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Hobbies 2021

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Richard Dye said:
Pete, not sure what RYA is (Royal Yachting Assn?). I sailed as part of a fleet, all sailors having the same boat and regulations etc.
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yes...Royal Yachting Assn. i tryd sailing once but found it too much like hard work:grinning:so i stuck to the motor boat i had a shetland motor cruser i still have my marine Radio licence

edited by mw0njm.
 
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Dionysius//88 said:
I was presented with a Hornby Mallard Pullman set Christmas 2019 , My plywood for the base was delivered a month ago , I've had a model on the go, in a stop start fashion over a year which is coming to an end shortly . Then it will be to assemble the base and start the scratch building . Terry and Pete do either of you scratch build ?
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Hi

Do you mean the models or the baseboard? If the latter, then the important thing is to ensure the baseboard is good and rigid. Ideally the subframe needs to be of 80 x 20 mm timbers in an egg-box cross braced framing spaced no more than 40mm apart. This will give you a baseboard which is rigid enough to ensure there is no sagging and yet is light enough to move.

I await your further queries!!
 
TerryD147 said:
Hi

Do you mean the models or the baseboard? If the latter, then the important thing is to ensure the baseboard is good and rigid. Ideally the subframe needs to be of 80 x 20 mm timbers in an egg-box cross braced framing spaced no more than 40mm apart. This will give you a baseboard which is rigid enough to ensure there is no sagging and yet is light enough to move.

I await your further queries!!
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Models , yes I understand about the baseboard structure .
 
Dionysius//88 said:
Models , yes I understand about the baseboard structure .
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Glad you're OK with the baseboard.

Yes, I have scratch built quite a lot in 00. Mostly loco chassis to go under kit built or proprietary bodies (all steam). everything from 0-6-0 inside cylinders (nice and simple) to 4-6-0 and Pacifics with outside cylinders & valve gear.

Also kit-bashing coaches and freight stock using some etched brass components and some scratch parts.

All is analogue - don't want DCC!
 
My husband wanted to put a layout in the loft but ill health put paid to that. My brother stored his in a loft but it was so hot everything buckled. My friend had a very interesting "picture" on the wall with wires coming out etc, I commented on it and it turned out to be a railway layout hinged to the wall which could could down when needed but was disguised as modern art!!
rosie.
 
TerryD147 said:
That's a helluva record; wish I could claim to have done anything like that!

Your reference to "jug handle" defeats me. Can you give me a clue what it means?
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The Imperial Petrel had a jug handle shape by the head tube to strengthen it
 
rosie said:
My husband wanted to put a layout in the loft but ill health put paid to that. My brother stored his in a loft but it was so hot everything buckled. My friend had a very interesting "picture" on the wall with wires coming out etc, I commented on it and it turned out to be a railway layout hinged to the wall which could could down when needed but was disguised as modern art!!
rosie.
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Now that is clever if you like modern art :cool:
 
early Tri-ang model railways.
Some of you will be aware that about 1955 Tri-ang Railways were made using cellulose acetate for the plastic, and that this material, being somewhat less stable than polystyrene, results in the models warping to various degrees. This is most pronounced in the roofs of vans and coaches, all surviving coaches in particular featuring distinctly banana shaped roofs. :(
 
TerryD147 said:
Glad you're OK with the baseboard.

Yes, I have scratch built quite a lot in 00. Mostly loco chassis to go under kit built or proprietary bodies (all steam). everything from 0-6-0 inside cylinders (nice and simple) to 4-6-0 and Pacifics with outside cylinders & valve gear.

Also kit-bashing coaches and freight stock using some etched brass components and some scratch parts.

All is analogue - don't want DCC!
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Tell me please why not DCC , the Mallard I have is DCC that said it’s not chipped at the moment . When I’ve seen some of the variety with these chipped trains , they look quite interesting
 
mw0njm. said:
early Tri-ang model railways.
Some of you will be aware that about 1955 Tri-ang Railways were made using cellulose acetate for the plastic, and that this material, being somewhat less stable than polystyrene, results in the models warping to various degrees. This is most pronounced in the roofs of vans and coaches, all surviving coaches in particular featuring distinctly banana shaped roofs. :(
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If you had real carriages 65 years old with no maintenance, they might have been a bit deformed as well
 
TerryD147 said:
Hi oldbrit

I'm very proud of the fact that my late uncle, Tom Dilkes (RIP) won the Scarborough road race back in the 1930s. I still have an Imperial Petrel cycle built, I believe, in Sparkbrook in the 30s and owned by him. Very light frame; so light, in fact that the tubes were very easily dented. I have ridden it comparatively recently with a fixed wheel which I fitted back in about 1963 when still at school. I lent it to one or two school friends and they rode it without much experience of a fixed wheel and found the experience "interesting".

Bizarrely, my mother used to use it for CTC Southern Family section runs back in about 1952-3, but she could never get the hang of the Sturmey Archer 3-speed gear with which it was then fitted! You can imagine how she got on with driving lessons!

Terry D
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Dionysius//88 said:
Tell me please why not DCC , the Mallard I have is DCC that said it’s not chipped at the moment . When I’ve seen some of the variety with these chipped trains , they look quite interesting
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Mostly because you have to program a loco before it will go. Secondly because you have to allocate a number to the loco and this means you have only 64 to choose from. Thirdly you have to remember which one your chosen loco is and if you have any more than 64, you are in trouble, because you have run out of options. Fourthly, there is the expense and difficulty of fitting the chip inside the loco.
 
Yes, I understand that other posts in this thread have given the explanation as to what the "jug handles" mean, but not all Imperial Petrels had them. Mine certainly doesn't.
 
TerryD147 said:
Mostly because you have to program a loco before it will go. Secondly because you have to allocate a number to the loco and this means you have only 64 to choose from. Thirdly you have to remember which one your chosen loco is and if you have any more than 64, you are in trouble, because you have run out of options. Fourthly, there is the expense and difficulty of fitting the chip inside the loco.
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Well I see your points TerryD147, I'd agree with cost and the fitting , some of the experts though that you see on You Tube make it look very easy . Another thing if I had 64 loco's , I think as opposed to DCC , I'd be looking round for a new house
 
QUESTION: If one were going to start a model train hobby would it be O or OO gauge? I have had a Hornby OO and an old windup (clockwork) O gauge. I have no preconceived notions. I would appreciate any thoughts/ideas/pluses & minuses!

Thank you!
 
My dad and brother scratch built 5"gauge steam locos replicas.

Birmingham Society of Model Engineers​

 
Richard Dye said:
QUESTION: If one were going to start a model train hobby would it be O or OO gauge? I have had a Hornby OO and an old windup (clockwork) O gauge. I have no preconceived notions. I would appreciate any thoughts/ideas/pluses & minuses!

Thank you!
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if i had the room i would go for o gauge it bigger

 
Richard Dye said:
QUESTION: If one were going to start a model train hobby would it be O or OO gauge? I have had a Hornby OO and an old windup (clockwork) O gauge. I have no preconceived notions. I would appreciate any thoughts/ideas/pluses & minuses!

Thank you!
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Might depend on how good your eyesight is! Otherwise you could consider what space is available and what sort of railway that you want to model, i.e. you can't model 12 coach trains in a 4 foot alcove with 0 or 00 gauge. Other considerations are your own skill set, if you can't make it you might need to buy it and that might only be able to be bought in certain scales.

As an aside don't confuse gauge with scale, you could use 0 gauge track in a 4 foot alcove and use it to model a narrow gauge railway for instance.

What prototype to follow? That is another consideration. Just lately I have been watching some videos of US railways and they are extreme! There is no way that the average British modeller could begin to run trains a couple of scale miles long but these same US railways send mainline locos to fetch single cars down some quite lengthy lines. They also seem to go in for 'power moves' when 12 or more locos are running 'light engine'(!!) together. A lot of modellers are heavy on the engines, here's the chance to run an all loco layout!
 
mw0njm. said:
if i had the room i would go for o gauge it bigger

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Pete, that is a very informative video….unfortunately it has caused more questions (a good thing). There are a coup of MR near where I am and a MR museum to look at.
I like the idea of going larger, will take a look at options.
 
Spargone said:
Might depend on how good your eyesight is! Otherwise you could consider what space is available and what sort of railway that you want to model, i.e. you can't model 12 coach trains in a 4 foot alcove with 0 or 00 gauge. Other considerations are your own skill set, if you can't make it you might need to buy it and that might only be able to be bought in certain scales.

As an aside don't confuse gauge with scale, you could use 0 gauge track in a 4 foot alcove and use it to model a narrow gauge railway for instance.

What prototype to follow? That is another consideration. Just lately I have been watching some videos of US railways and they are extreme! There is no way that the average British modeller could begin to run trains a couple of scale miles long but these same US railways send mainline locos to fetch single cars down some quite lengthy lines. They also seem to go in for 'power moves' when 12 or more locos are running 'light engine'(!!) together. A lot of modellers are heavy on the engines, here's the chance to run an all loco layout!
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Spargone, thank you for your comments, quite though provoking. I have a lot of info to process which is both helpful and confusing at the same time at least at this juncture!
 
I have the opposite problem, many years ago I yearned for a model railway being denied one as a child, but my boys were not interested, now as a retirement present, I was given a Flying Scotsmen complete set and do not know what to do with it, it is currently gathering dust in my someday cupboard.
Bob
 
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