Big Meets Small

Tracklaying on the narrow gauge side of the 'test track' has continued apace this weekend, and already I'm getting a glimpse of the 'Blaenau Central' effect I was after.

I 've read many articles about the very creative track plans people have come up with for small spaces, but this is unashamedly a traditional oval, planned to function as a 'train set' for my youngest, partially justified by having somewhere to test the running of my NG models, which until now have always had to be dispatched to Himself for proving runs.

So on the NG side we're going to have a simple island platform with a long turnback / storage siding (at the bottom end of the picture) and at the other end a point leading off into a separate shed area alongside the standard gauge steam MPD. 

At the top right, just after the track swings past the goods yard weigh house, there is another point into a short transfer siding where the standard gauge coal wagons can discharge their load into NG wagons waiting below.

My first experience laying 009 track has been fun.

The fishplate joiners for the smaller code rail are much more fiddly to handle that the Code 100 stuff - and even I've had to squint a little at times - but I found I soon got used to it, and some test passes with the half-built Worsley bowsider on Dundas FR bogies suggests all is well so far.

I'm Sorry, I Model 009

Recently I find myself bemused by the self-censorship being shown by what we'll call the 009 community online towards manufacturers in commenting on their new products, and intrigued by why this should be so?

Bemused, because I'm struggling - off the top of my head - to think of any other area where, as consumers, we encourage each other to keep our opinions to ourselves and be grateful for what we get.

You probably won't be surprised to read that the source of this disquiet is the forthcoming Peco / Kato England engine, where those who have put fingers to keyboard with observations (not complaints!) about the good and no-so-good aspects we can see in the samples have been dismissed as critics, whingers, nit-pickers and rivet-counters.

That's pretty standard fare for model forums, and I would suggest the debate on this product has been far more measured than I've seen when the subject has been 3D printing or the profusion of steam locomotives with tram chassis.

And yet in recent days I have seen two major threads deleted because moderators have clearly decided (without explaining why) that these discussions need to be closed down.

There were a number of people posting - before their words were expunged from the record - who seemed to believe there was a risk that somehow all this chatter would upset the manufacturers, and frighten them off from continuing their investment in ready-to-run 4mm narrow gauge after decades where there were no British outline products on offer.

I do believe that's a rather naive view.

These are commercial organisations. They make and market products because - and only because - they believe they will get a return on their investment.

They are not doing us a favour by moving into 009.

If they were doing it out of benevolence it would surely have happened before now.

No, they're doing it because they've stumbled across an untapped market, and they're all racing to grab the biggest share.

Think of model railways like a slate mine. (Very narrow gauge.)

They've been quarrying 00 for all it's worth for decades, but the vein is becoming thinner and the walls between the chambers are down to their minimum thickness.

They're scrabbling around looking for increasingly obscure prototypes - indeed, these days we see them releasing prototype, one-off locomotives - and there are new competitors trying to grab a share of their market.

So in 009 they've found a new, unquarried hill, and they're tunnelling in from all sides staking their claim.

Do you really think they're going abandon the workings because of vigorous appraisal of their new products online?

(I'll drop the slate metaphor now, you'll be relieved to know.)

A lot of old sayings have a lot of truth to them, and one of them is: there's no such thing as bad publicity.

If you're bringing out a new product the one thing you want most - other than sales - is for people to be talking about it, especially if you're aiming to expand what its currently a small market.

I don't believe manufacturers would be put off by their product becoming the burning topic on a forum or a Facebook page, I suspect they're probably delighted.

And if it happens some of that feedback is negative, or pointing out shortcomings, the wisest thing is to consider it part of your market research, especially if it's your first product.

I've written many times here that I'm ecstatic to see manufacturers discover 009, and the more the merrier,

But I also don't see why any of us should make any apologies for expecting these models are the best they can be, and match the standards of detail, performance and specification that is offered in other scales.

These are not bargain basement products.

We are being invited to spend three figure sums investing in these products, so it's not unreasonable of us to expect the best, and to comment on whether we believe we're getting it or not.

I don't see any of these manufacturers withdrawing after a critical magazine review, so why should the actual potential customers feel the need to self-censor?

Southern Comfort

 

Before leaving for a week in Wales, Himself was making startling progress on the lining on Lyn.

It was a stroke of good fortune that one of the sets of 4mm scale standard gauge Southern locomotive lettering produced by Fox fits exactly for the tanks.

The same was not true of the numbers for the tenders which were a little on the large size, but we found a set of numbers in yellow in the general alphabet and numeral section of the catalogue which are a lot more suitable. 

The white lining is very impressive, particularly around the nameplate on the cabside and even more so on the oval plate on the bunker.

I'm never really been a fan of the Southern livery on any size of locomotive - it's a bit too 'in your face' for my tastes, and I've never felt Lyd fits in on the FR like that.

I much preferred it in the spoof BR black, or its original pre-grouping livery would be even better in my mind.

Somehow the loco which suits it best is this big, boxy American interloper.

Measure For Measure

I saw a discussion online recently where a young narrow gauge modeller was thrown to the lions for asking for confirmation that in OO9 4mm equalled a foot.

As one has come to expect on social media this person was mocked and condemned for their ignorance, and the lack of initiative for asking the question in a post rather than researching the answer themselves.

However it made me realise that those of us who scratch build or work from drawings on a regular basis probably take it for granted how many conversions and calculations me make as a matter of routine.

As well as scaling down the dimensions we also have to convert between metric and imperial repeatedly.

Even the scale I'm working in - 4mm - is a mix of the two.

So take, for example, a model I might decide to make of one of the FR's latest carriages.

These days they're designed using metric measurements, expressed in mm.

So my first task is to convert this to an figure in feet and inches and then scale it down and get a value based on 1 mil for each 3 inches.

(I'm not too proud to admit that a calculator is involved at this point.)

That is not the end of the process, either,  because when I come to make my model - in metric - I'm building it using styrene strips from America which are sold according to imperial sizes.

So, for example, if I need a strip to be 1mm wide (a scale 3 inches) then I need to reach for the packet with strips that are 0.40 thou of an inch thick.

It's no wonder people who are relatively new to the hobby go online in search of answers, is it?