bgman

3 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Lance cock looks to be a mess (not unusual on models); the joint on the outside steam pipe is exaggerated - better to have not done it at all than tooled  in the only depth that it is possible to tool it  (another common fault on models);  the valve rod should lie parallel with the running plate - ? incorrect design or poor assembly?; as already noted the shape of the chimney does not compare well with the prototype in that livery/late condition;  as already noted the safety valve cover is too tall for the engine in that livery; compared with one photo of the engine - but in 'economy green livery ex-work the BR emblem on the tank side is lightly too far from the row of rivets; I'm not sure about the front corner of the firebox but that might be down to the angle of view;  the angle of the top of sand box looks wrong;  it might be due to the angle of the photo but there appear missing rivets on the bunker side.  There don't appear to be any lifeguards on the trailing truck

 

Is the cab roof rain strip slightly curved? - it shouldn't be on 6167 (again it might be down to the angle of the photo.  Note that 6167 was in economy green following shopping  in April/May 1963 (and might have gone into economy green at a previous shopping?).  To me then handrail pillars on both cabside handrails appear to be underdone (or are the boiler handrail pilars are overdone?).

Other than that I assume you like it ? 

1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

 

Lovely journey thank you for sharing

I always find these to be extremely interesting and far, far better than the awful war / shoot-em-up type computer games. 

Very clever stuff.

8 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Bend over this will help your breathing......now where did I put the KY jelly?

Daffodils anyone ? 

49 minutes ago, Crichel Down said:

(Mark Tatlow, whom I mentioned earlier, is also a building surveyor.  So is, or was before retirement, Chris Lamacraft, among others.  Building surveyors are well represented among the ranks of railway modellers.) 

6 hours ago, KNP said:

 

Building Surveyor.....

A rum lot I can tell you, but what would I know ! 

3 minutes ago, toboldlygo said:

I ain't dead, just had stroke that's all

That's bad enough ! 

I sincerely hope you recover quickly from it and feel well soon.

Take good care of yourself.

G

34 minutes ago, Gedward said:

Looking good Gman. The culvert idea sounds very promising. I can just imagine it from your brief description. The iron gates and the stonework will give it real character.

 

 

Thank you George,

It is one of my "happy mistakes" which comes from not planning too much in advance. 

I wanted to produce a wider bridge but I thought it looked too grandiose and wide when first placed so I've reduced the width and as I did so I thought about a Mini in a famous scene ( no its not a cue for lots of Italian Job jokes ! ) and am going to adapt it to suit hopefully.

G

Making stuff, shuffling stuff and having Minestrone soup with croutons ( yeah really as I am typing ! )

It's been a few days since my last post here and during that time I have drawn up a few ideas and made a base unit for a small chapel for the Italian themed layout.

There is a sort of plan / idea in my head for a final layout ( that's how i like to work these days ) and a bit of make it up as I go too.

OK I know it can lead to mistakes etc but some have been happy ones which I like to turn into something useful.

Here is where I am currently, showing an overall shot with a few close ups and a drawn up idea for a large culvert. 

I say culvert due to the fact that in my head ( where else would you find something like this ) the layout is based close to the border with Switzerland which from time to time will discharge amounts of water into a dried up river bed running below the track.

I want to try and make up some suitable iron gates across the opening onto a grassed area hence the lower radius of the arch.

An overall shot of my messings so far.....

The large culvert, which will have some decorative stone / brickwork eventually, well that's the idea so as to give it some relief above the arch.

And the beginning of a small-ish chapel, not sure whether to make this in stone or give it a rendered finish yet .......

You may also just be able to pick out another ROCO FS E 626, here she is having arrived today to join her sister loco......

New and never used, accessories still in the plastic bags so she will need a good running in ! 

I'm also waiting for more brass rod to enable a few more catenary posts to be made ( far cheaper than buying ready made   ).

Chao ! 

G

2 hours ago, DLT said:

Looking in the other direction, another intention is to "work up" the standard gauge station area.  making the NG headshunt longer has allowed the addition of a barrow-crossing from the SG platform ramp to the NG station, and the inclusion of a PW hut for the SG.  Heres some views with and without the buildings:

 

 

 

 

 

The PW hut is a 422 Modelmaking resin kit and not strictly GWR.  Please can anyone point me in the direction of a genuine GWR PW hut kit?

Many thanks,

Dave. 

15 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Would this do?

 

"Platelayers Hut Apex Roof based on GWR region in 4mm & 7mm – Rail Model" https://railmodel.co.uk/collections/misc-collection/products/platelayers-hut

And it's local-ish Dave ! ( Plymouth ) 

Andy produces some very useful laser cut models in his range and very approachable.

G

55 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

The F.A.R.T.S seen in the images above  is for home use only. Additional F.A.R.T.S will be acquired from the Swedish F.A.R.T.S shop and this will hang off the end of the layout, probably with additional bracing to avoid drooping F.A.R.T.S which in turn will lead to a slack F.A.R.T. 

In addition, the F.A.R.T.S should not be  inclined as this could strain the F.A.R.T and lead to a questionable exit and without doubt a dubious entry. Neither of these present an agreeable outcome when exhibiting

 

I think that's cleared that up. 

There is also another solution.....

Just lay a few of these below the area in question ! 

3 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

No doubt at some point Norman Lockhart will produce a photo of this, given his uncanny knack of doing so.............

i think his young nephew went to Stratford ? shed ( well London anyway ) with his mates on a £ 19/6d Day Rover in the early '70s and took this, he wasn't too good with a camera as it was his mum's box Brownie and she didn't know he'd borrowed it ! 

Happy dayz and the shed foreman didn't mind either ......

Mr.K.Odak was on a roll in those days ! 

G

Looking at that image it makes me wonder why some manufacturers still leave the tyres in the natural state rather than blackening them to match the rest of the wheels ?

I think it would look a lot less "toy like" if they were blackened.

Excuse the blatant intrusion Rob, here is a link to a DC model I purchased at the weekend arrived today and converted late last night to DCC.

It's owner had looked after it very well and with a quick service this is what can be done when converting an old analogue to DCC, I think it was first released back in 1994 so you don't always have to purchase the all singing / dancing models made today. If it runs well on DC it's worth converting in my opinion and with certain DCC decoders you can also run on DC too.

Just a bit of food for thought once you get into it further down the line.

G

1 hour ago, Cowley 47521 said:

I’ve had a very emotional evening in the Beer Engine

What, Newton St. Cyres ?

I always felt extremely emotional when I came out of there, but then I think it was down to how much I'd spent on beer !!! 

Speaking of which, the Taw Vale Hotel which you have modelled so well wouldn't have appealed to you ( believe me ) and the Beer Engine has always been a better watering hole !!! 

G

2 hours ago, Killybegs said:

The top panels are 5mm foam board. They are supported front and back on battens except across the window where they are supported on pads. The sides are supported by strips of 5mm ply fixed to the underside of the cross members.

Just for info I purchased several A1 sheets from my local Hobbycraft store recently at a cost of 4 for £10. I am sure they can be purchased for less elsewhere but it was the convenience that suited me on this occasion plus I knew that they wouldn't be damaged in the post ! 

New Arrival  / Old model  ROCO FS E 626.409  

Quick update on the Italian based layout...

I took delivery earlier today of an old analogue version of a FS E 626 locomotive which was produced by ROCO I believe back in 1994.

It was kept in excellent condition by its previous owner and ran well in analogue mode.

As I operate in DCC I managed to find a spare Lenz decoder, so out with the soldering iron etc and converted her this evening and here is the result.....

( rubbish video but it gives an idea of her running )

There is a company* in Italy who produce DCC conversion boards complete with LED's which fit into older models but I always like a small challenge.

The next stage will be to obtain some suitable LED's to fit inside but for now I am happy with the slow running and response to the decoder fitted.

G

* The cost of posting is actually more than the cost of the board in this instance ! 

3 hours ago, KNP said:

 

Exciting isn't it........

Couldn't make this up, could you?

Let's not forget where we are ! 

By the way Kevin, did you write for Monty Python by any remote chance ? 

Excellent video and explanation for anyone who doesn't know the area and history around the time you've modelled it.

I had an interesting conversation with a "local" resident one warm summer afternoon on the bridge which leads to Nymet Rowland about his cottage.

Whilst the initial conversation was about the on-going work he was also interested in respect of railways in general and also this line. 

He lived in the first cottage on the righthand side as you enter the village ......his name..... David Suchet.

He was having some work done to the cottage at the time by local builders and I used to visit about once a month.

Also, I don't know if I mentioned it previously but George ( Rose ) who owns Rose Removals also had an interest in the railway, so much so that he had made some enquiries with NR to see if it would be possible to open up and use the siding on his property for containers to be used for his removal business. Unfortunately it didn't come to anything.

Keep up the good work.

G

1 hour ago, Gilbert said:

I'll dig out the manual....

1 hour ago, NHY 581 said:

 

Oh dear.......I can barely tie my shoe laces

Take your time Rob, you can't really mess things up too much and there is always a "get out route" with decoder settings once you get to that stage, in the mean time enjoy the new experience.

G

1 hour ago, Martin S-C said:

..and how do you curve it - do you cut out sections?

Hi Martin,

I used this product many years ago and if I recall the Woodland Scenics offering has a split line down the middle which can be used to separate the foam and then each piece is laid individually to the required radius. It is very pliable and easy to use when laid and is one method to lay track onto. 

These days I work mainly in 7mm and use a rubberised cork sheet to lay track onto.

G

Look here at approx 2.17 into the video.....

41 minutes ago, Ruston said:

Superb. Scratchbuilt, I presume?

Here is a better description ( hope you don't mind Giles ? ) 

1 hour ago, Clive Mortimore said:

No Modelling

 

Lovely song

 

You sure it's only the song that appealed to you mate ?  

26 minutes ago, 37Oban said:

A moveable ramp would also make a nice little cameo model in it's own right!

My thoughts as well, then there would be very little disturbance and an occasional visit from a cattle van when required to LM.

G 

p.s. on the plus side there won't be too much muck to brush up either ! 

1 hour ago, NHY 581 said:

 

Morning Chris, 

 

 

I'll get the Memsahib to do it. She's the first point of contact for anything to do with that sort of thing. 

 

 

Rob. 

Good move, if it all goes up in smoke you can't be blamed for it !  

3 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

I'm yet to set up and give it a whirl. I have located a couple of chips to pop into two locos to see how it goes and will of course report back in due course. 

2 hours ago, Andrew P said:

37 minutes later, and still waiting, is it a Monday job?

48 minutes ago, KNP said:

And they are away....

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Ponthir28 said:

I am hoping for Tuesday as I don’t have much to do on Tuesday.

Ah ! But you're all forgetting there are 9 days in a Little Muddle week......

Monday

Tuesday 

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Today

and Tomorrow !