Hello.
As if I need another project, I already have this...
...which I now have the bits to finish thanks to a shopping spree at Railex. I also have this...
....which I keep on adding brackets, rods, and cranks to. I now also have this...
...which is project number three on my workbench. I dont like multiple projects on the go at any one time but I have made an exception to the last one. Its been the 'holy grail' for me for a while now.
Julia
Hello
One thing that I have is tenacity. I find it very hard to give up on something, especially when that thing is a challenge. Sometimes it works against me so much that I end up getting very frustrated with it and I will admit, loosing my temper.
My poor Peckett has been a victim of this, some of you know that the chassis has been rebuilt as a result of it bouncing off a door after a flight across my living room. Fortunately the chassis was salvageable afterwards and was rebuilt to w
Hello
On the way back from the Newbury Show yesterday I decided to pop over to Highclere Station as it was 10 mins drive away. Apart from ending up with very wet and muddy shoes (it was a bit of a swamp there!) I managed to get a few more photos, mainly of the trees without leaves but also some more of the bits left there...
I hope they are reconisable!
Anyway, feeling a bit inspired from seeing Witney and Avonwick I also made a start on the second board trackwork....
Hello
Its about time for a quick update. Things havent really gone as well as I would like but I am still getting a few things done...
1. Q1 Revisited.
I never managed to get the Q1 to run well enough the first time around to be totally happy with it, so after finishing the 42/52xx I made a start reworking a few bits.
I 'salvaged' a couple of gears from a tiny servo I had in a box and decided to redo the little reduction box I originally fitted to the engine to lower the dr
Hello.
As the title says really I am really trying to get motivated on the layout once again. Its just been sat around untouched for nearly a year now but now one board is unpacked and sat on my kitchen table.
Stage 1 is to take some photos to remind myself why I am doing it...
Missy
Hello.
I have got a bit more done, this time the layout lights...
I have used two 30w warm white flourescent tubes which I have mounted inside some high impact clear tubing and some end caps which are a nice push fit onto the end of the tubes and also make the electrical contacts too. Hopefully the clear tubing will protect the flourescent tubes when the layout gets moved around. I have used 12v ballasts too so I dont have any mains electricity going through the layout. This me
Me again!
This weekend I havent had musch time (or inclination!) to carry on with the point rodding so instead the short time I had spare I had a go at something else...
These have been on my mind for a while now and as usual, the only solution was to experiment!
I have been growing my own asparagus fern for a while now and today was my first harvest. It needed doing as some of it has started to die off. Armed with this crop and a packet of Tescos finest bamboo skewers I at
Me Again
While I try to remember how I actually finished off the ballast on the first baseboard I have made a start finishing a couple of things that have been sitting on my table half finished. Today I have been playing around with the half finished tree to see if I could end up with something I was happy with.
I didnt really use the normal methods but ended up using a mixture of things until I was happy. The basic tree is a normal twisted wire one but then after that there is all
Hello.
For a while now on Wednesday and Friday evenings at the Abingdon & District MRC which I am a member I have been beavering away on an etched kit for a 2mm GWR Toad Brake van. The kit, designed by Chris Higgs for the 2mm Scale Association (kit number 2-598) is a bit fiddly to make with the handrails being particuarly tricky, but it makes a nice little wagon...
It now needs paint, glazing, transfers and couplings to finish it off but I will do that at some point!
Mi
Hello
This seems like an ideal time to look back at the progress on Highclere. Im sure everyone is familiar with the layout by now so I wont bore anyone with the reasons why, what it is, etc, etc.. Anyway here is where I am...
The layout on the whole is comming together slowly. All the major bits and pieces are there and done and now its time to look at some of the fiddly detail bits (the bits I like) I still have the backscene to do which is scaring me right now plus another bit I
Hello Again.
I seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment. Yesterday was spent at the Didcot Show where I had a nice time talking to a few regulars as well as a few new people. Sadly though the modelling didnt quite go according to plan and I left the show actually having gone backwards, having less done than when I got there in the morning. Pride of place on my modelling desk though went to the Foden lorry...
I am really pleased with how this has turned out. OK, so
Hello
Its been while since my last post (and that wasnt even about railways!) so a post was due really. I always seem to end up having a modelling lull around this time of the year, after all its holiday season but even without any holidays on the horizon I still end up not doing alot! Anyway here is what I have been upto since my last post....
Firstly I have been making a few bits, there isnt any fantastic progress to report but there has been some progress. After the toad brake v
Hello.
One of the 'smart' ideas I had for Highclere was to add point rodding to the layout. Its something that you dont see that often on layouts, especially in 2mm Scale. Little did I know how much of a pain it would turn out to be!
Now for a little background info for those who dont know what I am on about...
The point rodding for the layout is based around two parts. The first is some 0.4mm square Nickel-Silver wire which I buy from Model Signal Engineering, it comes in a pack of
Hello Again
I have indulged myself a little over this weekend. I did plan to get some more point rodding completed but instead my test etches turned up in the post...
Part of this etch was a long waited for Anchor mount tank wagon chassis, its something that has been on my to do list for a while now as they seemed to be the mainstay of oil traffic along the DNSR from fawley in the south. Sadly there isnt anything in 2mm that fitted the bill so armed with a scale drawing (which
Hello
Thought I should put a post together to show what I got upto this weekend just gone.
Firstly there was of course the Abingdon show organised by the Abingdon and District Model Railway Club which as I am a member I kinda went along with a few bits of mine from Highclere.
As it is the 50th Anniversary of the 2mm Scale Association we all made an extra special effort this year with lots of 2mm FS stuff going on. As I was taking the photos thankfully I am not in
Hello.
The October storms have been felt already at Highclere as one of the pines sadly has suffered to the high winds...
Fortunately minimal damage occurred and no-one was injured as the tree was felled by the severe storm with gusts of wind estimated at around 70 m.p.h.
Other news include the receipt of some more lovely 3D printed bits fresh from Rabs excellent printer...
I cant wait to get my modelling tools around these bits! Thanks Rabs.
Missy
Hello
I spent this weekend at the St Albans show courtesy of the CMRA with a demo of my modelling bits for Highclere.
-My (messy) stand closest to the camera-
I just wanted to say that I had a great time and thank you to everyone who came and spoke to me (David Bigcheeseplant, Atso, Halfwit, and others from RMWeb), it was the first 2 day show that I have done and I still got hardly any modelling done! (Apparantly this is a good thing ) I hope that I have inspired a few people to
Hello
Im sitting here at my desk about this years St Albans show and how I had a really good time once again. This was my 5th year at the show and I still very much enjoy it. OK, so the venue may not the the best ever but to me the show has a quality and atmosphere about it that very few other shows seem to have. Once again it was a pleasure to be in the position to talk to lots of like minded people, many from RMWeb land about modelling tricks and techniques and it was an honour to be able
Hello
For the second year now at the St Albans show I was there with bits from my 2mm modelling doing a demo. I always enjoy myself doing demos at these shows and this year was no different.
I like the St Albans show, it is nicely just after the new year so its a welcome break in the drudgery that is January. The show itself this year had a nice selection of N Gauge layouts which I enjoyed. Unfortunately once again at a show I struggled to spend much money leaving with just a few bits a
Hello
I thought this was worth posting...
After flicking through my books to see if I could find out a bit more about the goods sheds on the railway I found out that the goods sheds were raised to platform level themselves and didnt sit on a platform (if that makes sense) so I tried to add the extra bit to the bottom of the shed without much luck. The only was to sort this is to strip things back to a bare shell and redo most of it.
The thing is its annoying, yes but these thin
Hello
Although I am not setting any world records for the speed of my modelling I like to think that slow and steady 'wins the race' (well thats what I keep saying to myself!). I got a few more things done this weekend, mainly some more scenics which I enjoy, I will let the pictures say the rest...
Missy
Hello.
In my previous post I had some photos of my newly created 3D model of a Peckett tank engine. For those who cannot remember it looked something like this...
and this...
I then duly uploaded it onto the Shapeways website and promptly placed an order for one in the classic FUD. A short while later the body turned up through the post and I excitedly opened up the package, unfortunately what I came across was rather disapointing to say the least...
The finish of
Hello
One of the things I decided to do with the cattle dock was to make the railings just like the real thing and feed the bars through the posts. In an earlier post somewhere I made up a little jig so I could drill the holes through the posts at the correct spacing. It was all designed to use 0.5mm square posts and 0.3mm round wire for the railings.
To start with I thought plastic would be fine to use for the posts. 0.5mm square plastic is easy to get hold of plus the fact that its ve
Hello again
2 posts in as many weeks, this is unprecedented! I seem to be on a bit of a roll with the layout right now, I dont know why and it is a bit weird but I am not going to stop myself if its working. Weekends are good, they mean I have an opportunity to spend a little more time on things I enjoy doing and although the weather has been a pain I have still managed to get a few bits done...
While the station board is out it seemed to make sense and carry on working on i
