Rich Papper

Hello All and Happy New Year, A little update. Not much change to show on the layout over the break as Christmas in our house is all about the little people and acres of plastic junk (actually we've just moved into the Lego phase so I approve slightly more). Did get a major piece of organisation done though in labelling the Modellers Mecca stock boxes. Have a large number of these and none were labelled so had to go most of the way through the stack every time I needed anything. Been meaning to do it for about 10 years! Had a bit of a rat invasion too. This seasons home improvements meant the display case coming down from the wall so had to empty. These all belonged to my Dad, none DCC'd but tempted. One day one of them will go into RTC red as 97201. A bit of running too. A view from the top of the embankment with a very clean looking 33119 on a collection of Grampus - two of which came fro Christmas. Really do need properly weathering (and the 33, and the 117 - quite a queue!). Need to find the Grampus some more spherical wheels too. The supplied ones seem to have been modelled on an easter egg. New Years Resolutions: get more of the workbench pie sorted and get on with some more scenery. Green Scene order placed. More soon hopefully. Rich

Hello All Just a quick one to wish everyone a Happy Christmas. Hope everyone is at least in contact with someone over the next few days to make the best of the end of a very strange year. For some reason Christmas around my layouts has always meant this: I'm not sure what prompted the purchase of the MEAs as they're more modern than anything else, but they always seem to make an appearance full of Smarties. Even nephews and nieces now in their late 20s want to see the Smartie train and now my two seem to have cottoned on to it as well, so out it comes. For my small people it has to be the Santa train at the GWSR. So grateful that they were able to run some this year - really hope they made some money out of it. Fantastic event, fantastic food, fantastic people. Lets all hope that next year is a bit more friendly to everyone. Have a great Christmas folks. Rich

Hi Ian, Just had an enjoyable catch up on this over a cup of tea. Great to see the excellent selection of rolling stock moving, and very smoothly too. Would be great to see a drivers eye view of the full loop - do you have a camera truck? Rich

I used to live in Clifton (sounds posh but some flats are VERY small - hence Oxford Road!), so I'd grab anything heading up Whiteladies Road. 1s were always good as they seemed quicker than the double deckers on the 43 and less inclined to detour around residential areas than the 8 or 9. I do miss Bristol - definitely the friendliest place I've ever lived. Rich

I once raced a friend in a car up it on a bike. I did win but I think traffic was a factor!

Hello Just found this and had a very enjoyable few evenings reading through from the start. I really like the depot scene (particularly when full of 50s), and I'm a big fan of anything underground. I have a tube station myself with EFE trains on a shuttle fitted with Metro Models motor bogies. Interested in the new motorised EFE version too though as mine are starting to show their age. Seeing your platforms with lights makes me want to get on with mine too. Thank you for sharing. Rich

Hello Just found this and had an enjoyable few hours reading through. Really like the layout and I'm very tempted by the boards too. Fantastic level of detail, looking forward to more. Good luck with the double slip. Rich

Hi Simon, Loving the update, details look great. Can I recommend neodymium magnets for the alignment - smaller and more powerful. You can get countersunk ones to put a screw through too. A quick search of eBay found these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Neodymium-Countersunk-Ring-Magnets-20mm-x-3mm-x-5mm-Hole-N42-Strong-Disc-Screw/183084370582?hash=item2aa0adca96:g:BeEAAOSw8hJcWiGV But there are are loads of others on there. I've used similar to locate area s of scenery that cover tracks below. Looking forward to more. Inspired to up my scenery game a bit too! Rich

Looking absolutely fantastic, really blends well with the original parts of the layout. Can't wait to see it in action again one day. It's a long time since I last went to Aberdeen, but from memory you've really nailed the colour of the sky backscene! Rich

Good Evening All Not much to update on the layout front, all needs a good tidy before the holidays. A couple of interesting sightings though. In the picture below the area between the 47 and the main lines entering the tunnel has now been grassed. Needs to be a bit more overgrown yet, but I'm toying with the idea of a signal the other side of that small building and that would need to go in first. And a new (well, found in the loft) addition to the road. You know you were a Bristolian in the 90s when you've got whiplash from riding a Leyland Lynx on the number 1 up Park Street. About half way up the automatic gearbox would try and get into second, fail and drop back down almost immediately causing most aboard to head-butt the pole in front of them. I'm sure regular drivers must have needed one of those F1 style neck supports. A little out of area, but rule 1. Stay safe folks. Rich

Good Evening All Mad work and a failed home computer contributed to a little gap, but I have been busy. First up, a Heljan 58 for a renumber and some detailing. Not one of the new EFE releases, I picked it up about two year ago as a bit of a bargain with the intention of modelling 58014 Didcot Power Station. Heljan did actually release this one as part of their first batch of 58s years ago but I couldn't afford it at the time, and for some reason they were released with only half the paintwork complete so wouldn't have had one anyway. The second batch were slightly better, but still with enough decoration issues that one would have still had to paint a brand new loco to get it to look right. Then about three years ago a certain retailer commissioned Heljan to do a third batch, and lo and behold these turned up incorrectly painted as well. I picked mine up from another retailer, who had obviously done a deal with the retailer who commissioned them, and then found how bad they still were and flung them out cheap. Good grief. Sorry, reading that back I nearly put myself to sleep. Starting to see why my wife glazes over when I start talking. Short version: it was cheap. To business. Body off, cabs out, glazing out (quite easy). Then a new technique chanced upon here (thanks to Downendian). Clockwise from top left: 1. Mask numbers, and give the merest wipe of a cotton bud with Tamiya acrylic thinners. 2. Run over number with sharpie pen - I found a grey on ebay. 3. Gentle back and forth with pen tip, occasionally using same thinner damped cotton bud to wipe ink away. 4. Within about a minute, this. No scratches, no damage to surrounding paint or other printing, just a polished area to apply new transfers. I will probably use a very very fine abrasive stick just to add a little further polish. As can be seen at this angle there is a slight ghost of where the printing was, but this is still by far the best method I've found for doing a Heljan loco. I will add a little gloss varnish and decalfix to sit new numbers as flat as I can when I get to them. Needs the cab doors painted in black and the shield style handrails fitted first. Then etched arrows, badges and nameplates to fit. Before or after overall varnish? Not sure. More reading. Also, doing a trial pair of HAAs. Got just about enough Hornby ones (got the last few the weekend before the Cavalex announcement!). Have all the bits to detail so will make a go of it. These two are my 'lets see what bits I'm most likely to break off' pre-series pair. One is a standard out of the box new Hornby HAA, the other is a cheap second hand HBA that was fitted with a top-skip and poor quality coal load. Annoyingly my next plan after starting these was to part with a rake of Hornby CDAs to fund the next few, but I've a feeling they aren't worth much now so I might see how much work would be involved in converting them like these. Hopefully more soon. Rich

I've had the exact same problem with mine, and resolved it like Steve above. Turned out I had managed to bend one of the tiny wiper contacts on a coupling out of place when putting the unit together. Some very careful surgery later - it now works perfectly, but I don't uncouple it unless I absolutely have to. Rich

That does look fantastic Richard. I had to go and google what a cricut maker was - sadly have already sent my letter to Santa! Rich

Very excited by this announcement. My first experience on one was at Greenford about 30 years ago while meandering around getting my moneys-worth out of a travelcard. I remember wondering if it would make it as far as Ealing Broadway. Like many I did a Hornby 110 bash many years ago, but fortunately did L703, so I should be able to convince my wife this one is different. Rich

Hi James, Looking good as usual James, I'm lining up a 58 for my next project - appropriately enough 58014 Didcot Power Station. I spent most of my time at Didcot a few years before you, but regularly travelled through during your period. One of my favorites to look for was this chap: (from Flickr - not my picture) I often saw this around 1998/99. Sometimes at Didcot, and at least once at Swindon (must have been a night time journey!). At some later point somebody scrawled 'Didcot Taxis' and a phone number high up on the bonnet. I'll try to do it justice one day! Rich

Hello From GM Model Supplies on Ebay here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OO-HO-Gauge-Model-Lamp-Posts-LED-Street-Lights-Copper-Modern-Packs-of-10/114076567166?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 . Shop link here if the other has expired: https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/GM-Model-Supplies?_trksid=p2047675.l2563 I really struggled to find any that I thought looked right for the 1980s. All those I could find were either very modern looking or very old fashioned gas light style. With these I slipped lower plastic bit off and sawed off the collar so I could fit it flush with the surface. I then painted them with Tamiya XF25 as it looks to my eye a good match to the grey-green colour I remember. They come with resistors to allow 12V DC connection, but I substituted for a 4.7k one to dim them a bit further. With a five year old and a three year old pushing cars backwards and forwards underneath them them I'm looking for a fine balance between realism and durability! Rich

Good Evening A small update tonight. I have been adding greenery. Very slowly. Not my forte. Getting better with the grass machine and with making some bought trees look a little less plastic, but things tend to look a bit too regular when I get near the greenery. I'm one of those that would cover most of the board surface with track I'm afraid. More soon. Rich

Hi Rich That's a lovely collection of 33s in the top post. I also really like the picture of the 60s. The effect of stabling some on the lower level to have others visible behind works really well. Looking forward to more. Rich

Good Evening All A little running session. Picked up a couple of Inter Frigo wagons from Kernow whilst on sale (half price!). Not exactly the same wagon type as those that used to appear on the train ferry, but not too dissimilar. Will need a bit of subtle weathering. Not sure how to approach this as haven't done anything white before. Manufacturer called Acme. Not come across before but very detailed models. On a trundle around behind 37407. Also out of the box for a quick test tonight is a Heljan 58. This is the next thing heading for the workbench for a renumber and rename. More soon hopefully. Stay safe. Rich

Now with wipers. Really want to do a loco now. Rich

Hello Did finish this, so in answer to the opening question: yes you can (although whether this is the best way to do it is open to debate!). Rich

I really like the effect of the lighting in the last one. Top work. Rich

Good Evening All A big step forward on the 119 tonight, although one or two niggly jobs still need addressing - most obvious being the missing wipers. Starting to look a bit more finished though. There were two more jobs I needed to do before it went back together. One was picking out a little detail on the drivers desks - a bit crude and not quite correct for a 119 but better than nothing. The other was securing the interiors with a bit of black tack from Roads and Rails (here). I needed something firm enough to hold them in place, but still removable and not too thick to make the seats look too tall. Then finally bodies on and some test running as a complete unit. DMBC end. DMS end. I did have to replace the middle piece of glazing on this cab as I managed to touch it with a cotton bud and thinners while running some black wash down the door edges and it fogged up. As with others I've done, the picture is bigger than the real thing and the crappy camera phone doesn't really do the destination blind justice. Liking the orange curtains in first class. And the huge amount of luggage space / ex-buffet area. Pickups and lighting working well so far. Liking the cab detail - but could add a bit more mess, perhaps a newspaper, given how visible it is. Final comparison to next most recent: Two North Downs services passing - in Bath? Detail is a little crude compared to the Bachmann 117, but I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out. It's had about 20 laps in each direction this evening without anything falling off, so all good so far. I do need to add the wipers, and there is a bit more weathering to go on the corridor ends and exhaust / roof dirt on top. Still ambivalent on the bump-stops. Have done some tests on scrap body bits with bits of wire, but not sure if the risk of making a mess is higher than the effect I might pull off. Easy to add later if I change my mind. Not sure what's next on the pile. Might have to do a bit of scenery now while this rattles around. Have a good evening weekend folks. Rich

Not quite there yet! Still a little more gluing and painting before it all goes together.

Good Evening All. Apologies for the gap in progress - back to school and all that. The 119 is still ambling along whenever I get a minute, but I'm stuck in all those little jobs - like the above mentioned door handles - that look so small and simple, but take an eternity. Pictures always better than my waffle so: Destination blinds. Covered somewhere earlier in this threat. Same method as used for the 101. Curtains now in first class. These are an etch I found in a box of spares. I have the feeling that they originally came from a Marc Models 5-Bel set that I was hopelessly out of my depth with about 20 years ago. Match the orange and then wash over to represent the tattered grimyness. No smoking signs are now in. Excellent product from Replica (here). They come reversed, so they're the right way round when stuck inside the glazing. Door handles, grab handles and hand rails. Tedious job, but necessary. Look a bit rough in this image as they've just been done. Still need a little filing, a brush off, then painting of some as needed (most handrails will be white), then a very tiny touch up here and there where drilling the holes has flaked a tiny bit of paint away from the edge of the hole. Most noticeable on the blue and grey bands as most of the underlying bodyshells are white. Front ends have now had destination blinds fitted, glazing made (old Ferrero Rocher box - can't remember where I picked that tip up from, probably somewhere on here, thank you to whoever). Have also glazed the light lenses. A bit of a cheat / tip here. When I started adding my own lighting using the Black Cat boards (here), I used to use very short lengths (4mm ish) of fibre optic - but I couldn't really find anything quite the right diameter. Before this I used to use 2mm bi-colour lighthouse LEDs which did fit well into the Lima, Limby and Bachmann cab moulding well. So: buy a bag of cheap white 2mm lighthouse LEDs from eBay, very carefully razor saw the protruding part off and use as a light lense, keep the remaining part of the LED to use for lighting in a building somewhere on layout. All electrical bits seem to be working OK so far. Independent control of head / tail lights, destination blinds and interior lighting. Chassis have successfully negotiated whole layout as a 3 car set, but am paranoid about putting the bodies on until I've finished all the detail bits on them, just in case I don't vent any glues off well enough and end up fogging the windows. Hopefully more soon. Not sure what's on the workbench pile next. Have been slowly accumulating some Hornby HAAs for a fettling, but Cavalex's latest announcement has thrown me for a loop on that one a bit. Might have to see what theirs look like first. Stay safe folks. Rich