rcmacchipilot

I am finding this quite interesting. Thanks for the info on the S&D tank wagons. I see a sratchbuild project on the horizon for 4mm.

Hey, arguably your best photography yet. The last one is very well lit.

Fantastic job with the instalation of the lamps. The extra effort to paint all the plates and adding the people has really paid dividends. Im lucky enough to have seen this in the flesh at richards, and the addition of table lamps and people completley change the feel of the railroad pullman.

Im glad that you havent decided to chuck in the hobby. I love reading this blog and looking at your work. Gives me something to aspire too. Good luck with the body swap.

Interesting premise turning the whole fidlle yard table vs the top, but quite logical looking at your set up. Excelent looking carpentry by the way.

I highly recomend soldering the couplings. Not only will it make them work but it will strengthen the coupling incredibly. Also It will hide the gap between the two folded over sections before painting them.

Slice off the massive thomas hooks too....

47606 odin Im up in geraldoton once in a blue moon, so your not that lonely / remote up there

I cant wait to see this. Looking forward to your next installment ...

The battered Coast

Can I suggest not using hex frog juicers if detection is of concern? Using a dipole single throw microswitch attached to the servo you will be able to switch the frog mecahnically and still put a current draw detection ring over the frog. Owen.

Love your work. Its motivating myself to sit down and start exploring the possiblities of templot

I will admit, I looked at this for the first time and thought on first impressions that it was 4mmFS. It wasnt till I got to the last picture that I realised it was 2mmFS. well done

Nice how to article , butanone is similar to MEK but not quite. The difference lies in MEK being a ketone, where as Butanol is an alcohol. Because they are so chemically similar they do the same job in anycase so it doesnt matter.

I did a double take on that first photo. Well done. Can we see some more please?

How did you do that picture?

I agree with juke dog, The look very convincing. I would love to see your methods and what you used. Owen

I would love to know how you did your stairs in photo two. Fantastic story by the way. I will eagerly await the next instalment.

Im curious as to what the maximum length train is that this method can employ. Well done however on a very clever alternative method .

What grade flock are you using? you have caputured the nature of the deciduous leave quite well. I oul be hesitant to fill the tree in any more however. Other wise the poly fiber take over and it looks like you have put green cotton candy around a wire stick.

I agree with the school of thought on LED's. They run cooler, draw less current and can also be made to look alot more scale in size and color. They are straight forward to use, providing that you use the correct resistor on them so they dont blow. You can also dim them down by using a resistor of a higher value. Looking at the lights in the shed picture I tend to lean towards them being metal halide / mercury lights. From what I remember of a video taken by model rail recently at barrow hill the light there was very bluish as well. It should be very easy to get some cool white led's. This is a fine piece of modelling by the way. Well done.

Instead of brushing it, spray it with a grey primer and then use some water down accrylics to weather it. I found a 40/60 mix of burnt umber with a dash of red in it, gives very convincing track. It works even better if ballasted first as rust from the track will stain the ballast ( always the tell tale give away if track is freshly ballasted / laid in real life.) I suggest that you try it on a small piece of test track first. As far as a blog goes, I think you have personally nailed the essense of it in this one. As far as I am concerened the aim of a blog is another format vice a forum topic where the progress of your layout can be displayed. For some its a way of sharing lessons learnt (for every blog / topic on rmweb I am sure that we call all take away something), others use it as a way of tracking their progress. As far as I know, the blogs that I enjoy reading the most are the ones with a few paragraphs description, and some photos. Or those that kind of act as a tutorial. Other people will probably have some other good suggestions, and many of the layout topics in the layout section cover the different way people approach track weathering an painting. Regards, Owen.

wow, that looks quite nice.

Its actually a lot flatter than it seems, although there is a small pot hole down the end near the gates? perhaps time to practice 1:76 scale road repairs? I am quite happy that I have captured that rural feel in that small section of the layout. Hopefully I can repeat it else where. The lane on the other side of the tracks would be even worse for drivers. would not want to be a car facing an oncoming truck its so narrow. For the time being ill leave it so the gates are removeable and sit on the mesh theory. Problem with the gates is that they are so open in space small animals and children would have no problems getting through them which in my eyes makes them not very prototypical.

Finally, Christmas and hence a little rec leave is in order. Doublely appreciated given the last 7-8 weeks have been work 7 days a week. Anycase today has resulted in some spare time to do some modelling and thankfully some blogging for once as well. So here goes. First off the bat is the completed cattle dock, Last time this was blogged I was in the beginning of the brass construction stage. This has now been completed, marking the last steps of the construction process. The dock is split into two allowing cattle to be seperated and transported to different locations / provide flexibility in loading/unloading. Of note is the working gates at the end of the ramp. These were built just to test and drive my soldering capabilitys further. Next has been a project that has been in the wings for the last week and a half. Following the thrill obtained from working with brass I wanted something to follow it up with. Crossing gates provided the ideal answer. This is the gates at the end of their raw stage. Probably the hardest and longest part was building the braces that would join the wooden posts together. (the little black brackets in later pictures). The other learning point is that its almost impossible to get a reliable and strong but joint with thin brass wire. The later two gates conctructed had the supporting wire going to the main post drilled in. This picture is a comparrison of the completed product and the gates primed using a grey automotive primer. Finally, we have a picture of the completed gates mounted in position. Im still considering whether some bridal mesh should be put across the backs of the gates. This would look like chain mesh which looks very good. However im not sure that super glue will not ruin the finish of the gates. The other step will be to weather the items, however this will be done at the end. By weathering at the end, uniform weathering can be applied across the entire board. The last item in the title marks the completion of the card lineside structures.