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Mark, Some great information on how you converted those SPAs. I'll be getting the knives out soon. It's a pity I was sent the wrong W-irons. You don't happen to know what type of axle boxes the SPAs have? I think they're some form of SKF Roller Bearing but the MJT casting doesn't look quite right. http://www.dartcastings.co.uk/mjt/2256A.php The one listed under the WA9 reference on the S-scale website looks more like it: http://www.s-scale.org.uk/wagon.htm Bit big though! Mike

Thanks David. Glad you like it. The layout is 1850 long by 450 deep, so yes, it's near enough to 6' by 18". Mike

Paul, These are the staple of 'finescale' 4mm modelling. Very discrete, especially once they've been blackened. They have delayed action meaning that you can drop a wagon anywhere after it's been uncoupled and they uncouple when being propelled without having to stop so there are no unrealistic double stops when shunting. The only thing is that they are fairly fiddly to set up well and awkward to use on bogied wagons. They don't work well in OO as there is to much slop between the rails and the wheels, meaning that the couplings can quite easily miss each other. Mike

So, to round off a perticularly productive day here's what i decided to do to fit the AJ coupling to the chassis of the Class 26. The view from below showing the bent up AJ superglued to the underside of the cab. And a couple of views from the front showing the coupling passing between the struts that support the snow ploughs. I put the coupling off to one side an bent it back into line so that the 3-link would hang down as it should. Just the remaining pipes to put on before I weather this one, which I've been looking forward to for quite a while. I'm interested to see how my brush only techniques work on the larger panels. Mike

A rainy day in Edinburgh... Not the neatest soldering but it runs fine. Mike

Mark, Thanks for the info. I'm thinking of mounting them on the chassis and seeing how they go. Mike

And,. before I forget, the Class 26 now has P4 wheels courtesy of the Alan Gibson conversion kit. Very straightforward. The only real challenge was getting the pickups to touch the backs of the flanges. Has anyone got experience of mounting AJ to diesels with snow ploughs mounted to the body? Just wondering what to do as I'm imagining the ploughs will foul the coupling as it swings with the bogie and body mounting the coupling would lead to problems on corners (not that I've got anything tight).

Micro-project for the night to get me in the mood for starting work on the DE2. Bill Bedford sprung W-irons. Carriers with bearings glued in place and the springing wire clamped between the fingers. The W-irons bent into shape ready to take the Carriers. The carriers in place on the W-iron. Note the little bend in the springing wire to prevent them falling out when there are no axles to keep them in place. Two finished units with P4 wheels. It's a pity these were the wrong type for the SPA wagons I'm converting. An incorrectly labelled package to blame. Only noticed after I had cut the first one off the etch. Pretty sure I'll find something to strap them to! Mike

Oh, and thanks for the kind words.

Jinty I didn't bother with pva and the acrylic paint went on just fine. Might have been a good idea... Mike

Just a quick update. Not much to report over the last week or so but I have managed to paint the cobbles. Here are a couple of close-ups: Here's one with the granary plonked on top: And a couple in context: There's still loads of work to do to tie everything in but I'll leave that until I've finished the granary. Might start work on the loading dock and overbridge for the headshunt end of the layout. Mike

Done

I'll keep that compliment for the scrap book! Yeah, the trees are going to have a visit from 'the surgeon' next time I get a chance (right now). Mike

It's a rock and roll lifestyle - sitting in the house scribing small slabs of air-drying clay with a pointy bit of metal.

If only you could reproduce the sticky carpet in the Mark II coach...

Grime approval rating: 'Off the Scale'

Cheers guys. DAS is a great medium for a whole bunch of things as its easy to carve and scribe and takes colour well. One of the reasons that cracking is such a problem (or a blessing) with the way I did things was that I had the clay on a flexible card backing that is stiff in compression, which, as the clay shrinks, confines the movement in the plane of the clay but not out of plane. Weighting the clay stops this but everything takes much longer to dry. If the clay is applied to a very rigid surface - directly to the baseboard, for example, the out of plane movement is constrained and you only have to worry about the in plane movement and the cracking that causes. This can be dealt with by only laying small amounts of DAS at a time or by letting cracks form and then gouge them out and patch them with more clay. Once the clay is dry, you can sand it smooth very easily and scribe or cut to your heart's content. Rolling the clay onto non stick sheets as you suggest would work well I think as long as you weight it down. There's an interesting technique in this thread on the Scalefour Forum, if you have access. This is a method of making a cast of a plasticard sheet and then using that to create relief on the DAS. I might try it myself for the overbridge. Much better than using plasticard as it's easier to cover the joints - one of my pet-peeves! To stick the sheets together I've been using thick superglue with a bevel that can be filled with clay after everything has set. Because the clay is porous it makes a very strong joint. I hope this helps. I look forward to you getting this layout started. Mike

Another hour or so last night let me finish off the section of cobbles I started at the weekend. Obviously they still need to be painted but I think I'm pretty happy with the way they look. This small section of cobbles took a very long time - probably about 6 to 8 hours of scribing work on top of the prep of the clay. When I did the concrete a while back I was annoyed that the clay didn't crack when I flattened it out. The clay shrinks and curls the card as it dries - usually something you want to avoid. This time I was hoping that it wouldn't crack but as I didn't weight it down and I had added a fairly thick layer of DAS there was no way I could get it flat without a few major fractures. As it is, they gave me the basis to add some interesting features and hopefully I've managed to make it look like the cobbles have been there, neglected, for a very long time. As well as scribing I also shaved the top of a few of the cobbles around the cracks to make them look as though they are leaning into the gap. Back to the last wall for the granary tonight and then I'll hang up my scriber for a while... Amazing how much modelling you can do with a couple off packs of DAS. Good for when funds are low. Mike

Thanks guys. I think my bother with the junk is that it's all sitting on the ground. None of it is embedded in the mud. Luckily that's fairly easy to fix - DAS to the rescue. The trees are going to go... Not sure about bushes though. I think I'll just rip them out. Mike

I think I've got a hole in the end of my finger from holding the scriber for most of the day... Cobbles (or sets) are almost done around 2 sides of the granary and I'm pretty pleased with how they look prior to painting, Also turned the layout back the right way round to see what I think of the piles of junk around the sheds. Jury's out on some of it and I'm not sure the trees between the tracks are going to stay. Mike

Anyone who followed the building of Tarbhit will know just how much I loved scribing cobbles. I loved it so much that I just had to have some for this layout... This time around I decided to use DAS clay as I was pretty happy with the way things are working out on the granary. Last time round I used Polycell Onefill which I found to be easy to scribe but probably a little on the soft side for getting the kind of detail I'm looking for. The 'ruled' lines are at 2mm centres although only every other one is actually done with a ruler. The others are freehand so that it doesn't look too uniform. Now if only that other wall of the granary would dry out fully. Mike

Cheers Tim. I notice that you're using modelling inspiration from just down the road. I'll have to try to catch up with that soon. Seeing your very nice interlaced timbers and having seen them on Burntisland (with which I'm starting to get involved) I do wish I had gone for the prototypical arrangement. Lack of experience meant I wanted something that I knew I could build, so I went for the Exactoscale kits. By way of progress I've really just been pottering around - rolling out DAS for the third and final wall of the granary and a section of cobbles and adding brickwork to the base of the second shed. I've also started experimenting with the windows for the granary. Doing a bricked in window is so much more straight forward than doing all of the frames with micro strip. Mike

I might manage to have a wee one on Sunday. Mike

Thanks guys. Pretty happy with the ways things are working out. Need to order some micro strip to start on the windows... Can't wait to start that job! Anyway, no time for any modelling this week as I've been at the other end of the country and I'm away again this weekend. Need to try and be better organised for work trips away so that I can take something along to work on in the evenings. Mike

After a bit of a break from working on the granary building I decided it was time to crack on and get one of the gable ends done. I had already rolled and dried a slab of DAS a while back so it was a case of cutting out the windows and doors, scribing the stonework and then splicing it onto the front elevation with superglue and DAS. Starting to look like a building now. Mike