mike morley

What are the Dart Castings lamp-top castings like, quality-wise? I've got some old Cavendish lamp-tops and some others of uncertain origin (Gibson?) and they are so badly cast only about a quarter of them are useable and even they require a lot of fettling and poor eyesight to be considered acceptable.

Taken April 2007.

I was still typing #23 when you posted #22! Having read #22, my immediate reaction is that the extreme weight imbalance will cause major problems getting the springing right and will probably need huge amounts of experimentation that would probably take quite some time while you sourced springs of differing strengths with which to experiment. I would, therefore, suggest that this might be an occasion where compensation is the better and certainly the easier route.

A common Cambrian problem, I'm afraid. For instance, I have yet to find a picture of Seaham tank "Gladys" in her later guise as GWR 1196 taken from a vantage point high enough to identify the location, nature or even existence of its tank vents. Yours looks good so far. Was the problem with the angle of the cylinders due simply to less-than-perfect workmanship by the original builder or is it one of those areas where the nature of the beast means you cannot be sure you've got it right until you're already past the point of no return? This thread is tempting me to resume work on my stalled version. One reason for keep on putting it off is sheer cowardice - the knowledge that it is irreplaceable if I make a hash of it having induced something close to a phobia about tackling kits that are no longer available. Where whitemetal kits are concerned it does not help that my beloved 15watt Weller, inherited from my father and probably not much younger than me, has finally expired and I do not get on nearly as well with either its Antex or modern Weller replacements.

I once had a house with two bathrooms, one of which was an odd shape while the other was very small. I commented at the time that I'd rather have just one bathroom of a sensible size and shape. I've now got that one bathroom of a sensible size and shape, but it's overdue a major refurbishment that would involve it being taken out of action for quite a while. Suddenly having a second bathroom, no matter what it's size and shape, seems quite attractive. Be careful what you wish for . . .

Is the big Bagnall still next in line?

I notice that although the MRJ Project Loco was intended for 2mm axles, you've fitted what look like eighth-inch axle bushes. I've got one to build but loathe 2mm driving axles (too many bad experiences with Gibson 2mm/eighth-inch collars) so would be interested to hear how you intend to overcome the "problem" that keeps mine on the back-burner - that the High Level gearbox specifically designed for this loco is intended for 2mm axles.

Probably the key comment in a posting that was very helpful all round - thank you. From looking at the underside view, am I right in thinking you've also beefed-up the compensation beam pivots with some nuts and bolts?

They are seriously expensive! Would it bring the price down from the stratosphere if they were unpolished?

Not really. About the only bit of the original set-up that could be re-used would be the compensation beams as cosmetic items. The rest would be a scratchbuild.

The compensation beam does do the compensating, as per prototype. It does, however, mean that a very high percentage of the loco's weight is carried by the beam pivots. The pivots themselves are quite substantial, but there is very little metal around them on both the chassis and the beams and is probably the cause of the failures. The outer spring hangars are attached only to the compensation beam and are forked to act as guides, the intention being that they keep the compensation beam roughly in line with the chassis. Again, they are not really substantial enough to do the job and any whip they are unable to control adds to the strain on the beam pivots. I am starting to suspect that the only way we're going to get a decent set of crossheads is to file them out of solid brass. If you can get more than one brass dome made, I would like to add it to the etchings for the Sharp's Goods on the shopping list I'm starting to compile with you!

Here's the IKB chassis. As you see, the axle bushes are fitted to the compensation beam, not the actual chassis, which is lovely but also fragile.

Afterthought . . . The weakest point of the kit is probably the whitemetal crossheads and slidebars. Replacement nickel-silver slidebars would be fairly easy to fabricate, but they would only accelerate the wear of the already unsatisfactory and rather harder to replace crossheads. Any ideas?

Where is that "Groan" button we've been after for so long?

Would Bullied pacifics be appropriate for something based on Feltham?

Is yours original K's or the later IKB version with the etched chassis? I started but have never finished the latter version. The chassis is exquisite, but I was warned by more than one source that it is quite delicate and nowhere near strong enough for the rough and tumble of exhibition life. Apparently the "cure" is to abandon the built-in compensation and solder it up solid, but I wasn't convinced a rigid chassis could cope with the results of my poor track-building skills, which is why it was never finished. I did seriously consider doing a Cambrian tender conversion and even got to the stage of discussing the possibilities with Kay Butler, but when I sat down and worked it out about the only parts of the kit that would be useable were the boiler fittings and the extreme front end (smokebox, cylinders, etc.) That seemed to be wasting an awful lot of a perfectly good kit (and mine is good, with everything nicely cast and fitting together well) as well as putting a helluva lot of weight right where a 4-4-0 needs it least, so the idea was quietly abandoned. I realise that my findings aren't an awful lot of help but they might prevent you going up a blind alley or two.

When I attempted a similar method of printing slates I found the shiny backing paper of the labels caused it to "skid" slightly as the rollers pulled it through the printer, stretching the slates by varying amounts and making them very difficult to use effectively. Did you simply not have this problem or did you find a way of overcoming it?

Considering there was only two of them, they weren't half achieving a lot. I first noticed them walking back from Tesco's, when the felling of a quite sizeable evergreen caught my attention. In the twenty-odd minutes it took me to walk home, put my shopping away, grab my camera and return the entire tree had been stripped, cut up and stacked neatly on the other side of the track.

More activity, taken half an hour ago from Watling Street bridge. This is the Bedford end of the descent from Bletchley Flyover. One thing that occur to me is that set of points is obviously fairly new, and I think it unlikely they would have been replaced if they were intending to rebuild the junction in order to restore double track across the flyover at any time in the foreseeable future. If the track across the flyover remains single, would there not be sufficient width for a platform on the flyover without it needing major alterations?

Judging by what's happening outside (And I'm 160 miles away) and appearing on the news, that is an understatement of considerable magnitude!

A development on this theme is to spray the sheet brick re then follow it with a mortar colour. Then, once all is dry, turn the sheet over and rub it gently over a sheet of fine wet and dry laid flat on the workbench, removing the mortar from the surface of the bricks but leaving it in the joints. It is particularly well suited to the Wills sheets because the casting process gives the bricks a slight bulge that is flattened by the wet and dry, improving their appearance no end. This isn't my idea. It was given to me by one of the operators of the lovely Midland P4 layout "Foxup". And be careful when cutting and shaping Wills brick sheets. I've found them to be particularly prone to shattering.

To add to CKPR's comment, I've found that a coat of primer can prevent the tendency for some paints to "slide" off some of the glossier/smoother plastics.