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So, moving on we come to the chassis in more less its first stage of completion. In the photos that follow you may be able to see the two 'ponial' trucks - essentially 'pony trucks' pretending to be radial trucks. This has been achieved by making sure the pony truck assembly takes advantage of the whole CSB beam that runs the length of the chassis (the wheelbase being longer than a 9f for those who are concerned with such things) as well as separately sprung lateral control. So we have four springs in total, hence the expression 'four-sprung durch technik'. The air reservoir tank is attached to the rear truck to make matters easier in the articulation of said truck You may also note that the air reservoir tank has a groove filed out to accommodate the 10BA bolt securing it. The High Level hornblocks have attached to them the spring carriers that also accommodate the CSB bearing surfaces, thus enabling the hornblocks to be removed at any time once the springy wire is removed, which makes inserting wheelsets a lot easier. The more general side view might look a bit wonky, but is only due to the 10BA bolts securing the 'ponial' trucks not being washerd or tightened at present. More anon, as I have been known to add... Best, Marcus

One of my secret projects can now be revieled although anyone who made it up to Mickleover last January would have seen it. Yes last January, the back burner has been very busy! I put the basic body together pretty quickly over last Christmas / New Year and this is what it should look like; And this is what it does look like; Body is Nickle Silver with various bits of brass section employed here and there. Am particularly pround of the air vent disc, for these I soldered some sheet onto the squared off end of some tube slightly smaller than the final disc, tin snipped it dwn a bit and then finished it off in the lather to size and then unsldered it. Number plate and start device are home brewed etches. I have now turned my attention to making it go and have learned a lot - principally that my first effort won't work and I have to start again. Second lesson is that I really should have prototyped in thick plasticard as would have been easier and cheaper to find this out. The mechanics of this have been occuping my thoughts for some time and have amassed quite a pile of bits for it but in the end though the only way to make any progress was to just try it and see what happens. Two things that have worked are the roller bearings which the wagon wheels I am useing locate nicely into with thier pin point ends thus saving me the trouble of cutting new axles. The frame spacers - thank you for the good advice on where to get them - also work well and I have realised that by turning the hole horizontal I have a ready made location for a lay shaft bearing. Only trouble with this is that they need to be raised up a bit to provide the necessary engaement, hence a redesign of the frames. Other thing that I ned to do is to mount the central spacer above the current level of the frame tops so that it doesnt get in the way of the lay shaft. There is plenty of room out of sight in the body so this is not a problem. So that is two problems addressed next one is exactly how to get the power to the lay shaft. Again I think I will trial and error it but this time in plastic first!

Under the locomotive will be the chassis I have commissioned to save me the bother of cutting six identical frame sets and so on... So, back from the etchers via Justin Hewitt who did most of the hard work, came these; Which, after about five minutes of clipping from the fret and four bend later, becom this, an 'instant' fold-up P4 chassis; After another ten minutes (I kid you not...) and the frame spacers are in place; Those among you with better eyesight than mine may also like to note that the spacers have been designed to be in the correct places for CSB- based suspension and fulcrum points in the form of etched holes included in the spacer - no calculations to do and no mucking about with handrail knobs... ...and looks like this sitting under the bodywork; More anon once I have cleaned up the bench a little and had my lunch... Best, Marcus

I have been contemplating a blog of sorts to keep up with weathering I do for both myself and a number of clients across Europe. The latest item to be weathered is a Heljan ) gauge Hymek - as it comes its a nice shiny BR Blue and it is very, very heavy (3.5kg) which makes handling a trifle difficult! Using Indian ink and water as a "undercoat" I washed all over the loco including underframes. (Black ink for the roof and sides, brown for the underframes and bogies) When dry I added a variety of weathering powders (mainly black). To add a texture to the roof around the exhaust ports and lifting eyes I added powder to wet ink (tapping the powder onto the ink from a nice soft makeup brush) Next up will be 3 Duchesses, an A2, an A1 and a Jubilee - all EM which will be done this week once gardening is complete.