C&WR

Great afternoon at the Maidenhead Model Railway Show. Glad to see DM of Kidmore N Gauge again, with another, erm, OO micro full of urban grime. I didn't need a FGW Dynamic Lines Class 166, but...

Lots of tomato plants in order*, I gather. *Or in ordure, I suppose

Thanks, both! Same to you & yours. Model was brought out to keep TSC off the iPad too early. A massive WWII battle now going on, Germans vs British Commandos, some rather chilly in their shorts Desert Rats, and a solitary, lost US Marine. The sandpit has been used as a pond after all for the Commando canoe...

I hate to pick out any individual picture among the excellent work on this thread. However this one drew an eye for the almost seamless backscene.

As mentioned above it is indeed the Airfix Waterloo diorama set. I've been having a lot of fun. Had forgotten about the sandpit as my last battlefield tour there was more than ten years ago. I had been intending it to be a pond, but was put right by a user on another site. Sadly my real sand isn't here to use. Interesting about the railway. TSC found the base (pre-scatter being put on) & asked what it was - I said it was for my railway so as not to spoil the surprise...

And here's what the kiddiewinkies made of the Anderson shelter project. I think they did rather well: Note the privvy. Not my work, but TSC thought it most amusing that an aspiring Pendon modeller needs to make one of these before being taken on. If I had been the teacher I would have suggested the shelter be actually buried, but for ten and eleven year olds this is pretty good: I've also made headway on TSC's Christmas present: Just need to get some clump foliage on the hedges, bed in the farmhouse, and add some strategic static grass here & there:

Metal Box certainly brings back memories - then I realised why. We travelled past the Reading office by train regularly. Nice article here with a railway picture, and a young lady getting in the company swimming pool. Don't know how young lady has fared, but the Railway and local scene is very different now!

What's brown and sounds like a bell? DUNG!

I've been distracted from railway modelling again. Partly this is because of my rather splendid new job (I'm still a School Bursar, but moved on from the previous place as I had achieved all I could there) but mainly because of things for The Small Controller. We were out recently and happened, as these things do, to wander into a model shop. There was the Airfix Waterloo diorama kit. TSC declared this the best thing ever as he could play with his soldiers on it, but mean old Daddy didn't buy it as we had a Rugby match to go to. However TSC doesn't yet know about internet shopping, & a large parcel was delivered. I've been having fun: The baseboard for the diorama needed to be weighted down on a sheet of foamboard - Julian will approve: I then gave the building a coat of Humbrol brick paint: Then tried it for size on the board: The set comes with something like 400 soldiers from the various combatants. I started with the British Infantry, although bearing in mind my history should have done the Cavalry first: He was also asked if he could, as part of his class WWII project to make a model Anderson shelter, contribute some vegetables (his note to me was most Moleseworthesque as it said "make cabbadges") and an apple tree. Perhaps his teacher didn't know I'm a modeller, so I did. Carrots a bumper crop, or cabbages & cauliflowers a bit stunted: Then the tree. I took a whole load of flower arranging wire & twisted it together: Then I covered the wire in masking tape & gave it a coat of primer: It then had a coat of acrylic paint: When that was dry I glued on some Woodland Scenics clump foliage. As it needed apples I bought some little beads from the vajazzling aisle at Hobbycraft. I thought they wouldn't stay on if glued, so I stitched them on with thread through the foliage & round the branches: I then touched in the ends of the branches and added more foliage: I'd tried to use hairspray to hold the foliage, but it didn't work, so I used some spray glue. This left the webs you see, but they did fade by the time the tree went to School: Not a species of tree that anyone might know, but I'm happy with it. TSC was awarded ten house points, too, so job's a good 'un

What a fabulous factory! Aside from the sheer scale of the thing I particularly like the loading bay canopy painting method - I'll be posting something on my thread about a project which has taken me away from the railway stuff for a short while & you could have solved something for me. Now to read back over all your posts since I've been inactive here! I'd be inclined to be careful here. Bribery and corruption in building projects attract serious penalties these days

And here are pics from yesterday: On a visit to Ilkeston in Derbyshire to visit an old Army mate and his wife I discovered Malc's Model Shop. This is a wonderful place, and if I lived nearby I'd be very happy, have a massive modelling stash, and be very broke. The signal is a Ratio one, & after much deliberation I decided not to make it functioning. Still think it looks nice. T'other side: The Pt Way Dept advised on placement. Not as aesthetically pleasing as I might have hoped, and it gets in the way of my main railing track for larger trains, but at the moment it's just Blu-Tacked in place & will be bedded in due course. Finally a new wagon purchase: In honour of the preserved railway of which I am a member. RJS1977 will approve, I hope!

Cheers, Al! A couple of bits of work done today, but photos will wait until I have natural light in the morning...

With regard to hairspray weathering there are many great tutorials on the web, but this is how I do it based on these sources: 1. The idea is to give the effect of paint which has flaked off an item, leaving the original material showing through as it is on the junction box. The same idea applied to the various CCTs & the FRUIT.D I did for my parcels train. 2. Therefore apply a coat of the desired original colour. For the boxes this was Tamiya Dark Iron. 3. Then add any additional base colours. Don't think it shows on the boxes, but I gave a wash & dry brush of Humbrol enamel Rust. 4. Once all dry give a coat of clear varnish. It is crucial that this isn't water-soluble. This step can be missed if the base is all done in enamels, or another paint not soluble in water. 5. Again once all dry give the object a coat of water-soluble hairspray. 6. Once the hairspray, as might be expected, is dry airbrush on a coat of the top colour. In the case of the box this was Tamiya Sky Grey. It must be a water-soluble paint (Tamiya acrylics are enough so) & the airbrushing also necessary as a normal brush will disturb the hairspray. 7. After more time watching paint dry, set to the object with a damp toothbrush. The top coat will be damaged, then the water dissolve the hairspray underneath leading to most satisfying flakes falling off. 8. Seal, add any required weathering washes or powders, then seal again. The box in the picture hasn't had this step yet. At step 5 it is also possible to dampen the object, then sprinkle on table salt. Once this is dry continue at step 6. While I said the top coat must be water soluble & airbrushed I did once make it work on a 1:72 Matilda tank with salt, enamels & a conventional brush. However the effect wasn't great, & I attracted frosty looks from TLHC as the nailbrush employed at step 7 was never the same again

Forgot to add, photos above manipulated in MS Paint to remove background of my bookshelves etc. Using the pipette tool I selected the colour of the backboards & then with the marker tool coloured in the extraneous stuff. It looks rough as anything at full size on a laptop screen, but in a post & especially on the phone is passable.

Finally a trip back to Wallington. I had a chance to run some recent purchases: This Heljan DPU was a steal from a certain North-Western box-shifter. It's incredibly heavy and a really good runner. The only possible quibble is that a fuel tank and a bogie step had dropped off in the packaging. Very please with it indeed I also found this on eBay: Again very pleased with the model, sadly the power to the rear two cars is a little intermittent, and the penultimate bogie doesn't stick on the track. Need to work out what to do as again it's a really good runner. I'd bought it for my putative Borough Market layout/diorama. It was also on the shopping list as I use to visit my Grandmother in SE London and a SR Electric took us the last 20 or 30 minutes - only thing is we didn't travel on these, so should have checked the number of doors before purchase but I still like it! Another view: In the foreground a triple aspect signal (work in progress) and associated electrical box. The latter was painted using hairspray weathering, and I'm really pleased with the effect. I'm heading back to the railway again this afternoon as I have a meeting nearby early on Tuesday. More fun to be had this afternoon & next!

Post 889 updated with pictures...

Very busy weekend. Rugby Club beer festival Saturday afternoon, so I suspended my pre-Christmas detox to have a couple fo pints, but literally a couple! Sunday was also all Rugby - The Small Controller played on Sunday and his team was unbeaten all morning (with only one loss for the other team in our age group) then it was time to hot-foot to Richmond for London Scottish/London Irish which I'm glad to say Irish won convincingly. Minor disaster on the Mica B. The decals for one end went on really well, but the second end set disintegrated. A bit of a bind because i only had one set for each end, so now trying to decide whether to strip the full MICA.B REFRIGERATED MEAT VAN from the successful end and just put a number on. It's a bit difficult modelling this as there's a risk of building a model of a model; and the only pictures I can find are of vans in preservation which don't seem to be the same diagram or have markings even vaguely consistent with the decal pack...

Here's what I've been up to, or at least one project: Not strictly prototypical - again I found my ancient sheet of 4mm PC Models Pressfix GWR Wagon & Van insignia wasn't really 4mm, so it should read "BANANA VAN" not just "BANANA". I also think the "10 Tons" shouldn't be in script, and of course it should read, "Return Empty to Avonmouth" not "-Plymouth". Finally the wagon numbers were too large to fit between the framing, so the number is invented but i hope a real one in the correct sequence for the diagram. As you can see there are tiny flecks of white on the model. Luckily these are only evident on the pictures, not with the naked eye and certainly not from "normal viewing distance". I'm now debating whether the thing needs a coat of sealant - I fear so as the weathering is with Railmatch water-based acrylic. I won't be using the Plastikote, I'm off to Hobbycraft when they open in half an hour (and when my tea is drunk) for some Tamiya matt varnish which I will airbrush on. Next project is a MICA.B: Those handrails were a beggar to bend, so I will have to live with how they are. They look better now the thing is primed as the whole vehicle is white, but I fear once they've been picked out in black again the awful shape will be a bit too evident!

Thanks again, Julian. I tried a trial spray onto a bit of black card last night with inconclusive results, and have also having given the wheels of the van a coat of frame dirt sealed these again with no spots seen so far. Last night involved lots of fun bending brass wire into shape for the handrails on the ends of a MICA.B. The Long Haired Controller thinks I am absolutely barking mad...

Thanks, Mike. They're particularly inspired by some in my home village in S Oxon! With regard to spray painting i have finally got the hang of it, and what I grandly describe as my airbrush is really a little Humbrol spray gun which takes gans of preesurised gas as a propellant. It's just been a case of thinning the paint properly, and when thinking, "this could do with one last spray" stopping immediately. As I said I'm inclining now towards there being some kind of contaminant in the nozzle of the aerosol can, or atmospheric conditions...

Thanks, Julian. I think I may have discovered what's wrong. I changed over the piece of card that is attached to my spray stand (aka a revolving cake icing turntable) so it was nice and clean, having wiped down the turntable itself. I then gave the kit another spray, and as i did so my nice grey van received, on the second or third press of the nozzle of the can, a delicate selection of speckles like using a miniature snow spray. I think there might be something in the nozzle or possibly, because I have been spraying outdoors as The long Haired Controller objects to the smell of the sealant, the humidity is causing this effect. Will patch paint in again tonight, then as herself is out do a spray indoors. At least, so far, none of the white specks is so close to the decals as to be unable to paint them out!

Been away far, far too long. Haven't even had the railway out since, I think, the pictures above. It's a long and complicated story and involves a very difficult time at work which meant any modelling mojo was just knocked out of me, but happily I have found a new job and am back at the work bench in my free time. No pics to show right now, but a quick query for anyone reading. I've been building a van kit which has gone fairly well, and after priming in Halfords grey primer this had a couple of airbrushed coats of Tamiya Acrylic paint, then a coat of Plastikote gloss sealer before decalling. I let the decals settle down, then proceeded with a coat of Plastikote matt sealer. However I now seem to have some tiny white flakes on the model. Any ideas?The decals have remained intact. I'm wondering if it could be old paint flecks from the spraying mount kicking up in the finish.

Been away for a while. Your layout and rolling stock all look as great as ever. I wasn't initially convinced by the backscene until it was in place. Once it was there it looks just the ticket!

Very interested in seeing how this comes out, Adrian. Funnily enough having received my Bachmann S-Stock set for Christmas gone I'm planning something similar, imagining that the Underground had made it out to the Waterloo-Deptford direction. The idea is to have essentially a diorama with elevated railway lines running through it & some sort of representation of Borough Market between two lines. Interested to see the low relief factory, too, I am using this kit to produce a scenic break to the "inland" end of my home railway!

All the best, Al. Thanks for the reminder photos!