murphaph

I had considered a sliding door of some description and a pocket door would be the Rolls Royce option but as you say it would need to be built in front of the existing wall (load bearing) and the doors in the perpendicular walls to the left and right are only ca. 10cm from the wall we're talking about, so those door architraves would need trimming and I don't think the missus would sanction that. She'd also question why I was dumping an expensive enough glass door as well lol. I'm stuck with the glass door I think. It can be made to work as it is I suppose, with both the bridge for the track and the glass door opening inwards. Just need to put a bumper on the track swing bridge to make sure it prevents the glass door being rammed into it from someone on the outside.

The path of least resistance (and cost) is definitely to adapt the B-B gauge so I can use the NMRA 110 wheelsets as provided by IRM etc. I don't have a problem with the out of scale tread width/flange depth and it's a lot of expense to re-wheel everything for something that doesn't bother me in the first place. It's the out of scale track width only that bothers me about 00. I don't even particularly mind the overscale flanges in pointwork in 00. I'm going to build my track to 21mm with the P4 gauges and EM tolerances for point etc. flange widths. Then I will see how the NMRA 110 wheelsets handle the track at different B-B's. If the check rails are too tight, I will ease them out to closer to 00 clearances I suppose. It's good to know your Markits wheels are NMRA 110 25 (or close) as that's my test bench right now (using 19.83 B-B for the moment, but we'll see if that stays like that)

So it's basically finished after a good bit of fettling which has helped me better understand the critical dimensions. John Mayne's brake van has the dubious "honour" of being the first piece of 21mm rolling stock in my possession and the first to run over this "masterpiece" lol: What's the general consensus on rebating/joggling the "straight" stock rail at the switch blade tip with bull head rail? A must do or not really required in 4mm?

John, what is the wheel profile of the wheels you supply with the brake vans? You may be pleased to hear that the very first item of regauged stock I own is one of your brake vans I'm using it to push through my first set of 21mm points. I'm using P4 gauges (roller and triangle types) so true 21mm between the rails and at present just judging the flangeways by eye as I practice my technique. I have your turned brass back to back gauges as well as a 3d printed gauge supplied by EDM Models, all 19.83mm. I'm wondering is it worth replacing the wheels on the baby GMs with EM gauge (I don't intend going as far as P4 throughout as I think I'd regret it on the large layout I have planned). What is the profile of the original Bachmann wheels? The brake van wheels strike me as being a bit narrower and thus maybe not requiring the filing back of the baby GM bogie side frames?

Love it. The head on shots are the best for me.

I am waiting since last summer for an answer to my 3 emails. I think that's patient enough in fairness

I think we can safely blame An Post for that. Their inability to reliably deliver is the only reason John would have gone to DHL. His woes with An Post are well known at this stage.

It is indeed. I am banking on not having to do all my points in PCB though! Martin Wynne is making tremendous progress with 3d printing support in Templot so long term I hope to jump on that horse. No need for gauge tools using his method. Just print and plug the track in. It keeps itself in gauge. Obviously some skills will transfer, the filing and soldering of the crossing vee and switchblades for example.

My first attempt at making my own track of any kind. I probably should have started with a straight lol. And I probably shouldn't be have done a curved point but I've ripped up my 00 track from my test oval and I want to reuse the position sensors so that means mimicking the old track path. I also wanted to push the minimum radius to the limit to see if my stock will go around it in 21mm. If not it's better to know that now. I used the old 00 point as a reference for my homemade template. The point will not get any more sleepers. It's just supposed to be functional. The track will be the same, one sleeper in five in place to keep it in gauge. I know, it's rough but I've already learned a bit. It's slow going.

John are you strictly following P4 standards? If so, how much work have you had to put in to compensation, if any on your other rolling stock? Have you any other pics of other stock converted to 21mm?

That's optimistic even by today's inflated prices!

Ah so you have replaced with P4 wheels and retired the IRM ones? I intend just pushing out the IRM ones and keeping them. Would it be an option with the 121 to cut the original axles and sheath them with brass tube so you keep the ends somehow?

For me directness is a plus. I'm used to it at this stage after living in Germany for so many years. I don't think anyone has really said they had a problem with his manner etc., only that he completely ignored them when they tried to contact him about orders/errors. A straight answer is a heck of a lot better than no answer.

They look totally different IMO. I'm gonna try to relay my little test oval in 21mm (though for functional purposes only, so I'll only solder in a PCB sleeper in every 5th position to save wasting them) and then I want to regauge an A. Did you just push the original wheels out? Oh and welcome to the forum John!

Yeah I have been completely blanked by one other UK based model railway "bits n pieces" supplier. No response to any emails, even to say, hey, call me instead. But at least with that guy he hadn't taken any money off me already. I just couldn't buy what I wanted. It is strange and I don't buy the one man band excuse because it's easy to create a template response like "call me instead" or "I have too many other commitments right now" etc. Just ignoring attempts at communication is really ignorant I find.

If you hadn't started this thread you'd still be waiting for some communication I suspect . I'm happy for you anyway as losing the value of a loco is very significant. I only lost the money for a few containers.

Don't apologise mmie353. You have nothing to apologise for. Happy to hear you've had some contact from him.

Even the cut to size ones from Marcway come on a single, perforated sheet that you push them out from. Not a bad idea giving the whole sheet a wire brush treatment.

I don't know the answer to your specific question David but if you end up using clay then perhaps a roller would be easy enough rather than scribing the cobbles? https://www.ebay.de/itm/Texture-Roller-Pin-for-Styrodur-XPS-Foam-and-Clay-GREAT-for-28mm-32mm-Terrain-/265068859239?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=707-53477-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=CjwKCAiAlfqOBhAeEiwAYi43F426fmr3DkhqGsgnR0JGPKw-K6K-8ctiYP65v4enthKU31lnIY2NthoCVpkQAvD_BwE

Good luck!

I won't be wasting any more of my time trying to contact him to be honest. Thanks for trying though. I have learned my lesson and moved on. I only responded here as a question was posed by another member who is also struggling to get a response from him. I also used the same email address listed and never got a response. For the record, here is my timeline of events: 25/04/21 - order placed 27/05/21 - order arrived in Germany including the incorrect items. Email to the above address sent that evening. No response. 01/06/21 - sent a further email asking for an update. No response. 07/06/21 sent a third and final email. No response ever came. If someone can take orders over the internet they can deal with my query over the internet. There's no excuse for ignoring emails. I should not have to go through a third party to resolve a very simple problem. And the thing is, I now know of three people this happened to and none of us got a response.

I have had the pleasure of buying from several one man band operations (some of whom are members here) and so far only DC Kits have let me down like this. What can I say? It's my honest experience of dealing with him. You can't operate an online shop and then ignore emails! The one goes hand in hand with the other. I've also bought from Marcway (Sheffield) and Roads and Rails (Leeds) without any problems whatsoever. In my case it was very simple. I ordered and paid for x and I got y and it stayed like that, without resolution and with him keeping my money. Perhaps he deals differently with those of us outside the UK as he never expects to meet us face to face at an exhibition or whatever. No idea, but it was the last time I'll order anything off him. If he had sold out of x, that's all he had to say.

I feel a bit guilty that I didn't warn others on here last year after my own bad experience with them but I guess you don't want to be too hard in case there are "mitigating circumstances" but it seems my case of dreadful customer service was not isolated. I guess this thread can act as warning. Caveat emptor most definitely applies here.

Are you looking for "definitely appeared as a billboard ad" stuff or just "ads from the period that may have also been on billboards"? If the latter, I got to thinking and remembered the old Callcards had advertising on them and they are more or less in the correct proportions. With a small bit of editing the chips can be removed from most of them I feel: https://www.irishcallcards.net/callcards-gallery?orderBy=card_no&orderHow=asc&limit=0&categories=telecom-eireann-callcards%2C I would be surprised if many of these didn't also appear as is on billboards given the almost identical aspect ratio. UK cards would provide a much wider source of "generic" ads with no specific Irish connection of course. UK cards are less work as they had no chip. Sometimes these cards had a reverse that requires no photoshopping skills at all: https://colnect.com/en/phonecards/phonecard/9706-Hudson_Blue-Chip_Cards_-_Series_A_Advertising_Cards-Eircom_Telecom_Éireann-Ireland

Same. He had a couple of things I was interested in a while back but I didn't proceed. He's lost me as a customer forever.