MikeOxon

There's a photo of Thrumpton Great Central depot in Retford, taken on 26th June 1959 and showing one of Robinson's former Great Central Pam-Pam JII. 0-6-0s under the sheer legs at http://locodriver.co.uk/Railway_Encyclopedia/Part184/Part01/index.html Mike

Thank you for the suggestions. Looks like I'm going to be filing and cutting a lot of plastic rod! I've been trying to think of a quick 'n' easy 'Cheat' method but no luck, so far Mike

Oil lamps are continuing to prove awkward! Following an appeal for help from the forums, I have established that the small circular fittings, adjacent to the lamp tops, are plugs to fill the apertures left when the lamps are removed for trimming and filling, rather than oil fillers, as I had originally thought. I've now drilled the roof of my U29 model, to take the lamp tops and have another small problem to solve! Since the roof slopes down from the sides of the clerestory, the lamps need small plinths to make them level. If anyone has a suggestion for a simple way to achieve this, I shall be pleased to hear from them! GWR dia.U29 with sloping lamps Following a suggestion from Mikkel, I have bought a set of Victorian figures by Andrew Stadden and think they are very nice castings indeed. I'm still waiting for some new paint brushes to arrive and then will attempt to provide some fine Victorian fashions for the girls! Victorian figures by Andrew Stadden i can see Sir John and Lady Wilcote on the right and young Blanche looks to be planning some sort of mischief, as usual, while elder sister Amy (with her parasol) looks on with disapproval. I'm not sure who all the other figures are yet, but we might have a glimpse of young Charles, as well as various retainers. Mike

A few questions to try to make a diagnosis: 1. does the rectangle look OK on the screen before cutting? 2. about how big is it? 3. are you using the cutting mat, what material are you cutting,and is it stuck down firmly? My first thought is that the work is slipping slightly during cutting. Mike

These look splendid. As others have commented, the panelling is hard enough in 4mm, so your achievement in 2mm is remarkable. Nice baulk track, too. I've used Staedtler 'triplus' fineliner pens for mouldings - perhaps these might 'take' on your chocolate paint? Mike

Very neat

Love the alien invader! With the empty playground, it reminded me of a scene from Dr Who. On the other hand, long coaches on small-radius curves look a little implausible, when photographed too close

Isn't Snowdon wonderful on a good day! I'm impressed by your Mother's achievement - we used the 'heritage' steam train. In my opinion, this is worth the extra as it allows a full hour at the top and the coach is much roomier than the standard trains. The Simplex is coming along well, though your wiring will need some tidying - beware of shorts on those un-insulated joints when you add the metal cover! Mike

Good suggestion

Thank you, Paul. The 'Silhouette' sides are really easy to make. Now I need a cheap 3D printer to make all the other bits

Thank you Mikkel. It's at this stage when kits really score - all the bits are there and the holes already drilled! I'm waiting for some new brushes to arrive before I start painting. I've also ordered some Andrew Stadden figures so will use these others for practice.

The recent fine weather has kept me away from the modelling for a while, while I have been pursuing my outdoor photographic interests. I am also procrastinating a little, as my coaches are at the stage of needing a lot of fiddly detail work to be completed! Because of my small radius curves, 'fine' flanged wheels are a bit unreliable, so I prefer to use 'Hornby' or 'Bachmann' wheels, which hold on pretty well round the corners! For my 6-wheel coaches, I decided to try 'MJT' Mansell wheel inserts on standard 'Bachmann' coach wheels, and I think they look pretty good. I sprayed the white metal castings with red primer and then Ford Rio Brown car colour: I put these on a sheet of paper for spraying and then thought of how to use a similar method for other items. For the oil lamp tops, I placed the paper over a strip of Bluetac on top of a small piece of wood, and then pushed the mounting spigots through the paper, so that they were held firmly by the Bluetac. This made it easy to move them around as a group, for spraying, and meant that the Bluetac was not coated, so could be re-used. The same method can be used for figures: It looks rather as if the flighty young Blanche has just got the idea of making a snowball but Sir John has sternly admonished her to "desist now, young lady - most unseemly". In the photos, I show tissue paper but it's much better to use ordinary paper, as the tissue separates and sticks to the Bluetac. I've also found that Kirby grips are very good for holding the printed overlays in place on the sides of the Clerestory roofs, while the glue sets. These things are handy for all sorts of small holding jobs. Now that rain is forecast for the coming week, I may find time for all the chores to be completed on my coaches. The U29 needs lots of holes drilling in the roof for the lamp tops and their associated covers, then I have to remove the surplus brakes on the middle wheels and add loads of details, including springs, vacuum cylinder, buffers, couplings, etc., etc. It may have to rain for quite a long time 🙂 Mike

That was in my mind too but, seeing the result, I feel it has lost a little of the massive impact from that foreground riveted girder.It's good to lose the wheelie bins, though.

Paul's right. We do like to look at the model later and look back, thinking how we overcame terrible odds to achieve victory On the other hand, it's a pity that so many kits never seem to have been constructed by their designers. Perhaps by then, it's too late, as they are not going to scrap the moulds or etchings at that stage. I do love all the details, especially the twin engine blocks for the cylinders.

I look forward to following your progress. I think the late Victorian period is an excellent choice, with colourful liveries and loads of 'character' Mike

As it is a question, this looks more like a forum post than a blog - you would probably get more discussion that way - blogs tend to be less widely read.

and a spinner - every time I see your photos of the P-51, the front end reminds me of a WW1 Bristol Fighter

I've since found an option to 'centre' the image when importing DXF files, in the Preferences | Import menu.

There's an option in the 'Advanced' menu on the 'cut settings' menu to either eject the page or return to the origin at the end of a cut. There are other options that affect the order in which cuts are made. I suppose the backward compatibility issue is inevitable, since the new version has options that the earlier software cannot implement. I found that when I opened a .DXF file, it appeared off the cutting mat area and I had to move it into position. Mike

Try 'Hydroponic pH Down' - available from garden centres or Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Advanced-Nutrition-Down-Technology-Hydroponics/dp/B00G3CGQ2A/ It's 81% phosphoric acid so, by the time you've diluted it down, it will last for years Mike

That looks very neat! But what are the blue tower cranes doing over the big house?

I can see photographic merit and it's an interesting shot, too. If you could take a bit of the blueness out, I think it might look even better - but then I'm a bit of a Photoshop junkie

There's a new version of the 'Studio' software V3.0.293 - 2 April 2014 It seems to offer better drawing tools and also has a TWAIN interface to input directly from a scanner. I've only had a quick 'play' but it seems to be a significant enhancement. Mike

Thank you for the 'Tudorlink' reference, Mikkel. It is very useful as it gives an overview of the changes that took place in each decade. On thinking further, I suspect that the '24 years' may refer back to the opening of the Savoy restaurant, from the end of the period of the Dame Fashion book (1912). Possibly 'two dozen' seemed a more natural number, then, than the '25' we would tend to use. I've not really fixed my setting yet and, like most model railways, it will probably be somewhat flexible, depending on the whims of what I want to build! Since I have a Dean 4-2-2, this pushes me forward to1895 at least Stylistically, I like the Dean locomotives and coaches, immediately before the Churchward revolution, with its 'indecent' display of undergear and coarse angularity. Even the straight-framed 4-4-0s seem a little inelegant

I'll pass on the corset, KH1 In one of the books I've been reading, I read this account: ""I was placed, at the age of fifteen, at a fashionable school in London, and there it was the custom for the waists of the pupils to be reduced one inch per month. When I left school at seventeen my waist measured only thirteen inches, it having been formerly twenty three inches.". Although the medical profession had been pointing out the dangers since early in the century, the fashion persisted until the 20th-century. Indeed, Bedders, one thing leads to another. In my case, the interest in 19th-century railways arose from some ancestry research, which revealed several engine drivers amongst my forebears, including one who even had an interview with Mr G J Churchward, following some misdemeanor!