Rich Papper

Good Evening All, Work and time with the little people have meant that I haven't been near this in a while, but now the weather is on the turn and I have managed to fool at least one of them that bedtime must be earlier because it's dark, I've been at the styrofoam again. A couple of pictures below of the window end of the room. Main aim here is to try to disguise the trainset curves. They're not too bad, the left hand side is the equivalent of radius 5 and 6 if you imagine going further outside Peco standard sizes, and it only does about 70 degrees. The right hand side is half hidden by the girder bridge seen earlier. This section also has the gradient to the upper level. Noting there at the moment so would like to get a bit further with this. Attempt at an overview. I need a wider lens or a higher ceiling. Apologies for the mess! Then right hand corner as you look down the room. This is the other side of the girder bridge already seen (still not finished, but will make a nice couple of evenings project). And left hand corner. Rising gradient disappears into a tunnel. I admit a TOTAL lack of planning here. I know it needs to go into a tunnel here to disguise the hairpin bend, but where it comes out and what it's a tunnel under I am still thinking on!! Well I wouldn't want to plan too much - where would be the fun in that? Wrap up warm. Rich

Finally got mine properly chipped tonight. A word of warning for those after the Bachmann 36-557 chip - make sure you find the ones in the blue blister pack. I specifically asked one nameless box-shifter for this and still got sent one of the older version in the little white box along with a printed invoice with my instruction not to do that thoughtfully included! Works fine with the newer one. As others have said, it is a beautiful model and amazingly free-rolling (to the point of wondering why my boards aren't level! Rich

Apologies if this is a dumb question - how would one tell the old one and the new one apart? The old ones could be sat on the shelves of some shops for years.

Looking spectacular as always. Thanks especially for sharing the top picture with the full arsenal of greenery to hand. May I ask what make / blend of scatters you use on the horsehair? Rich

Will do some research on it, thank you. Suspect it will be another of those things Royal Mail won't want to handle so will have a good read in case I can pick it up at a show - unless anyone else out there has any other ideas? Love RMWeb for things like this. Thanks to all, even if you're just reading past. Rich

Useful advice already, thank you. Paints are predominantly Railmatch enamels, but do occasionally use Phoenix as well. I have used acrylics, but not for years and not with this airbrush. Biggest problem with airbrushing for me has always been varnish. Hate the stuff - never seem to get it mixed right, on right or cleaned right. Rich

Hello All, Apologies if this is posted in the wrong section, I've done a few hours of searches and hit a wall. Does anyone know what to soak a well used airbrush in - both the solvent and the container? I am quite adept at stripping mine into bits and giving it a go with an aerosol reamer, cotton buds, kitchen roll and mini bottle brushes - but it never seems to quite get everything. And of course every little bit that sticks, just gives something for new muck to stick to. I could do with something to immerse the bits in and leave it for a bit of a soak. I have tried this before - used the aerosol reamer (a lot of it!) and a takeaway container. Came back down the next morning, looked at the layer of fumes near the ceiling of my kitchen and at the gelatinous mass on the draining board, and then ordered a new airbrush. I'd really like not to do that again - but what would be strong enough? Are there certain types of plastic that can withstand it? And better options for a solvent than spraying a whole can of reamer out? Any suggestions very gratefully received. Thanks, Rich

Ok, I'll admit it - I broke one of the couplings already. Blue and grey NSE one arrived yesterday to much excitement. Put it together using the supplied coupling tools. Two of the couplings went together smooth as silk, the other just wouldn't seem to engage. All sorts of careful wiggling and only the very slightest bit more pressure and it eventually slid in, powered up and found no lights at one end. Slid the offending one apart again to realise that two of the connecting wires on the flat part of the coupling were hideously bent. Having invented a wide range of new swear words, I sat down with the smallest needle nose pliers I could find and set about teasing them back towards the right shape. Managed to get them close enough to fit back in the little slots on the coupling - was really surprised at how well attached they were to the pcb in there. Several very careful test fits and I got it back together and everything seems to be working, but I'm no thanks sure I'll have the courage to uncouple it again for some time! Be very very careful with them folks. I'm sure I'm not really that ham-fisted and impatient. If they don't slide together with the most minimal of pressure with the plastic coupling tools slide them apart and have a look. Only other real issue - why are the interior lights yellow? I know filament bulbs were on the warmer side of white, but they weren't yellow! Rich

On the London Underground owned TC this is where the central door locking magnets are located. A requirement for main line running nowadays.

I'm sure someone has already mentioned it somewhere in this mammoth thread - but for very easy and minimal hacking replacement of the corridor bit of the DTC get a Repica Railways interior. Website here. RS002C is the one I bought I think. Almost exactly the same size (and certainly neater than I could cut out the windows), you only need one to do both ends of the VEP so for £2.15 and a spot of postage, if you don't see them at a show, all you need is a bit of paint.

Good Evening Civilised World. Really hasn't been much to report over here of late. Thing 1 and Thing 2 have managed to be teething at the same time despite being 18 months apart so spare time and sleep is at a premium. Hopefully through it soon so I can stop having Calpol delivered in a tanker. Anyway, would have been extremely remiss of me to let this week pass without a Happy Birthday to these old favourites - 50s at 50. My collection - only 6! Space for more surely. From front to back on the left 50007 Sir Edward Elgar, 50035 Ark Royal, 50017 Royal Oak, and on the right 50032 Courageous, 50025 Invincible and 50149 Defiance. Invincible is the oldest - a Lima I received for my 10th birthday (some considerable time ago), the rest are Hornby, a couple of limited editions and a couple of re-names. Do love the Hornby model (despite the appalling coupling cam arrangement), but it does tend to shed bits all over the place. I'm missing a fair selection of buffer steps, pipes and even a buffer from one end of Ark Royal. Fortunately the buffers are a numbered spare, but the steps aren't so am going to have to think of something for them. As for more, would love a revised NSE sample. Suppose it should be Glorious - curious as to why this has never been offered. Was hoping the recent D400 release would have been as it was when withdrawn but no such luck. Should get saving anyway, TC is due soon. Uh-oh, one's awake. Back to business. Rich

Thanks Andrew F. Can't fit any bigger ones in unfortunately. Might have a think about a thin layer of paint though. Rich

Thanks for this John, I had found some of them separately but didn't know they would all be here. Unfortunately despite about 35 minutes of reading I'm still none the wiser! None of them seem to have instructions on how to adjust brighntness. Thanks to everyone looking - I'm sure there'll be something staring me in the face! Rich

Hattons in this case, but I think they are re-badged DCC Concepts. Thanks Rich

Hello. Hopefully asking this in the right place: can anyone explain to me how to dim DCC lighting on CVs 49-52? I have fitted appropriate resistors, but can't fit any more or anything bigger. Is it possible to change the values of these to dim the lights? I have done a good bit of online searching but broke out in a cold sweat when something said 'hexadecimal conversion'. There must be a way - any help very gratefully received. Thanks in advance. Rich

I e-mailed Kernow about weathered versions and underframe trussing. They say weathered versions have been considered but are dependent on sales of these ones, and as for the underframe trussing they have assured me that the model has been based on measurements of the real thing and the difference apparent in the model (dutch) and real (EWS) ones is just because of the angle the photograph is taken from. OK RMWeb? Aaaaaannnndd....GO:

Any weathered ones in the pipeline? Or at the very least slightly less shiny wheels?

Feeling exactly the same. Have been looking at one corner for the past two weeks with no idea what to do with it. It will pass - probably when the nights draw in and the rain sets in. Good luck. Rich

Looking good already. My first thought - given that you now own the house, have you thought about reversing the door so it opens outwards? Would give you a bit more room and avoid dog-legging? If you leave the gaps where the hinges were you can easily switch it back again if you need to sell. Obviously domestic permission would be necessary. Rich

Hi Trev. Discovered this last week and have spent a very happy few evenings wandering through. Loving it so far, especially the range of locos - I haven't got enough hiding places for that many! Looking forward to more between the fish wrangling. Rich

A bit of research this weekend. Well, that's the excuse I'm using. 'Daddy, why don't your DMUs have all those twiddly bits?' 'Errr....' Rich

Agree with all above, looks fantastic. Good luck with the house move. Rich

These look fantastic Sam. Definitely worth having a go with the old Hornby ones. Rich

Good Evening A bit of a gap, but as expected going back to work has eaten up valuable modelling time. Have put one layer of matt varnish on those above, but my airbrush decided to cough on one end of the 101 so I've had to wait for it to dry completely before I can very carefully take the file to it. Not a complete disaster I think, has just blobbed on the yellow wrap around of one cab corner. Will likely be lost under weathering anyway. Really need to be careful with weathering bodies as I always seem to put too much on. So back to the other pile of stripey bodies - 115/121 combination. The 115 has received the NSE flashes and vehicle numbers. None of the photos I can find of the DMBS or TS seem to have the full NSE branding on the side. This seems to have been applied to the TCL, and I haven't done that for various reasons as above (might one day). I also couldn't find any pictures where the inner ends of the 115 had cantrail stripes. I'd be surprised if they didn't, but none that I've found of this one have so I left them off. Am still most impressed with the TS. Really wasn't expecting it to look this good so far. I know there are all sorts of things wrong with the Lima moulding, but I've never attempted this ambitious a cut-and-shut before. It opens up possibilities - I'm now looking at some Hornby 110 bodies and wondering if they could be a 119.... Very nice NSE route transfers from Replica. Have used many of the Thames before, but this is the first Chiltern. Of course they come on a sheet with all the others so not sure what I am going to do with the Thameslink, Kent Coast or whatever else. Will probably go in the transfers box for the next 20 years unless anyone out there wants a few? Most excited about the 121 at the moment. Having sent more than a few requests to my previous source of custom transfers, I investigated Precision Labels for the first time. Outstanding - but don't be afraid of the detail on the website. I read through the page about different kinds of printer and layers of ink and so on and didn't understand a word. I used the 'contact' bit of the website and received an email back from John later that day. I replied to clarify a couple of details and received a paypal link almost immediately. I paid and 48 hours later they dropped through the door in the post. Have been puzzling over how to do these bits for about 8 months - very happy! First was the NSE logo. Hadn't realised before, but the one on a 121 is smaller than all the others as the van side is shorter as a result of the second cab door. I also inquired about the weight limit. Probably not readable on here but that white smudge down there does say 'Load 1 and a half tonnes evenly distributed'. Than the front end. I'm aiming at this, and needed the L131 in NSE blue (not sure whether this was deliberate or the original faded, but I haven't seen any others) and of course the name 'Rachel' which is VERY small. Does look a bit pixelated in this closeup, but this picture is significantly bigger than the real thing. He also included the data sticker and some destination blinds. More when time allows. Of course I might make a complete hash of all the laserglaze and wreck it yet! Rich