Corbs

Funnily enough that's exactly what I had in mind! Either Hawarden or one of the squat YEC 0-4-0ST locos. From what I heard Hawarden packs a lot of grunt, must have plenty of weight over the drivers.

No.3 simmers in the yard after bringing a train up from Brendam.

Thanks for the links. Interesting to see another Douglas rebuild but retaining the WD cab (although with single piece front windows). Mr Shopland had requested this from Douglas when it went for the rebuild there. One thing about the shortened wheelbase is it's so much easier to turn in the yard! Having tried both the original and the TT you can see why it was so handy. Here it is with the spades fitted. Not too much left to do before it gets mounted in its box and wrapped up!

Much happier with this smaller pulley wheel.

Yeah they are rubbish aren't they? Offset is totally wrong, too. If I do another one I'll correct it. Working up the courage to cut the pulley wheel off at the moment.

Here's the little Bagnall now some more cosmetic work has been done. The bulk of the painting is over, the fine lines need cutting in here and there (careful brush painting is torture for me!). Archers rivet transfers have been added to the tank, they show up better on the yellow than my previous attempt with maroon. I need to make up some safety valves and line it out next. I'm trying to work out if I should attach the body to the running plate, or mount the running plate to the chassis and screw the body to that.

Also, the pulley wheel is far too big. I think I'll cut it out and replace tomorrow.

Ah yes, I've made it, it's in paint before it's attached!

A little road vehicle bash for a change. This year I've been making a few customised christmas presents for some friends and family. This one is a miniature version of my friend's unique AEC Matador Timber Tractor, which has been in his family business since 1946. It's been rebuilt by both Automower and Douglas, the chassis has been shortened quite a lot compared to a standard Matador. The model isn't a 100% accurate copy, but I wanted to capture the look of it. I started with the good old Airfix Matador and 5.5" Gun kit. This shows the markings where I took approx. 7mm out of the chassis. The real tractor has the roof hole plugged so a circle cut from card does the job. Shown here with the cab mocked up on the chassis. The base of the WD rear body was used as the rear deck. Sliced in half, then the support struts cut off to give the right angle. Raves fitted, made up from pieces of the WD sides. The raves and the decking were scribed to represent planks. Next up was the jib. The real one is bent but for ease I made this one with straight sides, styrene strip fixed with brass rod at the bottom. The pulley is made from one that came off an old crane kit. It's slightly too large but does the job. A stand fabricated for the jib, and glued together. The windows (none provided in the kit) were made with a mixture of clear plastic and glue 'n glaze. The support cables are just some black wire glued into small holes. I couldn't resist a little bit of weathering powders washed in to the cracks. So there we go! A little automotive diversion, something different and a copy of a real vehicle. I opted not to put graphics on it as it's so small and I didn't want to rush and mess it up.

Yeah bogies over 4-wheelers any day!

Nice concept!

The 'edit' button at the bottom right of your post is the way to edit previous attempts so you don't need to delete/re-post. Useful if, like me, you spot all the spelling mistakes after you've pressed 'post'!

It looks incredible. So detailed and fine, yet so antiquated and eccentric - reminds me of the 'Whimshire' series - but the fact it's a real prototype makes it all the better.

Firstly thank you Ruth for taking the time to ask. I'm a big supporter of digital versions ever since my epiphany a few years ago that I was effectively storing tons of adverts fro Beatties and got rid of all my paper mags. I can't add much more to the above (the best thing about digital is having access to video and hyperlinks to threads) other than you could select a category (e.g. Industrial Railways) and then show 3 things from that category from the back catalogue? So you could show an article about an industrial layout, one about a loco, and one about a prototype location?

Yes!

Sorted

For the sake of completeness, here's the full set of Q locos I knocked up a while back. Not sure why I didn't number the 2-8-0

Yes, pickup's not a problem on RC, but with the RC chassis installed (same wheelset) it causes the lurching, un-smooth movement. As the battery can only deliver 3.7v max it's a lot slower, so the lurching causes the loco to almost stop dead.

I recall hearing an audio recording of an ex-BR fireman describing how best to fire different locos. When it came to 9Fs, he said 'it didn't matter how you did it, you just kept shovelling it in!'

Thank you very much for the advice. The wheels aren't splined, just have a plastic collar in between, so they can be moved with some force. I'll have a look at the wheels as the model lifts out of the rollers slightly, which could suggest a wheel isn't square? I'll have a look into the GW Models press and oil/run in as you suggest, thank you.

Still fun to imagine, though!

Sort of hijacking someone else's thread again to just talk about your own stuff, mate... [EDIT] I should clarify that I'm not trying to be aggressive, but it's generally good forum manners not to spam other people's topics and threads with pictures and announcements about your own topics.

Here we are, advice sought. On the rolling road the rocking is evident. Could this be something as silly as the wheels not being square on the axles? I am a complete novice when it comes to chassis etc., is there a jig one can use to ensure good quartering and square-ness?

You'd only need the bodies and wheels I think

Oh yes good point, you'd need to throw the Q1 chassis away as the spacing is so large