jar Jar! Gareth

Unfortunately the mighty Seagulls are bucking the trend! Gareth

Arlington stadium just outside Eastbourne has been a regular haunt for me. Great stock car action with large numbers of entries. Top flight speedway as well but unfortunately it does seem this year will be the last as the Dugards who have run the Eagles for half a century can't continue and there is no buyer. I'll miss the weekly roar I can hear from my house as the tapes go up..... Gareth

I reckon the mighty Albion are destined for the Premiership judging by the way we fell over the finishing line. We're the worst team in the playoffs so odds on to do it (thankfully no Palace this year). Gareth

In 2007-8 Derby only won one game all season being the 6th match against Newcastle. I don't know how the following season started but 32 games remained that season alone although they did win a FA cup tie in January on penalties! Gareth

Why would any manager want to get promoted from the Championship? There's a fairly good chance your reward will be redundancy before Christmas! Gareth