Wright writes.....

[Coach bogie]

So what I have done this year? Not as much as planned. I have built several coaches, mainly by task building, shells in the winter, painting in the summer, finishing in Autumn. Sill a few to finish.

 

Work has somewhat overtaken everything.  Tony will probably appreciate this. My school senior management ‘wellbeing’ initiative to reduce workload and stress, actually added 40% more GCSE students to my roll, much reducing my available time for proper work like making trains.

 

I still managed to build the SEF/Wills pannier featured previously and a Bulldog from a wreck bought at a show. I converted another Bulldog from a Bachmann Dukedog. Next year's loco project is I a GWR 303 double frame pannier, currently at planning stage being semi – scratchbuilt from various parts, and to complete the few remaing working signals.

 

The one that stands out was never in the plan. The MSJWR acquired stock from the Midland. The MSJWR was absorbed by the GWR. I had a call that there was a set of Bedford etches for this brake compo available, which ended up on the workbench. I slotted the build in somewhere and here is the result. It will run with a pair of GWR non corridor clerestories.

 

Just finished, and delivered (I hope the paint had dried??), are these two, both from Worsley Works etches. The left one is a D31 from full body etches, and the right a D33 sides/ends only on a Hornby body. A good friend has been nursing his wife and his modelling has all but stalled and she wanted to give him something for his layout at Christmas and I was asked if I could sort something out for her. As I was building the same for me, I batch built a second pair at the same time. Nice way to end the year.

 

 

Merry Christmas and a happy modelling new year to you all.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, Coach bogie said:

So what I have done this year? Not as much as planned. I have built several coaches, mainly by task building, shells in the winter, painting in the summer, finishing in Autumn. Sill a few to finish.

 

Work has somewhat overtaken everything.  Tony will probably appreciate this. My school senior management ‘wellbeing’ initiative to reduce workload and stress, actually added 40% more GCSE students to my roll, much reducing my available time for proper work like making trains.

 

I still managed to build the SEF/Wills pannier featured previously and a Bulldog from a wreck bought at a show. I converted another Bulldog from a Bachmann Dukedog. Next year's loco project is I a GWR 303 double frame pannier, currently at planning stage being semi – scratchbuilt from various parts, and to complete the few remaing working signals.

 

The one that stands out was never in the plan. The MSJWR acquired stock from the Midland. The MSJWR was absorbed by the GWR. I had a call that there was a set of Bedford etches for this brake compo available, which ended up on the workbench. I slotted the build in somewhere and here is the result. It will run with a pair of GWR non corridor clerestories.

 

Just finished, and delivered (I hope the paint had dried??), are these two, both from Worsley Works etches. The left one is a D31 from full body etches, and the right a D33 sides/ends only on a Hornby body. A good friend has been nursing his wife and his modelling has all but stalled and she wanted to give him something for his layout at Christmas and I was asked if I could sort something out for her. As I was building the same for me, I batch built a second pair at the same time. Nice way to end the year.

 

 

Merry Christmas and a happy modelling new year to you all.

 

Mike Wiltshire

Wonderful stuff, Mike,

 

Thanks for showing us.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Coach bogie]

4 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

More..................

 

 

Shap in OO.

 

I really like the Shap layout but I am not convinced the lineside photographer is 4mm  scale

Mike Wiltshire

[The Johnster]

Perspective, MIke.  The train is SMALL but the photographer is NOT FAR AWAY (apologies to Father Ted).

[Woodcock29]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Tony and Mo and all readers and participants.

 

I expect to post some photos of what I've built this year later in the week.

 

Andrew

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, Woodcock29 said:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Tony and Mo and all readers and participants.

 

I expect to post some photos of what I've built this year later in the week.

 

Andrew

Thanks Andrew,

 

And a very merry Christmas to all our friends down-under.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[dibateg]

Thanks for posting the Layout photos Tony, what excellent work.

 

I used to build all my locos with compensation in 4mm, much to the disgust of Tony W.. In the light of experience I found 3 point compensation quite unstable in certain situations, I wouldn't do it in 7mm. All the locos I build now have working hornblocks and the locos sit on the adjuster screws, although I horrified som,e by just fitting Slaters hornblocks that just have a non adjustable peg... Just file a bit off if you need to...  Some kits are designed with a rigid axle and an independent twin beam arrangement for the other axles, that works quite well. I like to have all the wheels on the track picking up current. That's just the way I do it, neither right nor wrong.

 

Main achievement this year is 34091 for a client from a Finney7 kit. Painted by Paul Moore:-

 

 

I forgot to paint the clad pipes on the right hand side, that's been corrected since.

 For myself - and just awaiting some castings a David Andrews LNER O1. I don't seem to have done so much this year, but there have been lots of small background jobs and work on the layout.

 

Although I did complete the 22 wagon iron ore tippler train - four wagons seen here on Heyside:-

 

I did manage to complete all the baseboards for Basford North, just lifting section and embankment to make next year.

 

 

Regards

Tony

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2019 by dibateg
Botched up

[Oldddudders]

Anyone who has ever tried to photograph a layout must realise just what Tony manages to do with apparent ease. And he uses a full-frame Nikon, with inherently less depth-of-field than any compact or small-sensor camera, yet everything is in focus. Not a skill to be underestimated. 

[LNERandBR]

None of this modern frame stacking either. He works his magic with one long exposure.

[Clem]

1 hour ago, dibateg said:

All the locos I build now have working hornblocks and the locos sit on the adjuster screws

Hi Tony, I hope you're keeping well. Funny you should say this. Springing locomotives using this method would be my preferred way of chassis building in 4mm too but there doesn't seem to be the same items available in this scale. (Not strictly true - I have recently bought some Alan Gibson brass horn blocks which, I think, will modify to accept springs and adjuster screws). However, Maygib used to produce these in plastic, complete with screws and springs and I still have a stock of them. *  Tony Wright, please close your ears for the next bit, if you don't want to be horrified. *   What I have done in the past is to build a set of frames (brass) and glue (thixofix) a thin layer of plasticard on the inside surfaces with a number of pins through both layers to give a bit of belt and braces confidence. Using coupling rod jigs I then weld the plastic horn blocks to the inner plastic skin using Butatone. A couple of chassis were done like this over 30 years ago (in P4) and are still going strong. So far I've only done two EM locomotives using this method. For my next loco project, I will try out the Alan Gibson brass ones and I'll let you know the results. Obviously if brass versions of the old Maygib hornblck system were readily available, it'd be a no-brainer for me.

 

Merry Christmas to you and a Happy New Year!

[gr.king]

The readily visible results of my 2019 model making endeavours are rather limited, although that doesn't mean that I haven't been doing anything. A lot of boilers and fittings for Robinson B3 locos got cast at the beginning of the year, along with some other parts that somebody had asked me to make. I then did a quick tidy-up job on an old Kirk non-corridor LNER bogie brake coach that I'd had for some time, fitting new bogies, couplings to suit possible use on Grantham, and a more subtle teak finish than the original builder had achieved. I was then daft enough to embark on building, almost from scratch, a model of a 12 wheeled, clerestory roofed East Coast Joint Stock composite restaurant car. That ended up involving a vast amount of fiddly work to create the sides, even if I was able to adapt some resin parts that I could make fairly easily from existing moulds for the ends and for the roof. The search for sufficient information on which to base an "accurate" model also proved to be a much bigger task that I'd ever imagined, some questions in the end having to remain unanswered so that some parts of the model are based on probability, no mater how dubious, or outright conjecture! I even made a rod for my own back by attempting to make the whole interior "right", although precious little of it ends up visible through the old-fashioned drop-light style windows and I now have real doubts about the kind of seats I fitted. They seemed likely to be right at the time, but I keep spotting little bits of new information in places I hadn't previously though to look. Mike Trice, Dave Sutton and CAD-CAM very kindly came to my aid and provided me with a better option for the bogies than either of my original intentions, which were scratch building or use of some LNWR pattern cast whitemetal items (with or without modifications to disguise their origins).

 

Having gone to the trouble to make moulds for a number of the parts that were required for that carriage, I eventually decided after recovering from the shock of what it had all involved, that I really ought to try to put copies of the parts to use in the construction of a second vehicle in the same general style, but this time it's going to be a pantry-third, which has so far proceeded with rather less effort and head-scratching. It is a little further on than this picture shows, but I'm now waiting until Christmas is out of the way before embarking on a different method for making the roof this time, one I hope to be easier. Trying to flush-glaze the clerestory sides one pane at a time as I did on the original model might have driven me mad if I hadn't been mad already.

 

The rest of my modelling time this year seems to have been taken up with yet more mould making and repetitive casting of resin parts, plus participation in four exhibitions - if I haven't forgotten any.

Besides that there's been a lot of cycling, a fantastic holiday in Switzerland, a load of work around the house, garage and garden, a continuing effort to get out of my profession, the great satisfaction and relief of now having both children achieving the highest levels of academic qualification, and (like many I suspect) enough heard of the antics of puerile selfish politicians to create a mixture of fatigue, depression and eventual rage.

Happy Christmas all, and lets hope for a far better and more productive 2020.

Edited December 24, 2019 by gr.king

[t-b-g]

11 minutes ago, gr.king said:

The readily visible results of my 2019 model making endeavours are rather limited, although that doesn't mean that I haven't been doing anything. A lot of boilers and fittings for Robinson B3 locos got cast at the beginning of the year, along with some other parts that somebody had asked me to make. I then did a quick tidy-up job on an old Kirk non-corridor LNER bogie brake coach that I'd had for some time, fitting new bogies, couplings to suit possible use on Grantham, and a more subtle teak finish than the original builder had achieved. I was then daft enough to embark on building, almost from scratch, a model of a 12 wheeled, clerestory roofed East Coast Joint Stock composite restaurant car. That ended up involving a vast amount of fiddly work to create the sides, even if I was able to adapt some resin parts that I could make fairly easily from existing moulds for the ends and for the roof. The search for sufficient information on which to base an "accurate" model also proved to be a much bigger task that I'd ever imagined, some questions in the end having to remain unanswered so that some parts of the model are based on probability, no mater how dubious, or outright conjecture! I even made a rod for my own back by attempting to make the whole interior "right", although precious little of it ends up visible through the old-fashioned drop-light style windows and I now have real doubts about the kind of seats I fitted. They seemed likely to be right at the time, but I keep spotting little bits of new information in places I hadn't previously though to look. Mike Trice, Dave Sutton and CAD-CAM very kindly came to my aid and provided me with a better option for the bogies than either of my original intentions, which were scratch building or use of some LNWR pattern cast whitemetal items (with or without modifications to disguise their origins.

 

Having gone to the trouble to make moulds for a number of the parts that were required for that carriage, I eventually decided after recovering from the shock of what it had all involved, that I really ought to try to put copies of the parts to use in the construction of a second vehicle in the same general style, but this time it's going to be a pantry-third, which has so far proceeded with rather less effort and head-scratching. It is a little further on than this picture shows, but I'm now waiting until Christmas is out of the way before embarking on a different method for making the roof this time, one I hope to be easier. Trying to flush-glaze the clerestory sides one pane at a time as I did on the original model might have driven me mad if I hadn't been mad already.

 

The rest of my modelling time this year seems to have been taken up with yet more mould making and repetitive casting of resin parts, plus participation in four exhibitions - if I haven't forgotten any.

Besides that there's been a lot of cycling, a fantastic holiday in Switzerland, a load of work around the house, garage and garden, a continuing effort to get out of my profession, the great satisfaction and relief of now having both children achieving the highest levels of academic qualification, and (like many I suspect) enough heard of the antics of puerile selfish politicians to create a mixture of fatigue, depression and eventual rage.

Happy Christmas all, and lets hope for a far better and more productive 2020.

 

 

This appeared on a Facebook group today......

 

 

Is it any help?

 

The 12 wheeler looks really lovely. My favourite GNR carriages by a mile and the model, with guesswork or not, looks stunning.

Edited December 24, 2019 by t-b-g

[gr.king]

Many thanks Tony. That's a lovely picture of the interior of one of the diners with the "other" style of seats, the iron framed oval backed ones, which perhaps ought to be in my carriage instead of the wing-backed upholstered armchairs, although I have not seen any information on the treatment of the ECJS d.79 carriages after the Great War, save for them being cascaded to the areas in the early 20s and probably scrapped by 1936. "Smoking Strictly Prohibited" according to the flowing script inside the eaves of the roof...

As it happens, I already have a copy of that image, or one very much like it, plus another far less clear which seems to show a section of a similar diner with the probable script "Smoking Compartment" at the eaves.

I'm glad you posted the image anyway.

[Tony Wright]

6 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Anyone who has ever tried to photograph a layout must realise just what Tony manages to do with apparent ease. And he uses a full-frame Nikon, with inherently less depth-of-field than any compact or small-sensor camera, yet everything is in focus. Not a skill to be underestimated. 

That's very kind of you Ian,

 

I suppose any 'skill' can be obtained by practice (or in my case, a lot of trial and error!), and I've practised a lot with my photography down the years - at school, at art school, as a part-time job, teaching it, as a full-time job and now, in retirement, from time to time as required. 

 

I'm not sure whether the lenses I use give inherently less a depth of field than compact or small-sensor cameras. I did have a compact Nikon once, which took the picture below, but the quality of image (if blown up to full DPS) was way beneath what I insisted upon. 

 

 

It's a little fuzzy, but the sentiment is appropriate. 

 

The Nikon lenses I use stop down to F.29 or, with some camera fiddling which I don't understand, as small as F.32-F.50! That's more than enough to give (almost) unlimited depth of field.

 

This morning, I thought I'd finish off the year (or not far off) by taking some more shots of locos which are new to Little Bytham this last 12 month. With the girder bridge still missing, I took the opportunity of taking some views as if the cameraman were standing on the bridge (impossible with the bridge in situ). The apertures were between F.29 and F.45, dependent on the lens, and the camera was standing on a box. 

 

 

It's impossible to get the nearest carriage in focus (as well as the rest of the scene). Stacking would allow that, but, to me, it would appear unnatural. I built the A3 (which Geoff Haynes painted), and I also built the A1 (which Ian Rathbone painted). I don't know who built the 9F (painted by Larry Goddard {late of this forum}, but I detailed it and Geoff Haynes weathered it. 

 

 

This is the A5 I acquired from Roy Jackson's estate. Part-started, then dismantled, then fiddled with again, I took pity on it, built a set of OO frames for it, finished it, painted it and weathered it. An ideal LB 'layout loco'. 

 

 

The Austerity to the right is not new, but I acquired the K3 from a friend. Though the chassis was good (the new SE Finecast one), the original body was an old Wills one. I just built a new body for the nice chassis, painted it and weathered it. In the background, a DJH BR Standard 4 2-6-0, on a running-in turn from The Plant, performs pick-up duties. This was bought off a friend this year. It wasn't a good runner, but after a bit of tweaking it now performs beautifully. 

 

 

I built this V2 this year and Geoff Haynes painted it. Amazingly, I also built/painted/weathered several wagons in this rake this year!

 

 

The cameraman has now climbed down from the bridge to track level to capture three more newcomers this year.

 

I bought the A1 part-built from the estate of a deceased modeller. Its running was poor, so I rebuilt the chassis, then completed the whole thing, which Geoff Haynes painted for me. 

 

The L1 (on empty stock) was another 'in bits' acquisition from Roy's estate. Again, a rebuild, make a set of OO frames, paint and weather and another useful LB loco is the result. The BR Standar 4 2-6-0 has now moved across to the Down side. 

 

This is the only new loco on the M&GNR bit this year.....

 

 

When a shot of a B12 in the same position as this appeared in the latest Railway Modeller, a friend said he'd paint the lineside hut (the one in the B12 picture). Since that shot was taken, it's been painted, but thanks anyway. 

 

 

This is another acquisition this year from a deceased modeller's estate. Again, it was started (a Hornby conversion), and all I've done is build the chassis, complete/detail the bodywork and ask Geoff Haynes to paint it for me. It still needs front steps (an oversight), but it's another useful layout loco. I doubt if Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0s ran regularly on the M&GNR (if at all?), but this one was shedded at Nottingham, and Nottingham-based locos worked daily as far as Kings Lynn, so, maybe?

 

I've already mentioned Larry Goddard, and he built/painted the LMS cars in this picture (complete with 'piggly' numbers!). They arrived my way in a rather poor state last year - damaged and minus bogies. I've 'resurrected' them as well as I can, and they're now happy as layout coaches. 

 

I think in all the pictures above, the depth of field is fine. I cannot get on with stacking; it's far too complicated for me and produces unnatural effects at times. Remember that all these images are low-res jpegs (very small files) for submission on here. 

 

I think LB has had a most-successful year, culminating in its appearance in the current RM (many, many thanks, by the way, for all the kind comments about it). In the mag I mentioned a few imperatives, but I might have listed more, including weathering of everything, real coal in all tenders, crews in all cabs, among many others. 

 

One final imperative is 'modelling self-reliance'. A glance at what's above suggests I've been a bit remiss in that department, but it's my intention to build a lot more entirely for myself next year (having built a few locos for others in 2019). That's not because I need any more locos and stock, but being able to say 'I made that' is the ultimate imperative in my book. 

 

May I please take the opportunity to wish you and all posters on here the most Merry Christmas and Happy New Year?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited December 24, 2019 by Tony Wright
to clarify a point

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, gr.king said:

The readily visible results of my 2019 model making endeavours are rather limited, although that doesn't mean that I haven't been doing anything. A lot of boilers and fittings for Robinson B3 locos got cast at the beginning of the year, along with some other parts that somebody had asked me to make. I then did a quick tidy-up job on an old Kirk non-corridor LNER bogie brake coach that I'd had for some time, fitting new bogies, couplings to suit possible use on Grantham, and a more subtle teak finish than the original builder had achieved. I was then daft enough to embark on building, almost from scratch, a model of a 12 wheeled, clerestory roofed East Coast Joint Stock composite restaurant car. That ended up involving a vast amount of fiddly work to create the sides, even if I was able to adapt some resin parts that I could make fairly easily from existing moulds for the ends and for the roof. The search for sufficient information on which to base an "accurate" model also proved to be a much bigger task that I'd ever imagined, some questions in the end having to remain unanswered so that some parts of the model are based on probability, no mater how dubious, or outright conjecture! I even made a rod for my own back by attempting to make the whole interior "right", although precious little of it ends up visible through the old-fashioned drop-light style windows and I now have real doubts about the kind of seats I fitted. They seemed likely to be right at the time, but I keep spotting little bits of new information in places I hadn't previously though to look. Mike Trice, Dave Sutton and CAD-CAM very kindly came to my aid and provided me with a better option for the bogies than either of my original intentions, which were scratch building or use of some LNWR pattern cast whitemetal items (with or without modifications to disguise their origins).

 

Having gone to the trouble to make moulds for a number of the parts that were required for that carriage, I eventually decided after recovering from the shock of what it had all involved, that I really ought to try to put copies of the parts to use in the construction of a second vehicle in the same general style, but this time it's going to be a pantry-third, which has so far proceeded with rather less effort and head-scratching. It is a little further on than this picture shows, but I'm now waiting until Christmas is out of the way before embarking on a different method for making the roof this time, one I hope to be easier. Trying to flush-glaze the clerestory sides one pane at a time as I did on the original model might have driven me mad if I hadn't been mad already.

 

The rest of my modelling time this year seems to have been taken up with yet more mould making and repetitive casting of resin parts, plus participation in four exhibitions - if I haven't forgotten any.

Besides that there's been a lot of cycling, a fantastic holiday in Switzerland, a load of work around the house, garage and garden, a continuing effort to get out of my profession, the great satisfaction and relief of now having both children achieving the highest levels of academic qualification, and (like many I suspect) enough heard of the antics of puerile selfish politicians to create a mixture of fatigue, depression and eventual rage.

Happy Christmas all, and lets hope for a far better and more productive 2020.

What a fantastic achievement. 

 

Just what I mention in my previous post - modelling self-reliance. In spades!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

 .... Larry Goddard {late of this forum} .....

 

..... and much missed !!

 

If you look in here, Larry - season's greetings from this fellow 'grumpy old man'.

 

(If he doesn't, could someone who knows him please pass this on)?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[PupCam]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

The cameraman has now climbed down from the bridge to track level to capture three more newcomers this year.

 

I hope he's got the necessary permit!

 

Anyway,  a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.     No doubt see some of you, including Tony of course, at Stevenage in January.

 

Alan B

[t-b-g]

Those head on photos do look a little odd to me. Perhaps it is because any real photography rarely involves the photographer standing on the tracks! So the view from that position is one we are mostly unfamiliar with. Looking down slightly as if from a bridge, or from the side as if over a fence, seems much more natural than a view standing in the 6ft or the 4ft way with a train approaching.

 

Just sometimes I see it on a prototype picture and it looks odd to me in that situation too.

 

Merry Christmas to all who have taken part in, or even just looked at, the best thread on RMWeb!

[grahame]

With a nod to the latest photography subject theme mentioned, I've just taken this quick snap. The lens is a Nikkor micro 105mm stopped down to f36. The image has just been reduced in pixel terms and is not cropped or any other effects like sharpening or perspective control applied. The camera is a quite old Nikon D7000 so having a DX sensor the crop factor of that will have effectively increased the focal length. The model is about 20 inches long, N/2mm scale and placed at about 45 degrees to the camera plane:

 

[Tony Wright]

27 minutes ago, t-b-g said:

Those head on photos do look a little odd to me. Perhaps it is because any real photography rarely involves the photographer standing on the tracks! So the view from that position is one we are mostly unfamiliar with. Looking down slightly as if from a bridge, or from the side as if over a fence, seems much more natural than a view standing in the 6ft or the 4ft way with a train approaching.

 

Just sometimes I see it on a prototype picture and it looks odd to me in that situation too.

 

Merry Christmas to all who have taken part in, or even just looked at, the best thread on RMWeb!

But, other than the last of the main line pictures and the two of the Ivatt on the M&GNR, 'I'm' NOT standing in the 4', 6' or the 10'.

 

As mentioned, the camera is standing on what would be the overbridge, which the trains will pass beneath or have just gone under. For the photographer to be standing in the 10' to take the picture (as in the repeated shot below), he'd have to be a giant! 

 

 

Work out the maths. To the top of an A1's chimney above rail height is just over 13' (in reality). Do you know any 13' tall humans? Let alone 16' ones, because we're at least 3' (scale) taller than the top of the A1. All I did was place a stout box, which was the same height as the deck of the overbridge, across the tracks and placed the camera on top of it. If you figure out the perspective, the camera is at about the same height as the footbridge in the distance (the horizon).

 

From memory, it's about the same height (in scale) above the tracks as the lattice footbridge at Retford used to be (before it was first lifted with the 1976 realignment and finally demolished with electrification). Watching a Pacific belting underneath it was rather unnerving. It was very close! 

 

 

Just like this! What's the clearance from the top of the A4's boiler? 3'? Maybe less? About the same as in my previous pictures.

 

Regards, and a Merry Christmas, 

 

Tony. 

 

P. S. And don't forget, it's the numerous contributors (such as yourself) who make this thread what you think it to be! 

Edited December 24, 2019 by Tony Wright
to clarify a point

[Tony Wright]

11 minutes ago, grahame said:

With a nod to the latest photography subject theme mentioned, I've just taken this quick snap. The lens is a Nikkor micro 105mm stopped down to f36. The image has just been reduced in pixel terms and is not cropped or any other effects like sharpening or perspective control applied. The camera is a quite old Nikon D7000 so having a DX sensor the crop factor of that will have effectively increased the focal length. The model is about 20 inches long, N/2mm scale and placed at about 45 degrees to the camera plane:

 

Wonderful!

[t-b-g]

9 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

But, other than the last of the main line pictures and the two of the Ivatt on the M&GNR, 'I'm' NOT standing in the 4', 6' or the 10'.

 

As mentioned, the camera is standing on what would be the overbridge, which the trains will pass beneath or have just gone under. For the photographer to be standing in the 10' to take the picture (as in the repeated shot below), he'd have to be a giant! 

 

 

Work out the maths. To the top of an A1's chimney above rail height is just over 13' (in reality). Do you know any 13' tall humans? Let alone 16' ones, because we're at least 3' (scale) taller than the top of the A1. All I did was place a stout box, which was the same height as the deck of the overbridge, across the tracks and placed the camera on top of it. If you figure out the perspective, the camera is at about the same height as the footbridge in the distance (the horizon).

 

From memory, it's about the same height (in scale) above the tracks as the lattice footbridge at Retford used to be (before it was first lifted with the 1976 realignment and finally demolished with electrification). Watching a Pacific belting underneath it was rather unnerving. It was very close! 

 

 

Just like this! What's the clearance from the top of the A4's boiler? 3'? Maybe less? About the same as in my previous pictures.

 

Regards, and a Merry Christmas, 

 

Tony. 

 

P. S. And don't forget, it's the numerous contributors (such as yourself) who make this thread what you think it to be! 

 

I was only referring to the two taken from track level on the M & G N. The rest look like totally natural positions that a real photographer would seek out to take a photo.

 

  

[LNER4479]

19 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

I really like the Shap layout but I am not convinced the lineside photographer is 4mm  scale

Mike Wiltshire

 

 

Eek! Mind me drystone wall...

 

(No worries - made of strong stuff)

[Jesse Sim]

Good Morning and a very Merry Christmas to all.

 

2019 for me well, sh*t what a roller coaster of a year for me....but modelling wise what a terrific year, started my first locomotive kit, finished the extension on my layout, which is now ballasted and ready for scenics in the new year. I really moved up in the kit building side of things, white metal wagons I’m really enjoying I’m smashing one out in a few hours (not including painting). 
 

Another trip to the UK, meeting new people and seeing everyone who I’ve met over the last few years again! You all know who you are, many thanks to all of you, all of you have really guided me much more this year I feel then the rest. If I may toot my own horn, I really found that this year I stamped my name into the British Modelling world. I am both proud and honoured. 
 

The lesson of the year for me was dodging, learning how to dodge certain things in modelling to trick the eye. 
 

Many thanks again to all and all the best for the New Year. 
 

The ever annoying convict 

 

Jesse 
 

 

[Tony Wright]

8 minutes ago, Jesse Sim said:

Good Morning and a very Merry Christmas to all.

 

2019 for me well, sh*t what a roller coaster of a year for me....but modelling wise what a terrific year, started my first locomotive kit, finished the extension on my layout, which is now ballasted and ready for scenics in the new year. I really moved up in the kit building side of things, white metal wagons I’m really enjoying I’m smashing one out in a few hours (not including painting). 
 

Another trip to the UK, meeting new people and seeing everyone who I’ve met over the last few years again! You all know who you are, many thanks to all of you, all of you have really guided me much more this year I feel then the rest. If I may toot my own horn, I really found that this year I stamped my name into the British Modelling world. I am both proud and honoured. 
 

The lesson of the year for me was dodging, learning how to dodge certain things in modelling to trick the eye. 
 

Many thanks again to all and all the best for the New Year. 
 

The ever annoying convict 

 

Jesse 
 

 

Of course it's already Christmas Day with you Jesse.

 

All the very best,

 

Tony.