railroadbill

I've also been in there a long time ago while working in central London. Bought various bits and pieces in W & H (including wheels and fittings for a couple of Jameson locos I built I think). I very very vaguely remember they had some O gauge coaches on display as well. W & H were I believe Walkers & Holtzapffel and had a really good W & H catalogue as well. I could also reach Kings Cross models in my lunchtime as well!

Came across this on Youtube, It may have been flagged before but it's interesting not just about the Fell and its short lived concept but some nice period loco shots as well, including standard locos like Britannia being displayed at Marylebone. One thing is the lack of safety gear like hard hats and visors in the works sequences, a lot has changed! Still it was only 5 years after WW2 so a flat cap and a long coat gave you all the protection you were likely to get... Also film explains the way the transmission worked. As that meant only one of the 4 main engines powered the loco from a standing start, with the others being progressively added as speed built up, that seems a major flaw. Anyway, a bit of railway history. If they'd just electrified everything...

Re Gerry Anderson day, there was a 12 hour (!) live feed on YouTube of various interviews, documentaries and episodes relating to Gerry Anderson's shows. I only came across this half way through a making of Stingray documentary that was the last item. However a recording of the whole lot was then available on YouTube so you could pick and choose what you wanted to watch....it's probably still there. The opening segment goes through absolutely everything Gerry Anderson made, some more obscure than others. F.A.B. Virgil.

1:72nd F16 AM Royal Danish Airforce serial E-191 in Danish national flag display colours. The actual aircraft was painted in 2019 to celebrate 800 years of the Danish flag. The aircraft carried out a tour of Denmark to "show the flag". I'm told it still had the paint scheme last year at the RIAT display. The kit is a Revell F-16 (cat. No. 03860). It is retrofitted with Quickboost F-16 block 5-10 elevators (cat. No. QB 72 196) as Danish F-16s haven’t all got the larger elevator upgrade that other F-16s did). The markings came from Syhart Decal 72-118 which also includes masks for the red/white paint scheme. This is the last of my Covid projects, (not that it's the last of pre-Covid projects of course). :-) It had really dragged on, for reasons explained below! An aircraft with a complicated livery. The Syhart decals and masks made it possible, particularly markings like the tail and you do get an option to use either masks or decals (or in my case both in places) for some of the trim lines. There are a lot of stencils to be applied, some very small. When the basic airframe was assembled I sprayed an undercoat of Halfords white primer (which became the white coat). I then applied the masks from the Syhart set and airbrushed Tamiya XF-1 red. So far so good, I removed the masks and applied Johnson’s Clear to give a gloss coat for the decals. Some of the lining can be done with decals supplied with the set, and I ended up using a combination of masked paint, touched up in places and in some places the decals. I thought I’d apply another gloss coat over another coat of clear, and used a spray can of Humbrol gloss varnish over it. This is where things went wrong. I’d used the Humbrol gloss varnish before and had a nearly empty can that had given good results and so I used the new can, thinking it would be the same. Alas, the top coat of Clear didn’t protect the underneath red paint and it started to melt and run in places! The Humbrol varnish (acylic) had obviously reacted to both the Clear and the Tamiya acrylic paint. There was nothing for it but to leave the model to one side for everything to harden. Eventually I had another go, touched up the red and white paint where I could. I then took a deep breath and sprayed several light coats of Halfords gloss acrylic lacquer (the stuff you spray over metallic car paint) and that gave an increasingly gloss coat, without any effect on the coats below. Phew.

Interesting about the silicon tubing with ball bearing. I've used these from Branchlines but they might be a bit small/short for your purposes here. A small u/j at the end of each shaft. Thin shaft doesn't show up too much going through cab.... I was given one of those Farish tender drives many years ago, it did in a transistorised controller trying to run it! A "proper" motor was obviously a better idea, but early Farish is intriguing though.

Found another photo of the Color Line model. This shows a conference room where a model of the model is being discussed! Just as a matter of interest, this is an actual Color Line ferry. The maritime museum is in the red brick building with a high roof on the right, in front of the dock offices. It was very well curated, very friendly and had an excellent cafe as well. Some small preserved vessels outside it. Bill.

Been going through some pics. Went on a trip to Germany last year and visited Kiel. There's an excellently run martime museum by the harbour in a building that was an old fish market. Very good at explaining the local history and included some superb models. This is a 1:100 scale model of the Color Line ferry Color Magic one of several ferries that link Kiel with Oslo. They are built with cruise ship facilities to attract passengers to the route. The actual ship is 224m (734') long which makes the model big at 2.24 m or 7.34' long. The starboard side is cut away in places to reveal certain decks. The amount and quality of detail is frankly staggering. The full sized ship has a mock "shopping street" to encourage passengers to spend money. There were also buttons to press to light up different parts of the interior. The information given was that the main parts of the hull were CNC machined and the fittings and details were by 3D printer. Made by a large team of people, apparently. (I think it said the figures are Preiser!) Anyway, it was over 7 foot of remarkable detail and I thought I should share it with you.

Vintage Airfix Aichi D3a1 VAL Type 99 Made this when I was at school. For some reason this has survived over the years packed away with various modelling parts. It wasn't a type of aircraft I was particularly interested in, probably bought the kit because it was a new Airfix release. This was first issued in 1965 and again in 1967 so I probably made it around then. Would have stopped making kits around then with all the other stuff of life coming along. So it's got to be at least 57 years old if not 59.... reassuringly the paint (and glue!) has lasted well, may well be finished in Humbrol 49 enamel matt varnish so that's protected it ok. Airfix has recently re-released this one again. Er, what now, back in box for another 57 years? Ouch. (So what do people do with old models?)

That radio interview is amazing. He is obviously very articulate and a very good communicator. I didn't know there had been a Channel 4 program about him either. Here's someone who played a recording of a class 37 on national radio and had the presenters hanging on his every word. Streuth! I've seen him on platforms waiting for various unusual trains while I've been out er, trainspotting and that's only because my mate recognised him. I've seen railtour train crews taking selfies of themselve with him so he's obviously very well known and popular. As he's selling an interest in trains to a generation much younger than myself and associates, he's doing a great job and good luck to him.

Thanks Phil. Seeing more 3d printed parts on modelling forums now, interesting technique. The more you know.... The other thing on your pictures of your diorama is that the lighting adds to the realism, looks like a bright sunny day. That's another project for me...

That looks very realistic, particularly like the coblestones and the paving. I've never tried 3d printing, but is there any disadvantage in using clear resin, like it's less strong perhaps, compared to the different grades of the grey stuff?

Happy Christmas and a good New Year.

Glædelig jul og godt nytår Been interesting to follow your high quality modelling! Look forward to more in 2024!

Very entertaining video, the speed of the driving wheels is fascinating! Having missed out on the single last time. I've ordered the large tender one from Locomotion, I'll have a timeline of East Coast locos from the Stirling to HSTs when it turns up, should look great running round the layout.

There was a cartoon in I think an American model magazine years ago where the model railroader sits behind his layout which is separated from the room door by a large pool full of sharks. The punchline was OK Mable, you can send in the kids now!