Horsetan

The Serck-font registration plate is particularly good. 1980s classic car owners have enough trouble trying to have that font reproduced in 1:1 scale!

Where that thing ended up, it didn't need wings.

That one was the result of a bright idea that an Undertaker (he was on Netflix some years ago) had to diversify his business interests. He also had a retired plane brought in. Unfortunately, it seems the trouble he's had with obtaining the necessary permissions has led to the current dilapidation. The plane's not looking too good either. It's an all-too-common result of "well, it was a good idea at the time". And, as I've observed before, nowhere does neglect and dereliction quite like Ireland. I don't think anyone will risk trying to bring this EMU set back to the UK; it's not economically viable.

As with old cars, just don't look underneath.

That's a view of 560 I hadn't seen before. Very useful. Also I thought the photo showed the engine as black but, when I looked closely, it was actually a very very very very very very very dark grey.

But only one.

The Lima body is mostly inaccurate in the bonnet/engine room area anyway (proportions are all wrong), and the roof and cab rear are some of the few parts that don't need much if any correction. You may also be able to salvage things like the side exhauster boxes, etc.

A single-arc roof cab is available on the Lima 08/09

That's surely the whole point. Rapido began by making models that were practically impossible to convert to P4 - see the 16xx pannier they produced for Model Rail magazine. A real nightmare to convert. When I saw the trouble a fellow Scalefour member had with it, I acquired the old Sutherland/NuCast 16xx kit and the Justin Newitt-designed chassis instead.

This was actually done over 20 years ago on a large OO layout that I saw at a show in Leatherhead. Quite effective at platforms for engines starting away with cylinder drain cocks opening, and at tunnel mouths.

It's turning out to be a bit more complicated, which I would expect from Rapido, after reading the exploded diagrams. The locomotive wheels are all mounted on shouldered axles and are insulated both sides using plastic bushes - similar to the Bachmann spec, and also IRM diesels so far. Shouldered axles have some advantages in that they are good at preserving the back-to-back measurement - once you hit the stop, that's it. This means having P4 shouldered axles specially made. Possibly Ultrascale can do this, as they already make them for their GWR 44xx driving wheels, albeit a ⅛" dia. axle turned down to 2.5mm dia. at the ends. Rapido's are a different diameter on both counts. I also must measure the overall width of the driving wheels in particular and see if it is practical to have metal skimmed off the back to thin the flanges. The tender wheels are very familiar if you have encountered IRM coach bogie wheels - disc wheels mounted on a 1.5mm stub axle, and kept to gauge by a central insulating tube. There are ways of moving the wheels out with press tools.

Good luck with that.

Sprouts Mexicane!!

I'd actually like to see The Young Ones, or Rich and Eddie from Bottom

No. The cylinders appear to be exactly in the right place. What Rapido have done is to insert a thick washer/bush between the coupling and connecting rods in order to fill in the difference in gauge. Removing the bush allows the coupling rods to move outwards when P4 wheelsets are inserted; connecting rods and return cranks don't need moving out, as they're already in the correct alignment.