47137

I like the sound of keeping a proper inventory. I have some spreadsheets but they are not complete. I suspect an inventory needs photographs for each item if executors are to understand it. I also think about sticking slips of paper underneath individual models, to show the manufacturer and their part number. This ought to help the exectutors match models to boxes. Little labels might help me remember what some of my models are too, especially my Continental ferry wagons. - Richard.

No Andy I don't want flannel. At the moment I am looking at a banner telling me, a process may take several days; and the banner has been unchanged for a while. I am posting here in the hope of finding out "when" - for example, maybe several weeks or months from now, or even a projected completion date. This would let me make an informed judgement whether to patch up some of my broken posts. I understand and accept, you may not know the answer to this; and I'll look out for an updated banner when you can say more. - Richard.

Yes of course - I've put the tables back. They have now dropped out twice - first when the site re-appeared following its outage during March, and then somewhen between 3 April and today while the rebuild of the site continued. If they disappear again do give me a shout. It might be prudent to save a local copy. - Richard.

I suppose, there might be two categories of newly-uploaded images. Those images included in new posts, and those uploaded into old posts. If only one category is currently susceptible to fresh loss, this would be good to know. Meanwhile, I do not feel remotely patient. I know I should be but I fear I really want a managerial answer (when = a date) and not an engineering answer (when = after the process has completed). This is bad for me. I have a brand new Weller iron arrived in the post and it would be best for me to do something constructive of my own and let those who are rebuilding the site do their thing in peace. - Richard.

Now you have edited your post, you still haven't answered my question but it seems simply sought to humiliate me - and failed. I repeat: Is the dropping of newly-uploaded images expected during the continuing rebuilding of the site? If you do not know the answer then I suggest you wait for someone who does know to post an answer. - Richard.

Eh? I do not understand what Martin has written, let alone how it relates to my own images put back and then lost again. - Richard.

I re-uploaded some images on 3 April; today, I have realised the images are missing again: This is a popular topic (7,000+ views is popular for British H0) and it needs these images to make sense. Is the dropping of newly-uploaded images expected during the continuing rebuilding of the site? So I can decide whether to continue trying to use the site or perhaps give it a break until we learn the rebuilding is complete. - Richard.

I have uploaded a photo which supports my comment (diagonal focal plane and upright verticals), but I am not sure if is my original photo - HTH

To be honest this width restriction arrived just after the flyover closed. I think it is a worthy successor. - Richard.

I am sure the little marker posts would obligingly fold out of your way. Actually, you could do us a favour 🙂 - Richard.

Okay. My MX-5 gives me about 100 mm beside each door mirror and I find this quite tight. I usually align myself with the driver's mirror a bit tighter so I "know" the passenger side one will go through. I've seen a big panel van going through here with barely 50 mm each side, and the door mirrors overhanging above the posts of course. The panel van is quite a bit wider than my car, so I suppose here, the restriction reduces to what vehicle you are prepared to drive through. At other locations, it must mean the width of the vehicle over its widest part, as you say. With the restriction signposted a few miles each side of it, I do think the error in the imperial/metric conversion (about 70 mm) is relevant to route planning for both me and the driver of the panel van; and the two vehicles are quite different. Edit: what I am trying to say is, I don't know which dimension (imperial or metric) I need to take notice of. There are plenty of motorway roadworks with a 2 m width restriction posted but the space available is far more generous than it is here. - Richard.

This installation has left me with a nagging doubt in my mind I still haven't resolved. Does a width restriction on a road sign define the maximum width of vehicles permitted to use a road, or the physical space available? I suspect it is the width of vehicle allowed because the metric/imperial conversion given is so approximate, but I am not convinced. - Richard.

Exactly! - Richard.

The council installed the width restriction in 2020 as a "temporary" measure, as a way to enforce the 3-tonne weight limit on the bridge. The bridge needs stuctural repairs becausae of erosion from the Navigation underneath. I suspect the weight of the concrete blocks and the steel barriers took up most of the weight allowance but there we go. - Richard.

This is the original version of the width restriction at Hoe Mill lock on the road between Danbury and Ulting: I always found myself at a sub-walking pace in the Mazda because the door mirrors went between the concrete blocks. Taller cars and vans had it easier because their door mirrors went above the blocks. The locals moved the blocks outwards quite soon and the Council rebuilt the restriction using steel posts dug into the ground, I can send a pic after I next go down this way. The posts are covered in vehicle impact damage. - Richard.

I have had a play with some Tamiya acrylic paint. The jar fits the spray gun so no decanting needed. The paint was a mix I had made up to try to emulate an Indian red, based on gloss red with matt brown and other matt colours. Coverage was good and very quick. I turned the regulator on the airline down to about 15psi, about as low as it can usefully go. (I sprayed my enamels at a bit more, maybe 20psi). The only downside I have found so far is the Tamiya paint has stained the inside of the clear pvc tube. This tube is a standard product sold by the metre on eBay and I have ordered up a long length so I can cut new pieces as needed. This will be easier than trying to clean the tube. The nozzle cleaned out easily enough with a spray of thinner. My test pieces were on plastic sprues. Tomorrow I will find out if the paint has stuck soundly to the plastic. It has certainly stuck to my fingers 🙂 - Richard.

I will probably settle for two shades of paint to begin with for my track. One for the main line and one for all of the sidings. The geographical area of the layout is very small, I would like things to be fairly consistent. Maybe work up areas where locomotives come to rest. I do need to do some more experimentation before I begin. - Richard.

I hestitate to call this an airbrush - I think it is more of a "miniature spray gun". For cleaning up after enamels I wipe out the jar with white spirit and then squirt a little white spirit through the nozzle. So far (only three goes) it is still working fine. - Richard.

It sounds unusual for a retailer to be ordered to stop selling existing stock. IIRC, stocks of now-banned garden weedkillers left the shelves as consumers stocked up (a bit of panic buying I guess) and were not re-stocked. Perhaps you can sell the existing stock to exhaustion? - Richard.

I am so glad to see I am not alone. My parents gave me one of the basic Humbrol spray guns when I was a teenager but results were always tricky because I used a car spare wheel (remember them?) as the power source. I bought another one maybe six or eight years ago but never used it. I bought one of the Aldi kits, again in about 2018. The Aldi compressor was hopeless and I bought the smallest Hyundai one, a machine able to run small power tools. Ran this with nothing but a blow gun for four years, and finally tried out the Humbrol spray gun over the weekend. The spray gun is far more controllable than a rattle can and I have realised I can vary the final colour I achieve by simply choosing the base coat underneath. There is far less overspray than with a rattle can so there should be less masking when painting the layout. At the moment I am painting the insides of some wagons. - Richard. Postscript: this seems to be a really bad time to be learning how to spray Humbrol enamels: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/168184-problem-getting-humbrol-paints/?do=findComment&comment=4780354 😞

Oh yes, absolutely. I have tried plenty of colours for track and never quite found anything I could apply everywhere and be happy with before applying additional weathering. The burnt umber sounds like a good place to begin. I sprayed some of the Humbrol (enamel) onto offcuts of track yesterday and I can now try picking it off, see how well it has stuck. - Richard.

Have you settled on a base colour for your track? I have been experimenting with a few ready-made colours to try to choose just one to give a consistent result along my whole railway. At the moment my preferred shade is Humbrol matt 110 "natural wood". This doesn't look anything like wood to me, but it does have a mildly "homogenised muted dirt" character when viewed from a foot away. It is modestly reminiscent of the main line nearest to me, this is London-Norwich route near Hatfield Peverel and this has mostly electric traction. I have been spraying this onto offcuts of bare track without a primer. On previous layouts I have put a red or grey Halfords primer first and I might do this on the layout but I am not convinced this is really necessary for longevity. - Richard.

Yes - I didn't spot these and my sample was too small. I think it is a fair hope, and it is much easier to let the computer do the work instead of putting the missing photos back manually. - Richard.

Ian, You could try putting opposing pieces of the brown self-adhesive parcel tape in the gaps, and work the ground base and ballast up to these. I picked this tip up from an experienced modeller at Ally Pally, and their layout had a baseboard joint so tight it was almost impossible to see. - Richard.

It seems to me, if you have a blog page created before March 2021, and you edited the page after March 2021, then the images are lost. In my case I edited many blog entries to add the new 'category' field introduced with new software. I will wait a month or so and see which, if any, images reappear. If they don't come back, I wonder if there is a backup of the site from before March 2021 which would allow old blog posts to be restored in their original state? It would be a lot easier to add the category field again than to put back the lost photographs. - Richard.