Horsetan

Yes, they are. I haven't pulled the wheelsets out, but I would hope that the springs behind them can be extended.

I'm after opening up the chassis to have a look, and can confirm the following: Driving axles: 2mm diameter - all axles have a serrated central section intended for gear wheels, but only the rear driven axle makes use of this. All axles are supported by sintered square bearings, similar to those seen on the Hornby 08 shunter. Overall wheel width: 2.8mm. There is scope to skim off the rear, which would thin the flanges, but I suspect this will only get you to 2.3mm wide at best - good for EM, but no better. I wonder what the spares situation is? Would it be possible to buy direct from Rapido a set of 8 new drivers and insulating bushes, turn off the tyres on a lathe, and then press the bare wheel centres into new P4 tyres?

Buster had a quite unique, frenetic style of dancing. I can only describe it as a sweating tremble on the spot with much gurning thrown in. At his peak, Buster tipped the scales at around 25 stone. I wonder if his doctor had a word with him about his life expectancy, as he suddenly slimmed considerably down to about 13 and looked much the better for it.

I think you can still buy them cheaply in bulk from automotive sources / car parts suppliers.

Some S160s were regauged: 5ft for the Soviets, and 5ft 6in for India.

I'd go for... https://youtu.be/gCi_irINkBc?is=BcJKLsNTr39_Cqhn

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.

Two years in the planning, Rapido have just delivered this. The S160 has never been mass-produced in 4mm scale before (although Roco did make a very good one in HO some years ago), and I've only ever seen two scratchbuilt efforts - one in OO, and the other in EM. There's at least eight different livery variants available, and Rails of Sheffield have plenty of stock starting at a not too terrible £230 (more if you want it in DCC with sound). At a glance, it looks as though it might be possible to convert it to P4 - axles appear to be 2mm diameter throughout (so longer replacements will be needed), and wheels look as though they will tolerate a session on a lathe, with most material being taken off the back to thin the flanges and maybe a light skim off the tyre face.

They're clearly tired of it now

Looks almost ready to receive scale-sized cushions for seats and seat backs....

Given that it's grounded, it's probably rotten underneath by now