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Thanks Ian. I don't at present and it might be a fair way along the learning curve! The advice is much appreciated though. I've got some Slaters rivet sheets on the way to see how they work first of all. Iain

Hi Jeff, Yes, but if you're not methodical it takes a hell of a lot longer because you won't be able to locate the fault if it arises! Iain

Thanks Jol, I think the scalelink strips will be brilliant for the edges of the water tower panels. Whether I can solder them on without it looking like I'd poured a litre of mercury over the whole lot is debatable! Vincent Worthington's account, if I remember correctly, said that he made the water tower one Christmas and it involved adding 17,000 rivets! There was also an article in an old issue of MRJ about making your own rivets through electrolysis. Iain

Thanks very much for suggestions, much appreciated. I cannot begin to describe how much I have learned from you all here on RMWeb. I'll have a think, but I'm leaning towards some method that will have the rivets on an overlay that is then attached to the bridge. There are too many, and their arrangement is too regular, for it to be feasible to do them individually, at least for me. See this photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/rogersg/6272164744/lightbox/ I think it will be worthwhile experimenting with a Slaters sheet and trying to find a pounce wheel that is fine enough. There are plenty of rivets on the water tower so the technique is probably worth learning. Thanks again, Iain

Thank you I have been considering adding the rivets using thin aluminium adhesive tape and this pounce wheel tool that Andy Y and others mentioned in another thread - one of the BCB threads I think. It would have cost about 300 quid to add them in Archers transfers. They really are quite prominent on the real thing and there are 1000's of them. I'd have to do it before painting. Still, it's cold enough not to be able to spray it outside for a while so I can ponder - but in all probability I will leave them. I might never finish... Iain

Superb Jason. I can just imagine a Fordson Major with perished tyres sat there with weeds growing out of the moss collected on the seat, not having moved for a decade. Iain

Here's a quick update - no more than snaps I'm afraid but I'll get some better photos when I've progressed a bit further. I have made a little bit of progress with starting some scenic stuff at this end. Made a short section of the 3rd/4th rail electrified North London line (this bit is on a separate board so I can finish it). It's unweathered at the moment so should improve with a bit of painting. This passes under the Primrose Hill station building. I've done the beginnings of the bridge abutments and the wall at the back of the Pembroke pub and the rest of the Gloucester Avenue houses. The bridge itself has the mountings attached and the pedestrian barriers installed. It's ready to paint before installing the roadway and pavements, then adding the bundles of cables it carried. Iain

Thanks Bill and Jol, I was using 188 so that I could use 145 to solder the completed side panels to the base without unsoldering the L section brass at the edges. But I will happily take the advice for the other two panels! Carr's Red was recommended as a general flux - it seems to be the alternative choice to the ideal one for most jobs according to their book. I guess 1st choice is 1st for a reason. Thanks as ever for your help. Happy New Year! Iain

Thanks Scott, hope you and the family enjoyed a quick surf before Christmas lunch? We have just got back from skiing - I did the tank panels as an alternative late afternoon post-skiing activity to eating cake, falling asleep and watching a film....... Having messed up a few panels with my first method, I am now waiting for a few more from AG. I also miscalculated the sections required for the tank stand so more waiting for those. I used Carr's Red on this job, but basically just used too much solder and flux I think. 188 feels much more fluid than others I've used? I was trying to get all the joints to run into each other and since there are so many joints in a small space on each panel, the result is obvious. Still, the front is as it should be, so hopefully no real damage. There will doubtless be a few sniggers behind some screens! Supposed to be attempting to win a golf tournament this week, but skiing for the first time in 11 years is not the best preparation for that so it will probably be an early exit. Happy New Year! Iain

You are very generous.... Perhaps the start of a whole "How not to...." series....? I hoped that the business side was indeed the important one - and the photo of the two completed sections is without any cleaning up at all, so hopefully it will scrub up well enough. I'm by no means a soldering expert as you can see, in fact almost a complete beginner, but I have had a go and I'm learning (from many mistakes and an isolated success here and there). I've done a lot of soldering of rail to copperclad timbering and this was the first time with Carr's 188. Iain

Given that the panels are supplied in perfect alignment it made a bit more sense to maintain that by soldering scrap brass to the reverse and then to add join and edge detail afterwards. So the sequence looks a bit like this: 10x2 joined together: Then 0.5mm brass rod soldered from the back to join the panels: L section on the edges, and finally, one side and one end section completed: These will be soldered to the base And, if you all promise not to laugh, the reverse looks as if I just bathed it in molten solder. I've seen Nigella's cakes with less icing on than that.....

Well, it was late afternoon on Boxing Day and everyone was having a bit of quiet time. So I made a start on the water tower for Camden Shed. There is a photo on p2 courtesy of LNER4479's scans, and here from a recent eBay auction: The tank is made from Braithwaite panels 9x2 on the ends and 10x2 on the sides. Colin at Alan Gibson supplies the panels in packs of 16, two of these per pack: I started by trying to solder panels individually onto 1mm T and L section brass - T along the central joins and L around the edge. To say it was a shambles would be kind to every shambles that exists. I'm not even going to show a photo in case I get drummed off RMWeb for offences to soldering and modelling in general. Oh, alright then, it's the festive season and everyone likes a laugh.... I very obviously needed to find another method....

Thanks, I think you're being very kind! To be honest I always looked at this one as a bit of a learning experience. It looks more like DoG than a 4F, but just a quick look at the pre-release photos of the upcoming Hornby one has definitely convinced me - I'm definitely not upset by the announcement! It will need a BR1J tender and probably some slight changes to pipe work etc to date it back to 1962, plus bogie wheels, weathering and so on......so it won't just be removed from the box and run. I enjoyed building this one, but unless something drastic happens it won't make the cut, weathered or not. Iain

Hi Jim, Thanks and welcome to RMWeb! Great choice of location to model Sounds as if you've made some significant progress. Would love to hear and see more at some stage. Iain

71000 Duke of Gloucester This was a regular at Camden although shedded at 5A Crewe North throughout. I have pictures of 71000 at Camden in 61 and 62 before it was put in store in the latter part of 62 at Crewe. Its usual turn out of Euston was the Mid-day Scot. This model was built from the Golden Arrow resin body, on a China built tender drive Britannia chassis. It was one of the first models I built. Some bits worked out well - Jackson Evans Britannia smoke deflectors were cut down to the right size and these make a difference. JE spectacle surrounds. Some additions to the caprotti gear and so on. But.... I didn't have a BR1J tender at the time so compromised with a D. The front windows fogged up as I used cyano..... Some parts of the handrails etc didn't go on absolutely true. Painting was better than on Sir William but the footplate lining was not easy on the GA moulding with its raised edges. I never got around to weathering it. It looks sort of like DoG but it had many shortcomings, and I was all lined up to make a "perfect" hybrid using a variety of parts picked up cheaply: New Hornby Brit loco drive chassis 3 partly damaged Hornby new China Brit bodies to be cut and shut GA body and BR1J tender body Crownline DoG conversion kit with bespoke deflectors, double chimney, BR1J etched sides, lost wax Caprotti gear, etched front end detailing and etched cylinder and cam box covers Hornby's announcement yesterday means I will definitely get one of the new DoG models and add whatever details are necessary at the time. There is no way that I will get a cut-n-shut hybrid to look as good as their basic body, so even if it needs work it ought still to be better. Iain

Eureka moment! Just chatting to one of the electricians at work. His hobby is painting landscapes and buildings, and he's pretty good - lots of commissioned work. No idea why I didn't think of speaking to him before. He's going to do the backscene for me so that will make things a lot better. Iain

After a good deal of deliberation, I'm coming to the conclusion that I ought to stick more to the prototype, even though it will create problems to make a plausible backscene. If I model the station building in low relief at the north end and the side of the goods shed in low relief at the south end, that will leave an area in the middle where there isn't enough room to have much in the way of structures (one reason why the initial plan was always to use the ubiquitous retaining wall). There are, however, some characteristic shapes in the skyline, such as the roundhouse, which could be made into a silhouette-type backscene without requiring Leonardo da Vinci to put in an unexpected appearance. I'll do a dry run and see how it looks. Iain

There are some very good pics on here: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/p/primrose_hill/index.shtml Including this one: Below is a very quick sketch of what I know I could include: The dilemma is how to merge that into a retaining wall..... Or do I bin that idea, and attempt to represent the side of Camden Goods Shed further down, and somehow get a very good backscene done.... Any views most welcome! Iain

Thanks Terry. I haven't added any extra weight to 46256 yet, but ought to. As I remember from when it was being built, there is plenty of room. I'm in a bit of a dilemma about what I do with the scenic bits on the north east side i.e. if you sat on the turntable and looked across the mainlines. Primrose Hill station building is prominent and has some characteristic shapes which I feel need to be part of the backdrop. I can get the building and the bridge almost completely if slightly condensed. I was planning to integrate the other side of the station building somehow into the retaining wall that is really just a bit further down Camden Bank. But that is the difficult bit..... Here is an aerial view of the bridge and the remains of the station building from maps: The 4 mainlines I have completed run through about 2/3 of the bridge span nearest the shed. There should then be a couple of goods lines and finally one that runs under the station building. I can represent that bit.... Like Gordon, I just left it be today and went out to play golf instead! Iain

Morning Scott (well, it's morning here at any rate, probably a beautiful balmy evening in Perth!) Without being an expert in any way, I like the shed area plan and I think you've done the right thing by starting with a prototype and tweaking it a little. Having tried 3 times to plan a layout from scratch it only made sense when I began with the track plan of Camden and then condensed and tweaked it a bit. Iain

A little more experimentation on the bridge mountings: short lengths of 0.7mm brass rod to represent bolts, and plasticard nuts, one of which is shown on its own. Big meccano in real life..... 2" thick bolts and 5" nuts. Given this is going to be significantly hidden under the bridge girder, behind part of the brickwork and covered in soot and grime, I might continue with the experiment for the time being. Iain

Dave, I'm not certain - I asked one of the guys at work to see what they could do with what they had available. Thanks v much for the advice though. I haven't decided whether to try again yet. The card ones are a little marked in colour but the thickness and shape are good. They would be heavily weathered in any event, so that might not matter. Iain

Genuinely didn't take long to do the two I made last night. 30 mins once I'd had the bits laser cut yesterday morning. I only need two more, neither of which will be very visible on the other side of the bridge. I'm beginning to think that with a bit of tidying up, some heavy bolt detail on the mounting plates, these will paint and weather up ok. The plan is to make the scenic bit of the north end so that a few trains may be photographed running under the bridge while the rest of the layout is still embryonic, so 46256 will certainly appear, and hopefully soon. 15 on, well, maybe stationary it might work, but the traction on the Hornby Duchess is nothing like a Bachmann 9F which would pull 20 plus probably. Especially with the mods I made to it. Iain

Thanks Jason, very kind. If I can make something half as plausible as Bacup I'll be in the right area. Iain

TerryD, No, but I do remember some sort of mention of it at some point. MRJ index shows articles in Nos. 23, 26, 27, 74 and 105. I'll try to locate copies. Would be good to find out more if anyone knows? I spent half an hour last night making some bridge supports. My brief trip to get some info last week gave me a clearer idea not only of what they look like but also of how to make them. I drew up a sketch of each component, and tried laser cutting them in plastic (I was at this time entirely in the hands of someone who had a scooby doo what they were doing.....) 0.7mm didn't work as the flashback melted the edges. The thinnest that would work was 1.5mm which was way too thick. He then tried laser cutting them in card, which was much more successful. You can see some of the thick plastic alongside some of the card ones: These are 5 clean card ones: One bridge mounting made up, using 9 of the laser cut pieces, a short length of 1.5mm plastic rod and 2 squares of plasticard: And the bridge placed tentatively ( and errrrrr....... upside bl@&dy down as well!!) on a mounting to see how it looked: This was a bit of an experiment to see how best to construct these. An etch would be best probably, but perhaps this method which is more readily at my disposal could work ok. With a bit of tidying up these mountings could well be fine. Any views welcome. Iain