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Today has been a weird day. Things havent quite gone according to plan really. Trying to get things done on around 3 hours of sleep havent helped but it would have been nice if things went a little smoother though...
Firstly, I purchased an air eraser a short while ago and the plan today was to try it out on the built test etches I made for City of Truro with the aim to practice painting and lining ready for when I get the final version. The air eraser though hasnt been playing ba
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As the blog post says I am still managing to get some modelling done although the enthusiasm isnt what it should be.
Firstly I had a great time at the St Albans show, which is now I think my 4th year there. I thoroughly enjoy myself there and thanks goes to David and the CMRA for inviting me once again. It was a great opportunity to meet up with friends once again plus also meet and chat to others so thank you to all those that took the time to come and say hello.
As usual I d
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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
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Modelling wise 2012 has been a strange year for me. Throughout the year I have moved away from my layout Highclere and spent quite a bit of time 'playing' around with new technologies to me like etching and 3D printing. This has meant that over 2012 I havent really had that much to show for myself, my occasional blog entries have been a bit random and sometimes without meaning. Highclere has taken the hit and I havent really doe much work on it this year with the only notible progress
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I have decided to take a bit of a break from the layout. It was getting a bit frustrating and I wasnt doing as good a job with it as I could, that plus the fact I had to remind myself that its a hobby after all and it should be enjoyable!
Refreshed with this in my head I have turned once again to my favorite side of the hobby which is designing and building engines. The latest one on my workbench right now is a little 0-4-0 Peckett saddle tank engine...
After a very usefu
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Recently I have been working on a couple of bogies for Elvis. The chassis is based upon bits from a TOMIX chassis, unfortunately I have been having some problems getting them to run reliably after converting the wheels to 2mm finescale standards. Below are a couple of photos showing the conversion...
The conversion consisted of two pieces of 0.5mm thick PCB glued to the sides of the TOMIX bogie with picups and the cosmetic sideframes soldered to them. Sadly though the sl
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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
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Ever since the social gathering that was the RMWeb meet my modelling has once again turned to some more virtual modelling in a desperate attempt to get some projects finished off.
Here are a few sneeky pictures of what I have been working on....
More details (of course) at http://modelopolis.blogspot.co.uk/
Missy
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Today I have had a break from the point rodding and tried out some of my printed wheels instead.
The next thing is to finish the chassis off and try it out. If this works it then opens lots of doors including possibly drop in 2mm wheels for RTR stuff...
There is a step by step description on these wheels on my other blog if anyone is interested http://modelopolis.blogspot.co.uk/
Missy
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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
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A while ago now I was lucky enough to end up on a 4 day 3D drawing training course courtesy of work. Not wanting to waste my new skills I also managed to get a copy of the software here at home so I could chip away at some bits and pieces for various things and projects...
Now I know my modelling is more than a bit disjointed and I apologise but I do seem to be getting easily distracted lately. I guess its something to do with a rather large amount of point rodding
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I had an enjoyable weekend, on Saturday I went along to the Narrow Gauge Show at Sparsholt College and enjoyed my time there. I chatted to a few poeple there and was equally inspired by some of the layouts and display. One of the people I spent some time talking to was Allen of Worsley Works fame and I left with a few goodies from him to try out.
Allen has added some more items to his collection of 2mm Scale Narrow Gauge stock including some Irish Narrow Gauge engines and coaches.
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Easter this year in the Adams Household had been quite a quiet affair. For a change I didnt have anything planned so I took it as a oppertunity to relax, especially as April this year is quite a busy one. As a result, apart from numerous easter eggs being consumed I did a bit of modelling for Highclere...
The best bit for me was the oppertunity to get a little more done on Highcleres yard crane. As some of you might remember from an earlier post I got the jib a
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I havent really has much time to get any serious modelling done this weekend so instead I decided to have a little bit of fun and see if my engine body I added to my test etch would actually go together. I havent had much luck with the bits and pieces on this test etch with various faults appearing when I put them together so I didnt hold out much luck for this one....
It doesnt exactly slot together but with a little bit of fiddling I managed to get the bits to fit together
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Well, the Ally Pally show is over for another year. I really look forward to going along to the show every year as its one of my favorites. Not only is the show a good oppertunity to meet up with friends, but also there is a good selection of layouts to see and it all take place in a fantastic venue. Its about my 6th year now I have gone along and sat on the 2mmSA stand at the show and I hope its not the last time..
This year way a bit different for me, for the first time I went a
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Today Highclere reached another milestone. For a while I have been beavering away on the layout to get the rest of the track finished for the layout in the form of the fiddleyard and the curved end boards to change the layout into a complete circle (or roundy roundy). As I havent enough room at home to set the whole layout up an ideal oppertunity came to try things out in the shape of the 2012 Abingdon and District MRC annual show where I agreed to take the layout to so I could test e
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I like fiddleyards. I like the form and function of them, the way they are designed and built with no scenery in mind, just to do a job and nothing else. The way they are (usually) as simple as possible, just enough to do the job they have to do and nothing more.
Well, thats my thoughts. I know that some fiddleyards are, in what I feel far too over complicated and why? As I mentioned above they are there to do a job, to hold trains ready for displaying on the scenic part of the la
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Ever since I posted in a past blog entry about a possible new gearbox I have been working on I have had quite a few people asking me about it as they are very interested which gave me the incentive to get it done. The idea I had was to get one together and take it to the St Albans show (which I really enjoyed btw) so people could see it finished. Unfortunately things didnt work out how I would have liked so I didnt get round to finishing it...UNTIL TODAY!
OK, for those of you who
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This post was meant to be published over the Christmas Break but with RMWeb taking a short break plus other things I have only just managed to get it done! I hope it was worth the wait!
OK, just before Christmas I had some unexpected time off work so as I was stuck at home I decided to have another go at some trees so my good friend Gina and myself sat down and made a few more. Now one of my goals for Highclere is that the trees on the layout are reconisable, so to test this out I
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Just an entry to blog my progress on things really, nothing special....
I have been slowly working along the fiddleyard, to date I have track laid on one of the semi-circular end boards and I have now started on the rear board...
The above picture shows the beginnings of the bit that the cassette slots into, just to the right of the cassette I have removed the cork and added a piece of plywood. As the Aluminium angle is going to be screwed to the boards here I wanted some
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Well as the title says I have been busy trying to resurrect my modelling mogo and I have found the solution at the moment with etching stuff. For years I had a mental barrier regarding etching and how to draw things for etching. This fortunately has recently been lifted with the help of talking to others and trying out various things in Acad and the first results have arrived back from the etchers today.
I was racking my brains as to something which I could use as a trial to see i
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OK, so its been ageess and aggeess since my last post and I apologise. It does seem to be normal now for me to stop modelling for a month or so around this time of the year and this year has been no real exception. I havent totally stopped but there hasnt really been anything worth posting recently. I know things will return to normal at some point though.
One thing that hasnt helped is being without any broadband here at home. For some reason my original ISP decided to cut my bro
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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
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Apologies if I havent posted anything for a bit. To be honest I havent really been concentrating on toy trains for a bit and my attention has been other things...
Highclere is quite a big layout. Not very large compared to some other layouts around but for my little BMW it was too large and meant I had to make several trips if I ever wanted to take it anywhere. For about a year now I have had an idea in my head on getting something a little larger which I could fit the whole layou
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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
