AyJay

No need for an answer now. I discovered that concrete lintels do work with red brick, so that’s the way I have been moving.

Can anyone please help me with this one? I am trying to paint brick window lintels in red brick style and I just can't get it right! In this picture, is a sheet of embossed lintels that I obtained somewhere, don't know where; also a sample of the red brick sheet that I am using (Howard Scenics Victorian Red Brick) in OO gauge. I need a number of the straight lintels and have been trying to paint some in watercolour, with very unsatisfactory result. Some (the ones in the middle) I just washed all over in colour. Then (on the right) I tried making very light strokes with the thinnest tipped brush I could find. The best I managed (on the middle left) was lightly dry brushing. I also tried using the back of my scalpel blade to deepen the embossed lines in the card. If it was arches that I needed, it would not be a problem; I would just cut a strip of brick paper and put cuts down one edge so as to curve the paper, but painting the straight ones has me beat! I have also looked on the websites for ScaleModelScenery, Howard Scenics, Freestone and Metcalfe. Nobody seems to do these pre-printed. Does anyone know how I can produce these please? Thank you.

Well that's the outer shell of my new station complete. The next step is to make the windows and doors. Once the windows and doors are in, I can then add the internal detailing. After that, I can close off the ceilings, add interior lighting, close off the floors, make the bay window, add chimneys, roofing, guttering, window sills and external detailing. Looking closely at google earth, I realised that attached to the Stationmasters house on the other side, is a small garden. I won't be able to model this, because I am placing the station in a townscent and it faces a busy entranceway, so a quiet garden would look out of place. I also realised that passenger entrance from the road is not through the booking hall. Passengers walk round the end of the station and enter the booking hall from the platform side. Nice to know.

This was by far the most creative ‘April fool’ that I saw. It’s worth taking a look at the Hornby posting on LinkedIn, I thought that Airfix kits producing a paper plane was hilarious. 🤣

Don’t get me started about Facebook! Too late…. I’d like to know what madness lies behind their ‘people you may know’ suggestions??? A friend of a friend, someone who lives near me, worked at the same place as me, or some other point of connection, I get that. But to see long lists of people in countries that I have never been to, living lifestyles that don’t interest me, and those of different socio-what’s it demographics to myself? At first I did delete/decline and object to them, now I just don’t waste my time. In their write-up, Facebook does say that these are based on information about me, but that sometimes they get it wrong. Nah! I think they are just shooting in the dark with a shotgun in the hope of getting a hit.

“And other metrics” I accept and that answers a lot, such as why I keep getting advertising about funeral plans. But ladies fashion? Come on now, I identify as male. I’m not getting a single advert for power tools ☹️

Problem sorted! I found a second finescale electrofrog. So I'm going to buy two. Thanks for the suggestions all. I might one day make something with all the code 100's that I have.

Well I had another look at what I have. A good enough quantity of the correct geometry Code 100 points that I need, and all in good condition. But, only one of them is electro-frog, all the rest are insul-frog. My layout is entirely electro-frog points; combined with Cobalt digital point motors to give me the polarity switching that I need. Also, offering up a vernier gauge, I see that the code 100 stands about 0.5mm higher; so I will have to shave something off the cork underlay where the points are to go, to ensure correct vertical alignment (is that do-able?). I also see that the wheel clearance inside the frog is larger. Could this cause any running problems? It would certainly be worth making up a length of test track, joining finescale track to a point to test all my locomotives, as a couple of them stall on my layout where there is a small dip. Dagworth, I particularly like your suggestion and I can give this a try. By far the biggest cost here will be four more Cobalt point motors, which is why I'd like to try and save some cost where I can. I'm only glad that I have two spare ports on my encoders and two spare Cobalt levers (the entrance and exit points on my fiddle yard are addressed in pairs). If I can overcome the practical challenges, then I'll continue with this idea. If not, then I'll abandon it and just dig deeper into the pocket. All this, just to store twelve trains on my track, instead of ten. Good thing I don't smoke or follow football !

“Want to meet Lady with interest in model railways for serious relationship. Please send picture….. of model railway!” Seriously now, mine has no interest whatsoever and regularly asks “how many exhibitions do you want to go to / how many locomotives do you want?” To which I reply “I don’t smoke and I’m not interested in football. Goodness knows what a premier season ticket / packet of20 cost?” Can anyone tell? As an aside, I sat next to a young lady on the train yesterday and noticed she was reading a book about historical buildings and architecture. She seemed most interested when I told her about Pendon; “Come and visit, you’ll like it” I said. Oh if I was 40 years younger ☹️

I want to add two more lines to my fiddle yard and am struggling to justify the additional cost of what’s needed. (Points and Cobalt motors) Then I discovered that I have some code 100 points (Peco) spare from a previous project. However, I now discover that the available ‘transition track’ is expensive. Can anyone suggest how I can join code 100 points to finescale track without using these pricy connectors? Thanks

Red brick it is then! Thank you for listening to my doubts.

I'm not yet sure how far I want to take this one. Having decided that I want to model the Arley Station building that is on the Severn Valley Railway, although that's not what it's going to be called on my layout, I have just noticed the colour of the bricks. They are a yellow/sandstone colour. The Scale Model Scenery website describes a matching brickpaper as 'Yellow London Brick' (I'm looking at item TX262-OO) Aside from my castle, which is stone, all of my buildings are red brick. I'm assuming that all of the bricks used in an area should be the same approximate colour because you generally don't carry building material from a distant location, you use what is locally sourced. So my question is, would it be unusual for a station to be built out of bricks that are a different colour to the bricks used in other buildings of a similar era, in that area? Consistency says that I should make it in red brick. Thank you

This is brilliant! I have long said that there are ladies keen on model railways and you have proven me right, this hobby is a broad church that can give expression to all sorts of skills. I only wish that my other half found this hobby interesting.

Although this image taken from Streetview does not look that promising, I have found when travelling through Wallingford, that this row of shop fronts is just crying out to be modelled. I find the differences in the roofs is particularly impressive. But I think I would leave out the cheeky traffic cone. https://www.instantstreetview.com/@51.601066,-1.123135,127.16h,-2.73p,1z,y7eKVBPeR8-yqS6eyCUPfA

My layout is a multi-module construction and here's how I tackled this problem of securing track. I purchased a quantity of long copper-clad sleepers. Since the copper cladding was on both surfaces, I stripped off the copper on one side so as to eliminate the possibility of short-circuits between rains caused by whiskers of copper bridging the edges. I secured two sleepers on each side of the baseboard join, two for extra rigidity. They were spaced according to the spacing of the track sleepers. Secured down by 2-part epoxy resin and pinned at intervals by track pins. The length of the copper-clad meant that it would span the width of multiple tracks. The modules were aligned with metal alignment dowels on the facing surfaces and held together with hinges with removable hinge pins. When laying tracks across the join, I pull back the sleeper webbing (I use Peco flexitrack) and tin the underside. I also tin the copper surface of my sleepers. Then I lay and secure in place all of the tracks in place, pinned and ballasted track, soldered to the copper strip. Lastly, I use a razor saw to cut through the track at the join. To hold the track in place for cutting, I fashioned a wooden block with spaced slots in one surface to hold the rails. I later discovered when the track is crossing the join at an angle i.e. not perpendicular; that by cutting along the board join, I leave a sharp edge at the cut which could catch the flange on a wheel and derail that wagon. So try to cross as close to perpendicular as possible and cut the rails perpendicular across the rail and nut in-line with the board join. I also later discovered that it is important to ensure your track is level, otherwise you get a rise, or drop, at the join.

Sorry! When I saw the subject line, I immediately thought of another certain amber coloured liquid. I prefer Hobgoblin, Theakstons and a distilled product from Speyside myself. Cheers!

This was a long time ago. My friend in question had been there about a year and, although he did not say exactly what he earned, it was just under the upper limit of the personal allowance then, so he paid no tax. His offered pay rise would have thrust him over. Not sure what the rules for NI were, but that may have needed to be taken into account too. Suffice to say, that when he presented his argument to our manager, the offer was improved and he was happy with it.

I've no doubt that fighting with something big and fishy on a fishing line from the back of a rolling boat in an open sea, requires considerable physical prowess; so I would class that as a sport. But sitting by a lake, occasionally casting; I see that as more a form of meditation. Motor racing? Looking at the video clips that we sometimes see from over the F1 drivers shoulder, looks like it requires considerable physical exertion to keep that car under control. So yes, I'd say motor racing is a sport. As for e-sports, teams of youngsters playing computer games. Sorry no, they may have good hand-eye coordination and nimble fingers, but so does a piano player.

Oh no, Pendon is not a model railway... It's oh so much more than just a model railway. If you understand that, then an explanation is not necessary. If you don't understand that, then no explanation is possible. And I'm now a volunteer there. As for train sets, I said that they are for fun. "Why else would a grown man play with trains" I loved watching this series.

DUCK ! 😆

All I understand about the state pension, is that the expected increase in the state pension will almost certainly be a pension cut! Since the increase will push a greater part of my combined state/private pension over the tax free threashold, I will pay more tax. When you add cost increases into the mix, my purchasing power will go down. I once had a low-paid friend refuse a pay increase, saying that it will push him out of the tax free band and he will have to start paying tax, which would leave him with less pay, not more. So they gave him a higher-than-everyone-else pay rise to compensate him. I don’t think that arguments would work with DWP.

Since we are not averse to discussing controversial, and sometimes inconsequential, matters here, I thought that I'd throw this little pebble into the pond of debate and see where the ripples go. There are 'activities' that we see or hear of which are generally regarded as 'Sports'. But I don't think that they are. To be a sport, I think that an activity needs to meet these three criteria: 1. It must be competitive in that there is the potential for victory or loss. The competing to be carried out by persons acting individually or in teams. It may also be carried out by individuals to compare their performance against a personal best. 2. It must contain a physical element requiring strenuous/developed muscular effort i.e. raises the heart rate, increases breathing or generates a sweat. This does not have to be a whole-body effort, but may be confined to part of the body. 3. It requires an element of developed/developing skill. Based on these criteria, things like football, athletics, gymnastics, horse racing are sports. Controversially, I would say that snooker, darts and fishing are not sports.

Don't turn up your nose at the trainset! It's purpose is for having fun. As for a definition of when it stops being a trainset and starts being a model railway, I'd say that lies with how you view it. However, I'd suggest that a good first step is getting it off the carpet!

What an interesting question.... Well, what would I want from my childhood for nostalgia sake? I guess it has to be the Triang Hornby 'Battlespace' range. I remember that I had: The exploding van, A low slung bogie wagon carrying a single spring launched red missile. Another launching wagon with a rotating head bearing four small white missiles. A launching helecopter. I also wanted that propeller driven thing with a ram on the front. 😈

My father told me that I’ll find no answers in the bottom of a bottle! Well after seeing that, I’ll need one for therapy, possibly two.