Great British Locomotives Magazine

[Saint Johnstoun]

I note the chassis offered on Fleabay is a Railroad one so would need the valve gear changing - some folks probably don't realise this!

[Kestrel]

I managed to relieve 3 Asdas of seven of them this afternoon. I noticed the double stripe by the nose is a bit wayward.

Just been onto WH Smith in Chester. They took delivery of 89 of Mallard on 19th February and at this point, at 05:50pm, have sold 22. They say they will have them for four weeks, unless they sell them before hand, and then it'll be every two weeks with them returning the ones they don't sell. On the http://www.greatbritishlocomotive.co.uk/ website it says it will be on sale for 2 weeks.

[S.A.C. Martin]

Had an interesting evening doing more modifications on mine and seeing how it all fits together. I have concluded that major modifications is needed to the cab area to fit the body shell to a Railroad Scotsman chassis (the latest one with the 3 pole motor and flywheel). It looks as if it'll be easier to fit to my Bachmann A4 chassis after all.

However given I'm thinking of standardising on a common chassis between A3s and A4s if possible, the Railroad Scotsman is one I may seek out and see if I can make it work accordingly. I am therefore going to create two prototypes for my needs and see how they come out. I've more than enough body shells to have a go at it now, after all.

[rowanj]

As cheap donor models, I don't think we can complain about these models. I'm converting my 1st (of 5) into 60008 in BR days. so far work has involved-
1 - carving valences to post war style - easy, but care needed to get shape right around cylinders.
2.- Replacing plastic handrails, vac pipes, whistle. I'm happy to leave the buffers as they are.
3.- I used Hornby tender wheels in the original chassis, found it ran smoothly with weight added in the handy plastic channel in the chassis top. As there is no tender pick-up issue, I made a hook/gatepost arrangement a-la Tony Wright to link tender and loco
4. I'm using a Hornby A3 non-railroad chassis, and found the bumps in the A3 cylinder handy for holding the body in place. I have not yet decided if I need to try and bodge a screw fix somewhere/somehow.
Re the chassis/ cab issue referred to by Simon, I found it easier to grind back the rear lug of the chassis until it made a neat fit at the correct height rather than try to carve the cab.
The Mallard nameplate seems to be part of the body moulding, and removing it without marking the body will be a pain.
Re Railroad style valve gear, though clearly inferior to the higher spec version, IMHO I doubt it's worth spending cash on an upgrade just to motorise this model. I am lucky in having a decent supply of chassis, wheels and other bits and bobs, but the final loco will still fall well short of a new Hornby model. But I will have enjoyed "making "it, and have quite enjoyed just seeing how to "motorise" the model. Reminds me of happy, and usually unsuccessful, days with Airfix kits!
Happy to discuss with anyone who is having a go at this.
John

[Saint Johnstoun]

With a bit of work and if you like me and others tend to accumulate a collection of spares and bits, it is possible to produce a decent model out of one of the GBRC Mallards. I'm costing it out at present and once I have produced a finished model will report; it will depend when all the odds and ends I have ordered to complete the jobs arrive like whistles, buffers and single chimneys!

[Flying Fox 34F]

If any one is interested, there are at least 8 sets of Mallards available at WH Smith in Grantham. That was at 4pm yesterday
Paul 4475

[Saint Johnstoun]

I see in the Shop area of their website they are offering Mallards (including magazine) for 20 euros!

[mick b]

From RM Web

1. Mallard
2. Coronation
3. Flying Scotsman
4. 28xx
5. Stowe 'Schools’ Class
6. ‘Deltics’
7. Evening Star
8. No. 44781 ‘Black Five'
9. City of Truro
10. Gresley ‘K3’
11. Bulleid ‘West Country’ unrebuilt
12. Fowler 3F ‘Jinty’
13. Collett ‘Castle’
14. No. 1000 ‘Compound'
15. BR standard ‘4MT’ tank
16. Locomotion
17. Sulzer ‘Peaks’
18. Butler Henderson
19. 45xx
20. 'T9’


I wonder how many of these after the first three will be seen in shops ?

[earlswood nob]

Afternoon all
Thanks Mick for publishing a list.
The K3 will supply a GS4200 tender which would be useful for some other locos.
The D11 tender would be very useful for GCR projects.
I wonder if you can order single copies?

Earlswood nob

[Atlantic 3279]

Read the website......

I thought I'd read mention of a J39 somewhere too, or I could have been hallucinating owing to the mind fogging effects of the bug that I now realise I've been developing over the last week. A 3500 gallon tender, or even an NE pattern one to go with a J39 would be too much to hope for I fear, as all of the models seem destined to be from copy-cat tooling

[earlswood nob]

There was a mention of a J39; on page 4 of this thread by Earl Marischal.
It would be too much to hope for a GS3500 tender, or one of the ex-NER tenders that ran with J39's.
There is still a vacuum formed by the lack of a GNR tender, that is waiting to be filled.
Earlswood nob

[D2100]

From RM Web

[snip]

Which in turn came from New Railway Modellers, which was from a chap who'd emailed the publishers

There was a mention of a J39; on page 4 of this thread by Earl Marischal.

I think I've seen a J39 mentioned too (probably on Rmweb ), along with a Western diesel which isnt in the above list. Point being, they seem to be somewhat 'fluid' in their plans...

[fazy]

The j39 is mentioned on Page 1 of the pull out along with princess royal and others

[Mercator II]

Three more A4s added to my pile today, with plenty still to be had in my local WHSmiths

So I know have four, what to do with them, cab glazing is allocated for projects already made or on bench

One body shell is bound for back dating to single chimney once a suitable chassis has been acquired, then a full repaint, one might possibly be made into a W1 using Graeme's parts as seen it works, plenty to keep the 'to do' list full

oOo

Brian

[S.A.C. Martin]

For me, these A4 body shells have the potential to create a "standard" for me. I hate the fact my collection of A4s are all a bit botch potch, different chassis, different body shells. I intend to have a clear out if I'm satisfied with my conversion prototypes and then if happy with them, continue to use these to create my main fleet. The inherent advantage of these is that I have a good number of them that if something goes wrong, I can just start again with another body shell.

The tender body shells on the other hand have proven most useful. I worked out a long time ago that I needed exactly 17 streamlined non-corridor tenders to fit to classes A2/2, A3 and A4 for my planned stockist of express locomotives. These coupled with a number of spare Hornby frames and wheel sets have provided me with enough to make up all of those. The production line will go into full force once my modelling desk is ready again (we're nearly there, just need to finish sanding down, and then varnishing, the new floorboards in my attic space).

Truly, enjoying these models for their potential. The more I think about the Flying Scotsman model though, the more I am convinced it's not going to yield much bar cab glazing, particularly if the washout plugs aren't A3 type and are positioned for the old A4 boiler 4472 used to be fitted with prior to the current overhaul.