30801

Thanks I have to say the finish is down to the 'Sprayaway' paint from Just Like The Real Thing. You can lash it on like a drunken gorilla and it still manages to sort itself out. It's just a shame they don't make it any more

Well that's me done

Thanks for the kind comments. It's been a surprisingly un-fiddly kit for a first time build, (though it's taking so long I've done a couple in between). There were a few niggles such as the cab window frames but nothing too terrible. I think DJH have been influenced by this 'beginner Pacific' idea and have produced a simplified kit of a Peppercorn A2 http://www.djhmodelloco.co.uk/prodpage.asp?productid=3243

Wheels & nameplates on. Motorised with an ABC gearbox.Probably should have used thinner wire. This stuff is a bit bulky to route around. Nearly there! I seem to be missing a couple of screws to fix to the drop links. I got a back issue magazine and re-did the return cranks. The originals were very loose on the crank pins as the instructions had you drilling out the holes to 1.1mm and tapping 12ba. This time I didn't drill out at all as the holes seemed big enough already and now there's enough thread to tighten things up.

Finishing off the lining... The instructions have you cutting and extending the lining on the front of the cab. Looks like the boiler is a little under width and the lining needs to extend down to fill the space. That's it. No more decals! (Apart from the wheels centres later)

Got round to doing some more lining... There's rather a lot of it along the footplate. Did it all in little chunks like this and poked it into place with a cocktail stick. Anything larger became unmanageable. After doing that for a very long time I now have lined frames & footplate.

Thanks. I've been at it on and off since Dec 2007. I'll get there one day

Hmm, Looks like you're right. Maybe I need to get the masking tape out again. I already re-did the splashers as some of the edges were a bit scrappy

Remembered I have this again Lining done and the wheels are back on. Tender buffer beam fittings fitted. Finishing off painting on the loco. Ready for lining now...

Starting on what I expected to be a more difficult bit as there isn't a nice edge to line up against. I don't know what other people do but I made a series of small pencil marks around the edge so that the decal would just cover them when positioned correctly. It was then a case of poking the decal into place with a cocktail stick and sighting along it from the rear of the tender to check for straightness. After doing that four times I quite pleased with how it came out. Well apart from the bit above the front axle where I nicked into the white when the knife slipped when cutting the decal out...

Thanks I think it's going to drag though. The black & white lining doesn't agree with my eyeballs at all. I've been using a bright LED lamp so maybe I ought to try something softer. I've lined round the edge of the other side now and that was enough for one session.

More lining. This is going to go on for a bit... I went a bit overboard on the delcalfix round the buffer beam and it's left some residue behind

Haven't updated this in a while, but then I haven't done much. The tender is painted now. Whoever designed the woodgrain in the cab has presumably never seen a tree. Started on the lining. I don't like it. This is as far as I could stand it for one session. And this loco has at lot of lining....

It's plenty dodgy. You could use the log book to give a stolen car a new identity. Also you could use a log book like this to fake something like a Mini Cooper using a bog standard Mini and a few bits. I'm not sure if a Cortina 1500 Deluxe carries much of a premium though.

Yep Off topic slightly, but not having learned my lesson with partworks and being in danger of actually finishing this kit I went out and started the Hachette's 1:200 HMS Hood

Adding the green. I'm using Just Like The Real Thing paint for this BTW. Don't you love it when you find SWMBO has used almost all your Tamiya masking tape to paint the spare room. I made do with some cheap stuff to wrap that paper towel round the boiler and the couple of places the tape made contact with the paint I ended up having to respray after scrubbing the glue off with meths

In the olden days. Graphics cards have had dual monitor outputs for years now. Even my cheapo Lenovo netbook has VGA and HDMI outputs so you just plug in a second monitor and go.

Starting on the painting...

Surely it shouldn't be _possible_ to access confidential data you're not allowed to see?

I looked an Archos32 which seems to get good reviews if you want something that's a bit more than just a media player. http://www.reghardwa...ayer_archos_32/ Seems to cost about £80 now. In the end I went for an Archos tablet device which can double up as a video player in the back of the car.

We're not allowed to look at amazon.com during work hours. However we can stare at amazon.co.uk all day long. Hooray for US-centric censorship

Have a look in the manual. Some DVRs let you save programmes to a USB device.

Yes that++ Don't even consider a single tuner DVR. Recordings will fail all over the place due to clashes. Even allegedly consecutive programmes will usually overlap by a couple of minutes. The BBC never run to time...

An Ivor The Engine sound appeals to me. At least it would for about a minute after which it would be very very annoying. I think everything will just end up making a discreet hum after the first irritating-car-ringtone related murder occurs.

They're a bit like Hornby products (wellI suppose they are) the range is a mix of dreadful old tat made from ancient tooling and new stuff like the 1:24 Mozzie that's exquisitely detailed.