Martin S-C

To retain the space theme it should be Milky Way, Galaxy and those funky sherbet filled flying saucers. Oh, and Space Dust. Weird stuff. Never liked it.

I've been fiddling about with this and that recently. Mostly adding a few details to RTR wagons and weathering them as I find it so therapeutic. I've been working through boxes of the things, many I've not opened and looked at in almost 3 years. So without boring you with details here's a few pictures. First off a trio of Tirdonkins. These are a limited edition run by Dapol commissioned by the Swansea MRC. They sit on Dapol's standard steel channel 10 ft wheelbase so are almost certainly wrong but I liked them and haven't seen this colliery or coal factor represented anywhere before in model form. As usual they came with Dapol's normal thin and lacklustre printing which showed the wagon base colour through it (especially so on 324 above) so I used a few dabs of white paint on a small brush to strengthen the signwriting and numbers. I also carved off the moulded end door hinges and replaced these with my usual method of brass wire and some 5 thou plastic card scraps. Then weathering. I am trying now to weather as lightly as I can. I have plenty of filthy and grotty looking wagons and my views are coming round more and more to pre-WWII PO wagons (and company wagons) being presented in fairly good clean condition. Next some vanilla Dapol brick wagons. I had to give these a fair dirtying down as they were the factory pre-weathered ones so I had to hide all that. Then a few general merchant wagons. I know one is Irish and another Scottish but ... I liked them and I bought these years ago before I'd really begun to focus on where and when my layout would be set. Again, trying for a very light weathering. Next, made a start on my humongous pile of POWSides Slaters wagons which I really enjoy building. Once you've cleaned up the parts so they fit true these little beauties just fall together. Very satisfying. I have fitted brakes on only one side of these three just for a bit of a change. And how small they are against the standard Dapol model. Their small size is another reason I like them. I like all things cute. Last of all for now, who remembers these? It was 26th October 2018 when I started work on these. Then they got put away. Almost three years to the day I found them in a box yesterday and thought I'd have a go. The dimensions are all wrong for the GWR O.1 siphon of the 1880s but I am having fun and like Peter Jackson's films, these are based on and inspired by the GWR 4-wheel milk van and not faithful copies of it. Despite the fact I am horribly hacking things about and throwing them together with oodles of glue, they run well. It also means I need to decide on an NPCCS livery for the NMGS. Suggestions welcome.

Absolutely. I knew you were p**s taking. I had hoped my long-winded response was seen in the same vein of sarcasm. It is indeed a long yellow train of compete cr*p and why anyone would think another person would want to pay money for it is beyond me. Perhaps that is the joke? The seller knows it's a crock and is just seeing if any mug will actually buy it. Perhaps some of what we see as "eBay madness" is all just some twisted social experiment by Oxbridge Dons?

I think the persons here present would agree with me that that is an amazing price.

Probably, yes. I do feel that's a small matter when the loco tender is missing and there's a bright yellow oil tank wagon there instead. At this point the disassembly of WWI aeroplanes of different scales for the purposes of transportation being incorrect I feel is a minor issue. Oh and holding them down with Humber staff car sized blobs of white-tac is a thing we ought to consider in the list of WTFs here. Airframe disassembly accuracy is a caveat to Rule 1 pushed far, far down the list of other Rule 1 invocations here I feel.

That major trader must get through a lot of "new employees" who go on to make mistakes in their second hand listings because its happened to me twice in 3 years of buying from them. You'd think having had it pointed out to them several times now they'd not let their amazingly frequent flow of "new employees" loose on second hand listings. Its also quite odd how ALL their "new employees" seem to be equally bad at describing the state of second hand models, almost as though... you know .... it was the same person.

I think S.R. might be the Stamped on Railway.

Schrödinger's Hornby coaches. Are they in the boxes? Or are they not? You won't know until you open them. "You are purchasing one of the two shown." But which one? I need to know which one! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174960538256?

I normally suffer quite large age related whoopsies.

Maybe the postage is to cover 4 thugs in a van owned by Group 4 high security for sending dangerous electrical goods via courier?

You could PM me

Nothing about 55 gall steel drums though. I shall probably ignore them for my modelling.

CARPET! AAAAAAAARGH! Sorry. I'll go have a glass of water and a lie down. I'll be fine, thank you...

You mean a GWR branch line in 2021? It would save a lot of this historical research malarky.

Thanks Derek for that lengthy and informative reply. I will most certainly dig out a copy of 2015 Railway Modeller year book. I confess to having never even heard of Modelling Railways Illustrated.

I'm pretty sure I have seen lamp oil and other oil containers that reminded me of small milk churns - the parallel sided later kind , not the early conical kind - but after a quick trawl through my picture library I can't find any examples. Its possible I'm thinking of a 'kettle' style large tin jar with an open lip or top. Prior to the invention of the steel oil drum such liquids must have been conveyed in wooden barrels like every other liquid (palatable or otherwise). I don't see cost-concious railway companies spending money on specific containers for all manner of sundries when existing ones would do.

Yes, the steam-era oil store where crews would fill their lubricating cans is a thing I've encountered a lot and if its not a container hidden in a building its a largish tank on a raised pedestal often within a fenced off area or railings. Grease is certainly the sort of thing that might get delivered in drums, but equally it would have been delivered in barrels in ye olden days. There's this thing that to me shouts "1960s!" or later when I see oil drums on models so I will probably not use any in a 1919 scene just in order that that mood isn't invoked, even if there was a legitimate use for a few at that time.

Probably photo evidence is where I need to head off to. Thing is I can only ever remember seeing oil drums in photos of model engine sheds, never real ones!

This week I have been mostly thinking about ... oil drums. I've been browsing various online shops and model oil drums keep popping up for some reason; the steel 55 gall type. I had always thought these came into use around WWII when a great deal of aviation and tank fuel needed shifting around rapidly by non-specialised trucks but checking online I find the oil drum was invented in the USA in 1905. This led me to think how common might they have been in the UK at the end of WWI. All our traditional industries used wooden barrels so their use seems to be limited to oil and petrol and such. Or things like grease but that was probably stored in smaller containers. I know that pre-WWII the British army used those horrible square flimsy petrol cans that in the western desert we quickly got rid of once a supply of captured Jerry cans became available. The kinds of industries I'm representing on my layout are highly traditional so any oil drums might only be used in railway sheds/workshops. Any thoughts on how common or uncommon they'd be in 1919 ish?

People put Hornby so it shows up in more searches. I really loathe scammers because that is what they are doing, falsely representing something. Although its just possible that some people really do think every model train is made by Hornby.

As cunning as a very cunning thing.

OOh! Oh dear. We seem to have started a T-Trend.

Is there a thread on here called e-Bay common sense and decent sellers? This person needs to be mentioned. Good clear photos, crisp and useful. Good quality models that look like they've been stored in good conditions and very sensible starting prices that are encouraging bidders to bid. This is the kind of person e-Bay should encourage. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/j870mdo/m.html?

That surface has come out well, Mr. B. What process did you use? ... or is it just painted cork sheet? If so it looks brill.

What's that? John's got a split muff? Sounds like an appointment to the doctor is needed.