Colin parks

Hi Brian, If you do modify the Hornby shoe beams, it is very easy to prise them off the axle boxes. The plastic used for these Hornby mouldings is solvent with Humbrol Liquid Poly, so it a simple affair to re-attach them once shaped. Take the excess material off the top edges of the beam and let the bottom edge well alone. I filed away part of the axle boxes on the Hornby motor bogie too to allow the shoe beam to sit a little higher once re-fitted. It sounds like a fiddle, but once all this is done, you will have a much better looking model. All the best, Colin

Hi Brian, I've had a look through your pictures. The trailing pick-up bogie does look much better under the DTC. However! You have constructed the Kirk side frames around the frame for a motor bogie, which is longer. This has resulted in the bogie pivot being offset to the wheelbase, pushing the bogie forward by what looks like 2mm. The Hornby Fuse holder is in the correct position - even if it is completely the wrong shape. It shouldn't take too long to rectify. Do you not have the original Kirk bogie stretcher mouldings to construct the side frames on? (My Hornby 2 BIL was fitted with the Kirk type from my old kirk 2 BIL as a straight swap. Post #224 on page 9 shows how it was fixed to the chassis) As Dave says, the shoe beam on the Hornby model is incorrect. The Kirk one certainly is correct, so copy that. There are some very good prototype shots of the beam and many other features, taken by Godfrey Glyn. to be found on this topic on page 14. Since last posting on this subject, I have made a master pattern for the missing compressor on the motor coach chassis. At some point this will be produced, along with an etched cradle, by another RMweb member for his own use. I have also made masters for the MU fittings found on the cab fronts of 2 BILs and their like. I was making patterns for the heavy duty Spencer-Moulton buffers to have sprung heads, but events overtook me I'm afraid. All the best, Colin

Good to know things are on the up Pete. No pressure from me, it's just you seem to be the closest to finishing a silhouette-based carriage project. I have been looking through various postings and there do not seem to be any carriages that have come as near to completion as yours. All the best, Colin

Many thanks for the swift reply Adam. I am about to make an order with Ambis for some point stretcher bars anyway, so I can just add on the Instanters. The Masokits products look good and I shall take you advice on their assembly. It is good to know there are so many small suppliers of quality parts out there - if you know where to find them! All the best, Colin

Hi Pete, I have been out of the loop for a few weeks. Any news of your DMU project? It seemed quite close to completion last month. All the best, Colin

Hi Adam, Uplifting stuff as always and one of the highlights of RMweb for me is to study your latest wagons as they roll off the production line! The container looks very well with all the requisite shackles and loops - not just a boring, plain box any more. Forgive me for asking (possibly I already have), whose Instanter coupling links and screw couplings do you use? All the best, Colin

Hi Dave, The layout is looking very nice. Good luck for your exhibition outing! All the best, Colin

Hi Tigermoth, Thanks for asking about the P4 saga. There is a bagful of track parts waiting to be turned into point work etc.. I have been rather too ill/fragile to build any base boards as yet, but I have been getting on with learning to design track using Templot. The main stumbling block though is not conversion of the stock, but the scarcity of supplies of my preferred wheels for the Black Beetle motor bogies (Ultrascale) leaves me waiting until about September for delivery of the first order. I had thought of using Exactoscale coach wheels for non-driven axles, but that supplier was out of stock at least until very recently (they could be back in production now). At the risk of repeating myself, here is a picture of the very easy conversion to P4 of a Black Beetle motor bogie: Added to the above, it's also quite expensive to work in P4 if you're doing it with all the proper components. So, as money is very tight at present (see the news for problems with processing disability claims - the ATOS agency having its contract terminated, causing further delays etc., etc..) I have to tread carefully and not waste any of the track components on false-starts. There will be pictures of P4 progress as and when. The layout plan is undecided, although I am tempted to reproduce the 'real' junction and station at Newhaven Harbour. The point formation is about 7' in total if the lines into the Marine station throat are included and I only have 11' 6" in length to play with. That would leave a small fictitious layout the only other option. We shall see. All the best, Colin

Hi Adam, Well it is exciting to me. You have this knack of making your 4mm models look like 7mm ones! Once again, the door chains, capping strips, etc. give the wagon that little bit of extra realism. All the best, Colin (Edit: "extra realism" - I hope that makes sense!)

Hi Andy, The coach is looking good and you have progressed really quickly with the assembly stage. I wonder if you are having problems with distortion of the sides whether trying Humbro Liquid Poly might be worth a go.. It has a mild action and I haven't had such effects as you seem to have encountered in keeping the various laminations straight. All the best, Colin

Hi Pete, The unit is looking pretty impressive. There are very few silhouette-cut models that have made it to the painting stage - unless I have missed seeing them! All the best, Colin

Hi Andy, Epic work! Are you amassing sets of sides and then assembling the coaches? I seem to remember you saying that you had planned to make about thirty coaches. Re. the match boarding, would it help to score the backs of the parts to equalise the stresses on the plastic? All the best, Colin

Hi Peter, Many thanks for posting the extra shots of your work. The vintage train looks great! Amazing to think just a few months back the vehicles behind that loco were just flat pieces of plasticard. All the best, Colin

Excellent work Peter. More pics. of the finished vehicles please! Colin

I've not got that far with coupling EMUs together John. To be honest, There has never been space to run 'multiple' units on my 00 layout - apart from the two 2 HAPs which are linked by a wire with a magnet on the end (!) If I can get P4 units to stay on the rails at all, I'm sure couplings won't be too hard to install. There are the near-scale Sergeant ones from America which I had fancied, being almost perfect for the 1951 stock and units built thereafter. All the best, Colin

Hi John, The BILs and pre-war 2HALs are at least taken care of by Hornby for you! I presume the 6PAN and 6 PUL sets would be the Eastbourne service which divided at Lewes. (When I get around to modelling Newhaven Harbour in P4, a 6 PAN would be nice to run if not a bit before my chosen era. The thought of six months' work is a sobering thought though!) The oddities are going to be interesting if you intend to model such things as the war-damage replacement trailers for 2 BILs and so on. A later 4 LAV would be a very rare model to make. Perhaps using two Hornby motor coaches from their forthcoming 2 HAL model would be a short cut if not a bit expensive! You never know though, one day in the future I might be able to help out with some stock for your exhibitions, once I get some P4 wheels. The 4 SUB would be right for Brighton excursions, but sadly my 4 COR is in blue not green! All the best, Colin

Wow John, a 6 PAN and 6 PUL too?! I suppose you just have to have those units for Balcombe. Having a silhouette cutter will help of course, but in my experience cutting out the windows for an EMU is the easy bit! I reckon you will need a month per coach -depending on the level of detailing and amount of scratch-building involved. There are RTR bogies in the form of Hornby ones to speed construction of those models up, but perhaps you will have to consider some form of mass-production for other common parts. It is going to be an interesting project. All the best, Colin

Hi Martin, I would best tell you that the handles are of Bulleid design for that type of coaches only. Both southern Pride and Roxey do mere suitable etchings for DMUs if you mean BR ones. All the best, Colin

Too kind you honour! The fleet of EMUs is now up to some kind of similar standard. The next layout, being P4, will really be a test. I'm not that experienced with track-building, but HAB (Howard) has been giving masses of behind the scenes advice. All the best, Colin

The door (and commode) handles come from Southern Pride This unit took four etches I think. HAB AKA Howard supplied me with some very nice commode handles for the 4 SUB which were of a more realistic shape. If using the S.P. handles they have to be to inserted then folded over. You generally only get one chance with the folding process before they snap. All the best, Colin

Don't worry Andy It'll hopefully be only for a short time! All the best, Colin

One final picture and postscript to the 4 SUB project: The Tin HAL is shown here now complete with gutters over the doors. This was a technique only figured out when making the 4 SUB and the gutters are made from 5 thou. plastic (material courtesy of Ian Fisher). Not such a difficult task when fitted during construction of a model, but a whole lot harder to execute the procedure once the model is painted. The first picture shows the newly fixed gutters painted but not yet varnished. This second photo shows the finished article and is taken on the soon-to-be dismantled Newhaven Harbour. The guttering only stands off the coach sides by 10 thou. or 0.25mm, but it catches the light now. The unit never looked quite right without its gutters! Colin

Hi Peter, Excellent finish to an excellent model. The strapping is very effective, so you were right to go with brass fort that (and the duckets). Not a bad outcome for a model you said you were making due to lack of parts to make anything else! Dare I ask what comes next?! All the best, Colin

Hi Martin, I have just read of your window troubles. If you get yourself a tube of Colgate Regular or Total (white not gel) toothpaste and a cotton bud, you will be able to remove fogging as long as it is not more than a day or two since it occurred. (As soon as possible after the glue has cured is of course ideal.) To avoid fogging when you next fit window panes: after applying the superglue to the window, breathe hard for a few seconds on the inside and out of the area glued. This will accelerate the curing process and also drive off the fumes which cause the problem. Superglue fogging is also a sign of excess glue being used. Good luck! Colin

Hi Peter, That is a very handsome model. One little point: I think there should be horizontal strapping between the W-iron legs, although maybe these have been left off so you can drop the wheels out. Apart from that - top notch modelling! All the best, Colin