John Isherwood

What I take away from this thread is that Brassmasters are finding the customer correspondence side of their business too onerous - hence their withdrawal from the mail-order supply of small components. As a small trader myself, I fully understand that customer correspondence can be very time-consuming - hence the fact that I do not publicise a phone number. Mail and email correspondence can be handled in a more regulated manner than randomly-timed phone calls. However, I frankly think that it is unethical, not to say off-putting, not to provide an address for correspondence. If the enquirer is prepared to write, and await a response, their enquiry is likely to be of consequence. At the end of the day, if you trade you require customers - and that can at times mean inconvenient correspondence, but it goes with the territory. CJI, Cambridge Custom Transfers.

Will the ultrasonics on their own clean blackened brass? I have a u/s bath, and it's great for cleaning 'gunk' and flux from assembled models, if some washing soda is added to the water. However, if the brass is blackened with age, as you imply, I do wonder whether such an ultrasonic cleaning will take it back to bright metal. CJI.

I am sure that you are correct - but you'll have to tell the vast majority of railway modellers who have called them motor BEARINGS for as long as anyone can remember. CJI.

Aah - my mistake; I would have understood if he had said motor BEARINGS. CJI.

The one place you should NEVER oil is the brushes! A sure way to soften them and clog the commutator slots. I thought that this was the most basic of model maintenance knowledge! How does a motor NEED oil on the motor brushes? CJI.

I don't think that there is any question about the colour of these gangway doors - Rail (Monastral) Grey. CJI.

Lovely work! If I may suggest it - I would back the louvres with some black card - they shouldn't be see-through; they were overlapping sloping slats. CJI.

Possibly the difference between a shop sale and a pre-order? Normal shop activity will carry on whilst the pre-orders are processed. CJI.

Probably in order to use an existing tender chassis tool. CJI.

I can verify that this is true - but there is an unfailing solution. My standard response to such lazy enquiries is "Full details of sheet content, pricing, ordering and payment can be found on the Cambridge Custom Transfers website". Gets the point over without being rude! CJI.

If one decides to take money from customers who order goods that one offers for sale, one takes on the responsibility of dealing with the correspondence that ensues. Making such correspondence difficult to persue is NOT a justifiable way of avoiding the 'nuisance' of that responsibility - it comes with the territory. CJI. (Who is himself a small trader).

It certainly had Tri-ang tension-lock couplings at some point - though I too have never seen its like before! CJI.

It happened a lot! CJI.

I bow to my learned friend's superior knowledge, M'lud. Nonetheless, the lineage of the Tri-ang Jinty was by no means so easily erased! (With acknowledgements to 'Rumpole of the Bailey'). CJI.

..... and I had an HD 8F with a Ringfield motor - which never ran well. However, HD's interpretation of 'Ringfield' was very different from Tri-ang-Hornby's - which was cloned from a certain well-known European manufacturer. CJI.

It wasn't a case of they couldn't get the Ringfield into the tender - the Ringfield hadn't been invented when the 2MT was released. CJI.

Are you sure - all the ones that I came across were X04 (et seq) loco drive? CJI.

I'm not sure that fictitious numbering will 'improve' any model, but ...... BR's only two gas turbines were numbered 18000 and 18100 - these were in the original 18xxx series allocated by BR to gas turbines. However, by the time that GT3 was released, BR was using D prefixed numbers for diesel locomotives, and E prefixed numbers for electric locomotives. It might therefore be reasonable to suggest that BR might have numbered / renumbered its gas turbine locomotives in a G or GT prefixed number series. CJI.

CJI.

The original signs said the end of 2023 - which everyone knew wouldn't happen! Latest I heard was Easter - but I don't recall them specifying which year. CJI.

It is not an unreasonable conclusion. Why would one clear one's stock of components, and give a clear indication that no more will be forthcoming, if one had not packed all of the kits that one intended to produce. They must have realised that such an announcement could only be taken one way. I hope to be proved wrong - but I'll not hold my breath. CJI.

Oh dear - that would seem to be indicative of another valued supplier in the process of withdrawing from the market. CJI.

All this is true, and my contributions were meant to be informative rather than negative. The 'negativity' here may well be disappointing to the manufacturer, but it can be a useful indicator that something is not quite right. Certainly, from my sixty-plus years of both RTR and kitbuilt locos, I would never again buy or use plunger pick-ups - their design and set-up are just too critical for reliable running. CJI.

Yep - Airfix 14xx; no end of problems at the time. The difference between too slack (twist and jam); just right (sliding fit, can't jam); and too tight (can't slide and therefore jam) is too small to be achievable in mass-production. Where achievable, flexible phosphor-bronze strips bearing on the edges of the wheel flanges is the optimum method of self-cleaning current collection. CJI.

White sprue, top righthand components. CJI.