The Night Mail

[Winslow Boy]

H you kept this quiet. Summer residence no longer needed I take it. 

 

S T O P   P R E S S 

 

"The 'last chance' battle to save Hulme Hippodrome as it goes up for auction for nearly £1million."

 

 

The readies will at least allow you to splash out on grands layout.

 

 

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

3 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

H you kept this quiet. Summer residence no longer needed I take it. 

 

S T O P   P R E S S 

 

"The 'last chance' battle to save Hulme Hippodrome as it goes up for auction for nearly £1million."

 

 

The readies will at least allow you to splash out on grands layout.

 

 

 

 

 

If the sale goes through it will release enough capital to enable me to buy up most of Rhondda Cynon Taf.  I can have a full sized train set then 

 

 

[Tony_S]

30 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

The  undiagnosed cough continues to annoy me, and I've forgone the walk today as my trip earlier on show how much the cold air affects it.

Somewhere amongst all the pile of documentation I have been given for the various lung and heart conditions was something about not going out if it is really cold. The furry hoods on arctic parkas are supposed to protect against really cold air. I don’t know, I don’t have a furry Arctic parka. Aditi does though they (she must have about 3) are not real fur. On my trek (ok 4 minutes walk) through undisturbed  snow (about an inch) to the vaccine clinic I did cover my face with one of those  buff things I keep as an emergency face cover in case of mask failure when attending clinics. It was better coming home, the wind was behind me. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Tony_S

[jamie92208]

Richard, just move to France, plenty of muddy hollows at the moment  and out in the boondocks large sheds and barns come as free gifts with the houses. As to the 1.8mm drill, do what I do, use a 1.6 in my dremel and waggle it about a bit till the buffer fits.  I needed a 4,5mm drill the other night for the brake van buffers.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

13 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Richard, just move to France, plenty of muddy hollows at the moment  and out in the boondocks large sheds and barns come as free gifts with the houses. As to the 1.8mm drill, do what I do, use a 1.6 in my dremel and waggle it about a bit till the buffer fits.  I needed a 4,5mm drill the other night for the brake van buffers.

 

Jamie

I have a pack of square broaches in various sizes that could be wriggled around in plastic to enlarge the bore.

 

I suspect they are with the missing drill bits.

[jamie92208]

2 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have a pack of square broaches in various sizes that could be wriggled around in plastic to enlarge the bore.

 

I suspect they are with the missing drill bits.

Just don't use one of the obergrumpenfuhrer's broaches, that might not be a safe course of action.

 

Jamie

[Winslow Boy]

You probably said to yourself ' I know I'll put these somewhere where I won't loose them'

[laurenceb]

And we all know the quickest way to find them

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Just don't use one of the obergrumpenfuhrer's broaches, that might not be a safe course of action.

 

Jamie

I had a broaches/brooches conversation with Aditi a few weeks ago. She initially thought I was being stupid but now knows what a broach is. Not as much fun as when I thought she said the pork with pasta meal we were having was named after a town famous for racing pigs. I was asking whether it was the quickest or slowest that got eaten and did they use children for jockeys. After a few “what is the matter with you?” remarks she said RAISING not racing. 

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, laurenceb said:

And we all know the quickest way to find them

Where's the Squires catalogue.

 

Jamie

[Stuart]

9 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

It a bit on the chilly side today.

 

I had to make a delivery so took the car out and there is a spot on the 'main' road that floods due to inadequate drainage.

There is a hedge each side of the road and it is just twigs and branches at this time of the year, except where the spray lands when vehicles drive through the puddle.

At this point the hedges look as if they've been snowed on due to the spray turning to ice.

 

Apart from that, as is usual in the Telfland micro climate, the promised snow has failed to materialise.  One presumes it will arrive, probably in about late May!

 

The planning for the grandchildren's railway continues, although it is growing rather larger than first anticipated.

 

At this rate, I can see me renting a large industrial warehouse for my various railway schemes.

 

 

I was past the Hippodrome road end this afternoon - thought those hedges looked odd - ice?  I didn’t realise  it was that cold.....

 

Have you found a 1.8mm drill bit yet?  I’ll drop a couple off on my way to work.
 

 

[Happy Hippo]

8 hours ago, Stuart said:

 I’ll drop a couple off on my way to work.
 

 

Work! What's that?

 

Being unable to find anything in this establishment is subliminal procrastination.

[jamie92208]

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

Work! What's that?

 

The W word is a swear word in this maison.

 

Jamie

[coastalview]

Well this is rather concerning news.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/10/pablo-escobars-hippos-must-be-culled-to-halt-biodiversity-disaster-scientists?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

[Compound2632]

3 minutes ago, coastalview said:

Well this is rather concerning news.

 

Crossed wires. The word they were looking for was "panniers".

[Happy Hippo]

Looking at my small but well formed van fleet, I am considering covering the very smooth and shiny rooves with some form of tissue paper in order to create a canvas covered effect.

 

Has anyone else here tried such and do they have any recommendations?

 

We have plenty of decoupage paper in the stores as well as Kleenex balsam type tissues.

 

I did try toilet tissue once but the result was sh*t!

[NHY 581]

21 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Looking at my small but well formed van fleet, I am considering covering the very smooth and shiny rooves with some form of tissue paper in order to create a canvas covered effect.

 

Has anyone else here tried such and do they have any recommendations?

 

We have plenty of decoupage paper in the stores as well as Kleenex balsam type tissues.

 

I did try toilet tissue once but the result was sh*t!

 

Morning Richard. 

 

In 4mm, I weather the rooves using weathering powders before sealing with matt varnish. If this sealing is done from a distance, the varnish is almost dry at the point of landing on the roof. This does give a degree of texture. I'm not sure the application of tissue paper, even in 7mm will give a fine enough texture. I fear it might well be too coarse. 

 

Rob. 

[newbryford]

With thanks to the ebay madness thread I thought I'd just put this here.

 

Someone is under the impression that the G*R made locos that weren't 4-6-0s:

 

[NHY 581]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Looking at my small but well formed van fleet, I am considering covering the very smooth and shiny rooves with some form of tissue paper in order to create a canvas covered effect.

 

Has anyone else here tried such and do they have any recommendations?

 

We have plenty of decoupage paper in the stores as well as Kleenex balsam type tissues.

 

I did try toilet tissue once but the result was sh*t!

 

1 hour ago, NHY 581 said:

 

Morning Richard. 

 

In 4mm, I weather the rooves using weathering powders before sealing with matt varnish. If this sealing is done from a distance, the varnish is almost dry at the point of landing on the roof. This does give a degree of texture. I'm not sure the application of tissue paper, even in 7mm will give a fine enough texture. I fear it might well be too coarse. 

 

Rob. 

 

Here's a view of one my vans as per my above......

[Happy Hippo]

24 minutes ago, newbryford said:

With thanks to the ebay madness thread I thought I'd just put this here.

 

Someone is under the impression that the G*R made locos that weren't 4-6-0s:

 

That would be Churchward's 'The Great Poly Bear'.

[Happy Hippo]

Just now, NHY 581 said:

 

 

Here's a view of one my vans as per my above......

I am currently cleaning up after getting so enthusiastic about your previous post that in my excitement I knocked over the pot of Precision Paints Dirty Roof acrylic.

 

Fortunately it went onto my cutting mat so was immediately diluted with water and splashed over a couple of wagons who were a bit surprised by the early bath.

 

I am getting good results in 7mm  by running a 0.5 mm HB lead (in the pencil) down the plank indentations. Any excess gets rubbed into the surface ( a bit like a weathering powder).

 

I did consider dismantling the vans to paint them, but the one I did unscrew, I couldn't get the body away from the chassis, as I believe someone in the factory got a bit glue happy.

[Happy Hippo]

Stuart has just delivered the 1.8 mm drills!

 

I think he's the first member of the OFMC I've seen in about 6 months

 

What excuse can I now use to put off drilling out those shanks?

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Looking at my small but well formed van fleet, I am considering covering the very smooth and shiny rooves with some form of tissue paper in order to create a canvas covered effect.

 

Has anyone else here tried such and do they have any recommendations?

 

We have plenty of decoupage paper in the stores as well as Kleenex balsam type tissues.

 

I did try toilet tissue once but the result was sh*t!

I normally just use roof dirt from railmatch, however in 7mm Masking tape is an excellent  representation of canvas. Using 1" tape you could have sevrral strips of it. Very prototypical. Having covered a tram roof in canvas and painted it grey I can say that it looks right.

 

Jamie

Edited February 10, 2021 by jamie92208

[Tony_S]

I haven’t made any van kits for years but it was always at the roof stage I felt something went wrong. I don’t think I ever made a decent roof. 

[Happy Hippo]

8 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I normally just use roof dirt from railmatch, however in 7mm Masking tape is an excellent  representation of canvas. Using 1" tape you could have sevrral strips of it. Very prototypical. Having covered a tram roof in canvas and painted it grey I can say that it looks right.

 

Jamie

Somewhere in my garage I have some wider masking tape, which also might be suitable.

 

Now we need to find out how particular railway companies were when it came to weather proofing their vans.

 

Being a part time perfectionist, I'd be wanting the outer ends of the roof done first with a large central piece aligned so that the seams with the outers were equidistant from the van centre.

 

I suspect  most probably just started at one end and worked along so the seam pattern would be somewhat asymetric.

 

Of course securing the sheets with clout headed nails would eventually lead to a slight amount of water ingress which would cause the timber around the nail hole to start to rot;  the hole then enlarges and off comes the canvas.  Probably tearing rather than the whole lot lifting off like a magic carpet.