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The Teddy Bear is looking very nice indeed! I know what you mean about the cab fitting too!

Must be a good year for Butterflies here, never seen so many in my garden as I did this morning, well over double figures of Red Admirals and Gatekeepers, a few Whites and a Comma and Peacock and a bit later the first Painted Lady of the year. I also managed to finally get a photo of this fine Hummingbird Hawk Moth, took over 100 trying to snap it!

There's always the Heljan Railbus, think that would be ok for a light railway.

With that size I wouldn't try and get too much on the board, the J15 could be a bit too big. Ruyton Road is a fine example of a light railway, also Hepton Wharf is a small station with goods facilities. It uses a sector plate fiddle yard which completes the run round, saving quite a bit of space, I believe it was built in a weekend too! https://www.scalefour.org/layouts/exhibheptonwharf.html

The photo doesn't really do them justice, but I've managed to complete a small rake of vans now, maybe a few chalk marks and scuffs to add but they are all ready for the show! Next up I've got to bite the bullet and weather a loco or two!

Did you follow any videos to strip and clean the motor? I've got one on my list of things to do.

Seems like a really good year for Butterflies here, I've seen so many in my garden and way more Red Admirals than last year. The Hummingbird Hawk Moth has been back, tried to get a photo but it is so fast! Tried all sorts of settings, need a better camera I think!

Some oil paint weathering finished off with some weathering powders, still some refining and the underframe to do, I think I was a bit OTT with the grubbier side although I've seen plenty of photos of vans in that state.

@Scale7JB Just watched some of Jerry Spolema stuff! I need more time in the day, all too inspirational! I'd like to see a photo of the loco you weathered.

Just found this thread @Bryn, thanks for those videos, there's a good bit of watching on there! The look he gives that loco is superb! I have trouble sometimes trying to translate the methods and look of the locos etc into UK outline stock as I think ours weather differently somehow. I'm getting in to using oil paints and really like the workability of them and I'm not sure if I've posted these before but these are great, highly recommended! I wish he'd do a how to on Diesel! 😉 https://youtu.be/nUOUa86dKEQ

That's a fantastic photo! I stand to be corrected but I think that photo was taken on the same platform that the spotters were standing on in the previous pic. I remember it being a stabling point for locos and a default place to look whenever I went there.

That's how I remember Liverpool St 🙂

I've found it harder to get Humbrol paints over the last few years and now have a stock of various enamels and acrylics. How do you get on extending the drying time of acrylics when weathering?

@J. S. Bach They are, my favourite would have to be the Buff Tip, this was taken after a night of Moth trapping, I'd never find one of these in the wild! The Spectacle Moth comes close though.

Nice photo's @The Lurker After finding the caterpillar a while back I saw my first Jersey Tiger Moth of the year last week, it was too dark, and the moth was too fast to get a photo, yesterday saw my first ever, for my garden at least, Hummingbird Hawk Moth, it moved all along my Verbena and Buddleia, way too fast to get a photo of that! Hopefully I'll see both again.

@97406 Just caught up with your thread, got to say the 37's look mighty fine! Not sure which livery I prefer, growing up with BR Blue that's my default but I do think Red Stripe and Triple Grey suited them to a tee! Your weathering looks great as well, all good stuff!

@klambert I'd recommend looking at the Silvertown tramway too, mainline locos and only a few wagons would make a great micro layout. Wagons were propelled along some of it too, I loosely based mine on it. @simon b Great photo! I looked at Silvertown a while back and didn't come across that one! That scene is Micro inspiration in itself!

Thanks Rob. To remove the wash, I just used a paintbrush dampened with white spirit, even after drying for a while it came off the high gloss surface pretty easily. I'm leaving the varnish to harden for a few days too as I think that could come off easy if I'm not careful! It was Humbrol acrylic varnish.

Loads of Butterflies out and about today on my walk. The majority were Gatekeeper, Meadow Browns and Skippers, with a few Red Admirals and Whites. Can anyone tell the difference between an Essex and a Small Skipper?

As another diversion and a bit of a homage to the late great Mick Bonwick I've decided to weather a Land Rover that could be used on my layout. I'm going to use methods from the thread he did on the subject. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/24935-oxford-diecast-176th-land-rover-series-1-introduction/ Basic, out of the box model. I put some Maskol on the windows in case I couldn't get any varnish overspray off. Mig dark wash added to the nooks and crannies and left to dry for 30 mins or so. Most of the dark wash has been removed and the vehicle has been given a dusting of matt varnish. I'm going to let that dry then I'll use some powders for the next bit although I think those door hinges need toning down or painting.

Thank you, the white shirt was just a tiny bit of dry brushing, I tried to keep the colours dull as well as most of the photo's I've seen during the early 60's clothes always seemed dull.

Fantastic work James, the layout is looking superb! 👍

Afraid I'm not able to see the video, looks like a nice pond. 🙂

Superb! Love them 👍

Thanks Dave, really impressed with the brush finish 👍