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Paul C

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Everything posted by Paul C

  1. @SteveCole I received a repeat of the email this afternoon, but it's exactly the same as the original one!
  2. I've got the same problem Tim - only the watching trains at Tytton Hall Yard is linked to in the email. A shame because the "watching trains" videos are my least favourite and the other two with Phil and Tony sound really interesting!
  3. I'm yet another one doing a Middy... Been on pause for a bit, but I did build up a recreation of the small station building (as yet interior-less and unpainted), like the one at Brockford, plus the goods shed to go with it (exterior sides cut out, but not assembled). The Middy has a massive advantage of short (100ft) platforms at the small stations, making a full size model possible without loads of space. I already have a Hornby J15, and planning to get a couple of the Hornby generic 6 wheelers in BR livery which are a somewhat closer match to the real thing than the Hattons ones. I think if I'm brave enough it's actually possible to get a very close match to the Middy's 1st/3rd composites by chopping up the bodies of a Hornby 1st and 3rd class. Anyway, look forward to seeing some photos of yours, and as and when I get going with mine again I'll start my own thread!
  4. I was in "the other queue" because there was a single member of staff outside: I and several others asked when we arrived up the steps if this was the prepaid queue, and we were told that it was. Only later they changed their minds when more staff came out! It was totally disorganised. Why were people with prepaid tickets having to queue with people without? Anyhow, don't want to gripe too much as it was a strong selection of layouts this year, though shocked that Hornby weren't there - I'd been hoping to get a look at the TT120 stuff.
  5. Not built any Kingsway kits myself, however I feel I ought to do the Romford Fire Station kit one day as my grandfather worked in the Essex County Architects' office, designing Fire Stations, and we think this may be one of his.
  6. I'm partway through a build on a 400x800mm baseboard with LY01 at one end. The modular design of the buildings (intended so you can pack them in the boxfile) also really lends itself to customisation. Here's a shot where I was posing track and loco to see how things might work, plus an overhead (please excuse my toes!). In the second picture, the building on the right is the free low relief warehouse kit. The two buildings on the left are scratchbuilds, just used to experiment with a street scene outside the works. Enjoy making yours!
  7. Some thoughts on this, in light of some of the posts above. My wife was a steward at the Festival of Quilts (FoQ) at the NEC a week and a bit ago, and even managed to rope me in to a bit of stewarding last Sunday. The festival is run and promoted by an events company, in association with the UK Quilters Guild, and was their first since the first lockdown last year, so a slightly different arrangement than Warley MRC which I understand organises the entire show. I felt that the NEC had taken all reasonable precautions against Covid: on entry, you had to present either evidence of double vaccination or a negative lateral flow test, mask wearing was mandatory apart from those with exemptions, tickets were for timed entry to avoid queuing/crowding and the organisers had booked an extra hall to allow exhibits and stands to be more spaced out. It felt safe to me, as someone who is clinically vulnerable and had to self isolate for three months last year. On the flip side, and pertinent to Warley, was that the organisers had accepted that they would make a loss this year, but being a commercial organisation not running shows isn't really an option. This is of course very different for a club, run by volunteers. Many of the medium-sized traders had decided not to attend FoQ due to the risk of staff having to isolate, and the crippling effect this could have on their businesses post-event. That said, the larger and smaller traders were still there. I would suspect that the likes of Hattons and Rails are small enough to be concerned about the potential impact of staff attending the show being taken out of action. We all know that the traders are critical to the financial viability of model railway shows. We should also consider that FoQ was run in the "summer", a rather different proposition than a winter exhibition where the prevalence of Covid may be higher. On balance, I think Warley MRC has made the right decision for this year, but equally I think we can feel more optimistic that these large events will be viable again going into next year, especially with the experience of other large indoor events that will still run this autumn and winter to draw on.
  8. No time machine? I'm sure there must be a kit somewhere on the Internet... Serious question time - is this a toe in the water to see if there's a market for a regular publication? It looks really good, and I shall be heading over to Pocketmags to grab a virtual copy.
  9. It looks great...but I still haven't received my postal copy of the Spring edition, and no response from the Warners subscriptions team despite two emails over the last two weeks. Other post has been turning up during this time. I wouldn't normally post this sort of thing on here, but at least I know that it'll get read by someone who works for the magazine!
  10. I fear EM would be a bridge too far right now... Just something that runs would be good! Never say never though, the improved look of the track is certainly worth the effort.
  11. I only just saw your reply! As is typical for me, modelling progress has been in fits and bursts. I'm currently working on a little industrial layout, using some of the buildings from the original Scalescenes boxfile kit. At some point, I'll get around to posting some proper photos. I also have a little piece of Middy on the go - based on the buildings at Brockford Station, but imagining that the railway got built beyond Debenham so I can be a bit more creative with the track plan. Next up after that is White Swan...I still haven't quite resolved how to get the iconic shot from the diorama into a full layout, as the operationally interesting bit is of course the yard, behind the buildings. Since making the diorama, I've found loads more photos, so have a much better idea of what the yard itself looked like. I also have one of the rather excellent Rapido tram locos though, so I've no excuse really...
  12. Having acquired a tablet recently, is there an easy way for me to convert my print subscription to digital? I've downloaded the free trial edition from PocketMags and am suitably impressed!
  13. I've had good success painting with a thinnish (double cream consistency) mix of powdered wall filler straight onto the card, followed by painting with acrylics once dry. To avoid warping, I put it under something heavy whilst still damp (but not wet).
  14. I've used it on a couple of walls on the original Scalescenes box file kit instead of layering 2mm card and it seems to be fine. I used my usual combination of Pritt Stick for the large areas of cover layer, and PVA for any wrapping over, then PVA to join the structure together. PVA should work fine for sticking stuff to the foam.
  15. Thanks for posting this. I have made a start on my own over the last few days, and your photos have encouraged me that the bashing I was intending to do (omitting the hopper, turning the enclosed conveyor into a smaller pipe conduit) will be feasible. I'm not intending to use a box file, but to include this at one end of a micro. Not quite worked out the other end yet, but it will include an (already built) Scalescenes terrace as a view blocker. Yours looks great!
  16. Thanks all for your help. Looks like it's time to get a better controller!
  17. Any advice on controllers please? The instruction manual has dire warnings about controllers that output in excess of 15V, and sure enough on checking the only controller in the house (my son's Hornby trainset controller) it gives 17.9V across the rails when at full output. I'd been intending to get a basic Gaugemaster single track controller - presume this will be ok based on the spec sheet which shows 0-12V on the controlled output. Thanks!
  18. I'd say that's questionable... Looks like it's going to be a good read.
  19. "So Gentlemen, to your modelling boards"...no Ladies allowed then? I have already started a little diorama to test out some ideas for a possible future layout, so may use that for Cakebox-2, but the last one took almost a year to (not quite) complete...
  20. I'm very pleased that I have "the answer to the question" (and my age) as my entry number in the poll Very, very tough choosing three from that lot. This competition seems to have been a real success, and I hope that BRM will come up with something else for us (and hopefully some others!) to have a go at.
  21. Superb work, and a real inspiration for me! I wish I had the space for a city layout, as I love the Victorian buildings, particularly the variety of forms you get at street corners. I really like the Scalescenes brick papers too: for me, the colours are just right, and the patterns don't repeat too often. Did you do your sign writing for the pub manually or is it printed?
  22. Hopefully my entry has made it to your inbox - sent last night - and the pictures are OK? No box (despite my wife's love of baking, she didn't have any 8" boxes), but I have given an overhead shot with rulers.
  23. Well, it's finally done(ish) and my entry is in. I feel bad for not having posted more regularly, and truth is I haven't taken enough photos as I've gone along. Here are some of the diorama as entered in the competition. There is still stuff I'd like to do, and the shunter needs finishing (it currently only has skirts on one side and no cow catchers!). The shunter will get done, but the rest I will likely leave alone now. I also want to have a go at motorising the shunter at some point, and for that reason the Dapol chassis hasn't been glued on (neither has the skirt) and the top of the bonnet is also loose to allow fitting of ballast at a later date. I've really enjoyed this challenge, and hope that BRM comes up with something else we can all have a go at in the New Year. It has achieved its objective for me - I have gone from being an armchair modeller to being an actual modeller again. Next project is putting the Hornby Father Christmas set I bought almost two years ago onto a baseboard, ready for December!
  24. OK - another quick update. No actual progress tonight as have been catching up on the F1 from yesterday, but here are some more photos. First off, front of the terraced house with the brick paper applied to mounting board, then cut out. The front portion of the "render" has been glued on over the top of the brick paper, and then the wooden planks boarding up the window added. The boards are a single piece of card for each window, scribed to make the separate planks, and then coloured with watercolour paint. I'm reasonably pleased with the colour, but were I to do this again I'd cut the planks out and apply separately. I'd also have to figure out a way of better applying the planks to the ground floor window, as they sit over the join between render and bricks and from the wrong angle you can see the bend in the "planks" as they go from one level to the other. I also suspect the planks would benefit from being slightly over scale thickness - whereas the current ones are slightly too thin. This was supposed to be a "get back into modelling" exercise anyway, so that's a lesson filed away for next time. Next, the door and the back layer for the panels were cut out, and again coloured with watercolour paint, before sticking the panels behind the framing. In the final picture, the door is then glued in position on the rear of the front wall, the door frame coloured, and some weathering added to the render around the ground and the leaky downpipe - which will be added when the house is completed.
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