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Graham T

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Everything posted by Graham T

  1. I did have my young daughters building some Ikea furniture for me on one of their visits, does that count? (Probably not as they actually enjoyed the experience!)
  2. Well I think you deserve some sort of award for ploughing through that lot! Thanks for the comment. I must confess that I occasionally glance back at some of my earliest posts here and cringe at my lack of knowledge!
  3. In addition to all the very good advice already given, I'd recommend taking a look at the track plans produced by @Harlequin, which are excellent, and also to get hold of a copy of Iain Rice's "Mainlines in Modest Spaces". It's on Amazon, naturally!
  4. Really enjoyed seeing how you built up the bridges Nick, thanks.
  5. Let’s hope not! Also, I shall have to post more to keep you from catching up 🙂
  6. In the meantime I've been working on something far simpler (hah!) Adding the Pressfix transfers; I've only done one side so far - there's a limit to my concentration for these. Cracking transfers though. And the obligatory cruel close-up...
  7. My thoughts were two fairly thick sheets of plasticard. First as a base, then the curve of the handrail marked and cut on a second sheet. Cut out and smooth the curve on the top sheet, then glue them both together. Drill a hole at the bottom of the curve to hold the end of the wire, then form against the plastic curve. Finally add the U-shaped curve at the top end of the handrail using a rat-tail file, and trim the excess end to length. It's clear in my mind's eye anyway!
  8. That's a neat solution, I like it.
  9. Normally I'd agree Andy, but the issue here is having to make four that all look the same, hence the leaning towards a jig.
  10. I think I'll try to make a jig when I make a start on the other coach. An idea is germinating...
  11. I thought that I might be able to burn the glue off after? Maybe I'm being mad!
  12. The handrails are now on and painted. I formed the curves at the top ends first, bending the wire around a rat tail file, and then tried (not very successfully) to match up the curves for the longest sections. The four are certainly all individuals... For the next toplight kit I'm wondering if it would be possible to superglue a couple of lengths of brass wire together, form them into shape as a pair, and then separate them. Next step will be to add the lettering from HMRS, and then weather the roof and underframe. I think I'll use powders there, and then seal with a spray of matt varnish - having masked the sides first!
  13. Thanks very much Scott. It's been quite a challenging build, but I'm quite pleased with how the coach is looking so far. I have another one to build, which hopefully will go a bit more smoothly!
  14. Danke schon Herr W. I think I've now got the curve about right - just have to make three more that look vaguely similar! The instructions in the kit are very helpful: "Make four end handrails from wire". Reminds me a bit of the old Haynes manual gag along the lines of "reassembly is simply the reverse of all the previous steps"...
  15. Har dee har. You can go off people, you know 🙃
  16. All the grab handles and door handles have now been fitted - although the latter are pretty hard to see! And I've made a start on forming up the end handrails. Ugh, horrible job! This is the first one, I think it needs more of a curve before I commit to fitting it permanently though.
  17. Thanks BL. I’ll add Hunt to the list of possible solutions!
  18. Thanks for that Robin. I'll do some experimenting when they arrive. Matters aren't helped by my having cut the NEM pockets off some of my coaches, with the thought at the time that "I'll never go back to tension locks, so those boxes can go". Not being aware then of the other options... Never mind!
  19. The mojo is still a touch subdued, but I did manage to gee myself up sufficiently to do a bit more to the toplight. The second side has been fitted, and the grab handles attached with glue and glaze. I've touched up some of the black paint, but I'm sure there will be more to do - it really doesn't like adhering to the whitemetal and aluminium parts, and flakes off if you as much as give it a stern look... I still need to add the door handles and fashion the handrails for the ends, which I'm not looking forward to. Transfers are - hopefully - on their way from HMRS. And I'm still pondering a solution for couplings on my coaches. As previously mentioned, the magnets in the corridor connectors aren't 100% satisfactory, and although the Hornby close couplings do close up the gaps very nicely, they're still a bit ugly! (As you can see in the last photo above). I'm thinking about trying some of these instead ... ... but that still leaves the issue of coupling to locos. Maybe leave some coaches in fixed rakes with a screw coupling at each end? I never imagined this would be so problematic. Anyway, here's the toplight in what I hope might pass for a suitably mixed Great Western train.
  20. Well here we are back in a cold and rather bleak Vienna. Feeling a tad low as my girls went back to the US on New Year's Day and I won't see them again until March. Here are a few more pics of our visit to the SVR. Excuse the rather strange ICE powered interloper, but seeing as it's named after the ship that I went frontline with then I thought it shouldn't be missed!
  21. Really like the scenic work James. Are the trees hand made?
  22. I definitely need to find a job then to finance some of those!
  23. Looking good John, and tempting me to take a look at my motley collection of clerestory coaches.
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