supersonic

Remember TLAR works always

Dave, hi great to hear from you, I hope youe are well bud.

Jamie remember what I taught you; measure, at least. twice. go from known to unknown only in single steps and a trial fit or two worth their weight. Looking good any way, the litteis look just great but you could havre given the some steps or taller stools, craning their necks over the top but wonderful to see them taking an interest. Now who is Hippo whith whom I appear to be friendly?? Oh and when tapping use a square to get the tap properly squareas you start. uncleT

Jamie, Dave Hunt and everyone else hi; long time no see. Jamie Phil's layout has gone and cheque to club funds is on the way to the correct indivdual.

Just to put the record straight Jamie. I used a very sharp blade to produce the pavement drops; I gave myself a good ignore about the Health and Safety aspects of using a naked blade. This, of course, I could do as I am probably one of the last of the generations who were required to demostrate a sound knowledge of common sense; in other words I am still in full retention of all my digits. The blade was much easier to manipulate than a lengthy, and may I say with my engineers hat on, still handleless file which was tried , with some difficulty, with the tang away from my flesh and rejected.

The Highway Men eh? Michael and a boat if I recall. So, you do have some musical appreciation then - very old record tho' We had fun, and not a little frustation chasing faults. My Kirtley ran just fine but showed up a problem in the hand over sections - as it is wired on the American system - heyho - no problem tho'. It just amazes me how many railends get damaged and need remedial action. Endeavouring to model 'muck' is not as easy as one would imagine. Real muck does not look 'reet' so we are slowly adding to the effect - ha.

Phew, slept well last night. Jamie has passed on his thanks to many people for helping at the w/e and I would like to add mine; we were well looked after by the Nottingham boys and girls, Well fed and entertained, we both enjoyed the show very much. I must, however, give a special thank you to Graeme King for the time he spent with me teaching me the the fiddly bits about resin casting; his infectious ethusiasm for his "pastime" has to be experienced to appreciate the depth of his pleasure with this discipline. On Green Ayre, I enjoyed the DAS work which I have fought shy of for some time now. It was great to work in the realtively high temperatures of the school - PVA went off in about 20 minutes (rather than the week it takes in our cold clubroom). There are a few things which just cannot be attempted with only a couple of boards up. Jamies' work on the buildings needed quite a lot of TLAR to complete successfully (ie to look reet) and the aspect we were able to get sighting along the length of the engine shed area helped so much as 'we' are interpreting the area and not just copy building. Incidentally jamie the decision to not run anything was TACTICAL, ps see me after club and I will teach you the difference between TACTICAL and STRATEGIC. Good to see a fair amount of stock in place, and the first attempts at the overhead wire suspension itself. All in all a good w/e. May I also say what a boost it is to have the support of the people who take the time to follow this thread, thank you all Great to be home again.

may I add my thanks to those given by Jamie to all of you who came along to see us at Warley. Here be the pics (or is that sea monsters?):

just about finished painting the fiddle yard last night whilst Jamie was away playing trams in Leeds. Looks good as now the whole fiddle yard is a single colour; just have the rails to clean up and thar she runs as it were. Jamies mod to the yard switches seems to have worked very nicely had a good play with them last night and discovered yet another point which needs attention wit the soldering iron. For Jon Fitness, Jon if you are reading this a friend of mine modelling in 4 mil needs a little advice re semaphore signals. Dave

The 'vinegar bottle' makes me sound like some kind of pervert. However, I am finding the ballasting somewhat therapeutic and the end result is rather satisfying. More and more of the underpinnings are now starting to disappear under scenery and the result is encouraging. When we moved the boards around the other evening we took the opportunity to sweep the floor - a much avoided chore which gives an easier, less trip prone working environment - to be recommended. Work continues!

Last night we took down all of the baseboards in the club for Friday nights big shuffle round unfortunately just a little misdirected PVA got between two of them and we had a job to separate them with a little of the ply laminate coming away with the wrong board. Hay-Ho that's life with Jamie; more ballast down, and the last, ultimate, no more, final point being built for the sickies siding; the good news is that it will be dead, wh-h-h-h-o-o-f. Tony Bond came up with a great idea for ballasting using a redundant vinegar bottle - patience required but the results are good as well we do not waste too much material. Will try to get some pics online when the club rooms settle back to a slumber.

Happy New Year. More Lancaster specific posts to come later

Ok Jamie I am in for the bike ride. You organise it and provide the cavernous transport.

I am rested, refreshed and ready for our show now. Next weekend I am off to Norwich with my other partner in crime. Mike Eastman, as we go to collect parts for our Vampire T22. I am very pleased with the way Lancaster is coming on; looking forward to getting some movement going though, seems a long time since trains ran. Attached some more pics from Warley.

now Jamie have you seen this video of the Green Ayre electrics running? go to - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6VvD9cGBCU You can see directly the real train going thro' our scenic break on the Castle branch, looks like we have it a little TOO bucolic for reality. Great detail on the overheads, even if in 1965.