Scalefour Forum

Powerflow flux is wonderful stuff but be careful it’s very difficult to clean off and can eat through paint.

If I start wearing a name badge at home would my wife start talking to me?

Being born and bred in Worcester this is fascinating. I’d forgotten Bromsgrove had upper quadrants - we were used to lower, the Faithful City being GWR. It was the novelty of the LMS locos that led to my interest in the MR. Halls, Castles, Manors etc just felt too mundane! How spoilt we were. I reme...

I emailed an order to the stores last Thursday and received the goods first thing Saturday. Great service! Thanks Jeremy.

I’ve built W irons with one fixed and the other pivoting on a piece of normal rubber band attached to the floor. Cheap and works.

Thanks Keith

I picked up a pack of 24 tiny (1.5 x 3mm) Neodymium magnets with the thought of using them for things like securing carriage roofs etc. But could they cause problems with "twitchy" servos; point motors etc?

I've been musing on the gap between the dock and the buffers. It struck me that the distance is perfect for small boys to slip down. Could this have been the reason it was incorporated? Attitudes towards children have changed significantly over the years.

Terry, you shouldn’t undervalue your efforts. It’s rare to find someone with your skills; rarer still that they have the ability and patience to teach them, and remarkable that they are willing to spend time doing so. Thanks again. My only regret about Saturday was that I didn’t have time to connect...

I’m not knocking anyone’s efforts at experimenting with minimum radii etc. but one of finescale’s aims is usually to model the prototype and trying to get large locomotives around small curves is going to necessitate some pretty stern compromises. I can understand why these tests are valid, however ...

Thanks for the course today Terry, you did a wonderful job. Very inspiring.

Maybe he just had a sleep problem?

When I started working in this gauge someone gave me two pieces of advice. Spring your buffers and avoid reverse curves. I know Julian's example is a test track and invaluable as such, but the real railway avoided them whenever possible.

Knuckles, can I suggest you build a test segment in both P4 and OO to see which you feel comfortable with and which works as a test, before setting of on one road or the other?

What I love about those G5s (amongst lots of other things) is the impression of sheer weight you’ve captured. They look like real hard working engines.

I use 26mm Newey lace pins. Chemically blacken (or felt tip) that boss which will face away from the loco. Insert a pin through the front boss so the head sits against it. Make sure this isn't too tight and is free to rotate. Thread a piece of doubled-up baking foil over the back of the pin and sand...

I spray enamel paint using an Iwata Eclipse which has a 0.35 mm needle, however for varnishes I switch to an Iwata Neo. This is partly because I still don’t trust varnish in my number one brush, but also because it has a 0.5 mm needle. This gives a wider spray cone which helps me drop the pressure t...

I’ve started air brushing Winsor and Newton gloss varnish. It sprays really well and needs no thinning - so no worries about mixing to the right consistency. It’s white spirit based, but if you want one with a water base then Microscale Micro Gloss is great. It looks milky but dries clear. Again nee...

Thanks chaps, that's all very helpful. The reason I had thought the gearing went small>large rather than bicycle style large>small was the examples such as: Mark T 2.jpg lnwrcs2124.jpg blogentry-17779-0-64119900-1471042159_thumb.jpg Apologies for any © infringements including to our own Mark T. This...

Thanks to members' help I've sourced gears for the yard crane I hope build. However, I'm confused by their layout. The handle seems to be this side but passes through the nearest gear. This appears to be too large to be the initial gearing as I thought the ratio would be small to large. Perhaps this...

Mike, why do you think the Pressfix misbehaved? Was it just old and cranky? (Like me.)

Andy

Tony Gee should be loudly applauded for restoring Buckingham GC. I clearly remember the impression Peter Denny's article "A Small Loco Depot" in Feb 1960 RM had on me. I couldn't define at the time why his work had such an impact (I was only six!), but now I realise it was because I was lo...

I'm not normally a fan of a pre-group loco receiving a post-grouping livery - but in this case it looks splendid.

That's good news the range may return. I'm a little surprised that you can simply take a part of the business back so easily.

Interesting and tragic story. Strange to hear of people taking day trips to Worcester - I spent my adolescence trying to escape from there!