ChrisN

Do your kits need primer? I sometimes prime plastic, but sometimes not, but not sure about resin.

It is right to within an order of magnitude. 😄

Don, Thank you. The diagrams in the book are all to 7mm as well.

Nick, Thank you. I understand that the inside of the horse compartment was covered in leather to avoid injuring the horse, so sounds like First Class accommodation to me. (Mind you, the GWR only used leather in the smoking compartments..........) Still undecided about putting the horses in.

So, the question is, shall I model the horsebox, with just the groom in the groom's compartment and a solid partition, or leave two gaps in it and have two white(ish) horses poking their heads half through? Answers on a postcard please.

I think you are right. On some pictures of insides of different horseboxes there appears to be that sort of structure. On a preserved one there is the framework for that but they have covered it all over, and the only model I have seen with an inside just has a full partition.

Thank you. I had seen that diagram before as I was searching for information, but had not really connected it with the horsebox model. It does appear as though the partition is made to go the whole way up, which is slightly annoying. It does ask the question though, of how did the grooms check on the horses in transit? Did they need to? Was it just so that they did not have to have a ticket for the train, or did the owners have to buy a ticket for them anyway?

Thank you, that floor sizing is very helpful. I had not really looked at it but was expecting to have to have the floor in sections. To be honest I have seen horseboxes, and had horsebox with my first train set but never really thought about the fact that the horses do not have windows, so I bought two to go inside. If I can find out if the partition is full height or not will depend on whether I add the horses. If it is half height I have seen the inside of a horsebox painted white so when you are peering it in should be obvious. If it is full height, then some liquid lead will go in there. There will be a groom though. I tend to do details because I can.

Gary, I do not like to take the mick, but thank you. (Oh, I have lost a buffer, four in fact. Where's the brake gear? I have lost the box as well. 🙂)

Mikkel, Yes, sorry about that. The horsebox is interesting as it does not have a floor, but does have lugs to fit the brake gear to. This will make fitting a floor, well, er, interesting. I have also more recently bought two shires to go in the horsebox. It is not that I think Sir Jon's brougham would need shires but they are the only Dart ones without a harness, and they will make a nice weight inside. I did not realise that the horses had no window, so you may not be able to see them. However, I have looked at various horseboxes and some at least show that there was a space between the top of the partition between the groom's compartment and the horses so you could see them through the groom's window. I assume that they ran in passenger livery, ?mahogany, but what was the colour inside. I have seen some white, which is good if you want to see the horses. Maybe, I should just get on with it, the painting will take the most time. Yes it is interesting what you can buy nowadays. I have some locos I should really get which if I leave too long may not be available. The dray is a nice kit. I think I may have the shirescenes one as well but this is more chunky and I decided would look better. I need some barrels, but I must check my stash of Preiser stuff.

I was going to do a proper modelling update, but I found I had not taken enough photos, so I will need to do those and then upload them. I may have even finished something, So, I know this will be great excitement for everyone but please try and remain calm. I thought I would post my recent purchases and presents from Christmas. Yes I know we are halfway towards the next one, but please indulge me. First up:- These are 3D prints from Gary, @BlueLightning. The one on the left is a Honeywell PO wagon, which may be close enough to a Cambrian 4 plank wagon, but if not, Mr Price the coal merchant needs another wagon. The one on the right is a LB&SCR horsebox that I have been wanting to finish my train for the visit of Sir Jon to the Young Englishman. There is a Roxey Mouldings kit, but it is a brass kit, and as I am yet to do brass I have been waiting for a plastic version. It is quite high up the list but it will need painting as I go along with it, and most painting will probably not happen until the spring when I can spray outside and keep the doors open to get rid of the smell. You may think that it only has 3 buffers but one is stuck to the inside of the box. It needs washing in soap and water as it is sticky but once I do that I am afraid I will lose the bits. Watch this space. This is the advantage of Christmas lists. I now have enough horses for all my wagons, and plenty of chimney pots for Station Road. In the bottom left hand corner is a brewer's dray. I had intended to do a blow by blow build of it, but I forgot to take photos so here is it finished. You may well ask, 'Where are the shafts?' In the packet. The whole thing needs painting and then the shafts need gluing to the horse, so it will have to wait. It is well made, the bits that is, and it goes together quite well, but it is more of placing bits in the right place to glue rather than have a slot to hold something before it is glued. The horse is a shire, which is bigger than any other horse I have, but I thought that a large horse for this would not be out of place. Now before Christmas the whole family went away for the weekend. My eldest son organised it as both he and myself had significant birthdays at Christmas. Yes, you guessed it, we were both 21, (again). My birthday was celebrated on the Saturday, and his on the Sunday. The plan was to give me my presents after dinner on Saturday evening, but it got too late so was postponed until Sunday morning, except my youngest grandson, just turned 3, was so excited to give grandad the present that he and his sister had chosen for me. His dad, my youngest had said to me earlier, "You will really like the present they bought you." Of course I did. Good old Hornby. My middle son said with a smile, "It fits in perfectly with what you are doing." Of course the Cambrian, 'Happy Birthday van' was scrapped before grouping which is why there is no mention of it is the wagon list. It sits behind 'James the Red Engine' for when they come to play with my layout. Finally, a book I have been waiting for from 2016?/ 2018? It was bought by my youngest son. (Just so you know, my eldest two bought tickets for me and my wife to see the Play 'The Mousetrap'. Now I know that you are not supposed to reveal who did it but I am going to tell you. It was the same person who did it nearly 50 years ago when I saw it last time. 🙂) So the book. Excellent book, as you can tell from the amazing picture on the front cover. If you have been, thanks for looking.

I thought I had only three, but one was stuck to the inside of the horsebox. Just saying.

Well done! 16 x 11 is not a bad size room for a railway room as long as it does not get filled up with clutter.

H0 figures inside things look fine. I have used H0 figures in cabs when there was not much room, and I have some H0 figures waiting to go in my Refreshment Rooms, along with H0 tables and H0 sarnies and cooked breakfasts, ( 🙂 ), as the space is quite small. Outside they do not look like short people, unless they are on their own at the back but nest to 4mm people they look like teenagers, which is helpful if you choose the right ones, that could look like teenagers.

The Web Host that RMWeb was with at the time had a crash, and all the pictures across the whole forum were lost.

I assume that you have checked the clearance of your longest coach? (Sorry, I have to ask because sometimes when you ask a stupid question............., and I feel happier asking now when any mistake can be rectified.)

Shaun, Thank you very much. This is the stuff that I thought you and others meant, but Foamex has been mentioned and seems to be different. The stuff I have come across seems to mark quite easily, and if I cut a window out ot it the window would need some plastic lining I think. I have some black but have stayed away from it as I will need to paint the inside a light colour.

Shaun, Sorry to be a pain, but can I ask a question to get things clear in my head. When you say 'Foam Board', do you mean foam covered in a plastic type of paper, or something like Foamex, which I think is PVC board? Thank you, Confused of England

Interesting. I have just wanted to fill in the corners of a carriage, and opened a tube of Humbrol filler. A smelly clear liquid came out, I think it had separated in the tube. I tried shaking it then read the warnings, : Use Eye Protection, Gloves, protect your clothes and use in a ventilated area.' It also said, if you put too much on it will eat away the plastic. It is for a model! I hastily put the lid back on and returned it to the drawer it came from. Wood filler seems eminently more suitable, or something similar, but perhaps not for coaches. Looking good.

Mikkel, I have used Slaters, random stone, so the mortar lines are not very deep between the stones. On the platform facings it is SEF and the mortar lines are deeper. They might be better for the polyfiller method. Mortar. I think older mortars were more grey than white, especially with time, but as you say it depends on the building. Most houses around here are 40-50 years old and have red bricks with distinctive yellow mortar, but the ones over the back to us have much paler bricks with a dark mortar. Photos of your buildings are always helpful, but the bricks and mortars will have aged and, depending on where the building is the air quality will have changed. Since the smokeless zones came in during the sixties many buildings in cities have been cleaned up, and even where they have not been they would have been cleaned by the rain, (I always thought that the Natural History Museum was a dirty brown colour naturally, until it was cleaned and exposed the beautiful multicoloured stone work.

Mikkel and GWR57xx, @Simond suggested using polyfiller on my stone walls, but I was concerned that he had used it in 0 gauge and I was not sure the mortar gaps would be big enough in 00. Thank you, I think I have my answer. If I did the sort of experimenting that you have done I am not sure I would finish anything. (Now, now, I have finished at least one model, I think). As to the milky thickness of paint to fill the mortar, I have used that successfully on the Ratio station kit of ?Corfe Castle, but the gaps between the stones was huge so I was surprised how well it did on your trial.

Hi, I cannot help with the Circut but maybe I can with the plasticard. @Mikkel in his blog says that he has problems with Slater's embossed sheets, and yes you should cut them face down. I have never cut embossed plasticard myself but for plain plasticard my settings are Blade depth : 4 Thickness: 17 Speed: 1 Hope this helps.

Mike, Had to think about this one. Butler and Valet in First Class? Ladies Maid in First Class? Cook in Second? Downstairs Maid in Second? Upstairs Maid in Third? Scullery Maid in the luggage compartment? The other day on Downton Abbey, (Honest, your Honour I do not watch it, but my wife was looking for something else, It was only on 5 minutes), they went on holiday, (from Yorkshire, (?), behind a green SECR 0-6-0), and they left the Butler and the Housekeeper behind with other servants to run the house and do the jobs that they could not do when the 'family' was at home.

It will probably depend on whether I want to build another carriage.

There is the model that has a horse drawn tramway on it, with the horse sort of moving. In the background there is someone hitting two halfs of a coconut together. It has been discussed on a thread here, somewhere.