TT-Pete

3 hours ago, Northroader said:

what was the poor coachman intended to do?

Bed down with the 'oss?

Hi Wim,

Going through boxes of negatives and prints over the weekend I came across this undated picture (Edwardian?) of the  Rye & Camber Tramway and thought it might be of interest..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rye_and_Camber_Tramway

Cheers,

Peter.

Hi Tim,

Agreed. I ended up throwing the red and yellow lichen away out of the mixed pack I've got, even  some of the greens were a bit too fluorescent for my taste. Your layout is coming together nicely!

Peter.

That was my post from quite some time ago - I finally got the class 23 finished and wrote an article about it in August 2016 on the 3mm Society blog: http://3mmsociety.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/baby-deltic.html

Peter.

Er, the missus intercepting the postie's latest delivery of a package of goodies as you were unexpectedly called away for a couple of hours, springs to mind...

Bigger layout, definitely. Plus bigger cupboards. :-)

Oh, Hiyah! :-) Welcome to the world of 3mm. Looking forward to hearing more about that layout, the era, gauge and trackwork, etc.. at some stage.

I like the transparent traverser sliding out to the front, a cool and unique feature, but might it not be too much temptation for little poking fingers at shows?

"no sooner had I finished them then I found a better way" oh yes, know how that one goes... They're looking much better now!

That's a very interesting idea, I am also wondering how to disguise baseboard joins on a portable layout, it will be very interesting to see how this approach works out. :-)

The point rodding looks like it would work! Good luck for the op.

"long service award should be an MOK 7mm GWR autotank loco kit" - LOL like it! High street vouchers only at my lot, nice to see your (soon to be ex) employer still has a personal touch.

Like the drop-down platform - clever stuff! Glad to see I am not the only one knocking things over, soldering flux pots are my speciality... :-(

Love the internal detail in the Signalbox. :-)

Lovely stuff, very atmospheric and a lot of attention to detail.

Hmmm. Catching them in the first place isn't the issue (they move very slowly and with a butterfly net big enough...), getting them decamped out after 6 months of "camping" in your dining room so that it can be turned into a railway modelling workshop/den of iniquity, now that's another matter.

Wow. Just wow. That last shot is jaw-droppingly atmospheric.

Don't know if this is what you've got but Vectis auctions sold one "Footplateman" in 2011, but you'll have to register and log in to find out what it went for...

http://www.vectis.co.uk/Page/ViewLot.aspx?LotId=418333&Section=292

Incompatible in what way?

I am gradually using up a large stock of old Humbrol tinlets I inherited from my Dad (some of which are well over 40 years old and annoyingly includes some quite useful colours that don't seem to be available anymore) and haven't noticed any problems using modern thinners? I mostly use Xtracolor XDTT quick drying thinners from H.G.Hannants of Lowestoft (a hangover from my military modelling days).

http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/XDTT

Cor, I've not seen pupil dilation like that since Glastonbury!

I haven't tried scratchbuilding - the nearest I get to it is adapting various kitbuilt items, either to fit the allotted space by altering the layout or adding extra detail.

That's already half-way there!

I had spent all that time and effort building and painting them only for the things to break!..

Get ahead of the game - break them whilst you're building them, that's what I do! :-) I find myself often thinking "is this really going to stand up to future handling?" and adding reinforcing or using some other material if a bit doubtful.

the first was when I found out that using wet modroc in close proximity to card kits doesn't go well together!! ( the original tunnel mouth for Sproston was Metcalfe....)

LOL. You could put it down to mining subsidence...

It won't be! :-) I now just scream "aaargh", hurriedly yank my legs back and let the iron drop to the floor when I fumble it.

The other fun one is holding a part being soldered and having an increasingly desperate internal dialog as to whether the increasing discomfort in your fingers as the part heats up is outweighing your desire to see it correctly soldered... :-)

I think there is also an element of

"which actually turned out to be easier to do than I thought." I find that's very often the way with soldering, what seems hugely daunting and complex actually takes less time to do than you spent mithering about it! The most important lesson I have learned with soldering is: if you drop the iron, don't try to catch it by the end that doesn't have a flex coming out of it...

Don't have at your iron tip with a file, you'll ruin it! I use a damp kitchen sponge scouring pad to scrape off the worst and then re-tin the tip using a paste. See this article:

http://store.curiousinventor.com/guides/how_to_solder/cleantip/