Wright writes.....

[Bucoops]

16 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hello Tony

 

I am normally impressed by 0 Gauge diesels but that one looks like a big plastic toy.

 

I agree - I thought it was an OO plastic one until I read the notes.

[Bucoops]

10 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Blame my photography.....................

 

Definitely not - the grilles and other fittings just look plastic to me

[Clive Mortimore]

42 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Blame my photography.....................

No, it is a good photo of a big plastic toy.

[Clive Mortimore]

48 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

Size is an interesting topic in railway modelling.  I am a great believer in portraying the railway in its setting, which is why I obviously model in 2mm scale.  Just to think that LB would be great in 7mm scale defeats the object of getting a broad line side view, which is what I presume Tony yearns for.  To achieve the line side view in 7mm scale one would have to stand further back - which then defeats the object.  I recollect that the Slaters 7mm scale model of Monsal Dale & Millers Dale didn’t work for me as you were too close to the action: Chee Tor in 2mm scale did a much better job. Seven millimetre scale models can give you an amazing trackside experience, but the bigger picture perhaps works best in the garden. 

 

Tim

Hi Tim

 

Irrespective of scale some layouts work as the railway passing through the scenery, be it an urban setting or lovely countryside. Others work wonderfully without anything being modelled past the railway boundary. I think good layouts work visually when the designer is able to put their vision into reality. Something very few of us can do.

[Tony Wright]

17 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

No, it is a good photo of a big plastic toy.

It's kind of you to praise my photography, but I think it's a bit strong to call it a 'toy'; big, or plastic.

 

You work in plastic (of which medium I'm not a fan), and, like it or not, it's what RTR stuff is made of nowadays, whatever scale or gauge (apart from a few exceptions - collectors' items or high-quality brass in O for instance). 

 

All it needs is a bit of weathering to bring it to 'life'..................

 

 

As with this Dapol O Gauge Pannier, weathered by Geoff Haynes. 

 

I think one must be very careful in being disparaging about others' models, whether they be RTR or hand-built. 

 

I always ask myself the question 'Could I do better?'

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[grahame]

6 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

It's kind of you to praise my photography, but I think it's a bit strong to call it a 'toy'; big, or plastic.

 

You work in plastic (of which medium I'm not a fan), and, like it or not, it's what RTR stuff is made of nowadays, whatever scale or gauge (apart from a few exceptions - collectors' items or high-quality brass in O for instance). 

 

All it needs is a bit of weathering to bring it to 'life'...............…

 

 

I agree about not being over critical or disparaging of other's models and it will probably look better when weathered, but unfortunately it does look rather 'plasticky': the grilles (as already mentioned), the bulbous shiny nose, the very straight bottom body edge and there seems to be a lack of pipes hanging off the buffer beam. Plus, of course, there are no TOPs numbers or the myriad of other warning/info signs and branding decals. Are they supplied separately for the purchaser to add?

 

G

[Long John Silver]

The livery on the Heljan 37 is very bright which can accentuate the plastic looks, in BR green it might look altogether more sober, and it's a big diesel with lots of relatively flat surfaces too, which also makes it more difficult to produce a realistic finish in plastic. To be fair I'm sure it's an excellent model for the price and gives the opportunity to make it your own by weathering and adding detail. I dabble a bit in American N Gauge modelling and find the finish on the N gauge diesels more realistic than on the HO models - particularly those in brighter liveries, again it's the smaller size. Of course that's just how my dodgy eye and brain combo sees things.

As for scale and gauge, I believe it's horses for courses. My 00 layout is urban, and I find the scale suits, and I can do some kit and scratch building, my American N is about the same size but represents a more rural area and N captures it well. I find myself more reliant on r-tr stock and kit bashing in N, as I don't have the skills to do intricate work work in that scale. I have immense respect for those that can in N/2mm, such as Atso, Grahame and Tim Watson.

 

 

[Jesse Sim]

Hello Tony, 

 

good news, the J39 is running, well when I hold wires to the motor from my DC track.....

 

my question is, how do you hold the motor in? 

 

Does the mounts get solded in? 

 

Many thanks 

 

jesse 

[Clive Mortimore]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

It's kind of you to praise my photography, but I think it's a bit strong to call it a 'toy'; big, or plastic.

 

You work in plastic (of which medium I'm not a fan), and, like it or not, it's what RTR stuff is made of nowadays, whatever scale or gauge (apart from a few exceptions - collectors' items or high-quality brass in O for instance). 

 

All it needs is a bit of weathering to bring it to 'life'..................

 

 

As with this Dapol O Gauge Pannier, weathered by Geoff Haynes. 

 

I think one must be very careful in being disparaging about others' models, whether they be RTR or hand-built. 

 

I always ask myself the question 'Could I do better?'

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

Hello Tony

 

It was a case of first impression. Now I have built my own Type 3, it was called a Hornby class 37 by a five year old kid. That is good enough for me. Could I do better? Now the Heljan one will be superior than my own, possibly more accurate, sturdier construction, run smoother and have all the modern lights and noise. It will come out of a box and I hope those opening their boxes will have the same satisfaction as I did when  made my first cut into the plastic card.

 

I still think it looks like a big plastic toy.

 

 

My little plastic toy.......made in a material I like to work in. It has been accidentally dropped, not by me but I still haven't repaired it.

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Though I'm not sure anything I've ever been involved with could be called 'sublime'; 'Of the most exalted kind, so distinguished by elevation or size or nobility or grandeur or other impressive quality as to inspire awe or wonder, aloof from & raised far above the ordinary..................'. OED.

You could try Edmund Burke's (he of the "peerage") definition:

 

"whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger... Whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror."

 

From Wikipedia (I know, I know): Burke believed that the sublime was something that could provoke terror in the audience, for terror and pain were the strongest of emotions. However, he also believed there was an inherent "pleasure" in this emotion. Anything that is great, infinite or obscure could be an object of terror and the sublime, for there was an element of the unknown about them.

 

Only joking...

[peach james]

19 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 

What I do decry is those who won't try; those who put up barriers as to why they shouldn't do their railway modelling for themselves. Those who are almost entirely reliant on others. I don't have the slightest problem with the guy/girl who just opens boxes, places everything down temporarily and has huge fun just 'playing trains'. They never claim to be anything they're not. Unlike those who, one might say, 'bask in reflected glory'. 

 

Now, and showing yet again my hypocrisy, I've just taken delivery of this 'Britannia' which Geoff Haynes has painted beautifully........................

 

 

But it doesn't, Tony W.  It doesn't show any hypocrisy.  You don't claim it as your own work- just like the lump up in my photos has about 3 hours so far of my work in it, but won't be "mine", no matter how much work remains to be done on it.  If you posted "look at this great loco I built", and missed out Geoff,  then it would show the taint of taking credit where credit is due to others.  

 

Long Marton is my layout, not anyone else's.  Same as LB is your layout, though you didn't build the track.  I didn't build the track for Long Marton- Peco did.  I did lay it, and I made the baseboards, did the scenery using Woodland Scenics stuff.  You don't try anywhere to claim that Norman Soloman didn't build the station track.  That's the difference- that you give out credit freely to those who have helped you make a smashing model of LB.  I've never seen in some 1428 pages so far, that you fail to give credit to others.

On the other subject, that of beginning modelers- I'd count myself almost in that crowd...I muck around with mostly commercially made trains, in a big landscape, but I have fun doing so.  I don't often build kits (though I do occasionally- else why would I have the BR Mk 1 sleepers from Comet Kits that are 1/2 finished & need painting).  That to me, comes from being under more of a time crunch than some others on here.  I've got my two kids to look after, and they take a whole bunch of my time.  I'm working 1/2 time or so, and that ends up at about it for time & interest.  I thought I'd get more done downstairs now I am retired from the Navy, but the kids take a LOT of my time (& huge amounts of stress...both lads are autistic)

 

James

[lanchester]

8 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hello Tony

 

I am normally impressed by 0 Gauge diesels but that one looks like a big plastic toy.

I think we have just hit on two conflicting problems. Modelling steam locomotives it has been rightly observed that we need to convey the impression of mass and heft and solidity and so on. But with diesels, on the prototype all that sheet metalwork isn't beautifully smooth like the plastic model, but dimpled and stretched and warped and looking much like Bacofoil stretched over chicken wire. I submit that it is a sight harder to convey that, whether scratchbuilt or RTR, than it is to show the solidity of steam. (Has anyone tried to get the effect by creating a body frame and then stretching thin sheet over it, a la prototype? It might rule out the Hand of God, though!)

[polybear]

7 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

my question is, how do you hold the motor in? 

 

Many thanks 

 

jesse 

 

Not with glue.  That'll be a fast-track way to a thousand lines from Sir....

[polybear]

22 hours ago, Theakerr said:

I have had my Black Dog periods but eventually was able to deal with it through the Model Railway, Tai Chi and meditation and it sounds stupid but by analytical self analysis.  Now, my wife of 45 years is starting to exhibit fairly strong signs of Alzheimers.  It is complicated because she refuses to see her doctor and due to the 'Privacy' Laws her Doctor cannot discuss it with me and cannot bring it up unless my wife does.  At first I did not know what was going on because I would say something and a bit later (a day, an hour, ?) she would ask the same question or a variation on it and I reactly badly because I thought she was ignoring me.  There was and is her attack response that really hurt but I now understand were a self defense denial type response.   So now as i understand things for the most part I react OK but occasionally I blow it and then I feel really bad.   The worst though is the profound sense of sadness because as the saying goes we will not be able to grow old together.  Our children are all aware but they live several thousands of Km away.  The situation is helped somewhat because there a few friends who are aware and willing to listen and talk about it, but as when my first wife died so many years ago in the end you have to deal with it yourself.  I joined the local 'Nerd' group a couple of years ago when I wanted to learn about Arduinos and that helps because the discussions keep the mind active.  The Model Railway is a fantastic because I can do it in the basement meaning that I am always around and also because it lets me plan for some future changes.  In addition it, like the Nerd club keeps my mind active with new ideas.  Finally I find Tai Chi is an effective escape because as one lady put it for a couple of hours you have to concentrate so hard that everything else is gone.   Enough.

 

I'm really sorry to hear of your concerns.  On a practical note, may I suggest the following as essential reading (if not already done so) for everyone, no matter what age or health:

 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/power-of-attorney/

 

You can do it yourself on line (just form filling).  Easy.  Absolutely no need for solicitor, who'll charge a couple of hundred for the same thing.  It could save no end of problems and huge expense in the future.  And definitely, definitely do it before your wife sees a doctor.  Once that ball starts rolling (and I hope all is fine) on medical records it could mean that any POA would be invalid.

HTH

Brian

[Who's Bosses' parents both had Alzheimers.  His mum had a POA, but Dad refused to have one.  Any expenditure, decisions etc. for him had to be controlled  (by court appointed officials?) who charged significant sums - thousands - for the privilege...]

[Tony Wright]

8 hours ago, grahame said:

 

I agree about not being over critical or disparaging of other's models and it will probably look better when weathered, but unfortunately it does look rather 'plasticky': the grilles (as already mentioned), the bulbous shiny nose, the very straight bottom body edge and there seems to be a lack of pipes hanging off the buffer beam. Plus, of course, there are no TOPs numbers or the myriad of other warning/info signs and branding decals. Are they supplied separately for the purchaser to add?

 

G

There are lots of things supplied for the purchaser to fit, Grahame,

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[polybear]

Going back to earlier posts regarding unfortunate marital issues and model railways, I saw a big sign on the back of one of those customised 4x4 jobbies (= roll bar, big exhaust, huge wheels, wide arches etc. etc).

 

Whilst I'm sure many of us have heard the following:

"One Life, Live It"

 

- the sign on the 4x4 had another angle:

"One Wife, Leave It"

 

I've a feeling it was a case of the Jeep or Her.  I know who won......

[TheSignalEngineer]

An old colleague of mine was once asked how he got so deeply involved in railway preservation. His reply as that he had been engaged, but was spending half of his weekends at a preservation project. The others he was on-call at work. She gave him the ultimatum of the railway or me so he broke off the engagement, sold the house and bought a steam loco.

[Jamiel]

I hope this is not too far off topic, but since I received a great many likes for the building I posted a few weeks ago on the thread (for which I am very thankful). I thought a couple of photos of my next building project in progress might be of interest. I also forgot to thank 2ManySpams for the inspiration of how to build doors from his fabulous ‘Diesels in the Dutchy’ thread.

This building is based on a Kibri kit with resin casts of some sections used to extend the building, plus other areas scratch built.
 

In particular I want to show a technique that I haven’t seen mentioned getting the brickwork to lose brush strokes and to even out the bricks and mortar course.
 

I start with an undercoat, then follow Geoff Taylor’s method of plain brick colour, mortar colour brushed on and then wiped off leaving it in the recesses, followed by dry brushing with darker brick colours. At this stage you can pick out individual bricks if you want the ‘patchwork’ feel of new or clean bricks, but as I love a dirty feel to my buildings I skip that on most builds.
 

The next step is the one I haven’t seen used, but this might just be because of a lack of research. I lightly spray the brickwork with a mix of the basic brick and a darker chocolate.

Here is a left right split of that airbrushing stage.

 

Here is a photo of the four main stages.

 

A little more dry brushing will follow, and of course the rest of the detailing.
 

I know there are lots of different techniques to achieve the different types of brick work people want, but does anyone else use an airbrush on buildings to even out brush strokes and pull the stages of the brickwork together?

Jamie

Edited June 26, 2019 by Jamiel

[Bucoops]

9 minutes ago, Jamiel said:

I hope this is not too far off topic, but since I received a great many likes for the building I posted a few weeks ago on the thread (for which I am very thankful). I thought a couple of photos of my next building project in progress might be of interest. I also forgot to thank 2ManySpams for the inspiration of how to build doors from his fabulous ‘Diesels in the Dutchy’ thread.

This building is based on a Kibri kit with resin casts of some sections used to extend the building, plus other areas scratch built.
 

In particular I want to show a technique that I haven’t seen mentioned getting the brickwork to lose brush strokes and to even out the bricks and mortar course.
 

I start with an undercoat, then follow Geoff Taylor’s method of plain brick colour, mortar colour brushed on and then wiped off leaving it in the recesses, followed by dry brushing with darker brick colours. At this stage you can pick out individual bricks if you want the ‘patchwork’ feel of new or clean bricks, but as I love a dirty feel to my buildings I skip that on most builds.
 

The next step is the one I haven’t seen used, but this might just be because of a lack of research. I lightly spray the brickwork with a mix of the basic brick and a darker chocolate.

Here is a left right split of that airbrushing stage.

 

Here is a photo of the four main stages.

 

A little more dry brushing will follow, and of course the rest of the detailing.
 

I know there are lots of different techniques to achieve the different types of brick work people want, but does anyone else use an airbrush on buildings to even out brush strokes and pull the stages of the brickwork together?

Jamie

 

 

That looks amazing!

[Tony Wright]

8 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

Hello Tony, 

 

good news, the J39 is running, well when I hold wires to the motor from my DC track.....

 

my question is, how do you hold the motor in? 

 

Does the mounts get solded in? 

 

Many thanks 

 

jesse 

Does the motor get soldered in? No, No, No, No!!!!! Not directly, anyway. 

 

As for glue? Even more No, No, No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Is your chassis electrically-dead? If so, you'll need a means of anchoring the motor/gearbox to stop it flapping around inside the body. 

 

 

 

This B16 chassis is electrically-dead (insulated wheels both sides). You can just see how I've soldered a .45mm piece of brass wire between the gearbox frame and the loco frames to anchor it.

 

 

This is clearer. Again this chassis is electrically-dead. 

 

 

Sometimes the insulated wires from the pick-ups to the motor brushes are stiff enough to stop the motor/gearbox flapping around. This is the case with this B2 and B17 chassis. 

 

 

Where a chassis is electrically-live (wheels insulated on one side only), then the 'return' for the electricity back to the track from the motor can be achieved by soldering a piece of brass wire from the motor brush directly on to the frames. This is just visible here on this B12 chassis. 

 

 

And here, under-slung on this H16 chassis. It's fixed to the opposite brush from the one the insulated wires from the pick-up wires are soldered to

 

 

And on this ancient Stephen Poole J15. The insulated wire from the pick-ups to the other brush is very clear. Its original K's motor is also visible!

 

This little loco was built years ago by Ian Wilson, but it never ran well - it had a K's motor and Stephen Poole drivers. I took pity on it, and now with a decent motor/gearbox combo and Romford drivers, plus a repaint, it's turned out all right. 

 

 

 

I hope some of this helps.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

8 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hello Tony

 

It was a case of first impression. Now I have built my own Type 3, it was called a Hornby class 37 by a five year old kid. That is good enough for me. Could I do better? Now the Heljan one will be superior than my own, possibly more accurate, sturdier construction, run smoother and have all the modern lights and noise. It will come out of a box and I hope those opening their boxes will have the same satisfaction as I did when  made my first cut into the plastic card.

 

I still think it looks like a big plastic toy.

 

 

My little plastic toy.......made in a material I like to work in. It has been accidentally dropped, not by me but I still haven't repaired it.

Whether anyone will ever get the same satisfaction by just opening a box or getting others to do their modelling for them as you do by making things by your own hand is debatable, Clive. I think not.

 

That said, I hope you'll concede that that Heljan Class 37 has a certain finesse.............

 

As for accidentally dropping things, that's what I did today. Dropped an H&M Duette on top of a pair of A2s and an A1! Not from a great height, thankfully, but I clumsily pushed it off its little shelf on to a shelf where the spare locos are kept. The damage? A bit of chipped paint, not much. Now were they made of plastic, well! They're made of nice heavy-metal and took the blow with great 'courage'. All work just as well as they did beforehand.

 

Lesson to self. Be more careful!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

6 hours ago, peach james said:

 

But it doesn't, Tony W.  It doesn't show any hypocrisy.  You don't claim it as your own work- just like the lump up in my photos has about 3 hours so far of my work in it, but won't be "mine", no matter how much work remains to be done on it.  If you posted "look at this great loco I built", and missed out Geoff,  then it would show the taint of taking credit where credit is due to others.  

 

Long Marton is my layout, not anyone else's.  Same as LB is your layout, though you didn't build the track.  I didn't build the track for Long Marton- Peco did.  I did lay it, and I made the baseboards, did the scenery using Woodland Scenics stuff.  You don't try anywhere to claim that Norman Soloman didn't build the station track.  That's the difference- that you give out credit freely to those who have helped you make a smashing model of LB.  I've never seen in some 1428 pages so far, that you fail to give credit to others.

On the other subject, that of beginning modelers- I'd count myself almost in that crowd...I muck around with mostly commercially made trains, in a big landscape, but I have fun doing so.  I don't often build kits (though I do occasionally- else why would I have the BR Mk 1 sleepers from Comet Kits that are 1/2 finished & need painting).  That to me, comes from being under more of a time crunch than some others on here.  I've got my two kids to look after, and they take a whole bunch of my time.  I'm working 1/2 time or so, and that ends up at about it for time & interest.  I thought I'd get more done downstairs now I am retired from the Navy, but the kids take a LOT of my time (& huge amounts of stress...both lads are autistic)

 

James

Thanks James,

 

As you know, I have no time for those who claim credit for the work of others by omission. 

 

That said, I had three friends around to operate LB today. Two had been before, but for the third it was his first visit. It was only after about an hour's conversation that I realised he thought LB was all my own work. I apologised, and quickly put the record straight. I'd be horrified if visitors or viewers ever got that impression.

 

Regarding hypocrisy, there I was, blathering away, stating in a loud voice 'I don't tolerate derailments!' Guess what? I had two in as many minutes. Sackcloth, ashes and tail firmly between legs!

 

Both were investigated, and twisted couplings on goods stock was the cause. Both are now fixed, but Oh Dear. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

Going back to earlier posts regarding unfortunate marital issues and model railways, I saw a big sign on the back of one of those customised 4x4 jobbies (= roll bar, big exhaust, huge wheels, wide arches etc. etc).

 

Whilst I'm sure many of us have heard the following:

"One Life, Live It"

 

- the sign on the 4x4 had another angle:

"One Wife, Leave It"

 

I've a feeling it was a case of the Jeep or Her.  I know who won......

Thanks Brian,

 

I'm reminded of a little 'appreciation' I gave at the funeral of a dear friend just over a decade ago. In it I reminded mourners that Smithy had never married. However, during his life he'd had several wives. It's just that they happened to belong to other blokes at the time! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

You could try Edmund Burke's (he of the "peerage") definition:

 

"whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger... Whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror."

 

From Wikipedia (I know, I know): Burke believed that the sublime was something that could provoke terror in the audience, for terror and pain were the strongest of emotions. However, he also believed there was an inherent "pleasure" in this emotion. Anything that is great, infinite or obscure could be an object of terror and the sublime, for there was an element of the unknown about them.

 

Only joking...

My head hurts! 

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

Whether anyone will ever get the same satisfaction by just opening a box or getting others to do their modelling for them as you do by making things by your own hand is debatable, Clive. I think not.

 

That said, I hope you'll concede that that Heljan Class 37 has a certain finesse.............

 

As for accidentally dropping things, that's what I did today. Dropped an H&M Duette on top of a pair of A2s and an A1! Not from a great height, thankfully, but I clumsily pushed it off its little shelf on to a shelf where the spare locos are kept. The damage? A bit of chipped paint, not much. Now were they made of plastic, well! They're made of nice heavy-metal and took the blow with great 'courage'. All work just as well as they did beforehand.

 

Lesson to self. Be more careful!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Did the Duette survive?