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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 driveshaft from the tender. The first one I made never really worked well enough plus it was a straight 1:1 so this time I have added a little 3.5:1 reduction. The above photo shows the gears plus the beginnings of the gearbox machined from a bit of square brass. This shows the gearbox assembled. The cover is a push fit onto the main body and the black plastic is the socket for the universal joint which is a push fit onto the smaller gears shaft. This shows the reduction box assembled. It has taken quite a while to get this far believe it or not! I have had lots of trouble with the gears slipping on the shafts which I only finally managed to fix with a little super glue and making some inserts for the gears. This shows the reduction box fitted onto the Q1s chassis. Its a nice push fit and doesnt require any glue or anything (total fluke!) but I havent tried it with the motor yet, only turning it all by hand. 2. Station Lamps I was getting cheesed off with the station lamps getting broken all the time because they were bouncing around in a box with other bits so I decided to make a simple carry case for them. Its just a thin piece of card cut out in the shape of the lamps sandwiched between 2 pieces of corrugated card. Nothing special but effective! Missy

Who needs expensive decals when you've got paper and blu-tack? I've started another project to give me a break from the 37, I thought it was about time I indulged in a spot of wagonry. Besides, now slow progress is being made on Bisley Jct, I really could do with some stock for the oil terminal! The plan is for 8 wagons initially. All will be fitted with S-Kits walkways, and various detail differences in chassis in terms of strengthening ribs, handbrake locations etc will be represented. To the untrained eye, it'll look like there is two types of tank, look a little closer and it'll become apparent that there are 4 different types across the 8 wagons. I'm also going to change the springs this time, for the later parabolic version. At least some of the wagons will feature springs by Cambrian, the rest will probably be built from strip. I've designed my own decals for the project, the testing of which is under way in the picture above. The Total logo is now the correct size, the Caib logo needs to be a bit bigger. The beauty of doing it this way is that I can tailor the decals to match each wagon as required, and I only have to get what I need, instead of buying large packs of transfers for only one or two items. Of course, this may turn out to be a more expensive way of doing things, I haven't had the price for the sheet back yet, but it will be sufficient to finish 16 wagons (13xTTA, 3xTEA) so even if it is relatively expensive, it shouldn't be too much per wagon. Not having to make TOPS panels from individual letters and numbers is probably the best advantage! More progress as and when, hopefully this week, when I can outline the mods required to each wagon. I need to do a little more to the 37 at some point though, I'm hoping to have the frame of one of the bogies fully assembled by the Bristol show, in a little under two weeks.

Progress is slow. Having been hampered by the supply of cardboard and plasticard over the snowy Christmas period, only recently have I been able to return and continue the build of the shed. Some time has been spent trying to find prototype images of the shed to identify the type of wooden panelling used in the construction of the shed. Unfortunatly, I have not been able to find any, so taking inspiration from a number of traditional Swedish wood construction buildings, I have replicated the board and batten method. Refering to the drawing this appears to be the closest method of construction. The Wall board, is cardboard and the battens are a 1mm x 1mm strips of square section plasticard "Plastic-Weld'ed" in place on the cardboard. The great thing with the Plastic Weld is that it evaporates fast and thus does not soak the cardboard. It also evaporates out of the bottle at a rate of knots also... One thing that has stumped me however, is what the interior wall panels would look like inside the engine shed. Again pictures are very scarce and those that I have found of the prototype are all of brick built construction. As I understand some of the Highland lines sheds were of wooden construction so a question... does anyone know what the inside wall faces of a wooden constructed shed looks like inside?! Anyway some pictures attached. The barrels are the usual Tamiya affairs and have been put together to try out the custom decals on a black background. Opel Blitz with some barrels Gp Van outside the shed mid construction General open view of the shed Crowded scene!