MPR

Depends which system you are invested in - I’ve just bought a lightly used Sony 70-300G for a fraction of the new price - the switch to E mount seems to have depressed the second hand market for A mount lenses.

Hi Al I've had a couple of cameras where this has happened - one was a SonyTR45 camcorder from the mid-1990s, where the whole surface was rubberised. I ended up stripping all of it with IPA. More recently, my last film SLR, a Minolta 600si, has suffered from a similar issue. In this case it was the grip moulding - but it wasn't just the surface of the part, the whole thing disintegrated. I've picked out the remnants and cleaned it up, but haven't fabricated a replacement yet. I still have a (now 34 year old) Minolta 9000 which is going strong for when I feel the need to use film. Regards Martin

Once these triangular elements are properly glued down to the underside of the baseboard the torsional rigidity will be enormously increased. Be sure that the baseboard is on a truly flat surface when you do this!

My view is that the market will adopt BEVs in the end for almost all users. In many ways a FCEV is just another type of hybrid, as there still needs to be a battery present to support the slowly varying output of the fuel cell. That additional complexity will always cost. Most of the reports I have seen also show a difference in total life cycle efficiency between BEV and FCEV heavily in BEV’s favour.* I wonder if we are just too attached to speed of refuelling as a requirement? As the saying goes: “your mileage may vary” - literally true in this case, as it is the edge case that is defining the overall vehicle design requirements. Beyond a certain number of miles per day/year, a well-maintained modern diesel is still the answer (for now). It’s just better to hire one occasionally if it is sensible. For everything else, moderate range BEVs, powered from renewals and as soon as possible please. * taken with a suitable pinch of salt.

Oh, I see. I thought for a moment he was going to be replacing Bruce Willis in the reboot of the eighties classic.

HMS QE was off Brixham yesterday

I’m not sure at the moment, there are some obvious break points between areas where there was resurfacing done at different times, so I will probably break down into manageable chunks on that basis and take it slowly. The prototype photos I have show it getting rougher as you approached the goods shed. I have also tried a further test piece this evening using the artists acrylic /PVA mix, and then rubbing down when dry. This seems to allow very fine control of the remaining texture - I think this will help to blend areas done at different times.

Testing the scenic dust... Following “Bristol Rich’s” suggestion, I used some old hosiery material as a fine sieve. This was secured over the top of the old mini jam jar I have been using to keep the Atwood Aggregates BF scenic dust in. Next time, this will be trimmed down and held in place with an elastic band - the rest of the material can be used for the other colours. The dust is very fine - use of a mask is sensible. For the first trial, I mixed Artists acrylic light grey and cheap school glue PVA, and diluted it to single cream consistency. This was then brushed out thinly onto a piece of card, so that there were no brush marks showing. The dust was then shaken out over the surface evenly, until all the paint had disappeared. The dust clogged the sieve material somewhat, so it needed a little prodding to release it, making the speed of release very controllable. After a couple of minutes, the excess was shaken off and the surface was allowed to dry thoroughly. The result was as shown, with the A30 to give scale. After a couple of hours, I ran my finger over the surface to free any remaining loose material, and brushed the surface clean. I think this will be ideal for the trackside areas mentioned in the previous post, plus the less well-kept corners of the roadway, but is a little coarse for well used and maintained tarmac. Accordingly, I also made a second test repeating using Tamiya light grey acrylic only, applied straight from the jar, again with dust sprinkled evenly on. When the surface was rubbed after drying, almost all of the coarser particles lifted off, leaving a very flat matte finish After slightly harder rubbing, very few coarse particles remain. My preference, therefore will be to use a mix of all three colours I have available to build up a very fine surface using just the Tamiya acrylic, then to add a little PVA to the mix afterwards in some patches to build up more material in odd corners and other distressed areas.

This photo shows the areas with talcum powder well - there wasn’t enough texture to completely hide the cork underneath, even with several coats of emulsion to seal the surface beforehand. This will be reworked later with a mix of Atwood “BF” road stone and dust. The colour and matte texture isn’t quite enough to adequately match the main ballasting... I am finally happy with the grout and paint finish, but ran out of time to start the dust coat. Yet more Oxford Diecast vehicles - I seem to have acquired quite a few of these. The gap behind the Morris Oxford is destined to be filled with another building, so has been left unfinished. The earth bank is now also ready for grassing. An overview of the state of the layout today.

I have always thought that the good captain’s modelling skills were not to be sneezed at.

This will be a first for me, as I haven’t got a layout to this point scenically since I was a teenager. I did try the talcum powder method on the ballasted areas (ie the greyer areas outside the 4 foot), but I don’t think it gave enough texture for those areas. The texture might well be good enough for tarmac, but the application process did make the final colour quite hard to judge, as the talc is obviously so much whiter than the final colour you are seeking. In this respect, the very fine powders that Attwood and others have brought onto the market in the last few years are a real boon, as the paint and powder are much closer to the final colour - the test pieces seem very promising. I’ll photograph and post as I go, good or bad!

A few pictures of progress over the last few days. As the surface texture is going to be very low key, I reapplied grout over the rougher areas and carefully rubbed it down over the whole surface. For the next step, a mix of mid-grey and cream was mixed up and applied thinly with a small flat brush. The aim here was to seal the surface and show up any imperfections that required attention before moving onto the top coat and scenic powders. The grassed area was also primed and sealed in the same colour for now. It’s all a bit shiny, but the scenic powders will sort this out. The weighbridge well was fettled to allow the edges to be painted and the deck test-fitted. This will have to wait for the weekend, as I would prefer to have the benefit of daylight.

Hi Tim I have to say I completely agree with you - I ended up stripping most of it off this afternoon, leaving just the paint in place for now! I think I will just use layers of scenic dust to keep it all restrained. This in turn has meant that I have had to spend a couple more hours filling and flattening the grout layer on the roadway further - I won’t be able to conceal the dodgy bits on the surface otherwise. The suggestion by “Bristol Rich” to use stocking material will be really helpful for achieving this finer finish - I think it will make application a lot easier. Best Wishes Martin

Last night I trialled some of my new materials on part of the goods yard. By the 1960s it had been cleared and was looking very dingy, and as I don’t have any good photos of this area ten years earlier, I have decided to replicate this look, in the knowledge that it will be very straightforward to correct later. Besides, I wanted to try out the Attwoods Aggregates scatters that I had bought. I started by decanting some of each bag into some jam pots saved for this purpose. The roadstone grade is like N gauge ballast or a little finer, but the scenic dust really is very fine indeed. The letter codes are intended to obscure which quarries the materials come from, but are I believe entirely plausible for the area I am modelling... The PECO dust is comparable in texture, but a slightly darker grey. To stick the material down, I started with Tamiya light grey acrylic, which I painted over the area to be covered. I tried a test piece first with the dust, it is important to keep the paint layer even in order to keep the uptake of dust even. I used an old tea strainer to scatter the material, this proved to be great for the roadstone, but a little coarse for the dust. I loaded it, a bit at a time, from a teaspoon. The paint soaked up the dust readily, so I added more until this ceased. When the paint had thoroughly dried, the excess was brushed off. This left a rough surface, with a well adhered, but slightly coarse finish, more so than I would have expected from the grade of dust applied. However, rubbing this my finger produced the finish above, which was smooth, but completely matt. It will be ideal for the tarmac surfaces, with all three colours plus weathering powders to mix up the shades. For the next trial, I wanted to see if acrylic paint alone was enough to retain the roadstone grade material. I mixed both colours of Attwood Aggregates scatter, then added further (very fine) yellowier ballast material to give a more varied look. This was scattered thickly over the acrylic, then further dust scattered over the top. This was added to until no further wetting of the dust was visible, left for a few minutes, then lightly brushed off. The finish obtained is seen below. The base colour adhered well, and was thoroughly matted down by the dust, but the paint alone was not enough to hold the roadstone sized material everywhere, leaving a slightly patchy appearance with bare areas and colour that was rather more uniform than hoped. The next layer will add a little PVA into the mix to provide a better bond, and I will mix up the colour and texture a little to add more variety.

A little more progress - the first colour has been applied. I mixed a little tan into light grey Tamiya acrylic and applied it with a fine brush in a fairly thick, even coat on all the setts to seal the surface. An even finer brush was then used to paint the drain recess matt black. The setts came out both darker and shinier than wanted, but this will be corrected with dry brushing a lighter shade over the top later. The paint was left to dry and a very slightly browner mix was made up to paint the kerb stones. I’m not too worried about the edges - these will be made good when the tarmac is laid.