Tag: Finescale Model Railways

September & October 2024

The Summit (pictured below at its first showing in Telford in 2015) will be heading to the Model Rail Scotland Show in Glasgow in February and our focus is now on getting this huge 7mm Scale 0 Gauge layout fully up to speed and ready for a three day show and a lot of miles in a 3.5 Tonne lorry – good job they come with tail lifts nowadays!

The Summit has also been invited to another three day show, the Bristol Model Railway Exhibition at Thornbury at the beginning of May, so some busy days ahead for the team!

Allan has added an ex-GWR small prairie, the preserved 4555 to his fleet of 7mm locomotives. Now fully converted to 7mm, he is advertising the sale of his lovely 4mm 00 Gauge layout “Kingsferry” in the next issue of ‘Railway Modeller’ and is planning an O gauge model of Cole on the S&D to replace it.

Dom has not been idle with his 4mm scale 00 gauge layout Combe Town, and recent progress can be seen above. He’s spent plenty of time building over 2′ of fencing along the front side of the railway (only another 4′ to go!), and has put the initial ground cover down in the field and on the yard surface. For good measure he built one of the Smith’s loading gauges.

    Your editor will spare his blushes as to why, but Dave H’s beautiful scratchbuilt 7mm scale Deeley 990 Class 4-4-0 requires complete replacement. It’s another 4-4-0, but this time it’s a green one – City of Gloucester as built in 1903. It’s based on a Finney kit but heavily modified so it can be dismantled for painting and maintenance, which is tricky for a double framed engine.

    He’s also modified the tender so it will weigh on the rear of the loco. The tender underframe is mostly complete, and he’s made a start on the loco underparts. Dave reports that it’s a good kit and all is going well.

    Continuing the ex-GWR theme, Pete C is finding the conversion of a 4mm scale Rapido model of a 15XX Hawksworth pannier tank to EM Gauge something of a challenge. This conversion is complicated by non-availability of wheels (they’re standard size GW wheels, but with a unique crank throw). The axle size is 2mm and the pickups are an unusual style of plunger pickup which has turned out to be unworkable with a widened back to back. The factory assembly wasn’t the best either, this engine having the same i.e. incorrect not handed coupling rods. The clearances proved just sufficient behind the crosshead by deepening the crankpin hole, which could then be screwed in another 0.5mm.

    The wheels are pressed onto splined axles with top hat bushes which proved insufficiently long to reuse. Delrin rod was obtained and using the Unimat lathe new bushes were made by trial and error – more than enough were made to get ones that fitted accurately. Roughening the new axle ends with a file appears to have been sufficient to stop the wheel slipping on the axle. The original axle face was moulded on the wheel but was cut away allowing the bush to extend the whole way through the wheel and then trimmed.

    New pickups were fitted to the keeper plate using copperclad glued and connected together by 0.35 brass wire on the top surface and reconnected to the circuit board plug through a new hole drilled in the chassis block. New return cranks have been filed from nickel silver sheet and riveted to the motion using Markits rivets. Only the front axle uses the Rapido screwed in crankpins, Romford crankpins have been used as the wheel threads were compatible. New spacers were drilled and turned to size, the return crank will be the final item reassembled after basic testing as they’re soldered on the crankpin.

    As the conversion proceeded more and more parts were removed, it’s a good job an exploded drawing is on the web! The buffers are pretty poor and fitted badly, they’ll be replaced with brass ones. Otherwise the detail is excellent, including in the cab where it can’t be seen!

    Derek is a fairly new member to YMRG. Recently he’s had some time on his hands, so he made a start building a kit he bought at Guildex in September. The kit is for an ash plant, and above are two photos of the work so far. He will replace the wooden railings (not shown) with wire ones, paint the model and then fix the roof on. This will eventually be used on a model of an LMS MPD.

    Simon K has acquired this 3D printed shed, coal store and water tower for a little quarry based layout that his wife and some ‘friends’ have decided will be a good project to keep him busy. Most of it will be built by a chap near Ludlow, but he will be doing buildings, people, stock and detailing as it suits him.

    And this is Simon K driving Alice on the Bala Lake Railway.

    Former Chairman Dave S installing the control panel on our 2mm scale N Gauge club layout The Bank with Hon. Secretary and Layout Co-ordinator Dean looking pleased, and Hon. Chairman Ed providing vital moral support.

    A couple of pictures from Steve of his 4mm scale 3D printed lever frame, instrument shelf, and Tyer’s No.6 tablet machines as once found at Verwood, cruelly enlarged to show how rubbish his current 000 brush and eyesight are. Any brass has been painted light yellow which seems to work well. It was anticipated that ‘STEVENS & SON’ would be legible after painting, but one can just about make out ‘PATENT’ and ‘LONDON & GLASGOW’ underneath, though the letters are much fatter than they should be due to ‘additive kerf’ – something (that regular readers of the blog will know) makes holes smaller and rods larger in 3D printing.

    The levers are incredibly delicate and a comb like jig had to be devised to hold the levers in place whilst the supports were removed; even then, Lever 6 pinged off where it was nice and thick and has had to be glued back on so is wonkier than the others. There is scope for further straightening with the warmth of a hair drier. This lever frame would even better printed in 7mm scale where the levers wouldn’t need to be quite so plump. the number of levers can be varied and alternative lettering is possible for other makers of Stevens & Sons style frames.

    One of the plunger buttons is missing from the shelf – it probably came off with a support, and no attempt was made to portray the coiled spring for the gong at the left end – a coil of fine wire being the only option. If it had been realised that the handles on the release lever had come out on the tablet machines he’d have picked them out in black, and I would have dotted the labels above the repeaters if I’d been able to see them. He’s left the steel bits of everything unpainted whilst he contemplates what colour steel should be. The steel poles supporting the shelf at 0.62mm are clearly too thick and should be painted green.

    Next up is the painted parts of the Verwood signal box ready for assembly. There are some mistakes. I failed to order the cupboard with desk, pen and register, and need to pick out the lower string course in dark grey, as well as all but one set of brick quoins.

    This being Verwood there’s no weatherboarding to the wall under the canopy and no drainpipe on the basis that it drained onto the attached canopy. Jurassic Models cut the sash windows for me and they really look the part and fit well. The sashes had to be redrawn to fit the 3D print and then again to allow for the heavier kerf of the laser used. Due to additive kerf the ‘VERWOOD’ lettering on the 3D printed sign is a little too heavy so I’ve redrawn the lettering 0.05mm less all-round and will re-order.

    Now for something completely different – cue Monty Python! When the Beattie Well Tanks were being retired from suburban service in the 1880s, thirty were converted to tender engines using Beattie 1950g tenders – those that have been paying attention to these blogs will have know where this is going! So above is the resulting engine with Adams style cab, overlain with a tracing of the Eastleigh Weight Diagram for a Beattie Well Tank in orange. The tender engines were shorter at the front (not having been rebuilt with frame extensions and steel buffer beam), and have pierced splashers, shielded safety valves, different dome and chimney, but otherwise compare well. The green lines are the Kernow running plate and splashers. The intention is that an etch will be designed to replace the cab unit on the Kernow Beattie Well Tank, and to further this, the necessary parts have been drawn up and will be test built in tinplate by a fellow enthusiast for railway engines of the 1880s.

    Lastly from Steve the three stone pier caps for Pecking Mill Viaduct (see above). A styrene armature forms the arrises and Milliput was used for the lumpy bits. The many brick pier caps needed will be 3D Printed, and the long runs of brick capping for the parapet will be laser cut and etched.

    Jim’s LGP (Last Great Project) tentatively titled Bungham Road, will be a 2mm finescale rendition of Littleton Exchange Sidings at Penkridge in Staffordshire, set during the mid 1990s. This is a photo of the prototype, taken by David Rostance from Wolverhampton in 1985. The new layout will be housed in the space vacated by Halsdon Road after its move north.

    A picture of the superb second hand fiddle yard boards that Jim has sourced for this project, when they were briefly erected in CS2 back in 2019. Rumour has it that Jim already has more than enough stock to fill all those sidings!

    August 2024

    August saw another excellent Railwells show. This year YMRG was represented by Susan’s S4 layout Buntingham.

    Based very loosely on Buntingford in Hertfordshire, it was built in the 1970s by Susan’s father Ray Hammond, a founder member of both the P4 and Scalefour Societies. In this photo Susan can be seen doing something very important in the fiddleyard, whilst fellow operators Dave H (nearest) and Steve both in YMRG shirts are wondering which knob to turn, or lever to pull or push next. Two very enjoyable days, and the layout was well received.

    Regular readers may recall a recent feature on a 3D printed obscure ex-LMS Armstrong Whitworth diesel loco which Steve designed and constructed in EM. This is the mk2 3D print (and nearly finished product with the flush glazing sticking out of most of the glazing pockets) plonked on the track at Buntingham. Looking at that bend in the bonnet highlights how 3D printed resin whilst brittle is also oddly flexible when you’d really rather it wasn’t!

    Allan has finished constructing his LMS Johnson 1P 0-4-4T from a Slaters’ kit – and excellent it looks too:

    Our former Chairman Dave S has been wiring the control panel for The Bank (TB), the club’s N gauge layout based on Hemerdon Bank in South Devon. These are nearly finished and he will be bringing them down to CS2 soon.

    The power supply for TB. It provides power for the controllers, the LEDs, the relays and the point motors. It has a couple of spare outputs, 12v DC and 16v AC.

    The bare panel top prior to the addition of switches etc.

    The underneath of the bare panel. Note that all the push button and LED positions are marked for ease of finding them for wiring.

    The finished panels in testing mode with a rats nest of wires connecting the panels to point motors etc to simulate the layout.

    A closer picture of the Up panel. Note the MP1 point motors in the foreground.

    The finished top of the Up panel. It will fit the box underneath when installed on TB.

    Steve will be building his K’s Falcon Class as Vesuvius Class engine 294 – the train engine for the Downton Crash Train. One problem with the K’s kit (the relevant bits of someone else’s complete kit shown above), is that the rudimentary chassis is about 1.5mm too far forward in the whitemetal body, cunningly disguised by making the front about 1.5mm too long. The rear splasher is the correct length, but the coupling rod splasher moulded into it is 1.5mm too far forward, so needs a cut and shut to move it. It took ages to spot this error as the coupled wheel base is also correct, and it wasn’t until it was realised that the sandbox covered far too much of the inner front springs that the error was finally spottted. The aim here is that everything will end up in roughly the right place, as that’s more likely to look right. The changes to the splasher unit don’t stop there, as the front driving wheel splashers on 294 weren’t pierced, didn’t have any sort of trim round them and the coupling rod splasher swept down to the running plate without that step. Between the splashers where the Falcon had an exposed donkey pump, the Vesuvius Class had one that was all boxed in to match the rear splasher.

    Below is the home made artwork for all the etched parts that Steve thinks is needed to make a Vesuvius Class body from a Falcon Class kit. All done in QCAD, it was a steep learning curve to work out a method to allow for cusp, and put in moats and tabs in a way that was fully reworkable. Black is no etch, blue is half etch from front, red is half etch from rear, The phototool is a one off, up-front cost, enabling about five copies, It was thought that a modular approach was the way to go, but with the minimum order being a 290mm x 135mm sheet, these two plus the three larger etches to build the engine and tender chassis, almost fill a sheet to make one big etch. This means that any revisions from the test build will require a completely new phototool.

    294 had the flat top Stirling style cab, and being EM Steve can spread the rear splashers a bit so has provided a wider etched floor. The rear driven axle is very close to the cast floor, and to provide clearance for the twin compensation beams he will narrow the K’s casting under the cab. The etched floor with soldered nut provides a better fixing and permits this approach.

    The boiler was raised about 3″ compared with a Falcon, so a more accurate smokebox front with a sort of saddle to lift the smokebox and better simulate the exposed front frames seemed the way to go. On the prototype the buffers are bolted to the frames and the toggled extensions on the cosmetic frames will accept the K’s buffer beam as part of the body – this is much more convenient for a model. The new front allows the smokebox to be shortened (no visible rivets on the smokebox sides), and this also allows the other ways in which the front was too long to be addressed.

    May & June 2024

    In June St. Martin’s Wharf” returned from a very successful appearance at the Shepton Mallet Show, where it won a trophy for the best scenic feature.

    All credit to Bob Alderman who created the layout – and to the members who renovated it!

    At our annual competition the Chairman’s Cup was won by a 7mm modeller. Well done Keith S, for his ex-GWR MOGO.

    The Ernie Phelps Cup for Locomotives was won by John M for his 7mm scale LNER D16/3

    The Brian Draper Memorial Cup for Rolling Stock was won by Dave Haines for his 7mm scale GWR Dia E57 Lav Tricomposite Coach

    Highly commended – Pete’s 4mm scale EM Gauge SR 15T Brake van and Trestrol, and the Coker Cup for Railway Related Items went to Keith B for his hand built points on Heyno Junction.

    Dominic has made plenty of progress on Coombe Town. Firstly the station showing the signal box with its glazing and the platform buildings. The headshunt is now ballasted, and he has completed the majority of the sculptamold landforms. The signal box has also received its final large windows today – the next final major exterior piece will be the porch. He is now happy with the general approach to take for Heyno Junction box so will make a start on the actual model there once the size is confirmed with Keith.

    The second is an overall view of the layout, to give an idea of the progress to date.

    There has been much debate around the lime works at the rear of the station and Allan has taken it upon himself to organise the narrow gauge quarry wagons for the works. After much deliberation, he has ordered the above tippler wagon from Smallbrook Studio.

    This is a photo of the lime works that Allan took when the layout was still in Julian Birley’s ownership. Some ‘bright spark’ had the idea of placing Prestleigh Viaduct just to the right of the road bridge necessitating some adjustment to the position of quarry and lime kilns to make it all fit again.

    April 2024

    This month some ‘proper’ modelling, followed by ‘virtual’ modelling.

    Allan has finished another of his 7mm scale LMS coaches, this lovely example, from the single window with square corners would be a period II corridor third – from another Sidelines kit.

    Obviously relishing the challenge of turn-of-the-last-century intricate livery paintwork, Dave Haines has produced the next 7mm scale coach for his “Wellsy” layout. This one is a 58 ft long luggage tricomposite, originally built in 1899 for the Birkenhead to Folkestone/Deal through trains run with the SER. They turned out to be very useful as through carriages all over the system so they built twenty of them in the end. They had six lavatories so it’s surprising there was any room left for passengers let alone their luggage! It’s all plastic except for the Slaters bogies (the long wheelbase version that Dean used for his later coaches) and a few fittings, scratch built using David Jenkinson methods and painted using Ian Rathbone methods.

    A few evenings work by Peter has dramatically improved the 4mm scale EM Gauge Accurascale Chaldrons that he bought a while ago. Subtle weathering has bought the detail out from the original plain black satin finish.

    Over the last month Andrew has been working on the flyover bridge for Heyno Junction, the club’s OO gauge layout. It is based on the Aynho Flyover on the Chiltern line. The model has been produced in Fusion360 CAD software and he has started to print out the brick base on his 3D printer. It has been really tricky to do the brickwork as the process makes the computer struggle with long waits while the computer worked out the pattern (he could do with a more powerful computer). The first section took over 20hrs to print out and the 2nd section took over 17hrs. He has started to build up the metal work of the bridge into sections so they can be printed out and assembled

    Whilst at CS2 Steve gave his 3D printed AW diseasel disaster a run out on South Junction, which it plodded around for about an hour without managing to fall off. This was after its trip to Martin Finney’s
    Semley where this model to EM Gauge serenely clambered over and through two sets of P4 points in both directions without derailing. During this feat it was noticed that after 18 years the original tyreless AG gearwheel had cracked and slipped on the jackshaft axle leading to a slight ‘hop’ on each revolution. This gear wheel has now been replaced by its previously redundant twin (on a slightly shortened axle) with the steel rim retained, the spokes covered over, balance weight fitted and the flange filed off. Steve hadn’t appreciated that he needed macro mode on his new to him Sony camera (2011) for it to focus properly for a shot like this that he wouldn’t have previously considered any sort of close up.

    The glazing pockets on the trial 3D print were not satisfactory as I hadn’t made enough allowance for 3D printed items being a little larger than specified – by about 0.1mm and mainly a problem with holes. Thin bubble packaging film could be slid into the side window and door glazing pockets, but not into the front and rear window pockets. To get round this the pockets are now 0.45mm (for .010″ Plastiglaze), and holes have been added above the affected windows to aid resin drainage during printing.

    To aid the printing process a sliver of extra material has been added at the bottom of the body for trimming. The fuel and battery boxes have been boxed in, and braces placed across the base of the bonnet to keep everything aligned during printing and cleaning. This render pre-dates that test run on SJ with the larger gear wheel that has required additional clearance to be added under the gear wheel cover.

    Lastly a helpful Western Thunder user posted a very useful and clear photo of the prototype from a new angle from which detail could be added to the gear cover area (speedo drive cable and oilers). I also used it as a reference to develop some artwork for the WD transfers.

    March 2024

    A very busy month leading with the news that David had reached the point where he could break cover over his new 7mm Scale 0 Gauge layout Lyme Regis.

    The intention was to build this to scale but, large though it still is, it is reduced to 81% of the original. It was always intended to be a project involving others and various modellers are participating in the layout’s construction. Apart from the fiddle yard (next part of the project) the track is laid and wired, most of the buildings constructed and the scenery taking shape. Spoiler – your Future Editor is aware that the flyover bridge at Axminster is on the agenda!

    Lyme Regis does, of course, require three Adams Radial tanks (!) the first of which is making steady progress on David’s work bench. Meanwhile, Lyme Regis is having to make do with slightly over-powered locomotives. The layout is designed to be portable so one day…

    Dom has made good progress on the station building on Coombe Town – the roof is now fully tiled so it’s mainly weathering and detailing to get it to a finished state. The building really adds to the feel of the station as he hopes members will agree from the attached image.

    Dom’s friend was also kind enough to print some office furniture to his design to fill out the offices when he gets to the interior.

    Allan asked members for methods to remove the BR lion logo from his unnumbered Dapol Jinty. Only Roger came up with a solution, use IPA – not, as Allan originally thought, Pale Ale! Unfortunately it only partly helped, the rest was white spirit and much gentle scraping. he does not recommend doing this. Fortunately the resulting mark – the logo was embedded in the paintwork – was masked with the M of LMS, as you will see from the attached image, now heavily weathered, next to his 4F. The photos below them show 7316 at Radstock in 1950, and 4417 at Glastonbury, and at Cole in 1962.

    This 4mm scale EM gauge Peckett 0-6-0T from a Mercian kit has been built by Adam and was having a running in session on South Junction. It was named ‘The Marshall’ after the late John Marshall who died in 2015. John was responsible for finding both sheds in Martock. He was a Bristolian, hence it being a Peckett.

    Pete’s two Hawksworth auto-coaches have been coupled with the magnets directly into the pockets to give just enough clearance between them, much easier than a bar and loop connector.

    Finally we have enough auto-coaches to run a 4 coach set with the 16XX:

    Dick received his 7mm Ellis Clark Black 5 recently and is very pleased with it. He is still getting his head round all the DCC functions and sounds as he is fairly new to DCC. It can be set up so that the fire needs coal adding regularly, otherwise the engine runs out of steam, but he thinks that is a bit much at the moment. He has yet to add the details and choose a number for it – he is looking for one that worked over the S & D but the Armstrong Whitworth built ones seem a bit rare. 5440 was one but he knows others with that number on their Black Five so is still looking.

    Plank Street, Jim’s 7mm scale Forest of Dean themed layout started life in Chicken Shed 2, but has now been re-erected in the garage following an enforced stay in the trailer whilst the space was needed for the storage of the new B&Q kitchen. This has now been successfully installed in the kitchen and some of the old kitchen units are now in the garage with the layout below them. The next task is to construct the laser cut engine shed and water tower purchased from ‘L-Cut Creative’ at the Doncaster show earlier last month, so the Panniers and Jinty (below) can have a roof over their heads – not all at once of course!

    And this is the Jinty that Jim couldn’t resist. For sale on the GOG Sales and Wants” site for only £165, DCC and sound fitted.

    Some years ago Steve built a Mercian kit for the ex-LMS Armstrong Whitworth 0-6-0 Diesel Electric shunter that all went into War Department use. Four of them ended up in Belgium and there was an H0 gauge etched brass kit produced to model them, and it seems likely that this ‘4mm scale’ kit was derived from that kit. When built (to 4mm Scale EM Gauge), the loco was found to be 4mm too high and 2mm too wide and towered over any box van it met. Steve had ordered a complete spare chassis etch at the time of purchase, and this allowed him to fully articulate the rods and compensate the chassis on the Sharman principle with one fixed axle. Compensated, with a large Mashima, two 16mm flywheels and a High Level Kits Gearbox and once given enough sideways play on the centre driven axle, it ran exceptionally well. As a result, Steve felt that this was a loco that he couldn’t reasonably give up on, despite not needing it for his model of Verwood.

    Having modelled the Downton Train Crash coaches from the 1860s, it occurred to Steve that he should now design a 4mm scale body for it that could be 3D printed, one that would fit on the etched running plate after it was cut and shut. Eight days, 77 QCAD drawings and 1500 lines of OpenSCAD script later he was able to produce these renders.

    The Roche drawing was the starting point, with close examination of photos to winkle out the many errors in the drawing. The etched running plate has been shortened, though not by much. A bit was taken off the edges, with the valances refitted slightly inboard, and now the width is about right. The overall wheelbase is 60mm when it should be 58mm, and that pushes the brake blocks behind the sanding hoppers, which being in their original positions are slightly too far outboard – but then something has to give. On Western Thunder Adam perceptively described it as a ‘rubber ruler job’!

    This masterpiece of the resin 3D printers’ art (by a specialist) is seen perched on the shortened running plate and chassis, with (happily) everything now pretty much where it should be. The glazing pockets for the side windows came out OK, but will only accept packaging film, so they will need to be opened out to allow for the ‘additive kerf’ of 3D printing. The pockets for front and rear cab windows did not form completely as the resin was unable to drain from the deep slots above the windows, so those will need to opened up to the cab so that they will drain. As with the 1860s coaches, flush glazing is a must and adjustments will be made to the model for the mk2 print so that it will accept Plasitiglaze or glass cover slips. There’s nothing that Steve can do to stop it being an ugly brute flush glazed or not!

    October 2023

    Much more going on now we’re back in modelling season. At the start of October Half Term, we had a very successful outing of “St. Martin’s Wharf” at Rail-Ex Taunton; the Somerset Club putting on another excellent show in what must be a unique venue. The school dinners were indeed fantastic, and not like they used to be – well, at least in your editor’s experience anyway!

    Dave H was responsible to organising its appearance at the show and commented afterwards:

    “St. Martin’s Wharf went down very well at Taunton. It looked beautiful and performed well. The switch to DCC meant that it was much more enjoyable to operate than the last time it went out. The main problem we had was invisible muck on the track (which we solved in the end by polishing all the rails with fine emery) and the usual teething problems with AJ couplings. By the end of the show we had a set of stock which coupled and uncoupled reasonably reliably!

    Thanks to everyone who helped to get the layout and stock into an exhibitable state, and to all those who helped with shipping it to Taunton and back, or operating at the show. Once we’d set it up and added all the vehicles, people and other bits and bobs it looked stunning. I believe BRM want to come to photograph it one day, so we better make sure the rats don’t get into it again!”

    The fully modelled truss bridge…

    …and with train passing over.

    John has had a major wagon building binge. These are all 7mm scale 0 Gauge wagon kits that have been languishing in a cupboard for many moons, built while taking tea or rain breaks from gardening. This coke hopper is a Parkside kit.

    This ex GWR hybar is from a Coopercraft kit. It is loaded with wagon sheets. About 1960 John went to North Norfolk on his bicycle and visited the remains of Melton Constable Works. Ruination was all around me, except one building where six men in protective clothing were making wagon sheets. The canvas was hung up on a rail and was covered with some evil smelling thick liquid, coat after coat, applied with nothing more advanced than sweeping brooms. The drips were drained into a bucket for further use.

    This Parkgate is a Slaters kit. What a dirty mucky place Parkgate was when John had to pass through it on my way to my office in Sheffield city centre.

    This ex Midland three plank open now works for the civil engineer. It is loaded with ballast – likely to be from Morris & Perry at Gurney Slade by the look of it. This is another Slaters kit.

    Finally, this SR six plank open is from a Parkside kit. In the late seventies or early eighties John took the train from Axminster to London for a meeting and parked in the sidings east of Salisbury station in this livery. A bit grubby but wearing this attractive brown. It is loaded with sacks.

    Continuing the wagon theme, Pete C has been working on the above in 4mm scale EM Gauge. All are from Cambrian kits. Left to right – Mermaid, SR Walrus waiting lettering and destroying the NATO anti radar black (the black was let down with white), and Oyster modified Shark kit (longer Cabin than a Shark).

    Jim has been continuing the wagon theme, but in 2mm finescale of course. The Whale/Seacow project has slightly ground to a halt due to boredom, so his attention has switched to other “gloat boxes”, otherwise known as box files. In one, he found ten completed plastic bodies from TPM (Bernard Taylor) for JUA bogie aggregate wagons, converted from iron ore tipplers for the Merehead to Acton flows with Foster Yeoman. The kits are now available from the N Gauge Society.

    One already had the 2mm Scale Association replacement bogie kits fitted and there was a note saying “nine more needed”. Duly ordered, they came last week and all ten pairs of bogies are now constructed. They are a nickel silver etch with whitemetal castings attached and take standard 2mm wheels on 12.25mm long axles (rather than N gauge ones around 14.8mm long). On the next page is a picture of the workbench with one completed wagon and the bogies in various states of assembly. The tiny top hat bearings need filing down so the castings can be super-glued to the etches and a little jig to help with this (the T-shaped things on the left hand cutting mat) is included in the etch, as are replacement ladders and handbrake wheels. Is he Mad or what?

    Dom has been constructing the most fantastically detailed 4mm scale point rodding for “Coombe Town” – just needs rust and a little grease…

    This is the latest addition for Simon K’s Cerne ‘shunting plank’, a 7mm scale/O Gauge Minerva Siphon G in crimson, renumbered and fitted with battery boxes and dynamo. Then beautifully weathered by Mike B and pictured on his Melcombe Magna layout. Your editor can vouch that when it was delivered to Mike it was the very brightest of bright crimson!