Giles

...ain't that the truth.....

The Bond Bugs WERE cool, in a 70s sort of way, but I dread to think what The handling must have been like ! Certainly the Berkeley handled very well, considering. It was even quite useful in snow, as it just ran along the top of it. I would have loved a Morgan three wheeler - my Dad had one as his first car - he paid five pounds for it, I believe. The clutch was an acquired art (A cone clutch if memory serves) as it was very much all or nothing.

The T60 indeed..... The four wheel version had all of the disadvantages, but was much less interesting. The three-wheeler taught you to spot pot-holes very precisely, and avoid them with all three wheels, or your spine paid an unusually high price.... But you could genuinely park it in its own length. I frequently used to park the front end in a fairly impossible spot, and then pick up the back, and carry it round. It had style.

In the late'70s I had three of these things - although I only got one on the road! They were great fun. Teeny, with a 329cc Excelcior Talisman 2-stroke engine and four speed box with chain drive between the gearbox and the diff. I could only drive it by looking (well) over the windscreen. Berkeley at Denton Brook by giles favell, on Flickr

We're very much looking forward to this show. IMG_1728 by giles favell, on Flickr

A very imaginative and effective way of producing them! They certainly look the part.... I come here to see some of the best NG modelling around.....

It would be very kind if you would mention me (Giles, son of Rev Brian Favell, also a railway enthusiast) to Chris, and send him my warm regards.

An excellent rendition! Brilliant! Indeed it shows how well Hattons are doing - and I too think it's great - and a great example - that they are being so very positive about this!!! It does show that it's down to the final details. The ambiguity after the valence curve is the biggie outstanding from this comparison, although it also shows the side casing front radius differences.

Couplings now added, and with an oil round it runs better - so it's ready for service. IMG_2043 by giles favell, on Flickr IMG_2034 by giles favell, on Flickr IMG_2034 by giles favell, on Flickr

This is MILES better. The narrowing of the nose appears to be so much better!! Congratulations! The side elevation could still do with a little tweak if you can. In side elevation, the nose could perhaps do with being a little bit more elliptical at the pointy end - with the radius point just above the buffers? The side casing has the complex collection of multiple radii, which leaves you with a definite 'panel' on the adjacent nose. The issue is confused with the versions carrying the valence, as that appears to have a radiused end on the panel which doesn't reflect the side casing. The smokebox door flap should be hinged a little higher up, I think - about the same height as the hand-rails. The version shown is of course the single chimney, and the double chimney (for most of the types listed) is larger. With a bit of luck this will set the benchmark for A4s..? A4 Geometry by giles favell, on Flickr 2017-10-03_05-51-21 by giles favell, on Flickr

I suspect that 0-14 Will always creep along in the background as a minority interest - benefiting from some of the available kits that can be regauged or partially used. It may be that there will only ever be one or two occasional dedicated suppliers, but things will keep cropping up - though not necessarily the same things.... We've been very lucky with Roy Link, KBscale, Wrightlines and EDM - but it seems the nature of these things that theyre not available for ever. A cynic might suggest that you stock-pile whilst you can... 0-14? If I'm modelling 2ft gauge, then I want to try and make a good, plausible job out of it - and in this day and age, there is very little reason why not.... The hardware is there and the support is there - you simply have to do a few more bits yourself....

Smokebox door sorted (Milliput) and glued on. It will now be destructive if I have to change the battery! Weathering sort of done. Just couplings to make. 2017-09-28_01-44-28 by giles favell, on Flickr 2017-09-28_01-50-30 by giles favell, on Flickr

Two Bagnalls. The original is now running beautifully. At some stage I shall probably replace the motor gear/final drive on the RC Bagnall, as I suspect the final gear may not be entirely true. In any event, it doesn't run as well as I'd like at slow speed - but it will have to do for the moment. 2017-09-27_04-22-12 by giles favell, on Flickr

Bagnall by giles favell, on Flickr

And back to the Bagnall..... I didn't want to use the cast valve wheels, which were just lumps, actually, and so a month ago I made up some etched one's I had onto NS wires, and put them so one side with the smokebox door in a bag. I've now lost the bag. I've managed to buy some more (different) valve wheel etched, and silver soldered them onto 0.5mm wire, and glued them onto the loco before I lose them, and also fitted the corresponding pipework. I now have to make a new smokebox door, which is a pain. It's then over, apart from a bit more weathering a driver and some coal 2017-09-26_02-34-50 by giles favell, on Flickr 2017-09-26_02-10-53 by giles favell, on Flickr Bagnall by giles favell, on Flickr

THAT's what we needed!!!!!!!!

Trying to give more helpful data, the vertical line of double fixings would appear to be just in board of the main frames. This photo would seem to show the support to the plate work, mounted off a secondary frame. I don't know what the A4's distance between frames was, but many express locos were 4' 1 1/2" between frames Screenshot_20170920-093710 by giles favell, on Flickr Note also the very small buffer heads. 2017-09-20_09-42-30 by giles favell, on Flickr

Neal Brodie very kindly put together an electronics package consisting of I don't quite know what bits, but very clever.... to control all the points on Denton Brook, which fit behind the two panels I built. There are similar receiving modules beneath each of the boards as well. Every thing is connected via four wires only - two power, and two signal, carrying multiplexed bi-drectionlan signals. Amazingly, it works........ it's taken a little while to modify the existing wiring to incorporate it all, but it makes operation incredibly easy, with LED indicators, fed back from the tortoise point motors. The panel in this photo is in a temporary position which also stops anything from driving off the end when there's no fiddle fitted. Normally the panel mounts to the side of the fiddle yard. I'm extremely grateful to Neal for his taking the time and trouble to build up these electronic modules! It's far beyond my comprehension and ability! 2017-09-19_10-32-25 by giles favell, on Flickr 2017-09-19_10-32-25 by giles favell, on Flickr

Another frontal for reference. Width over footplate is (I understand) 9ft, buffer centres 6' 8 1/2". Boiler barrel is 6' 5" plus cladding of course. 2017-09-19_09-56-09 by giles favell, on Flickr

I think it's great that one of these is being made. I've ordered one as I was a driver and used to drive one of these regularly for several years, and spent countless hours in the gap between boiler and motion 'where there's no daylight' oiling up. (I must say a full size one would look extremely odd if a sheet of painted ply was inserted where the barrel curves round!). Also working in the loco department I was asked by the owner to take a plasma cutter to the cab, and fit a roof hatch and nice rectangular windows to the cab back sheet. We had one driver who used to do the full 25mph with this thing, which was spectacular, even from a distance.....

I'm afraid the nose is still incorrect in its setting out. The radius point of the main casing should be higher than the radius point of the buffer casing - which means that the main casing protrudes forward from the buffer casing in a very distinctive way. You have the radius point at the same level, which gives a flatter face. I suspect the nose may still be wide a the bottom, but without a frontal view, it's rather difficult to tell. Sorry to be negative - but such a nice thing deserves to be right! 2017-09-15_05-36-03 by giles favell, on Flickr 2017-09-15_05-35-42 by giles favell, on Flickr 20170915_180501 by giles favell, on Flickr Eisenhower appears to have had unsupported drain-cock piping throughout its history, unlike Dominion on Canads, who did have this feature as modelled.

Very nice - and brave, doing one this size.... I've done a much larger one, but this is quite useful! Nice!

.... yes..... the rest of us thought we may need to swap back over!

There is a thread all about the lens upgrade here...... https://darklylabs.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115000699612-G-7-Lens-upgrade- You will need to buy a spare focus ring from Darklylabs to hold the new lens, and then it screws straight on as a direct replacement. It produces a more efficient beam, so if something took three passes to cut through before, it will certainly only take two, and possibly at a higher speed. It is good news for large amounts of cutting, as it speeds the job up significantly.