Saturday Film Club: Dortmund university monorail

Why does a univeristy need a monorail? Who cares, it's cool!

Cav'ndish brass tension locks

 

Here's a new, vintage, product to me. A bag of what I think are stamped (not etched) brass, tension lock couplings. 

The mounts suggest 1960's or 70s Hornby replacements, but smaller than the Margate originals. 

Assembly is required. Pop the hook assembly into the main part, and push a plastic pivot into place. Ideally, these would be chemically blackend before putting things toghether. A dip in Gun Blue would do the job, if chemicals aimed at modellers weren't available. 

Also, why did Cavendish, stick an apostophe in the middle of thier name?

Pug chassis mystery - solved

Back in 2015, I blogged about a mystery chassis for the classic Airfix "Pug" locomotive. At the time, it was a bit of a mystery. 

The mystery is solved, thanks to eBay. It's a Simplas chsssis. 

Currently, yours for £24.99. And no, I don't plan to buy it. I'm tempted, but NO!

Weidly, there was a built up example on too, but I can't find a link for this one. Presumably it sold, so there is a market for weird old model railway products. Good news for me if I ever decide to dispose of some. I might be able to buy a pizza...

Credit to James Finister who worked it out in the comments of the original post.

Brewing up watered-down PVA

 

My jar of watered-down PVA is nearly empty, so it's time to brew up a new batch. The recipie for this most useful of modelling mediums is simple. 

Mix equal parts of PVA glue (woodwork version prefered, not the shiny stuff for kids) and warm water. Add in a couple of drops of washing up liquid, to reduce the surface tension, and give it a good stirr. 

And then, my little trick, leave it alone for at least a day. This seems to ensure the stuff mixes properly, and you don't end up with too many lumps of neat PVA when spreading it around. 

I know there are more modern glues, and some use rubbing alcohol to reduce the surface tension, but this works for me, and I love the simplicy. 

Hornby Ford Sierra

 

The Ford Sierra is a problem car for me. Like the Class 58 diesel that arrived about the same time, I am old enough to see the first ones on the road. At the time the "jelly mould" design was controversial, even if it was logical to anyone who knew of wind tunnels. 

And now, when was the last time you saw either? 

I am old enough to have had an entire car range, and class of locomotives, arrive and depart in my lifetime.This really makes me feel ancient. 

Anyway, this car appeared at about the same time as the real thing. The Class 58 beat the real locomotive to the shops. 

It's a bit boxy, but recognisable. I wonder if they licensed the shape with Ford? Presunably they did as R271, containing three cars, is titled "Hornby R271 Ford Sierra Cars". BAck in the 1980s, and for a good few years later, this, and the Tri-ang cars, were pretty much all us modellers had to populate our roads! At least the Sierra was "modern image" in car terms. 

Anyway, this one cost me 50p. A bargain I think. Who knows, maybe I'll build an 1980s layout for it one day?