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Thos pictures look great, the light box makes a big difference. Been thinking about getting one myself.

Nice thread this! A fantastic location to watch the railway and you've got some great photo's @franciswilliamwebb Great stuff! 👍

Can anyone tell me where I can get some 1mm brass strip? I've been looking on the internet but not finding much and cant remember where I got my last bits from. Many thanks.

Thank you Mark, that does look very nice and easy to use.

Very nice modelling there Adrian, hop picking sounds a fine way to spend a few weeks in September. My parents used to do that, who knows could have been near Westerham! Your modelling certainly gives the feel of the fine Kentish countryside.

I'm enjoying the updates @Mark Forrest What is the box thing at the back of the cutting mat? Looks useful.

It is nice seeing stuff wake up again but I've lost quite a few things due to the freeze we had early December. I planted some more Buddleia and cut all my others back, seen a few bees around too.

Our Range has got a big section of artists paint so I'll look for that. Is that airbrushed or brush painted on?

Thanks for all the 'how too's' Rob. You've made everything clear, concise and easy to follow and extremely inspirational! I love seeing the photo's of your work and layouts and your threads are always a 'go to' for any inspiration. Good tip about the varnish and warm water, I will use that as I've had a couple of ''blooms'' and not sure why that could have been. Keep up the fantastic work 👍

More great work Steve. I like the Class 25, the roof in one of the photo's looks so outsanding! You've got the grimy colours spot on 👍

Interesting wagon to model and it's looking good Matt, I get the ''spring slump'' there's something about shutting the curtains to the world in the early evening and getting stuck into some modelling that putting the clocks forward takes away!

Thank you, I've heard good things about Halfords stuff. How do you deal with small parts added on without wanting to re spray the whole loco, is there a suitable brush applied primer?

I was wondering what people use to prime any etched brass parts i.e., roof grills etc fitted to locos. I've had some paint chip off a grill after priming with a Vallejo primer then enamel over the top, even though I've read reviews that say it can be used to prime metal. I've also tried Mr Metal primer but it does not seem to work too well with brass.

Thank you Jerry.

Loving your work @Squirrel Rail, those 90's look superb! Apologies if I've missed it somewhere but what paint do you use for the warning panel yellow, I'm looking at respraying a class 47 into 80's blue? Many thanks.

I've managed to get the decoder working using the method recommended by @Izzy I used the NMRA settings at the top of the decoder menu and set an address and hey presto the loco ran! I've ran it using the NCE too. I still don't know whose decoder it is, but I set some cv's and they wrote to the decoder, so I won't mess with it any more now. Thanks for all your help 👍

Agree with the above, the discolouration of the metal sides looks great 👍

That is looking very nice Steve 👍

Thanks @Izzy I will look for that but nothing at all can be read on my NCE so I'm not expecting miracles, maybe the decoder is faulty. On doing a bit of research I think it is an early Hornby type.

I'm trying to read a decoder using JMRI and after trying I get the message, mfg 255 no such manufacturer defined, does anyone know what this could mean? It's an old decoder and I cant be certain who made it. I've tried using my NCE Powercab and that doesn't read it either. Many thanks. Steve.

Thing I remember most was the double headed 37's thundering through Romford, as a kid I thought the building would fall down!

Thanks @Nigelcliffe sounds like I might need to create a spreadsheet or database on my laptop and put all my loco details in that. I'll have to get all my windows course notes out!

I'm slowly getting the hang of all this! Next question is can I add a loco to the Decoder Pro Roster without it reading a decoder? In effect I want to build up a table of my locos if they have decoders or not, can you do this using Decoder Pro? Many thanks.

I do have some Zimo decoders. Would the shunting key then negate the need to alter any CV's?

I'm starting to get to grips with DCC, thinking I could go with it for a future exhibition I'm doing. I've a few questions about configuring a loco, I wonder if anyone can offer some advice? I've a NCE powercab and also used Decoder pro. CV 2 - as low as I can get it to start the loco moving CV's 3 & 4 - As I've only a small shunting layout is changing these needed? CV5 - Should this be adjusted to suit the top speed of a real loco, a shunting loco with a low top speed? CV 6 - a lower value than the mid point? I'm not sure if I need to think about any others at the moment? Many thanks.