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Managed to get some black around the cab windows which went better than expected, just need to do the door next. Oh and the other cab!

Progress. I’ve started from the bridge end of the layout and roughly a third of the track is now stuck down, including 6 of the 8 points. I’m happy with my wire-in-tube point control, I’m waiting for some more glue gun sticks to tidy up around the slide witches. No idea why I didn’t group all the switches In this section together... hindsight is 20/20, but perhaps this will make them easier to disguise in amongst the foreground scenery. Since there are no decouplers to be installed here (more on that later), I’ve let excitememt get the better of me, cracked out the wet water, pipettes and PVA and started ballasting. For those that don’t know, wet water is in fact normal water with a drop or two of fairy liquid added to it (other dish detergent brands are available). This reduces the surface tension of the water droplets when sprayed over the loose ballast, and allows the water to seep down, around and under the stones and track. A 50/50 PVA and water mix is then dropped/dribbled/splurged over the pre-moistened ballast, and seeps everywhere it needs to get to stick it all down nicely. The PVA sets rock hard, some prefer to use other glue so the finished ballast is more springy and can be worked on later, but I’m not fussed. Plus PVA is super cheap. Noice. I’ve gone for a mixture of Woodhand Scenics ballasts, sourced from two model shops on eBay; medium grade “light gray” for newer, cleaner sections and fine grade “gray blend” for older dirty stuff. I wrapped my steel rule with cling film and taped it to the end of the board to get a flat edge to ballast up to, which I think worked well. I’ve managed to remove some paint from the sleepers when chipping off rogue stones after the glue has dried, so for my second round I used a tooth pick to do this while everything was still wet. Much better. What do we think of the ballast on sleepers on the main line? Inspired by a photo of the West Somerset Railway, but no idea why it’s there... is it new ballast waiting to be spread or tamped down? I’m pretty pleased with the results, I plan on weathering it down later to make it look more grimy. The rusty rails are too red in places, so a tin of Humbrol No. 29 enamel is in the post for me to try Instead of the No. 62 I have been using, though I do like the latter for super rusty bits such as disused sidings, trackside debris, etc. Concrete and Couplings. Two things have brought track laying to a halt for now: Firstly, the spray plastic primer wasn’t a match for Humbrol 72 Khaki Grey which I like for painting concrete sleepers. I’m contemplating whether or not to brush paint 4 meters of flexitrack or take the plunge on an airbrush... The latter would take nearly £100 from the railway budget pot, so I’m leaning towards brushing by hand. I don’t need to be as fussy as I have been with the inside faces of the sleepers as the ballast covers it, so perhaps it wont be as bad as I think. Brush painting is quite satisfying too... but airbrushing is a new skill to learn! Choices choices. Secondly, I’ve decided to buy Kadee magnetic couplings as I feel I’ve outgrown tensionlock and don’t want the “Giant hand” descending to decouple locos. I have a small amount of rolling stock and I can afford £30 worth couplings to convert the lot, but the official Kadee decouplers are all a bit dear considering I need at least 6. So, after some research on this forum and others, I’ve bought a bag of 3mmø x 12mm neodymium magnets from First4Magnets.co.uk - really cheap, easy to install and from the videos I’ve seen they seem to work well... I’ll do some tests once they arrive and see how it goes! Signalling is another consideration, I think I’d like to keep it mechanical, perhaps with my wire in tube... but one that can wait for now. I’m also going to attempt to move two points with one slide switch for the platform run-around crossover. Fun and games ahead!

The corner cover pieces worked, far faster and less problematic than I’d managed before. The doors are fitted, just the near end to do now and the new roof was fitted but still to tile. The base for the water tower was textured. I’m going to try and make a sign for the wall above the gantry, and the gantry still needs pipework. I’ve moved the crane from the front of the layout to the area. There’s a join down the centre of the end wall, better think of doing something there, and the loading platform either needs major shortening or a quick rebuild. Apart from bargeboards, downpipes and the canopy that’s finished then! Thanks for looking.

A while back I ordered 3 un-decorated GWR Fruit 'D' wagons from Dapol. As you've previously guessed I do like Dapol for a source of modelling projects. I understand the bodyshell for the Fruit 'D' has a venerable past and there are some dimensional inaccuracies. However Dapol have breathed life into it with a new chassis. With this I feel it makes suitable layout NPCS vehicle offering a bit of variety. These 3 have received Lanarkshire Model Supplies buffers and roof ventilators which gives a bit more finesse. The roof had been sprayed with Tamiya German Grey. The sides use a psuedo BR Crimson from Citadel brush applied and the chassis is sprayed with Tamiya NATO Black. Wheels are standard Dapol inked in with a black Sharpie indelible marker. Transfers once more come from Cambridge Custom Transfers and were fixed with Johnson's Kleer. I've used a wash of Vallejo acrylics to pick out detail. They await a dusting of track dirt from the airbrush shortly. More soon and thanks for looking. Cheers, Mark

Although I'm happy with the layout when playing with it at home, I've been conscious for a while that certain things could be improved upon when exhibiting the layout at model railway shows. The road over bridge acts as the break between the scenic part of layout and the "off stage" fiddle yard as show in the picture below. Fiddle yard and rear of road over bridge The problem at exhibitions is that the fiddle yard can clearly be seen under the road bridge spoiling the illusion that the trains are actually coming and going from somewhere other than an MDF plank! The fiddle yard also has to be re positioned during shunting maneuvers to enable stock to move from the main line into the yard, which means unlocking and realigning the latching bolts every time. All of this means that my fingers can be seen faffing about under the bridge spoiling any illusion of reality. To rectify this I'm considering the following "cunning plan!" Stock visible under bridge. Fingers under bridge! A base board about 3 feet long incorporating a point to link the main line and the yard would have the following benefits... 1. It would eliminate the need to move the fiddle yard during shunting maneuvers. 2. If I give this base board full scenic treatment then the view under the bridge would be greatly improved! 3. My fingers couldn't be seen when moving the fiddle yard to set up roads for different locos and their accompanying stock. 4. Trains could reach a reasonable speed before entering or leaving the scenic part of the layout. 5. I could incorporate an area in front of the scenery to put a cup of tea or coffee! All of this greatly appeals and although its addition wouldn't fit in my workshop, I think it's construction would definitely be worthwhile for those occasions when I'm exhibiting the layout. My trusty C&L point templates show that a 3 foot long board would allow the use of a B6 left hand turnout to link the main line and the yard without too tight a curve. Template in position View under bridge, imagine scenery! I'd appreciate your thoughts chaps! Best wishes Dave

Over the past few days I've been able to almost complete the four Dapol 16T mineral wagons I've been working on. If you remember I had removed the top doors from two of them in my earlier blog entry. Since then they were finished with Tamiya NATO brown and black. Then using prototype photos from Paul Bartlett's excellent site I have been able to weather the quartet. I have used my usual Vallejo acrylics for weathering. Dry brushing has given the desired effect. Tamiya masking tape has been used for defined lines and the white door stripes. Transfers are from the excellent Railtec range. The number sets are ready made for MCV's and have used ones that look right. In that sense all four wagons are not necessarily correct and are generic. The transfers need sealing with varnish and a the weathering needs tweaking. Then they can be returned to their owner. Another lovely build from the Dapol stable and once more excellent value for money. Well recommended. Cheers, Mark Best put 70's disco hits album away now...

A little bit of progress today on this build. I've replaced the top panel in the centre above the doors I removed on these two 16 Tonners. Suitable width plastic sheet was used for this. Trusty Micro-Strip then replaced the beading and door locking latches. I've also tidied up the area around the bottom of the doors to try to look more prototypical. The kit doors are designed to open but in this case are glued shut. Essentially other than the Lanarkshire Model Supplies buffers I need to order and fit the wagons will be ready for the paint shop. I would like to add the tie bars. Does anyone know of suitable brass strip for the job? Also I know some of these wagons were vacuum braked with brake cylinders. Were others just through piped? Cheers, Mark

Now that the (apparent) rush with the blog is over a more sedate and relaxed pace will be the order of the day, but I mustn't allow lethargy to take control. So, in the spirit of showing that the lock down protocol hasn't resulted in me wandering about the house all day dressed in my slippers and dressing gown (what a terrible image, sorry , and I don't even own any slippers), there's been some progress on the SE Finecast I3 kit. I've rebuilt the chassis now with some new parts sourced from 'Finecast. It became apparent when making a more detailed inventory of bits and pieces that I had lost some of the kit. Nothing big, just from nuts and bolts, stuff for the electrical pickup, that sort of thing. I have absolutely no idea where they could have gone to, but given how long it was stored for anything could have happened. Unfortunately (for me) that meant I needed to contact 'Finecast and request some missing bits, and that mean that I accidentally (honest gov', he made me do it) bought one of their SR 0-4-2 D1 kits . The chassis is far from complete, but rather than ploughing on I thought it sensible to make absolutely sure I had the chassis and wheels sorted and rolling smoothly before adding details. The result was this: Two key elements were causing trouble at this point. Naturally the coupled wheels were spinning fine independently but wouldn't when coupled, and the bogie (being so light) wouldn't stay on the rails on the tighter curves. The cause of the first problem is no revelation, and neither was the solution (well most of it). Using the broaches that I do have I have I eased the bearings in the chassis just a bit more, and then progressively did the same on the ends of the coupling rods. This I did with the coupling rods back-to-back to make as sure as I possibly could that they stayed the same length, even if it wasn't exactly the right length. The other thing I did was tie the two halves of the compensation arms/levers together. It can be seen as the slightly off-square bar just behind the front driving axle in the following picture: The compensation still allows the driving axles to rise and fall a couple of millimeters, but has stopped a possible twisting motion laterally. It was fiddly, but was this necessary? I don't know, but as far as I can see the driving axles cannot now move further apart through the motion of the compensation, and so this ought to maintain smoother running while still allowing the chassis the best chance of keeping its wheels on the track. Time will tell. The bar was placed there as the gearbox fills in the equivalent space around the rear axle and effectively keeps that under control, but the front axle bearings were free to move laterally along the axle so this seemed like the obvious place to add some rigidity. As for the leading bogie, a spare spring from a three link coupling kit has been donated to the cause, and after trimming has been installed over the bolt between the chassis cross bar and the bogie itself. Thanks to Martins' suggestion on Monday nights club call for that one. As is not uncommon for me I'd missed the obvious solution and was caught up in trying to work out how to make something out of some springy wire . The spring is too strong for an unladen chassis (even cut down), but once all that white metal added then this should resolve itself. It's easy enough to tune later. I've also started working on the body of the kit for a few reasons: I need the weight on the chassis to enable some testing etc.. I might need to trim the motor shaft and also create some restraint for the motor (given that it rises and falls with the driven wheels) I also need to see where I can run wires and place a DCC decoder (probably the bunker) So here I am starting to piece together the major components of the body: Finally, the D1 kit: This goes onto the shelf for the time being, but I have been wanting one of these for the layout for a while now. It fits nicely into the period and concept of the layout, so much so that I might even need two ... Jeff [Edit: just to sort out the typing and phrasing]

Well, here we are, and this is my first blog entry using the new software/website, so fingers crossed here we go!! I have always intended to add some illumination to the layout, and the first item was the Hornby class 121 'Bubblecar', using a lighting kit by 'Blackcat' models, this provided internal head and tail lamps (polarity sensitive), plus passenger compartment lighting. All this work has probably now been eclipsed by the new model from Dapol, with future offerings from Bachmann too, - to date I have not been tempted to replace my model. We shall see.... Next came five Dapol lower quadrant semaphore signals, to reduce the brightness of the lamps I run them from a redundant plug - in mobile phone charger which provides 5.8v dc, to give a yellow oil lamp effect, I painted the lamps with 'Tamiya' x-24 Clear Yellow acrylic paint. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of there GWR 2 doll bracket signal. This may prompt a minor resignalling at Sproston! Finally, I have fitted two 14v. 0.2ma miniature panel lamps ( in parallel ) inside 'All Saints' church, this was a straightforward process - I already had the lamps, and had previously drilled a 10mm hole through the baseboard ( flush door ) to feed wires through. To power the lights I used the (at present spare ) second 12v/1a dc. output, from a 'Gaugemaster' floor - mounted mains twin transformer rectifier, ( the other 12v dc. output is used to power the two mini cameras and tv screen monitor used for viewing the fiddle yard.) The lamps were soldered directly to wires which run to a choc block above the board. and from there two more wires run through the exit hole and down to the floor mounted transformer terminals - all very simple...I have tried to ensure the lamps are not in direct view, as they are rather bright. The best effect is seen with all the lights out. So there we are - and hopefully without the need for devine intervention, here are some photos of the last item... I hope you approve, comments good or bad are always welcome, until next time.... Regards (SIGTECH) Steve.

Some more progress on the SER brake van, I'm now into the slow and fiddly bits, specifically the frames and brake gear. I have to decide at this point how it will be assembled, and I've gone for separate solebars and separate brake shoes. I think this will be the easiest way of assembling it and removing from the printed support material. The roof is also separate, there's not a lot of interior detail going on (just the partition), but that's easier to scratchbuild than to try and do in CAD (and get all the small details to print reliably). Feedback welcome!

I'm a bit of a Sentinel fan and possess a couple of the excellent Model Rail/Dapol examples. However I was given a Sentinel in a rough state by a good friend who asked if I could breath some life back into it. He had previously acquired it in a box of old model railway stuff given to him. With a bit of research I discovered it was an early Nu-cast example with a plastic body kit moulded by Ian Kirk. The chassis and buffer beams were cast white metal. It was attached to a Tenshodo motor bogie. I understand Black Beetle also did a motorising chassis which is hard to obtain. The model I had been given was badly assembled and painted. The chassis had been glued together with epoxy and the plastic body with old school plastic tube cement. Not ideal but a starting point. With some information to hand I was able to add basic detailing using Microstrip. The buffers were replaced with excellent RT Models castings. I discovered DCC Supplies being Dapol repair agents carried spares for the Sentinel including the cab roof shutter, chimney, injectors, cab foot steps as well as the guard irons. I still need to fit the guard irons but the other parts certainly lift the model nicely. I have also added brass handrails from Alan Gibson components. I have given the bodyshell a coat of Halfords primer. I will airbrush it in Tamiya gloss black shortly. This kit is still available from Nu-cast Partners but in all white metal format. More soon. Cheers, Mark

A pictorial journey: To test the choice of the textures I started to build the toilet group. Next step is building the main building of the school. Then the base had to be made and the school must be glued on the base. Base made with the help of a frame maker. The scene would be a photographer taking a picture of Victorian school class for a special occasion. I hope you have enjoyed this little journey. Comments and suggestions are as usual welcome Keep save and healthy. Job

There are a lot of small buildings and structures in any shed yard not least those associated with the ash disposal plant. My latest efforts have focused on two of these - the small concrete building used by staff working the ash pit and a brick built shed which I believe housed the ash plant controls. Both are shown in the following photo. The first model to be attempted is the concrete shed, the dimensions of which are scaled from photos in my collection, which is probably a Taunton product which appeared at the shed in the late 1950's. The model is constructed from plasticard and suitably weathered. Interesting as the model is position over a board joint. The following photo, taken in 1965, has some clutter on the roof which I might add at some later stage. Now for the ash plant control hut.

Things have moved on a fair bit since the last post. After doing the main shell in BR Grey, I masked the cab ends and also the inter-carriage doors which I sprayed yellow. Then I masked the rest up and painstakingly guessed where the grey should be around the windows in order to spray the rest blue. It is clear the scale of the model isnt entirely accurate, however unless you are comparing to a prototype photo then you wouldn't know the difference. 2 of the 3 coaches are now sprayed in blue, the 3rd is waiting on a final coat. For a first attempt at masking and spraying models I am very happy with the result so far! I havn't ordered the dark grey paint for the roof or black paint for the cab window surrounds, emergency doors and underframe yet, however I have made a start fitting the 3d printed underframe components including air tanks, camshaft cases, aux panel etc, I havn't finished yet but its already looking pretty neat. Bogie sideframes are all now fitted along with the 3rd rail shoe (on one side of one bogie). The motor was mounted too high on the chassis in the middle coach resulting in that end of the carriage sitting lower than the others so I have adjusted this and it now seems to be the correct height. Overall a pretty convincing looking kit and definitely worth it for anybody looking for one of the PEP series.

Didn't think there was much uptake on the blog so haven't posted for a while. The two end sections and three middle sections on one side are now glued in place having had plenty of final adjustment to get it square. Yesterday 21/04/20 I fitted the handrails around the guard's compartment doors and car ends with 0.8mm Wire. The LH bulkhead has also been glued into position, now hoping nothing comes loose in there! Now working on finishing the interior and fitting seats.

Going to keep these update blogs quite short - unlike the Shack which is huge.. (I'd forgotten that). The Aftermarket arrived from Hannants. With the fuselage fully cured, I gave the joint lines a initial clean up & added some more of the glazing, plus test fitted the tail. I turned my attention to the underside and fitted the bomb bay door's etc. Time to work on the wings and all 6 of the engines.. The outboard engine nacelles are very different from my previous Shackleton builds... A slight diversion, but on with the build.. Glazing all fitted and engine nacelles closed up. Disassembled for some filling and clean up.. Last reassembly before it's painted, filling complete and a few more bits added. A few more minor mods to make and then once the primer arrives she'll be into paint.. TTFN Toboldlygo James

I have taken pics as I went through the next dowel fitting so that a more complete explanation exists. I can't vouch for this being the best way, it's just a way I've come up with. Nothing here is to be taken as absolutely the only way to do this. Marked out end board: Marked lines for marrying up to the next board: Beginning drilling the recess: Test locating the female dowel for depth: Checking where the recess surface still needs more material removing: Checking again, close but still need to remove a bit more: Now it's seated just below the surface of the plywood: Clearing the centre area which sometimes is a little raised as the Forstner bit doesn't quite touch that area: Clearing space for the male dowel peg to fit: As this is a primary board no glue is required, so the dowels are screwed in directly: Checking which screw to tighten first. If one or more screws are slightly off-centre from the dowel holes, the one which is closest is tightened first, followed by the next closest, etc, etc. Checking the screw hole positions are clear of any other screws in the boards: Checking that the recesses match up OK: They do: Putting old receipts in place between the dowel parts to prevent the boards gluing together: Epoxy glue added to receiving recesses: Boards on level-ish floor, and clamped to allow glue to harden: Holes drilled for screws in the glued dowel parts: The final assembly, all OK, though not entirely perfect. There's a slight ledge between the two curved 'extensions', but since no track will cross that it's not an issue. The end joins are near perfect. There's a little bit of height difference, but nothing a sander can't correct and if the track still is a little out of alignment height-wise, then I'll use thin paper built up to even up the rail tops. I won't post any more on dowels now, I'll just get on with fitting them. It'll take a while as I'm only up to 8 of 22 so far.

Bit more progression on my Dapol van body builds over the past few days. Transfers have been sourced from the excellent range by John Isherwood at Cambridge Custom Transfers. They were sealed with Johnson's Kleer floor polish. The tie bars are 1mm 'L' shaped brass strip from Eileen's Emporium. Weathering so far as consisted of a wash of Valejo acrylics left to dry then wiped off with a damp cotton bud. Some detail painting and distressing with a glass fibre brush to follow. Then BOCM wagon posters from Hollar Models were added to the sides. I need to finish the weathering with a dusting of track colour from the trusty airbrush for the underframes and a blast of roof dirt. Vacuum pipes and couplings to finish. Cheers, Mark

Ordered some aerosols from Railmatch to spray the unit into BR Blue / Grey. Decided against ordering an airbrush etc as I will most likely never use it again. Sprayed the first carriage in primer as a test in my makeshift kids christmas present box spraybooth with smarties tube to hold the body, I have never sprayed models before so thought I would have a go on one coach, see how bad the blemishes in the body prep where before doing further prep on the other 2 coaches and spraying them. As expected the marks from the 3d print process are quite visible, so I have gone over these with sandpaper on the other 2 and sprayed those in primer. I am much happier with the result on these but given the nature of the kit they will never be 100% perfect. I will wait for the 1st coach to fully dry before stripping it down and having another go, as for the actual finish of the paint, I am quite pleased, no runs and even coat. Photos show the end coach which was the 1st one I did, and the trailer coach which was the 2nd.