StuartM

I've been busy seeing what I can achieve with Scalescenes while working on Greenwood cutting. I realised that I had enough structures to make a small diorama, so I knocked up a base board, added the buildings and retaining walls and then spent a happy hour snapping away with my smart phone. Here is a photo in both colour and black and white. Unfortunately the 1meg upload limit does tend to reduce the sharpness of the photo, but you get the idea.

Does this mean there is a 2mm 08 kit in the offing?

Once you've finished, give the whole lot a bloody good scrub with a toothbrush as this will remove any ballast stuck to the rails and sleepers and will show up any weak spots

I assume you mean the ballast? If so,prepare to be bored out of your mind Step one, get a small pipette and place a drop of water mixed with a drop of washing up liquid on all of the ballast, then repeat using a 50/50mix of water and pva plus a drop of washing up liquid. Do all of this without shifting any of the ballast out of place (good luck with that) allow to dry and then make good as required. Top tip, take your time, be patient, do small amounts at a time to alleviate the boredom.

More experimenting with brick-sheet papers, Just to see how thin I can get layers of bricks So far I'm quite pleased with the results

Looks like you can make some nice retaining walls with scalescene sheets as well Using some odds and sods, as a test mock up, I can feel a diorama coming on

I've just discovered Scalescenes brick&corrugated iron sheets and just spent a happy putting this together

I've been experimenting with ballasting. I like to make yards where there is little ballast and the track has sunken into the ground. Before, I've laid the track and then added the textured paint, which ends up clumping around each sleeper and each chair. With this test track, I've laid the textured paint first and then sunk the track into it and then sprinkled on a small amount of ballast. On first appearance it does give a flatter, more uniform, more realist finish.

Does anybody know how Network rail work out the speed limit for a length of track?

I've got a plan

I use the cardboard from cereal packets cut up into small squares I rub that along the rails and it seems to remove dirt I didn't even know was there. No residue, no dust, no fibres and there is a cheap and plentiful supply

Why not knock up a length of flexi-track, bend it to size and see if your stock will negotiate it if you just use blue tac to hold the ends down, you can alter the tightness and experiment with the radius until you find one that works for your layout and stock

Before I joined the 2mm assoc I went down exactly the same route that you're contemplating, and my conclusion 5yrs later is either do ngauge or do 2mm fs, trying to mix and match is more trouble than its worth and is neither one or the other. Why not give 2mm a try, once you've seen a 2mm loco traverse some finescale trackwork you might well be converted

Yes, the fact that the camera, which I assume is fixed to the loco/coach body is rock steady, means the suspension is doing its job, I like to add weight to my trucks as they stay on the track better, now all I have to do is work out how to spring my wheels

If I think my track laying is less than perfect, it would seem the 12" to 1' gauge can bit a rough as well a fascinating video of wheel on joined track

This week, I have mainly been making slips and 3ways

The Silver Pullman is awesome, v impressed

I've been taking a break from 2mm for a bit, having spent 18months building the shunting plank based around Reading signal works, I needed something quick and easy to do so I've made a couple of small ngauge shunting planks, the second of which is pictured below. Now I've got this out of my system the sleepers have been laid for something in new 2mm

Andy, I have written to the site moderator and asked for you to be removed from this thread, as every single comment you have made has been negative and adds nothing to the debate, and you seem more interested in showing us how much clever you are than the rest of us. At first people engaged with you, but you will notice that most people now just ignore your comments. If you want to make a positive contribution to the debate, fine, if not please leave the room. Stuart M

Re the Finial question, As some of you may know I work (well I'm employed) by BT and I asked the same question when I was young'un and was told that the Victorians didn't like the ugly telegraph poles, so the GPO pretty'ed them up with some ornamentation, so I assume the same apply's the railways, then I thought I'd ask Google and what'da know, there are people out there with an even sadder interest than us, "The Telegraph Appreciation society", I kid you not http://www.telegraphpoleappreciationsociety.org/index.php/43-telegraph-poles/vintage/123-finally-finials

Well said Simon,

As I said, this is a thread about the virtues of Battery powered/remote control, if its not your thing, then perhaps this is not the thread for you.

As the person who started this thread, I would like to add my tuppence worth to the debate raging above. There are several reasons I think battery powered, radio controlled model railways are the future 1. Track wiring puts a lot of people off having a model railway, and is the main reason you see lots of simple track plans, By eliminating the need for wiring, people would be free to have as many slips or 3way turnouts as they liked with out the need for a mass of complex wiring. 2. DCC is not the panacea of all wiring and can be in its self a rather complex and expensive form of model control 3. Not everyone has the skill or engineer know how to be able to create a perfect layout with perfect current collection, if such a thing is even possible 4. Track cleaning, wheel cleaning, wiper cleaning, armature cleaning etc are all a nuisance. 5. the simplicity of being able to put a loco on a track and watch it run flawlessly over pointwork can only encourage people into the hobby, which has to be a good thing as this supports the manufactures who supply us with the models we want And finally this is a thread about the virtues of Battery powered remote control, if its not your thing, then perhaps this is not the thread for you. Stuart