Fastdax

Ex-Southern green Here it's had the base coat of green, ironwork in white and some very basic underframe weathering.

Thanks George.

The fence posts are laser-cut ply, so I opted to stain them with my black isopropyl alcohol/ink mix: Meanwhile, more short and long static grass was added to the embankment:

I started experimenting with static grass. I've never really used this before but it's the way to go if you want realistic fescue, IMHO. I set a few pre-made tufts of dead grass into the shoulders of the ballast before gluing the ballast down: A layer of 2mm green went down on the bank first: I started a bit of dry-brushing of rock colours on the exposed cork edges: The plan is to have a fence along the top edge of the grassy back, so I measured out 6 foot intervals and drilled 3mm holes into the bank, using the ply backscene to keep the drill vertical. here, the grassy bank has also had some mixed 4mm and 6mm Autumn/Winter grass filbers layered on top of the 2mm base layer: After, that, I cut the excess ply off, using a cordless jigsaw to follow the contours of the bank. I bit more brown paint tidied up the top edge of the wood: The posts I'll be using are these: (No connection, just a happy customer).

Time for some ballasting. The filler has also been painted a basic brown colour, thanks to a Wickes tester pot.

A bit of scenic work for the grassy bank behind the track. Roughly-broken cork track underlay represents rock strata. Carefully placed not-level: The rest of the bank is kitchen roll soaked in dilute PVA glue: The track was sprayed matt black: Filler made the surface of the bank more solid and blended the bank into the rock and the base. the tracks also got a coat of pale emulsion in step 2 of the sleeper weathering:: Cess/ash mix going down onto PVA glue, followed by step 3 of the sleeper weathering: black weathering powder brushed liberally on. Don't use your best brushes! Finally, the rails and chairs got an airbrushing with rust-coloured acrylic: More soon.

Thanks Pete!

Just to say I started a new thread on a Photo Plank that I'm building. It's a nice, self-contained project and I don't want to break the (very tenuous) thread of continuity here, so I made it a separate thing. Progress still continues slowly on the Kirk coaches. More here soon, I hope.

I've got too much rolling stock! Well, too much to fit on Offerston Quay at once. It only needs the 5-3-3 Inglenook set of 8 wagons, plus one or two short passenger trains for the high level. (I'm sure there must be tall passengers somewhere ...) So while Jim was staying, we started a simple photo plank to hold and display the unused items of stock. It will be based on a yard of Peco code-124 bullhead track, with a small grassy bank behind. The idea is for it to sit on a bookshelf in front of the books. We started with some 6mm ply for the base and back: Onto this we added another strip of ply as a track bed. This was glued and stapled on, being careful that the staples didn't interfere with the sleepers: The ply got a coat of varnish, hopefully to stop it warping when the top surface gets damp from ballast glue: And, finally, the track was glued on and aligned with a metre-rule: It was a banging hot day, so some liquid reward was in order:

At the Doncaster GOG show on 1st June, I asked one of the staff on the Dapol stand when the Class 122s would be available. His answer was that they were in production at the moment and would be in the shops at the end of August or the beginning of September. I asked if this applied to the DCC sound versions also and he said yes, but maybe a couple of weeks later. He did say that the 122s were coming first, followed by the 121s later, but didn't say how much later.

New Loco for OQ I picked up a refurbished-as-new Little Loco Class 15. Why? Because I like the look of it. Rule 1! It's in as-built all-green livery (for my 1962 timescale). It needs a DCC sound decoder and an identity. The transfers and plates are in the LLC box so I just need some research to find a suitable number. Can't wait to actually run it!

I also bought a refurb LLC Class 15 as DC. Do I need a special decoder from LLC or its distributors, or will an ordinary Zimo MX645PluX22 with Paul's Activedrive sounds from Digitrains do the job? Thanks

Deeley Dock Tank (Nearly) Finished! I realised I never posted an update on the 0F Deeley Dock Tank. Well it's about finished now, painted, weathered and numbered as 41528. It's got a Zimo sound decoder in, with Paul Chetter sound. It still needs coal and a crew. Here's a quick video of it hauling a short goods out of the station, under computer control.

SR/BR VAN C / BY It's been a while since I posted but things are slowly moving on. Recently I built a Slaters kit 7C022 SR/BR Van BY kit. I did use the etched Slaters sprung W-irons and hornblocks, but the weight of the van (240g) would have kept the springs permanently compressed (which isn't such a bad thing) but at well below the proper ride height (which is). So I glued one axle rigid and made a central bearing for the other axle to rock on, giving 3-point compensation. The cosmetic springs are fixed to the solebars and W-irons and the axleboxes float with the hornblock bearings. Here it is, with its primer coat:

Can you smooth the phototransistor output with a small capacitor? (Disclaimer: I'm a software engineer and I know a bit about digital electronics but Foxtrot Alpha about analogue electronics!)

Slight changes in ambient lighting causing the phototransistor to trigger a bit earlier or later than the previous time?

Great stuff Ray! Glad to see the 1F nearing completion. BTW, there should be plenty of room in the boiler/firebox for the decoder, speaker, stay-alive pack (a necessity in my opinion) and any LEDs such as firebox-flicker. I use a small 4-way connector to connect the chassis to the body to allow most of the electrical stuff to live permanently in the body. They are like these and are ridiculously cheap. I put the female half on the chassis and the male half in the body. On the chassis, red and black go to the pickups and yellow/white to the motor terminals. In the body, red/black go to the decoder's track inputs and yellow/white to its motor outputs. An added advantage is that you can take the chassis on its own and test it on DC power by connecting a power supply to the yellow/white wires on a spare 4-way plug.

Thanks George!

Thanks alant!

Deeley Dock Tank After a bit more black, the tank is getting its buffer beams sprayed signal red. For me, somehow brush-painted buffer beams always look untidy.

Thanks Ray!

Connoisseur Lowmac My Connoisseur Lowmac, last seen in brass here, has been painted with Unfitted Early Freight Grey and had HMRS transfers applied. I rusted the metal plate ends: ... and applied weathered wood effect to the central planking. The finished result, as befits an end-of-life NE wagon in the early 1960s:

Hi Ray, Hmmm, I can't find one exactly like that. I think the best one I have of the front of the foot plate is this: It sounds like the full set of photos would be useful to you. Accordingly I've put them all on Dropbox for you (or anyone else!) to download. Please follow this link and download the zip file to your computer (use the "Download" button at top right then "Direct download") then unzip it. I'll have to remove the originals from Dropbox sometime when I need the space: https://www.dropbox.com/s/195aohdrt83aiv8/Midland1F.zip?dl=0 I hope they show what you need.

Haiku of the day: Yesterday it worked. Today, it doesn't work. Windows is like that.

I've got plenty more photos of the backhead and other cab details. Just shout when you are ready for them.