Chuffnell Regis

[MrWolf]

I've only bought Modelmaster transfers from eBay, I've never had any direct dealing with them, I take it supply has been an issue? 

I've been using Microsol and Microset on the advice of the late Mick Bonwick and I no longer hate transfers, it's even saved fifty year old Heller, Ratio and Airfix transfers that had curled up. Oddly, the old Cooper Craft ones seem to be indifferent to age and neglect. Probably made from a substance that is now banned under the Geneva convention...

[Rowsley17D]

52 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

I've only bought Modelmaster transfers from eBay, I've never had any direct dealing with them, I take it supply has been an issue? 

 

 

I gather some of the Mm items like decals are going to other suppliers, so it's best to order from them rather than use the Mm website.

[Graham T]

2 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

 

Another route here Graham could be POW sides. These are Slaters wagon kits with either pre-printed sides, or you can just buy the transfers. I have a couple of them and they are lovely little kits and obviously are different to anything produced by Bachmann etc.

 

https://www.powsides.co.uk

 

Which reminds me that I could do with adding some more Reading based wagons. A 4mm Huntley & Palmers transfers are £7.30 and the full kit is £15 (Other biscuits are available 🤣 )

 

The Slaters range is worth keeping an eye on, both for their 4mm wagons, but also as they are rumoured to be re-introducing their Toplight carriages. I emailed them yesterday as there had been no news recently. I will let you know when they reply. https://slatersplastikard.com/wagons/4mmWagons.php 

 

Obviously, no connection to either company, just a happy end-user!

 

 

Fox Transfers are definitely recommended (as a customer) - I would not recommend Modelmaster due to their supply chain issues. (In my experience)

 

 

I agree on both counts 😎

 

 

That sounds very disciplined Rob. 😎

 

The POW sides look good, I can see me getting at least a couple of those.  As I'm using three links my (eventual) plan/hope is to be able to keep some rakes of wagons together e.g. an empty coal train and a loaded one, things like that.  But that is quite a way in the future; I would need (a) more wagons, and (b) a bigger fiddle yard, or a traverser - which is the aim with CR Mk II.

 

I'd also certainly like to build some Slaters coaches at some point - although I also have enough coaches!  I was watching some Slaters toplights on ebay but didn't bid on them.  I did however win a pair of Wheeltapper toplights for about what a single Slaters one would have cost...

 

I've used Fox transfers in the past and found them good, but the HMRS Pressfix sheets also look good (for value as well).

 

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I combine both by occasionally offering ill-considered pontifications here and then having to eat my words.

 

 

Various. For Midland and LNWR wagons, which I have built in quantity, the HMRS Pressfix sheets have been a worth-while investment, though the waterslide transfers that now come with the Slater's Midland kits are very good (and cover LMS too) - they also include sets of tare weight markings that, with a bit of cut'n'shutting, are very useful, for LNW as well as Midland wagons. For GWR wagons, where I'm doing the pre-1904 livery, i started with a rub-down sheet from the BGS but owing to that being out of stock more recently, I have used Fox, though I'm not quite convinced by the shape of some of their lettering for that livery. Likewise, their MR transfers are an aberration drawn by someone who had clearly never looked at a photograph of a wagon in Midland livery. I have done some LB&SCR wagons, for which I have used both POWSides and Fox; I've come to prefer the Fox ones as more economical, since they include the superscript Y (LB&SCRY) appropriate to my period with every set of lettering, not just one! For my Cambrian Cambrian wagons, I used transfers from CamKits bought through the WRRC.

 

I realise all this pre-Groupery is not really tending to answer your question. I think if I was modelling the 1930s I would probably long since have laid in several sheets of the HMRS Pressfix sheets for LMS and LNER wagons but that might not necessarily be the best choice for someone starting now.

 

The very best purchases I have made in relation to transfers are a bottle of gloss varnish and Microscale Industries' MicroSol and MicroSet.

 

 

I find carefully putting the number on digit by digit strangely satisfying and relaxing, even on a pre-1904 GWR wagon where it goes on four times. On the other hand, at my period Midland wagons had the number on the solebar numberplate only, and those I make myself.

 

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

I've only bought Modelmaster transfers from eBay, I've never had any direct dealing with them, I take it supply has been an issue? 

I've been using Microsol and Microset on the advice of the late Mick Bonwick and I no longer hate transfers, it's even saved fifty year old Heller, Ratio and Airfix transfers that had curled up. Oddly, the old Cooper Craft ones seem to be indifferent to age and neglect. Probably made from a substance that is now banned under the Geneva convention...

 

Also a big fan of gloss varnish and Microset here 🙂  But afraid I have to agree to disagree with you on the pleasures of digit by digit numbering...

 

[Graham T]

All that chat about wagons and so now I feel something of a fraud - here's the entire fleet of Chuffnell Regis open wagons!  (Less PO coal wagons).

 

 

[Tortuga]

Still more than the Wagon Fleet for Alsop!

[Graham T]

9 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Still more than the Wagon Fleet for Alsop!

 

And there are a few more on the way!

 

[57xx]

6 hours ago, Barclay said:

Another vote for POWsides. For railway company wagons I use the HMRS Pressfix range, which have enough on each sheet for many vehicles. I have one for each of the big 4 and they have lasted ages. You don't get ready made up numbers though so numbering is a chore, especially for the smaller post-1937 number schemes. It does mean you can model an actual wagon from a photo though instead of just putting on a 'typical' number. 

 

I've got the same, 1 each of the Big 4 sheets in HRMS Pressfix. They have covered 95% of my requirements, it tends to be the rarer of named wagons that might be missing e.g. LNER bolster wagon, there is no "Quint" on the sheet and the GWR crane and sleeper wagons are lacking. I'll probably go to Railtech if Fox don't cover any of those.

[Graham T]

Exactly what I was thinking.  HMRS seems to cover most things.  Fox will fill the gaps, but seem to be a bit more costly.

 

[longchap]

9 hours ago, Graham T said:

I'd love to be able to visit exhibitions - but it might be just as well that I can't!  I'd be like a kid in a sweet shop...

 

Just catching up with forum activity and yes, l too miss the UK exhibition scene, However, I've booked my ferry for the SMRS Eastleigh exhibition at the end of January, following a three year absence and am aiming to restrict myself to just the Saturday for reason of not buying things which may be useful in the future.

 

My kit stash needs work, but not on acquiring more!

 

 

[Graham T]

In anticipation of getting the new Madness album through the post tomorrow - yes they're still going strong - I'm topping up on some classics from the Nutty Boys.

 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2022 by Graham T
String?!

[MrWolf]

That was probably my favourite Madness track, but as I got into my teens I found myself listening to all kinds of things from The Smiths to psychobilly and US garage rock.

The Madness connection?

The night before the opening of my last exhibition, I was lucky enough to be invited to this chaps gallery for a lecture and exhibition on 20th century commercial art.

I was most  flattered that James attended my opening night and shared some very useful technical and marketing tips.

 

https://jamesmackie.art/biography

 

 

[Graham T]

The latest open wagon inching its way towards joining the fleet at Chuffnell R.  This is an LMS D1666 open from Cambrian (but you probably knew that anyway).

 

 

[MrWolf]

Nope, you could have said it was an RCH and I would have believed you!

[Tortuga]

Nope. It’s got metal t-section stantions rather than wooden ones - definitely LMS.

 

Is it a relatively recent purchase @Graham T? I ask as I’ve got three Cambrian kits in various stages of completion and the oldest one (picked up at an exhibition) is a dreadful mess of flash while the parts of the latest one are much crisper.

Edited November 17, 2022 by Tortuga
Posted too soon

[Neal Ball]

15 hours ago, Graham T said:

In anticipation of getting the new Madness album through the post tomorrow - yes they're still going strong - I'm topping up on some classics from the Nutty Boys.

 

 

 

 

A few years ago, we did a filmed sequence with the soundtrack of "our house" in a taxi and green screens etc. for that years company conference, which was great fun to film.... however I took the piss out of the (new) stationery supplier as they were awful (for which read cheap), needless to say it didn't go down well 🤣🤣

 

[Graham T]

3 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Nope. It’s got metal t-section stantions rather than wooden ones - definitely LMS.

 

Well of course - I thought everybody knew that 🥸

 

[Graham T]

8 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Nope, you could have said it was an RCH and I would have believed you!

 

Same here Rob - I'm pretty clueless on most of this stuff.  As I regularly demonstrate!

 

[Graham T]

6 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Nope. It’s got metal t-section stantions rather than wooden ones - definitely LMS.

 

Is it a relatively recent purchase @Graham T? I ask as I’ve got three Cambrian kits in various stages of completion and the oldest one (picked up at an exhibition) is a dreadful mess of flash while the parts of the latest one are much crisper.

 

I did buy it fairly recently, yes, from ebay I think.  The mouldings are nice and crisp, hardly any flash to speak of.  

 

[MrWolf]

I am definitely not buying any more wagon kits. In fact I have realised that barring the greenery, I don't actually require anything else to complete the layout or run trains. 

 

I may just be in a unique position!

[Graham T]

20 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I am definitely not buying any more wagon kits.

 

Methinks you speak with forked tongue!

 

[Graham T]

Another one bites the dust.  The LMS 5-plank still needs couplings, but I'll add those after priming (which is what I should have done with the other two, of course).  Not sure if the primer will get applied today though, as it's still as wet as an otter's pocket here...

 

[MrWolf]

35 minutes ago, Graham T said:

 

Methinks you speak with forked tongue!

 

 

Nope. Making a start on building the cattle train as a batch very soon.

[Graham T]

Oh I believed that bit.  But not adding anything new to the stash?

 

That being said, I'm not very well informed on the wagon kit scene - does anything new get released these days?

 

[MrWolf]

I'm not very up on the current kit scene either. Worth having a look at the Peco/Parkside site I reckon. Slater's, POWsides and Cambrian too, but that's about all I know. There's still a fair bit of whitemetal and brass stuff available but it's out of my price range.

There's a fair bit of the old Cooper Craft GWR stuff on eBay at the moment too.