Black5

Hi Steve, thanks for that suggestion. I must admit, I thought just switching frog polarity would do the job. I have a holiday coming up so will have to leave a diagram till later. Many thanks.

Hello Spitfire, Thanks for your suggestion. If I feed the power in at the toe end of the RH turn out the same as the rest of the layout I get a total power loss.As I said before, something is staring me in the face but nothing has clicked yet.

Hello, I`ve had a slight change in my track layout and have installed two new points on two of the boards but have created a problem I`m struggling to solve. The points are situated back to back at a board join ( not across it ) One is a RH turnout with the through track meeting the turnout of a LH point ( if that makes sense ) therefore having the switched frogs meeting at the board join. The LH point works fine with the loco passing through the point and turning out when required after switching frog polarity ( all live frog ) The RH point works only when I`ve reversed the track feed at the feed in position and then dead shorts when it crosses to the other board. My system uses micro switches to change LED lights to give point setup and a toggle switch for frog polarity change. The whole layout has 20 points and two diamond crossings on it which have all worked fine. I`m sure the answer is staring me in the face but I`ve tried every combination of swapping connections I can think of with no joy and to date cannot get a loco to pass through these two sets of points. They are handbuilt points on copperclad sleepers and I`ve done all the checks for things that might cause a short. The annoying thing is, two other bits of track on the layout are similar to the problem pair of points and they work fine. I followed the wiring on those but to no avail. Hopefully my description of the problem makes sense to someone and they can tell me which mistake I`ve made. Many thanks , Jim.

That`s a lot of work, no wonder you haven`t managed to post for a while, Great modelling.

Nice work again and great pictures. It might seem unusual but I find all the pictures enhanced by the ballasted piece of track you use for the photos. It seems to add to the general work worn look of the locos. Thanks for posting them. Jim.

As usual Paul, always something interesting to look at when you post pictures. You progress at a far faster rate than I do. At the moment I`m afraid some decorating and work in the garden are taking up a fair bit of time. When that slows down then it`ll be back to the modelling. I need to try building in card as well to see how things work out. Look forward to seeing your progress. Jim.

Sorry for not replying before now. Other jobs have been getting in the way. Many thanks for all the replies, a number of products to look out for. Thanks once again. Jim.

A work of art. So realistic. It gets better each time you post a picture. Jim.

I have to agree with others on here, this is top of the class on how to make a convincing job of weathering a loco. The only thing missing is a few whisps of steam and water dripping from pipes and could be the real thing! When I tackle an attempt at weathering I shall be re-reading the methods you`ve described on here. Jim.

Afternoon all. I`ve recently found an M T K, 50FT Full Brake kit that I`d forgotten I had when having a sort out. A couple of questions I`d like to ask.please. The kit is a pressing with sides and roof all in one, with window openings all in place.Having never built an Aluminium kit like this before, would an ordinary car primer work or is there something else I should use when getting to the painting stage? The other question is, the kit came with plastic coach wheels and I will replace them with metal ones. Using brass bearing cups, would Hornby coach wheels work? Not sure if they are pinpoint or not. Many thanks, Cheers just now, Jim.

As someone who enjoyed building my own point work can I say that is a very nice piece of work. Not everyone`s cup of tea I know, but I found building track and points a pleasure as you could watch your layout slowly taking shape. Best of luck with the rest of the build. Cheers just now, Jim.

Thanks for that. Looks like we use similar stuff. I have seen daler board mentioned but you don`t seem to find that where I live. A case of a bit of bracing inside for strength. Thanks again.

Nice work.I agree with Mikkel, the street scene is coming along nicely. Can I ask what thickness card you use for the shell and partitioning. I`ve used approx 2mm and then overlayed with plasticard but looking at your pictures it seems you`re using something much thicker. Have to agree though, card is great to work with. Cheers just now, Jim.

Afternoon all. Would anyone know if it is possible to locate a drawing for the coaling tower at Camden MPD. I started my layout before I joined the RM Web and built my tower from the only drawing and pictures I could find at the time, it being a No 2 tower. It`s niggled me for some time now and since seeing what it should look like I ought to try again if I can locate drawings. Cheers just now, Jim.

I don`t think I`ve seen better rust effect than that. As jonny777 says, it`s hard to tell from a photograph. Hope we see some more sometime.

At least your tram numbers shouldn`t reach the loco numbers, there wont be enough room! Looking good though. Jim.

What a great railway room that`s turned out to be. You`re going to have a lot of fun filling it when you get started again. At least with the buildings you`ve already constructed, your going to give yourself a bit of a head start. I would imagine that`s a bit of a way off yet though. Cheers just now, Jim.

Just wanted to say what a pleasure it was to read the article by Tony Wright on David Jenkinson in the latest edition of the BRM magazine. Those of us of a certain age would remember the name very well. My very first attempt at scratchbuiding was two twelve wheel LMS sleeping cars following construction tecniques he described in a series of articles in the Railway Modeller magazine in the late sixties. At one point the series stopped and he wrote articles later explaining that he`d changed to 7mm. With todays productions of coaching stock being as good as it is , scratch building has probably diminished somewhat, plus the model shops like Eames at Reading and my local, Cove models, who used to sell great numbers of bits and pieces for the scratch builder, are no more. Reading those articles in the sixties certainly fired my enjoyment in the hobby and it was great to see David Jenkinsons name mentioned again after all this time. Jim.

Looking good so far Paul. Always good to see a street scene with trams in it.Used to go to Glasgow with my parents on holidays back in the fifties an would ride the trams as often as possible. My scratch building is much slower than yours, more snail pace!, but good fun. Cheers just now, Jim.

Not sure what happened then, but as I was saying, the garage is fine in the summer but with the door shut, can be uncomfortable in the winter. I usually a few things on but don`t cover it because of potential damage. Cheers just now, Jim.

Have to say my situation is much the same as njee20, my layout is in an unheated integral garage with the usual up and over door which when opened lets all weathers in. Very nice in the summer when it`s warm and

Afternoon all, I haven`t posted for a while ( although once or twice on the hints and tips forum ) as most of what i`ve been up to is basically starting to try and add general clutter around the yard, but it needs a great deal more yet. A while ago I bought a turntable drive from locomotech and I find it works well. Very easy to fit, with nice slow running. I use the mark one eyeball to line up tracks as I only have four tracks to bother about! The turntable is a modified Peco. Handrails all rebuilt and detail added below the deck. Time has lately been spent on squeezing in a crossover to make operating things more interesting ( in my eyes anyway ). I`m also in the middle of my first attempt at half relief buildings. Earlier blog postings showed I`d built an aqueduct at one end of the layout. This was an attempt at giving the layout a bit of depth but really should never have been there and now the buildings are going in it was obvious it would have to go. One thing I`ve struggled with is trying to get the right perspective of buildings behind the half relief one. I`ve had a go at the roof on one but it doesn`t look quite right to me. More practice needed. Hopefully I`ve managed to post some pictures. Cheers just now, Jim.

Hi, for what it`s worth, on other jobs, iv`e found soaking the `o` ring in hot water softens them up enough to sometimes overcome the problem. Jim.

Hi, Back in late November I asked a question regarding a loco that suddenly had lost it`s drive between motor and gears. I had several people kindly giving me suggestions as to what the problem might be. To cut a long story short, after a phone call to Hornby, I sent the loco back to them to look at. I received the loco back at the weekend and it is now running again. Bearing in mind I`d had this loco for some time, therefore, way out of any guarantee, I found that Hornby had put a new chassis in, provided me with a new decoder and rebuilt a bit of damage that happened during transit to them. To be honest, I thought I`d get a reply saying a repair would be not worth it, but to have all that done and not be charged! was a big surprise and a great way to start the modelling year. So, thank you Hornby, it`s nice to be able to say something positive about a firm rather than a lot of negative things as happens most of the time these days. Happy New Year to one and all. Jim.

Hi, I have a Peco turntable on my layout , and like you, wanted to motorize it. I tried all sorts of different methods and finally came across a firm called Locomotech who supply motorizing kits for turntables. I think the price was in the mid thirty pounds and I believe they do an indexing kit as well. Very easy to fit and a quiet runner. I`ve been using mine for a year now and i`m very happy with it. Hope you find what you`re looking for, Jim.