aberdare

Morning all Cold and frosty again here today. Had an unexpected visit from daughter and grand children yesterday as their boiler had blown up so they came to ours to warm up. Should be fixed today and they are keeping warm by courtesy of a heater lent by Grandad. Car being serviced today so nothing special planned.

Morning everyone A cold and very frosty start here, all but the trees have a white covering, the hills have a slight mist on them and smoke is curling from a few chimneys. An idyllic Village scene in its own way. Have taken breakfast up to Mrs A, cat is content after a night on the hearth in front of what remained of last night fire, all is well in our world then. Have an enjoyable Sunday whatever you do.

Sorry to hear that ID, but just keep those memories alive and enjoy them.

Evening all (didn't Dixon of Dock Green say That?) Bit more of a late stayer upper than early riser but I do like a change now and again, now I'm here Iv'e completely forgot what I was going to say. Sorry to hear about Jordi ID, I know when I had to have my Springer Spaniel (Monty) put down I was very brave until I got home and the wife asked how it went, I tried to to talk and just burst into tears instead, he had been my companion on many walks on hills around the country. All the best to Pete too, I can't even start to imagine what it must be like. Night night all.- or should I wait until one minute past midnight and be first.

Great to see the progress you have made Nick, I look forward to seeing it being completed and out on the exhibition circuit some time in the future. With regard to the lighting I can see both points made by Michael and yourself are relevant especially when I look at your last photo where shadows are cast, a tricky one to resolve, hope you get it sorted. Jim

Morning A wet start here but should improve, I hope. One T&T visit last night from grandchildren and their friends accompanied by daughter and SIL, some of those 4-6 year olds can look pretty scary when they want. Nothing planned for today but the next two days could be busy, especially saturday. Congrats to Ash and everyone else have a good day.

Morning all Looks pretty windy outside so I think I'll stay in. Hands not working too well this morning and I have already dropped coffee and sugar all over the worktop. Mrs A gave me one of her looks and asked if I will be OK carving pumpkin. Great pictures Debs All the best to Ash, daughter and new arrival.

Morning all Another grey, cool nothing sort of day again. Ended up with chronic fatigue and muscle weakness yesterday so had to sit quietly and read a couple of chapters of my book until I got back to normal. Feel pretty good today though. Off to collect some wood for the fire from a friend who was having some building work done, so plenty of fuel to get the winter. Thoughts with those over the pond after seeing some of the pictures this morning.

Hi Jeff I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a bad spell then, I hope your mistakes weren't some sort of modelling E-virus caught from reading my thread, A short break, a cup of coffee and a chocolate hobnob worked for me. Jim

Morning Dry and cool here, bit grey too, no wind, you know that sort of nothing weather. Will pop into town later and......well that's it really. I'm sure something will crop up during the day. All the best Jim

Hi Mikkel, I followed the thread on colour and I think you came too a logical conclusion. Looking at your work above I can't fault your decision, it looks right as well as fantastic and I always look forward to your blogs as I know they are well researched and of course look so good. Keep up the good work it's inspirational. Jim

Morning all Good to see Bob so chirpy this morning. Looks quite bright here so it should be cool and dry. Had a quiet day planned but then the children and grandchildren said they will visit. Looks like I will be reading stories, playing shops or with lego, second childhood for me.

Cheers Jeff I think it was one of those weeks when my mind was on other things and when that happens it is probably best to keep away from the models for a bit. The patience was still there it was the lack of forethought that was the problem, in other words 'what will happen if I do this', or even 'now, have I done everything else first?'. At least I made the mistake on this platform and not the junction one which will be 7 or 8ft long. . But as you said, I felt a lot better once I'd shared it. Jim

Well the signal box is almost there apart from internal detail and nameplate so it was time to start on the platform surface, this as it happened turned into a disaster, well in fact I think the last few days modelling has been poor. I really must concentrate more, what happened to that man who was known for his meticulous methods and eye for detail when he was working? First the box, I completed the roof by making it from card and then applied individual slates which went well until I decided I could fit the slates without marking out where they should go on the second side, resulting in misalignment, they all had to come off,be recut and fitted again. At least they are on now but another thing was I couldn't even get a decent photo that day!! I have since found while checking the roof line that at the time I model the 'Gents' was also a roofless one so I now have to model that and the planks on the back of the box. I shall do the former with a stone floor and gutter as I don't think they would have spent money on tiles, or a flushing system come to that. Right, now for the platform disaster. I cut out the sets and started to lay them but it soon became apparent that they really needed rounded corners so I spent a lot of time just nipping them off as can be seen by a few laying about. I then decided that when I reached the end of the building I would try and grout the stones to check the finish, which I did and this was the result. The stones were now darker than the edging stones and the grout was lighter, not what I intended at all. It was at this point when you put your head in your hands, kick yourself, and call yourself something unprintable. Unlike the edging stones I had forgotten to seal the surface of the card, Arrrghh. The black from the grout mixture had soaked into the stones. After staring at it for a while and resigning myself to the fact, it had to come off, during this I saw the finish I had hoped to achieve. That little patch where the grout is darker than the stone. It is all clear now ready for another go. I spent the evening cutting out new stones - with corners - and will fit these after a good nights sleep, I shall concentrate a bit more and hopefully it should go well. I think it will take the best part of a week to complete it so I'd better not mess it up. Anyway the signal box in the second pic doesn't look too bad (I can pick holes in that as well if I want) and I have decided it will be in this colour not cream. I'm glad to have got that lot off my chest, now I can relax, stay calm and complete the build. Thanks for sharing my frustrations and disasters.

No, it had been replaced by then and the house dried out by two de-humidifiers. Luckily my daughter had cleared up most of the water on our return but it was late night before we retired to bed, at least the tiled floors made the job easier.

Morning everyone Pretty cold here this morning with heavy sleet showers leaving a temporary covering over white over the valley, Iv'e even got a mini sleet drift up the front door. Things getting back to normal here after wifes hospital visit, will pop over to the Post Office and shop in the next village later then stay indoors near the fire. Stu - I was on holiday on Skye when my daughter phoned to say water was leaving our front door and running down the hill after the cistern inlet burst, after an 8 hour non-stop drive back the clean up began. This was on a Thursday, potential buyers coming on the Saturday, we must have done a good job as they put in an offer and we sold it. Have a good day.

Morning all Grey,misty and damp here again. Long day ahead with taking Mrs A to hospital for minor op, hopefully she should be allowed back late this afternoon all being well then I will have to get into nursing mode for a couple of days while she recovers. Oh and I'll make sure I take that big book with me to read. As for suits I got rid of three when I retired and just kept the one, in fact when we downsized I got rid of a lot of clothes but not as many as Mrs A - she found that hard I can tell you. I'll be 58 soon but I stopped counting days and weeks ages ago, it'll happen when it happens. Take life as it comes is my motto. Have a good day everyone

Morning all Grey, misty and very damp outside, but will be popping out for lunch later for the wife to meet up with one of her friends. Apparently I am there for moral support, the friend is a bit scatty. Have a good day whatever you are up to. ID - best of luck, hope it's good news. Debs - LoL, put a great big smile on my face.

I built one of these back in the early 80s and remember well the difficulties I had, it was my 2nd brass kit that I built. Sadly I lost it but have a replacement to build later so will follow this build to its completion. It makes me want to start it now but Iv'e already got too many incomplete projects running. It looks great so far. Jim

My music teacher. Miss Denyer used to get me to play the piano to the class when we were learning to write music from the tune heard and I used to thoroughly enjoy it. One day when I was singing with great gusto along with the rest of the class she suddenly stopped, looked at us and asked us "who has that lovely deep voice", all eyes turned to me, I turned red , I was a very shy boy then - still am fairly quiet as it happens. Anyway she said I want you to sing solo at the school concert! Uhh I think not,1500+ kids, I have never sung with any gusto whatsoever since. 4 posts on here today, no wonder I'm having trouble seeing properly.

Nice work Jeff You are obviously pleased with what you have done and it does look good, at least the straight parts will be easier to lay and quickly make it look complete. The track is very good and better than the Peco I use but it would have been too big a change for me, it would have been something that would have swallowed up a lot of my budget as I already had a Peco supply from my previous versions. Keep the postings coming it makes for interesting reading.

Well Shortliner that made me chuckle. Thanks Feeling a lot happier now, all housework done, so nothing else to do apart from take it easy. I'm glad I got all the gardening done yesterday. The cat 'Annie' seems quite happy that Iv'e less to do as well, here she is with her master manservant. Note to self: Three posts on ER in one day! curb your excesses man you'll go blind! I'll find something more constructive to do after lunch, after all there's no rush.

Oo! I must be feeling better, I have a cat back.