WardRail

Try painting a patch of the colour, 98 is a lot darker than illustrated and 173 is lighter. In my case, the last time I used "track colour" by Humbrol, it was an Authentic in enamel (they dropped the authentic range ages ago, when they dropped lead out of the formula for their enamels) My 98 is all pre the dropping of lead. I roughly 30 tins of the original, leaded, 98 ages ago, after a military modelling mate of mine passed away and I got his paint collection. Have hardly bought a Humbrol enamel since. The Humbrols that included lead in their formula are still as viable as they ever were - especially if still sealed by the manufacturer. The original "Track Colour" was more of a rusty brick red. I was assuming the current one was similar Best Matthew

Should have read the rest of my post Phil (no offence intended !) Where I specified that Humbrol Chocolate is Flat 98 in their range.... I know heaps of bods out here in Australia that use that shade for general railway grot on track sides and sleepers. Main reason for that is the perception out here that Track Colour is too rusty red, ok for fresh rust but not after a couple of days of weather and trains rolling over dropping oil and grot on it ! Best Matthew

I used Rivendell and Barrowdowne as the names of my first two layouts and am currently in the throes of detailed planning for my latest Terminus to yard, which will use a name I’ve been intending to use for quite some time “Thor Bridge” anyone ? (Conan Doyle of course !) I’ll have to remember to put a distinctive scar in the bridge, just below the parapet ! Best Matthew

Hi Peter I've never copped it from a white tail, 2 redback bites - one on the back of the hand whilst feeling about blindly for something off a bicycle that had rolled under a bench and the other when in my teens was the "Classic" about which Slim Dusty wrote one of his ditties which went thusly "There was a redback on the toilet seat when I went there last night//I didn't see him in the dark but boy I felt his bite" rotten sods hide out under the seat and go on the bite when a victim is seated... Was the classic Aussie country Dunny behind the house many years ago. Only other dangerous spider bite was a Funnel Web which got me through a pair of joggers and socks I was wearing at the time - big fangs on those critters ! Again it was in my teens. Been a few near misses over the years, but thankfully no bites. I forgot about the drop bears, easily our most dangerous animal by far. Thanks to Gwiver for the reminder ! What about the Darwin Sharks ? "There used to be Sharks in there mate, til the crocodiles cleaned 'em out !" Best Matthew

Hi Yup the friendly old Daddy Long Legs is a spider predator - as is the domestic White Tailed Spider, a tiny little thing which can hide easily in the triangular hole which you'd use to hang a trowel or hand fork. White tails are dedicated spider killers but bite unsispecting humans occasionally and that can be disasterous (not usually fatal) for the human, not so much from the venom but a componant of it which causes a rather nasty and quite painful suppurating ulcer at the bite site, which can take up to 18 months to clear. No I've never been bitten by a white tail, had a couple of near misses though ! There's a bigger White Tail too, about the size of a Funnel Web, one of them killed a racehorse in its stable (Black Caviar's brother/half brother ?) last year - well the complications of its bite (infected ulcers which led to blood poisoning) caused the horse to be put down. There's also the Mouse Spider, another spider hunter, as big as a Funnel Web and easily mistaken for one, although its venom isn't as nasty to humans as the Funnel Web's.. Rule of thumb for Aussie spiders - if its black or mostly black kill it without delay, any other colour, give it a wide berth just the same ! Sorry for the thread derailment Peter ! Best Matthew

Hi Peter Glad you mentioned the snakes, we have the top 3 deadliest snakes in the world out here and another couple in the top 10 - used to work (many years ago on weekends as a volunteer) at a reptile park, got to go and rescue snakes from time to time if one of the regular fellers was off... So I've seen pretty much all of the bad boys the East Coast can offer, never been bitten by one though - never got close enough ! When I went out on rescues, it was as the driver only (wasn't a trained snake handler and turned down the offer of training more than once - funny that...) Re Huntsman Spiders, yes they can give you a painful bite that'll hurt for up to 30 mins, but their venom is harmless to humans, nobody's ever needed hospital for a Huntsman bite, unless they've had an underlying health issue which has been amplified in some way by the bite. They're pretty docile as spiders go, I regularly pick them up in my hands and take them outside and release them into trees when they frighten female visitors in our unit stairwells - never been bitten by a Huntsman. Best Matthew

Hi Peter That's only a Redback - nasty bite (ask me how I know - twice !) but not a patch on the Funnel Webs we have up here in Sunny Sydney at present - ever seen a Funnel Web rearing up on its back legs, fangs extended ready to strike ? Makes a Redback look like an amateur ! They pack a very nasty bite (only once, in my late teens but that was way more than enough !) Kicked one of them out of my garage/layout room the other day - you don't spray a funnel web, you'll find it doesn't have much effect - Funnel Webs don't obligingly curl up and die like Redbacks and other spiders when you spray them, you can almost hear them laughing at you as you spray them... Best bet is to stomp them into oblivion - a good size nining will sort them out with a very satisfying crunch. Anybody wants to see what a Funnel Web looks like, try googling/wikipedia-ing "Sydney Funnel Web Spider" - not reccommended reading just before bedtime though ! Best Matthew

Hi Nigel Yes to both, momentum key (15 or shifted key value 111) can be remapped either on its default of 15 or its shifted value of 111 in the normal way using cab setup. Doug N gave instructions on how to do so in this forum some time ago Locking the decoder also stops anything being written to it without it first being unlocked and is IMHO far easier to do. Powercabs won't unlock anything without user input Best Matthew

Hi Terry As a pwercab user of course I have seen the manual. Its easy enough, but far easier to lock decoders and the instructions for locking decoders in the manual are easily understood, without any other manuals necessary IMHO Best Matthew

Hi You could remap it to be a brake button - how to remap buttons is explained pretty clearly in the manual Another way round would be to lock the decoders, which stops decoders being written to or having values changed after they're locked. Again, locking decoders is explained in the manual and far easier than remapping the buttons. Basically you set the decoder the way you want and then lock it. Best Matthew

Hmmm... Not here - are you therefore not all there either ? Anyone seen me 'at n coat ? Best Matthew

Hi Dunno why I haven't posted in here before either - I'm in the Sydney suburb of Bronte, modelling British Diesel (1980's to early 90's) in my garage, just up the road from the beach of the same name. Jon Harbour knows where to find me.... If he ever returns to Sydney ! Best Matthew

Hi Al, Glad all are OK after the extreme parking ! I've used cat litter dry stone walls but no trenches or cling film required, using an old margerine container, put about an inch or so of pva in it, drop an inch or so of cat litter on top and mix with your hands, keep a second container of water close by to dip gluey hands into... Simply grab a pile of gluey cat litter, drop on layout and pull out (by squeezing and shaping with your fingers as you go) into a wall as high as you need, following the contours as needed, you should get about 4-6 feet of walling done in one sitting (one load of glue/litter mix as explained above) final shaping etc can be done with wet fingers. Paint etc when dry. One warning though, resist the urge to wipe sweaty faces (especially eyebrows!) mid job with the back of gluey fingers ! I did 30 odd feet of drystone walls that way in about an hour on a past layout of mine. All the best Matthew

Hi Railmatch paints come from Howes of Oxford, Humbrol doesn't.... Many people use Humbrol Chocolate (can't remember offhand what the number is - sorry) for railsides and sleepers, whilst others use a mix of Humbrol Flat Earth with a small amount of flat black mixed into it before application. I tend to use Humbrol chocolate myself, but have used the Flat Earth/Flat Black mix as well, the Flat Earth/Flat Black mix can get close to the Railmatch Sleeper Grime when mixed properly. Hope that helps Edit: (After thinking about it and looking up a couple of Humbrol numbers)... Humbrol 29 Flat Earth with a bit of Humbrol 33 Flat Black to taste or til you eye tells you its about right colourwise will get you near as dammit to Railmatch sleeper grime. I generally paint railsides Humbrol 98 Chocolate then when ballasted, spray (airbrush) the sleepers and ballast with the Humbrol 29/33 mix and any overspray onto the rail sides just adds to the variation Best Matthew

Thanks for the replies folks ! None actually recieved TOPS codings in real life eh ? Hmmmm.... Best Matthew