MrWolf

Me too and I just don't get it! Nice bacon slicer wheels BTW

I had just assumed that it was someone being a bit too clever with one of those minimum space layout contests?

Don't buy any clerestory coaches is all I can say!

Probably not, I think we are all expecting the worst due to all the scammers out there. Some people are just not very good at dealing with what the rest of us regard as simple transactions and come across as just plain sketchy.

My pet hate is Hermes. If any seller is sending by "other courier" I message them to say Do not send by Hermes. Two times in a year they have dumped something on the doorstep, two times it has been stolen. The latest was a £300 motorcycle gearbox. (They also dumped a parcel in the neighbours bin, but that was retrieved, wet through, no lid on bin) Even before the lockdown, you couldn't speak to anyone in person. All you get is an automated message saying it was signed for by a member of the household. The signature can be viewed on our website. No it can't, it was never signed for and there is no record of a signature on the website. There is NO email address, NO complaints procedure and the insurance isn't worth a light. They are unprofessional and seemingly unaccountable. Other companies now take a photograph of the package in the open door of the property it is delivered to, which protects everyone. Particularly because it is well known that thieves follow the vans and dash up as a driver is about to leave with a parcel, pretending to be or know the recipient. The drivers in the main are self employed man with a van. As long as they can tag the drop off location on their computer, they don't give a toss. I would likely get more results taking a 2lb hammer to the local smack rats to find out where my parcels went than trying to talk to the clowns at Hermes.

He's following only one seller, malcrosby7, who judging by the number of items that he has for sale is a dealer. It would be interesting to know if he has had any problems with trainbay?

It's a hell of a job on a simple kit, it's good to start with, but the work you have put in has lifted it to exceptional. I can see that I am going to have to pull my finger out and sort my buildings. Might have to put a light in the ticket office and the signal box. I like the idea of a greenish glow for gas lighting, but I don't think that the area I am modelling was ever connected to town gas. Might have to go with a yellowish glow for oil lamps. You're giving me a lot to think about!

More accurate would be "weathered to look like it was at ground zero, Hiroshima"...

I thought it was just me that did daft things like that! Years ago I sold an old belt drive lathe to a chap in Leicestershire, took it up there in an ancient Bedford CA van which had a pair of builders roof bars on it. The new owner lived at an old forge, access to the workshop was through an archway under the main house. We unloaded the dismantled half ton lathe, put it together in his workshop, got paid and left. All was well until we went under the arch. There was a sort of clang and the roof bars that were clamped to van's roof gutters landed in the yard behind us. No damage done and the lathe buyer was falling about laughing. I never thought about the van rising back up about four inches or so on its cart springs when empty. The roof bars went straight on his scrap pile. Naff things anyway!

Damned if I'm going to try and blow that house in. Been there. Done that. Didn't end well.

In reality: Tack-one-edge-and-batter-the-metal-until-it-fits Liberally apply red oxide primer to hide gaps, blow holes, poor penetration and slag inclusions. (See also MOT standard welded repairs to motor vehicles, except that step 2 is daub on underseal / seam sealer to hide faults and / or the bits you couldn't get to without removing fuel tanks / suspension components)

Maybe Heljan were referring to the official British Rail table of torque settings? 1. Tighten nut/bolt/screw until it squeaks. 2. Add half a turn for luck. 3. Burr over any protruding thread with a 2lb hammer as a locking measure. The same method was used extensively by British Steel and the National Coal Board.

I don't know about you chaps, but I have a distinct sense of deja vu here. Gopher is right - we're going to need a bigger signal box! If someone now posts a picture of one of their friends doing her Marleine Dietrich impression we're all stuck in a lockdown time loop. Perhaps an outside tap would be more suitable?

I like that. Clearly you are getting as bored a we did the other night. Coming up with ridiculous album titles for different types of music. Laura Ashley Dalek was the winner. It's no sillier than Atom heart mother.

Also "Nicely assembled painted and lined? Assembled with a lot of parts missing Painted yes, but by no stretch of the imagination nicely. Lined. Er, no, it's not lined. It's an old Airfix (and I do love them) does it waddle? Are the tyres loose? Does it sound like a Stuka dive bomber / washing machine full of nails? Does it glow (and smell) like an old valve radio? These are all pertinent questions at half the price!

Indeed young Molesworth. Any fule kno that it is ment to be Oliver the western engine and skool taught us he went arse first into the turntable well for being a little too enchanted with hymself! (With apologies to the late Jeffrey Willans and Ronald Searle) Perhaps that's how he lost all his detail parts and ended up with a loose roof? In which case it's an EXCELLENT &HISTORICALLY ACCURATE kit built P.O.S. !

I was thinking of the lyrics of the ever so slightly more psychedelic White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane.

Very impressive. But I think Alice has finally fallen down the rabbit hole .

That also works really well. You can probably control it more easily in that confined space too. Its not easy to tell how much filling in is needed without seeing it close up. A steady job like putting the finish surface of tarmac onto the base layer.

I'd like to know what type of black paint was used on the roof of the kit built loco. I can't get my vintage motorcycles that shiny!!! Rather like the Heljan one and that's coming from a dyed in the wool steam fan!

Probably not much help but there is a close up of the 041 milk tank showing the details of the strap tensioning studs, centre tank mounts, valves and filler clamps etc on p97 of Martyn Welch's book The art of weathering.

That makes sense, if you try rolling a barrel or churn on its rim on ash, gravel or road planings, it tries to bury itself and is hard to control. Railway companies wouldn't have stood for chewed up platforms or spilled milk, so would have done something practical about it.

It's the better option and with your weathering and painting skills won't be too hard to literally paint it smooth. The filler needs to be only about the consistency of ketchup or thinner.

If it were in a more accessible spot I would suggest attacking the surface with engineers Emery cloth. 120 or 80 grit. It has no respect for the piddly sort of rock ballast is made of and would smooth the surface if it's as hard as you suspect to a worn compacted look. But you might well have to apply option A also.

It will certainly go faster than a standard Airfix 14xx. Having been lightening for speed by the removal of the autotrain gear, handrails, tank fillers etc etc. A true hotrod. I'm still laughing about Rare' probably meaning 'not well done '.