Saturday Film Club: Metcalfe buiding improvements

Back in January, I recoreded a video for BRMTV with suggestions for improving Metcalfe building kits. It's now been made public, so I can share the film here for your entertainment and education.

C Class

A couple of weeks ago, I had to take a trip down south for a photo shoot. By accident, I found myself near the Bluebell Railway, and since I was running early, decided that this would be the perfect place for a spot of lunch.

I'd just finished my delicious spicy Mediterranean vegetable pie, when there was some chuffing from outside, and this stunning C Class arrived. Well, of course, I had to take some photos.

Helped by cracking weather, the loco really shines. When you look at the livery, it's no surprise that the Bachmann version sold out as quickly as it did.

TT:120 Signal Box

 

A little bit of Déjà vu for the TT:120 club magazine, an LCut Creative "High Dyke" signal box. 

Lovely kit, which is no surprise, as I built the 4mm scale version a few years ago, and this is simply a rescaled version. The materials used make it superior (IMHO) to the Peco models, there's no wood grain showing for a start. 

Now, what I'd love to do is photograph the two models side-by-side. And I will do when I find the 4mm scale version! In the meantime, here's a shot from the BRM article. 

Warehouse Wednesday: Fire escape

 

Strolling around Northampton, I spotted this lovely, boxy, building. You can see it on this Streetview link - which is handy, as I couldn't get an angle to show the whole building. 

I did rather like the fire escape though, and felt a couple of shots would be useful. This is the sort of detail that looks great on a model, but because it's fiddly (those stairs!) to build, frequently gets missed off. Or maybe, people don't see the point. When we built our clubrooms, one member moaned that we'd included a rear exit for emergencies, because the office he'd worked in during the 1970s didn't have one...

Anyway, assuming you do care about the lives of your minitaure population, I hope these shots provide a bit of useful detail. 

Brakes on

 

 

The van kit came without instructions, but fortunatly, they can be downloaded from the Slater's website. Handy, because without them, I'm pretty sure I'd have assembled the brake gear incorrectly. 

I'm used to the idea that half-etched lines mean fold, but the size of G1 bits mean that items like the push rods which would, in 4mm scale, be a single plastic moulding, are a bit more detailed. Specifically, the double push rods have a gap between them. I'm sure they don't on the standard kit, although I'm also sure that finescale fans will have an etch to do this. 

Joints are brass pins, the kit includes some very fine bolts, but I've rescued these for use elsewhere. The pins look fine, and are superglued in anyway. In fact, the who construction owes a lot to superglue, a bit of a surprise, but it works. 

Some vans were only fitted with gear on one side, but since the previous owner fitted shows on both, and I don't like wasting parts, I'll repeat all of this on the other side.

Update: I've just fitted the brakes on the other side and realised these are back to front. Push the lever and the shoes move away from the wheels! I'm not sure how I'll fix this to be honest...