Rambler

When your "people" were white they had a sort of Blue Man Group feel to them, which hasn't entirely disappeared now that they have become (Mostly) Orange Man Group. I think its their poses!

Your model is strangely realistic (good ballasting helps), despite the not very finescale track; perhaps its sometimes more important to produce something that's believable rather than painstakingly accurate. I'm not an artist so I attempt to be accurate and hope its believable....

Cheers, Rambler (rambling...)

I think it's more likely to get a first run on the South-East Area Group's test tracks (also known as Croscombe..), but I must get over to Sudbury some time soon. I was last there in August 2006 when I combined the visit with a cream tea at The Swan in Lavenham (to assuage SWMBO, but enjoyable none the less). With Peter and Colin attending exhibitions it sort of feels as though I'm keeping in touch... I expect to see them at Kettering this weekend.

ER.

I have a Ron Chaplin motor/gearbox that was chosen because it would fit inside the firebox area, inclined upwards towards the rear (driving the trailing driver). Unfortunately I've changed my mind on this and now want one that will fit within the ashpan, more-or-less horizontally, and the unit I've got is a couple of millimeteres too long. I'm hoping to get a shorter mechanism at Kettering next weekend - an ABC VML2 box with an 1833 motor looks to be a possibility.

An alternative to the etched nuts and bolts, especially for rivet heads, is Evergreen round rod. This comes in various sizes and, unlike the red plastic rod of old, is made of a good workable kind of plastic. OK so you have to slice off discs, stick them down, and sand to a uniform thickness, but it doesn't take long to get the hang of it.