Leaderboard

A smile is exactly what it's about Pete, not to be taken too seriously Rob, you could ask Mr Longbottom if he's ever heard that question - but knowing him I think he'd be smart enough not to have any opinion at all !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barkingbill/2138786812/in/set-72157603696486994/ And you think a bent footplate is a problem? :-)

Good news to see progress!! Will be interesting to see what you do with scenery etc, especially if the wagon weathering is anything to go by! Look forward to seeing it in the flesh sometime. Lee

I always read your blog entries with great pleasure but I don't think I've commented before. An absolute delight. Jerry

You've inspired me to get it back on the workbench! I've just carved off the rather undersized dome and tiddly little waterfiller and replaced them with RT Models items. Lots more work to do still but I'll be posting an update soon. Paul.

It's a pity this isn't 0 Gauge, I would buy one straight away!

Thanks for sharing, Ray. Best wishes, Jonte.

Thanks for the heads up Ray. Funds haven't stretched to the O1 yet, I might just hold out for Heljans O2 (I'm not a fan of Hornby of late anyhow) as my latest purchase the class 128 may just be even better than thier Heymek! It's a pitty when paying arround 100 pounds for locomotives these days that one has come to accept that putting things right straight out of the box seems to be expected! ie: loose bits on 128, foot boards missing on thompson stock, unpainted items on A.H. Peppercorn,.... the list goes on... Great blog by the way. Shaun. P.S. If you feel like I'm whinging on your blog please remove this post!!!

What I plan on doing is having 8 SPAs, 6 for coil traffic and 2 for speeklink traffic. This way I get enough coils to do 10 coils per wagon for 6 wagons. I could use the SPAs for trainloads of steel plate, or any number to suit my requirements.

All of it. You don't need a lot of movement to get around sensible corners so I would imagine you'll be fine.

Thanks for the tips and inspiration here, Mark. I will post my Hunslet when I eventually get round to it! cheers, Iain

Thanks Iain for those kind comments. As I said in the text the Austerity was resprayed with Tamiya acrylics let down windscreen washer fluid. My airbrush I use is one of those Expo

Here's the original Halfwit post http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/428/entry-6508-austerity-mods/

The finish looks spot on to me, green always suiting these locos so well and I really like the oily sheen you've achieved. Here's what I did to the injectors after acting on Halfwit's good advice http://www.flickr.com/photos/nevardmedia/5705979513/in/set-72157626597657462 Here's to Halfwit - top man!

I like this very much, the Hunslet looks very good with those amendments...the paint job is particularly fine, it actually looks heavy. Now I really ought to try after seeing this to spruce up my Dapol Austerity that has been sitting on my shelf for over 25 years! cheers, Iain

On the other hand, were footplates always perfectly level once the engines were in service? There tended to be a fair degree of distortion, and sometimes a rough shunt / late on the brakes could certainly reshape things. By way of example, "Black 5" 45212 retained into preservation a cab which was considerably askew, and remained so for years afterwards. I'm not sure if it has been corrected even today.

....and I thought it was Devil in Disguise!

Hello Mikkel I rely on your input! I have just checked the Hornby instructions for removing the body - all about scews - nothing about glue. Perhaps Hornby only noticed the problem with the footplate after they had the packaging designed? Regards Ray

Very nice. At least the board is not covered in track allowing for some scenic work to be added.

It's good to see flywheels on Hornby's loco chassis. But the glueing that you illustrate seems to be a bit of a bodge on their part?

Great to see you back Julia. Quite brilliant and inspiring stuff as usual. Jerry

Remind me - Why Elvis? The King, I presume - not that Costello Fello!

Hello Mikkel. No, I added them to the etch (as I was getting all the other bits done anyway), although when the watch bits came through the post I did think they would have been a good alternative way of doing the gears. M

Very nice. Thanks for your comment on my blog - I only just picked it up - I think you are right, these are definitely the way to go. I will be following your progress with interest!

Hi everyone, thanks for all your comments - it's nice to share these everyday thoughts with other modellers :-) The modern day photos are just snaps with the mobile, there's nothing like a bad mobile camera to capture the everyday! The Farthing photos are a bit of a mix from the past year or so that haven't been posted before. Some of them show stock that I don't actually own anymore. I've recently been selling off various locos and coaches to help ease the deficit in the bank account, so before I put stock up for sale I usually take a few "last shots" to remember them by. The autotrailer is one example of this. I picked it up on ebay several years ago. It's quite special, with real glass windows and brass sides. I enjoyed owning it, but it has had it's time on Farthing and in the future I want to focus more on building my own stock. So it's now winging its way to someone else who will hopefully enjoy it as much as I did. Who knows, maybe when we're all gone it will still be around :-) I totally agree that the Edwardians will have had their share of concerns - not least those who were less fortunate than the First class travellers seen above! Maybe the sum of human worries is more or less constant. But still, there are days when a little daydream does a lot of good :-)

Yes. The less solder the better; it saves on cleaning up time. Very good start. If you had not have said then we would not have known you were an etched kit virgin.

Hello Mikkel, thank you for the encouragement. I was thinking that when I ran out of engines to fill with bits of lead I could start describing the 'route' in more detail. In the meantime if you get impatient there is a growing number of pictures on Flickr. Regards Ray

Thanks gents! I actually picked up some more couplings today so the rest of my steel wagons are now converted to Dapol knuckles. So maybe my mojo is back! I haven't sealed it no - I don't think any of my models have been varnished. I sometimes use neat White spirit as a fixative for powders, another tip nicked from the military modelling fraternity!