Karhedron

Hello, photo can be found here. http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/296884_290478784303210_214563285228094_1118367_1403715255_n.jpg For general info, Dapol seem to put their most up-to-date news on Facebook now. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dapol-Ltd/214563285228094

Lovely work. I missed parts 1 and 2, is that an Ultima or a BHE kit?

Hi Carl, More excellent progress going on here. Oxbury town was one of my favourite layouts and I am ejoying watch it's successor take shape. I am particularly impressed with your scratchbuilt GWR buildings. Any chance of producing a few on commision?

I'll second that! Looking for a couple in N gauge to comlpete my collection of diesel hydraulics.

I think you are right. Look at the poor sales of the Peco Collett because people did not want to pay an extra £30 for the inbuilt decoder.

I think so, they look quite big on the prototype too. http://www.mwwilson...._psg_011985.jpg Hard to compare without shots at the same angle etc but the Dapol one looks about on the money to this sassenach.

Following up on the PBVs, I have found quite a few pictures of brown K40 and K41 full brakes from the 1930s. These have the GWR shirtbutton emblem on them so I would hazard a guess they were painted the same shade of brown as other coaching stock. Does anyone know what livery these vehicles would have worn post-war. Some were still painted brown in early BR days. I am wondering if those repainted between the end of WW2 and nationalisation would have still been in plain brown but with the post-war Hawksworth crest?

I thikn that red was reintroduced in the late 80s as sectorisation took hold so you could probably use red ones if you like. The correct red version for this period is Farish catalogue item No 374-903. http://www.bourtonmodelrailway.co.uk/images/_lib/graham-farish-374903-br-mk-i-tpo-royal-mail-letters-red-5038-0-1314524332000.jpg

One of the shortest postal trains was the 2000 Cardiff - Crewe and 0147 return in the late 70s/early 80s which ran as BSK, BCK, POS, BG.

I am not an expert (although I am sure some will be along shortly ) but I will do my best. TPOs used to sort mail during the journey, a such it had special sorting vehicles for the post office staff (as modelled by Bachmann/Farish). Parcels trains had no sorting and simply had lots of enclosed vehicles for carrying parcels. TPOs could run in small numbers and were sometimes mixed in with normal passenger workings. There is a rather nice shot somewhere of a maroon Warship hauling a single a Penzance - Liverpool train. The first vehicle is a TPO followed by a couple of Siphon G's and the rest of the train is blue-grey passenger coaches.

The price for a finished kit seems to depend mostly on who finished it. It is the same in most modelling hobbies that a mint kit will sell for more than a completed one unless it has been done by a genuinely talented modeller. To sell a kit-built item for more than the cost of the kit and parts requires a finish rivalling that of RTR. This is one of the quirks of eBay in that people are not willing to pay for anything less than perfection, even if it is still better than anything they could do themselves. It is also a reason why proffessional modellers often steer clear of smaller scales (particularly N gauge) as they find people are not willing to pay for the time and effort involved.

It is not just Bachmann. Several of the N gauge society products have sold on eBay for more than the cost of the item and a year's membership. Daft perhaps but not uncommon.

That layout looks really superb anf the progress you have made is tremendous. I think I managed to lay my track in the time it took you to get this far.

Fantastic, that is simply outstanding! Words fail me to describe how impressed I am at your work. I await the next bulletin with baited breath.

Hello, As has been noted, the new Hall from Dapol leaves a certain amount of room for improvement. Whilst it is a huge improvement on the old Farish model, it is let down by an annoying number of small detail errors. Over the course of the autumn, I plan to try and rectify some of these. So far I have identified the following problems with Gossington Hall (lined black, early crest) that I think I can fix. 1. Wheels too shiny 2. Missing fire iron tunnel 3. Blue spot for weight, should be red. 4. Crest is too small 5. Firebox is lined 6. Smokebox number in wrong font I don't know if I will address them all but i plan to make a start and see how I get on. I plan to try and update this blog as I go so hopefully you will get to see progress. First up I have taken a black CD marker to the wheels to blacken them (similar to an OHP marker). This has made a decent improvement although the photo does not show this too well as the ink is slightly glossier. I have done the front bogie wheel and the rear driver wheel in this photo to allow for comparison. Here are 2 photos, the first shows the left hand side with all wheels now fully blackened. The second shows the rhs with original shiny wheels. Just a simple wipe with a marker pen has made a great improvement to the appearance of the wheels.

Switch to N gauge. Osborns ltd edition D1000 is only just over the £100 mark. http://www.osbornsmodels.com/nd-osb3-osborns-exclusive-Dapol-western-enterprise-d1000-desert-sand-livery-12625-p.asp

I hate the confused.com advert mainly due to saturation effect. I watched a program recently and that advert was on in every single break. To top it off, at the end of the program I swtiched channels and guess what was playing on ITV at that moment! They must be desparate.

I like the creamery building. I recognised it as Wallingford even before I read the text so you obviously did something right.

I am modelling the village of Chew Magna in the Mendips. The real village never had a station but a branch line up the Chew valley from Pensford on the BNSR was proposed just before WW1. A creamery at the site and through trains to Temple Meads provide justification for decent-sized BLT in N gauge. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/8158-chewton-mendip/

I look forward to seeing them. This is a superb little layout and if my own BLT turns out half as good as this I will be very pleased. I particularly the milk tank trundling along behind the 1400, puts me in mind of Hemyock and Saltash.

Thank goodness she did resist, it would have been a shame to sabotage such a great figure. When will TV execs wake up to the fact that women are supposed to have curves. Size 0 does nothing for me. If we are on home-grown figures to appreciate then Nigella Lawson has to be up there somewhere.

The Fireiron tunnel on the fireman's side of the smokebox was introduced about half-way through production. The early Halls do not have it but the later Halls and the modified Halls all do. I think the dividing line is somewhere in the 59xx series but I cannot remember off the top of my head.

That looks really good. The time you have spent preparing and experimenting has clearly paid off as the finish looks excellent. For lining, I agree that ModelMaster lining from the NGS shop is probably your best bet. I am not aware of any alternatives.

Johnson's Klear!

Fascinating! I have a serious hankering for some N guage Hawksworth stock so I will be very intersted to see how this turns out.