JaymzHatstand

Just a quick update to say that the first train has run from the fiddle yard to the corner board without incident! I have also tried different bits of stock, being both pulled and propelled, and so far there hasnt been a single problem. No doubt one the track is ballasted and painted something will develop some sort of objection to it though! Cheers J

Oh dear, that is quite an adventure, but I can thoroughly agree with the quality of the Parkside after-sales service (satisfied customer disclaimer!). The chassis does indeed look superb, now I'm fighting down the urge to give them some pennies for one! As Ian said above, boiling water can help with low-melt solder, and I believe Eileen's Emporium stock it at a reasonable price! Looking forward to the next escapade, it reminds me that my bodges are not unique! As well as providing some very informative bits and bobs and do's and don't's J

I have finally got around to sorting out my new fiddle yard. In fairness I have been distracted by my other layout, but have now at last made some progress! As stated previously the old fiddle yard served a purpose, but was not brilliantly reliable, the insulfrog small radius points being a particular problem so a new system was devised. I had considered a casette storage sysetm, but decided that they could be problematic to store and I had viisions of me tipping one up and stock rolling out of the end, as I'd no doubt forget to fit a stopper at the 'dead' end! So a traverser was the order of the day giving me an extra storage road than my original fiddle yard and no points to contend with! As you will see from the photos, track alignment and current provision are dealt with using brass rod and tube sections, ensuring perfect alignment on every road. The tops of the tube sections had to be filed down slightly in order to not be higher than the rail head, but all has been checked and various items of stock will pass over without problems (so far!). Next on the agenda is the new control panel for the station which will hopefully make it a lot more user friendly and also incorprates section switches to place less emphasis on the point blades carrying current. Fingers crossed that this bit of progress will spur on some more! Cheers J

That safety valve looks most convincing, and being in 009, I can imagine how small it is! I'm enjoying watching this come together, and it's possibly even inspiring me to get on with my 101 projects! J

Very nice indeed, I'm looking forward to seeing both of these painted and ready to enter service. The only faults I've ever had with any Worsley etches have been my own lack of skill/patience, and with each one I put together, I learn a little more, so the products themselves are thoroughly recommended! Keep up the good work, J

I've just rediscovered your blog, from your most recent entry, and realised that I'd commented on here, but for some reason, I didn't receive notification of your response! That's a most generous offer, if it is still viable, if not, it was most gemerous! I have now increased my rake to 15 which is far more than my fiddle yard and run round loop can handle! So they'll be split into two rakes for now I think! How have you got on with the S&Ws? I've gone back to using them on my OO stock, and once set at a sensible height are pretty user friendly, just a bit of a pain to put together and fit at times! J

The Tamiya 48th scale vehicles are rather nice, and the improvements you've made to this ex-Italeri kit really lift it up. Its certainly given me some ideas for my own military modelling, and as for Tanis, that's just an A3-sized bit of inspiration! I'd love to see your Do335 as well, always an eyecatching aircraft! Looking forward to seeing more of this J

That's very smart indeed! I saw it on the Worsley site a while ago and was rather tempted then, even more so now! I've built a couple of the FR carriages, and was looking for something a little different. I'm looking forward to seeing this painted! Keep it up J

Wow! Its a proper old classic one with the moulded handrails and shiny metalwork. Its in a lot better condition than my old one is, the motor was fine last time I tried it, but the main coupling rods kept jamming and I couldn't figure a way around that, so its now a static exhibit, just like the real one! Looking forward to see the finished article J

How about 'Arnold R Sole' or going by your current profile photo, how about the 'Real Ale Tw*ts' get their own establishment? Tere are a colossal range of Viz characters that could preside over the premises, there is a fabulous list of them here, read, chortle and enjoy! J

Make sure you get some sort of lubricant into the tubes so that when you ballast, any glue which might get into the tubes doesn't affect its movement (I speak from experience here!) I can vouch that when the GEM point control is a satisfying way of operating points, especially where angle cranks are used, its almost like real point rodding! In theory and practise at least, if not appearance! A good bit of tracklaying there J

Wow! That's a brilliantly informative link, thanks for that! I was already aware of the loading gauge problems of Churchills in transit, and have built a couple of Airfix ones sans side pods! I'll be saving those instructions to read at my leisure! Cheers J

After having a quick check with my steel ruler, neither wagon are 16.5mm from rail head, one is above, the other below! The actual detail differences aren't a problem, as you say Tony, as the Parkside one was converted from an existing design to serve a purpose (as the originals were) and the Gramodels one is bespoke, this should also account for the greater width of the Gramodels wagon. Unless it is just generally bigger, and one of the two models is out of scale (or perhaps both are) Mike, the ramp wagon is listed on the Gramodels price list as TBA and I seem to remember talking about it when I bought the flat. It was in the research stage then I think. I'll have to investigate Parkdise bogies, they aren't listed on the website, but it can't hurt to ask! As for the RM article, I've got that too, along with both Model Rail features (and any subsequent bits) and the Rail Express Modeller segment. In terms of loading, I've not fully decided yet, but I do like the idea of a block train of Churchills behind my black V2! Cheers for the input J

The Hornby wheels are bigger, but oddly changing them made next to no difference, which is surpising, because looking at them they are maybe 0.5mm bigger. I tried the larger wheels in the Parkside bogies too, and still no change worth reporting. I may just have to keep them in separate rakes, although I do think I'll have to invest in some wheels of the correct diameter, as it does look a lot better with the smaller ones in, obviously I'll need spoked ones, not the discs in the LNER flat. Cheers J

Earlier this year I purchased a Gramodels Warflat from the Doncaster show, and I've finally got around to putting it together (after eventually getting the wheels for it) and I must admit, it's a nice easy build and certainly is well detailed. The one piece resin cast deck/solebars needed a soak in some hot water to straighten it out a little (but nothing major and that could've happened with it being stored amongst other bits and bobs for quite a while!) The whitmetal castings for the bufferbeams/jacks and the separeate buffers required very little tidying up with needle files and were a good fit onto the body. The Ratio diamond frame bogies had their axle-boxes drilled out and fitted with brass bearings and spoked Hornby wheels and run nice and freely. Only one of the buffers was a little damaged, but that won't be too noticable once it's painted and marshalled in a train This brings me onto a problem I have. I built a couple of Parkside LNER bogie bolsters (minus the bolsters) as warflats a couple of years back. Many of them were actuallyt converted to such use so it is a sensible starting point. The only problem is the heights of the two wagons is different, I'm not sure if it's the bogies themselves, or the riding heights, or a combinaiton of the two! Can anyone advise where the error may be? I'm considering getting a couple more flats at Donny next February, and hopefully the planned ramp wagon isn't too far away either! I'm also quite tempted to get ane to be built as the later version without the end jacks as that would make an interesting wagon to shunt on Whitborough (without load of course!) Any advice about the ride hieghts will be gratefully recieved as ever J

Thanks for that livery help, most informative and descriptive! I take it that by 'conventional independent brakes' you men standard levers operating from the central v hangars? Would they both be set towards the end away from the doors still? I was hoping that the bend in the tie bar between the two W irons would be solvable with some washes of plastic weld, but it's still curved, so I'll need to replace it with som plastic strip. Thanks again J