John Isherwood

Lord Copper? Not sure that I understand that. I'm not suggesting that anyone can become a Coachmann just through lots of practice. However, I do suggest that anyone should be able to achieve a satisfactory standard of finish, provided that they are not seeking perfection. Assuming that a bottomless exchequer is not available, plenty of practice of the skills required and, ultimately, acceptance of the limit of one's capabilities, will result in plenty of satisfaction from this hobby. I know the standard of my loco building is not of Tony Wright's level, and that my painting does not come close to Coachmann's, but I am happy to accept those limitiations whilst always trying to improve my skills. Wishing we could achieve the results of more experienced and skilled modellers can only lead to dissatisfaction and frustration. Regards, John Isherwood.

It's been said ad infinitum, but - NO-ONE is born with the skills to do anything. You do it the first time and make a b*lls of it - be it walking, speaking, writing, etc., etc., - the next time you do it a tiny bit better, and so on and so on. If you assume from the outset that you'll never be any good at something, you never will. ...... but if you're not prepared to make the investment in time and initial disappointment .................. ! Regards, John Isherwood.

The same reason as ever - to save money. Even in the 1960s - when we'd never had it so good - we moaned about prices if things cost more than the two-bob Airfix kits !! Regards, John Isherwood.

Les, Currently in NZ - will contact you when I return to the UK. Regards, John Isherwood.

Ohhhhh yes - though yesterday only five of the normal ten vintage trams were running, so it was a bit of a long wait at times. Today? Ballarat - of 'The Dr. Blake Mysteries' fame. Besides wanting to see the location for the TV series, it has a SUPERB tram museum; http://www.btm.org.au/. Not a running day today, but they put one on specially for us, and they let me swing the trolley pole and change the points. Sorry this is OT - but a response to that comment was called for! Regards, John Isherwood.

No negativity and / or gloom - just a healthy dose of realism; (and perhaps just a touch of Ozzie cynicism, as I'm here in Melbourne at present)! When I read 'reasonably priced', I interpret this as 'less that an etched kit or RTR' - let's hope that I'm mistaken. Regards, John Isherwood. By-the-bye - can they do trams here !!! Nose-to-tail trams of every conceiveable type, including the classic pre-war ones. (That's one passing the hotel now).

I'm just waiting for the sharp intakes of breath when the price is announced - Airfix 'two bob' it won't be !!! Regards, John Isherwood.

Well - why wouldn't you? Gravity is free - it was when they built the Festiniog, and it is today !! It still seemed to work, too, when I last saw a demonstration gravity train a couple of years ago. Regards, John Isherwood

I think you are mixing-up the business case for commissioning, say, an RTR wagon; and producing a kit by whatever method. The capital cost of producing the latter, either in cast whitemetal, etched brass, cast resin or 3D printing, is not huge; certainly not impossible for someone who is prepared to do much of the work him / herself. That's exactly how the last generation of kit producers got into the business. We've established that, even for an injected plastic wagon kit, a reasonably skilled modeller / group of modellers should be able to produce the brass moulding tools. We have also been shown that the injection moulding machines are now, relatively speaking, far cheaper to acquire than they were for the likes of Ian Kirk etc. So, perhaps my mention of bank loans was a red herring; substitute a bit of saving to accumulate the wherewithall to buy the machine, whilst learning the skills to produce the moulds. It wasn't impossible a generation ago and it's not now - it depends how determined you are. Regards, John Isherwood.

If that is the case, how do small businesses in any sphere get a start? I see plenty of young people with new initiatives opening up, outside the railway modelling world - perhaps some members posting here have a mistaken idea of what a viable business comprises of? It has to be something that a lot of modellers want and would buy, at the price that you would need to sell it for - not what you want, at the price that you would pay, because you 'have' to have it. Regards, John Isherwood.

Initiative implies assessing demand; deciding on a product; costing the potential product; calculating if the product is financially viable; and if so, sourcing funding via a business loan if necessary. The guys who started these product lines; (and I here include my own transfer range); laid out significant money against the risk that their intended products might not sell. I have now been producing transfers for 17 years; in order to - God willing - take this up to 30 years when I will be 80, I have invested a good many thousands of pounds in spare printers and ink cartridges. Bear in mind that the Alps printers that I use haven't been produced for many years, and their is no viable alternative without investing VERY large sums of money in state-of-the-art technology. Business is not about having spare cash dripping out of your pockets - it's about having faith in yourself and belief in your products; there are no guarantees. If, when we (the product range owners), decided to let the business go, we have the right to sell it on or abandon it as we see fit. Either way, we have no ongoing 'duty' to maintain availability of our products. That's the way of the world, and continual bleating here won't change anything. If the Coopercraft etc. range is so essential to the modelling community, let one or more members approach the current proprietor and put their hard cash on the table. They may well find that their hand(s) may be snatched off, given the hard time he is getting here !! Regards, John Isherwood.

Suffice to say that the health of the proprietor is not unassociated with the availability of these products. We're all getting old - deal with it !! Where are all the young Ian Kirks, Colin Ashbys, Adrian Swains, etc., etc., nowadays ?? Most younger 'modellers', (with some notable exceptions), don't now seem to have any initiative. Regards, John Isherwood.

If it's anything like my Canon DSLR, you have to configure the file name / number style that you prefer; I simply have consecutive numbering in the format IMG_xxx.jpg . I don't use the Canon software to download images; simply Explorer on my PC. You should find your Canon camera as a storage device on your PC when it's plugged in via USB and is switched on. You can then go to the image list in that storage device and cut / paste or copy / paste them to whichever directory / folder you wish on your PC. I have folders for each year, sub-divided into month folders; the consecutive image numbering automatically keeps them in order. If you knew all this already - sorry, ignore me !! Regards, John Isherwood.

Scrumble could / can? be obtained from good hardware stores and decorators' suppliers. It was / is basically a varnish with some pigment, and is applied in a 'streaky' fashion to a lighter coloured undercoat to simulate wood grain. I recall it as being a popular finish for front doors in the 1950s. What the householders were trying to achieve is pretty much what the LNER did in later days, and what we do when trying to imitate the finish of varnished teak. Regards, John Isherwood.

Please correct the title of this thread - it hardly inspires confidence in the content when the title is missing a letter. Thanks, John Isherwood.

..... and one at the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway - also long gone. Regards, John Isherwood.

It is not difficult to make fixed Hornby trailings trucks pivot; I've done it on West Countries and 71000. All that is needed is a piercing saw, needle files and a little ingenuity. If necessary, my Ivatt Duchess will come in for the same treatment, in due course. Regards, John Isherwood.

What's with the W and E suffixes? They're not NPCCS, you know ! Regards, John Isherwood.

Mine was picked-up this morning. Unfortuately, under any load, the gears slip out of engagement somewhere in the transmission. There doesn't seem to be any obvious way of accessing the motor / gearbox so I'm afraid that it'll be going back. I would strongly suggest asking your supplier to check that the model will spin its wheels when buffered-up to a stop-block. Not what I've come to expect from my previous Heljan (diesel) purchases. Regards, John Isherwood.

There isn't any optical illusion going on in the photo in #239 - the flange is definitely on the top of the angle; click on it to enlarge it if you don't believe me. On the other hand, in #242 it's definitely on the bottom; again, click on it to be sure. Regards, John Isherwood.

Perhaps the trusses have been renewed - or perhaps both configurations were used? Regards, John Isherwood.

If you look at the Coopercraft thread, the words 'bargepole' and 'disinfected' will come to mind. Regards, John Isherwood.

Please could you provide a link to this product? A Google search on 'Olfa P45 carpet cutter' produces nothing suitable, and a browse of Olfa's website is equally unenlightening. Many thanks in anticipation. Regards, John Isherwood.

Whilst out for a (frosty) walk this morning, I noted the rear power car of a London-bound HST, near Bodmin Parkway, painted in a glaring grass green and white and carrying the legend BRISTOL 2015 - hideous !! It would have been bad enough to have around throughout 2015 - but why is it still allowed to be an eyesore in 2017? Regards, John Isherwood. Regards, John Isherwood.

If we're talking of SCALDWELL; (Peckett 1315 of 1913); it would be nice to learn a little more than that it is potentially on the move !! Regards, John Isherwood.