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Hello, Some more progress. I have heavily weathered the Hornby 4F as I was not really feeling the weathering it came with- see what you think? Also I have made big progress ballasting and have decided to move the provender shed to the main yard. Here it will become a hazardous chemical/explosive store shed. It didn't have enough clearance in the main goods yard, and I probably just going to put a crane in the goods yard at Hopeguard or construct a custom made goods shed. I have found a problem with the scalescene's method of construction- water makes the ink run nasty! So I am going to have to varnish all these buildings and the platforms! I have been adding grass cover to areas around the layout and its starting to get there! I've also done a fiddle yard view showing where the locos and trains are stored 'off scene'. Some more goodies are coming from Hattons this week! Enjoy! Dan

Another go on a Lima PGA taking out the unwanted bulkhead you can see the browny purple that the wagon started life as where i have cut the plastic away. a little bit of grey paint to cover and when this is dry i will re-weather i have also painted the axle box covers yellow on all my PGA wagons

Well as ever I am way behind on where I want to be with my model making, so the Midland Railway D924 Cattle wagon (100 built 1893) has been half built since Christmas but as ever I have been short of time to design the brass etch fret. Well after reading various posts on the Silhouette Cameos I made this my birthday request from my better half, eBay came up with the goods and this weekend I have had time to play. Well all is good and I can export almost the same line work that I would develop the etch work from to the cutter to test everything. So after a few hours adding 1/32 rivets I now have a completed wagon body waiting for the rest the running gear adding, One challenge left I have never liked painting and yet a cattle van will need painting and weathering to make it look right... so its time to go search the pages of RMweb.

My latest attempt at a Ratio 4-Wheeler. I'm not sure I can persevere with the lining.

I've reached the point with the Gorton Mogul where to continue I really need to think about lining the model out. The way I've decided to do this is to try a method I've seen described on RMWeb previously- to scan the model into the computer and then use Photoshop or somesuch to produce the lining to print out on waterslide paper. With an order placed today for said paper, there's nothing more I can do at the moment. So I'm looking at the next project on the to-do list. Specifically, this is a conversion of a Triang 2P into a small-boilered D9 (GCR class 11B), the first of which were built in 1901 and the last of which were rebuilt into large boilered form in 1927. Most interestingly from my point of view, the last small-boilered examples ran in GCR brunswick green right up until rebuilding in 1927. I'm using the Charles Reddy drawing for the 11B in as-built condition which can be found in the SLS book, "Robinson: The Harmonious Blacksmith", which I have found time and again to be a most useful resource for scale drawings of GCR locos. Before I begin the build proper, I've noticed a few large differences between the 2P and D9. 1) The cab roof on the 2P extends too far back. At the same time, the D9 cab is notably bigger than the 2P. 2) Whilst the overall length of the locos from the rear of the smokebox to the cab handrail is identical, the D9 boiler barrel is shorter and the firebox longer (this also ties in with the difference in cab lengths). 3) The smokebox of the 2P is too long. 4) Obvious difference in treatment to the wheelsplashers and running plate. This is probably the easiest bit to rectify! Aside from these there are of course various smaller differences- chimney, dome, safety valves etc. In addition to the Triang 2P donor loco, I also have a pair of 2P bodies to hand which are left over from my abortive 2P- B5 conversion of a few months ago. I can, therefore, use parts from these to lengthen the firebox to scale length. If I didn't have them to hand I suppose just using the 2P boiler as it is wouldn't be too noticeable a difference, however of course there is the issue that the cab needs lengthening and you could well end up with a firebox that looks quite foolishly short (!) The parts list for this project runs to: - Triang or Hornby 2P; - Spare body for the 2P; - Chimney, dome and safety valve from Alan Gibson; - Plastic sheet.

In a rather 'round about way I made two discoveries yesterday - one potentially more interesting than the other! Well - my little one spent he day Bell Boating with her school (why they are called 'Bell Boats', I have no idea as appeared to be two canoes roped together). All of this entailed delivering, and picking her up from the nearby town of Droitwich. Running concurrently with this I had a problem of how to couple my skips together. I had always intended to run all seven as a rake with just chopper couplings at each end. A little research showed that the Slaters 16mm version had three link chains so that was good enough for me! Now where to get some chain. I did consider using the links from three link couplings but that would have meant buying six sets and that was not a pleasant option. My thinking then went laterally and I ended up with model boats and anchor chain which then skipped to a local model boat supplier. I had come across this a little while ago on the wonderful Internet while searching for some interesting wood but never went there. So, I picked up one very muddy but happy small child and headed of to what can only be described as NOT a high street location! When I rang to ask if they did welcome visitors they said it was hard to find and they were not wrong! It was well worth it though. After eventually finding our way in, we had a very warm welcome and very quickly shown a great selection of chains in a vast array of parts bins containing all manor of wonders. But, the best thing was they were making much of it there themselves. We were shown around a busy little factory with injection moulding machines, white metal centrifuges and the biggest laser cutter I have ever seen. They are mostly mail order hence the far from shop front approach but they are building a new show room which we were shown. It was an absolute breath of fresh air to see a little company obviously doing very well indeed, taking the trouble to show people around without asking (even though there was [an interested - and muddy!], small person involved), and actually making things! I came away with enough chain to last me for ever with an apology for it being expensive at a mere £4 - a fraction of what it would have cost otherwise. I know the vast majority of what they do is not train orientated but they have a great range of tools and who knows, you might need so chain for couplings sometime..... http://www.jotika-ltd.com/Pages/1024768/index.htm Anyway, what I have actually done with the chain is not worthy of a photo at this time of night but I now do have a full set of skip chassis. How long did that take? Absolutely (and I would like to put something stronger!), ages! I cannot believe how long it took to solder the bodies together, fit bearings, and then get all the wheels to turn! I have managed it but the result will have to wait until tomorrow. Oh - the second discovery? Do you remember the Astonish floor polish I have have been using very effectively for sticking down ballast? Well, it is actually very good for use on floors as well!