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Nice cobbling Tim. Bet you're glad that is finished. The water tower looks like it has been copied from the one still extant at Ashchurch. I'm afraid to say we copied it first but changed it to red brick.

I finally finished off the two A3s last night and decided to wait for today to take a few photos outside. I thought the reflection from the lying snow on the garden table would be good for lighting up the motion. No such luck. It started to snow before I could get out and do the business. Content with having to take more indoor photos I've attached a few below. So, apart from actually lining and varnishing Cameronian both have also been coaled, crewed, fitted with express code headlamps and had the motion weathered. Time to say goodbye to these two and move onto the next job. Cheers....Morgan

Received from a colleague currently on a 12 month assignment in the sub-continent. This was seen in his local branch of Coffee Day. Coffee Day is an Indian chain similar, I guess, to Costa or Starbucks. One imagines the scene at the Coffee Day New Product Development Team meeting when this idea was first proposed. The executives sit around the table, strewn with beakers of mysterious coloured liquids and little paper sample cups. They taste it with trepidation. The room falls silent as the Beverage Development Task Force, having worked around the clock to prepare for this presentation, awaits their first official feedback. “What the …. is this?” sputters the CEO. “Brilliant!” says the Marketing Director. That’s just what we’ll call it!” And so a product is born. Customers can choose between Orange WTF or Green WTF. Grab a 400-mL bottle today! One taste, and you’ll be saying “What the…?”

The buildings really change the character of the layout. I can't believe nearly a year has gone by since Robin, Paul and I came by to have a look. Cheers....Morgan

Thanks for posting this Dave, it has reminded me that I need to get on with my Reidinger geared Crab. A neat solution on the UJs. I think I'll pinch the ideas off you if that is OK? Cheers....Morgan

Chaps, what you need is some drying retarder. I'm using Vallejo acrylics a lot these days and a spot of retarder mixed in with the paint on the palette lengthens the working time. http://www.snmstuff.co.uk/vallejo-model-color-597-drying-retarder/ Cheers....Morgan

My antidote to the Xmas excess of food and drink has been to spend some time working towards completing the two A3s. Shown, in the raw, in the previous blog entry the last 2 to 3 weeks has seen both locos primed and painted. This has been a bit of a game with the weather but thankfully enough fair and dry hours have been found to get them done. Using cellulose paint (primers and top coats) gives a major advantage at this time of year as it is feasible to get a loco painted from start to finish in one or two days. The down side is the humidity and cold which can give problems with bloom of the paint as the thinner evaporates. Day one is the etch primer and even though some say that overcoating is possible within a few hours I prefer to leave it 24 hours. Day two is the high build primer and top coat (or coats in this case). I don't always use a high build primer. It depends on the surface finish of the model. This time it was necessary as the whitemetal castings of the DJH kits had a few blemishes and porosity that would have shown through the top coat without it. So starting early one Sunday morning the grey primer was sprayed followed, about an hour later, by the brunswick green top coat. After a decent brunch, whilst the models dried in a warm airing cupboard, it was time to get to work masking off the bits I wanted to stay green. Some pre-prepared masking templates helped speed this laborious task up. Things like splasher and the firebox bottom edge shapes had been made from card a few days before so that duplicates could be cut from masking tape. By far the trickiest job was manipulating a long thin strip of tape along the running plate valance. By about 3pm the masking was done but the bloody weather had changed and the rain was falling. ######! It was a full week before the weather was fine enough to get back to the garage and spray the black. The remaining work has been taken more slowly at the work bench. Hand painting a few areas to tidy up masking errors and application of the lining. This time I have used Fox Transfers A3 lining packs and I'm very pleased with how they have come out. The only area I have lined with the bow pen is the running plate valance. The remaining transfers and plates are Modelmaster/Jackson Evans items. The final stage was to give the whole lot a coat of satin varnish. So, as you can see in the photos above Flying Scotsman is complete. I now need to finish off Cameronian. She is well on the way.

Great work Tim! One of those tedious and thankless tasks that really is worth the effort in IMHO. The end result, uneven unpainted, looks just right. Morgan (veteran of the Brinkley turntable pit chad experience)

Tim, I'm sure the driver and fireman won't need much persuading to drop off a few wagons as long as it is over lunchtime and they can pop to the chippy for some refreshments.

As I was taking some photos to send to along with an invoice I thought a few pictures of the latest locos out of the works would be good to keep the blog chugging along. Lack of time due to work committments have not allowed much other modelling work to take place recently and when this situation arises it has to be the paid modelling that takes priority. The subject title ought to give a clue as to what is revealed below. Actually the game was given away in a blog posting a few months back. In an attempt to pay homage to the style of photo so often seen in books by P.N. Townend the unmistakable lines of two Gresley pacifics hove into view. Simmering quietly on Top Shed yet oozing power and purpose awaiting the next race to the north. But , "hang on a minute" you all say. "They ain't painted yet". Agreed and it is a fair cop. Painting is the next job. I had hoped to get them completed and sent out before the Xmas holiday. However, as my spraying booth and equipment is located in the garage, the chance of getting enough fair dry weather to coincide with when I’m available to paint the locos is looking increasingly unlikely. A re-pose of the photos will certainly be necessary before they leave SLW for their home shed. The models are pretty much out the box builds of the DJH A3 kit. Once again a few Morganism creep in with my standard style of electrical pick up and tender connection. Also a few spare parts from the recently designed Thompson pacific valve gear etches have been used to improve the back end of the radius rod in particular. Thanks to davidw for letting me try these two around his layout this afternoon for an extended test run. 12 RTR coaches.....no sweat

As the photo description states it was taken at Annesley the loco could have worked the "DIDO" staff train from Bulwell Common. See the description here including photo of a 9F on the train.

Here is another good photo of 63786. The handrail arrangement makes a very significant change to the look. Looks like a Stanier 8F at a quick glance.

A restaurant with an enticing name at Alicante international airport

Another small but essential piece of motive power has been added to my collection. 58165's life may have been unremarkable but it was certainly a long one. Built from 1875 onwards the Midland 2Fs 0-6-0 obviously served successive masters well as many lasted well into the 1960's. Their diminuitive stature and low axle loading, giving them a wide route availability, made them useful beyond their years. To adapt a phrase from a well known Danish lager they were able to reach parts of the system that others were not able too. However, I think it may be a stretch to claim that this was probably the best locomotive in the world. The model of 58165 has had a bit of an identity crisis as I acquired the locomotive a year ago and it was finished in LMS livery carrying the number 22974. The loco was built to a very high standard by the late Gwilym McCoach. It runs beautifully being fully sprung with CSBs and split axle pickup on loco and tender. The decision to relivery in BR black was never in doubt and, to be fair, the LMS finish had seen better days. The choice of 58165 revolves around my interest in the ex Midland lines in North Gloucestershire and my involvement with Robin Whittle's Barrow Road project. 58165 had a brief spell at Gloucester Barnwood shed and would have been regularly employed on local trip freights and engineering trains. In the LMS guise the loco did not have a vacuum ejector fitted so during the strip down all the necessary vacuum brake pipework was installed. A few other items were also addressed during the heavy general overhaul and I'm pleased to say a test run on the group layout this afternoon has gone without a hitch. A bit of weathering and some couplings now await. If anyone would like a closer look at this loco it will be in the display cabinet at Scaleforum this coming weekend.

Hi Andrew, This seems to be progressing very well. With respect to your crank throw problem would a bit of work with an escapement file at each inside end of the slidebar solve the problem? By the looks of it only an extra 0.5mm or so would be needed at both ends. You might also be able to cheat a bit off the front and back of the crosshead with a file. Cheers....Morgan

Is certainly easy enough to do. I've already done a sloping axis taper boiler as a test. The Brit was easier still as the boiler axis is horizontal. The basic shape takes no time at all in 3-D. Plotting the position of all the boiler furniture and projecting onto the 3-D shape is the time consuming bit. Fireboxes are the next thing on the list to figure out in 3-D.

A little bit of collaboration and checking of hand calcs resulted in the above..... The hand calcs agreed to within 0.02mm. I'd sign that off for flight...oops not at work now.

Who do you think it was done for....?

Could be a Clan.....but our jockey was first past the post.....it's a Brit

Would you like crushed nuts and strawberry sauce with your 99 JW....? Ivan, Tim, you're warm but not bang on.......

Something like this.....perhaps.....? Can anyone guess what it is?

Hello Paul, Some interesting stuff you have been building and a nice job you are making of them. What gauge are you working in? It is not immediately obvious to me. Cheers....Morgan

The tool in the fly cutter can start to cut the work twice per revolution. As I have glued the whitemetal casting into a position that puts the edge hard against one edge of the fixture slot it is good practice to ensure that the tool rotates and takes a cut from the casting that will push it against the fixture edge rather than pull it away. The direction all depends on how you machine and position the part in the fixture. In the photos above the flycutter is rotating clockwise and the casting is against the back edge of the fixture slot. Therefore the feed needs to be from left to right. It is pretty sensible once you understand the cutting forces at work. Easier to do that explain I'm afraid. I hope it makes sense? Morgan