Rich Papper

Are you going for curtains in first class? I'm a bit ambivalent in NSE as some had lost them by then, although L588 still seemed to have them when first painted. Did they still have them in blue / grey? Liking it though. I did seriously consider this colour. I've added body-chassis location to my list too, thanks. Not really thought that through yet. Rich

I'm not sure where it came from, but I'm sure I've read somewhere that it's the one now running around behind A4 60019 Bittern. I'm just modelling the prototypical Island of Sodor for a quiet life! Rich

That is one thing to be said for the Lima bogies and newer Hornby motor bogies: they are pretty bomb-proof. They need to be pretty resilient anyway to withstand some intensive exhibition use and my kids shoving them up and down a siding. They need to handle a gradient on the home layout too, but I've found the Hornby bogie can just about drag four coaches up it even with all this extra gubbins on board and wiper pickups. I've still not managed to get it moving as a three car, but two seem happy. Rich

All of which are significantly more comfortable than the current offering!

Probably go with Reading and Gatwick, although ironically the first time I remember riding on one was Swindon to Gloucester, a line I now live next to more than 30 years later. It has been time consuming, and one will probably be announced now, but I'm enjoying it. Rich

I'm not declaring victory yet! All those Hornby 110 windows need 1.4mm taken off the bottom, corners filing and vents painting. Nice to see it moving though - looks a bit more real. Rich

119 wiring! Some logic, but a bit of a spider's web. I think the motor bogie came from Peter's Spares and the chassis I already had in the spares box. Was going to get a complete rewire anyway, so no problem using odd bits. I always use the right colour wires for DCC as I'd never trace any problem otherwise (not that I'd necessarily know how to fix one I found!). Re-using the 8 pin socket from the Hornby chassis, in picture below it's been unscrewed and rested upside down. The Hornby 121 doesn't have lights or any other function so there are usually only 4 connections out of the 8. 4.7K resistors for the LED strip and destination blind. Probably still a little bright. Motorcycle wheel balance weights to add a bit of weight. All wires hidden under seating, with decoder where the old Lima weight was on the DMS. 3 pin connector used to make body removable if needed. And it lives. Only done a couple of laps as a two car yet as I haven't finished shoehorning the decoder into the toilet of the trailer. Finish trailer and make destination blinds next. Rich

This is a shot I've been after. Ever since visiting Miniatur Wunderland a few years ago I've been wondering how many lights I'd need to be able to run it comfortably in the dark. A few more yet, but happy with the start. Rich

Already enjoying this. I love the idea of the hole in the wall to allow a garden loop and the harbour. Good luck. Rich

I wouldn't have spotted that as a cheap job Scott, the concrete effect looks great. Rich

Good Evening All, A little more luck with round 2 of the static grass and am nearing final decisions on tree locations. Street lights are also now in place and working. I painted them in Tamiya XF25 as this seemed a good match to the grey-green colour I remember. A 4.7k resistor has brought them down to an acceptable glow, although in the dark they are probably still a little bright. May yet put a blob of yellow varnish on the LED itself to tone it down and yellow it a bit further. Still needs a small fence bottom left to divide pavement from parking area. Reverse view. Some shrubs to go in around the trees too, and there are gaps in the grass behind the hedge where trees are as it wouldn't grow in that much shade anyway. Path through the park is play sand (kids still haven't missed any!) stuck down with PVA. A better lower view. Quite pleased with the details going in. Sydney Gardens sign is from a photo, as is the backscene. Had to do some searching to find a road that curved the way I wanted it to. This isn't actually the one that goes over the real bridge in Bath, but it is nearby. Bus stop sign is from Scale Model Scenery (and could do with being straightened). All hedges glued in place, but no trees yet. The street lamp at the back is supposed to have the tree growing around it a bit to stop it creating a pool of light onto the backscene and spoiling the perception of depth (in theory anyway!) Hopefully more soon, although I'm a bit greened-out now. Want to do some rolling stock. Stay safe folks. Rich

If he's after my two he's going to need a stronger cage!

A selection for comparison / debate. From left to right: original Lima 117, my attempt at making the Lima 117 a bit bigger and squarer, the Lima 121,and the Bachmann 121. The Bachmann is a fraction taller than the Lima 121, but the biggest difference is its width. I'm still waiting for the NSE 117, but I don't think I'll get rid of all the Lima variants yet. I'm used to the discrepancies as I've been looking at them longer than I was looking at the real thing! Rich

Work continues, but run into something a bit odd. Was a bit ambivalent about static grass as this area is a park, so it would have to be quite short. Have used 2mm elsewhere, but only as a base layer. Did my usual routine: prep static machine, glue on, power up, shake it on. Then left it about 25 mins, then came back with hoover with pair of tights over nozzle to take off excess. I usually hold it about 2 inches above surface and haven't had a problem before, but this time, this: It took off virtually all of it. Not quite sure the issue. The glue does not seem to have grabbed it at all, despite being dry. I only did small areas at a time, as can be seen from the joins. Is it possible for static basing glue to go off? I thought it was just a variant of PVA and I've never had a problem with anything losing it's potency other than superglue. Gone for a ponder. Rich

Thanks all for the kind words above. A little more progress over the last couple of nights with some road markings starting to appear. To be honest I'm treating this bit as a bit of a practice with roads as it is right in a corner and not that easy to see from most angles whereas there will be a town scene by the door that is right at the front! So, to stencil, paint or vinyl? I wasn't sure about the raised nature of the vinyl stickers. I'm sure in the right hands they're great, but wasn't confident in getting them on right first time. Also, with two small children who are going to push cars up and down here until the Oxford Diecast axles break (5 so far!), I was concerned they might catch and pull them off. I've seen people make stencils look good so picked up a Scale Model Scenery one for the bus stop. In progress view. Unusual angle as I have removed the board and reversed it so I can get underneath more easily to connect street light wiring. Bus stop stencil went well. I used a small offcut of a kitchen sponge and effectively 'dry-sponged' it. I chose a light yellow for a slightly faded look, touched the sponge to the paint and then dabbed off 95% on a kitchen towel before going over the stencil markings I wanted, having first masked off those I didn't want and tacking the stencil in place with masking tape. Then double yellow lines. Decided to do these with a paint pen as all the other methods I've seen seem to result in abnormally thick lines. The vinyl ones I found in a box (at least 10 years old and have lost most of the packaging so couldn't tell you who) had each line about 2mm wide. The SMS stencil is better at about 1.75mm (to my dodgy eyesight with some callipers) - but that is still seriously wide in scale. Straight bits were easy with a ruler. Had to draw them round a corner so made myself a guide by bending a length of plastruct strip and then holding it in place with masking tape. Chamfered the underside edges slightly to avoid paint bleeding under. Picture below shows finished result. I think these are closer to the scale of yellow lines I see around me. Then a broader view with trees resting in to give some idea of height. A little more to do on the right - need to fashion a section of building, but need to get a good image to blend into backscene first. Then static grass, street lights and a bit of street furniture. Some weathering of road still needed, but will matt varnish first and see how it looks. It does seem to photograph darker than it looks. More soon hopefully. Rich

Fantastic as ever James, but not sure how 'Kings Cross' on that album goes with the VXC theme! Thanks for sharing. Rich

I've nearly finished building a 119 so naturally I'm expecting the announcement of one any time now!

Completely happy to agree - but who doesn't like a bit of detective work? None of these pictures are mine, so thank you to all concerned. Earliest is this: http://www.hondawanderer.com/55024_L401_Waltham_St_Lawrence_1989.htm - 2nd June 1989. This one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelwadman/39340466861/ I'm sure I saw as part of the promotional stuff at some point - 21st July 1989. Next: https://www.railcar.co.uk/images/15007 has gained the Thames badge - circa October 1989. Then: https://www.railcar.co.uk/images/1735 not quite clear enough. To my eye there is something right of the guards door, but speculation as to what - January 1990. Then a bit of a gap until: https://www.railcar.co.uk/images/3063 where it has the lot - 17th April 1992 Anyone have one to fill the gap? I think my confusion arose as the blue on the model looks closest to the darker shade in the 1992 pic, but comparing it to my Bachmann NSE 108 it is paler than that. I know the shades of NSE blue / memory / eyesight / film type conversation is a whole can of worms that we probably don't need on this thread! Long and the short is that the decoration as supplied is right though. I'm off to see how many of these combinations I can put together. Rich

Arrived home to a nice parcel from Rails this afternoon. Some pictures, initial thoughts and comparison. Very nice cab detail. DCC fitting was relatively easy even if the body did have to come off. There are no screws, only clips. The ones on the lower body are easy to get clear with just a fingernail but the ones on the sides of the cab bulkheads are a little stiffer - worth looking at the diagram on the instructions. Saloon end comparison. L131 in the background is a Lima body on a Hornby chassis, and in an earlier version of the livery. Body shape of the Bachmann is definitely better, not so rounded at the tumblehome, which makes the cab front view a bit squarer. Like the destination blind (makes me realise mine needs a bigger resistor!), grab handles don't appear too chunky, but are mounted quite far out. Van end view. Those exhaust pipes are far too clean. Even after a repaint I think they were only that colour for about a week! One note on DCC installation here: I've put the Bachmann chip in, and for some reason the on/off for the van end destination blind is on function 7 of my controller, 6 doesn't seem to do anything. Not sure why this is, all the other numbers conform to the numbers of the switches underneath for DC, but at least it works. Headcode box is wider on the Bachmann, making the exhausts a bit more antler-like. Only one bit I'm not sure on. Why doesn't it have the 'Network SouthEast' wording on the van side? It wasn't in pictures people posted of pre-production samples, but I assumed they were just a bit on the bright side - the number in the white band is barely visible either. I've seen many pictures of the full logo, and a few with no logo (although most of these seem to be later tidies up of the older livery post privatisation), but I cannot recall seeing one with just the flashes and not the wording. Happy to be corrected. All in all pretty happy though. Just waiting for the 117 to join it now. Rich PS On the toilet thing - I can remember being turned around by a jobsworth guard who wouldn't let me through to the toilet as a kid. I seem to recall I had just finished a large bucket of something fizzy from Wimpy - a most uncomfortable journey!

Good Evening Something I've not tried before - need a hedge. I decided I needed quite a dense one as I'm trying to hide access to hidden sidings behind, so opted for a kitchen scourer rather than rubberised horsehair as this seems a bit more open. I'm doing a hedge behind a wall in an urban area, so premise is that the hedge has been clipped back on the pavement side, but is a it more bushy behind. So, two strips of scourer glued back to back for a bit of depth, one shallower to sit atop wall. When dry, bit of profiling with small pair of scissors, and some offcuts stuck on the back to make it a bit more 3D. Spray paint dark brown. Then some foliage. Here's where things got a little trickier. Tried aerosol glue, but it was a bit rubbish. It kind of squirted out a straight line rather than a spray. Maybe I should have bought something more expensive than poundshop spray glue.... Anyway, then went with some static grass layering spray from WWS, then sprinkle on random scatters. Good, but messy. Wasn't entirely happy with this. Longer section was a bit too uniform, and coverage wasn't great. Then I found some hairspray and went for another layer. Very cheap supermarket brand extra hold hairspray bit it was SO much easier. Blended a few scatters to give a bit more variation too. Still looked a bit like a big blob of green, so tried it in place. Pretty happy with that for a first attempt. Took no more than about half an hour over the past two days, but to be honest if I'd used hairspray to start with I could probably have been quicker. Still shuffling / auditioning trees in the background. Will have something big middle background above the lighter bit of hedge. Thinking of something overhanging the hedge that has been profiled for / by passing buses - I'm sure when I was young they cut trees, now they seem to fit a metal bar to the front of double deckers in the hope just driving them into the trees will prune them! Not as obvious from this angle, but road has also had some different colour patches added for tarmac repairs, and all drains and metalwork has been picked out in a slightly darker metalcote colour. More soon I hope. Rich

Good Evening Folks A few small updates and a fathers day running session today. The bridge at the end of the Sydney Gardens section is coming along. The road colour is virtually there. It's going to have a few repair patches put on and then the road markings before an overall weathering to tone it down a little. I picked up one of Scale Model Scenery's road marking templates (here), but haven't quite figured out how to get it where I want it to use it yet. Probably get it done when I remove the board and take the backscene board off to stick another ID backscene on. Started having a play with some trees too. I had a box in the loft from a very old layout that I thought I'd use, but on closer inspection I think there are better available now. I still have some seafoam ones to have a go at too. Having been a bit more conscious of looking at trees by the roadside on walks in recent weeks it is surprising how much larger they are than you'd think! The opposite corner hasn't advanced much. Two stumbling blocks: the seafoam trees I haven't started yet, and some third rail side protection boards. I've started the track weathering where the inspection pits are, but by the time they join the line into the station there should be protection boards on the third rail near the signal box because of the walking route. I've got some C&L ones (here), but after a little experimentation I'm not sure that a) mys soldering skills are up to it, and b) they don't sit a little too high. Can't really progress with the weathering until I think of something here. Then running session today with small people. They bought me a Dapol grampus and a Video125 driver's eye view DVD. Very happy. First managed to resurrect a very old Hornby King for a bit of a special. I think I received this for my tenth birthday, so it's getting on a bit! A view from the footbridge. And then a view under it (sorry, slightly blurry now I look at it). I always liked what is referred to as 'positioning moves'. Two 50s on a 4 coach parcel train, why not. 50017 leading 50032. And finally a rare one. With so much of the main circuit out of view, track cleaning needs to be quite good. This is my method(s) of choice: CMX tank wagon with IPA in it, Dapol track cleaner with polisher attachment and then an old Hornby tank wagon chassis with a pair of Gaugemaster wipers underneath. Is quite heavy, hence the double headed 73s, but a couple of circuits of this seems to get anything off. Hopefully more progress soon. Stay safe everyone. Rich

A very nice write up in BRM, well done. You're right about the photography, Andy has got some fantastic angles in there. Rich

Looking good Simon, and keeping it tidy saves so much time in the long run. Good idea on the labels too. I stuck colour coded labels on each of my boards when I started and I've been glad of them many times. Mine might be a bit simpler underneath than yours though! Good luck with the next one. Rich

Good Evening A few updates on the 119. Apologies for the appalling background mess in pictures - my son found an old box of spare bits and has been hauling everything out to play with. First the interiors. A bit of painting. These are the first I've built from individual bits. All the others have used existing mouldings chopped about a bit, but the seats in the 119 don't look anything like the various bits I have floating around the spares box - particularly the luxury first class ones. These ones came from Southern Pride models (found here). I need to do a couple of tweaks having found a couple of new pictures of Flickr I hadn't found before. It seems the 119s didn't get quite as much of the grey formica as some other classes did when done up in NSE. DMS end. DMBC end. There also don't seem to be any pictures of what the ex-buffet area looked like once it was removed. Some sources talk of a luggage rack, others suggest it was just a big space, so have left it empty for now until I have some more of an idea. Couldn't resist a quick go with the bodies on now chassis are together. Ride height issues are sorted now too. Hornby 121 chassis left, modified Lima 117 TCL chassis right. Then on to my absolute favourite job. Takes me forever but I love putting the transfers on. Suddenly makes it look more real somehow and gives me a kick to get more of it done. This is the best one of course: Now we're getting somewhere, although I'm not underestimating how long it's going to take to cut down and paint all the windows! Electrics next. Stay safe. Rich

My decoders arrived this morning. Went with the Bachmann one, although there didn't seem to be a lot of choice. Will do to get them going while I save up for a Biff one. Rich