Mark C

Excellent album!! Excellent modelling too...

...you just can't get the staff nowadays...!!

Hello John Milliput is available in black. I haven't tried it but assume its' characteristics are the same... Best regards Mark

Same here please: one body suitable for a Comet chassis. Many thanks Mark

John You can see where my latest purchase of transfers is headed...! Best regards Mark

Moving steadily on - to show there is progress from the last shot - just need door handles/rails prior to painting. The ABS range of castings is sorely missed...

Excellent model!! Matchbox played such an important role in the hobby with their choice - and scales - of kits. The Eduard kit contains markings for the same airframe; with Shuttleworth and Tempsford just up the road it will be a natural choice for mine too...

Well, this beauty arrived on my doorstep over the weekend....

Perfect...thank you... The photo of your B12/3 gets even wider coverage: there was a similar label on the outside of the parcel!! Mark

Tony Look at the implications of using the terms "J17" and "M&GN" in the same sentence.... What size motor/gearbox combination did you use in yours? Best regards Mark

Tony I might be able to answer in part...I'm currently building these two very tidy kits from Cambrian representing ex-LMS 12 ton steel-ended ventilated vans. A prototype photo of the type (albeit on a 10' wheelbase underframe) appears in D. Larkin's pre-Nationalisation Freight Wagons on British Railways taken in 1960 and still with brakes on one side only. On the opposite page there is an all-steel variant taken in 1962 - both wagons still appear to be in service. These two will be finished in unfitted grey livery!! On the same page as the first there is a photo of an ex-LNER all-wooden 12 ton ventilated van, which resembles Andrew's model, taken in 1969, but by now out of service. Mark

Tony I think both the colour and B&W work well - the former shows a railway in the natural landscape; the latter as you might now see the scene in a book.... Regards Mark

....there isn't a button for mega-like!!

Tony Thanks for the Ivatt 4MT information - I'm relieved...I thought I had missed something on mine!! There were a fair number with the token exchange apparatus on the tender for M&GN operation, but 43106 certainly appears to have been quite camera shy. John is correct regarding the ex-GWR TUBE - I believe it is made up from the long-since discontinued Ratio kit of the Open C and as such is quite a rare item (especially if unmade). Regards Mark

Hello Tony, Very much liking the M&GN...how did you modify the Bachmann 4MT? Mark

.....with us hanging on for more of this end of the layout!!

Don't ask...!!

Thank you Andrew When the bogies are attached I'll add the pull rods from 0.7mm brass wire. They will both be structurally complete over the next couple of days. Next up are: two more 24.5t minerals, two Cambrian LMS vans and a Cambrian Sturgeon. I forgot to add this photo for comparison...the long and short of it...!! Thanks also for the link to the fascinating report - I hadn't come across that one before. Best regards Mark

Thank you Andrew When the bogies are attached I'll add the pull rods from 0.7mm brass wire. They will both be structurally complete over the next couple of days. Next up are: two more 24.5t minerals, two Cambrian LMS vans and a Cambrian Sturgeon. I forgot to add this photo for comparison...the long and short of it...!! Thanks also for the link to the fascinating report - I hadn't come across that one before. Best regards Mark

Thanks Andrew That's what I'm looking for, I shall give it a go. Here's a few of my work in progress shots particularly showing the original kit's buffers. I varied the construction to that suggested in the instructions (I wasn't convinced that butt joining the two floor halves wasn't going to go well) by adding the end and both sides to one floor half and then working outwards to the far end. I've also included my current 24.5t builds. Using Parkside's (modified) 21t hopper underframe enables an easier choice of axlebox (plate or roller bearing) and provides more refined brakegear. Here also I thinned down the top inner edge of the brake lever to suggest a much thinner component, and also replaced the axlebox tie bars with Cambrian's etched version. I just wish I had done something about the end door handrails..... Best wishes Mark

I think this is demonstrated well in the photo on page 79 of June's Model Rail. Although a runner has been provided at each end of the Quint, the load appears to overhang just the end nearest the camera and here the overhang doesn't look (to my untrained eye) excessive.

Hello I'd like to see your steel bodied version and how you tackled it. I'll post some WIP photos of mine tomorrow... Mark

You beat me to it!! I'm currently building two of these - I bought the second because I liked the first kit so much. You might think that given the long mouldings (bodysides, solebars, truss rods) that it could be difficult to build squarely - not so. I was going to substitute the buffers for Dave Franks' version too, but the kit buffers look really good (fiddly, but good). Mine will be finished in 60's British Railways condition. There's a useful photo in June's Model Rail showing one with a runner as described in the kit's instructions. Elsewhere, also as a result of lockdown, I have been marrying Parkside's BR 24.5t mineral wagon bodies with the underframes from their 21t hopper wagons (with only slight modifications). The mineral wagon is an early kit and the later underframes (especially the brakegear) are that much more refined. At this rate I'm going to have to lay some track to store all this new stock - two end-to-end Quints are 17" long... Mark

Hello I'll be watching with interest...I have recently posted a photo of my (00) WIP - albeit stalled - on Wright Writes. I really like this kit, but Bachmann's version re-wrote its' history! I've also got an MOK 7mm version to do... Regards Mark

Thanks Tony 43157 certainly captures the look of the class. The Crownline kit goes together extremely well: the fit of parts is excellent, which could have been tricky for example on the tender where all sorts of sloping panels and angled joints are required, or with the boiler unit with the frames and cab. For me the resin smokebox/boiler/firebox was a plus - the casting is flawless - although extra care is required to prepare for painting. In the box I found a pack of Alan Gibson's wheels for the pony truck so the intent was there, I think the latter was awaiting some form of wire springing. The D16 looks superb - I'm going to check out the smokebox numberplate route as there are a J6 (SEF) and two 4Fs (Airfix/Comet) up next.... Thanks again, Mark