Daddyman

Sorry, I misunderstood that. Now I see what you mean I acknowledge that it's very clever indeed: the advantage of being rigid but still looking realistic. Thanks!

If you solder wire, you'll have to solder it twice. The first time you solder it, you can flatten one side, but then you'll have to unsolder it and flip it over, to flatten it again - if not it will be half-round and sit oddly proud. You cannot flatten it and then shape it into a curve as it will twist as you do so.

Yes, a good idea, and easy to lay down a valance made of square section. It's part number Q01010D for 1mm square from Eileen's. You can also use their 1mm x 0.5mm strip, which it a bit more realistic than the square section if you ever see the underneath of the loco. The .5mm edge makes it easier to lay down than most valances supplied in kits, but not as easy as the square section - a sort of half-way house. Part number F01005D. However, none of this works if you have a curly end to the valance. For this I've used a long straight 1mm backing strip, with the straight (centre) section of the valance made from 1.5mm straight strip (it's for an NBR loco), 0.3mm thick, and then the ends shaped from 10 thou squares, also 0.3mm thick and also laid against the backing strip. The fact that there is no difference in thickness between the parts made of 0.3mm, and the fact that they both lie against the 1mm strip, means a neat joint. Before and after photos below.

Sorry - for some reason my post has added itself twice.

Good luck with the splasher beading. Attached pictures of the way I do it - D20 and Y9 (tank-smokebox flange, not splashers!). Take your time: the D20 ones probably took me 10 attempts to get 4 absolutely even - 30 mins each, multiplied by 4 = yikes, 20hours!

Yes, see post 730 onwards (page 30) http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2359-dlts-sr-locos-e5x-from-wills-e5-kit/page-30&do=findComment&comment=1999289 And have more faith in genius next time!

Super one here in the same collection. Very useful for me as I have model of these "Kelso wreckers" on the go. Note the missing rear window, missing battery box cover and engine-room hatches all left open. https://www.railscot.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=56691

My intention in posting on here is not to have any effect on PP; it's to make people aware of the issues in dealing with them. I've had plenty of face-to-face discussions with them at several shows since York, and numerous phone calls (they also even answered one email), and it was precisely the experience of speaking to them that led me, first, to the conclusion that I should get as much of the kit as I could from them (no chimney, no snifting valve), and, later, to the idea that it's better to make my own boiler and source my own castings than deal with them. Do you think I took those decisions lightly?! By contrast, I had a slight delay with an LRM kit back in spring, but I never had any doubt that John would deliver - he even sent me the tender in advance, without my asking.

If you can get hold of them on the phone, and don't mind not receiving a chimney or snifting valve because they're "lost", and don't mind not receiving a s.box door (for no given reason), and you can put up with 6 weeks of excuses, you might get one... And you might get a round boiler. (As said, I didn't.) To add insult to injury, the instructions, the only thing allegedly preventing the kits from going on sale all summer, are riddled with KS1 errors.

The standard of the rolling on the boiler of the J37 kit I got from them certainly suggests not... Straight in the bin and roll my own.

Neither do Phoenix, do they? I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure the last few times I've seen them (Scaleforum, Gaydon) they've had no/few gloss paints - precisely the paints recommended by professionals - meaning that if you want those, you're over a barrel. I'm also getting the Kaspersky warning when I try their website, and (they told me on the phone) they didn't get the email I sent a month or so back. When I pointed out to them at Scaleforum (September?) that their website was still showing the DMR kits as being available in April (2016), they didn't seem to be aware, but then rolled their eyes knowingly, so I suspect someone else handles - or tells them he handles - their website.

Why torch the whole layout just to get rid of a Bachmann V2?! (I'm assuming that's what the green thing is in the second photo.)

That's the conclusion I've come to - got one at Scaleforum. Should have something to show in 350 hours' time.... The Bachmann cab is pretty awful - wrong shape windows and spectacles and over-thick plastic. The footplate isn't worth keeping - it doesn't widen at the cab and the definition of the footplate edge proper is very poor. There's no detail worth keeping on the body as a whole - very crude mouldings all round. I can't think of another model as bad. No disrespect to Mick here - he's made the best job of it possible. I tried mating a Hornby A3 boiler to a modified A4 cab, but it's very difficult to get a datum to cut the boiler to the right shape where it meets the cab. Finney does it for you. EDIT: make that 353 hours - it'll take me 3 hours to work out the shape of the shovel-rim smoke deflector.

Absolutely right on the content, couldn't agree more. And its nice to here that their'll finally be an edition of Pirts photographs that isnt littered with infuriating grammar mistakes - a first for Book Law to. EDIT (the internet doesn't do irony well): And it's nice to hear that there'll finally be an edition of Pirt's photographs that isn't littered with infuriating grammar mistakes - a first for Book Law too.

Ah, he was at the same one as me then. I hugged the car when I got outside - I was so happy to see something metal...

Thanks to you both. I had seen Steve Banks' buffer not, but thought Lanarkshire produced something closer. Will now order B019. Thanks again!

Hello Could Mr Franks or anyone else tell me if he does a buffer suitable for the discontinued Parkside LNER brakevan, as featured in the second prototype photo in this link? http://www.steve-banks.org/modelling/186-lner-early-goods-brake-van I had a feeling they'd been announced on this thread, but I can't find them. I'd be grateful if anyone could supply the product number as I know nowt about buffers - I just build what I'm told by the dad. Thanks!

Well, Phoenix Precision have taken over the range, and I don't know if the Z is one that they plan to re-release. Thing is, I'm given to believe (by Horsetan) that PP don't have a good record on re-releasing kits. I keep hoping this range hasn't dropped into a PP void, but the string of excuses since their planned release date of 15th April 2016 gives me pause. (The website, until a couple of weeks ago, was still promising they'd be ready by April!). A recent excuse is lost chimneys (still not found after two weeks), and now the latest is that they're too busy packing for shows to actually pack any of the kits for shows! The expiry date for that excuse is two weeks down the line. If I'd done what I knew I should have and started scratchbuilding in April, I'd be well on my way to finished by now. And I'm waiting for a kit I've never even seen. The only DMR kit I've actually seen (and built) is the K1, which left much to be desired.

Come on, Horsetan - I expected you to manage this! I fought all weekend not to buy the kit. I went home victorious (not having bought one). However, that victory comes at too great a price: I have no A class. Yes, OK, I should have just said, "I wish I'd bought one."

I had to fight long and hard all weekend not to buy one. Phyrrhic victory though...

A built-up one here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2085-horsted-keynes-east-grinstead-oo/page-8

Ah, then this is the same as the Caledonian tank: the area aft of the brace is simply a curved piece of metal stretching from tank to tank, not following the boiler down below the level of the tanks (such that the boiler itself is naked between the tanks, with no cladding - but presumably with lagging), possibly not even attached to the boiler at all, but riveted to the tanks, so that the whole thing acts as one long tank brace. Looking more closely at the photos, this does seem to be the case with the boiler in question here: while the front section of the boiler is below the vertical tank brace, the rear part seems to be at the same height (not the case with the Caley tank). You need a rear 3/4 view from above to see if the tank brace is visible over the section of the boiler aft of it - I hope that makes sense! (Still searching for such a view of a Caley tank after all these years...)

I have a similar problem with a W/M kit of a Caledonian 0-4-4. My plan was to make both tank fronts and the tank brace in one piece of 10 thou, much as that piece is in the kit you're building, and then to split the boiler in two fore and aft of that piece of 10 thou. This would mean that the tank brace had strength, and the prototypical thickness, and was easy to align, and that the boiler had the correct diameter and curvature. You could even do the fine shaping on the brace once the two parts of the boiler were soldered to it. The difficulty would be aligning everything, but you're clearly good with jigs, so it shouldn't be a problem. The problem for me would then be the one I always have with W/M kits: I'd start thinking the rest of the model looked crude compared to the fineness of the 10 thou brace and would end up doing the whole loco in brass, just using the W/M boiler fittings with the rest of the parts serving as patterns.... That would be especially tempting in this case as you'll have to bond the new boiler to the W/M smokebox and W/M tank tops.

What: http://www.brassmasters.co.uk/a3_details.htm How: they do mail order, or will be at Aylesbury this weekend.