2mmMark

Found some old photos of Belle Isle & Holloway Bank taken during the 1926 General Strike. No trains running and only strike-breakers on duty. Mark

I believe you can get bottled IPA from an off-licence.

Last week, I was able to get a picture of the famous "mangle", designed and built by Peter to form the strip track used round the back of Copenhagen Fields. Without this, making the fiddle yards would have been very difficult. Mark

Expectations met?

With my sensible head on, my personal view is that DCC loco sound is best appreciated at home and perhaps should not be used at exhibitions, because it's not often used with restraint. Quiet ambient sound is acceptable, bird song, buffer clanks, the occasional whistle or hoot toot etc. Common sense is required, we don't need to resort to the Equalities act.

Sound? Yeah baby, set it to 11 and bring it on!

I'm talking about a Laverda SF3, which had pretty much the best of everything available bolted to it. ND instruments, Bosch electrics, top of the range Brembo brakes and Ceriani suspension etc. Plus very high quality own make components and castings. All assembled on a limited production basis. I'm not sure if the motorcycles were ever truly profitable for the Laverda family but first and foremost they were enthusiasts making the kind of bikes that interested them. I suspect their other business supported the manufacture. The SFC was a "road legal" production racer built on an even more limited basis with some unique components never used on the road bikes. I don't recall what that cost new. I just wish I'd bought one when it was offered to me at a price I could just about afford! Ah well, so be it. I'll have to be content with my two ordinary twins.

Nobody's mentioned the follow-up of winning a trophy at an exhibition - the open top bus tour of the home town, with thousands of excited supporters shouting and waving their approval.

I would be very wary of replacing all bolts with stainless as some will be high-tensile bolts for good reason. Commonly available stainless bolts are A2 grade, you have to seek out specific high-tensile equivalents. Same applies for components like wheel & swinging arm spindles. The lack of corrosion is attractive but the wrong grade of material in a safety critical application could be disastrous. Non-critical fasteners are perfectly OK to be stainless. I use them myself but you do have to take precautions against galling, using copper grease etc. However, you can also devalue a bike with non-standard fasteners. For example, Laverdas have fasteners with unique Laverda branding on them. These are very much sought after by restorers. This partly explains why a Laverda 750 twin cost £1900 when a 750 Triumph was £900. Mark

One of Peter's innovations was the " 'fonly Lathe" which made ingenious use of a minidrill to produce a small workable lathe. http://www.lathes.co.uk/fonly/ Mark

Reading this, I thank my lucky stars I model in 2mm finescale with fairly esoteric interests. This means far fewer temptations to buy RTR stuff (until Farish start doing J15's etc.). What I do acquire are the beginnings of projects which might eventually end up as 2mm finescale runners. I have decided not to get too hung up on keeping to a dead strict theme of 1950s BR GE but instead building a few projects that take my fancy. This is why I have an Aveling & Porter nearly ready for painting and a Del Prado PLM "Bourbonnaise" (beautiful little moulding) awaiting a chassis. There are kits in my gloat boxes that have now technically been superseded by RTR models, such as the Farish 04. The intention is to build the kit and paint it myself, as then it will tone in with all my other kit & scratchbuilt stock. A crisp sharp RTR livery would look out of place. It's really hard to match the quality of RTR paint these days, a point which is easily overlooked. Where things have got a bit out of hand is in the 2mm/N narrow gauge where I have Irish, German, French and British models all running on 6.5mm gauge. So what I'm doing is spending, well more accurately mortgaging, time rather than spending money. This replaces the pleasure of ownership with the optimism of possible future models. I can already see them in my minds eye... Mark

I have some very sad news. Earlier today, after a period of ill health, Peter Clark died peacefully at home. It's very hard to summarise in a few words what Peter has done for the model railway and model engineering hobbies. Peter's primary model railway, or rather railroad, interest was in American narrow gauge and he was an early practitioner of Nn3. He is also well known for organising the machine shop demo which appeared at several of the Model Railway Club's Easter exhibitions. Peter was a frequent winner of gold medals at the Model Engineer exhibition and typically of Peter, he kept the certificates on the walls of the smallest room of the house! Many of us have benefitted directly from Peter's generosity of time and expertise. He advised on many 2mm Scale Association projects where engineering input was required. In his professional life, Peter was a much respected member of the medical professsion. We shall miss him greatly and remember him with much affection. He leaves two sons and to them and their families, we offer our sincere condolences.

I don't know if the design has changed but the batch I bought directly from Phil Kerr have been tough and reliable over many years usage. They do need an appropriate transformer and a button capable of carrying the current. Nowadays, I think my preference for the type of layout I build is for rare earth magnets moved mechanically under the baseboard. On the first layout Richard Wilson and I jointly built, we used a Post Office 3000 relay coil. Fortunately we had room under the baseboard as it is not a compact design. Mark

Sounds like they didn't crimp the pastry properly.

Or as it's more commonly known, the North Somerset Light Railway livery! Of which I make copious use, I hasten to add. Mark

I like to think my pies have had a nice life before they meet their inevitable end. Running round outside with all their other pie friends, seeing the sun and enjoying fresh air. Not trapped inside like all the battery pies.

The cover DVD is still in preparation. Mark

The 2mm Beginners Guide has a section on using neodymium magnets which slide underneath the track. I tink there are some photos of them in one of the thread here. Might be in Jerry's Bath Queen Square or Highbury Colliery topics. If you can can't find them, I'll repost. Mark

Speaking as one the exhibitors, it's enjoyable from our side too. Today's visitors were a nice appreciative audience that were a pleasure to chat to. Looking forward to tomorrow - don't have to get up so early! Mark

I too suffer from ONNALD* syndrome! *Oh no not another loco depot

Anyone need transport for a cameo? http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C914623 Box looks just about the right size!

Liking this a lot! I'd encourage you to make the main line a shallow curve. For some reason, it fools the eye into seeing it as a longer distance. An Clár is nearly (600mm by 200mm) to the dimensions of the DJLC and has the track as an "S" curve running through the scene. When photographed from a low angle, it fools the eye very well.

Redefining the term "Windows error log". Swipe left to submit... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-41167296