Colin parks

Hi Adam, Forgive me for mis-naming the wagons - the clue was in the topic sub-heading of course. I had a look at your 74 in the link to your blog. The flush glazing is very good indeed. Yours is the best class 74 model I have seen - excellent. What a pity these handsome locos were such unreliable machines in reality. All the best, Colin

Hi Adam, Nice work on the Clayhoods, especially the attention to detail with such things as the brake gear. Dare I ask how the Class 74 is getting on? It looked very impressive in the posts back in January, with all the extra plasticard parts on the chassis. All the best, Colin

Dave, Good to see some more pictures of this layout. That building in the second pictures looks like a model of the place where I was born! (If I'm not mistaken.) The terrace looks absolutely right for the area modelled too. Great stuff. It makes you think what might have happened to Kemp Town station had it lasted just that bit longer until the upturn in passenger traffic of recent years. More pictures please. Colin

Dave, I have been reading through this topic too and would echo the comments of oldlugger re. the quality of the weathering and look of the layout. It is nice to see the inventiveness employed on this project: necessity being the mother of invention. I would never have thought of producing scrap metal from pieces of plastic which were then painted (silly me). My favourite tip from the thread. Well done Colin

Hi Kipford - if you are out there! I second Oldugger's enquiry. How are you getting on with the layout? Colin

Hi Michael, You are making a pretty good job with just the materials which came out of the box. The door hinges have come out well - what a lot of soldering work that must have been. Hinges certainly give much-needed surface texture to flush-sided stock. Colin

Hi Jon, I've just read and re-read the entire topic. The work you have done on these vehicles is exemplary and inspiring. The functional Sergent couplings on the GUVs interest me. What sort of minimum radius curves will your GUVs negotiate? I particularly value the tip about painting the EWS gold stripes over a misted coat of white. This would also work with the BR blue/grey livery too. I use white spirit to remove the carrier film over Modelmaster decals, it works in the same way that you have described using Microset. I wonder if Fox transfers can also be relieved of their carrier film in the same way? Have you ever tried?! Colin

Hi Davyjcrow, What in interesting topic. You have made a very neat job of the conversion and paintwork on the CEP. Two quetions: Did your window frames have some sort of location into the window apertures? What glue did you use to attach to laser-cut windows to their etched frames? I ask this as I am about to convert four Bachmann coaches into a 4 CIG with, yes you've guessed already, etched windows and separate window panes (hand-cut). (The sides will be scratch-build though.) Colin

Hi Ian, It's just a thought, but you could represent the rubber seal on the windscreen by running a CD marker pen around the edge. Cheating perhaps?! Colin

Hi Natalie, Perhaps you should take another look at that house and this time take a camera with you! Colin

Hi Great Northern, Your layout has really inspired me to stick with 16.5mm gauge. The trackwork on your layout is top notch. Forget about the B1 on a class F freight or whatever it was, just look at that three-way point and how it flows into what appears to be a double slip to the right of the loco! Colin

Hi, I've just come accross this topic - well, actually Andt Y told me about it. During the course of my work, I travel all over North ceredigion in Mid-Wales. Quite visible from the roads and lanes of this area are some real gems if you like grounded van bodies: This first one is a BR standard banana van. It has been used as a children's den. The photo was taken in 2007 and has appeared on RMweb in my Newhaven Harbour topic. This next van body is also a BR built banana van but an LMS design. I am sure PennineMC could enlighten us as to the diagram. The body is notable for the fact that three different widths of vertical planking have been used in its construction and not in any particular order. The eagle-eyed will be able to see the insulation showing in a damaged area on the end: three layers of 1" cork sheet. The end vents are a crude addition by the farmer. A picture of this van appeared in the Railway Modeller some time ago, where they suggested that vans were scrapped on site if they became unserviceable. I believe that in this area of Wales, most van bodies came from a breakers in Llanelli, some forty-five miles to the South. This van has sadly been demolished recently. Just the other day I took this shot by some lock-up garages near Aberystwyth: a palvan still on its solebars - I suppose this design of body would not stand on its own. Perhaps it still had a number plate, but the pile of fencing materials obscured the solebar. Finally, one from down the road from where I live. An SR even-planked 12t van body which has been in the process of returning to nature for as long as I have lived in the area. It has occurred to me to make the farmer an offer for this body. It would make a great garden shed, but would involve a lot of work to restore it, given that all the woodwork needs renewing. (My wife would throw a fit!) It has a provenance, as just about visible on the high res. photo is the number S 48248 Showing through and seemingly under the paintwork, are some markings, or are they faded chalk marks? I can't be sure. Colin

I've just seen the superb photos of little Bytham. The thing that impresses me most about both Little Bytham and Peterborough North is the flowing trackwork/pointwork. There is hope for 00 modellers then! Colin

Never mind the locos and all the stock great Northern, I love that picture of the double slip by the signal box in post 853! A very realistically flowing piece of pointwork (as is the rest). Colin

Nice drawing. A pity you don't/didn't work for Hornby Frank! Colin

Hi Kipford, I like the air-brushed effect you have used on your track. You must have a very fine control of the spray pattern. Did you paint the track indoors? There seems to be very little over-spray. Very interesting, Colin

I agree with you Simon, A Black Beetle drive should shift a 4 VEP. More weight in the motor coach would also help in any event. Alternatively, (and half the price of a BB), Ultrascale do a wheel pack for the Hornby 73 with 13mm dia. wheels complete with gears fitted on two axles. Those wheels ought to be a direct fit to the Lima-style power bogie and its dummy power bogie on the motor coach. Here are some Ultrascale wheels on my scabby old class 73: Colin

Hi James, I really like your model of the class 377 Electrostar. Is it scratch-built? How did you acheive such a good rendition of the livery? I'm very impressed to see such a nice model of this prototype. Here's one at Newhaven Town in 2009. They look really sleek and stylish, but hard to model - or so I thought..... All the best,

Yes, the wheels look right kintbury jon. So does the gap between the top of the power bogie side frame and the bottom edge of the solebar. Oh dear! There seems no hope of an easy fix for the height problem then. I had been thinking of using the Hornby 4 VEP as a donor model for making a 4 CIG with etched brass sides. Considering the roof is too low and the cab ends are not right, I will have to have a have a drastic re-think. Colin

Hi Kintbury jon, I'd be interested to see a comparison and I must say my comments were based on a post which said the VEP motor bogie was derived from a class 73 one. Colin

Hi, I've just been reading through this topic. Forgive if it has been said before, but as this VEP model uses a Hornby class 73 motor bogie, it would inevitably be doomed to sit too low on the track - even if the sides had been the correct height. A class 73 and VEP motor bogie, in reality, had 40" diameter wheels, which scales out at 13.3mm. I suspect that the Hornby wheel diameter will be a lot less. Not that visible perhaps, but that would make the VEP motor coach sit too low, thus forcing the designers to reduce the ride height of the other coaches. So one answer to the problem is to buy a set of Ultrascale replacement wheels for a Hornby Class 73. The motor bogie moulding would probably need a small amount of fettling to give clearance for the flanges, but the conversion should take no more than 30 mins. Then raise the other bogies to match and things should start to look better! P.S. A Bachmann 4 CEPs' ride height can be adjusted by careful bending of the bogie pick-up contacts which protrude into the chassis. Colin

Hi Graham, Thanks for posting the link to 2 HAL topic. Colin

All the best for the future layout Colin! I certainly liked what you did with South Pimlico. It had that 'rough bit of South London' about it! Looking forward to progress reports on the new build. Colin

I see you are hiding you light under a bushel Adam! I have only just found this blog entry with these two wagons. They are just right in appearance, especially the weathering. Paul Bartlett's website is certainly an essential source of information on wagons in service in the 1970's. I am building some similar wagons to yours, as you might have seen. I had forgotten that Ratio made a Medfit (out of the hobby for along time!). My brother (Cambrian Models) is going to make SR 3-plank and 5-plank (both drop-side) wagon kits later this year. Colin

Hi Adam, A very nice wagon indeed! I do like to see a good bit of scratch-building. Did you make the chassis too? Colin