Kylestrome

Parkside parts were never that easy to cut off the sprue. Sometimes it's necessary to make a cut on both sides and gently break the parts off. It's generally a good rule to make the cut some way away from the part, and trim or sand away the excess. David

I must say, I’ve never understood the fascination with limonene apart from the nice fragrance. My favourite solvent is ‘Mr. Cement S’, which is aggressive but evaporates very quickly. It does its job fast and effectively and I’ve had no problems using it to apply details in 5 thou plastic sheet, for which you only need a very small amount. David.

You're not fooling me one bit! Admit it, this is really a teaser for the O gauge version isn't it?

There are ways of avoiding that. My favoured way of flush glazing is to use 0.5mm acrylic sheet with each individual window pane filed to be a tight fit (usually with a slightly tapered edge) in the window aperture – no glue needed. It's a time consuming job but well worth the effort. If using something like Laserglaze then secure with a little gloss varnish or Johnsons Klear 'painted' around the edges. In any case, going around the edges with a black marker pen before fixing will improve the appearance and cut down on internal reflections. HTH, David PS. Super modelling!

Although we associate the name Sulzer with British locomotives, they have quite an interesting history in other fields: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulzer_(manufacturer) David PS. As the name on that box is hand-painted (not very professionally), it might not have anything to do with the manufacturing company.

That's because I don't like to be tied to just one era. Most of my projects so far are intended for the period 1968/69'ish, but I also have several locos and air-braked stock for the period of roughly between 1985-87. Nothing's hard and fast, and I sometimes make arbitrary use of Rule No. 1, but stock for the two periods are run quite separately. David

It might be an offense, though.

To me, he looks more like a dentist ...

Compensation and springing are by no means essential for reliable running in P4. The only wagons that I spring, these days, are long wheelbase air braked wagons and that is only because I haven't yet experimented with rigidly built ones. I refer the learned gentleman to the following two posts: I shall now duck down behind the parapet and watch the stones and arrows fly over ... David

It’s very satisfying when you can make a model out of odd parts, and bits from the scrap box, that vaguely resembles a wagon. Somehow, I managed to end up with just the body parts of a Parkside mineral wagon kit and, as luck would have it, I found enough bits and pieces to make an underframe for it. I came up with some 3mm Evergreen channel for the sole bars, axlebox and spring mouldings rescued from the Dogfish kit, Buffers off a Hornby brake van, Comet W-irons and some Masokits 9’ brake gear parts. The basic construction was quite simple. As long as the wheel axles have enough ’slop’ in the bearings everything can be glued up rigid. The aptly named Masokits brake gear can be a bit of a fiddle, but looks good in close-up photos. Most of the metal parts are locked in place by various lumps of styrene – not pretty, but effective. With some lead underneath, and a sheet of lead as a false floor, the wagon weighs the standard 50 grams. I’ll make a removable coal load for it, probably using a block of balsa wood with an embedded magnet, before it goes onto the layout. David

In no particular order; wallpapering, applying bath sealant, cleaning windows so that they don't look smeary when the sun comes out, drilling holes in masonry small enough that the plugs don't fall out, small talk, getting decent photo prints from my printer, German grammar.

Have you seen this thread? It looks like it ought to be useful to you. David

My brain hurts ...

Maybe you could train them to tidy up for you?

Typography was obviously not the original signwriters strong point. David

I can't answer that, but I'll bet he'd be wondering why he still can't buy a flying car.

Those rear windows will be a bit of a challenge. No doubt, you already have a cunning plan? David

This is what I use for cutting small holes in paper and thin styrene sheet. A small pair of dividers with one point (uppermost in the photo) stoned to form a sharp blade. It will cut holes from 4mm diameter up to about 80mm. If I have to cut thicker plastic card, I use it to score the outline and then break out the hole in segments. David

He was must have been in a jolly mood, then ...

John, please accept my apologies for making a hasty remark without thinking of the possible implications. I do have good grounds for making my statement, which I won't go into here, but I should have prefaced it with 'some'. Regards, David

It’s amazing how easy it is to start an argument on a forum, even though it was not my intention. I really don’t know why I bother posting here sometimes. Perhaps, in future, I should spend my time doing something more useful. David

Maybe 'difficult' was the wrong word. Let's call it 'expensive' or, in the case of small suppliers, 'near impossible' instead: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/161021-buying-and-selling-models-tofrom-europe/page/17/&tab=comments#comment-4308850

Now that buying items from the UK has become so difficult I looked at a local German online shop to see if I could something of use, before stocks run out, and came up with this Hornby OTA. Normally, with these articulated wagon chassis, I would replace the wobbly bits with Bill Bedford sprung axle units. In this case, I thought it would be a shame to lose the axle box detail so I decided to have a go at ‘finescaling’ the original underframe. I cut off the axle guard detail from the metal axle units, with a piercing saw, and glued them onto the solebars and springs. Then I ground off the pinpoints of the two P4 axles and turned some spacing washers to reduce the side-play. Once reassembled, and with couplings fitted, the wagon runs quite well on P4 track although I’m glad this is only a one-off. I think the friction would probably cause problems if I were to run a whole train of them. I will probably need to do a partial re-paint to suit my chosen period, and I will add a load with some concealed weight. David

That 16T Steel Slope-Sided Mineral Wagon looks a bit luxurious! And they never painted them maroon either ...

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