Scalefour Forum

Hi John, I built one of these many years ago for Middlepeak. Unfortunately it succumbed to a slight accident a few years ago which necessitates a rebuild of the chassis.I've also got a second kit to do. I would discount the chassis from the original kit, as it was designed around an X04 motor! I the...

I find it interesting that there are no turn-on scotches in this view. Would they be further back, out of shot? Guy, Yes, most likely, as the catch points are only just in view and they would have been a secondary safety measure, after the scotches. There's a lot more about the working of various t...

As Jim says, quite an impressive piece of trackwork that looks overly complicated but in fact is quite logical. It looks complicated because this is an incline with a single rope and winding drum at the head. Rather than a continuous rope there are two 'tails' coming off the top and bottom of the wi...

Allan, The attached photo may help, taken in one of the quarries at Wirksworth in Derbyshire, right in the middle of limestone territory. Limestone could be extracted in many forms, including large blocks for building purposes or smaller 'stones' like this for a variety of uses. Interestingly, large...

You may recall a small Viking invasion at last year's Scaleforum, as two members of the Ribe Model Railway Club from Denmark came along to help out with my Obbekaer layout as part of the P87 display. There were very impressed with what they saw at Aylesbury, and thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, so mu...

Thanks Nigel, that was my thinking as well.

Geraint

Nigel, Am I right in saying that the motor used in this case is from a video camera? I have a few of these and am currently designing a mechanism using them to operate turnout indicators on my p87 layout 'Obbekaer'. Mine seem to work best on around 3 volts, so will need a separate control board to a...

Having installed the required lineside telegraph poles on my layout, I'm now thinking about the appropriate lines between them. The aim is to use EZ-Line, which many of you will know is an elasticated thread that regains its shape if accidentally knocked - a valuable feature when track cleaning! The...

Just to advise anyone going to the Wycrail show in High Wycombe on 2nd November that Obbekaer (Danish p87) has had to pull out because of an illness in my family. We have had to postpone our visit to 2014 as a result. However, the show still looks an excellent prospect, so don't let our absence dete...

David, I think you're virtually there. The only advice I would offer is to consider putting more variety of shade into the brick colour, which inevitably means painting a number of the bricks individually. On the houses shown in the photo, the stages I used were (1) spraying the whole wall with a Hu...

David, Greetings from another electronic ignoramus who is having exactly the same problem. For me the problem was all the more acute because it initially presented itself in the middle of the first exhibition after fitting, and nothing seemed to indicate what the cause might be. However, talking to ...

Careful perusal of the latest Snooze (p24 in the S4N guide) would suggest that Brassmasters are intending to produce an Easi-Chas conversion for the 3F.

Would anyone at Brassmasters like to comment on timescales for availability? I would certainly be interested!

Geraint Hughes
Ely

Reading this thread had me searching back through my collection of Cambrian Railways research material gleaned about 30 years ago when Bryan and I were members of the same group in Cheshire and in many respects novices in P4! This photo is from the Real Photographs series and shows some nice detail ...

Hi Doug, I'm going to try to attach a photo of one of the more famous Black Hawthorns, possibly the only one to survive (?), during its days in the quarries at Wirksworth, Derbyshire. Named 'Holwell No 3', the livery was a shade of green, difficult to detect exactly from this photo, with red lining,...

Nice to hear from our pilot again - it's 29 years since that flight! As for Pampisford Tales, I recall being harrangued by a so-called local expert at the Ely Show in about 1983. At the time, Simon was producing numerous test samples of ballast for the layout and these were on display along with som...

It was good to hear that the 'old dear' behaved itself last weekend. Unfortunately I couldn't be there, but it did surprise me that things had gone that well, bearing in mind the very 1980's technology that originally went into the layout. At the time we thought we were breaking new ground (and prob...

Antony, Just to echo John's observations on TurboCAD. I have been using it for around 6 years in different versions, and find it very flexible and simple to use. I have prepared artwork for etching with it, although not to the degree of complexity in John's work, and I also use it for layout design,...

I have been investigating one of these myself, and reached the conclusion that it's probably worth the investment, so it's good to hear that Flymo concurs with this. Maplins also sell a fluid called 'Sea Clean Concentrate' which is supposed to accelerate the process. Does anyone have any experience ...

Hi Chris, Having tried the 'wind your own' version on my current layout, I'm finding that performance is a bit hit and miss, as the strength of the magnetic field is clearly not consistent. You may therefore get more consistency out of a purchased item, and I'd be interested in your findings. Howeve...

Allan, Just to echo Mark's sentiments that this is proving to be a fascinating thread for old hands and new boys alike! Given Mark's warnings about the implications for printing, I wonder if at some stage the Society might consider editing this and producing it as a special publication? I suspect it...

Allan, Just to echo Mark's sentiments that this is proving to be a fascinating thread for old hands and new boys alike! Given Mark's warnings about the implications for printing, I wonder if at some stage the Society might consider editing this and producing it as a special publication? I suspect it...

Bryan, Sorry, only just picked up your post of the 10th. I'm having similar problems with a new chassis for a North London 0-6-0T. Since I last made one of these, around 15 years ago, the Sharman wheels have been withdrawn and now the best fit is a 4'3" 12 spoke tender wheel from Gibson. I'm th...

Ian, Conventional wisdom appears to be to inset a piece of 9 or 12mm plywood or MDF into the bottom face of the foam, using 'No More Nails' or similar as an adhesive. This then gives you a firm base onto which you can screw the Tortoise. I recall Gordon Gravett using this method for his new layout '...

Hi Rod, Thanks for the information. I have some Carrs 5mm foam from Brian Lewis's emporium to use on Barrow Road. I have just completed 6 of the 15 turnouts for the layout and am at the stage of deciding which material to use as a track base. I now need to decide whether to use the foam, traditiona...

Andrew, I've done quite a lot of this recently, soldering .33mm brass wire bolections to some etched railcar sides I've had produced in .3mm (12 thou) brass. I use solder paint from Eileen's (a large tin purchased many moons ago) and an Antex 25W iron with a small 3mm chisel shaped bit. Both body an...