mike morley

I got given one a few years ago by a well-meaning relative (yeah, I know) and in an effort to show willing, after a hasty re-gauging to EM, and trying not to let my fixed smile turn into a cringe, gave it a brief run on my layout to please the donor.

The most obvious thing about it was that it was so much taller than my other stock and I found myself thinking that amongst its many faults was that it was not 4mm scale.

Might it be 5.5mm scale, I found myself wondering when my annual visit to the Manx Grand Prix found this mounted by the old watertower at the end of what was once Peel station.

You can't help wondering how many wagons that witch's brew painted. I also wonder what "dryers" were?

I agree entirely about the Precision Midland Railway supposedly "light" grey being much too dark. I wondered if the first tin I bought had been wrongly labelled and was actually the dark grey so went out and bought another tin from an entirely different source and found the same thing. Wondering if, even though they were from different sources, they might have come from the same batch I waited many, many months and bought a third tin from yet another source and found it too was much darker than could possibly be described as "light" grey.

Could anyone with more knowledge of the Midland shed any light (groan) on this subject?

I ended up mixing my own from assorted Humbrol colours. If you mix it yourself each batch comes out a fractionally different shade and gives the variations in ageing and weathering that Penlan mentions.

Thank you for finding out where the vertical brake wheels were supposed to be mounted. All I've got to do now is find the remnants of the etch that has still got the wheels attached to it.

There has obviously been some upgrading of this kit since I got mine, and not all of for the better. I did get the brake wheels but I also got a pre-curved brass roof that you didnt, as well as the "T" section - which might well have been supplied by Eilenes Emporium.

One improvement that has been made is the fold lines on the "W" irons are now obviously in the right place. When I built mine with the van standing on the "W" irons, without the wheels fitted, the buffers were more or less at the right height!

Pity they didnt improve the instructions!

The wheels are the brake wheels. After I'd built mine I discovered that some (If not all) Cambrian brake vans had upright wheels, rather than the usual "L" shaped handles atop standards. What I never did discover is where and how the wheels are supposed to mount.

I'm not sure about the things in your middle picture. Possibly footboard hangers?

A hangover from the Jidenco era was the laughable idea that you fabricated your own "T" section strapping from strips. Falcon replaced them with ready made "T" section, but the original strips remained on the fret. I'd guess those are what the long strips are in your third picture.

Jamie

The opening paragraph of your initial posting reveals that you are in danger of making the same assumption I did with this kit. The arrangment of handrails in the diagram Falcon Brass provide are pure Swindon, not Oswestry. I'd finished mine and painted it in Cambrian livery before realising that. I can make an educated guess at what the Cambrians handrails should be but I cannot find a pre-grouping picture of one anywhere to prove it.

After dithering for ages, I am now in the process of repainting it in GWR colours.

Mike

PS. The fold lines in the "W" irons are some of those that (On my version, at least) were a very long way from where they ought to have been.

PPS. The Dragon Models van is indeed available in 4mm. I've had one since they first came out but still havent built it