Despite the lack of posts there has been loads going on and lets face it - it needs to! Less than a week now to the first outing and still loads I want to get done. Unfortunately I have to work this week end but after that everyone has been given notice that I am 100 percent modeling - no washing up, no school runs, no shopping (except for model bits!), you get the picture!

The Baldwin problem seems to be sorted although haven't run it yet. Managed to get the shorting wheel off and excavated the burnt patch of insulation between the wheel and rim and it stopped shorting so filled it with epoxy and is now back on. Here is the offending item;

And now back together again. You might notice that I have made up for the motor in the cab by building a prototypical home made conversion to block the view. Before I forget I really must thank the various people who have offered help on this and not just words but offers of spares and kits to get it sorted out.

In the meantime I had attacked the Hunslet with the dodgy DCC chip. You may remember this from about a year ago but has never run properly. I was really loath to disturb the rather neat DCC installation so had the brainwave of disconnecting the connectors on the actual chip and change just that. Has worked perfectly and the loco now runs beautifully with probably the best low speed performance I have ever managed and with sound too! Just have to finish the kit off now!

Now, while all of this has been going on I have been setting a new world record for wagon building. I had been waiting (for two months!), for the last lot of kits to arrive so that I could batch build the entire lot in one go. Is probably saving time but is a lot in one go especially as I have to drill and mill each one several times to get it up to my specification. Twelve wagons might not sound like a lot but that is 24 bogies which is 48 wheel sets which is 96 bearings and so on.

The bodies are now being sprayed in batches in my cellar workshop and the bogies are just awaiting couplings - and there is another tale!

I knew I was going to be a bit short of the Zamzoodle scale choppers so went to order some more only to find out that the man behind it all has gone on holiday for a month! A plea for help on the O-14 forum though soon produced an offer of some spare couplings which should arrive tomorrow. Again a huge thank you to Richard - a complete stranger until yesterday who has loaned me some spare couplings. While I am on this subject I must also say that I have been offered some really kind help for the actual show from a number of people which should make it a far smoother and enjoyable event.

While all this has been going on have also been chipping away at the wagon load situation and now have some track panels and two and a half loads of duck boards and A frames but still not enough for all the wagons!