Mick Bonwick

Just out of the workshops, I see. Successful overhaul?

Why not use all of them? Might need some more engines places to put them, though.

Someone's been busy!

Here is just one suitable item: https://airbrushes.com/product_info.php?cPath=400_14_407_3&products_id=21899 How much do you value your health? Anything that stops paint particles going up your nose is going help maintain it.

Oh where, oh where indeed. They saw the tortoise fast asleep, And thought there was a need, For better ways of changing points, Employing greater speed. They shut the tortoise up, you see, And took their canopy, To keep the rain at bay, I hear, And nudged off far and wide. Never to be seen again.

Yes, I admit to having to use a nozzle spanner to remove nozzles that have been tightened up with one, and nozzles that have become fixed in place wih dried paint. I have also had to use pliers to remove a Harder and Steenbeck Infinity CR Plus needle from its nozzle that has been fixed in place with dried paint. You're welcome to have the last word.

I do agree with this, but not everybody sees this hobby in the same light. I daren't show anybody any of the three etched kits I have started (one wagon, one coach, one locomotive). I have built a few layouts, all for other people and all from models out of boxes. My enjoyment came from designing and building baseboards, planning and executing the incorporation of scenery and planning, wiring and laying track. To help with the track planning and wiring organisation I used a computer as a tool. My view is that evolution is as much a component of modelling as it is a facet of life. The tools that we use, mechanical, electrical or electronic, will help us to achieve our objectives in different ways, according to our perception of enjoyment. Unless they include a cheap Chinese copy of an airbrush.

Accepting that a proper scale model of the area was no longer achievable, some ideas were explored wth a view to placing most of the 'proper' buildings and adding a few more to crreate more reasons for there being rail traffic. Bringing more buildings into the Park Quarry area than there really were, and compressing the quarry area closer to the siding(s) was one idea, and adding a small industry to the siding south of the footbridge was another. By using lumps of polystyrene to represent various structures, I was able to gain an understanding of how all these things could (or could not) fit in to the space available. I had plenty of photographs of the station area (as already mentioned) and kept them to hand while all this planning was proceeding:

One line like this is bad enough, but did you really have to post it twice?

Your question made me look more closely at the models I had used (Evolution X and Ultra X) and I realised that it was the style of airbrush rather than the make that warranted the 'awkward cleaning' comment. Well spotted! What I should have mentioned was that bottom feed airbrushes are slightly more awkward to clean than others, because of the change in direction of the paint 'channel'. I must point out that my observations and comments, like yours, are based upon personal expeience. I do have an observation to make by way of retaliation, though, and that is that tools should not be needed to remove any components of any good quality airbrush. When re-assembling an airbrush, components should only ever be tightened up using fingers. All components must be kept clean when the airbrush is not actually being used. I hope that this exchange has not put the original poster off his wish to buy an airbrush set. We haven't seen any posts, comments or further questions that suggest we have been of any help to him.

Instead of using flock cement, use neat PVA in a thin layer, but only where you want the fibres to stick (states the obvious). The tea strainer will leave the fibres standing at 90 degrees to the surface, whereas you want them to be vertical (probably). Leave the fibres for about ten minutes, to give the glue time to grab, and then use a thin flat edge (steel rule?) to tease them upright by running it gently up the slope with the edge just touching the fibres. You'll find they'll become upright and stay there - the static charge has dissipated. Practice on something that doen't matter quite as much!

As a change of topic (more like a thread shipwreck than a thread drift), I've been reading about someone who uses a Tortoise to change his points. Well, we've got two of them and they're hibernating at the moment, but I thought I'd consider using one of them to change my points next month when they come out of the fridge. A question has come to mind, though, what sort of currant do they like? Direct, as from an already opened packet, or alternating, as in one seeded and one not, one seeded and one not? I can't find any reference to that, for some reason.

I like your thinking! MM for ever!!

Whatever comes, it's possible that I would change era and area just to be able to justify it/them.

Having completed the basic board support framework on two sides of the room (the corner being shown in the photograph a few posts ago), I decided that my plan needed to be changed! The cross-rails were being affixed with screws through them into the support rails, but this wouldn't be suitable at a later stage because I wouldn't be able to access the screw heads once basebords were in place. Why would I need access? Baseboards were being positioned upon cross braces that might eventually be in the wrong place for point motor placing. The screws holding them in place should really be inserted from beneath, through the side rails. The horizontal components of the side rails, the 2" x 1" parts, were not deep enough for my electric drill to insert screws, from beneath, through the rails and into the supports. Before going any further with construction, I dismantled the lot, and replaced the support rails with a 3" x 1" plus 3" x 1" system. One disaster avoided. Once the support rails and legs were all in place, I could start to assemble the baseboard surfaces. The fiddle yard was to be solid plywood+Sundeala surface, but the scenic area was to be open frame with plywood+Sundeala track bed. Starting point was the fiddle yard, the Sundeala being screwed and glued to the plywood one sheet at a time and left on the floor, covered in all sorts of heavy things, for 24 hours. Jump forward a few months and the fiddle yard track was laid loose to check that everything would work as planned. The two tracks on the left were to be the start of the incline up to the scenic area which would be two feet above. To achieve a 1 in 40 gradient would mean that the incline would need to go round the room twice to get that level of separation.

Just found and read through this thread after a conversation at the weekend. Impressive work, Chris. Keep it up.

An example of simple and sturdy, but possibly not what you seek. Made from 3mm plywood primed and then painted with white oil-based gloss paint. Track plan laid out using jammydog lining tape: http://www.jammydog.com/ Holes were then cut for switches and 12v LEDs that came from the Alton model Centre (!). A nice aspect of using the jammydog tape is that it is pretty strong and will stand being taken up and put down again if you get it wrong. Guess how I know. This was part of a layout built for children, so had to be quite robust. You might not need yours to be quite so hefty!

The approach that I take to apply powders is to first ensure that the surface will take them. If it is a gloss or semi-gloss surface then I will prepare it with a coat of Testor's Dullcote amd then apply the powders once that is dry - about 10 minutes. You should be able to follow this process in the Land Rover article on my blog. If you haven't already found it.

Spoilsport!

You have an advantage over me, you're on the spot. When I created the plan I had to rely upon the 1929 Ordnance Survey map that showed the names as they are on my plan. They are also shown that way on an Estate Publications Red Book (street maps) that I bought sometime in the 1990s in preparation for a site visit.

It's track I've had for many years,so all FB.

Hi Chris, The original plan was to use hand made track to retain the smooth curves of the prototype layout. This went to the dogs once the new (achievable) plan was devised. An attempt has been made to retain curves, though, by employing curved points where possible. All track will be Peco code 75, therefore restricted to that geometry. You will see, eventually (!) how that works out.

Hi Gerry, Hooray! This photograph sounds very promising. I'd certainly like to have a look at this one and maybe some others if that is permissable. They may contain information that I don't have. Please PM me if that's acceptable.

Have you asked Brass master?

Once the idea of building something meaningful had settled itself in my head, I started to work on baseboard shape, size and position. I had a luxurious space allocated for this layout and set to with enthusiasm. The scenic area would be an upper level and fiddle yard and storage would be on a lower level, with a gradient between the two at 1 in 40 (twice round the room) to allow the use of prototypical train lengths using small-ish locomotives. The layout was never going to move outside the room, so there was no need to cater for mobility or weight saving. I had built or been involved in the building of plenty of layouts prior to this one, so the method of construction was not a difficult choice. It's nice to be able to practice on other people's layouts before starting on your own! Open frame supports, birch ply track surface with Sundeala glued and screwed to it - rigid, sturdy, quiet and easy to do. 3" x 2" plus 2" x 1" L girders with 2" x 1" cross supports that had the track surfaces screwed to them.