Wright writes.....

[FarrMan]

I have tried putting http://www.doubleogauge.com in, but all I appear to get is that the IRL is unavailable. Any suggestions?

 

Lloyd

[MikeParkin65]

2 hours ago, 30368 said:

Afternoon Tony,

 

I wanted to thank you for the advice and help regarding the Pro-scale V2 kit that I have spent about 3 months building, at times it seemed a lot longer...

The etches supplied to convert the tender to the high front type fitted to most V2 tenders fitted perfectly, thanks again for them. I am fairly happy with the results and with the HL coreless motor and HL gearbox the loco pulls well. The total cost came to about £130 with the various additions, the kit cost me £50.

My pictures are a bit rubbish and that is not all down to the dust etc....

 

Some rectification required to tender lining this side.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

Now that captures the balance and grace of the V2 where the latest Bachmann just doesnt - at least not in photo's. Lovely

[Steamport Southport]

8 minutes ago, FarrMan said:

I have tried putting http://www.doubleogauge.com in, but all I appear to get is that the IRL is unavailable. Any suggestions?

 

Lloyd

 

Working for me.

 

Here's the shop page.

 

http://www.doubleogauge.com/shop.htm

 

 

Jason

Edited November 15, 2021 by Steamport Southport

[FarrMan]

Still no joy. Must be my PC.

 

Lloyd

[john new]

7 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Working for me.

 

Here's the shop page.

 

http://www.doubleogauge.com/shop.htm

 

 

Jason

Link works for me, if that helps.

 

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, MikeParkin65 said:

Now that captures the balance and grace of the V2 where the latest Bachmann just doesnt - at least not in photo's. Lovely

The V2 model shown certainly does.

 

Having only seen photos of the latest Bachmann V2 (I saw the pre-production samples in the flesh), I'll wait and see what it looks like when I have a chance to handle it for real. 

 

The reviews seem to be positive. Since I helped (though only in a minor way, and late on in the piece) with the model's 'development' it would not have been ethical for me to write a review. 

[Jesse Sim]

7 hours ago, EHertsGER said:

I was teasing. It was the bit about building them with your eyes shut…my apologies.

Oh I know now, unfortunately I read it at 5am before my morning 4 coffees and oh boy you don’t wanna be around me at that time! 
 

No need to apologise, it is i that should, so sorry about that. Must remember to wake up before reading stuff. 

[APOLLO]

Why we model trains (and especially the East Coast main line).

 

Sir Nigel Gresley designed his A4,

With the speed of a greyhound, the strength of a boar,

But when he put fire in her stomach he taught her

To burn with a furious thirst for water,

So when she approaches a water trough, 

Watch fireman Mungo doing his stuff

 

 

I think this the best place to post it in.

 

Sadly I never saw steam quite like this, just mucky old Dub Dees, Black 5's & 8's spiced with the occasional nameless Brit.

 

Brit15

 

[zr2498]

Can we turn the clock back please (by about 70 years)! I sure it's more than pure nostalgia that makes me want the past. The present day is worth hiding from. So yes, make a layout of former years and hide away in the railway room.

[30368]

With your indulgance Tony, a couple of much better pics of my V2 on Basingstoke's turntable.

 

 

 

And the Elizabethan film is grand, I have a fairly large selection of the BTF films they are quite wonderful not least for all the unwitting insight into 1950s social history.

 

Kind regards,,

 

Richard B

Edited November 16, 2021 by 30368

[Mike 84C]

Driving steam engines the only job I really ever wanted to do. But I did love firing, some trips were more of an achievement than others!

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I wonder how many self-appointed experts exist on this thread?

Checking the number of followers, I'd say about 317...

 

9 hours ago, FarrMan said:

Thanks again for all the advice. Any suggestions as to where to obtain DOGA track rubbers? All I seem to get when looking it up on Google, is references to yoga for dogs. I haven't got a dog, and cannot see how that would clean the track anyway.

 

Lloyd

 

9 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

It's the Double O Gauge Association, if that helps. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I use the Gaugemaster version. I agree with Tony that the Peco ones leave too much residue.

[manna]

G'day Folks

 

A 'Peco' track rubber will not clean all your track after one of these leave 10,000 tons of dust in the local district. Welcome to Oz.

 

manna

[Bucoops]

1 hour ago, manna said:

G'day Folks

 

A 'Peco' track rubber will not clean all your track after one of these leave 10,000 tons of dust in the local district. Welcome to Oz.

 

manna

 

What kind of curry did you cook to manage that?

[Chamby]

22 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

A rather nice memory Grahame.

 

Our cat has already circumnavigated Little Bytham, without damaging anything.

 

Previous cats have also taken to other railways I've had, slumbering comfortably across tracks, but rarely breaking things.

 

Are cats naturally model railway enthusiasts?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

I can vouch that cats on layouts and overhead catenary are definitely not compatible!  The overhead on my former Swiss loft layout required several rebuilds, after the cat learned how to access my loft via an open velux window.

 

Our family pet is now a medium sized dog and my layout is out of reach at 40” above floor level.  Having switched to modelling post war Eastern Region, neither pet trespass or catenary are now an issue.  But instead, I am plagued by  crinkly ginger dog hairs that seem to get everywhere, I keep finding them on the layout, on the workbench... they even turn up in the clubroom, having hitched a ride on my stock boxes.  And yes, now any photography requires meticulous cleaning beforehand.

[Tony Wright]

6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Checking the number of followers, I'd say about 317...

 

 

I use the Gaugemaster version. I agree with Tony that the Peco ones leave too much residue.

'Self-appointed'? John,

 

Those worth listening to (and there are many on this thread) would never appoint themselves anything. They really are 'experts' in what they do.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[St Enodoc]

3 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

'Self-appointed'? John,

 

Those worth listening to (and there are many on this thread) would never appoint themselves anything. They really are 'experts' in what they do.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Tongue-in-cheek, Tony.

[Barclay]

On 15/11/2021 at 09:15, Tony Wright said:

A rather nice memory Grahame.

 

Our cat has already circumnavigated Little Bytham, without damaging anything.

 

Previous cats have also taken to other railways I've had, slumbering comfortably across tracks, but rarely breaking things.

 

Are cats naturally model railway enthusiasts?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Our previous cat was quite into it, but his successor just thinks I'm a dork !

 

 

[FarrMan]

38 minutes ago, Barclay said:

Our previous cat was quite into it, but his successor just thinks I'm a dork !

 

 

I'm waiting for the video!

 

Lloyd

[Atso]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Checking the number of followers, I'd say about 317...

 

The only thing I'm a self appointed expert in is ignorance. 

[gr.king]

8 minutes ago, Atso said:

 

The only thing I'm a self appointed expert in is ignorance. 

 

As far as I've noticed Steve, you use your time discovering by experience the practical ways to produce models for which there is no RTR option, rather than using your time telling other people how it should or should not be done. That must make you an expert in ignoring unhelpful, time-wasting distractions.

[Headstock]

20 hours ago, 30368 said:

Afternoon Tony,

 

I wanted to thank you for the advice and help regarding the Pro-scale V2 kit that I have spent about 3 months building, at times it seemed a lot longer...

The etches supplied to convert the tender to the high front type fitted to most V2 tenders fitted perfectly, thanks again for them. I am fairly happy with the results and with the HL coreless motor and HL gearbox the loco pulls well. The total cost came to about £130 with the various additions, the kit cost me £50.

My pictures are a bit rubbish and that is not all down to the dust etc....

 

Some rectification required to tender lining this side.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

Good morning Richard,

 

despite the horror stories you here about the Proscale V2, that looks really good. The essence of V2 is well captured.

[Headstock]

18 hours ago, MikeParkin65 said:

Now that captures the balance and grace of the V2 where the latest Bachmann just doesnt - at least not in photo's. Lovely

 

Agreed, at least in photos. The Bachmann rendition is a rather  inelegant looking thing.

[MikeParkin65]

3 minutes ago, Headstock said:

 

Agreed, at least in photos. The Bachmann rendition is a rather  inelegant looking thing.

Just looks hefty like a carthorse when the prototype is lean like a race horse. Not a bad model I'm sure but hasnt for me captured the essence. 

[Barry Ten]

Perhaps of interest to Atso (Steve), as it's a bit of N gauge modelling?

 

I have three of these Model Power locos with die-cast bodies:

 

 

They are very nice-running locos especially in the more recent versions brought out under the MRC brand, with better pickup and onboard sound.  The valve gear and detail around the chassis is among the best I've seen in N. However, I can't live with moulded-on handrails! They catch my eye every time and if anything the fine detailing elsewhere on the model only makes them more obtrusive.

 

Having obtained some handrail knobs and wire from N Brass Locos (excellent service), I decided to have a go at tackling one of the locos. The one I'm working on is a USRA Pacific rather than the Mikado above, but the body shells are identical. Although not exactly right, the Southern's Ps4 locos were very similar to the USRA design, with the main difference being 73 inch rather than 80 drivers.

 

These Model Power locos are fiendishly difficult to take apart, but after some internet research I found out how to get the body off and remove the can motor which sits inside the casting. I didn't want to risk drilling through to the latter or end up with metal dust anywhere near the motor. With the body separated, I then ground away the cast handrails with a combination of abrasive tools in a mini-drill, files, and sandpaper. There are some tricky areas where boiler detail is close to the handrails so I had to accept good enough in these parts.

 

 

What I didn't' anticipate was how hard it would be to drill into the casting. Whatever alloy is used for these, it's much harder than white metal. The N Brass stanchions have very thin stalks so there was no chance of drilling accurate, tight holes for these, not at the way I was going through drill bits. The only way I can see to proceed is to drill oversize holes and then back-fill with a softer material such as plastic or filler, sand back smooth, and then re-drill these with smaller diameter bits in a hand vice.

 

 

I'll get there in the end but this is one of those jobs that's proving nowhere near as straightforward as I thought it would be.

 

Al