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Two weeks on I have now "made" some structures for the background of the layout. An old-style loading platform behind the PW siding, this being used as the customer car park for the classic vehicle restorers. I think the platform finishes off this corner of the layout quite well, and the Transit minibus takes the edge off the end of the road. Also, the platform takes up less space than a buffer stop: The end of a modern warehouse, this is Pikestuff and some Wills 4mm concrete blocks: Photo lost, cannot be restored The warehouse comes apart to reveal the display for my 'scenics processor' but I expect it will be complete for most future photos: Photo lost, cannot be restored A mess hut near the tram stop, this is from the Faller barracks building: The toilet is Faller as well. The kit built four of these so I expect they will be appearing around the whole railway. I have also made a platform for two vertical storage tanks I originally made for the main baseboard of "Shelf Island". These add a bit of visual balance behind the chemical plant. I am imagining these are for gas not liquid, because a bund will look a bit intrusive. Hopefully the whole scene will retain a reasonably open and desolate appearance: I have taken all of these photos today, with the layout in its alcove. This location is good for viewing and running trains but awkward for working up the ground surface, indeed doing much of anything on the layout. So I expect I will put the layout onto a trestle table in the middle of the room this week to have a go at the landscape. - Richard.

Digging around online: (1) She carried the name Manchester Murcurio until 1980, when she returned to Spain and was renamed Folita. (2) She was renamed 'Anna X' in 1982, then 'Isamar' in 1991. Photographed at the Port of Goole in 2013, so evidence of operations in Britain, and status marked as "dead". (3) Doing a search on IMO 7117046 I've found the 'Phoenix II', "a General Cargo Ship registered and sailing under the flag of Cyprus". (4) Trying to search for "Phoenix II" is hopeless because there are many other vessels with the same name, but staying with IMO 7117046 I ended up with the builder being MARITIMA DEL MUSEL - GIJON, SPAIN. Link (4) also gives another intermediate name, 'Navy Progress' from 1980-82. Hmm! My layout is supposed to be set in 2012. This model would be a superb backdrop, in place of a printed backscene. Just a sky behind it. I wonder how much skill these kits need? And is a model this size self-supporting or does it need to be put on a shelf before moving it? I'll put this on the "wish list". It would make a change from model trains, and it would be a self-contained project with a well-defined ending. My layouts just go on and on. - Richard. Sources: (1) http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/manchester.shtml (2) http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1785002 (3) http://www.vesseltracking.net/ship/phoenix-ii-7117046 (4) http://maritime-connector.com/ship/phoenix-ii-7117046/print/

Many months ago, I changed the title of this post to include the words “roads and fences” because I thought if I could define these then the structures and landscaping would follow automatically. This has not worked out at all, and instead I have found myself struggling to decide what buildings to include so I can work out the roads and fences around them. The only road defined is the Magnorail section, and even this isn’t glued down yet. Building the Wills tin chapel has helped a lot. It gives me a nice contrast with the chemical plant, and is taking me towards an “old-style/run-down” treatment for area nearby at the right of the layout, with modern structures closing in from the left. I am finding it incredibly difficult to build a modern setting with any kind of regional or even National flavour when there is no train in sight. Every time people ask me what scale I use and I reply “H0” they knowingly reply, “oh, Continental or American?”. So - the old chapel/car restorers gives me an excuse to park some customers' cars nearby, and these will be classic British cars with right-hand drive. I have some Minis, a Minor and a Triumph convertible, all right-hand drive and not looking like Continental tourists. And of course the Magnorail runs the cars on the left side of the road. I also have an LMS square post signal, made for 4mm scale but not looking desperately overscale. This also says the layout is in Britain; and probably away from former GWR and Southern territory. Thinking about buildings, there will be next to no brickwork on the layout. The older parts can use corrugated iron and asbestos cladding, local stone and cobbles; and the modern parts can use corrugated steel, concrete blocks and poured concrete. There can be a tarmacadam road to connect these together. The block of flats has gone. The only place it could fit was just too close to the tin chapel. I have quite a few new structures underway – a goods platform, a low-relief warehouse, a mess hut, a new substation, some portable toilets and a warehouse flat – and I will post some photos when these are starting to look presentable. - Richard.

The subject of chassis for the Mainline J72 has been discussed on the "main British H0 forum thread" (starting about here) so I have added the kits by Comet Models and High Level Kits to the original post above. I am afraid I have had to split the table into two parts. This is not ideal, but it lets me take screen grabs from the spreadsheet at 100% to post here. So there is now a table of RTR chassis, and a separate table of kit chassis. See: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/150691-useful-chassis-for-british-h0-loco-and-railcar-projects/ Corrections, missing details and fresh examples are always welcome of course. - Richard.

Ian, I noticed Faller do a 90mm turntable and immediately thought of your early locos: https://www.topslotsntrains.com/topslotsntrains/final.asp?ref=Faller-120276-OO/HO-Scale-Model-Kit-SMALL-WAGON-TURNTABLE-II---WITH-MOTOR&id=15112&manufacturer='Faller Kits' Might be useful for a future layout, and it is motorised too. - Richard.

For those wondering how to buy Magnorail in the UK. I've just received an order of Magnorail parts from https://www.magnorailoz.com.au/ The Australian dollar is weak against the £ Sterling at the moment, and this was cheaper than buying from mainland Europe, including the air freight. For me, there is also a clear advantage in dealing with a company able to speak English, and above all able to understand my house does not have a number, merely a name. Anyway, delivery took 16 calendar days, with Easter in the middle, and everything arrived in good condition. - Richard.

The cafe was open on Easter Sunday, and their bacon and brie with cranberry sandwich was much enjoyed! Good coffee too. - Richard.

I reckon, a small but carefully-chosen range of bodies designed to fit onto the original Dapol/Hornby Terrier would prove popular. These models are easy to buy and if you are really keen you can fit better wheels or a better motor. I have never needed to try this, but I have read of people grinding away the top corners of a Horny motor to get a bit of extra space. The only obvious investment for the body designer would be a couple of chassis, one to modify and one to keep as original. And possibly a bench grinder. - Richard.

According to my own notes, and I promise I compiled these by measuring models and not taking stuff off the Web (plus some inputs from other folk here), the Hornby Terriers have a wheelbase of 24 + 24 mm and 16 mm wheels. Equating to 2.09m and 1.39m. Which are pretty darned close to 6'10" and 4'6". - Richard.

Ever since I started the Magnorail project last October I have been pondering the design of the "workshop" where the car will hide between outings. Every design I came up with looked like "oh look, he's made a sort of a shed building to hide the car in". Well, a couple of weeks ago I bought the April "Railway Modeller" and inside is a layout with a narrow-gauge engine shed built from the Wills kit for a Victorian chapel. This gave me a bit of a light bulb moment, a kit was duly ordered up, and after a couple of hours of model-making I have this: With a mirror behind: Solved for all normal viewing angles! These buildings were frequently re-purposed after congregations built better churches and moved out, so a motor vehicle workshop is a reasonably prototypical application. This is a first-class kit. The mouldings are really clean, everything went together extremely easily. I haven't used any filler yet either. The foundation of a tin chapel was usually a dwarf wall with a timber floor, or a mixture of rubble and cement. I've added styrene strips below the walls to represent the edges of a concrete floor. There is room for a customer car park on a disused goods platform to the right, and a yard with a caravan-c u m-office and some left-over car parts to the left: This is good - all the big decisions for the Magnorail are done. Also, I've done some model-making for the first time in months. - Richard.

To honest, eBay has done me well. I've sold items in auctions, many model railway bits and pieces, and seen them bid up to far more than I would have asked if I ever had a table at a show. The system has also let me reach buyers far away, who have paid quite princely sums for eBay postage; and I've picked up some real bargains. The system is very good for actually finding obscure things too. - Richard.

If the drawings are promising - High Level Kits do a chassis kit for the J72. This will be a lot easier to incorporate into a new model than the Bachmann chassis with its "integral piece of lower boiler". - Richard.

Here are some stills which did not make it into the video: There is a blue LED in the middle of the push button, but this is extinguished in this photo because the car is running. By luck not judgement, the ply fascia is just the right thickness: A photo of the Arduino to explain some details too involved for the video: Pins A0 and A1 have the input from the push button switch and the output to its LED. Pins D4 to D7 handle the inputs from the four microswitches, these act as waypoints so the system knows where the car is and can adjust the motor speed to suit. Pin D10 is a PWM output to the servo moving the Magnorail chain. Pin D11 is a PWM output to the Magnorail motor via a MOSFET driver. Pin D12 is to a buzzer to give some audio feedback when the start button is pressed for an extended period to engage car swap mode (included in the video) or the debug mode. For future use, pin D8 is for a 'remote start' switch, this does the same as the push button but the display backlight stays off, and D9 is spare for a second servo if I add an animation to the sequence. Finally the MOSFET driver connecting the Arduino to the Magnorail motor: The transistor is rated at 800mA and the Arduino motor takes 80mA, so there is no heatsink. These boards don't include a diode to protect the transistor from the back emf from a motor, so I soldered this across the terminals of the motor. This is my third method of driving the motor. The first was an Arduino shield, which consumed too many i/o pins, and the second was a a pair of stand-alone H-bridge circuits, neither lasted more than a few hours. So ... the Magnorail has now been running for nearly a month without changing the software. I have promised myself and my partner I won't touch the Arduino until I can get back to work, this is scheduled for 12th April. I have ordered up a Magnorail bike, a ready-to-run-one. I would like to see this running on the system before I glue down the roadway. - Richard.

No-one visits Essex for the views, but there is some lovely countryside here. I took these shots in and around Terling last week, this is pretty much in the geographical middle of the county: Terling Ford is only passable in a tractor nowadays, or possibly a larger 4x4 during a really dry summer. - Richard.

Going back to the Magnorail, Clyde has uploaded his third video production. This film includes a moving train too :-) https://youtu.be/d5entV-adUk - Richard.

This is a still from the TZ-90, the camera was keeping track with the loco as it ran from right to left: If you can imagine some scenics, the DoF is probably just right to make an impression of a train in its surroundings. (The black bars are letting my 16:10 monitor frame a 16:9 picture). - Richard.

The small focal length would explain to me why most of my lenses stop down to f/22, only my macro lens stops down to f/32 and only my medium format lens stops down to f/45. I agree entirely about trying to do more with the photographic kit we own. I think my most sensible recent purchase was a small LED panel light. This is my second of these. They make composing shots so much easier than trial and error with flash; and they seem pretty much essential for video work on small models. - Richard.

The TZ-90 has macro settings for still photos. It also has a close-up capability for video - it will focus down to a few inches - but I think this engages automatically. It is a very adaptable little thing really, and I use it for lots of photos where my DSLR would need a flash gun to get a result. - Richard.

I spent about three hours with the cameras yesterday afternoon. My overwhelming conclusion is, a 2018 compact produces clearer footage than a 2005 semi-professional 3CCD machine. Mostly because the compact is recording HD. I haven't conclude much more about apertures (irises?) and DoF. Perhaps, with a video of a moving train, it is only really necessary to have the train itself in focus. The softness of the background isn't as important as it is for a still photograph when I am trying to make the model look as realistic as I can. - Richard.

I am slightly ashamed to say, I have five tripods. The most recent acquisition is a Manfrotto one with a fluid head, and this will be fine as long as the camera is outside the layout. I have read (but I do not "know"), a video camera with an integral lens can include firmware to compensate for deficiencies in the lens. So it can correct for barrel distortion for example. And this appeals. I am spending the afternoon with a Panasonic DVX100B, which is fabulous but native 4:3, and my Panasonic TZ90, which claims to do all kinds of things with video but its menus could make me go mad. (Or at least madder). The DVX came bundled with the tripod and a very nice microphone, all for £120 through a seller on eBay, so it is something of a bargain but it is far too big to place onto the layout. This layout is 62 inches long and in an alcove. I'm wanting to persevere with the TZ90 a bit longer, see especially if I can fix its exposure so it doesn't simply adjust its exposure and focus when a loco runs out of the frame. I could stand it on the tracks, maybe hold a mirror behind the LCD to compose the frame. But the menus really are difficult, to me anyway. I've only ever used it as a point and shoot camera. - Richard.

I have got to stop thinking in terms of 35mm film. Suppose a camcorder has a 1/3 inch sensor and a focal length of 6.7 mm equates to a "standard lens", the DoF table looks like this: It is easy to understand why the camcorder manufacturer doesn't bother to give you an aperture smaller than f/8. I must also remember I have complete control of the lighting on the layout. If the camcorder is using an automatic exposure programme, then if I throw more lux at the subject a camcorder is going to shut down its aperture until it asks for a ND filter. - Richard.

I am pondering buying a new camcorder, and I want to buy something suitable for use with my layout - currently 1:87 scale models. I might move to a larger scale one day but I doubt I will move to anything smaller, my eyesight isn't as sharp as it was. Now - when I take stills using my DSLR (Fuji s5 Pro) and a 28-55mm zoom lens, I am usually using an aperture between f/11 and f/22. And I am wondering, what range of apertures, especially what minimum aperture, should I be looking for in the spec sheet for a camcorder? For example, the Canon XA-11 shuts down as small as f/8 but I have no idea what kind of depth of field this will give me. I mention the XA-11 because it includes a physical control allowing me to adjust the aperture. I don't think I could cope with having to go into a menu to adjust such a fundamental thing. Also there are XLR connectors for a mic if I venture outdoors with it. - Richard.

Oh! Yes, I could go around the layout crimping on pins or ferrules, there are quite a few screw terminal blocks dotted around now. Thanks for the tip. My blue and purple wires are for the 'mode' LED, I have moved this off the servo controller and onto my route setting panel: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/23872-route-setting-panel-for-megapoints-servo-controller/ This panel is surprisingly effective (you program it by setting a route and holding down one of its three route buttons), but it can only work if the servo controller is under local control. I will lose this panel if I decide to expand my MegaPoints system one day and go for a Multipanel for the whole railway. - Richard.

I have jammed rectangles of styrene inside the trunking to hold the wires inside. I did this out of desperation when I was frequently turning the layout over and back up again, but it worked well and as you point out, it stops wires getting snagged when the lids go on. The larger trunking (40 x 25 mm) is big enough to hold some Wago blocks, and these let the distribution of the track wiring happen inside the trunking too. I don't quite understand what you mean by male 2-pin terminals on the cables to the MegaPoints boards? I use fine nosed pliers when I want to remove a connector e.g. for fault finding. Maybe put additional connectors nearer the servos? - Richard.

It has dawned on me, I can tip the layout onto its back in its alcove without having to lift it out and down onto a table. All I had to do was clear away some stuff on one of the shelves behind. So here is a photo of the wiring underneath the layout. This is partly for Ian so he can compare notes with his own baseboards: The cable trunking is virtually full, I have track feeds and power distribution in the wide trunking and servo control cables in the narrower trunking. I will still have to add the wiring for the street lights and building lighting, but the wiring for most everything else is done. There is space for a servo for a semaphore signal in the spot with the paper note centre right, and space for some kind of DCC zone protection board if I feel I must have one near the power distribution at the left. - Richard.