Hroth

A Q1 is all very well, but where do you put the key? Nods to WA Stanier and leaves, pursued by a (Great) Bear......

Hmmm - perhaps you're right. I'd interpreted "foam" as the thin soft flexible stuff, rather than expanded polystyrene. Perhaps the solution is to loosely wrap the model in whats called "archival, acid-free" tissue paper before placing it in a expanded polystyrene cradle, or in one of those wrap-around plastic clip/sleeve assemblies that are popular at the moment. As for dinky tyres, they're just exhibiting prototypical behaviour. Perhaps in line with modern practice, they ought to have a "discard by" date code embossed on the side? Now back to GBL. I've fitted a Lima motor bogie/trailing bogie to the diecast GBL Western chassis, after a bit of drilling, grinding and fitting. Had to remove some of the roof stiffeners for clearance, though with no external modifications... It goes like a bomb, but stopping from full chat is fun, especially if there's something in the way like a wagon or a buffer stop!

Foam is unreliable stuff. Its also used as light-trap material in all sorts of (mainly) 35mm cameras. There's nothing more depressing than opening the camera back to find strings of sticky mush where the foam used to be... I suppose its possible that the failure mode is when the material is under compression. I've also experienced it with a Zenit UPA5 portable photographic enlarger where the case was lined in the stuff to hold the enlarger components in place. What a mess! Foam for long term storage: just say NO! edit: (Just found a link to a pic of a typical UPA5 foam disaster ! http://www.submin.com/general/collection/accessories/zenith_upa5m.htm )

Popped into my local Sainsburys this lunchtime and snaffled their sole copy. I don't know how many they get in, but there's always only one when I visit! (the card backing is usually sadly mangled too...) It looks a bit better in the flesh, though it still seems subtly wrong, no matter how you look at it. And the cylinders need gluing into place! Anyhoo, its going to be a 1963-4 vintage loco, minus nameplates, as dirty as hell, weeks away from the scrapyard. Static diorama fodder, naturally. OR Stretch the firebox, stick a pony truck under the cab and, voila! Hawksworths "Pacific".......

Whooeee!!! Is it just me, or is the cab/firebox relationship completely out of whack? I had a look at County of Chester on wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_1000_Class#/media/File:Bristol_Temple_Meads_2_geograph-2423243-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg) - they look completely different locos. Is this one of the worst GBL renditions so far? It looks like they pinched the boiler off a Manor!

Possibly, if you weren't too fussy* - having had a look at the images offered by goggle when I searched for "Western diesel golden ochre", its as good a stab as any! * Blind man on galloping horse caveat......

Yep - I was going to reference the "egg yolk yellow" that was on my fathers Morris Marina, it was L reg so that pins it down to 1972-3. My mother HATED it! I think the tin of "touch-up" paint has long congealed, if its still at the back of the garage..... Just googled the Marina - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Marina The second pic down on the r/h side of the article IS that awful colour!

To keep your list tidy, each time one comes out, use this command to lop the current issue off the list and create a new list. awk '{if (NR!=1) {print}}' currentlist.txt > newlist.txt You are using Linux???? ( I know its using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but thats what computers are for! )

Yes well, begins with "S", doesn't it! As for the livery, I think it was blue (and another company) when it was in the old transport gallery in the basement at William Brown Street.

Its a Sentinel steam waggon. There's one on display in "The Museum of Liverpool Life" at the Pierhead, along with Lion, a Liverpool Overhead Railway carriage and other stuff of railway/transport interest. (It may even be in Criddles livery, at least its a blue livery if I recall correctly...) Edit: Always check before posting..... The one in the Museum is a "Criddles", but its a green livery! http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/collections/transport/sentineltractor.aspx

Considering the variety of locos the Triang "Jinty" chassis has appeared under (especially the Gronk), the "misalignment" of wheels and splashers with the J39 is a minor inconvenience. I'd also hazard a guess that a complete modern Hornby jinty based model as a donor would work out cheaper than a discarded Bachmann split-chassis. All I've got to do now is select the victim for the butchers knife/saw/drill.....

Perhaps it was meant to read A2/1 at one point, and got sub-edited to complete incomprehensibility? In any case, there is a point of view that that class was an awful hybrid created by a certain CME. Treading on eggshells, to try and avoid starting off a religious war..... Then again, they might just be doing a copy of "Tornado"...

Dunno. But it keeps shrinking!!!

Exactly what I was thinking. A sort of "Homage to Margate", along with a nifty rename to "County of Kent".....

At least with the County there's no faffing with valvegear! As for the livery, just carefully scrub the GW off the tender and apply a BR totem (Unicycle or Dartboard to taste). I wonder if I could cram the Triang B12 chassis in there.......

Perhaps Hornby are looking into using the Pug as a basis for a Y7? Something a bit less Tobylike..... Back to matters in hand, WHAT a pretty engine the J50 is! Hornby are coming along nicely with this one.

Its possible to collect the whole set so far on ebay at £19.99 + p&p each. wonder who buys past GBL issues at silly prices? £9 for a single model to "play" with is a convincing proposition, its cheaper than buying moribund Triang/Hornby locos to cut&shut and experiment with livery changes and weathering effects. Anything more is madness. And if you want to collect the things, you'd have taken out a subscription,,,,,

Heavier, yes. But next time it'll be the other loco/floor that comes off worse!

Just broken my GBL Western down. Do my eyes deceive me, or is the cast chassis essentially a reproduction of the Lima chassis, even down to the correct size/shape "hole" for the motor bogie? A bit of drilling and cutting, and I can drop in the bogies from a Lima Western that had a nasty accident a while ago..... (Just have to fish the bogies from the spare parts box - they'll be somewhere near the bottom!)

Ho-hum. If you have to be a member of a forum to VIEW the discussions, then I'm firmly of the Groucho tendancy. Now we've got the unknown unknowns out of the way, Western HO! Thinking of the Western, how were the bogies of the Peak and the HST treated? Were they cast metal screwed to a flat bottom under the body, or something more involved?

If anyone is interested, there were 4 8Fs in WHS Liverpool One this lunchtime.....

Picked up my 8F from the local Sainsbugs this lunchtime - an excellent static model, tank vents straight and no gaps anywhere. The assembler must have found their glasses again! Now for some cogitation before the paintshop... I like that comparison of the HD 8F with the GBL version. For a 50 year old model, the HD is a cracker!

A nice looking 8F - now for a renumbering into an appropriate '67 identity, with a "not under the wires" diagonal, limescale around washout plugs, etc, an overheated smokebox door, and so much FILTH that its barely possible to discern the number, let alone the BR crest..... A wonky tender vent would be positively in character!

I've bought from the shop several times since the re-opening, excellent stock, very helpful staff. Well worth a visit!

I thought I'd missed the 8F, seems more than two weeks since the Brit appeared! Nevermind, I'll be looking out for the 8F and the Western; the J39 looks like a potential purchase too.......