Sissd off!

At least they had 2 people directing cars even if occasionally they got the number of spaces wrong. We were given the same instructions but found a space just round the corner, good job as was collecting nearly 10 years of MRC mags from someone.

Cheers, Simon

But your new location means youre close enough for me to bring dodgy kit built chassis for a bit of advice :-)

Cheers, Simon

" good job as was collecting nearly 10 years of MRC mags from someone "

This link may help

Chris

" good job as was collecting nearly 10 years of MRC mags from someone "

This link may help

Most thoughtfull, but all freestanding space disappeared a while back. Only got floor under layout and that has to be shared with much junk as well as Backtracks.

Cheers, Simon

Did I say Mountsorrel? I meant Inverness :-)

Yup - never having been there before, I was quite happy to be directed. When I was walking back, I was asked where I parked, and the look of relief when I said where I was and that there was plenty of room was palpable! I always remember that these guys are volunteering their time to help out.

Same with all of them. Plus if you have a laugh with em then they'll give you extra help, if your snappy then you may be on your own.

was same at Mickleover, had lot of fun there - his nibs won a pink purse at the tombola so they let him swap it for any other prize - he chose the whoopy cushion - I kept well away. However did buy an Alan Gibson Midland 2P kit and a water damaged Gem Precursor. Keep busy for a while - any advice on dealing with either would be wellcome.

Cheers, Simon

Dunno about the GEM kit, but the AG 2P pretty much goes together as designed (as shown on my website, this was perhaps unwisely one of the first kits I built, so is being reworked - must update my site some time!)

I don't get on with Alan Gibson's sprung hornblocks, and if your kit has the two-part plastic gearbox you might want to throw that away as well. The gears themselves are good, but once the gearbox is in place you can't turn the wheels to set up quartering etc! I think High Level Kits can kill two birds with one stone here - any of their gearboxes are beautiful, and from what I've seen of their hornblocks you can't go wrong with them for either sprung or compensated chassis.

Have fun!

Thanks for that, it will help, never tried sprung chassis but perhaps its time.

Precursor is already built and painted. Would have no problem with new kit as already done George Vth which is almost identical. Its cleaning up water damage that was wondering about. As its body is nicely painted and lined am hoping to just clean then patch paint with light waethering. Chassis is possibly scratch built and may be an old but good job. It has an X04 type motor and what looks like modern Romford wheels. Expect to replace motor but would be nice if could just clean up the wheels (perhaps replace axles). May be a s#d to remove wheels though. Any suggestions of solutions that would help clean/strip bits without damage would be welcome.

Cheers, Simon

Isn't the Precursor a little loco, and the X04 a big motor? :-)

If the wheels are Romford, they should be easy to remove, shouldn't they? I would definitely be inclined to replace the X04 with a High Level Gearbox and Mashima motor. Assuming the chassis runs OK now, I would make a careful note of which way the coupling rods were fitted before stripping it down. It's quite possible that the maker had to tweak the hole sizes slightly, so you really want to make sure the right holes go back on the right crankpin. For cleaning things up, get hold of a can of this stuff:

Once you've sprayed it around, you won't care how well it works ;-)

Its a big 4-4-0, was an express passenger to take 400 ton trains down WCML at 60mph and that was without superheating (George Vth was the later superheated equivalent). Got wide boiler with lots of space - already have a GEM George Vth with mashima open can and branchlines gearbox - runs smooth as anything although havent checked what it can pull yet.

Believe chassis is scratch built, if cant clean it sufficiently and get running properly then will replace. Like that stuff to clean wheels etc, may be able to recover enough to not require new wheels/chassis thanks. Its EM although modified by wider axles and additional washers rather than EM spacers in chassis.

cheers, Simon