Matloughe

You're right it can be tedious. When I am laying the 3rd Rail on Bishops Park I usually do it in batches of four pots, cut, stuck in, rail slid across etc. Then rinse and repeat. The overall effect is very worth while, you're making me consider turning my 3rd Rail layout into a 4th Rail one as well! Perhaps I'll just convert the bay platform... Keep up the good work its fantastic and inspires people like me to carry on with their own bits & bobs. Cheers, ~ Gary

Thanks for the comments - No real plans for further models at the moment I was checking out a KBscale diesel kit which might potentially be on a list of things to purchase but no solid plans. Was just for a bit of fun really. Brookford looks fantastic Paul! Ironically after buying the kit and whilst it was en-route everything I saw that was new pop up was O14 scale. Cheers, ~ Gary

Hello & Welcome, Today's entry is something a little different, still keeping with the theme of myself using me inexperience to bumble through making kits much to your amusement. However today we shall be swapping the comfortable world of Stephensons Gauge and working on something a little slimmer. Yes today Is my introduction to O14 scale; and the starter kit from KBscale. I should point out here and now I have nothing to do with KBscale - aside from being a satisfied customer. The story starts when I found £25 in an old jacket I was packing away - clearly left over from some forgotten night out a long time ago. So I decided to spend it on something I have always wanted to do and after some research on the Narrow Gauge comparing options I was torn between O-16.5 or O14. Now a long time ago I wrote some stories for an English Literature project about a small narrow gauge railway being coaxed along whilst on the edge of oblivion aside from the A* mark I got and the entertainment it is providing my 4 year old cousin at bedtime it sparked an interest - I also live about 15 minutes away from the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway which fascinated me as a child so you can see why I elected for O14. Now enough rambling, after parting with some of my cash and a few days later (plus a lovely personal email telling me the items had been dispatched) this came through the door: All looked rather imposing to me; there were several versions of the starter pack I plumped for the £10 version as it gave me two 18' track panels worth of materials, a kit platform wagon to build & run on the newly completed track, and a brass track gauge that has four different uses. There were other cheaper options that had less materials in them as well but I went for this one as it was reasonable in cost and contained useful items likely to retain an interest. Opening the pack we can see what everything boils down to: The contents all laid out; here we have 4 lengths of rail, 12 sleepers, a packet of pins/spikes, the gauge, the wagon kit, a 'I love O14' badge and of course what I referred to quite a lot the Instructions. One very good thing to note is that the track panels illustrated on the instructions are to actual size so you can use them as a template for building the items, photo copies might be a good idea. Close up Right on to business, we'll start with the track. For the purposes of this blog/mini review I should state for the record now my most experience with track work is cutting sleepers off of Peco 00 Gauge track & points to make it all fit together properly in the layout that I wanted and even this was a shock from me after working for many years with Hornby track where nothing like that is required (I've only recently started using flexi-track with my 00 layout Bishops Park). Right I stated with laying the sleepers at either end and pinning the rail to them lightly - just enough to have 'fixed' points with which to work with. For this project I couldn't find any scraps of wood so I appropriated my stillborn 2011 boxfile for the purpose shoving some scrap cork in the bottom and keeping the retaining wall it is worryingly starting to look a little like a layout is forming. While I was working early on and to reassure myself I utilised a wheelset from the platform wagon to ensure everything moved smoothly - a little while into the build I changed tacks and decided that I had better use the brass gauge for what it was intended for and this made things much easier as I could hold the rails to the correct gauge prior to pinning them down rather then having to jiggle them around a little to obtain the correct gauge after they have been secured - seems obvious but I like to try several different methods and ascertain which is the best one for continued use. Using a ruler to maintain the correct sleeper spacing and with the much better technique the rest of the sleepers went down nicely. With the end points fixed it was relatively easy to slide the intermediate sleepers under the rails - in this photo you can see the technique employed - using the middle pins to keep the sleeper in place and the track gauge obviously then secure the outer pins in place and then gently push all four home and tweak the heads so they catch onto the web of the rail and hold it down. Its just like real track laying in miniature - I expect the few profanities uttered by myself would not sound out of place in a track working gang either. As can be seen the sleepers already have holes at the correct gauge each rail has two spikes/pins each side facing opposing directions to try and keep the rail in check and stop it moving. The ruler I was using to line the ends of the sleepers up but gives an idea of the scale of the components used. The finished product: Now the second half of my mini blog/review/bumbling about is on the wagon that came with the pack - from what I can tell it is a Hudson platform wagon. And is the most simple kit to build I have come across - a little bit fiddly in one specific place but aside from that very nicely thought out. This is the components out of the bag, please note that inside the oval frame of the wagon contains the axleboxes and couplings so don't throw these away as you will need them. The wheelsets come with brass cups to put inside the axleboxes and this version is an unbraked plain wagon. Have the items cut from one another: Its very simple to put together firstly I cleaned the flash off the wagon parts then put the brass top hat bearings into the axleboxes and then using Poly-Cement glued one set of axleboxes to the oval frame of the wagon - simples. Now while this was drying I put the smaller parts together to avoid them getting lost or damaged and after it dried I added more glue into the other side of the frame then the fiddly part of pushing the wheels into the brass bearings and encouraging the second set of axleboxes to adhere to the frame was a feat which a third had is much needed due to the size of the components involved. However after some encouragement, tidying up and setting off of glue I can proudly present the following: Looks good to me, the retaining wall seems to dwarf it somewhat. What makes it look really small is when you add some standard gauge wagons into the mix: Keeping in mind this is all 7mm/foot scale the difference is mind boggling. I hope you have enjoyed my blog/mini review I certainly enjoyed building the items; top marks to KBscale for producing a nice simple starter kit for introduction to O14 scale. I suppose I had better get on and lay the second track panel and tell myself that this isn't a layout... its a test... not a layout... a test... Thank you very much. ~ Gary

This is amazing. Threads like this really make me question my wisdom of working in O Gauge - I look forwards to seeing more. The real question is; can I bring my '00' gauge M7 round to play on East Yarde? Right I am off to plan my 00 gauge Shelf layout. Cheers, ~ Gary

According to the few videos I've watched on YouTube - they appear to sound more or less the same. Nothing really stood out as being different - I think the 450's have lost the high pitched whine as they pull off (last one I travelled on didn't do it for very long) but this could be more a software difference between the classes due to the different characteristics of operating on DC vs AC. Essentially yes I couldn't tell them apart by sound alone - and none of them sound as good as a proper DC traction motor. Cheers, ~ Gary

Thanks Don It's suddenly become apparent to me why it rides high (plus a message from Boris), the notch in the bottom of the sites was for the solebar - not the flooring which also explains why the floor was a loose fit before I added extra glue... Still if anyone asks it'd just returned with a new set of springs which need 'running in' on my P-Way. Still you learn by making mistakes. Cheers, ~ Gary

Good Afternoon, Before you read any further I must issue a warning, this kit was assembled by myself. An amateur at kit assembly and very much fumbling my way through into the new territory of 7mm Scale. The following blog post contains examples of poor technique, possible rushed assembly and some extremely close up photography that may make the professional wince - viewer discretion is advised. A bit of history first - as is standard for one of my blog posts. I bought this kit off of ebay on a whim and I have to say it has been very enjoyable to build it seemed like a slightly older kit and didn't contain much in the way of instructions unlike the Peco Wagon kit I attempted a few months back. This is a bad thing as the kit has provided me with much needed experience and figuring out what actually goes where - plus I have experienced what a Slaters kit is like to put together. This kit arrived from the postie yesterday afternoon: And looked something like this What I have noticed during the build is the wagon illustrated on the box - is not the wagon in the kit; what was inside was infact a Midland Railway 8 Ton van instead of the 10 Ton variant shown on the box the next photo will illustrate the differences note the left hand side framing. Sides & end assembled - roof merely resting as a test fit. Compared to the Peco kit there was a lot of flash to remove from the mouldings and the plastic itself felt much tougher to cut through. As the glue was curing off I manipulated the four sides and held them together whilst watching an episode of Blackadder on DVD to get a much more 'square' fit. The next job I decided on was to fit the couplings and buffers and then to leave the wagon to harden off overnight. During this time I found the portal through which small objects seem to vanish through (every modeller has one somewhere) so this resulted in the buffers at one end being 'set' in a position and glued there - none of the buffers are sprung in this kit I should add at this point. Furthermore I discovered that it is much easier to fit the buffers and coupling arrangements to the ends before assembling the floor - I spent some time struggling after the floor unit was installed late last night. This is the state of play as of this morning. Incidentally the glue I have assembled this and the previous Peco wagon kit with is UHU multipurpose adhesive - I found it useful to be able to 'adjust' aspects as the glue was curing off - however as a much later & cringeworthy photo will show it can provide some entertainment later on when it comes to scraping it off but this is easily done provided the joint has set correctly the excess simply scrapes off with little effort. Todays work involved fitting the solebars and axles to produce a rolling chassis. It can just be seen in this photo and more noticeable in the next that overnight I assume the end nearest the camera must have moved or rested in an odd position as it was curing off - as it has moved away from the vertical and as a result the solebar doesn't quite reach to the van end producing a slight gap. In the normal viewing position however it is not that noticeable and I imagine it will be less visible once it has been painted. Van End When the van is buffered up to the Peco Wagon - and also to the Lima shunter it is plainly visible that it rides too high - I am not sure if this is my assembly method (I suspect it is) or a mis-alignment in the kit as I assembled it as carefully as I could without instructions - Perhaps I've missed a step somewhere and that is the cause of the ride height - however the wheel sets have cured off now and it'll prove nearly impossible to alter the height without major demolition of the kit. I am happy with the outcome especially without instructions I feel like I have achieved something. The 'cringe shot' I've included this because its a perfect example of how the kit went together and has been latterly cleaned up - I feel too many people are afraid to start building kits for fear of making a mistake or like this over 'egg the cake' as it were. I know I certainly was - but I also know from experience that most of this will come off with a little care & patience its all part of the learning process. Plus I love the "MR" initials on the axlebox cover - its a detail that couldn't be seen in OO Gauge and that is what tempted me to the 'Senior Scale'. A very enjoyable build and has shown me some pointers for assembling a kit in the future. I leave you with a few over views with the Lima Shunter and the Peco kit I made a few months ago. The width of the Lima shunter is astounding - I am looking forwards to Ixion's Hudswell Clarke locomotive which I have on order. With this box van I still need to add underframe details such as brakes - however for today I am content to shuffle it backwards and forwards observing the couplings taking up the slack. The next question is of detailing - the kit included vent louvres to make the van a specialised 'Fruit Van' or I can omit them and keep it as a general purpose 8 Ton Van. Decisions, Decisions. Cheers, ~ Gary

They look fantastic. I always have an odd fascination with these pre & post war single deckers. Much more variety then the Dennis Darts we have today. Cheers, ~ Gary

It looks gorgeous. Much neater then my own effort at ballasting. ~ Gary

Looks great! Maybe a 'Dean Goods' or a ROD 2-6-0 and a rail mounted howitzer could be caught on a secret military manoeuvres passing through Polbrock - which is after-all the last line of defence for Cornwall isn't it? The crew most likely would be stopping for a 'beverage' in the Pedant & Armchair afterall. Cheers, ~ G

No need to apologise Martin; you've encountered the pitfalls of this model and overcome them wonderfully doing some real railway modelling in the process - I fear I would not have been so steadfast in my own convictions if my (theoretical) 4-VEP ran okay enough on my layout It would stay as it is if it had shown derailing or tractions issues it would have gone back - I applaud your efforts in persevering with this model. In particular the weathering you have applied on the Hornby end is incredibly effective at masking the short falling of the 'face' of the unit - that is until I looked at the MJT end which looks great and I suspect even more like a VEP when it has been painted as you've said. If/when I get my own 4-VEP I shall certainly be referring here to the excellent techniques and photographs you have shown here. Cheers, ~ Gary

Thinking out loud here; what if Venator's 4-VEP is from a different batch? Which is why it has the supposed improvements in the track-keeping and haulage departments? Perhaps Hornby has made some alterations to their models in response to the issues with the first batch; I don't work for Hornby neither have a I got a 4-VEP. But does anyone have *first released* and a more recent model, do they run differently? Do they sound different? Just putting my 2d out here. I hope you gt a response from Hornby soon, I have had to wait four weeks for a reply from them but this was immediately after Christmas when no doubt they were busy with lots of returns. Cheers, ~ Gary

Good Evening Ken, Have you considered these? I have got some in the post for my next project for a 'bus line' from trailer car pick ups to motor carriages for my next Tube Stock project. There was also another type on that website which was a 'fixed bar' style but passed the power leads through but I can't find that at the moment. Alternatively you can use that coupling as designed and just have it for through lighting control. Hope that Helps. ~ Gary

Hello Dave - fantastic layout you've got there. It really says 'Brighton' to me even now in its current state, only think I would suggest to make it more authentic is to get the white/grey paint out when you've finished and liberally fleck the roof tops to mark out the territory the seagulls perch on. But in all seriousness it is a very nice layout I can see the Kemp Town showing through but rather then copy the plan you've made it your own - fantastic. Making me reconsider my sleepy Hayling Isle based layout and go for something far busier! Will be watching with interest! ~ Gary

Good Evening, I haven't done much with the Ginny since last time - the body has been sprayed in Red undercoat and it is a very nice finish for Halfords spray paint - I will be using their Carmine Red colour for the bodywork for the topcoat. State of play at the moment, I think I am going to paint the underframe tomorrow in the absence of anything better to do currently. I have a nice tin of Black paint which is similar to blackboard paint that I think will provide a good finish for the underframe. The only real interesting piece of news is since my layout has been converted to DCC I have decided to take the brave step of converting this shuttle car to DCC and install lighting in it. I've drawn up a wiring diagram based on what I think is the requirements I will be needing - there is only one alteration I might make which I shall explain in a moment. I have drawn up a lighting diagrame for the project: As we know the Acton Shuttle is made up of G23 Driving motors that have been modified for single working. The original end, with the most shutters like the link below: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rownd/4986110367/ Is what I am classing as my 'D' end and technically will be the back of the train - is will be because the motor is technically sitting the wrong way round in the motor bogie frame (as the instructions rightly say) So the rebuilt end will be the 'Front or A' end because it is sitting over the motor bogie. The wiring diagram - provided I have drawn it right, will have the directionally correct head & tail lights working off of the F0 key, additionally the cab light will illuminate at the end with the head light lit as well, and the tail light lit at the opposite end. On the model only the two left-hand most light shutters are depicted as 'open' so both ends will have the Head & Tail light combination as shown above, with the tail light above the headlight - I might change it over on the other end with the tail light in the bottom corner I haven't decided yet, more research is required before I place any LEDs in place- I have also been considering a bi-polar LED at the D End which has the ability to show either red or white dependant on direction of travel so I might model the D end with two white lights one doubling as the tail light while the A End will only be red and white singly dependant on the direction of travel - might be interesting. Now if I have understood the DCC wiring correctly when I drew this up the Passenger Saloon will also have interior lights linked to the F1 key on the decoder allowing me to run the train 'in-service' with saloon lights or 'ECS' with the saloon lights off but still showing head & tail lights. For the passenger saloon I have been considering the use of a commercial LED Light bar to simplify matters rather then individual LED's wired in Series or Parallel as show in the above diagramme - this is why the Green wire simply links to Coach Interior lighting rather then specifics. All LED's are planned to be the 'Warm White' colour to simulate the use of conventional incandescent Tungsten bulbs used throughout LT at that time. As a interesting fact in the prototype the bulbs were wired with six bulbs in series as a 'set' and between six or eight sets per coach - so if one bulb blew it would knock out six at a time until it was replaced. I hope this has been interesting, and now its time for me to get the soldering Iron out and warm whilst I order the specifics needed to install lighting. Now where am I going to install that decoder... ~ Gary

I'd suggest you take it back to the shop you purchased it from Metadyneman - either that or contact Hornby's customer service department and see what they say - if you modify that PCB in anyway it will invalidate your warranty with Hornby and although they are generally quite flexible I have encountered the wrong person at their CS Department and had the item returned to me with a snotty accompanying letter telling me in no uncertain terms that the repairs done prior to sending it to them are the problem (they weren't I hasten to add) and to sling my (tension lock?) hook. I'm not suggesting that you are incapable of the work Metadyneman; its just I don't want anyone else to be stuck in the position I was back in the day, especially if something 'worse' happens to your 4-VEP. (God what else could happen) Hope that helps, ~ Gary

Someone tell me I am not crazy please? Despite the warnings on here and fully knowing the issues I've just bid on a 4-VEP on eBay and am currently in the lead - there is still some time to go so I expect to be out bid. (It was cheap basically) Never know... perhaps I will come to feel your pain. Cheers, ~ Gary

Looks fantastic already! Very interested in seeing this go ahead. ~ Gary

I compared the wheels with my Olive Green Terrier - they are definitely a different shade of green compared to those. Its very bizarre as Hornby did a fantastic job of replicating Southern Olive Green Livery on the Maunsells, M7, T9, Schools Class etc - so why is this little Terrier a different colour? That's what I find bizarre. ~ G

Good Evening, I've been fiddling about on the layout having a 'runnng session' working out some tweaks for the track layout and what works and doesn't work. Half-way through the afternoon I felt a change of era, from BR (S) to Southern Railway - perfect as it gave me the opportunity to run my new A1X Terrier from Hornby - the first Terrier released in a 'Mainland' Southern Railway livery - all previous Southern Liveried Terriers have been based on Isle of Wight examples - with the wrong bunker as well but I digress. Very quickly I noticed the livery didn't match the coaches, some of Hornby's brilliant Maunsells in SR Olive Green livery. The new terrier is much darker in livery resembling BR (S) in some lighting conditions. So I raided the box and pulled out my Southern Olive Green M7, which matches the Maunsells perfectly, also my Hornby IoW Terrier W11 which has a slightly different shade but matches the coaches alright - last but not least my Dapol Terrier in Olive Green as well 2635. Now the question that springs to mind is how hard is it to match a livery? The T9, M7, Maunsells and Van C match perfectly, W11 being older is slightly different but matches ok aside from the Southern lettering & Number being much more yellow. And the new livery much darker, that's three takes on Olive Green Livery. Also the wheels on the new Terrier I['ve just noticed are a different much more 'olive' shade again - how bizzare. New Terrier # 2662 and Dapol Terrier 2635, with Maunsell BCK. Note wheels are a different shade of green to the body. Hornby M7, Dapol Terrier & New Hornby Terrier - never noticed how much larger M7's are. Dapol Terrier & New Hornby Terrier back to back with a Maunsell Carriage in the background. Old Hornby W11 Terrier and new Terrier, M7 in background. In this picture the M7 and Terrier appear to be the same colour Hornby Terrier and Dapol Terrier. Now aside from the livery variations the new Terrier has been impressing me severely. For performance it is very happy crawling along with a heavy load at slow speeds, the Terrier managed to restart a train of 11 coaches, 2 Maunsells, 3 Bullied & 6 Mark I's on a scale gradient of 1 in 17 on a curve without an issue - definitely something the prototype would now be able to do. And ran perfectly out of the box with no real attention - before its haulage test the locomotive was given a light oiling and she strolled off with no issues. I am extremely happy with a purchase especially at the price of £49.99 from Smallworld of Barnstaple - no connection just a very satisfied customer. Ordered it and it was in store within three days - over a weekend. Now next plans are to modify a LB&SCR Terrier with the addition of wingplates to represent an A1 condition locomotive. Thank you for reading. ~ Gary (Matloughe)

I honestly say I never considered it that way Trevellan, I knew there were more VEP's then CIG's or BIG's - but you are right for at least a generation they were the semi-fast train of choice. I must say I always found CIG's as more comfortable perhaps it was just the seats had that slight bit of extra space all in all it was indeed a long time ago now - perhaps I need to defog my rose tinted glasses I use to look at the past. Very true Frobisher - perhaps I feel more then a little let down by Hornby and that is what is influencing my decision here. I was looking forwards to a VEP but after it being priced out of my budget range (for the moment) and latterly seeing the issues others have raised perhaps that is why I am against it and am 'Hornby-bashing' as it were; the bogie problem I could live with infact my T9 still has its tender chassis the wrong way round - I never bothered to do anything about; it its just the front end doesn't do it for me (on the VEP) I am afraid - the pencil mod & window surrounds go a long way to improving things however. I do look forward to some HAPs if it happens but that is for another thread. Cheers, ~ Gary

For someone who doesn't model the 'modern image' and being five years old at the time my Intercity Executive 225 set (Cl90 + 2 Mk III's + Cl91) looked pretty spot on to me - I don't think mine even had valances. As you say Laser Scanning is expensive - yes I agree; however at £140 a pop for a 4-Car train I am sure the economies of scale would have worked out in their favour in the end. If Dapol (I think - might be Bachmann) can Laser Scan a Class 205 (Not sure if the scan still forms the basis of the model - I remember reading in the press at the time) for a model then why can't Hornby? Also it would have shown them that the bogies are 'Handed' And with the correct scans it wouldn't have been to difficult to modify the CAD image to produce a CIG/BIG. A 4-VEP I feel was a poor choice of subject, it appeared in less liveries - loathed by passengers thanks to its hard benchlike seating, cold & draughty. (Brrr) But I am merely a consumer at the end of the day. And not going to argue over the relative issues - I will buy a Hornby VEP but as I said before its no high on my list. Cheers, ~ Gary

I thin what SAC was getting at is that if they managed to get the 225's looking spot on now whenever they made them 10-20 years ago, I had a class 91 when I was about five so that's nearly 20 years ago. Then why on earth have they managed to made a number of mistakes on the 4-VEP? Especially with the ability to laser 'scan' the bodywork and build a 3D model on a computer - if they were using works drawings then that's different. But I seriously wonder why they didn't just ask SWT to borrow 'Gordon Pettit' and scan that? That would have given them every accurate detail for the 4-VEP after rebuilding in a computer based 3D model. Now I made a decision years ago to by any Southern RTR EMU that came out - my way of helping to proving there is a market for SR EMU's, I can assure you however the 4-VEP is last on my list to buy unless there is an improved 'Phase 2' version of the unit. I don't mind cutting up compartment walls but when it comes to bogie modification just to get things looking right and a front end that looks more & more off each time I look at it. I'm sorry but I hope Mr Bachmann does the 4-BIG/CIG/REP & TC fleet. I will by a 4-VEP just not in the near future. Cheers, ~ Gary

Oh its so cute! masculine, full of atmosphere. Seriously that's a fine engine & rolling stock. ~ Gary

This is an London Transport (District Railway really) G23 Driving Motor Car, in its later adapted form with a cab at each end for shuttle duties on the long closed South Acton Branch. The 23 standing for year of manufacture - in this case 1923. Hope that Helps. ~ Gary