woodyfox

Buy something for about £500-600. No worries on depreciation and when it breaks down with anything a bit major get another one... ...spend the balance on lavish gifts for you and your good lady! I've got a Suzuki wagon r thing that cost next to nothing, has loads of space and is ultra cheap to run.

This is my humble try at a shark... ...although it is a Hornby model undergoing an EM conversion... The rear of the W irons required a decent hacking, the brake rigging was re-located and the whole thing is being weathered. The model was sold as 'weathered'... ...but to me it looked like it had been left outside the paint shop from new for a couple of weeks to collect a bit of light dust! Regards Stu

Apparently much of this increase in premiums we are experiencing is due to a huge increase in 'injury claims'. Someone only has to be 'tapped' on the road now and a minimum 4 figure 'ambulance chaser' claim for whiplash is persued! It's a sad reflection of the 'I want it all now for little or no effort' society we've adjusted to... ...Here in Hull there's a sub-culture of people who don't want to work/will never work but who survive on the hope attached to a lottery scratchcard or ticket - or the hope that someone will 'damage' them to the extent that they can 'claim compo'... I hear it all several times every working day!

It has to be the coal fire. One room hot but smoky. The rest of the house freezing to the point of a frost pattern on the inside of the windows... ...and the feeling of the coarse material of an army blanket against your skin when in bed (sandpaper!) .. but you had to have one otherwise you would turn blue! Oh and having to have the fire going for several hours to get enough hot water to fill up the twin tub to get the smoky clothes cleanish.... (still at least I could see 21 ton hoppers on the drops in the local yard as compensation... ...radiators saw that view disappear!) Regards Stu

Nice weathering Matt. I'm building some 4mm kits myself at the mo and I'm following this thread with interest. A couple of questions if I may... What are your plans for drawgear/couplings on the wagons? Are you going to fit the engine speed regulation pipes on the crompton? I think it would make a subtle improvement as they are prominent on the real things? Also the 27 way sockets stood out quite a bit... ...they were always 'busy' round the pipework area... Regards Stu

I used a mix of 1 part 'rail white', 4 parts matt black and 5 parts BR early bauxite enamels mixed with talcum powder. I dabbed the mix on with a medium stiff brush with splayed bristles. Once it was almost dry (tacky to touch) I painted a random line around the larger patches using a slightly thinned medium rust colour. I then dry brushed downwards immediately with a large, soft brush slightly loaded with a 70/30 black white matt mix. I then added various subtle streaks and runs of fresher/lighter rust colour. For the underframe it was just a case of dry-brushing with black and earth colours along with brake dust and grime colours with a light rust on the iron brake blocks and a very dark grey (graphite like) touch around the greased points. Although a tad blurred the effect is shown on this pic... Regards Stu Al

My attempt - a Parkside 7mm kit finished in early grey.