Having been still rather starved of quality modeling time I have been snipeing at smaller little jobs that have been nigling at me for ages but will all together add up to me being much happier and having an even better looking and working layout. Firstly though, here are some pics of the armoured Simplex now all but finished.

Have kept this one in grey like the preserved Greensands one which will also add a bit of variety to the endless dull green. Only thing I have to sort out is the small patch of paint at either end. I printed up some numbers and WD symbols to go here but being white I had to print a surrounding box in a matching grey which trurned out not too match at all. I then thought that if I weathered over it they would blend in better but just didn't do the trick. Only thing to do was remove them which has left a bit of a 'tide mark'. It won't be too hard to sort out however and will just have to add this one to the list when I next get some transfers done by Mr Blackham.

Another thing I have been meaning to do was to add a petrol pump to the old garage. Am sure no one will ever notice this especially as it is practically off scene but at least I know it is there!

I then turned my attention to an annoying running issue that has arrisen completely down to my silly fault! On adding drivers to some of the cabs I thought they looked really good hanging half out - which they do! Only trouble is that it means that certain engines won't pass each other if one is in the short sideing and on other occasions a drive will fly shunt any wagons in there as he goes along. The track gang was sent out to realign it slightly which sounded easy enough in theory but not in practise. Main problem was that the PVA I was using just didn't want to dry. I don't know if the glue has gone off (actually not 'going off' is the problem!), or if the downturn in temperature is affecting it. All sorted with a couple of screws and a hair dryer though. A bit more of my sol ballast and some static grass and apart from a slight discoloration where the glue still hasn't completely dried you would never have known that I had toiled for a couple of hours!