AlfaZagato

Don't necessarily need an A-frame to support the runner. You could probably do with a simple brace to the wall, or a guy wire to the peak of the roof. Unless you're supposing that door is RHA, you don't need a lot of support.

Even the UP saw no money in returning to revenue steam. For all of their coal fields, none in the UP's territory produce any quantity of decent coal. Big Boy's oil-fired right now, and will likely stay that way for the foreseeable future. Sadly, short of self-propelled freight, fully automated and driverless locomotives, or some truly revolutionary new power source, I think we may have hit the zenith of locomotive development. Anything I could see forthcoming in my lifetime is simply evolutions of a theme. Even ol' EMD has modernized to a four-stroke motor, for Pete's sake. Which is why I like retroactive what-if's best. Like, what if LNER had pursued the Armstrong-Whitworth 'universal' diesel? Would they have been classified as a V? Would they have worn Apple Green? What would have Gresley done to make it to his liking? (Probably compound the diesel motor somehow.)

Even our population living its lives is a minimal incidental to what corporate interests contribute. I don't know how prevalent coal-fired electricity is in the UK, but here stateside, coal power is probably the largest contributor to pollution. I think second is air travel. Even a single 727 causes more damage on a regional flight than I'd wager Bluebell ever has.

I'd imagine 'perfect' placement for trees would be just brushing each other.

I actually did a little bit of work this week. Massive improvement over November. Firstly, I made the correction I mentioned in the last blog; With this correction, I have another whole soldier...whom I can find no current rules for. Oh, well. She's a proxy now, I guess. I also started on another project I've been considering for a while - the Gundam XXX. Making her look more like a Gundam. Part-through the upper torso. She's a little...absurdly built. Not impossible, just unlikely. More Gundam parts, including an idea I had that I've not committed to, yet. Finally, her built, though with a lot of putty-work needed. This is a stupid project, and a play on words. The Gundam parts are sourced from a type called the Gundam XX. I'm combining those parts with a model girl. I hope most of you can make the connection. Maybe next time, I'll have made it more absurd. We'll see.

Preordered Talavera this morning, along with a Jumbo. Was there something suitably commonplace that the last few Improved Precedents hauled? I suppose none of the Pullmans made by Hornby qualify?

At this rate, you should make your canal extension into another lifting cameo. Maybe even animate it.

N gauge 1st radius is 230mm. At 225, you're inside that. You might be a little too tight.

This is the sum total of modeling work I have done in the past month; These two are probably as far as they'll get for a while. I just burned out after the last entry. We've also lost the season here in Illinois. I can't commit to any more air or spray painting. At least, not unless we get some 'Indian Summer.' Shame, really. Maybe I'll actually work on the shoebox for once. When it comes to the Yu Jing, though, I need to break one of the others. I finally found pics of some of the 'bonus' models I had. I managed to swap an arm. I just need to sit down and do it. Let's see how long I keep motivation this time.

I enjoy the Barclays, both the look and the mere fact they're available R-T-R for not too serious money. Can't validate one right now. If you're pulling her apart anyways, have you considered one of the Planet Industrials/Narrow Planet cab swaps? I have to ask about the rusty gate protecting the shed. Is it hand-of-god operation, or did you fit a servo?

Now, let's slow down there, man. You still need to play with trains on your train set. Looks to be a little hard to reach any with that.

I lucked out last year on a rake of Bachman Mark 1's, for about $20/per on ebay. I remember one outfit, I think Bachman again, wanted 59 GBP for one of their new Mark 1's. Great job on the chop. I'm sorry, I suppose this isn't the place for new RTR pricing.

Love wathing the work you do. Just spent the morning catching up on this thread.. I have to warn you, those Emhar Male/Female kits are absolute pigs. At least, they were when I built mine some 12 years ago.

Now to wait for one to come along in N.

Would you say that your 5:1 mix of 70.850 & black is more appropriate to the pre-grouping era? Would it have changed much by the 1930s?

Nevermind the quality. Looks like almost every picture of 70's or 80's UK I've ever seen.

I'll submit my name, if only to make sure others get what they want. I've been burnt lately by some other announced then cancelled projects. You seem good at launching your ideas. I want to see some success in the industry.

I made more work on the Yu Jing for Infinity. Firstly, I finished building the Shaolin Warriors; Kind of dynamic looking. The heads were all separate and finicky. I hated it. I had another box, labelled Imperial Service Starter Pack. Only supposed to be six figures in the box. I found 12. Firstly, what wasn't supposed to be there; Thankfully, the bottom three were one piece each, and therefore complete. The top three were each missing at least an arm. It took texting a friend with the picture to help identify what they were. Apparently, this comprises the contents of another box, the Yu Jing starter pack. OK, though, still more minis than I had accounted for. Next, the actual contents of the box; Somehow, this was also missing some pieces. Namely, both the dudes with coats on the bottom-left are missing arms. Wonderful. This is out-of-print, too, so slim chance of support. I spent so little on the box, too. Pursuing replacements would not be ideal. I built up the complete minis, though. I did lose another part for the guy on the right here; I doing just wonderfully with this. We'll see.

No, Bismark was had by Swordfish. None of this holds a candle to the best idea of the war - the turret fighter. I digress. Good going on the brush, @chuffinghell!

Helicopters have been around since the late 20's. The Luftwaffe had small numbers of multiple designs in service. I think the first trans-channel flight of a helicopter was September 1945.

As a quick diversion, I built a Sister of Battle; This was a stand-alone, special-order model. Kind of neat, though without special rules in the game. I have a deliciously wild paint scheme for this army. I also started on another army for Infinity the Game, Yu Jing These are Xiaolin warrior monks, according to the box. Kind of neat. I have found, though, most table-top games make it somewhat aggravating to close into close combat. My tube of superglue was dead when I took this picture. I need to pick up more. We'll see.

This looks excellent. Cool to see you listed on gwr.org.uk, as well.

Would there be some sort of inset corner stone for the joints between the walls and the portal?

I have some very fine X-Acto blades that are only about 1mm wide. Such blades would probably work to remove the raised lettering. I sadly have no idea what the number on the blades is. A No. 17 chisel blade would work, too, if it is narrow enough to fit between the braces. I have also annealed and bent a No. 11 blade to a 90 deg. angle for similar restricted space.

A vote for Paul here. Taking a few minutes to alter the pickups alone clears up a lot of running issues. I don't know what to say about the quality issue. I have five entirely different Heljan locomotives. Only the two most recent, one of the types discussed here and a 1366, ever give me issues. I don't know if something major changed at Heljan between introduction of the L&B M-W and the Class 77. I would suspect so, though, and blame whatever that is.