TomE

Hi Stu The undeframe was sparyed with Railmatch Frame Dirt and once dry was then dry brushed with varying different shades of muddy browns before an overall wash of thin black. The body was done with just washes of black & dark brown in the areas where dirt gathers on the real thing. Cheers! Tom.

Well, what with work and holiday recently, time for the railway has been in short supply. However, I've had a go at weathering a Farish Class 66 and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Perhaps the roof needs a bit more around the exahust though? Hopefully I'll have a bit more time to push on with the layout itself soon so more updates on the way. Cheers, Tom.

Hi Will Excellent work! Ideal for a single line Terminus micro layout! Tom.

I'd tried several different ideas for producing the tapered GSM-R mast, but wasn't really happy with the results. Either there wasn't enough taper, or it wasn't possible to get a consistent taper. What I hadn't realised was the answer was sat in the tool box the whole time...... After running a scalpel blade along the length of the plastic brush handle a few times it created representation of the flats on the real mast, and tapers just nicely. All that remains to do now is fit the transmitters, ladder and other small details. Sometimes the obvious solutions are not so obvious! Meanwhile, the associated cabinet is progressing nicely: Now I’m happy with the mast I can crack on with getting this scene finished and move back to the building site area. Cheers, Tom.

Hi Will The photo amplifies the problem quite a lot. It doesn't look anywhere near that bad to the naked eye! All of the examples I've seen seem to suffer from fuzziness somewhere so I don't think this is a one off. Tom.

Looks fantastic Grahame! Tom.

Here are a few photos and thoughts on the Graham Farish Cross Country Voyager. The model has been around for a few years now but still holds it's own against some of the latest releases like the Class 150. The power unit is fitted in one of the front vehicles which means only 2 decoders are required for DCC operation compared to the 3 required for the Dapol version. Performance out of the box was excellent, smooth and quiet as you would expect with a Farish product. The units are joined by means of a small coupling bar which I was glad to see came with a few spares as they look like they wouldn't really stand up to frequent use. Finish wise it's generally very good, although there is a little fuzziness along some of the edges between the dark and light silver. The colours look to be a good match for the prototype, just like the Turbostar released last month. The red roof of the ex Virgin scheme gives the Voyager a different look to the 170 though, and really needs weathering down to match the real thing. In some cases it's impossible to tell the roof is actually red at all! There is a wealth of fine detail represented from warning signs down to the Destination screens and Quiet Zone stickers on the doors of one of the end units. All in all a lovely model up to Farish's usual high standard and it looks great when formed up. These things crop up all over the place so you can pretty much justify one on any layout. I await the Farish 222 Meridian with great interest and it should make an interesting comparison to the Voyager! Tom.

The cross country fleet has seen expansion with the addition of a Farish Voyager. A superb model it is too! I'll post a few more photos later. Unfortunately the past few weeks have had little modelling time available so not much as happened on the layout but hopefully a bit more progress will be made soon. Tom.

Beam me up Missy! Does the panel go 'beep' when you press it? Congratulations on a successful power-up. Tom.

Ah, I see. Thanks Grahame. Tom.

Looking good Grahame! Can I ask what you use for masking when painting a scheme like this? Cheers Tom.

Hmm...Chopsticks, not a bad suggestion Will! Could be dangerous for the ol' waistline though!! Tom.

Hi Bernard. It seems information is quite scarce about this particular style of mast on the net. I found only a few photos and no information on height or other dimensions. They seem like they may vary in height though, the one in the photo at Chesterfield seeming higher than the nearest to me which is at Farnham. I've quickly tried one method using some plastic tube. Four cuts were made down each side and a thin sliver of plastic removed from each before it was glued back together to try and produce the taper. Once dry, a knife blade was run along the tube as per Missy's suggestion to produce the flats. I'm not sure I got enough taper in this first effort though? Thanks all for the suggestions, they are much appreciated. Cheers, Tom.

Thanks for the suggestions. Gives me a couple of methods to try out. Now, off to get some plastic tube & rod....!! Cheers Tom.

Hi all. I'm planning on replicating one of the modern Radio masts that you see increasingly dotted around the network. The cabin which goes with them is easy enough, however the type of mast I would like to model poses something of a challenge with its multiple sided and tapered construction. Does anyone have any thoughts about a possible method of construction or possible materials? Is it even worth trying to reproduce the mulitipe flat sides of the prototype? Here are a couple of pics to show what I'm on about: Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tom.

Hi Justin I can't help but think it would look better with the orange printed on the reverse of the window to make it appear as though the display is behind the glass as per prototype. Of course this would mean removing the orange printed on the outside and I'm not sure how easy that would be! The overlay sounds like a good idea though! Cheers, Tom.

Hi David Looks great! Captures the look of the Desiro very well and an ingenious way of producing one. cheers, Tom.

The Farish 170 has been around a good few years now, and I think was one of the last Farish units designed in the UK. It is starting to show it's age when stood next to the same companies recent Class 150, but overall it still captures the look of the Turbostar quite well, to my eyes at least, and it is the only option if you want a 170! I quite like the Arriva Cross Country scheme in spite of the lurid pink doors. It's one of the few schemes which works on pretty much anything it's applied too and the rendition here is excellent. Silver can be an awkward colour to reproduce accurately but the colours look spot on and the printing really is superb, with sharp definition between colours and a multitude of smaller lettering and warning panels represented. The only thing I could find to fault was that the small plough under the front faring which is not painted yellow as per the prototype, but then they are usually covered in filth anyway. My example ran very smoothly and quietly straight from the box unlike my Dapol 156 which draws complaints from the neighbours! The mechanism fills one entire coach, but thanks to the tinted windows it's not really noticeable. It would have been nice if Bachmann had taken the time to fit lights and a DCC socket to bring the 170 into line with other units available, but alas these are still missing. I may have to try fitting lights myself… Interestingly, the model is packaged in the older style of Farish box, not the latest version, which makes me wonder if they haven't been sat around in China for a while? Anyway, here are a few close up photos: Cheers, Tom.

Thanks all for the feedback! I probably should have called it picture of the week, as there isn't really enough layout yet to do one everyday! Tom.

A new arrival today. I'll post a full review in the next couple of days once i've had chance to run it in but in summary, despite tooling which is showing it's age next to the latest releases, its a lovely reproduction of the Cross Country scheme. Cheers, Tom.

Thanks all. It looks much better once the excess flux has been removed and it's given a coat of paint: Cheers, Tom.

N Gauge: Cheers Tom.

Tom.

The building site area is coming along and tonight I've started soldering up some scaffolding, a result of which is burnt fingers and blue air! The pic below shows the start of the work and it is yet to be properly cleaned up and so there are a few large blobs of flux still present. It also needs its wooden feet so looks a little lop-sided but hopefully you get the idea! I'm hoping to get the roof trusses laser cut once I've drawn up the master, which will save a lot of time! Cheers, Tom.