DavidLong

Sorry, Paul, I must have missed this discussion. Could you point me at where I will find the conclusions. TIA David

That was what I suspected, Paul. For the Southern vehicles may I hazard the following as the painting sequence: Pre-1948 Southern Railway carriage green sides with black ends 1950-1958 BR Crimson sides with black ends 1958-1965/6 Southern Region carriage green sides with black ends 1965/6 onwards BR blue sides and ends When did air spray painting start to become common? Some time in the 1960s? I'm assuming that it was unlikely that any of them received BR maroon. The above is my supposition but I would appreciate any more definitive information. David

If PSG win the championship and Becks plays enough games to quality for a medal, will he be the only player to have been a champion in four different countries? Zlatan has done it in 'only' three! I agree that he was limited in some ways, I never thought that he scored enough goals, but as you say, very, very good at what he did. David

Thanks, Pete, that seems to confirm information that I'd had previously that, certainly in B.R. days, the ends were painted black. David

Don't forget that there is a selection of parcels stock in the Etched Pixels/Ultima range as well: http://www.etchedpixels.co.uk/ Chris Higgs is due to release some etched underframes which will cover a number of the Dapol and Lima items. These will probably be available via The 2mm Scale Association but I don't think that a final decision has been made yet. David

Can you recall the colour of the ends? Green or black? David

I had a suspicion that this may be the method to which you were referring, Natalie. The problem (challenge?) for me after forty years or more of such activity is my continuing inability to file anything square and level, hence my recommendation for use of the vernier lest anyone else has a similar difficulty to me. So in my case I would have recourse to the Unimat which I would have done had Stephen not, unprompted, completed the task for me! David

Simple?

Indeed I am one of those people. I was converted to 8.6mm back-to-back by Stephen Harris and have used it ever since. He even kindly turned me up a back-to-back gauge for the very purpose. I figured that if it was good enough for the master that is Mr.Harris then it was good enough for me. Shame we can't sell one from the Association shops as there are those in the Association who claim that it is inconsistent with the standards. In pure engineering terms it may be but in practical modellers terms it works a treat. As my layouts are checked with stock that has 8.6mm back -to-backs I have occasionally encountered problems with the diesel conversion wheelsets but the odd tweak usually cures them. If you haven't got an 8.6mm gauge, a vernier will do the job pretty much as well.

You're right, Jerry. More Apple than Brunswick! 7754 was based at the shed at Big Arch on the Talywain system, a location griced by Phil Copleston and myself although sadly more than several years too late for 7754 and friends. David

An excellent piece here by the estimable Barney Ronay on the defenestration of Colin Murray from MOTD2. Have to admit that I like Murray, it's the crap on the other side of the studio that offends me, as it does Ronay. Honourable exceptions to Pat Nevin and Jason Roberts, the latter of whom always looks like he wants to hit someone, probably Hansen. http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/blog/2013/jan/22/colin-murray-motd2-bbc David

Richard, Allen Doherty does an etch for a C2X and he usually includes brakes. Perhaps if you talk nicely to him? That is, of course, unless you are building one of his etches and it doesn't include the brake gear . . .

Excellent, Pete. Those TPM parts really make a big difference to the Farish Poole designed originals. Always liked the prototype wagons. They were a bit of an iconic design and thrived for a while but were superceded by the rather blander bogie hoppers. David

As a recent article in When Saturday Comes had it that many players are being penalised for having the evolutionary audacity to develop arms. David

Hey, we were at the same game! Different parts of the ground though Take your point about Sharpe. Until I looked it up I hadn't realised quite how many games he did play for United and the injuries certainly took their toll. He also had the challenge from the likes of Beckham and Giggs in the wide midfield positions. If he had been playing even ten years earlier it is possible that he would have had to retire. In recent years we have improved the chances of people playing on after serious injuries but it may be that we still haven't quite appreciated the psychological damage that can be caused. Another player who came to mind in this context is Stephen Ireland who I always feel is only a few short steps from pressing the self-destruct button but who seems to have settled for a long drawn-out but inexorable decline David

Another sad story of talent gone to waste: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jan/15/michael-johnson-released-manchester-city And, yes, I'm looking at you Lee Sharpe. I still wince at the memory of the three that he scored when United battered Arsenal 6-2 at Highbury in the League Cup. At least his career did get a bit further than Johnson's. Proof that injuries aren't just about healing the body. David

Brilliant, Mikkel, quite brilliant. I had a maths teacher, first two years at senior school, he simply hated children. He was known as The Neck as he had this extraordinarily long neck which he seemed to be able to stretch even further at will. For two years I learnt nothing but, fortunately for me, he was followed by a kindly man who told long and terrible jokes but who liked children and knew how to enthuse them. David

That's six red cards in the last six meetings. I couldn't disagree with either decision but Mike Dean does tend to be a red card and/or penalty waiting to happen so it does seem a bit brainless to oblige him quite so readily. Koscielny's rugby embrace of Edin Dzeko was titled in one photo I've seen as 'great tackle, wrong sport'! Kompany's card may be slightly more debateable; he did dive in with both feet but also took the ball. On MOTD2 they showed a couple of other recent examples of similar tackles where in one case nothing at all was given and in the other it was a yellow card. Where's Simon Martin when you need him? David

Sounds good, Andrew, and will be good if it is to the same standard as your other offerings which are superb. I did wonder though, with a number of models of the Cheddar Valley line in progress or planned whether you may have considered a couple of others from that vicinity which I have never seen modelled. One would be a station on the Taunton to Chard line which was covered in, I think, a short series in the Modeller some years ago. The other would be Devizes which I remember from an 'Editor visits' article in the Constructor back in the 1960s. It always struck me as having great potential as a model especially as it was used on occasion as a diversionary route from the main line. Oh and it had a tunnel at one end! Good luck anyway with whatever you decide on and I look forward to following progress. David