5050

It'll be laundered.

Minimum £150.00 plus VAT per figure you don't receive. Cash only...................

I'm one of Alan's 'under the counter, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, sold in plain brown wrapping paper' figures Along with many other infamous notorious notable 'personalities' from the hobby.

Are the brass window rims part of the moulding? If so they're very nicely painted. And who's the driver?

I've got a bridge (dating from the late 50's) complete but one of the 'cross girders' R78/2 has lost an 'end'. I used to use these as loads on a flat wagon. I never had a layout big enough to use it as a bridge with all the associated bits but it is an impressive item on its own. I also had the box for a long time but I think it gradually decomposed over the years and was jettisoned some time ago. No idea what happened to the small screws!

I think modern bits shouldn't be filed if at all possible, they are made with a coating that protects the bit. I use both a sponge and a 'brass swarf' cleanrer - along with a small tin of bit cleaner which I find invaluable if the bit gets a bit 'mucky'. A quick dip/rub in this, wipe it on the sponge and all is well. I use Poweflo flux for all 'average' work with the occasional acid flux application when I feel it is required. My iron is an RS Components adjustable temperature one which I tend to use turned up to 11 (or at least, quite high!). Solder 99% of the time is 145. Very rare that I have any 'failures' - but they do occur occasionally and most of the time I can recognise why.

If he does there'll be more solder than brass!

I use the gas ring. Hold the offending parts(s) in a pair of long nose pliers in the flame for only a couple of seconds and it all falls apart. Won't damage the cooker as it's ceramic. Cleaning excess solder off can be a bit of a task at times but a desolder wick certainly helps. I've 'rescued' several 4mm etched kits like this.

More scrap required? I've got a small paper bag full of swarf scraped off my lathe bed you can have. Rather oily but you could wash it Never chuck anything away! That's my motto.

I've got loads of pin vices, several are Eclipse of a fair vintage and others a set of (probably) Chinese ones. All the smallest ones close up to nothing so will hold a 0.3mm drill. When drilling this small I make a small indent with a fine scriber (old gramophone needle held in another old pin vice) to prevent the small drill wandering. What I also do is use a large drawing pin in the open end which acts as a bearing when turning the vice and stops you wearing a hole in your palm or finger end.

No fully concealed gear trains back in those days! Long before Bachmann 9F appeared, I was going to use a Kitmaster one. It was going to be an exercise in 'engineering' with Ultrascale bevel gears (still got them), step-down geartrains etc. etc. Finally decided it was going to be to much of a faff so I built a Pannier tank instead........

I've still got the Mashima 1830 I bought years ago for a tender powered 9F I was planning. Much to big for anything I tend to build these days! But never say never..........

Probably because Ken Keyser used the Roche drawing which has the front section of the footplate in front of the smokebox door to short. I worked this out when comparing the K's and Airfix bodies many years ago and wondered why and how they were different. As soon as I looked in the Roche book of drawings I realised why. I run both still and don't worry about the difference..................

Took the words out of my mouth Gordon! Nearly had an exact duplicate pair of posts. Great minds etc. etc................

Right, 'ere we go, some photos. The chassis with the wheels attached (but not permanently yet) and the motor and gearbox unit. And fitted together alongside the body. The chassis (minus motor) on my new 'photo diorama' (ie, my old strip of 2 x 1 with half a yard of flexible track used for testing and running in). And on to the tender. Turning down the Bachmann tender wheels by taking just over 0.5mm from the back, reshaping the flange to a smaller profile and reducing overall width to 2mm. Before and after working on the back. And a before and after shot of both the untouched and reprofiled wheels to show the difference and a pair assembled with a 'knitting needle' centre. Drilled 1.6mm for the axle 'spigots' and turned down to 3mm diameter. The 3mm section of the wheel axle 'stub' will fit into the chassis axle hole and provide electrical conduction for the split-axle pickup. Hopefully............. I'm now working on the subchassis for the tender, hacking it out of the living 1/16th thick brass, drilling axle holes and milling the final shape, all on the lathe.

Quick update - wheels are fitted to axles and hornblocks together with rods (but not finally), pick-up plate made ready for wires and now (almost) ready to fit pickups to loco and start running in. However, I have turned my attention to the tender and decided that I will fit a 'split-axle' style chassis (similar to the Adavoyle ones for those with long memories) making a sub-chassis from PCB and brass strip. Front 2 pairs of wheels will be sprung and the tender weighted to rest on the loco and add tractive weight. Wheels have been taken from my Bachmann 43xx tender as they are the right size and, most importantly, are all metal with a plastic centre axle section into which stub axles are pushed. Relatively easy to turn down to a (almost!) P4 profile and use an old knitting needle to turn up some new centre sections. Photos have been taken and will follow - soon!

Not mine. Or any of my friends..........

Watering at Lower Pandy -

Sam, there's a Bentley's Bitter advert been revealed on the end wall of the pub that's being 'renovated' down Thornes Lane (The Nelson??) by the viaduct. Well worth a photo I reckon.

Never used a jig for any of my (numerous) compensated P4 chassis except for a set of original Perseverance 'jig axles', the coupling rods and a couple of small elastic bands. Mind you, I've never built anything with more wheels than 6 coupled but I'm sure the same principles would apply, just fit the 'front six' axles and then the 'rear six'. Must get round to that 9F one day.................

A lot of my ply offcuts came from a guy who lined out Transit vans.

I made my 'L's from 4" deep lengths of 1" MDF cut by the supplier for me at purchase, glued and screwed together. They've been under my layout now for almost 20 years (!!) now and not moved/twisted/warped etc. at all -and they are 10' long supported at the ends only. I also use a version of 'L' girders on portable layouts to allow some flexibility when routeing point operation rodding, positioning track feeds, signals etc.

Rather than cover the join you could have a one piece, liftoff, section of the River Ankh. Absolutely prototypical I would say. Just found the thread - where have I been for the past few years!! In a retreat in the Ramtops with the Listening Monks perhaps? Since early lockdown I've been re-reading all the books in order. I used to get the latest paperback every Christmas from Mrs 5050, sadly that's no longer the case. However, I find that every time I re-read one I pickup some little nuance in the dialogue or text that I've not noticed the significance of before. And some of the phrases really stick - 'more self centred than a gyroscope' - is my current favourite. I could use that to describe several people I am acquainted with........................

Yes, Airfix were the original manufacturer, not Kitmaster. It does get rather confusing when talking about these old kits as they have changed hands often over the years. The two Airfix cement wagons, Presflo and Prestwin, were really good for their day and I think still stand up well today.

Despite the lack of informatuion I have been beavering away, slowly getting on with it. I seem to have spent an awful lot of time achieving what appears to be very little. In comparison to some people on here anyway! Whatever, here's progress (almost) to date. I decided that the chassis should really have some representation of the firebox sides otherwise there would be a large space on view below the cab. I again used the High Level Pannier Chassis kit etch as a pattern and scribed the shape onto some thin brass which I cut out with the piercing saw and filed to shape. They were then soldered to the bottom edge of the frames between the rear two axles. The 'impressionistic' inside motion had a pair of crossheads filed up from set of Puffers etches I found with the connecting rods made from scrap etch strip. The actual 'valve gear' I've omitted as, being practical, you can't see it anyway. I 'know' it's (not) there though - and now you do too! Coupling rods have been split into front and rear sections for the compensation to work. TBH, the etches were a bit rough, slightly over-etched I reckon and the register of the sides wasn't good as well so when the two etches were soldered together there was quite a 'groove' along the length. On the top edge I filled this with solder and filed it smooth but, being at heart a rather lazy so-and-so, I left the underside as is. You won't see it when the loco is running. I decided that the motor would be sited in a 'conventional' position inside the firebox. The new firebox sides conceal any parts that 'hang down' but, as built, the gearbox impinged on the lower edge of the cab/firebox moulding. I was a bit concerned that I would have to hack a few lumps away and have the gears in view in the cab bottom but, by careful filing/hacking of the moulding and cutting away parts of the High Level gearbox etch It all now fits rather well. Next job will be fitting the wheels and rods. Look out for the next exciting (!) instalment coming soon to a forum near you!