SRman

Thanks for your help on this, Stewart, and thanks also to Jason. I have now fitted the replacement headcode lighting. At this stage I still have the original headcodes but I may try to improve on these later.

Hi David. Are you sure they weren't retro-fitted with sound? I have done quite a few myself with 8-pin decoders. My earliest factory sound-fitted purchases were all 21-pin v3.5 fitted. That included classes 20, 24, 37 and 66, most of which swapped their bodies with earlier models that I had modified or renumbered to suit my own layout (anyone want a Bachmann 37 051 'Viking' with no sound?). I would be interested to see any factory-fitted sound versions that were 8-pin and how they dealt with the speaker wiring.

I also have done the mod to the chassis corners (with a milling tool in the Dremel), so I won't have to remove the buffers ever again! One further note from our earlier discussion on sprung buffers and closer coupling: I ran a pair of Bachmann class 20s earlier today for the first time in quite a while. This pair are close coupled with Kadees and the sprung buffers do come into play on my tighter curves. The two can be separated fairly easily but are treated as a semi-permanent pair, since one has a sound decoder and smaller speaker fitted, while the other has had its motor removed and a large bass reflex speaker installed, with a two pin connector running between the two locos. Bryan of Howes created a twin start on the decoder when he did the sound for me. The reason I have mentioned this is because many of you will probably want to run the Claytons in pairs, and using the Kadees could bring them close enough to utilise the sprung buffers. As a few traders have offered some Class 17s from the original batch with faulty motors or bearing assemblies cheaply, stripping them out and using them for sound boxes semi-permanently attached to a motorised Locomotive may be something to consider.

After a bit of a gap, I have now added the door bumpers for the second side of the Cambrian Kits Sturgeon A. After I finish this one, I have to repeat the whole process for the second wagon! The lighting was poor so I turned the flash on on the phone camera for the first two shots. None are ideal but they'll do for now, to show progress.

I have just a few locomotives that only have couplings at one end. On DCC, I have run locomotives up to each other and buffered up, with the springs compressing. This is particularly impressive to viewers at exhibitions but otherwise, I agree with the previous posters' comments that for normal use, one would never notice whether buffers are sprung or not.

I wasn't referring to Phil although Phil was, indeed, working on some amazingly detailed trolley poles, guides and overhead components. His family commitments have got in the way of further developments, at least for the foreseeable future. I don't have a current address for him but I'll see if I can find something for you. He only comes to meetings once in a blue moon, but I think he is still a member of the Model Bus Association of Australia. The gentleman I was thinking of was a New Zealander who resided in Melbourne for some years. Unfortunately he also passed away a few years ago now.

One gentleman over this side of the world had an exhibition layout using the Faller system (in HO scale). It included a short loop with an American white metal trolleybus fitted with the Faller steering mechanism (which worked fine even with all that weight) and working overhead pickup to supply a 12 volt motor. It meant that there were no batteries to run flat and the speed was able to be controlled, unlike the normal battery-operated Faller vehicles. I'm not sure where he got the trolleypoles from, or if he made them himself, but I do know they were made from brass and were sprung. Just some ideas for you to contemplate, David.

This is really looking good, now. Of course, you realise you have put me to shame: here you've built and nearly finished a complete vehicle from scratch, where I haven't even finished a 4mm scale kit (several kits, actually!) I started two years ago! By the time I get my act together, you will have a whole fleet of motorised 1:43 trolleybuses going. Brilliant work and also very useful showing us the little constructional details.

Unfortunately, this seller doesn't offer international postage. Pity, as I would like a kit of these for my own Heljan Clayton. Looks like I'll have to come up with my own solution.

Thanks for that link, Mike. Some nice ads for future use on some of my kit-built buses.

Looking at those interior cab pics, I can't help wondering if the green is, in fact, cerulean blue (which appeared green anyway!), as used on the underground stock of those times. It seems to have the bluish tint to it. Thanks for all that extra information, David. When I built my Pirate kit many years ago, I did it as a C in post-war condition, with the full-width bulkhead. I made a few mistakes with the build, including using a superglue that promptly frosted all the glazing inside. Fortunately, those same glues, when used with white metal, tend to be rather brittle, so some years later I cracked one side off the model and cleaned all the glazing with cotton buds and an IPA/water mix, before regluing the side back on ... with two-pack epoxy, this time! I wouldn't mind doing another of the Pirate kits myself, if I can get one at a reasonable price. I do have a couple of the Q1s to build too, but they are way down in the queue of kits for me to finish.

Some earlier builds (C class, for example) started off with a curved bulkhead that wrapped around the driver's cab area and had a double seat in what became the vacant area later. I read somewhere that this was too distracting for the drivers so the bulkheads were modified to go straight across and no passengers were seated next to the drivers after that. The Pirate Models 4mm 'generic' pre-war kit used to include both types of bulkhead as well as alternative front louvre/grille panels and alternative rear wheel arch treatments.

Haven't seen any yet but a 70 in BR blue with custard ... sorry: yellow ... ends and arrows of indecision could look quite appropriate for the shape. Railfreight red-stripe grey would also suit them, I think. The only trouble is a Bachmann class 70 is just a tad too expensive to mess around with liveries, to my mind. Some of our more well off members might be able to afford to do one though. Any takers?

I'm covered for my next couple of years: I am 59 and have a class 59 to run. Next year I can run one of two class 60s I own. After that, I'll have to wait until my 66th birthday!!

Well, I have now done 14 of the door springs, so one side done! It is extremely fiddly fitting the small, semi-circular bits of plastic! I was using my Opti-visor with its built in light to see what I was doing, and two thirds of the way through this process, we had a power cut! I just carried on while the ladies in the house squealed and muttered something about finding some candles. Fortunately for everyone else, the power came back on after a few minutes! Next jobs are to do the other side, add the bangers to the solebar sides, fill any minor gaps in the floor of the wagon, then glue the sides on and lastly paint it all ... after repeating all the previous steps for the second wagon! I'll probably do one in early black and the other in the slightly later olive livery, then weather it all down again.

Is this slightly better, DougN? I had some help with cutting the three extra bases I needed for this, from Toby! He insisted on holding the other end of the card sheet with his teeth and paws.

Hi Doug. I was cutting bases from thick card using a template and adding thicknesses by using multiples of the bases. I will do a few more to make those increments more even. As you can see, it is working! From the lower end, I think I need to add more bases for the first and third houses. The terrace houses and tudor-style hotel are in the older part of the village whereas the semi-detached and detached houses were new additions in the 1930s. A few of the original village shops have obviously been demolished and replaced with newer structures, perhaps as a result of wartime bomb damage, The road surface will be built up a little and the pavements added, then I can fix up the door steps as well.

Running a bit late here as I started to do this last week, but here is all of the video footage I took at the LT Museum in February 1999 that includes any part of the trolleybus (the wheels are visible behind the showcase with models in, towards the end of the clips). I hope it may be of some use to somebody here. Sorry about the noise - there were rather a lot of school kids around at the time I visited!

Today I had a visit from a fried who lives around the corner but hadn't been over for a while. We chatted and ran trains for a while and I showed him what I had been up to since his last visit. He must have inspired me because I started tweaking the building positions and levels a little more. The results, so far, are shown below in pictures. There is still much to be done but each time I do these little tweaks and adjustments and rearrangements, it gets a little better and just a little closer to being finished. Ignore the glue bottle - it is fulfilling a useful function there by holding a section of roadway down while the glue sets!

That does look good, John. It does look to be sitting too high, although, having said that, mine does too. I did grind out some of the insides of the firebox/boiler area with a milling tool in the Dremel to get it to sit slightly lower but I can't take much more material without going right through! The limit is the height of the motor itself. I have pondered whether it may be possible to turn the motor onto its side to reduce the depth slightly. I agree, your cylinders do appear to have been reshaped and possibly a thin wrapper added. Your comments about the windows and decals may be valid but it would not take a great deal of work to remove those and redo them to your satisfaction. In digging through all the photos I could find when painting mine, I decided that the buffer beam at the front was all red, although it was fairly hard to tell in some of the photos because of grime and dirt, or because they were monochrome pics. I wasn't entirely sure though because some other types with the flat front ends (N1/U1, for example) appear to have the buffer beams red only to the depth of the buffer mounts, as yours has.

I agree regarding the cylinders. I have filed mine down a bit but they really need replacing. I keep looking at the likes of Peter's Spares for cylinders that look the right profile but will not be too hard to slot into place while accepting the valve gear. Some of the Great Western ones look closer to the correct profile but the mountings are quite different to the Hornby 8F ones. My primary concern is to keep the locomotive operating as smoothly as it does now. It is still on the agenda though, just don't hold your breath waiting for me to do it!! p.s. Thanks for the compliment.

All of the Bachmann and Hornby sound locomtives issued had 21-pin decoders, so that is definitely not the way to tell if it is v3.5 or 4.

If it hasn't already been posted there, the black and white shot in particular would look very appropriate in the 'How realistic are your models? Photo challenge.' thread. I thought it was the real thing at first.

Looking good there, Norwenglish. A very nice job. I note you have done much the same as I did for couplings. It works! [Australian accent on] Only 12 hours drive? That's nothin'!! Wad are ya? Weak or somethin'?? [/Australian accent off] Just kidding! It must be frustrating for you. I am a little frustrated myself, at the moment as I had both eyes operated on to remove cataracts a few weeks ago. I am slowly getting back to modelling with the help of temporary reading glasses from the chemist and an Optivisor-type headset but there are limitations right now. And my tools are approximately six feet away!!

Another project started and a little further progress on existing projects: I have started on the first of two Cambrian Kits Sturgeon A wagons, their kit C82 (the ones with the side doors still in place). Progress will be slow because each wagon has seven doors per side, with two handrails, two door springs and two door bangers per door! Thats 28 of each item per wagon!. Work is also continuing slowly on finishing the buses and coaches. The green Little Bus Company Hants & Dorset Bristol MW/ECW now has the main painting completed and windscreens fitted. It is also shown with the red Wilts & Dorset one I completed a couple of years ago. Putting the sides together for the sturgeon A wagon. Each side is made up from four pieces (three double doors and one single), which are supposed to go together in a particular order (marked with tine pips on each part). I put these together using a steel rule to keep them straight. Next, I have started adding the handrails. I have done 14 (not yet glued in) with another 14 to go for this wagon, and another 28 to do for the second wagon! Also in the photo is the bending jig I used, using the 7mm setting to bend all of these, although the Cambrian instructions also include a template intended for a piece of wood and some pins. After this, there are 28 door springs and 28 door bangers to add to each wagon, again, 14 per side. At this rate, it might take a little while but I'll have a whole heap of models all completed at the same time.