BG John

No wonder some bits I bought on eBay that I was expecting a week ago haven't arrived yet. They're probably stuck in a broken down van somewhere, or fell into a hole in the bodywork .

28.08mm. The gauge was widened from 7ft to 7ft 0¼in very early on. And it wasn't only Great Western. The Midland and LSWR had it too, plus a few minor breakwater railways etc!

There are 5 under Other Gauges! And you've got Irish broad gauge! I can see the point with narrow gauge, but there are only 4 official broad gauge standards covering 3 scales, so there won't be a proliferation. http://www.broadgauge.org.uk/modelling/models_standards.html

I bought some track from them as part of a bigger order. The rest turned up, but not the track. The track arrived next day, after I'd chased them, and I saw that the barcode on the label had been wrapped round the box in a way that probably made it unreadable. So maybe they sent it, but it got lost in the courier's system due to the way the label was attached

A big difference is being able to do it yourself, opening up massive possibilities compared to the limited range that was available in the local model shop. I doubt that few, if any, 1950/60s modellers could match the quality that's now possible when they scratchbuilt in card. We also have access to all sorts of other technologies that can be used with it.

Anyone want to buy a 7mm Coopercraft wagon kit without wheels for more than the current improved Slaters version with wheels? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/O-Gauge-model-railway-kit-GW-seven-plank-open-wagon-/121685479664?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c550510f0 If it sells, maybe I should sell the one I've just bought for £4 plus £4 postage, rather than building it!

As there's an ever growing selection of OO options in Templot, can you add just one for 4mm broad gauge please Martin? Or maybe two to keep those who use EM wheels happy! Oh, and 7mm too!

The first plastic was cut in my effort to scratchbuild something to try this "painting" technique on last night. Hopefully the second bit will be cut sometime today! Mine will be a rather more subdued colour though!

I hope what looks like a dent in the tank side, presumably where the number plate used to be, is included! I can't help feeling that it might be better to produce a kit, with a wide variety of mix and match parts. Certain variants could be sold as a complete kit, and combinations of parts could be bought for the builder to scratchbuild or adapt parts to create more versions. Other individuals or businesses could also produce parts for more variants. This seems ideal now 3D printing, resin casting, etching etc. is so accessible. I suspect that mass produced RTR would result in just the appealing versions like Fair Rosamund being produced, and appearing in just about any location where it wouldn't have been found in real life. There's no reason why small batches couldn't be produced RTR. Isn't that what OO Works do? I quite fancy one with the coach body style bodywork, but that would mean someone would have to produce a suitable autotrailer to go with it!!

That's giving me ideas. When I've worked my way through my collection of unbuilt kits and other bits and pieces I've collected over the years, and produced what I want from it, whatever is left can be turned into something I can flog on eBay. I hate waste, and love being creative!!!

If a model like that was up for sale on eBay, all the followers of the eBay Madness topic would be in a high state of apoplexy .

Do you use Evostick on other materials too? I'm hoping to try your technique on Plastikard first.

I'm determined not to do pretty. I want to spend my money on stuff I can put to good use! And I'll need to convert the 1905 ones to EM, and the broad gauge era ones to P4!

You've probably said this earlier, but what did you use to stick them?

Are you aiming to cover different dates too? I'm trying to get my head round 7mm wagons that would have been around in 1910 at the moment, hence my earlier question. But I'll soon need to do the same for 4mm ones suitable for 1905.

As I said on the other thread, I totally agree, but there are so many variations that I wonder if anyone would be satisfied by what was made available! For anyone who wants to add one, or a few, to their collection, but doesn't have a use for them, looking pretty would be the attraction, but if you're modelling a particular time and location where they actually worked, the chances of getting the right one in the right condition would be pretty remote. That's no reason not to do it though! I'll have one as running in 1905, and would happily lay mixed gauge track to run a broad gauge era one, although I'm not sure how much they ran in broad gauge areas at the time.

I suppose converting Kernow Railmotors to auto coaches will be a rather expensive option!!!!

4mm, or all scales?

Having seen the photos (many pages back) of 5801 still in partial GWR livery in the late 50s, I was thinking of converting my Airfix one back from EM to OO, for Ingletyme that's set in 1958-60. But my wallet is starting to get worried that Ingletyme may get one of these instead!

I totally agree, but, as stated on gwr.org.uk "The 517 Class history is of almost unrivalled complexity – perhaps only the Metros approach them. Few 517s must have looked quite alike, and just about all of them changed radically in appearance over their lives – sometimes several times." I'm not sure we'd get the 19th and early 20th century versions that I would buy!

It was a good starting point, and a lot less daunting than beginning with a pile of plastic sheets. Scratchbuilding may have produced better results, but it's quite likely that I wouldn't have started it!

If I was going to live forever, had a bank account of unlimited size, and a massive space available, I'd be modelling all of that! Plus a massive broad gauge layout as well!!! And if Hattons have to commission a 4-6-0, why can't they do the one in the first picture!!!!!

I wish I'd been able to take a photo of my German Shepherd meeting the short legged lookalike!!!!

With the walls built and assembled, the next job was the roof. I was trying to use as much of the Dapol kit as possible, especially bits that would otherwise end up in my collection of spare parts that may not find a use elsewhere. The slates are a pretty good match for size and spacing with the Wills sheets I was going to use for the rest of the roof, but nowhere near as sharply defined. As the shed was going to be at the back of the layout, I didn't think this would matter. The first step was to fit the ventilation grills in the raised part of the roof. As I needed 1½ of the parts from the kit for the visible side, the hidden side was cut from plain Plastikard. They were stuck in place, trying to keep them as straight as possible, as they are quite bendy. Next I tackled the Dapol part of the roof. I'd built the lean-to a suitable length to leave enough roofing to make up the length I needed. The parts were joined using a piece of Plastikard on the back for reinforcement. Due to all the messing about with the kit, the resulting roof wasn't wide enough, so I cut strips two slates wide off the top part of the Dapol roof, that I wasn't going to use, and joined them to the "top" of the roof, staggering the joints for strength. It was then stuck to the building: The joints are far from perfect, but good enough as they won't be seen from normal viewing angles: More by luck than any great sense of foresight, the strips on the back of the roof that are designed to locate inside the Dapol kit, actually fitted neatly on the outside, and will be used to attached the barge boards away from the walls: It's a shame that Wills sheets aren't bigger, as they need to be joined on a building this side, and due to inconsistent thickness and width of slate courses, that's not easy! I cut two pieces of the required size for the main roof on the visible side, and joined them as best I could before attaching them to the walls: Although I got the slate courses to line up pretty well, the sheets at this point were different thicknesses, and reinforcing them on the back meant that the front surfaces didn't line up. This is a rather cruel photo though, as it's not so obvious in real life! A forum discussion revealed that I'm not the only one who has problems with this though, so I don't feel quite so bad about it! Before fitting the raised part of the roof, I attached pieces of embossed stone Plastikard to the ends of the vertical part to represent the thickness of the stone walls. The raised part of the roof was next, using the same method, and joints in the Wills sheet that were no more successful! I sanded the top edge at an angle, so the two sides meet up fairly well, and the ridge tiles will cover the imperfections: The "hidden" side shows how the Wills and Dapol slates compare. I certainly wouldn't mix them like this on a viewing side, but I think they will be fine here, especially when painted. Being a cheapskate, I made two joins in the Wills sheet this side to save material! This is the view from the inside, showing where I've reinforced the various joints. Having not bothered to make any parts that won't be visible on the layout look good, I suppose I could get caught out one day if a train mounted video camera appears!!! This is the shed as it is now. The windows aren't fixed yet, as I have some work to do on the stonework, and they are probably best painted and glazed first: This is how I'm leaving it for now. The main purpose in building it was to help with planning the layout it will go on. To start with, this layout will be used as a test track for renovating my existing EM locos and stock that haven't run for many years, and for testing my unbuilt and part built kit collection as I work on them. When I've got enough stock to operate it, I'll develop the scenic side, including adding the missing details to all the buildings. As I'm gradually getting back into some serious modelling after a very long break, I'm trying to develop my skills, and get tools and materials organised, in different aspects one step at a time. I hope I'll make a better job of the smaller details after some more practice. I'm trying to avoid painting for now too, as there are so many new ideas since I last did any, and I'm very rusty, and want to wait until I can spend time learning and practising. Having built this shed with the intention of putting it at the back of the layout where the imperfections are less obvious, a change of plan now means there's a good chance it will be placed right at the front of the layout! I think I'll just about get away with it, if I'm lucky!!!!

The cutest Corgi I've met looked exactly like a German Shepherd with short legs. If someone produced a model of that, I'd snap up a few, but would have to raise the ride height a fair bit!!