John Isherwood

Chris, All the major manufacturers have, for years, managed to produce loco bodies with handrail knobs radial to the boiler. Not having a 700, I'm guessing that the boiler is cast mazak. Nonetheless, I can't believe that the casting process precludes radial holes; I can believe that it may be cheaper to mould horizontal holes. If horizontal holes were necessary, surely moulded plastic handrail knobs with horizontal shanks but radial bodies would have overcome the apparent problem ? Let's hope that this is the last time we see 'design clever' / cheapo solutions to basic design features such as this !! Regards, John Isherwood.

..... a view which I echo wholeheartedly !! Some of the 'howlers' that are published nowadays indicate career journalists at work, rather than committed modellers. At one time I bothered to contact the editor in question and correct the mistakes - but, when they did publish my comments, they usually dismissed their error in some way or other. Nowadays, I don't bother because it seems, increasingly, that few readers care anyway !! Regards, John Isherwood.

Really ? As someone always on the lookout for wagon solebar numberplates, I have to say that the number of grounded bodies that I have come across that had solebars and headstocks is disappearingly small. Regards, John isherwood.

Crikey - my stuff will be traded on the Stock Exchange soon - I hope that there's been no insider dealing !!! Regards, John.

They were indeed - you'd need to make the CONFLAT Ps very free-running - but they wouldn't need weighting !! (That'll be my approach in due course). I think that a certain fellow member with exquisite resin-casting abilities may be the one to approach for something less weighty. Regards, John.

Genesis Kits; http://www.genesiskits.co.uk/; did a scale length AFP container, for which I produced Birds Eye transfers; Sheet BL52 at http://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm . A call to Genesis may persuade them to produce some more kits. The CONFLAT P can be produced with components from the Parkside PIPE and CONFLAT A kits. I'll post a photo of a completed Birds Eye AFP kit when I return home. Regards, John Isherwood.

If it ain't broke ................................ don't fix it !!!!! Never was a truer word spoken. Regards, John Isherwood.

Opinions seem to differ - but at this price http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2PCS-Micro-High-power-DC-Motor-1230-12mmx40mm-12V-15000RPM-N60-0-05A/32343310777.html a little insurance can be no bad thing. Regards, John Isherwood.

I second this - a thousand times over !!! The one kit chassis, substantially completed, that has sat awaiting further progress, for as long as the rest put together, is a Brassmasters' Black Five. I simply have no confidence that such a lightweight, flimsy, flexible thing can possibly deliver the 'grunt' that I will need to pull decent length trains. Whilst the rest of the kit is fine, I strongly suspect that a good solid, rigid chassis will be substituted eventually, and the rest of the kit erected thereon in short order. I too fail to understand this obsession with watchmaker engineering, in order to model what was blacksmith technology motive power. Regards, John Isherwood.

It looks to me as if the body on the 42 isn't sitting fully down on the chassis - evidence in the head-on views of a thin black gap. Regards, John Isherwood.

Associated Octel ferry anti-knock compound tank wagons. Regards, John isherwood.

This keeps reminding me what I should be spending time on - instead of idling away here on the PC; (Evercreech Junction, S&DJR, 1961). Regards, John Isherwood.

Don't expect to find all of the listed matches at your local Halfords. Seek out a nearby motor factor - ie. motor maintenance and bodywork supplies wholesaler. They will offer you a bewildering array of colour swatches for you to go through - you should be able to have rattle cans filled with any colour you care to name. You can also specify the paint type - acrylic, lacquer, cellulose, etc., as well as gloss, satin or matt. Regards, John isherwood.

It is from the middle of September until just before Easter !! Regards, John Isherwood.

If you want to get a little more accurate, GT3 had the same wheelbase as a GWR 'Grange'. Regards, John Isherwood.

I would certainly agree that Dave's model - now that we've seen it - is a good representation of what appears in your photo. Regards, John.

Every chance it's true - the most prolific, best tasting tomatoes that I ever ate came from the sludge-drying bed of the Cambridge sewerage works !! It is a well-known fact that tomato seed is still viable after passing through the human digestive tract. Regards, John Isherwood.

True - but it seems that I am not alone in holding it. Regards, John Isherwood.

What we perceive in a photo is definitely not what we would have seen if we'd been there at the time. A photo is essentially two dimensional; the human brain interprets the three-dimensional object in quite a different manner, including the way that light is reflected. Any apparent pale blue tinge in the above photo is merely a reflection of the sky above. A rusty wagon reflecting light? Yes - established rust has a sheen to its surface that can reflect light to some extent. I cannot believe that a model, painted to represent the reflection of a blue sky from an obliquely photographed surface can in any way successfully reproduce the impression of the real thing as it appeared to the observer. Bottom line - no GRAIN hoppers were painted pale blue, nor did they appear to be pale blue to the lineside observer. Regards, John Isherwood.

All exciting stuff - but I need to plug a 10100 'Fell' sized hole in my pioneer diesel fleet !! Waiting patiently, (I don't do twisting ladies' arms - too well brought up) !! John Isherwood.

I confess to a certain embarrassment here ! I do know that recent unanticipated occurences, unconnected with this project, have distracted the principals involved. I have forwarded your expressions of interest, in the hope that a marketable product can be offered soon. Beyond that, I am unable to act further or provide more details, I'm afraid. I apologise for having unintentionally raised expectations, which have not to date been fulfilled. The one positive in all of this is that I have been prompted to produce the necessary transfers, which are selling well. Regards, John Isherwood. Regards, John Isherwood.

Still there - hiding behind the Doctor Who partworks !! Regards, John Isherwood.

Without a shadow of a doubt, what we see here is that purplish tinge that appears on the surface of active rust - nothing more, nothing less. Regards, John isherwood.

Are you not thinking of the ice blue sugar COVHOPs ? Regards, John Isherwood.

I thought that I was only joking, but the extract below (openly poached from elsewhere), seems somewhat sinister. Section 10 of the Coinage Act 1971 says quite categorically (if at some length)... "Restrictions on melting or breaking of metal coins.. (1)No person shall, except under the authority of a licence granted by the Treasury, melt down or break up any metal coin which is for the time being current in the United Kingdom or which, having been current there, has at any time after 16th May 1969 ceased to be so. (2)Any person who contravenes subsection (1) of this section shall be liable— (a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £400; (b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both. (3)If any condition attached to a licence granted under subsection (1) of this section is contravened or not complied with, the person to whom the licence was granted shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [F1level 5 on the standard scale]unless he proves that the contravention or non-compliance occurred without his consent or connivance and that he exercised all due diligence to prevent it. (4)The court by or before which any person is convicted of an offence under this section may, whether or not it imposes any other punishment, order the articles in respect of which the offence was committed to be forfeited to Her Majesty. (5)Where an offence under this section committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly." Defacing by drilling a hole through the coin (and through the Queen's head) would count as destruction. So don't do it. A member of the Forum in question added "though the penalties aren't quite as severe as being hung, drawn and quartered, Counterfeiting currency was called "coining", and for a long time, it was a species of treason, and the penalties were indeed severe. Up to 1798, the penalty for women was to be burned at the stake: the last such case occurring as late as 18th March 1789. A little research has revealed that Susan Grant (1809), and Mary Bissaker (1819) were hanged for coining. Up to 1814, the correct sequence was: drawn, hanged (but not until dead), disembowelled, beheaded, & quartered. In 1814, the Statute was amended. Thereafter, the hanging was until death; disembowelling was abolished; and the beheading was only carried out upon an already-deceased prisoner. The last beheadings were in 1820: and they were spared the quartering. Forging banknotes was a different matter, only a felony, but plenty were hanged for it up to circa 1832. Sleep well !! Regards, John Isherwood.