The November meeting is our last of the year (as Christmas tends to get in the way).  As usual there was a lot of interesting discussion but a lot of activity as well.

Nigel and I are working on converting a pair of Dapol Britannia 4-6-2s. That's Nigel's on the left, with standard Association bearings soldered into the Dapol bearings amd reusing the Dapol gears. Mine on the right will utilise the new Association bearings and gears from the shop. Taking the Brits apart was not easy and required glued joints to be broken.

 

We have come up with some etched parts for the bogie, coupling rods (fluted and plain with the ability to have both as several locos did), balance weights, plus a couple of pieces which will hopefully allow us to utilise the majority of the Britannia valve gear. You can see the first test etches below (excuse the poor photograph - the light in the room is not the best).

 

I am going to check the fit of the coupling rods and Nigel is checking the rest. If it all works we hope to do the same for the Schools. That's mine on the right below with the Dapol Pannier on the left (both also in pieces). Nigel also has a Schools to convert. The Brit and the Schools are both diversions for us as neither fits with our main projects, but this is a hobby and it does us good to do something different once in a while.

The Schools came apart with much more grace. The bearings are the same diameter as those for the Pannier - they are longer but that is irrelevant to us - so I ordered an extra four for the Schools.

 

Alan was lining a Maunsell coach built from a Chis Higgs etched kit.

 

Guy was building track, or rather re-building track due to a series of unfortunate incidents.

 

David was assembling DGs, here seen doing the most fiddly bit - fitting the tongue.

 

Nigel also had his test track and I managed to snap a few locos as they whizzed round