John Isherwood

These wagons are susceptibe to being greatly improved. The essential modifications are narrowing the chassis by cutting a longitudinal section from the centre, and fitting new bogies. Holding-down straps and several other details also help; (including my transfers; see Sheet BL119 at https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm ). Regards, John Isherwood.

.... and the loads are, I believe, period air compressors; used to operate the changeover system between road and rail. Regards, John Isherwood.

.... but several of us can, and have, vouched for their inaccuracy !! This can readily be established by consulting diagrams of the Standard Five and GT3 - or is that too simple? It is the repeated quotation of inaccurate past publications that leads to such myths becoming 'established fact' (fake news). Regards, John Isherwood.

Like I said - a lot of misinformation ..... If anyone doubts my word - you can always check my research; it really does ONLY match a 'Manor'. Regards, John Isherwood.

There has been a lot of misinformation published about GT3 - but my extensive research indicated that the frames and wheel spacing of GT3 matched nothing except the 'Manors'; certainly not Black or Standard Fives. Regards, John Isherwood.

It was indeed the Colour-Rail image. Trouble is - 10100 aka 'The Fell' was definitely in lined green when it was withdrawn !! I think that, in the absence of definitive information, 11001 will be black. Regards, John Isherwood.

My next loco project could well be Mike Edge's 11001 in 4mm. scale. Whilst awaiting our return from Western Australia to the UK, I am doing a bit of research into the prototype. I know that 11001 first appeared in BR unlined black livery with the early crest, but at least two normally reliable sources assert that it later caried BR green livery. All of the photos that I have seen depict 11001 with the early BR crest, in exactly the same position, whether brand new of in final withdrawn condition. No colour photos of the withdrawn 11001 has come to my attention. Can anyone point to unequivocal evidence of 11001 ever having carried BR green livery? I went through this dilemma when painting my Dave Alexander model of 10800; the colour photos of the loco, withdrawn at Derby, strongly suggested BR green livery - which is as I painted the model. I still have suspicions, though, that the green tinge may have been due to long-term outdoor storage in the Derby scrapline. Regards, John Isherwood.

"Built on a strengthened steam chassis ...."? Really? Not to the best of my knowledge, as the WB only matched a 'Manor'. I'll stick with my Golden Arrow / McGeordie / High Level model. Regards, John Isherwood.

How did you pay? Paypal refunded me with no question - and I believe Visa offer a refund in the event of failure to supply. Regards, John Isherwood.

Replied via PM. Regards, John Isherwood.

I entirely agree - and have been completey frank about my own negative experience. This is where paying by Paypal is a very wise choice. When repeated, polite requests for a refund in lieu of a promised kit were ignored, Paypal refunded my payment with no fuss whatsoever - including the payment for the kit that had been delivered! Simple precautions can eliminate the risk of non-delivery / no refund. Just my experience; I now hold no candle for the former recent retailer of this range of kits - but that does not make them bad kits that cannot be built into presentable models. Regards, John Isherwood.

When buying an etched brass kit, it's mainly the brass sheet that you pay for, whether hand-drawn or CAD designed. I am a fan of the range, because the subjects were mainly 'off-beat', and very unlikely to be available in any other form. In circumstances where the choice was Jidenco / Falcon Brass or scratchbuild, I considered the former were excellent value. It is indeed sad that the attempt to re-introduce the range foundered - for whatever the reason; we are the poorer for that. Regards, John Isherwood.

I'm not so sure - far too many of the modern RTR chassis, especially those with gear-coupled driving axles, have FAR more slop than even a worn Tri-ang Jinty chassis ever had. The secret is enough slop to counteract the inevitable minor errors in axle-spacing, coupling rod drilling, and less-than-perpendicular crankpins - but not too much, so that the whole shebang can get out of step with itself. To achieve this - don't be in too much hurry to open everything up if you get a 'knock' at first - identify the tight spot and ease only the tight crankpin / coupling rod bearing. (It'll be one of the ones that are horizontal at the sticking point. Regards, John Isherwood.

I most certainly DON'T agree with that statement. The Jidenco / Falcon Brass kits are of their time - hand-drawn from the early days of etched brass. In those days we didn't expect a brass origami kit, that folded itself up and begged for the merest touch with a soldering iron. That said, when the model was completed - which was perfectly possible if you used a little modelling skill - you had a model into which you had devoted time, patience and ingenuity. Not scratchbuilt - but certainly there was a lot of 'you' in it. I know which finished models are more robust - and it's not the present-day, digitally-designed, don't tighten the body securing screws to much or it'll bend like a banana ones! Regards, John Isherwood.

Really??? Buy one - any one; Halford's satin black spray can and apply new numberplates and transfers. Job done. Regards, John Isherwood.

I believe that the need for sludge tenders ended with the demise of steam - the sludge came from water-softening plants. Regards, John Isherwood.

Plague = Plaque ? Regards, John Isherwood.

That is the point of discussing the error here - so that prospective / pre-order customers can make an informed decision as to whether they wish to purchase the model as presented by Bachmann at the release price, or wait for the inevitable deep discounts - when they may purchase and devote some time to refinishing the model. Regards, John Isherwood.

Bachmann - head in sand, I think, on this one. Regards, John Isherwood.

The bottom line is, though, that a train of all clean coaches should match. The latest, non-matching models are not weathered - they just have translucent markings that don't match their predecessors. They're just plain wrong - and all the flim-flam in the world won't disguise the fact. Regards, John Isherwood.

I'm sorry, Andy, but I just don't buy this. No sensible company is going to deliberately commission TPO coaches, designed NOT to match their previous output of similar vehicles, that purchasers will want to run in the same rake. There has been a c*ck-up somewhere, and it does Bachmann no credit to try and pretend otherwise. Fortunately, the majority of prospective purchasers will be able to see through the 'spin', and will vote with(out) their wallets. For those prepared to correct the error - hold off purchasing now and await the inevitable sell-off at reduced prices. If my printing system allowed me to produce transfers to exactly match the former Bachmann TPO livery, I would produce the necessary transfers; I'm sure that Railtec or Precision Labels will oblige. Regards, John Isherwood.

Now this handy gadget, on a J71, may be well-known to aficionados of the NER / LNER, but it's a new one on me. Presumably VERY handy for the driver / fireman when in charge of the station pilot. The challenge, of course, is to model this device in 4mm. scale or less - and, in these days of digital everything, to control the rotating red aspect via DCC !! Regards, John Isherwood.

Being a producer of transfers, I speculate that the 'dull' markings have been applied directly to the red, instead of over a white undercoat. Yellow is a translucent colour, and the red substrate will 'dull' the yellow markings unless white is applied first. This may well be a case of the factory taking a short-cut to reduce the number of tampo operations involved. I have to say that, if I had bought this model to run with the earlier production, I would be very unhappy. Regards, John Isherwood.

I always understood that 'Tales of the Unexpected' was Cambridge United NOT losing !! Regards, John Isherwood.

https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/Festiniog_and_Blaenau_Railway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festiniog_and_Blaenau_Railway http://o14group.org/?attachment_id=312 https://twitter.com/sodorrymodeler/status/918267235919106048 Regards, John Isherwood.