ChrisN

Thanks Jim, I think the first thing that will go up is a coach conversion followed by some very poor figure painting I will have to see how I can do it as all the pictures are on my own laptop. I will have to think carefully about what structures to build as I will need to make sure that they fit. The school and maybe the chapel.

Jaz, I think the back gardens will evolve once the houses have been built. I have been looking at pictures in my Cambrian over the last couple of days and there appears to be a distinct lack of footbridges in 1895, interesting. I really need a new laptop. I bought one for my wife last year as she uses it continuously when at home doing high powered maths analysis on it and I was due to get hers. Before she had got her new one ready to use it died, well it corrupted some software. We have not done anything with it as she still wants to get at the data some time. My laptop is old and needs replacing and we probably will but will be looking at options like PC Specialist, great computers but not lots of software, and maybe Ebuyer and then back to PC world to see what they have. Must get on I need to try and get to B&Q today- Diamond Geezer day.

I will post this here so hopefully everyone I know will read this and get the message. The power supply to my laptop died last night and until I can get another one I will be on my wife's laptop when she is out. (When she is at home she tends to work on it and even when not in front of it the laptop is number crunching for her.) This means that I will be playing red sauce, ketchup, catch up on all the threads I follow I have it in my mind to go to B&Q on this Wednesday, and maybe Hobbycraft for some mounting card, as they are near each other. I also intended to start a workbench thread but I shall probably do that on here as I will be doing them in parallel and if I van get my pictures loaded......... Of course I cannot do that as I will not be using my computer so picture updates and workbench will have to wait until at least next week

Jaz, Thank you for sharing your near disaster. As my artistic skill just near enough equivalent to painting by numbers it is encouraging to see things go wrong for those who know what they are doing, and how you get out of it.

Jaz, Dref, drble, dob, erbl, duoff.......... Speachless amazing. The flourescent light should not help drying as it should not produce any heat. (May do of course.)

I read somewhere else someone say that he would not spend more than a £100.00 on a loco, but classed the Garretts as TWO locos so he would buy one. My layout is not big enough, and I do not intend to have an NGG16 if I ever get a 009 layout.

Al, I honestly did not know except the big difference between your model and the real thing is the sunshine. If you model that properly we would never know.

Al, Is the first picture your layout or the real thing? No, serious question. I like the music, mellow but not depressing.

Jim, Thanks. If you have any ideas as to buildings then just say. I do not wish to do back to backs as there will be a gap just in front of the backscene. My wife has asked that the house is not filled with plywood on 4th March as we will have lots of people round. Umm, that's next Tuesday. If I have two days on my own next week I may be off to B&Q next Wednesday, if not it will be soon as I know that I need to get started. I am not sure how quickly buildings will appear. I already have a cottage under way. However the way I will model is that the baseboard and stuff will happen when my wife is at work, and not sure how quickly as I am always busy. However, when my wife is at home she sits at the table and works on her computer, so I sit next to her and model, so projects will happen in parrallel, although if you look in the lounge you will see my list of unfinished projects. I will probably start to share some of those on here soon. Hope things are going ok with you.

Jim, Brilliant as ever. Have fun with the tree.

Jeff, You will find a very nice 4-4-0 in there built by Sharpe Stewart. Lovely looking machines and good performers apparently. None survived until BR days so there will never be a R-T-R. (sigh).

I saw F-i-L 1 today and the baseboard plans have been finalised, well more or less. I now know what I should be doing and that it will work. He gave me some good ideas as well, about legs and support. We also discussed moving the boards and he suggested a racking system for the back of the car, or drawers, both of which are interesting but I will need to work on that myself. The next thing to do is to get myself an over 60s card for B&Q and head down there one Wednesday. They will do all the cutting for me so all, ho ho all, I need to do is glue and ?screw or nail together. As I lay awake last night, I thought about my double slip and realised that although that is prototypical, I probably would not use it and a single slip would do just as well. I had hoped you could get an electrofrog in a single slip but it does not look like it. We shall see. Thanks for looking and any comments, suggestions welcomed.

Al, I find this interesting as I will be using Peco code 100 and I thought that the copydex/PVA first would not give sufficient depth. Phil Parker in thr BRM 'First Layout' supplement suggested laying it first then dribbling water along each side and allowing the whole ballast to soak before adding PVA, but it is probably too late for that now. I would stick with what you have got and not rip it up. Andy P has shown on several occasions that code 100 can look fine.

Jason, You probably know that I will use the 'like' button or others rather than keep replying, 'Brilliant!, that looks wonderful' etc. There comes a time though when you need to say it again. The whole layout looks really good. The impact is only lessened because you get used to the quality and only notice when it you look at your own stuff. Keep up the good work and have lots of fun with it.

James, Thank you, most helpful.

Jeff, Thomas, and any old stock will have tension locks, but anynew tock that fits the period will have the new couplings. My lads were quite good and sensible and the only problem we ad was when my youngest was three and wanted to take the 'lid' off a brake van. Well, the lids came off the other vans so you could lad them up.

Jaz, Sorry, this is all I could find. http://lancerminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=66_57 http://www.mms-models.co.uk/accessory/products_accessoryPage.php?55 http://www.mms-models.co.uk/accessory/products_accessoryPage.php?72

3 Link couplings. I am convinced it is the way o go, except......... would you want a 5 year old uncopling your stock? It may be that I have two sets of stock but I am sure that they will eventually want to run what I run. Any new stock will probably therefore have kadees.

Jeff, Glad you had a good time. Will you be building more stuff now you are home or are you just waiting to go back?

Al, What was the surface? Have you read the thread where they used DAS as tarmac? I also understand that Wet & Dry does a good imitation.

Jaz, Are you telling me there is no point in me trawling through the links to figures I have to look for home guard models? 28mm is way to big, which is a shame as there are some nice, ( and nasty), Victorian 28mm figures. Your tree is really looking the biz now.

'Frayed knot. I think, although I will never say I am right, I think that I know most 25mm, 20mm, 1/72, 1/76 figures available and there are no dad's army figures. Having said that there may be Home Guard figures in metal. I will have to have a look but none that look as accurate as those.

I do not need my wife to upset the thinners, although upset thinners = upset wife. We work at the same table, I am modelling, she is doing high powered maths. I managed to tip my thinners over, fortunately not too much. Upset wife really means she said, "There is a strong smell of paint in here", and opened the window. There is still a strong smell, and I really need to do some painting. Oh well, back to cutting plastic.

Jaz, Absolutely. I spoke to F-i-L 1 today, (eldest son's father-in-law), and will see him Tuesday morning hopefully, to discuss baseboards. I will take my plain track plan with both 6" and 50mm squares on and we will see what we come up with. Will 4ft x 2ft need further bracing? We shall see.

Jaz, Thanks. I have tried to scale the size of the welsh houses and taken the depth fron the Wills Craftsman kit. I will try and do the same for the others but the picture of the house in Tottenham is closer so there is more distortion. They will be a representation, one that might be recognised hopefully. When the baseboards are built and the track is down, and oh yes, wired I will have to do that. Actually before it is wired as I may start to build., although perhaps I should finish some of my projects on the way first.