Mick Bonwick

The fourth one, almost completed. Things left to do are random small rust spots, painting the tops of the strengthening ribs and removing some of the grot on the various levers to reveal the white paint. Only when looking at the photograph did I notice that this one has no footsteps at the left-hand end of the solebars. Then there was one.

Was it the person who made/wrote the sign or the person who specified it?

But exquisitely formed.

Small.

It occurred to me that I could do something about making initial airbrushing tasks a bit easier with these models. Most of the photographs that I have been working from show much corrosion on the strengthening ribs all around the hopper body, and for the first couple of examples I airbrushed these freehand and didn't worry too much about the slight overspray that got onto the panels. For the third example I cut out a piece of 2mm greyboard to use as a mask that would allow me to airbrush just the ribs without getting overspray on the panels. It worked well enough on the third one, so I'll use it on the remaining two as well. They won't be done just yet, though, because the Christmas lights have to go up and that takes a couple of days . . . . . . . .

Alan Buttler, Dan Evason and Dapol. What a combination !

It's not a quick job, the way I do it, Simon. I'm confident that you'll manage to speed it up, though! The way I understand things, Mikkel, is that Mig Jiminez started three businesses with partners who subsequently parted company with him on two of those occasions. We now have the benefit of MIG Productions, AK Interactive and AMMO by Mig that have produced ranges of modelling materials that all do as they say on the tin, all from Mig Jiminez. Thanks, Ade. The splendid detail on the models is what really stands out. Making them dirty is only a small part of the appearance.

Sorry, Phil. I'd just been reading about HOP21s and my brain told my fingers to press the wrong key. Confusion is no longer a stranger in my life.

If I can't have a 'Groan' emoji, you can't have a 'Drool' one!

Two members of a set of 5 Accurascale hoppers to be finished differently. A bit of a challenge, but I thought that if I tackled each one completely separately I ought to be in with a chance of success. I selected the paints and pigments before I started and will restrict what I use to just those choices. Railmatch Sleeper Grime Railmatch Roof Dirt AMMO Dark Earth pigment AMMO Russian Earth pigment Revell Matt Enamel No. 84 MIG Dark Mud pigment There is still work to be done on both, but progress is being made.

Made a start on some O Gauge Accurascale HOP24/HUOs. Basing them on some Paul Bartlett photographs. Might take a while . . . . . . . . . .

You could be right, my Captain.

A touch-up job this time. A friend had fitted sound, crew, coal and working lamp to this Jinty and removed paint from the coupling rods and brake gear in doing so. A half-cupful of Railmatch sleeper grime, weathered black and matt black soon sorted out that little problem.

Not as designed. but not too difficult to alter. Number three will be along just as soon as I've done some weathering . . . . . . . .

I did think that when I first put the bits together as a dry run, but then I referred to the illustration in the kit and on the website.

The second depot hut is finished. With the confidence instilled by completing the first one, this one took half an hour less to do, start to finish. The interior walls are nicely printed to represent a whitewashed brick finish, so I thought that the door should be depicted slightly ajar. Although this idea resulted in far more cutting out and measuring, the result is that you can only see marginally more of the inside than if you peered through that tiny window. And you need a torch in order to do that as well. This has now led to research into the sort of details needed to furnish the interior with desk, table , cupboards and, of course, a light. The first one to be completed has had a floor cut out, covered with a wooden planked texture and then stuck to a greyboard base. The hut is an interference fit onto the floor. The robust nature of the construction can be clearly seen here.

You can see the chimney in frame 2. Just.

Unless you're modelling the Isle of Portland. Imagine my dismay when I found that I didn't have to make dozens and dozens of trees.

There has been progress with the construction of the Scalescenes weighbridge hut, or depot hut as I have intended it. The instructions that come with the kits are very comprehensive and work perfectly if you take the trouble to read them. Ahem. When I did follow them, I ended up with a set of components that were all the right shape and size, and ready to be assembled. The set of components in this photograph . . . . . . . . .is not the same set of components that contributed to this building . . . . . . . . . . . . although they are both from the same kit. Once all the illustrated components have been assembled, I will have two similar buildings. One of them will be better than the other.

Many thanks for the photographs and the links, John. The planning document appears to be unavailable, but that is not a problem. I have used Google Maps to obtain a view from above so I know what the floor layout looks like, and the building has joined the queue of planned structures that will appear on the layout in time.

Many thanks, John. All are useful and most certainly interesting. Challenge is a very good word to use in this context. Do you know the history behind the third and fourth photographs?

Roll on next week! It will be good to see some tutorial videos from which the results are readily visible. I might have to set aside some time to sit in front of the computer. Splendid idea, Simon.

Definitely not a foreground feature, Ian, as you say, and I'm not so sure it could appear in the background either. Read on. Thank you for your confidence, Ian, but please read on . . . . . . . . Yes, John. The right hand door is, I am sure, to 7mm scale and the left hand one to 4mm scale. If the sliding door was hung on the inside wall of this building, the stone walls would be extremely thin! I avoided showing it as hung on the outside wll because of all the extra wourk that would have been involved in manufacturing the rails, wheels and so on. It was, after all, a quick test to check colours and textures. Despite all this, the scene is set for further Scalescenes kit work. I have printed off the free weighbridge/coal office/depot office kit and will be assembling that very soon. https://scalescenes.com/product/r024-weighbridge-or-coal-office/

Just to be certain that modelling does not take over this topic, I wonder if the young lady is 1. Talking to her friend. 2. Listening to her friend. 3. Watching the train. 4. Wondering if that signal will ever work. Or something else . . . . . . . . .

Having printed off some sheets of textures ready for my experiment, I cleared the decks for some modelling. For a change. In addition to the paler stone sheets, I had used the same process from altering the stone sheets to print some paler shades of doors. I duly chose a couple of doors that I thought looked a bit distressed and set about sticking some paper to some card. I used an old brush, some cheap PVA and a piece of 1mm greyboard left over in the "Paper and Card" box, craftily named to show what it might contain. A couple of hours later I had this on front of me. Once that was finished, and having thought to myself that it didn't look too bad, I went and celebrated with a cup of coffee. Upon my return, I looked at it and thought something else - it didn't look right to me in its 'finished' state. Assuming that this was going to be used as one wall of a warehouse, and ignoring the fact that the quoins are only on one side of the sliding door (the side with the gentle curve half way up) and the the other door is glued crookedly, what would you say by way of criticism?