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I have been an eBay member for 20 years and the service has gradually got worse over the years. I remember when you would be sent a voucher for £10 to spend on any item and with no strings attached such as having to buy a new item or a minimum spend. It has got more difficult to contact them and as for the latest scheme of your payment being sent to your bank account.... The PayPal instant payment was excellent for buyers and sellers but as a seller this is no longer available. I am currently waiting for a payment to arrive in my bank account but have been informed that there is an unspecified issue with it. I followed eBay instructions and posted the item to the buyer. So the buyer has now received the item but I am no nearer to receiving the payment. John

My preferred method is a wash of Humbrol enamel Matt Black with a hint of Matt Leather, thinned with white spirit and applied with a small brush. Any excess is easily removed with a cotton bud dipped in white spirit. No need to mask. I do use my airbrush as part of the weathering process but start with brushed on washes. John

Good morning Ian, I have just finished painting and applying decals to a 1980s era BR breakdown train tool van. I used Railmatch enamel spray cans, BR warning yellow then gloss varnish before applying Railtec decals. These were then sealed with satin varnish, again Railmatch enamel in a spray can. Very happy with the results but I did have some problems along the way. I found that the gloss varnish dried with an orange peel effect which needed to be rubbed down with very fine wet and dry paper before trying again. Trial and error proved that I needed to spray the gloss on from a lot closer than the 200mm described on the can. Apparently it was drying before it got to the surface. Spray from half this distance worked fine. I would recommend using Railmatch enamel. Hope this helps. John

Finally the tool van is structurally complete and painted. Now bearing little resemblance to the blue and grey Mk1 SK it started out as. I am looking forward to applying a light weathering in due course. This has been quite a challenging project but I am very pleased with the result. Next up is a new Heljan Class 25 to weather and fit sound to... John

Good evening Dave, Thank you for your reply and information. Great photo showing exactly the van in question. I am currently making one like that in OO scale, converted from a Mk1 coach. I will check out Ontrackplant. John

Thank you for your reply Guy. The later ones certainly had roller shutters but not on the earlier ones. There does not appear to be an ordinary access door so that the large doors could be opened from the inside. John

Just after some information on these tool vans please. The vans in question are ex Mk1 stock with plated over windows and have two large doors on each side. Are these sliding doors? I have looked at a number of photographs and there are no obvious handles or latches which would unlock and allow the doors to be slid across. Does anyone know how these doors are opened please? Many thanks John

Looks and sounds great Richard and an easy looking sound installation. Thank you for your video which is very informative. I have ordered blue 25093. I like Heljan locos as I find they have a good blend of detail and robustness. John

Work continues on the breakdown tool van. The glazing has been removed from the coach and window blanks fitted. These were bought ready to fit but I discovered that some of them did not offer a flush appearance when the printing marks were filed down. This was rectified using window shaped pieces of 0.4mm plastic card glued on top. The recesses for the doors were cut out and the set back doors fitted. Again using plastic card in 1mm and 0.4mm. Some very small areas required some filler. Doorway handrails fitted and the whole side smoothed off with fine wet and dry paper. A final check of the finish will be carried out over the weekend prior to spraying with enamel primer.

Looking very good Darius

Hi Darius, Thank you for your kind words. I hope all goes well with your one. Thankfully I was able to rake through the scrap bin at work to obtain small offcuts of steel and aluminium to weight and strengthen. I also built 3 BBA steel wagons and had plans to do more until the excellent Cavalex one appeared. I tend to scratch build wagon loads now. Best wishes John

I built one of these as well... Quite a challenge with lots of small detail parts to fit. My only issue with the kit was that there were no spares of the tiny door bangers which are very easily lost... A couple of extra ones would be a good idea. Again, lots of weight and strengthening strips of steel and aluminium fitted. I also folded a number of small L shaped brackets of aluminium to secure the doors at 90 degrees to the floor. These were easily hidden when the load of scrap wooden sleepers was added. Very satisfying to paint with the aim of recreating the wood effect. This was achieved by brush painting on a Matt grey enamel and applying washes of various shades of brown. Well worth the effort for anyone contemplating building one. John

That controller was the standard EMD fit on their SD40-2. On this loco it is situated at a diagonal angle on the other side of the cab. The engineer has a swivel seat to allow for driving in either direction. When going short hood forward, the power handle is pulled backwards. On the 59 this translates to pushing the handle forward to apply power. I managed to talk myself into the cab of a CSX SD40-2 which was stopped on the main line in Folkston, Georgia a few years ago. Very cluttered cab for the crew of three and most of the gauges had the GE logo on them.... John

Never mind celebrities, I would welcome a 66 in standard EWS livery with the correct font on the body side... John

I am really looking forward to buying and weathering 25093. That is the closest one to my modelling era of the1980s. I don’t remember seeing any locos with the 4 zeros in the headcode box. Tamworth Castle looks very good but by a strange twist of fate I never saw it. It passed through my then home town at lunchtime on an oil train several days running. I missed it as I was attempting to chat up a girl who was in my class at school and failing miserably... John

Started to build the tool van to go with the breakdown crane. This started life as a rather battered Bachmann Mk1 coach. One side has been completed by filling in the windows with plastic card and cutting out the recesses for the doors. Painted with Railmatch paint and finished with Railtec decals. Ready to make a start on the other side. Further work will see the gangways removed and filled to a smooth finish. Railway project time has been a bit scarce recently because the wife had me laying laminate flooring....

Built one of these a few years ago and added the rail cranes which I think were from a Genesis kit. Lots of small offcuts of mild steel and aluminium glued on underneath to add weight and strength.

I graduated from a suction cup Badger 200 to an Iwata Neo. I much prefer the gravity fed type and find that I can mix up a very small quantity of paint in a drink bottle lid and drop it in to the gravity cup with a plastic pipette. I now use an Iwata Eclipse which does everything I need from complete paint jobs to weathering small areas. Using enamel paint makes the Eclipse very easy to clean. Changing colours requires just a blow through with white spirit. A total clean is also very easy. I would recommend the Eclipse and enamel paint but this needs good ventilation. I do all my painting in the garage with the up and over door open. I have found no reduction in the quality of paint finish in the current cold weather. I guess everyone has their own preferences in airbrush and paint types. Happy airbrushing.... John

Hope your 37 surgery goes well. This was an impulse project that came about when I saw the power unit for sale. The 37 came next and the whole thing took about a week to complete. The cutting and filling of the loco body and chassis was trial and error.... I had to lower the floor at the non motor end to accommodate the power unit. This meant putting a washer between the bogie and fixing point so that the wheels would still turn. An extra 1mm is not noticeable.

And finally, a faded van.

MoD wagons again. The train currently consists of 14 wagons which include 6 Warwells with Airfix Scorpions and Oxford Land Rover FC101s.

More MoD wagons.... The long pods are for communication aerials, totally freelance design again.

Thank you. More pics of the 37 showing the interior work to accommodate the power unit. I don’t think a Bachmann 37 would be suitable due to the large cast chassis block. I had enough of a challenge removing a part of one in order to fit an EM2 speaker. John

Thank you. The OBAs were done with brushed on thinned washes of Humbrol enamel - various shades of dirty brown using Matt black and Matt leather with white spirit. Excess is removed using cotton buds soaked with white spirit. An airbrushed fade wash of Humbrol 121 pale stone. If used very sparingly, gives a sun bleached appearance. The wooden floor is achieved by painting on a solid base coat of a medium grey followed by several washes of browns to give the grain effect. This is finished with a light dusting of stone coloured weathering powder.

Thank you for your information and kind words. The inspiration came from one of Paul Bartlett’s excellent photos of the STC in an OCA wagon. It is tied down with rope and I am guessing, empty. John