Starting from new

Cheers, Mick

Well that's what I was told as well, but it tends to warp after a while.

Fred X

As an inexpensive solution, I have used 2' x 4' plain suspended-ceiling tiles on top of 11mm ply. It helps deaden noise and is easy to push track pins into. I filled in joints and dents with lightweight patching compound for walls and gave it 2 coats of floor enamel. After test-laying track I glued down cork ballast strips with rubber cement, so they could easily be moved if necessary. Final ballast application will be with diluted artists' matte medium to maintain resiliency.

Decide on a time and location to model from day 1 - rather than collect some random stuff, and then try to look for a location it'd all appear together at.

Decide on a scale, gauge, and track standard from day 1 - and try to stick to it. I've had 4mm/ft 16.5mm ('OO') gauge coarse scale, 2mm/ft

Decide on one decent coupler technology, and fit all stock with it. For me, I'd say something that is capable of 'hands off' operation, for both coupling and uncoupling, and that doesn't look out of place on the stock it is on. Definately no tension locks (or N gauge rapidos). Both are too large, too ungainly, and don't work well enough. Now I have a significant (yet random) selection of stock, fitting it all with proper couplings looks like hard work...

I'd test out my kit building skills before deciding on a stock mix that relies heavily on kits. And definately avoid buying a complex N gauge loco kit with lots of fiddly etched bits as my first kit. Also, preferrably not buy said kit just before a ready to run model of the same loco is announced. This I did particularly badly.

I'd also want to find out I'm an engineer and not an artist before planning to paint anything. Building the chassis of that kit was no problem - getting the gear mesh right, making it run smoothly, etc, proved relatively straightforward. Assembling the bodyshell and trying to get everything to look right, is proving more difficult. In particular, lining up all those etched bits. And I doubt I'll ever actually paint it...

Finally, I'd buy less on ebay. (Not avoid it completely - I'm pleased with some of the stuff I bought on ebay, but some of it was a mistake). Definately don't buy anything in the first few weeks of looking at ebay, because you'll undoubtedly see the same model go for less the next week if you jump straight in on that "mega-rare" item that "won't come up again". Good stuff tends to fetch high prices (and certain things go for silly money), but there are bargains to be had.

One thing I have found to work when looking for an out of production model that seems to go for completely silly money in good condition, is buying a damaged model and repairing it. (Make sure you know what's broken, and if spares are available though). This will keep the collectors at bay, and thus only the modellers will be after it - the price should be lower as a result. The engineer's kind of faults appeal to me - things that need major surgery in the motor department, or replacement functional bits fitting, etc. Something that's had a botched repaint isn't that interesting to me - not being an artist, trying to repaint it properly sounds too much like hard work...

James Moody

The message from James Moody contains these words:

And your suggestion is ......... please?

Currently sitting on the fence, having decided that the fence hurts, and that I really must jump one way or another, but still haven't actually done it yet...

My current theory is a knuckle style coupler, e.g. Kadees in 4mm scale and MicroTrains in 2mm scale.

This will sit reasonably well on anything that has an autocoupler in real life - and I think I'd be happy with it on units that should have a dellner, or other autocoupler that isn't knuckle based. It's also looking likely on coaching stock (not that I'll have much on my layout if the next plan goes ahead). Locos that had an autocoupler in real life will also likely get them. Freight stock is less certain. I'm willing to sacrifice prototype appearance for compatibility, (and I'm not willing to use miniature working screwlinks for shunting, so I can't go properly accurate). There are, however, practical considerations - While in 2mm scale, pretty much everything has a pocket that a replacement could be plugged in to, in 4mm scale, that's not the case. And not everything has a convenient surface to mount a pocket on, either...

James Moody

The message from James Moody contains these words:

Many thanks

Dingham.