Hal Nail

Thanks! Yes see photo. As an aside, the plastic bit showing is just cut from one of their chassis sprues which makes both me and my spares box weep at the wastage.

Interesting that they are doing these again. I seem to recall these were heavily discounted by the end last time and unlike some classes, prices haven't gone bananas once they were scarce. I guess given sufficient time has elapsed that some people will now come back for a second who wouldn't so near to buying their first etc. Maybe given the tooling exists and there are a few new livery options, its almost a shot to nothing for Heljan.

Nearly there on the first 013 china clay. I saw some of these on a layout years ago and the guy said it was a lot of work: he wasn't exaggerating. The bolts on the door banger straps were carved off another wagon but I lost the will to live and drew the rest on! The brakes and end door hinges were all from the spares box - will need to find a load more for another 6 wagons (anyone know a source of 9ft brake levers?). I just need to put in a false floor with the planks running lengthways in this one. Paint shop next.

Paul, Responding to your post on another thread really but thought it better to comment here. I left work with a package about 18 months ago. I have a fair way to retirement but hadn't been enjoying work for a long, long time so wanted a break - obviously I hadnt factored in covid at that point! I found having time to cook meant I ate better and cheaper, I made and sold most of my stash of kits - and one way or another got by and worked out what it actually costs to live when you have to be careful. I have now picked up a 2 day a week job on far less than I would have dreamed of working before but means I break even every month (with no frills admittedly). My perspective has totally changed. What I'm trying to say is you might find getting through that year or two you didnt expect to fund can be slightly easier than you imagine.

Supporting West Brom.

Father Christmas?

The second of which worries me more than the risk of catching covid (let alone getting covid badly) to be honest.

Indeed. The perfect antidote - marvellous modelling.

Double economics on thursday afternoons remains an all time low. Elasticity does ring a bell though so I must have jolted awake periodically.

Where were they built? Just sayin'...

Its the E145 with 9 foot - same body as the E140.

Thanks - prompted me to check and immediately picked up two up for £15. 33% discount on that auction!

2 sets of Peco 7mm buffers, normally around £8 each new, so £16 the pair. Not hard to come by. Were £4 with an hour to go, went up to £10 with a minute left, late flurry saw them sell for £21 plus postage - well over the new price. Given it is a bit foolish to wait till nearly the end but then leave a minute for people to outbid you, i do wonder if the £10 was a tempter to get someone bidding higher - which has obviously worked in this case!

Continuing with the theme of 9 foot wheelbase mineral wagons, I have finally kick-started a project to build a rake of china clay wagons by adding end doors and altering the strapping buffers and brake levers on the old Cooper Craft 5 plank. I will also be doing the BR version. I have accumulated three made up 5 planks, one 7 plank I could convert and 4 unmade kits. This particular one was one of my first kits and I'll probably do the works on this in terms of bolt heads (not sure yet whether rod through holes, or just slivers of rod) but I think the rest will have tarps so I'm only going to sort the bottom couple of planks worth. I do like these Peco self contained buffers but they aren't cheap. On that note, I'm missing 2 plastic shanks. These are unused parts in Peco's 4 plank and permanent way wagons I think, so if anyone has a couple spare please let me know!

Just out of interest, what is the advantage of using set curves rather than just getting flexi? I had assumed the issue was around whether you can get points in a tight radius rather than curves.

Tiny DCC controlled electro-magnets is the way forwards. Just needs someone good with small spaces to develop it...

If you could now rename this thread (just edit your first post) to Dapol 7mm 14t tanks, or something like that, we can use this thread for them?

I need two of the plastic shank/base parts for Peco GWR self-contained buffers. I think these are unused parts in the 4 plank and permanent way wagon.

No offence intended - I was poking fun at myself... I did read about someone buying three non-runners when Dapol were selling off some returns recently and it only took 5 mins to get all 3 working perfectly! I think as Simon mentions the trend now is to just build in x number of duds and don't even try and repair them.

Posting a photo might help us identify what you mean

In fairness they aren't saying there is literally no market, just that in a traditionally small pool of O gauge modellers to start with, they believe that even fewer would want 1st radius to warrant risking the investment, when there are other gaps manufacturers can fill. The ability to fit a small tank and 4 wheelers into a tight space, even if longer stock couldn't cope, would clearly appeal to some but not by any stretch everyone, which impacts on the economic feasibility. Whether their opinion of the market is changing as rapidly as the market is an interesting question though. R-T-R is covering early era wagons with little BR appeal now and you definitely wouldn't have seen that coming a few years back.

This is a heavy duty double job in 00. Wheel base is about 8 foot so c32mm which is around 4 1/2 foot in O. Might be a suitable chassis and lift for a scratch built sit on body in 7mm? https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/products/shelvoke-and-drewry-freightlifter-forklift-british-rail-western-76sdf001

Copy and paste below into Google images - forklift at platform height is no higher than the wagon body. Those two still both look pretty big although of course forklifts come in different sizes. Fork-lift truck driver loading luggage onto a railway truck in Wengen railway station in Switzerland - Image ID: BNG7P1 Edt - realised its a half height continental platform but you get the idea.

If you buy a faulty one from new or while under warranty they replace it. We dont know what happened to that particular loco and why it is being sold on damaged. No one is forced to buy it if they are worried they can't repair it. Edit: Simon is clearly more patient with conspiracy theorists than me!

Video from Dapol of the production sample https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiQsSxW-NT4&t=298s