Scalefour Forum

Pete, I made a miniature marking gauge along the lines of the traditional woodworkers gauge, but in steel many years ago. An old gramaphone needle provides the 'scratch maker'. I think Rod Neep first described something similar possibly in a very early MRJ. If you haven't found anything else before ...

Slightly OT but not that far away. Having read through this thread two thoughts occurred to me. When did the mounted regiments of the British Army cease to move their horses by rail? And in a similar vein, when was the last foxhunt conveyed by rail, I suspect before WW2 but I really have no idea but...

I have both Q1 and light pacifics in need of wheels.

Thanks for the replies with regard to Helvetia leather. The reference to being heavily greased would tie in with it's use as a gasket with the axle revolving in contact with it. I wonder how long they lasted in use. Perhaps they were a regular 'service item' or maybe they were expected to last the l...

Brilliant resource, answered a few questions that had been nagging, such as axlebox dust shields. Only ever found the remains of them when working on 12":1' restorations. Now all I need to know is what Helvetia leather is; does this refer to the country of origin do you think?

Tony Comber

After a major rebuild and refresh the Glevum Group will be giving Brinkley it's first outing fully assembled in it's 38' length at the Lydney Model Railway Show. Since it appeared in the pages of Model Rail two baseboards have been scrapped and the loco shed area redeveloped on new and longer boards...

Steady on Philip, A trip down memory lane, the Sundeala works (recycled newsprint) and Weyroc. I lived not far from the Weyroc factory, usually referred to as the 'Airscrew' on account of their production of propellers, especially during wartime. The company was actually called Airscrew-Weyroc Ltd. ...

Allan, Find yourself an old tin and try spraying that. Other options include something from the trays second hand dealers have at shows, often under their stall or a no longer wanted model. I used the tin that Boots used to sell meths in for over twenty years but any tin or old model will do. Stop w...

A couple of friends and myself have recently bought toggle latches of this type sold on ebay. As you can see they are adjustable which means that when fitted the pressure exerted between adjoining baseboards can be adjusted. I have a layout with 'standard' toggle latches, but that requires the appli...

When the MMS resistance unit was developed the electrodes were from the carbon arc unit that came with my arc welder. Subsequently a box of the electrodes was bought from a welding supplier. Eileen's still sell them in 4, 5 and 6mm diameter.

Tony Comber

Gareth I did one years ago after buying a Dapol, as it was then, body. I used a Branchlines chassis but modified for split axle pick up. Whatever you do you will need to research your intended loco very thoroughly as there are innumerable variations. I chose an ex-Isle of Wight loco so had to alter ...

Tim, Not unusual for map makers to straighten out curves. The former boundary to my property had a distinct curve, but the OS map showed it as a straight line. I suspect that before the use of satellites there were only so many points that could be measured and when they came to draw the map the dra...

Jonathan,

Is this the sort of thing you used?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Premium-Qual ... XQPW5SD5k0

Tony Comber

A note of caution; this morning I tried as set of Branchlines '108' stub axles in the motor bogie, they are too loose a fit. Jim's method of drilling through the gear muff appears to be the way to go.

Tony Comber

I have LED strip under my kitchen cabinets but they produce multiple shadows being 35mm apart. Rob, Do you have a diffuser over your LEDs under the cabinets? When I first put up the LEDs under my cabinets I had pools of light as you describe. They disappeared completely once the diffuser was in plac...

Industrial lines apart, as far as I am aware the first trial of single manning was with one of the USA tanks on the Southern Region. Can't remember which off hand, may have been at Redbridge sleeper works, but I'm sure somebody will put me right. The USA tanks also had a another novel feature being ...

Knuckles, Congratultions, you are now a further step along the learning curve. We've all done it unless we had a fluke or knowledgable friends to assist. My first baseboards were topped with flooring grade chipboard as I reasoned it was less likely to warp. It didn't warp but I nearly killed myself ...

Andy,

On my screen anyway, there's a link to a number of forums (fora?) at the bottom of the screen including Modelers United.

Tony Comber

Somewhere in my 'archive' (OK big pile of stuff) is a picture of a gentleman of afro-caribbean origin pictured on the footplate of an ex-LMS 4F, at Horton Road, Gloucester, the caption describing him as the driver. He later become the mayor of Gloucester. Obviously he started his career early enough...

Just an extra note on the U-Pol primer, should be available from motor factors that sell paint as well as Halfords. May be worth comparing prices.

Tony Comber

Nice to see Brinkley on the cover of the News again, it's third appearance. It first appeared on the cover of No 150, this is the one that appears as a thumbnail on the front of No 200. It appeared again on the cover of No 159, this time featuring the signal box. Seems that we may need to wait a few...

I've just tried 'ink for technical pens' as a Google search and it came up with https://www.curtisward.com/Aristo_Drawi ... GwodqhwCvw amongst others. Don't know if this is the sort of thing you are looking for.

Tony Comber

Previously I had my baseboards on kitchen cabinets but raised up so that I could get an arm and hand underneath. This enabled the boards to be bolted together and electrical connections from the control panel to be fed underneath as well.

Tony Comber

What you are proposing is not exactly a typical SR set. A CK flanked by two BSKs would be more typical. As a rough rule of thume most SR sets had brake vehicles at each end of the set and only where a four coach set was split in two for operational reasons did the SR or BR(S) have a set formed with ...

Thank you for the URL Noel. Just spent a fair chunk of time exploring the site. Lots of interest there both for modelling and my new garden path!

Tony