mike morley

Enjoy your well-deserved retirement.

But did you remember the gin to go with the tonic?  It would, after all, be a tragedy to drink neat tonic.

Your luck was obviously in.  I trust you bought a lottery ticket?

Brunel meets Gerry Anderson

Overlapping replies.

FB rail soldered to copperclad sleepers, so are upright.

Yep!

They were supposedly to 12mm gauge (my narrow gauge modelling is in 5.5mm scale) but they grew from 11.25mm to 11.95mm.

They were quite chunky, admittedly, but even so . . .

I laid my first track for a decade or so over the weekend.  What a hash I made of it, too!  Back to baby-steps for me.

There have been times in this country when it's been so hot and humid that the very idea of putting on a set of leathers and a crash helmet has meant the Yamaha has stayed in the shed.  I can imagine that anyone contemplating, say, a ride across Death Valley or the veldt would be more than happy to have a bike equipped with air-con (at least, they would until they realised what it did to their fuel consumption!)

I've just been out to my shed and found it swaying and rocking so much I think I'd end up seasick if I stayed in there more than a few minutes!

As nissed as a pewt.

But that it happens all the time now, when it only used to happen rarely, if ever, suggests that it is not anything like as user-friendly as it used to be.

I though it was only me who did this kind of thing

Are Humbrol paints available in BC?  If so, get the Metal Cote Gunmetal.  My tin has got 27004 stamped into the lid, which I assume is Humbrol's reference number. 

If it's not available in Canada it's quite definitely not worth the astronomical costs that would undoubtedly be involved in buying it from the UK.  It might be worth trying to mix your own version.  Metalcote is a thick black enamel paint with a lot of ultra-fine metal fragments in it, not unlike a small-scale, brush-on version of the metallic aerosol paints you can get from car shops.  I have to stress that I've not tried this myself so it might not work, but if I was to try and make my own I'd use some ordinary black enamel, a lump of steel and a small, fine file.  It would undoubtedly take some time and effort to create enough metal filings to have the necessary effect so I'd advise wielding the file first before adding the small amounts of paint needed to mix with it.  Some experimenting would undoubtedly be needed and even then it might not work, but it's the best I can think of.

If it does work, it is particularly useful for weathering.  The approved method with Metalcote is to paint it on, let it dry then polish it using a cotton bud to create a metallic sheen.  I use it on loco brake gear, footplates and so on but I've seen experts use it to create that silvery sheen that old, unpainted wood has.

Having written all that, it belatedly occurs to me that US modellers are streets ahead of us in the UK when it comes to weathering techniques and materials, so they have undoubtedly got an equivalent to Metalcote that is every bit as good, if not better and - more to the point - far cheaper and easier to obtain in Canada.  Take a look at some of the modelling tutorials that are available on YouTube (Some are so bad you'll find yourself staring at the screen in slack-jawed disbelief.  Others are so good you will find yourself gaping in awe!) and see what hints and tips you pick up there.  And dont confine yourself to the railway modelling videos.  The wargamers and military modellers can teach us a lot.

With regard to the brick arch on your water tower, it's fine as it is but would be improved further with a tiny, tiny hint of dark blue being added to a top coat of Metalcote.

Good luck, and let me know how you get on.

Mike

Whenever I've tried adblockers in the past I've found that a lot of sites (well over half) became quite clunky and a few flatly refused access unless I disabled the adblocker.

Very nice it was too.  Did the spider living in the flats in the corner ever get evicted?

Many years ago, on the Piccadilly  Line on my way home from a gig at Hammersmith Odeon (Whitesnake, possiby) someone had dumped an issue of 'Sounds' on which had been scrawled "Status Quo have found the lost chord.  Now they have two to play"

I've got the opposite problems - I can't find books I know I've got (Wild Swan on the Wantage Tramway) and have lent books to people who don't give them back (One of Iain Rice's Wild Swan books about layout design)

I'd say that where politicians are concerned, 'slimy' is a better word than 'slippery'.

Well timed!  I've just had a phone call from a friend who's desperate to offload the glut of marrows she's harvesting on her son's allotment.  Thanks for the suggestion, Kris!

Finally, finally found a clue.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/620641

I make it the ring itself is 2'3" off the ground, which would make the staple securing it 2'6".

Is this the agricultural/architectural equivalent of rivet-counting?  I've a horrible idea it is . . .

Similar temperature a few miles south in Milton Keynes.

Made me wonder, but quite definitely not in a "want to experience it" way, what it must have been like in British Columbia last week when the temperature hit 46 degrees.

Was there any sugar in the tea?  Will make the task much trickier if there was.

A long-standing member of a club I used to belong to died and, as often seems to happen in such circumstances, his widow gave all his modelling stuff to the club.  Amongst it was a flat box that had once held photographic paper but was now a depository for thick brown envelopes containing the etches of a dozen+ coach kits.  Another, not much bigger box contained small packets containing the castings to go with the coaches.  Presumably there was a file or an envelope somewhere containing all the instructions, but we never did find that.

We wondered if he stored them like that so it was less obvious to his wife just how many kits he'd got.

Wossa Johnny cake? (he asks, aware that he might regret so doing)

"You get better results with better equipment. But it’s difficult to justify if things don’t go well from the start."

Oh boy!  Does that ring true!

Some years ago I bought my first airbrush and compressor from a now defunct local model shop that the proprietor assured me was "Perfect for the beginner". After two weeks of dismal failure I went back to him, seeking advice.  He asked what set-up I'd got.  When I told him he snorted derisively.  "I'm not surprised you're not getting anywhere using rubbish like that!"

I've now got a Badger 200 and a decent compressor (bought elsewhere, of course) but the expectation of failure has become so ingrained it's now self-perpetuating.

A friend has suggested I enroll on one of Missenden's airbrushing courses, but that quite definitely counts as throwing good money after bad.