swisspeat

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY IN CAMEL TROPHY LIVERY Busch have released a model of a 1992 Land Rover Discovery in Camel Trophy livery for HO scale. For those who did not recall, including me, Camel Trophy was an off-road vehicle-oriented competition that was held annually between 1980 and 2000 best known for its use of Land Rover vehicles over challenging terrain with many vehicles painted in a distinctive “sandglow” livery as this model. The event was won in 1992 by Switzerland represented by this vehicle driven by Alwin Arnold and Urs Bruggisser. The Land Rover comes well packaged and it just needs a couple of number plates added to finish it off. AVAILABILITY: www.goldenvalleyhobbies.co.uk Busch 51938 So my new acquisition is not a railway item this time but at least it is Swiss based! :-)

Your project is really coming on. snow drifts - shape pieces of foam such as packing around electrical goods into snow drift shapes then fix them on to the land with PVA. Next day sprinkle on snow from Noch or Deluxe or Woodlands over spread white glue. A couple of layers might be needed but this method keeps the weight down and uses minimum of materials. railings ? Yes every time in my book! I look back at some of my earliest projects without them and sigh. 3D Modelshop does lots of scales with architectural fencing too which may suit your needs. Peter

All the best with your treatment Tim. peter

Is anyone going to look behind the building? My guess is that only you will be aware there are no windows? Does that really matter? I confess to building structures with no windows on the back wall where it is not visible. My view is I am making a representation of a building not a precise copy. you have a relatively large N scale layout to build. Personally I would take the easy way out on this one. once you have the building in place and move on you will forget about a few holes! 😀🫣 Peter

I have used their products also. Very good quality.

Great news! Some nice layouts and traders etc there. Well done to all who are having a hand in this. Kind regards, Peter

Of course Craig I presume you have bought some of those superb Gigawood wagons. these are effectively double wagons! I have one of them so far and was considering running it empty on this occasion. I have made lots of timber loads in the past for European and UK wagons. I did use a foam core on one load that meant I only needed half as made twigs and it cut the job by half in time. looking forward to seeing your log train in service…. kind regards peter

Looking good. regarding weathering the ballast I have recently used Ammo Mechanical Wash which is an enamel. I just dipped my brush in the jar and dragged it along the ballast. A nice grubby look soon appeared and can be “repainted” later to add more depth to the colour if required. arguably any black acrylic paint/wash would work just as well. regards Peter

This is really good news! I have in the past ordered their excellent quality products directly from Switzerland. thanks for taking the time to add this range to your portfolio. kind regards Peter

Extra hold unscented supermarket hairspray is the best available. Soft hold is the one to ignore. it would be interesting to see if the expensive hairsprays work any better than the own brand ones for our purpose! last time I looked hairspray is available from less than £2 a go.

Your layout is coming on well. winter bushes - because you are working in N you will not need anything too tall! you could try faded brown static grass say 2 and 4 mm fibres. After these have dried brush a little white glue over some of the fibres and sprinkle on a little brown scatter to represent dead leaves. Of course less will be enough. second method could be a little teased our poly fibre which has been sprayed mid brown. Tease it out a lot and fix to land with PVA. Then try adding a few dead leaves as before. hope one of these methods works! kind regards peter

I have just watched the Neu Items 2024 presentation by Noch and the Albulabahn layout and Bergun buildings looked very tempting in N scale. These appear in the second half of the recording. It can be viewed on their You Tube channel. The layout used the Kato rolling stock that too looked very nice to a semi dyed in the wool HOm man like myself! Peter

Love the 3D G scale Alpine passengers! :-)

Interesting backscene! I know what you mean about low res but there are positives in this. Sometimes prints that are so crisp just look like photos and it is really difficult to see past that (no pun intended). But slightly hazy backscenes can work well and the difference between the layout and the scene is no so sharply defined and difficult to disguise. Enjoy the rolling out and ironing of the backscene Paul! :-) Picture attached uses a Vollmer backscene which when I go it out of the tube I was disappointed with because it was more low res than anticipated but in hindsight it works well. Kind regards, Peter

This layout appears in the Feb 24 issue of the excellent magazine Modelspoormagazine. Well done Neil! And you made the front cover.... Peter

Looking at the new Roco Swiss releases your wish for a BLS 420 will be met, at a price....

The cheapest I found is at B and M. Other discount stores are available! :-) Various sized bottles are available. Please let us know if you find it a good glue for this purpose.

Regarding Elmers... Last week I did a test of PVA, Noch Grass Glue, Mod Podge, Static Tac and Elmers School Glue. I used identical fibres etc. I used a Static King on mains power. I did the test because I had seen US You Tube clips suggesting Mod Podge was the best for planting grass fibres and I wanted to see if that was correct compared to formulated grass glues. My test proved by far that Elmers planted more fibres than any of the others which was a big surprise!

Thanks! on the viaduct board that is a lot of fibres! :-) I have recently been playing around with glues for static grass. Surprisingly I found that one of the best is Elmer’s School Glue.

John, interesting comments about grass grass falling off. So far that has not happened to me with extra hold hairspray and my projects are stored in a damp garage. i always just liquid glue for the first layer of fibres then hairspray for any subsequent additional patches or colour variations. glad to see you reused the fibres that had fallen off. I would do the same! peter

When I first saw the Woodland Scenics Starter Kit I did not think it would work but after using it a few times it does if you limit yourself to max grass fibres of 4mm. tea strainer types work ok for the same size of fibres but you do have to be careful that you do not load the bowl too high because as you shake it bundles of grass fibres drop onto the layout. what scale do you work in? If it up to OO scale these starter kits are ok because once the rule has dried you can add a second and third layer to build up the height.

And is response to the earlier questions about layering sprays I also find that Spray Adhesive is just too sticky for this purpose. It swamps the fibres of the existing layer of scenics and too many static grass fibres will stick to it. It will not look realistic. But I find that unscented extra hold hairspray works really well indeed for second and subsequent layers of static grass fibres. Go steady on the amount of hairspray released onto the tops of the already laid scenics - a little goes a long way. Enjoy working with static grass fibres! Peter

I tried typing in Mini Natur UK Supplier into a search engine. I found a few UK shops came up. Occasionally their excellent quality scenics is available at shows. The manufacturer does I understand post direct to the UK. I looked at doing that once but their P and P was rather too expensive. Probably cheaper to send from a German model shop. Peter

Thank you Craig. Firstly I will erect some catenary. Then buy an 11 carriage SBB Giruno. Next I will buy the lorries and wagons and if I have any money left I will ask you kindly if I can have running rights on Wolfstatt for these two trains. I hear the track access charges on your Magnum Opus are nearly SBB rates! :-) Kindest regards, Peter P.S. I see the Piko new releases for 2024 are already announced!

The latest HO loco to arrive here is a Roco Ralpin Traxx unusually has totally different liveries on both sides. Purchased from A and H Models at Brackley. I just need a full set of wagons to accompany it! :-)