The Night Mail

[SM42]

3 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've used toilet paper (single ply only) to reasonable effect in the past but luckily  avoid the quilted type and I don't have puppies embossed on the van roof either. I supect paper tissues would work just a well being of lighter texture  or Izals shiny side down

 

3 hours 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. 

 

It is one of those strange things where something vastly overscale (roof texture, as long as it doesn't go to extremes.) often doesn't look out of place as the eye sort of expects it in the larger scales

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

52 minutes ago, SM42 said:

It is one of those strange things where something vastly overscale (roof texture, as long as it doesn't go to extremes.) often doesn't look out of place as the eye sort of expects it in the larger scales

 

Andy

There is a lot of over emphasis in larger scale modelling such as extreme contrast and over deep woodgrain which seems quite acceptable.  I think a lot of it originates from the 1/35 Military diorama brigade.

[jamie92208]

Having done the deed with real canvas, they were usually held down with battens and at the sides and ends were tucked under and secured with beading so that there were no exposed nail heads to attract water.  The trick was to put a thick coat of paint on the timber, then place the canvas, and when it was stretched and secured to add one of more coats of tick paint, white lead in the railway's case, nowadays mastic mixed with white spirit. It sticks to you fingers and takes a week to get off, even when wearing gloved.

A  real messy boys day doing that.

 

Jamie

[laurenceb]

The so-called Spanish school, over emphasised panel lines on planes. Parking planes with flaps down "because it looks good". You will gather I an not a fan

Edited February 10, 2021 by laurenceb
Reply to H Hipo

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

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?

Can't find the drill?

[Happy Hippo]

34 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Having done the deed with real canvas, they were usually held down with battens and at the sides and ends were tucked under and secured with beading so that there were no exposed nail heads to attract water.  The trick was to put a thick coat of paint on the timber, then place the canvas, and when it was stretched and secured to add one of more coats of tick paint, white lead in the railway's case, nowadays mastic mixed with white spirit. It sticks to you fingers and takes a week to get off, even when wearing gloved.

A  real messy boys day doing that.

 

Jamie

I felt up the shed roof in the same way.  Black mastic paint onto the timbers then roll the felt over the top and press down.

 

 The ends get some clout headed nails put in to hold everything in place before the barge boards go on.

 

 

The end battens on vans and the rain strips over the doors have to be secured from the top. But I'm not sure whether they were nailed in place or screwed down.

 

 

[jamie92208]

32 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I felt up the shed roof in the same way.  Black mastic paint onto the timbers then roll the felt over the top and press down.

 

 The ends get some clout headed nails put in to hold everything in place before the barge boards go on.

 

 

The end battens on vans and the rain strips over the doors have to be secured from the top. But I'm not sure whether they were nailed in place or screwed down.

 

 

Probably screwed down with plenty of white lead between the batten and the canvas. We didn't find any nails in the tram apart from a few pins holding trim on on covering the exterior joints.  Wooden vehicles moved a lot in use and only screws hold things together.

 

Jamie

 

Jamie

[bbishop]

Completed my assessment for Core Knowledge for C19 Vaccination Care Assistant.  10 questions, knew 9 answers, bullshat the 10th = 100% first time.  Then first read through of Pfizer knowledge and print out the learning objectives, Friday = second read through making notes against the objectives, then take the assessment.

 

Wagon rooves in 7mm.  Rub down with fine wet and dry.  Paint dark grey.

 

Do you all realise that we have collectively reached 200 pages?

 

Bill

[NHY 581]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I felt up the shed roof in the same way. 

 

 

 

 

[simontaylor484]

2 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Can't find the drill?

Usually its the chuck key with me even though i have several keys and an sds drill with jacobs attatchment. 

I also have a keyless chuck battery drill but every time i need the chuck key its not there. I blame the ghost of the mother in law causing problems from beyond the grave.again

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Richard,

 

A question for you (and anyone else interested). What do we think the best way would be to remove this stripped drain cock from the boiler on this Bassett Lowke Mogul which once frequented this thread?

 

 

 

I ask as for Christmas I obtained a very nice set of BA taps and dies, which would, assuming the bushing isn’t broken, allow me to in theory repair the engine, and see if the valve lapping on the regulator has helped. Courage has finally been built up over the past two months, not helped by my getting up every morning and seeing the engine staring me in the face and screaming “look how thy hath failed.”

 

A few things to note: The is also a sheared off tap in the drain hole, from a failed attempt at removing it. The thing spins in the bushing, but cannot be moved by hand. The bushing doesn’t appear to be spinning though, which is a good thing. 
 

Douglas
 

 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, NHY 581 said:

 

 

I recognise that one from a security poster:

 

Baaader Meinhof

[Happy Hippo]

Douglas ,

 

How is it attached to the boiler?/How have you attached it to the boiler?

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

I use the garage staple of blue roll for 7mm wagon roofs, Richard.

 

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

3 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Douglas ,

 

How is it attached to the boiler?/How have you attached it to the boiler?

 

 

It’s screwed into the bushing for the whistle.

[Happy Hippo]

So you should be able to unscrew it!.

 

However, if it's stuck and you can't get enough purchase on it, then cut it off  as close to the base as possible and use the existing hole in the middle to drill a hole that is large enough to take a stud extractor.  This will have a left hand thread on it so as you screw it into the hole it will dig into the sides of the plug and remove it at the same time.

 

Then you can run the appropriate finishing tap back through the threaded bush to make sure it's cleaned out properly and has no burrs, then you can fit what you want to it again.

 

You need to have a stable platform to do this so take the boiler off the frames and secure it so it cannot move.  Do not just stick the boiler in a vice as it may distort  if you overtighten the vice

Edited February 10, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[PhilJ W]

10 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 was going to suggest masking tape but Jamie beat me to it.

8 hours 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

Half inch masking tape also makes an ideal representation of roofing felt in 00 scale.

[J. S. Bach]

7 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

NHN,

 I have not forgotten the EP3; I just located it this evening so sometime tomorrow I will take it outside for better lighting. It its painted in the older green scheme. Here is a poorly lit photo:

Note that this is O scale 1/48 and the wire around the body is there to hold the roof on for shipping.

Edited February 11, 2021 by J. S. Bach

[jamie92208]

7 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

NHN,

 I have not forgotten the EP3; I just located it this evening so sometime tomorrow I will take it outside for better lighting. It its painted in the older green scheme. Here is a poorly lit photo:

Note that this is O scale 1/48 and the wire around the body is there to hold the roof on for shipping.

Great locos. Funnily enough I'm currently re reading Middleton's classic, "When the steam railroads electrified" those big box cabs appeal to me.

 

Jamie

Edited February 11, 2021 by jamie92208

[New Haven Neil]

Thanks JSB Dave - that's a beast! Oooh yeah.....now if I could just....nooooooo

[PhilJ W]

This popped up on my Farcebook.

https://rapidotrains.co.uk/product-suggestion/?fbclid=IwAR0jfBMrVU-8KXnTSI5iUQC39kMPfcO6Uhi-0cYHTSTHzqy6AcndkrBmAso

I'm going to suggest the class 502/503 EMU's, what would you suggest?

[Erichill16]

Just been reading the BBC news, in particular the item regarding Pablo Escobars ‘pet’ hippos. Not a particularly pleasant item. 
Hope you’re keeping well.

Robert

[Happy Hippo]

39 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

Just been reading the BBC news, in particular the item regarding Pablo Escobars ‘pet’ hippos. Not a particularly pleasant item. 
Hope you’re keeping well.

Robert

This is one of the problems of people introducing non native species into countries. 

 

American Grey Squirrels and Mink into this country, or the Rabbits into Australia are well known examples.

 

Less well known but of great concern are Reticulated and Indian/Burmese Pythons in the Everglades of Florida after their keepers realised they were too big to keep just took them into the countryside and let them go.  Of course they are now breeding and pose a serious ecological threat.

 

I've handled a few Indian/Burmese pythons in my time and they are very strong:  Once they get over a certain size, they can become a danger unless handled correctly.  I wouldn't go near any Reticulated Python as they are very bad tempered, and getting bitten by one is a serious matter.  (Not venomous, but so many teeth and a mouth full of bacteria, and unlike a venomous reptile, they don't bite and let go, but keep hanging on.)

 

People who buy one as a pet because it looks cool, have absolutely no idea of the responsibility they have, both for the snakes welfare and their own safety because, once it gets above it gets above a certain length it looks at you as a potential next meal!

Edited February 11, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[SM42]

Rejoice! rejoice!

 

Today is Tlusty Czwartek. ( a noble tradition)

 

Fat Thursday

 The perfect excuse to eat cake with no recriminations from Mrs SM42.

 

Large quantities of doughnuts are on order and I shall shortly be collecting ours once the police escort turns up.  ( can never be too careful in these parts - Nextdoorhipposhire)

 

The local Polish shop has ordered 1000 doughnuts today. They dont expect them to last much past early afternoon. 

Must be expecting a bear to visit around lunchtime.

 

Andy

(mmm doughnuts )

[Happy Hippo]

2 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Rejoice! rejoice!

 

Today is Tlusty Czwartek. ( a noble tradition)

 

Fat Thursday

 The perfect excuse to eat cake with no recriminations from Mrs SM42.

 

Large quantities of doughnuts are on order and I shall shortly be collecting ours once the police escort turns up.  ( can never be too careful in these parts - Nextdoorhipposhire)

 

The local Polish shop has ordered 1000 doughnuts today. They dont expect them to last much past early afternoon. 

Must be expecting a bear to visit around lunchtime.

 

Andy

(mmm doughnuts )

Rejoice indeed.

 

You will Polish them off in short order!

 

Having  now been given a new excuse to eat cake, I have recorded the day and date in the diary, I will get creative in the kitchen.

 

I fear that the fact this is an annual event, may get lost in translation and become a monthly, or even weekly tradition in order to show continued support and solidarity with little Poland across the border.

 

 

Alexa, play the Hallelujah Chorus!