Bruciethefish

I've recently been giving a couple of albums by Brian Kennedy a listen, one of which is entitled 'A better man'. This man has a fantastic, sweet voice, & the music is pleasant & listenable, with vague folky leanings. Highly recommended for 'chilling out'....

A better bet might be the 'railroad' compound chassis, which is now loco-drive & is the right wheel size & wheelbase, & just needs the cylinders & con-rods taking off, though you'll still need to experiment a little for the mounting points.

I'd also recommend switch cleaner;- 'Super Servisol' for getting rid of the dried-out lubricant. Give the gearbox a good dousing in this stuff, then rotate by hand until it all frees up, then another squirt to flush the muck away. I've been using a teflon-based oil lately with good results....

I've never made any secret of my railway interests, though in the past I've usually taken young ladies for a ride on one of the local steam railways as a gentle introduction, rather than to a model exhibition. SWMBO finds exhibitions boring, but will go to great lengths to take a photo of any steam or diesel special she sees when out & about...

That looks to me like an early Riefler or Richter instrument, which should do you a good turn. For doing intricate curves & angles, you can make up plasticard templates, of 30 or 40 thou thickness, & use them to guide the pen, if you don't want to spend years learning to do it freehand... If doing this, remember to allow for the thickness of the tip!

I too have just come across this thread, and there are some interesting choices. While I don't often really get a chance to have a good look at exhibitions, three that have captivated & inspired me are;- Thunder's Hill by Pete Bossom, a 3mm scale SR period LBSC layout, beautifully modelled & almost entirely scratchbuilt. Inkerman Street, Full of atmosphere with superb detail, though for some unexplicable reason I failed to see it a 'Railex' this year.. The Gresley Beat. Not so much for inspirational modelling, but for the sight of such long trains running.... There have been many others I've liked & enjoyed over the years, but the first two, at least have at least given me an understanding of what I'd need to achieve in order to be happy with any layout I built...

The 'O1's were a Wainwright rebuild of an earlier SER Stirling engine, built originally with a low-pitched domeless boiler & rounded Stirling cab. The new boilers were identical to the SECR 'H' class, & a new Wainwright cab was fitted upon rebuilding. The same boilers were also used to rebuild the 'F' class 4-4-0's, 'R' class 0-6-0 tanks, & 'Q' class 0-4-4 tanks, hence the family resemblance. The 'C' class was a larger & heavier engine, although similar in style...

Looking most promising!

Well, I've just spent a couple of hours reading through all 16 pages, having only just become aware of this thread... While I can understand that certain folk are frustrated that these signals are not designed to meet some fairly stringent technical requirements, those same folk already seem to possess the skillsets needed to manufacture something more suitable for themselves, so why whinge?. (Also, as an aside, what is the point of installing a signal on your layout in a position where you can't see it, & if this is the case, why would you care what aspect it was displaying?) If & when I eventually get round to building a 'finescale' layout of a real location, I will be making models of specific signals, & will have to devise a satisfactory method of making them work. This might take weeks of painstaking work, resulting in signals which, if costed out in terms of my time, would be worth many hundreds of pounds each. On the other hand, Dapol have provided us with a magnificent, good-looking & ready-to-use product, ripe for a little detailing or modification by those who care to do so, for a price that, by comparison, is absolute peanuts, & is coupled with a method of actuation that even a monkey could understand. This really is a massive step forward for the majority of the hobby, bringing a whole new aspect to many potential users who would never have contemplated having operational signals prior to their introduction.- I for one will be looking forward to future SR style introductions, & if there's something suitable for my needs, you bet I'll be buying them! Dapol Dave is to be congratulated for bringing to the market a truly innovative product, well thought out in it's simplicity of installation & operation, & at an unbelievably reasonable price. These will definitely be getting my 'product of the year' vote!

If you buy an electric motor, it suggests loads of car spares...

As a vendor of these things, I'll attempt to avoid being biased, but here's some of what I've learned;- Most of the drawing instrument manufacturers made several different qualities of instruments;- There were cheap ones, aimed at students & artists, made from plated mild steel. These are utterly useless for our purposes, in my experience. They can sometimes be ground to a fine enough tip, but can flex, & wear incredibly quickly as the metal is too soft. The next step up were usually made from a high-carbon tool steel, sometimes plated, & would have been aimed at the jobbing engineer or 'journeyman' draughtsman, costing rather more, but likely to last a decent amount of time, as long as they don't go rusty. These generally give decent results for lining, & can be ground to give lines below 0.1mm width. Finally come the top-of-the-range instruments, aimed at the professional draughtsman & the military. These were often made of 'rustless' tool steel, or later 'high-speed' type steel, and tend to have turned metal or hardwood handles. (Early examples often ivory) The best of these will hold such a good edge that they'll line down to 0.02mm ;-( I use a Kern made in the early 20's which can draw lines so fine I can't see them, just the shine the painted line makes in the right light..) In my experience, a good cross-jointed pen can be as good as a fixed one, as long as the joint is tight when closed. (Though all my own ones are fixed types.) I use exactly the same method to clean them as Larry, a bit of kitchen roll over the thumbnail, pulled through the tip. Because they are adjustable, pens that draw a thin line will also do a thick one, though if you only want to draw thick lines, a medium quality pen would probably suit you best. From the large variety of makes & models that have passed through my hands, I've learned to stay away from anything that shows unfinished tool marks from the manufacturing process, or is pressed from thin material. The real antique stuff is lovely to collect, particularly when polished & put on display, but you'll rarely get decent results from it. In general, good quality German, Swiss or British instruments made from the 1920's onwards are likely to give the most satisfactory results.. Once you have found a decent instrument that you're comfortable with, the most important thing is practice, & more practice.. (My earliest efforts were absolutely appalling, but I got better as I gained familiarity. I still sometimes need a little practice if I've not lined anything in a while, just to get my eye/hand in..)

Having had my interest sparked by his 'Somebody that I used to know', I've been listening to 'Gotye' recently;- A musical genius in the making, & difficult to categorise. He seems to draw inspiration from the most obscure corners, & comes up with fresh, thoughtful songs.. I particularly liked this song, inspired by a home organ bought from a junk shop.. It's well worth looking up some of his other stuff on youtube

Indeed, Stephen;- My point was that the last-mentioned is the most likely form of shill bidding to be encountered, rather than small increments. I tend to follow the same policy as yourself, placing my maximum bid at the last possible moment;- this also has the advantage that it leaves no time for me to get carried away & make a fool of myself by desperately overbidding...

In ebay's current format, you have no idea who's bidding anyway, as all bidder's identities are hidden from other bidders.. In any case, many folk bid repeatedly, in small increments.. some are hoping to just 'pip' the high bidder, without lashing out any more than they have to.. Many others are 'newbies' who haven't sussed out how ebay works yet, & are just reacting to the 'you've been outbid' message.. If I'm buying a car or similar, I always look for one that's being bid on in small increments, as that indicates to me that the competing bidders are inexperienced, & that a substantial bid at the last moment might bag a real bargain... I don't think that small bids are an indication of shill bidding;- It's more likely that a seller will get one of his mates to bid just below what something's really worth, in the hope of stimulating a higher bid..

For me, the best-looking steam locomotives are all 4-4-0's from that triumvirate of Victorian engineer / artists, William Adams' T3, Harry Wainwright's D, & some of Samuel Johnson's earlier express loco's. They abounded with graceful curves, were beautifully proportioned, & exhibited some of the most stunning paintwork & decorative metalwork ever applied to a mechanical object.. As far as the diesels go, I'm with the majority;- the 'Western' just has that look of modernity & purpose, particularly in the Maroon livery. Every piece of it looks designed to compliment the incredibly stylish whole, rather than it just being a box to contain the gubbins.. For electrics, I'd have to plump for the class 71 in the original green;- Simple, understated style but with pleasant curves, neat detailing, & superlative performance to boot...

While open-frame motors seem to have fallen out of favour these days, I find the DS10 (still available as an H1024) a useful unit as it fits comfortably between most 'OO' loco frames, & is usually quiet in operation. The D11 was also a superb unit in it's day, & I still have some saved for my own use;- It's a good idea to make up a solder tag for the 'live' brush-holder if you decide to use it, as I've seen a good many otherwise servicable motors ruined by getting solder inside the brush spring, or melting the insulation. Spares are, regretfully, no longer available....

My SWMBO had exactly the same treat a couple of weeks ago, much to the amusement of the hospital staff in attendance...

Speaking of BBC south (or South east?) Kaddy Lee-Preston is another weather presenter well worth a look;- She's delightful! I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the sublime Joanna Lumley;- I just have to hear that voice & it's enough for me.....

At least it looks like some effort & skill might have gone into this one...

It's the Beattie patent coal-burning firebox;- (Most engines from that era were coke-fuelled) More trouble than it was worth, but Beattie senior put them on all of his engines, presumably so he could rake in some extra royalties on his patent rights...

I've recently discovered 'Porcupine tree' - a band I'd never even heard of until a couple of weeks ago. They are a kind of neo-prog rock outfit, with influences of Floyd, Tull & Gentle Giant, amongst others (to my ears at least ) They combine superb musicianship in well-crafted songs, often with quirky time signatures, occasional & unexpected bursts of thrash metal, & vocals you can understand the words of... I'm so impressed that I've acquired 'Fear of a blank planet', 'Deadwing' & 'The incident' , any of which I'd recommend...

Excellent!

Looking forward to seeing this progress, having had a stab at one of these many years ago!

That's really looking the business Ian,- well done that man...