The Law of model shops

The law is simple - when you go in a model shop, you have to buy something. No matter how small. 

Sometimes, this is easier then other. I don't really need anything for my modelling sometimes, but the law is the law. To be fair, this how I ended up with a rather excellent tugboat, but also two plastic kits for Japanese scooter display teams. 

Anyway, a trip to Footplate models was one of the easier ones. I walk in the door, and am greeted by a pile of new second-hand stock. And calling out to me from the top box, a giraffe car. Result! 

Price, less than a tenner. 

It's not a bad one either. There are ladders on the side, but not the end. Georgie has 1 1/2 ears. The biggest problem is the magnet in the bottom of the mechanism is missing. I suspect these slide out one side, as their loss isn't uncommon. 

It's even pretty clean. No need for a trip to the sink and an attack of the Fairy Liquid toothbrush. 

Big question though. How many of these thinsg do I own? Hmmmm.

Tri-ang advertising hoardings

 

Another second-hand stall find - three Tri-ang advertising hoarding, two with quite good adverts on, and one blank. These plus a station bookstall for a fiver seemed reasonable value. 

While the Tri-ang collection is probably as good as it ever will be, I've not got these, and don't suppose they were that common. Young modellers must have a station, but advert boards? A lot less important. Who wouldn't rather have another wagon instead? 

Nice to see that Margate and Ramsgate are being promoted at wonderful holiday locations. Presumably, you get there via the Minic motorway, which is a lot quicker than the M25 I have to use when I visit!

Nerdy note: the two purple hoardings have Tri-ang and Made in England moulded in the back. The brown version without adverts, is plain. Was there a reason? The purple match my very first station, so was the brown earlier? There's no information online. 

The bookstall, R69, is in really nice condition. I wonder if there was ever an issue with the advert on the front for "Mickey Mouse Weekly"? Maybe Disney didn't see it, or simply didn't care. And why did it replace the earlier "Railway Modeller" advert?

 

R30202 Hornby Collectors Club locomotive - 2022

 

The Tri-ang collector in me couldn't resist this. It's the 2022 Hornby Collectors Club loco - a lovely little tribute to 70 years of Tri-ang. 

OK, it's the cheapo 0-4-0 in a nice colour, but there is something appealing about it. Especially when I grabed the last one at the GBMRS for half price. And (whisper it) I'm not even in the collectors club! What a rebel I am. 

I'm pleasently surprised by how well the cheap locomotive runs when turned over with a 9v battery. These chassis used to be horrible, mainly thanks to the Scalextric gears they were fitted with, but this is incredibly smooth. OK, it's not Hornby Peckett smooth, but as good as many of my kit-built chassis. 

One thing that has changed over the years is a move to carboard inner trays. OK, there's some polythene to wrap the model, but with care, most of the box and packing is recyclable. Not that anyone ever throws away the boxes of these valuable collectables...

Of course, I couldn't resist sitting it next to the 1970s "Telephone" model based on a "Polly" tank engine. Mine has a special custom chimney gained when it fell off a shelf recently. I think it has a better dome than the newer model...

Repairing Lord Westwood

Bought at Ally Pally earlier this year, my Tri-ang R765 "Lord Westwood" was a bargain. Mainly because it didn't work. 

This didn't put me off. Models of this vintage might lack detail, but they are easily fixable with the aid of some simple hand tools. The heart of this, and many others of that vintage, is the X04 motor, a rugged unit that is easy to find second-hand if the original is toast. 

The body is removed by undoing a long screw under the back of the cab. The chassis can then be wiggled free for examination. 

Inside, there was some fluff, and only one brush on the motor. This looked promising. 

You won't be surprised I had a spare set in my stash of bits. The only problem is that the wire on top of the motor was broken. It should be steel, but I couldn't find any, so made up a brass version. I'll keep an eye out for the correct replacement as the softer metal might work, but it won't last forever. 

However, work it does, and the locomotive now bumps it's way along the railchairs on Code 75 track (I'm out of Code 100) very smoothly. 

In the tender, someone has swapped the wheelsets over to disable the steam noise feature. 

The sound is generated by a steel tab rubbing on a strip of abrasive. This sounds a bit crude, but the metal strip is attached to a plastic soundbox to increase the volume. 

I've heard worse, and anyway, love a gadget in a model loco, so the wheels have been swapped back, the sideframes can be flexed enough to release them using a small screwdriver. 

After this, a good clean up with a stiff brush to remove all the dust and I have a near mint model for the collection. Just the think to wind up GWR fans, and valuable too. From £15, this thing is now worth around £70!

Sailing the Tri-ang yacht

  

A sunny Saturday provided me with the chance to test my Tri-ang yacht that I re-rigged earlier this month. 

There wasn't a lot of wind, more a very gentle breeze with lots of calmness, but I didn't think the boat would like to take to the water in a gale. Not least because there is a hole on the deck that could really do with a bung in it before things get too rough. 

I like the idea of setting the boat free to have its own adventures so just dropped it on the lake for a tootle around. 

Given a light breeze, it set off in a pretty straight line and at a reasonable pace. It healed over a little, but the connection between sails and rudder seemed to be working to ensure good steering. 

The difference between enough wind to move and enough wind to lie on its side isn't great, always a problem with the smaller vessel. Fortunatly, the hole in the deck remained just above the water so there wasn't an embarasing sinking. 

I really could to to learn how to set the sails properly as I think it will be possible to improve the sailing if I can get all the tensions correct. Definitely a work in progress. 

Tri-ang Transcontinental shunter refurbishment

A fiver? Of course I need a yellow Tri-ang shunter to add to my collection.

OK, there is a black dock shunter already in there but I didn't have the yellow version for shunting Giraffe Cars.

It's a clever model. The freelance body fits on a motor bogie used elsewhere in the range. The only addition is a light. Even the rear coupling fits on the body so the moulds for the motor bogie didn't need to be altered.

My model worked perfectly on Code 100 track but the knurled wheels aren't Code 75 friendly. I've oiled the bearings and cleaned the commutator with an evil fibre pen, but these things are bomb-proof so it's no surprise there.

After a bit of pondering, the body responded well to a scrub in the sink with warm soapy water. It looked quite nicely weathered and once you've cleaned it you can't go back. In the end though, this a toy and I felt it would prefer to be shiny as a new button.

The roof was looking a bit tired. I masked it with tape and kitchen foil before spraying with Halfords matt black. I tried satin, but the result was too shiny to my eyes.

Job done, a nice little shunter for the collection. It's probably worth a lot more than I paid for it now, but that's not the point. I have an attractive model for a bargain price.

Saturday Film Club: Triang TV adverts

It's been a week of product announcements from the big two UK model railway manufacturers and as usual, social media is full of people frothing with excitement and those bemoaning there not being anything for them. 

Time for a quick look back to the days when a train set was available for a fiver and Minic Motorway was a thing.

Q Car

 

Behold. The Holy Grail of Triang collectables.

 

R571 "Q" Car

 

Produced in 1968, it's an exploding wagon that when open reveals a pair of "Red Eye" missiles. The mechanism swivels these into firing position when the sides come off.

 

Only 2,700 were made.

 

Price £345

 

I'll admit to being in awe of this. I have been a fan of the Battlespace range for years but this is the first time I've ever seen inside one of these. WM Collectables kindly lent the model to me for a few minutes so I could take some pictures for another job in the future.

 

If I had the money, I'd not have handed it back. This is hard core collecting at its best. Never mind your endless lines of diecast cars, when you've tracked one of these down, you are an alpha male in the collecting world.

 

And if I owned it, of course I'd play with it. I'd blow all those super-dooper finescale models off the tracks. This is what I call fun!

Triang R298

 

How nice is this set?

 

A Triang R298 Home Maintenance set for your model railways. Complete and untouched.

 

Containing some tools: tweezers, and electrical test light and some screwdrivers. Spools of wire in four colours, track pins and a tube containing couplings, screws and other sundries.

 

Once upon a time we fixed our model railways.

 

Yours for £145 from WM Collectables. Yes, I know it is a lot of money but find me another one in this condition. Of course I'd like it. But not as much as I'd like tomorrows blog subject.

That looks a bit Battlespace to me

 

 

Cover Picture: The drawing on the cover of our Annual is an artist's impression of what the Triang/Hornby Strike Force 10 train set might look like in a real life situation. These "Battle Space" train sets certainly add excitement to your model railway layouts.

Back to the 70's

This isn't a proper serious post. In fact, feel free to go out and do some bank holiday stuff if you want, the sun is shining and you have the day off after all.

In the meantime I am celebrating 1973.

This is R455, Hornby's Industrial Tank engine introduced in that year. Collectors will note that is is based on the same moulding as the legendary "Nellie" first released in 1962. By the 70's you could also buy it as Connie (2 colours) and Polly as well as this unnamed version.

I remember looking at this little loco in a Hornby catalogue when a child. It must have been an out of date catalogue as even I'm not that old. It stuck in my mind for some reason, probably the shiny dome to be honest, so when digging through eBay a week ago looking for something else, I stuck a tiny bid on it. For less than a tenner including postage, I am the proud owner of a little red engine in surprisingly good condition. The chrome is good, something that any classic car owner knows is important, and the only blemish is a little paint rub in the smokebox handle. I'll touch this in with some satin black and no one will ever know. Incidentally, how do you chrome plastic ?

Actually, at the price this loco has only deperiated very little over the years. Originally sold at £3.53, I still had to cough up £3.25 and I didn't even get a box, just the plastic inner tray. Mind you when I was a kid, that was still rather more than young Phil's pocket money would have run to. Of course I can make up for this now I am a grown-up and can buy the toy trains I want. Well, sort of anyway.

Of course, now I have the thing I've got to work out what to do with it. I do have quite a Triang collection but that's mostly made up for operating accessories (9 Giraffe cars and counting !) so it doesn't really fit in. Perhaps I could get some contemporary wagons and make yet another micro layout up for it. Maybe use appropriate aged buildings.

Or perhaps put some Romfords in, slap some Spratt & Winkles on the ends and use it to anoy finescale modellers ?

For more information, visit the Hornby Railway Collectors Guide website.