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Thanks folks :imsohappy:

 

I did definitely have the body Mike... Other Mike, I'm equally looking forward to seeing Primrose Hill!

 

Giles, most of the ideas were pinched from your thread, so thank you- unfortunately I couldn't get away without varnishing the transfers on the cab which rather spoilt the attempt at the "oily rag" look, I did do the cutting back with 2000 grit on the cabsides then promptly lost it under the varnish- ahh well!

 

I have to reiterate that I can take no credit whatsoever for the layout, all Dave's hard work.

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Ah...... Well, if your careful, you can actually do the cutting back trick to the varnish, as well as paint - the same applies (so long as it has gone off) the only thing one has to be very careful of is not to go right through the varnish, as you then can't get rid of the 'joint' line, without re-varnishing. The NG Bagnall has this technique applied to the varnish coat, rather than the paint coat.....

 

(If in doubt, do a test piece)

 

None the less, I think you've got a better, much more plausible panel than you otherwise would have got. Superb.

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Ah...... Well, if your careful, you can actually do the cutting back trick to the varnish, as well as paint - the same applies (so long as it has gone off) the only thing one has to be very careful of is not to go right through the varnish, as you then can't get rid of the 'joint' line, without re-varnishing.

 

Ahh, yes... if you look at the photo from the back, you can see where I managed to do just that- I suspect it hadn't quite gone off, and as such there's an edge line across the bottom of the cab windows. Happily it looks a little like peeling paint so I decided I could ignore it! That was polishing the black wash (and weathering powders/ talc mix) off with a cotton bud damped with white spirit, as opposed to a deliberate attempt to cut back the varnish, which I didn't think would work- no idea why, as it's a perfectly normal thing to do to a car!

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Absolutely..... I find that white spirit will soften and start removing the paint and varnish, so I don't use it at all, similarly, I don't use cotton buds with anything wet. My ideal is kitchen towel, which, being paper, is slightly abrasive, and used dry, will gently polish very nicely - or if more is needed, a very quick wipe with Duraglit, let the solvent evaporate off, and then polish with kitchen towel.

If hard pressed, I would put a bit of T-Cut on a cotton bud, let it dry off, and then use it (rather than using it wet)

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Good to see you managed to make transfers from the BTS signage that I emailed. The Fowler is looking good and almost makes me want to get out in the shed and build a railway for my own Fowler (and the rest).

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Yup, worked a treat Dave! Laura changed the colour in photoshop and Tim printed them for us.

 

And yes, you've got the shed built, seem to remember it's even mostly insulated, the weather is getting warmer, stop messing about with plastic 'planes and get on with it! :sungum:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just a quick bump to say that BT&S will definitely (well, unless the hall floods, the van breaks down or I get lost on the 5 mile journey) be at Hardwicke on Sunday. Still plenty of extra detailing bits to do so don't expect a fully finished layout, but we have fixed most the damage from the move (including the bits that chipped away from the concrete apron, which I was dreading doing I admit!). Frantically trying to finish a couple of vans to boost the rolling stock availability- this is something I plan on working on over Summer but for now we're a bit short handed.

 

Pleased to say that we had a successful test of the rewired points and they are now running off of a moveable control panel instead of stud contacts on the front of the board, fingers crossed it'll be alright on the night. I've also just had a "Multimaus" set arrive from Germany to replace the Dynamis, which should eliminate the "out of range, out of control" issues with the latter... Will be looking out for a Lokmaus as a second handset as I hope to eventually set up to run with two operators when available. It'll just be me at Hardwicke though!

 

We also trialled the new legs- these are actually folding keyboard stands, they seem to work rather well although I may look at getting some additional bracketry welded on to better support the layout before attending any bigger/ busier shows. I didn't want fixed folding legs as there's a chance that the layout will live on top of fixed units when at home (a prospective house move is on the cards with a room that might just have enough space to put the layout up in- a luxury I don't currently have!).

 

I had hoped to repaint the front edge of the baseboards and the backscene too, my good lady has been doing the former for me but we've run out of time to do the backscene- pleased with how the front has come out though.

 

Looking forward to it- please do come and say hi, and you are more than welcome to run something- the clearances are very tight in places though!  

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Cheers Tim, good to catch up again- apologies for being slightly bemused when you arrived, I'd not long got it working!

 

To review our first show then:

 

By the time we'd help get the test track up and running, and then managed to get the van near the door (very near, which upset someone but it was raining and we were only there 2 minutes- ho hum) to unload and thrown the layout up (quite quick- the keyboard stands work well) it wasn't too far off opening time, so I was somewhat dismayed when only half the points worked (in some cases, half of a point worked!). This was found to be a combination of things, I'd swapped the lead to the switches for a longer one and I think we were seeing too much current drop, luckily I'd put screws in to mount the box on the centre board with the short lead which bought most the points back to life. A dislodged pin in the control box female connector (as a result of a bent pin on the male, ooh err!) got another one working, and another couple of escaped pins on one of the board connectors got another going. The final one reanimated with a drop of oil and some wiggling, just as the show opened!

 

Fortunately it all behaved after that- Harry (one of the Antics team) not only lent us a few of his wagons & his Ixion Hudswell, but he'd spent the Saturday fitting sound & finishing weathering it- and very nice it looked too. Dave Murdoch also lent us a couple of his engines so we had a very shiny Peckett in the morning and a beautiful LSWR liveried B4 for the afternoon. The Peckett was a little overwidth in places so mostly stayed on shed but the B4 just about went everywhere and did get some use- and a fair few photographs. Two locos seems to be the ideal, three tends to get things a bit cluttered (unless one just hides in the shed entrance).

 

I was also pleased with the Multimaus DCC set up, other than being out of calibration so the centre off wasn't actually off it worked perfectly and is much easier than the Dynamis. The "black box" is so light that I've stuck it to the layout with some double sided tape, so the track feed is permanently attached and all I need to do is plug in the transformer jack and the controller- much less fiddly.

 

Dave's modelling got a lot of compliments- general consensus was that it was a crime to keep it shut up the conservatory, and even more of a crime to lop 2ft off the end to fit in in the shed! Very glad I bought it, and took the opportunity to take it on the road. We have had another couple of invites too for 2016- watch this space (Tim- I've had an email from Jim, will reply tonight ;) ).

 

Currently still set up to operate from the front, which is great from a chatting perspective but is something I might need to review before doing a bigger show. The main problem is getting in the way to couple & uncouple- the control panel should mount to the end board in front of the FY & factory siding which would put me less in the way. Despite being small it would really benefit from being run with two operators & two controllers, one "front of house" and one at the back sorting the fiddle yard and acting as shunter.

 

Lots of fun, a bit of work to do and a bit to think about.

Edited by brianthesnail96
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  • 3 months later...

Nearly 4 months without progress- blimey.

 

All has been a bit busy of late- as well as getting involved with a couple of traction engines (Garrett 4CD in Showman's trim and a lovely old Fowler Roller, for those interested in such things- will get some photos up), we've bought a house. This has understandably been a bit of a time- sink. However we're getting there now, and I'm cautiously optimistic that BT&S might just fit in the back room in it's entirely. At the very minimum I'll have room for a proper workbench! Itching to get it back up and running and have a proper play, and do some more work before our next exhibition which is early 2016. Downside of this house buying lark apart from the time aspect is that I seem to have rather less disposable income than I did have, so the rolling stock fleet has not expanded as I'd hoped...

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