fulton

1950, escaped with only a few scratches, accident while promoting a circus. in fact I'm driving to Dusseldorf tomorrow, not so far from Wuppertal, so may try to visit again.

I wonder, what the evacuation plans are for Wuppertal schwebebahn, as it follows the river for much of its route? well worth a visit, gets very busy during the rush hour.

My go to primer, for all materials is Halfords aerosol primer, always good results, as above make sure clean of grease etc. fingers will leave grease behind.

This has been discussed before, the quality and performance varies enormously, some people have had good results, the one I ordered from Amazon, not the cheapest, claimed high pressure, was totally useless, got full refund, at least the refund system worked really well, I am quite experienced at using an airbrush, so I do not think I was doing anything wrong. The concept is very appealing, if one comes highly recommended I may have another go. The same models seem to be sold under various brands.

When I was involved with a large show, with 40 layouts, and 60 other stands, the Show Guide was a major undertaking, very time consuming, fortunately one of the show team was keen and had the knowledge to do it, we always wanted track plans included, but with some layout owners it was a real struggle to get one, advertising was essential to keep the cost down, and of course our time was free.

I should think the problem would be, all the wagons sent back to Rapido, because they are "defective", have a go changing the number yourself, the method I would use would be to paint the body colour on to a piece of water slide paper, add the new number to that, varnish to seal, than cut out and apply over the old number, no risk of damage to the wagon, a bit of weathering and maybe a coat of matt varnish and you will hardly notice the change.

All sorts of different ways to operate, as above it's a broad church, my small Railroad Crossing layout, single board no hidden sidings, train arrives, (already on layout), shunts sidings, train departs, (still on layout), repeat, have had many enjoyable exhibitions. Similarly my Fulton Terminal layout, which has just been at Alexandra Palace, has no hidden sidings, all stock on view, carfloat (train ferry) departs with train, then returns, with a "new" train. There must be an, unintentional, theme to my layouts as I am currently building a new prototype British EM layout without hidden sidings, the main line is effectively the staging, with the focus being the industrial shunting to and from the exchange siding, one benefit is that stock does not need to be handled.

Is there an ampersand missing, HOUSE & STEAM COALS, ?

Thank you Darius43 for posting the photos, Darius43 photo below, everything went well with Fulton Terminal, thank you to the organizers for a good weekend, unloading and loading worked well, thanks to the outdoor Stewards, great venue, travelling was what we expected from Strood, via Blackwall Tunnel, best 1 hour 10 minutes, worse 2 hours, not normally driving in London you forget just how busy it is.

This model is over 4' long, I used a Deans Marine fibreglass hull, cut down to waterline, yes is 1/96 scale, but to me, looks the part, I scratch built the superstructure to 1/87 scale, but I think would still be acceptable with a 1/76 superstructure, the prototype is the "Collective Farmer" an American built Liberty Ship, supplied to Russia under lend/lease, but apparently never paid for.

Unfortunately yes, has been cases of people taking a BBQ in to keep warm, with deadly results.

I use an ANTEX soldering station similar to above, maybe an older version, normally I set it to 220 C for white metal, using Carrs Red Label flux, and low melt solder, very happy with the results, mine has a digital readout, the response up and down is very quick, great for kits with a mix of brass and white metal, have also had very good results with stainless steel etches using Carrs Brown Label flux.

To add my bit, a Brown Field site next to me has stood for 25 years, an original scheme was for around 200 houses and flats, good location next to a station and town centre, I used to work in the house building industry and there are plots of land like this all over the place, without the need to build in the countryside.

To complete the set today, the other side of the viaduct, a curved timber trestle connected the two track levels.

View looking over Janes' Creek Viaduct, Strood, towards Maidstone and view under with line to Strood Steel Works, not very different today.

And of course Engineering Bricks are considerably heavier, some also being solid with no frog or holes. Photo SMEED DEAN bricks being loaded at their siding, Sittingbourne Kent, poor copy in my collection, no date. My first building site, still had everything "hand balled" a load of 5000 bricks would be unloaded in 20 minutes, the lorry driver and mate would move them to the edge, then two of us would, five at a time stack them, in a particular pattern so the stack was stable, your heart sunk when a lorry was waiting first thing, or worse turning up at 4,30 when you are ready to go home.

Not graffiti as such, but officially done, I do not like the advertising applied to buses and trams, common in Europe, which goes over the windows, so that you can hardly see out, makes it harder to condemn the graffiti vandalism.

Just been to my local Morrisons, could not detect any shortage, tomatoes, lettuce everything seemed to be there, as noted above should we really be expecting to buy these items in the middle of winter? we are losing touch with the seasons.

Russian submarine, still at Strood.

General view with Rochester Castle and Cathedral.

Some photos from the other end of the UK, on the River Medway at Rochester, photos taken from the end of my road in Strood this morning, no ships in at the Frindsbury timber wharf, most days at least one ship unloading. Floating crane arrived last week, I'm guessing it is laid up.

Good point, I have washed superglued models without problems, maybe I was lucky.

Had to smile at the "mystery" ball found on a beach in Japan, very little research would have shown it is a Ball Buoy, are we going mad! Reminds me of the 2018 Drone Incident at Gatwick Airport, nothing was ever found, mad panic! I was there in arrivals when it all happened, it was dark and raining, my wife's flight was diverted to Luton, the person next to me had their flight diverted to Manchester, pity those who ended up in Paris, and the poor couple in Crawley, who had their home raided by twelve armed police, held for 36 hours then released without charge! they did get £200,000 compensation.

Is it necessary to remove the tarnish, prior to painting? I normally just wash in warm soapy water, dry thoroughly, then prime, I use Halfords rattle can primer, have not had problems with paint adhesion, if you really want to clean up, say to continue soldering, a fibre glass pencil will get into most places, just be wary of the little glass fibres, and obviously clean thoroughly before priming.

Have used this set up, works really well, I also think it makes them easier to set up and wire, also use the Cobalt levers, which have a nice feel to them