Scalefour Forum

Drilling soft materials such as plastic normally calls for a drill with a smaller rake than standard drills. I wonder whether the small diameter drills we use are likely to wander off centre while drilling plastic, even with a jig in use? Drill speed may also have an impact on the accuracy of the dr...

Just to re-suggest (agreeing with DT) sets of broaches are a lot more useful and long lasting than a set of drills of every half millimetre increment. The latter just get blunt. I had batches of 0.5 mm and 0.8mm drills. Nice simple vernier is invaluable. Supply of NS or brass or wire of every 0.1 i...

Few but good quality, especially files and drills. Cheap micro drill sets are a poor economy in my experience. Cheap files are okay for use on white metal or removing excess solder but, having been down the road of buying too many tools over the years, I now rely on half a dozen Vallorbe or Klein Sw...

Steve, the Exactoscale wagon or carriage wheels have a short 2mm OD, 1mm ID "stub" in the wheel centre that projects inwards by about 1.7mm. The 1mm axle with the moulded plastic centre "casing tube" is fitted into this stub. This stub might be long enough to provide a running fi...

Mike, I also avidly follow your entries in this thread and very much enjoy both the photos and exoplanetary text. Very much looking forward to the continuation of the B1 saga as they are much more to my taste in prototypes and, also, I've got one to do myself. I can sympathise with the chore of fil...

It's a long time since I started this thread and it has been dormant for a long time, despite London Road's extension having been completed and appearing at a number of shows. The first was at Scaleforum in 2013 when it was far from finished and the last at Scaleforum 2019 when it was pretty much co...

My experience with noise levels is similar to Philip's. When building the extension for London Road I found that when testing the track while temporarily held in place with pins there was very little noise, as the track was effectively decoupled from the underlay. When glued down with rubber carpet ...

It might be worth spraying up a test price with PPP enamel if you are happy with their colour and taking that to your local supplier to get a colour match. I have done this in the past with LNWR Coach Lake. When spraying cellulose I have also found it important to use good quality "high gloss&q...

....There was a note that the Mitchell range had gone back to Pete waterman .... I suspect Pete Waterman has many other pressing priorities, so I wouldn't expect any Mitchell kits to reappear any time soon. The Manor kit is unfortunately unlikely ever to reappear; it's my understanding that the art...

NEEAG's next meeting has been postponed for one week and will now will be held on Thursday 3rd October at 7:00 in the usual venue: The Colchester Society of Model and Experimental Engineers Clubhouse 13a President Road Colchester CO3 9ED We will reviewing progress on the group's Lavenham project, di...

That appears to be the A413, not the A41, so those travelling around the M25 from the East shouldn't be affected. Other than, that is, by the usual clog up at certain times where the A41 dual carriageway joins the old Aston Clinton Road a couple of miles outside Aylesbury centre.

Julian,

why don't you ask Chris Gibbons, he will know.

Jol

Hi Dave, I have a 60ft turntable etch from LRM which I started to assemble a couple of weeks ago after it had been sat on my work bench for some time. However having checked the main girders on the etch I find them not deep enough by 2mm. The Cowans Sheldon drawing I provided shows the girder plate...

NEEAG's next meeting will be held on Thursday 25th July at 7:00 in the usual venue: The Colchester Society of Model and Experimental Engineers Clubhouse 13a President Road Colchester CO3 9ED Since the last meeting, several members attended the Tendring Show (effectively the Essex County Show), in su...

There is nothing to stop a kit designer taking a holistic approach to their work and provide the modeller with a kit that 'just goes together' The fact that they don't, seems to me, a lot to do with a 'this is the way we have always done it' attitude together with the economics of sourcing wheels e...

Providing a solution that meets everyone's best interests isn't so easy. Having designed a number of 4mm loco kits and assisted a supplier of etched kits at shows for too many years, I have become aware of the modeller's needs, wants, foibles and concerns. For those with experience of kit building a...

You have to build this into the chassis when you construct it. I think it is poor practice from frame designers that this feature is not included in their kits. It does result in a lot of extra work for the constructor. Tim, if designer/manufacturers didn't have the commercial need to take into acc...

Xylene was a constituent of Floquil paint and apparently the reason it was discontinued.

Michael, the RSU's on Ebay at present are all from the USA and mostly of the expensive American Beauty brand. For those who prefer to do their own thing and save money, there are various websites and forums describing how to make RSUs from car battery chargers, microwave ovens, etc. Otherwise there ...

Alan, despite appearing in a search for "jewellry laser welder" the ones from Cooksongold are, on further viewing, described as pulse arc welder, so possibly not laser technology. This is the least expensive they list; https://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Orion-Mpulse-Welder-30-prco...

A quick web search turned up one LW unit from China for £150. However, you need to wear an Arc Welding helmet when using it, which may reduce its usefulness for our needs. Cooksongold do list one, which looks rather more suited to the amateur model maker/jeweller, but at £2300 it may be beyond most ...

Tim,

I believe that the venue is now managed by Serco, who have a policy of not replacing failed lighting units. It was noticeably dim on Friday evening during set up without layouts and trader lighting to add some brightness.

Jol

The event has attracted a remarkable amount of national media interest. BBC R4 6 p.m. News had what was probably the most grown up handling of it, while Sky News dealt with it in a positive, grown up, way. Jeremy Vine's Radio 2 lunchtime Radio 2 programme also featured a piece in which Tim Watson of...

When buying 12" wire or strip from Hobby Holidays at a show, Phil puts it in clear tubes with black plastic caps to avoid damage. I now have sufficient for all the standard sizes, suitably labelled.

David, the price is given in the "Gears, motors, etc., soldering materials and tools" section., £210 complete including probe, leads, etc. The transformers for the LRM unit are manufactured by a company specialising in custom transformers, so ongoing supply of RSUs shouldn't be a problem. ...