dj_crisp

Many thanks! Always good to share stuff! It's definetly going to stay with a china clay theme just that the more i look at the prototype the more i seem to base ideas on St Erth - however I'm not that prototypically bothered to be that strict so will keep the china clay element with 50s flashing by on the main line cheers Will

Hi David Thanks for your info and good recommendations. I'm also aiming for 1mm clearance as well as that seems to work ok with my stock. When the layout is fully wired up and running I'm planning on an afternoon checking this alignment. It's easy to tweak if needed. So far my test Hornby 09 fitted with ultrascales with a selection of wagons/coaches have managed to get through ok but I'll see what happens when i get the big engines running. My theory is if the rigid 09 can get through then i have a chance with the rest. It's certainly bounced off a few times highlighting my poor track laying skills (my worse bit was a small change in incline!) The biggest problem I've had so far is gauge narrowing on points and I'm not entirely convinced all plastic constuction is ideal. The last FB point has been strengthened with the odd copper clad sleeper so it'll be interesting to compare that one over time with the others. I also found I've needed to do alot of thinning down of the point blades to stop stock riding up and then off as they enter the facing blade. Rounding the point blade tip and thinning the inside a little seems essential for me to try and achieve smooth running. As you can probably tell it's all one big experiment and I'm learning alot as I go along! I don't plan on ballasting until nearer the end of the project just so the layout can be run for quite a while cheers Will

It's been a while since i posted anything on here.... 47s have been taking up what little modelling time I have and the cold garage hasn't inspired me to work on the layout. Anyway I went slightly mad and lifted the sidings point to hopefully improve alignment... then rebuilt it as i pretty much destroyed it as my gluing was pretty good! There really should be a trap point between the sidings and the branch line but the space is a bit tight. Using a lot of modellers license (as there really isn't enough space) I've taken inspiration from Liskeard and built a single trap from scrap rail and left over chairs; I'm quite pleased with the result, and next task is to make it working which should be pretty straightforward. My prototype inspiration is just to the left of the Rat in this photo taken from flickr; Admittedly I'm not sure if this style of trap point is strictly correct for my time period and tbh I've just made up the position of the chairs but i think it will look ok. I've also decided the siding off the double crossover will need one so this will keep me busy over the festive period... Although I'm tempted to have a go at the point in the photo infront of the Rat as this seems to be a good a trap point space saver! It looks a bit too complex for me so I'll probably go for the single as it's a bit more straightforward!! Merry Xmas all! Will

Hi Fran That is stunningly brilliant - sounds like there'll be very little modelling to do when these arrive :) I can't wait for your 80s/90s batches ;) cheers Will

As an EM modeller I'm just wondering what axles you'll be using and if they'll be an easy conversion? Cheers Will

That sounds proper nice! Perfect.

I'm really not bothered about opening doors and bonnets etc. I doubt Accurascale will do a bad job of it but to me it's a bit of a gimic. Getting the glazing right is more important to me. And an area that all 37s have looked naff imo is the front windscreen. I've lost count on how many times Ive fitted Brian's etched windscreens! Every molding in plastic has always looked a bit thick to me. Itll be interesting to see how this one looks

Jules Cracking stuff! I really like your painting of the OAAs Cheers Will

I don't understand why anyone should accept something as flawed as this.... it's not a debatable mistake (i.e. shade of colour) as it's incorrectly positioned and I think it's poor that it got this far to market. Hornby should not have accepted this batch. End of Totally agree with comments from YesTor. As a diesel sectorisation modeller it's the equivalent of putting a nameplate on a chimney to me so has to be moved. Not something thats easy to do or should have to do on an model like this.

I totally agree with your strategy - far better to have time to talk to people on this rather than wasting time announcing stuff. I like your approach... and am looking forward to your 80/90s variants following this successful launch! cheers Will

What a shocker! Clearly a printing error as the original sector locos had a very strict livery alignment to keep them all standard. I've removed a number of 60 mainline logos and have a 50:50 success rate. I won't be taking this one on!

Cracking choice! As soon as you guys go for late 80s early 90s loco's I'll be in for lots Good luck with this release! I know you're holding back the CDA's for the big announcement lol I can only wish!! cheers Will

Hi Nick 47484 is one of my favs! It'll be good to see it with a proper shade of yellow and I look forward to seeing a photo I'd not thought of penbits for bogies. I've always admired his stuff but haven't ever dared have a go at springing. But I know he does some excellent brake components so am rather tempted. Today I put on the buffer beams so am starting to look at the chassis to see what I can mess about with. Cheers Will

Thanks Wayne An interesting point that I'd never have thought about! I had to have a little look and youre spot on... the RF sits a lot higher than the other two! So now I have an excuse that all my 47s have fresh springs Cheers Will

An interesting observation! I do like the roof shape of Dapols model.... just need to file down those roof welds... which afterwards is better than being non-existant which seems to be the root Bachmann is going down.

Colds are such a pain... because they basically keep me out of the garage and as a result very little modelling takes place. So I've gone back 47600 (which is my vitrains test engine) to see if i can sort out ride height. As soon as you remove the glazing the body doesn't clip into place and it's rather sloppy. So my high tech solution is a simple jig (which is a piece of scrap brass fret) and by using the original clips glue in some plastikard tabs. This approach has managed to keep it all straight and the same height all round; Colds are such a pain... because they basically keep me out of the garage and as a result very little modelling takes place. So I've gone back 47600 (which is my vitrains test engine) to see if i can sort out ride height. As soon as you remove the glazing the body doesn't clip into place and it's rather sloppy. So my high tech solution is a simple jig (which is a piece of scrap brass fret) and locating by using the original clips glue in some plastikard tabs. This approach has managed to keep it all straight and the same height all round; So onto to height. Wiki says the height of a 47 is 12 ft 9 1⁄2 in (3.90 m) so 51.32mm high. All sounds very precise but I can't measure that accurately! So I've got the height to be about 51mm so a little higher than my test mk1 coach; I've read that the Vitrains body is perhaps a little short… I think I agree and I reckon it is short by about 0.5-1mm. So I've tried compromise and align it as best as i can to the coach... so it's possible about 0.5mm too short overall and maybe not lowered enough.... What do you all think? Perspective messes things up but a link below to an excellent photo on flickr; Rubbish exposure but hopefully it looks ok I think I'm happy... !! Please do let me know if you think it looks ok. (I'm sure it's my naff photography that's making the blue look green... even the bits I've resprayed with precision rail blu dull look green in these photos!) Onto buffer beams and Kadees next. Happy Modelling All! Will

Thanks Martin Very interesting read. Definetly something I need to have a go at cheers Will

Some awesome stuff What laser cutter do you use? It's an area I'm getting more and more tempted to learn cheers Will

Looks smashing and the prototype height couplings look so much better than NEM height. They're exactly the arrangment i do for my inner coaching stock when i remount the kadee onto the body of the coach. It works well and having no buffers on the PTA I expect will allow them to go round pretty tight curves. I tend to snip off the auto bar thing as I don't shunt them so will do the same for PTAs

A strange loco on the bench... I'm aiming to do a preserved 40 with as minimal modelling as possible. I managed to pick up a retooled body and so have applied some shawplan frames. One thing I dislike is the join between the body and the seperate front nose which Bachmann didn't do on their previous release. The join is really noticible with this livery so I'm applying some filler to hide it. Also by trying to hide the join I've found out the nose is larger than the body! I've done loads of filing to improve the join and now some filler has been applied which will hopefully hide the join. Now for some real minimal modelling!! The Superb PCA from Accurscale They're so nice the inners of the rake will have scale couplings with a kadee on each end. So I've removed the NEM socket on the 3 link ends and painted some buffers. The line up above is choosing EM wheels... as I couldn't resize the originals and fit them in (need a lathe to turn them down). From the thread on these wagons I've learnt that the scale size is 12.5mm diameter which is the Ultrascale fitted version fitted right.... but then i had a shock when I looked up the latest price for them so won't be using them for this rake!! So I've fitted a DCC concepts 12mm version in the middle. Close up I guess you can tell but to me it looks ok and at under a 1/3 of the price of the ultrascales it's a bit of a no brainer. So while the weather is naff... I've masked up and sprayed some... Who said Modelling was dull! To fit the wheels I've reduced the size of the plastic washer on these and taken a small amount of plastic off the wagon and they're done. I wish all skock was this easy! cheers for reading Will

Your 321 is looking excellent! And the layout is coming along nicely too! Please keep the updates flowing as they're motivating me to get on with some projects this weekend. cheers Will

Thanks all. So if my maths is right roughly a 12.5mm wheel in 4mm scale. I'm converting them to EM and just had a small shock looking at the price of Ultrascales these days! Will definitely explore other options. Cheers Will

Wonderful wagons! Does anyone know the prototype wheel diameter on these?

You'll see it on the front page of http://www.shawplan.com/ Looks the business - when i spoke to Brian about this etch last year sometime he did mention it was a good fit. But I've not tried it out yet

Exactly as YesTor - The etched grille grille is way overscale and imo runis the side of the loco. It's crude and sticks out way too far. If i owned one then I'd have to replace it with Brians amazing etch.... but then my 33/1s and 33/2s wouldn't sit well next to it and so I'd end up wanting to do the fleet. Which presents a different challenge in how to convincingly model the interior next to the bogie mount... It's low down on my project list but i may have a go with one to see if it's possible. Again it's just my opinion and there are plently of issues with the 33/1s & 33/2s that I'm happy to live with or try to resolve that the new 33/0 resolves. cheers Will