John Isherwood

Now that is entirely true - and best sums up what I fear will be lost to the general body of younger railway modellers of today. Regards, John Isherwood.

All I can tell you is that my experience of building MTK DMUs and wagons was not in any way stressful - certainly no worse than building Keyser's kits - though a newer generation of modellers sees fit to tear apart the reputation of that excellent company too. It is all to easy nowadays to judge kits from the past by today's standards. Unless you were there - as you and I were - it's impossible to remember how little there was apart from the very limited ranges of RTR. We were more than happy to get out the tools, fettle the components; tweak the motors and fill the gaps between the castings with car body filler or solder ........ and we were bl**dy proud of the results, too! It would seem, from the above posting, that at least one customer managed to make something worthwhile from the MTK Standard Five kit. My model of the same loco was 'bashed' from a Hornby tender-drive Black Five chassis and boiler; Kitmaster/ Airfix Standard Mogul components and a cast whitemetal high-sided Standard tender body kit. Despite the questionable provenance, it won a trophy at that year's Cambridge model railway exhibition. Regards, John Isherwood.

I now have a 1999 parts, transfers and paints list; but I would welcome sight of a kits list, please. Regards, John.

I don't do WhatsApp, I'm afraid; but another offer has been made (above), thanks. Regards, John.

I didn't know that it existed - I'll mention transfers in my next communication with John. It could be very helpful in my task of sorting the castings if you could, at some time, let me have a scan of John's catalogue, please. Regards, John Isherwood.

Wasn't this gap a common feature? Presumably to avoid rot in the interface between chassis and body? John Isherwood.

Been there - got the tee-shirt; many, many times! Worth it, though - Lima coaches scrub up very well with a repaint and re-line. John Isherwood.

It was our Golden Wedding Anniversary this year (June) - big family restaurant gathering planned and booked; that wasn't going to happen! Fortunately, we have 'Fish for Thought' https://www.fishforthought.co.uk/ just round the corner, here in Bodmin. Suffice to say that we gorged, at home, on lobster, crab, etc., etc. - and for several days thereafter! Regards, John Isherwood.

Wizard Models too. John Isherwood.

I have just had a very productive telephone conversation with John Talbot - who has more than enough on his plate to be bothered with 4mm. scale castings. It has been agreed that the (several thousand) castings will NOT now be melted down. I will take charge of them, sort them, (a considerable task as may be imagined); and then list and offer them for sale here and probably on my website; https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm . Suffice to say that no-one will be making significant money from the operation, so prices will be reasonable (cheap)! The aim is to ensure that useful castings are put to good use. There remains the logistics of transporting the castings - a not insignificant weight - from Worcester to Bodmin. My wife and I travel up and down the M5 three or four times per year, to visit family; so we can call in and collect the castings from John in due course. This transfer will NOT be immediate - my wife is vulnerable to Covid-19 and is due to have a cataract operation very shortly. So, there will now be a modest interlude before I am in a position to list what is available, pricing and give details of ordering procedures. Be assured that John's 4mm. stock is safe, and will be available in due course; please be patient and watch this space. Regards, John Isherwood.

Not meant, in any way, to be taken seriously - surely that was obvious? John Isherwood.

Louvres are rarely, if ever, see-through; they are sloping, overlapping slats. That is why etched-through louvres are so unconvincing - you could not see through the real things, and they should not appear as simple bars across an opening. John Isherwood.

..... and, in fairness to NNK (Phoenix) who now offer some MTK kits; MTK DMU kits were not that difficult to build; (for the Almighty, it would be a breeze). I built an excellent Gloucester set way back in the 1970s, well before the advent of superglues - which nowadays make bonding the aluminium bodyshell to the cast whitemetal ends, etc. quite a simple task. I know that it is 'fashionable' to 'knock' anything MTK, but quite a lot of those products were, and are, perfectly buildable; given application. Such adverse comment should only be made on the basis of personal experience. John Isherwood.

To quote the late, great Captain Mainwaring (that'll be Mannering) - "Stupid boy"!! Regards, John Isherwood.

Mike, Patience, patience - suffice to say that I'm on it !! Regards, John.

At this stage it's impossible to say, as none of these components are mine - I'm just trying to save the Appleby castings from being melted down, and the Wild Boar resin castings being available is a bonus. Suffice to say that they would be available at very reasonable prices, if it is possible to proceed. Regards, John Isherwood.

I couldn't make out the peaked end - now that you've told me, it's obvious! Thanks, John.

During my discussions with John Talbot (Appleby Model Engineering), it has emerged that he has a very large quantity of castings from his kits, that he is about to melt down. PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT JOHN TO TRY AND ACQUIRE SUCH CASTINGS; I AM TRYING TO SEE IF IT IS PRACTICABLE TO MAKE THESE AVAILABLE WITHOUT TROUBLING JOHN. Amongst those castings are a number from John's 4mm. scale ICI bogie hopper kit. It occurs to me that these castings may be useful to anyone who might wish to build either the ICI hoppers or, in particular, the JOHN SUMMERS / BSC hoppers which were very similar indeed - having a slightly lower hopper. It should be fairly simple to scratchbuild the hopper itself from brass or plasic card and, as far as I can tell, the castings would provide most / all of the difficult bits. Naturally, the castings would be made up into sets to make one wagon, and would be offered in the simplest possible format - probably in a poly bag within a Jiffy bag for posting; NO INSTRUCTIONS would be provided. In the first instance I would welcome an indication of the likely demand for the castings shown above; if there is sufficient potential demand, I will discuss the matter further with John Talbot. Regards, John Isherwood. PLEASE NOTE : It has subsequently transpired that, other than the bogie castings and the ICI etches, the bogie hopper wagon components are NOT amongst those remaining for sale.

During my discussions with John Talbot (Appleby Model Engineering), it has emerged that he has a very large quantity of castings from his kits, that he is about to melt down. PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT JOHN TO TRY AND ACQUIRE SUCH CASTINGS; I AM TRYING TO SEE IF IT IS PRACTICABLE TO MAKE THESE AVAILABLE WITHOUT TROUBLING JOHN. Amongst those castings are a number from John's 4mm. scale ICI bogie hopper kit. It occurs to me that these castings may be useful to anyone who might wish to build either the ICI hoppers or, in particular, the JOHN SUMMERS / BSC hoppers which were very similar indeed - having a slightly lower hopper. It should be fairly simple to scratchbuild the hopper itself from brass or plasic card and, as far as I can tell, the castings would provide most / all of the difficult bits. Naturally, the castings would be made up into sets to make one wagon, and would be offered in the simplest possible format - probably in a poly bag within a Jiffy bag for posting; NO INSTRUCTIONS would be provided. In the first instance I would welcome an indication of the likely demand for the castings shown above. If there is sufficient potential demand, I will discuss the matter further with John Talbot. Regards, John Isherwood.

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I am just adding a new transfer sheet to my website; Sheet BL183 - 1950s / 60s solebar numberplates for ICI bogie limestone hoppers; (as produced by Hattons / Oxford). Sixteen pairs of numbers are provided, and each number is printed in seven different densities to represent anything from ex-works to virtually unreadable! See https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm for pricing, ordering and payment details. Regards, John Isherwood.

You'll find your coat and hat on the front doormat !! John Isherwood.

An interesting subject - what's the provenance, please? Regards, John Isherwood.

Well - what about a touch-sensitive, dimming bedside lamp, produced by a prestige lighting company in Germany. We bought one for each bedroom - and every time there was a power cut or a nearby lightning strike, at least one - sometimes two - dimming units ceased to work. (Probably because the dimmers are activated by static electricity within the human body). At first, I returned the lamps to the retailer for replacement - which was done without question - but we both got fed up of the procedure. So I contacted the manufacturer in Germany to ask if it was a known problem, and asking for replacement dimming units. No response whatsoever! So I went onto the internet and identified what appeared to be identical dimming units, being offered from China, and ordered five - which cost me pence, with free postage. After the usual two or three weeks wait for delivery, the dimming units arrived and proved to be identical to the ones fitted in the 'German' lamps. I duly replaced the dimmer units and - lo and behold - the lamps are now restored to full functionality. I do not expect them to be immune to the tendency to fail - but at least I can repair them with minimal cost and inconvenience. So - the moral is, even if you studiously avoid anything made or sold in China, you will be buying Chinese components even though you don't know it. John Isherwood.

For £8.00, it's not a great investment to give it a try - it all depends what you expect of the loco. If it proves not to be up to your expectations, there's not much lost. If you can make a bigger investment, I gather that High Level have some 'punchy' coreless motors. Regards, John Isherwood.