MarshLane

I know I asked earlier and nobody commented, but if anyone has any experience of brass/aluminium milling ... or producing lost wax castings - could you drop me a PM, or pop a reply on here please? Just looking for some advice/background info. Thanks all! No progress with the layout or locos at the moment, due to work and family life Rich.

Hi Richard, This may be an 'off the wall' query that you say something along the lines of 'oh god don't mention it!' but are there any plans for a re-run of Martin's Broad Gauge kits - I can see 'Rover' is mentioned on the website, but not with any info or details and having had a quick look through this thread it appears not to have been mentioned at all? If so, is likely to be a 'one-off' run or available occasionally? It is a distant ambition - distant being the word at the moment - but one that I've always fancied as a display model for the cabinet ... course once its built it will be too nice to just display! Rich

Hi Steve, Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you'd stripped the boards back! Whats brought about the change of heart? Still following with progress, there really is something about small china clay layouts - different length and OO gauge but Pengwynn Crossing was always one of my favourites as a kid - not sure what it is about china clay and Cornwall, but it definitely has something. Rich

Totally recommend Jon's work - he's doing the ground signals for Arksey and his work is just stunning! Rich

Very nice Andy - you have a PM It also strikes me that its a very well lit room, which will always help things. Rich

Hi Andy, Oops! Apologies, I really didn't mean to confuse you! But I've found part of the problem. Your old Fuji went up to f13.5, but the new Canon lens only goes up to f6.6 (see this link from the specs on the Canon website) so the pictures are never going to have the depth of field that you had with the Fuji. Its interesting tho, looking the shot approaching the platform, and the other passing the signal box they are taken F4.5/F5, which is probably the best your going to achieve with that camera, purely because of the limitations of the lens. Given that your maximum possible F stop is half what your use to, I personally don't think you'll achieve the same quality of pictures, purely because the lens cannot let the amount of light in. Sorry. Rich

Very nice Jeff Superb layout. Will look even more wonderful when that fresh ballast is weathered! Rich

Love the lighting on those Class 24 pics Dave, very original. Im never ceased to be amazed at the standard of your modelling - and that its pure OO ... to me (I'm not a critic or a expert!) it is far more finescale than normal OO, and I always look forward to the next installment! Also I shall be interested to hear how your sound experiments with the 47s work out, although I'm 7mm in practice, its always interesting to hear (no pun intended!) the different experiences and how people mount/install the speakers. Rich

Evening mate, That really does look superb - I must admit I was concerned you'd got the whole concept of context wrong .. I mean a loading shed smaller than the DeLongi coffee maker behind hehe But once on the layout, those reservations disappeared! I'd agree totally with Andy Y - definitely master modeller status, and looking forward to seeing the detailing you put on it. Hope your really proud of it - you should be. Well my ballpoint was smoking after scribbling that lot! Thanks for taking the time with that tho - interesting, I've played with foam board and like RobD2 said not been happy as its warped - although that was with paint rather than glue, but the 5mm stuff I have is from a company called Westfoam off eBay, who if I remember right are an arts and craft supplier. Wondering if there is better foam board out there than what I have got. But its interesting you do a few things differently (and I think better) than I did them last time, and I like the idea of th 5mm oversize to allow the windows to go in. Thats a good tip for any building work. Cheers mate - much food for thought. Rich

Feel free to shout anytime mate if I can help Love photography and can talk about it till the cows come home ... well at until the bar closes anyway!! Andy, you could be right, but I think the picture quality is all down to the F stop setting. The camera that you've got is aimed at the point and shoot market, where as really I would alway suggest that anyone doing model railway photography goes for one that at least has a A and S setting, usually those will have a Manual (M) setting as well which gives you complete control. I don't want to say that I think you might be disappointed with it, because obviously if your happy then thats fine, but ideally you do need to be able to change the F-Stop (A) setting yourself. I don't want to hijack anything, but as an example this 08 was taken on f1.8: where as this view, I know its a slightly different angle, was taken on F9. The depth of view in the latter one - the point where it starts to loose focus is far further back, because the lens is open wider. I think thats the feature your missing at the moment. Hope I'm not talking out of turn! Out of the three settings I've talked about Shutter, Aperture and ISO, for model railway photography, Aperture is the most critical, followed by ISO, then Shutter - assuming the train is stopped! If the train is moving then the latter two swap round! EDIT: I forgot to mention - you talk about the picture quality Andy - bear in mind that 70% of what you see is down to the quality of lens and the lens settings, the remaining 30% is the sensor. Im simplifying things a lot here, but in essence there are only two things you'll really see with the 20MP sensor over the 7.1MP, that is a larger file size, and far better definition in the areas that are in focus. For what we are doing, taking snaps and putting them on the web, the latter might not be too noticeable unless you crop images in and really look at them with a fine eye at 80-100% magnification. If they were going for publication in a magazine then the difference would definitely be noticed! Hope I've not confused you Rich

Hi Michael, How are the brake blogs and brake rigging done on that NZ diesel - are they white metal or lost wax castings? Also, sorry if this is being cheeky - not looking to get secrets out of your at all! - but how were the vents in the bodyside bonnet doors created? Are they somehow moulded into the brass sheet when its etched? Rich

Chris, Quick question, how did you get the rivet detail to show through on the plastikard?? Is this gently tapping a blunt needle from the other side? Rich

A somebody once said "Your not indecisive ... you just can't make up your bloody mind!" . You'll get there mate .. just keep chipping away and don't get disheartened. I think I've said before ... my loft plans for the BIG Arksey took two years to get where I was happy with them! By my standards, your hardly off page 1 of the sketchbook at the moment ;0) Rich

Definitely ELJ after seeing those two mate! Rake of mk1s for the 40, and mixed freight for these two

I think deep down that's your end desire mate. Bite the bullet and go for it ... they say it's easier second time round! Oh, no, that might be something else!!!! Looking at what you achieved in 4mm, I think you'd move mountains in 7mm. Rich

Looking nice Jinty, My spell checker seems to be developing an LMS feel, as its stopped changing you to Minty! Those wagon bodies look superb - I'm going to have invite myself for a days tuition on all this weathering lark, it looses me completely at the moment ... have to drop off that package and see if I can watch the master at work Keep 'em coming mate, very inspirational as ever. Rich

Asleep .. there's modern traction in your area and your asleep! Pah, the modern day enthusiast does know he's born ... in my day they use to get us up and send us out spotting before we'd even gone to bed! Funny, I remember Arrrrkwright saying the same thing about Errand Boys! Ah happy days - I was stood with my Dad that day at Meadowhall. Seemed all very strange (with an odd headboard if I remember rightly) back then .. little did we know we were going to be inundated with the little bu$$ers and that they would exceed the number of 47s built!! I do sometimes wonder where the railfreight industry would be without the 66s today however, as much as we enthusiasts might like to get rid of the damm things at times and bring back the 37s, 47s, 56s and 58s, I can not help feeling that without the reduction in costs and maintenance a lot more freight traffic would have been on road..... Sorry to hijack Marcus .. now stop having fun driving trains and get on with things, my fingers are aching holding this pen! Rich

Hi Andy, Oooh interesting, I'd have thought the Macro setting would have handled that a bit better than it has. But I suppose its more designed for flowers and the like which are at an even depth than photography. For my opinion, I'd stick to Auto around 400ISO, and if you can find away of keeping the F stop as high as possible, that will give you the best outcome. Thanks for taking the time to do that. Really nice shed scene! Rich

Looking good Andy! When you have five minutes (if the manual makes sense to you ) I'd be interested to see a shot similar to No. 001 - the first one you posted, taken in Macro mode. You'll have noted there is a very shallow depth of field - it looses sharpness very quickly, thats because the Aperture (the F Stop) was on F3.5, ideally if you can find anyway of getting that to F8 or above (preferably F10 or above) I think you might find your happier with the outcomes. But as ever, as long as your happy thats all that matters!! Nice colour off the camera tho. Rich

Hi Andy, Ok, firstly - if you get stuck anytime - feel free to PM me I'm more than happy to help. Yes, keeping the F stop as high as possible is the best thing for model photography. GPS Secondly, a wider point that doesn't apply to the Canon SX420 camera you have, but might to others reading this. Many smaller cameras now come with GPS. This writes the location of the camera into every image you take (down to about 2-3 meters). Thats great when your out walking the dog or on holiday and want to know where you were when you took the picture, but for model photography we're into a dodgy area - obviously if you put a picture on rmWeb anyone (including those devious little devils who like taking things that aren't theirs) viewing that can plot the position of the camera on Google Maps very easily and find out the location of your layout, and shed. Im assuming that like me, you won't want that! My advice is to either turn it off totally (unless your away on holiday) or depending what software you use to manage your pictures it can be removed. I use Adobe Lightroom and one of the export options is to 'Remove Location Data from EXIF' which I always tick and it takes all the info out. Initial Settings I've downloaded the Manual for your camera and had a wander through it. Firstly, make sure the image Resolution setting (Page 37 in the manual) is set to Large to give you the best pictures, and that the video mode (if your going to take videos with it) is set to HD (Page 38). Unless you specifically have reason to do so, resist the temptation to go lower than those two settings 'just to get more on the card' you'll end up with lower quality images that are like postage stamps!! Model Photography settings Have a look at P54 of the Manual, it shows that you have a Macro function, as it doesn't appear you can alter the Aperture (F Stop) setting manually on that camera, that might help with model railway photography - specifically anything that is close-up. The camera is more auto biased aimed at point and shoot - which is fine. You've said about the ISO setting (P51 tells you how to change it), try and keep that around the 200/400 mark if possible, 800 as a maximum. Its all trial and error, but on most modern camera's anything above 800 will get noisy, because the image sensor is getting hotter taking the picture (very basic explanation!). A few years back 400 was the maximum, but digital technology is improving all the time! Also just watch if your ever using the flash, as you may find it bounces off the lens when extended and gives you a shadow on the bottom of the image. Brief background If your not aware, ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture all work together. Lets say that with ISO at 200 In very basic terms, the shuttle speed is the speed at which the shutter fires, the higher that goes up, the lower the Aperture comes down and it all depends on the amount of light available. When your in lower light, the same still happens but you'll be on very low shutter speeds which could introduce camera shake if your not using a tripod - sometimes even when you are, on longer exposures you can get shake when you press the shuttle button. So the answer is to get more light into the camera, the way to do this is to increase the ISO speed, in essence that makes the camera run quicker gaining you a little bit of light. If you were photographing outdoors on a gorgeous sunny day, perfect light is 1/1000th of a second (Shutter) at F8 (Aperture) at ISO200. A cloudy overcast day is more 1/640th or 1/800th of a second at F6.3 on ISO640/800! Obviously come inside and the light level drops again, as cameras see light generated by bulbs and tubes different to daylight. Hope the above is of use to you - don't want to hijack your thread so feel free to PM me if you've any queries mate. Rich

Thanks Chris, Im going down the same road as you - to give the impression of the type, rather than a mm perfect replica! The finished version of yours does look really nice! Need to speak to Paul about sugar cube speakers for it when its complete, along with the correct audio! Rich

Hi Andy, Nice camera mate - not sure if you can with those, but if possible, (tell me if I'm telling you something you already know!) set it to Aperture Priority (usually an A setting) and then set the F stop to F8 or higher - the shutter speed will come down automatically, so its a bit of a final line balancing act between getting a shuttle speed high enough that will stop camera shake and keeping the F stop high. If your not aware, the higher the F stop, the greater the depth of field, hence more of the image is in focus. If it doesn't work for you, stay with what does!! Just a suggestion, and apologies if you already knew that! Rich

You missed out the cup of tea between can't find scalpel and find it!!! Pen is poised as they say! Are you using the plasticised as an overlay on the foamboard then? Rich

Hi Andy, Oh I had forgotten about Trewithen .. I'm struggling to keep up mate! The two new additions look nice, so shall watch out for them appearing! Rich

Any progress on Kingsford at all? Rich