Caley Jim

Although most of my time over the past few months has been spent on the Jubilee Pug, Kirkallanmuir has not been neglected. The woodland behind the colliery sidings has had short sessions spent on it - winter weather is not conducive to spending long periods in the garage - and is now substantially completed along with the ground on the far side of the colliery line itself. I have not made any effort to model specific species of tree, but hopefully, by using a mixture of foliage mat colours and a variety of flock, foam etc as foliage on the lichen bushes, it looks fairly typical of a mixed woodland. Jim

Only 4 months until the nights start drawing in again! Jim

You just need a list of your locos, with their identifying features and their codes, pinned up beside your control panel. Jim

I've never had to do that, but have you tried cutting a slot in a piece of brass or such like which will fit between the worm and the motor, using this to hang the motor over the jaws of a vice by the worm (not gripping anything), placing a rod of the same, or preferably slightly smaller, diameter as the shaft on the end of the shaft and giving that a sharp tap or two? Jim

To someone (i.e. me) who is starting to get their head round 3D CAD - and struggling, that is impressive. Only question is, what the h**** is it? Jim

Assuming the layout is analogue DC, I would agree with that. If each road is divided into 2 sections, switchable to a controller, then you will be able to move trains up as the one in front has left. if you're adopting DCC, then there is no need for any of that! Just feeds at each end of each set of roads! Jim

Sent you a PM, Linny. Jim

Do I see humps and dips in the track in the bottom right corner of the picture? Or is that just distortion from the camera lens? Jim

Looks good, Linny, though I can't comment on the details, it being from foreign parts! Slowly getting my head round 3D CAD and have drawn up that pillar we talked about at Model Rail, but as far as I can see AutoCAD will only save files as .dxf or .dwg, not .stl. Jim

I use my Maun No 6 cutters from 2nd year mechanics! Still going strong after 54 years! Jim

I used 8 thou guitar wire (same as for point rodding) for the sand pipes on the Jubilee Pug. They are pretty strong, in fact, if anything they are a risk to your fingers! Jim

Wot!! No deep fried Mars bars?? Jim

A hole in the backscene, presumably! Jim

A and B will give a good line of sight through any bridge which is forming the scenic break, whereas C does not. C and B would both allow exchange of tablet whether trains are entering the loop or the platform. There would probably be a little platform for the signalman to stand on next the line to exchange tablets with arriving trains, positioned at B or C, depending on which side the box is on. Taking all things into consideration, I would favour position B. Jim

Could you not move the service road turnout back a bit onto the curve, turn it from a LH to RH, with the curved road leading to the shed, and then put a LH turnout between that and the shed turnout leading back to the turntable? I think it always looks best if you don't have all the tracks parallel to the baseboard edge, so angling the platform is a big improvement IMHO. Jim

An easy way to straighten out any copper wire is to roll it between two hard surfaces. e.g a steel rule and a brass block. Just roughly straighten it out and start rolling it a short length at a time until you can roll the whole length. Jim

I'm not aware of any suitable chain. Most is either too big or the links are the wrong shape. I bend mine up from annealed 10 thou phosphor bronze wire, coiling it round a suitable former and then cutting off the individual links and threading them together and then onto the hook. The p/b wire turns a dull rust colour when you anneal it. Jim

Gunpowder vans were often red in colour and had large lettering right across the van. There was usually a notice on one of the doors stating 'No person must enter this van without first putting on the magazine boots which will be found inside of door'. Presumably these were rubber boots which prevented any risk of sparks from the hob-nailed boots worn by staff. Jim

Ah! That explains why I can see them! Jim

I can see the pics OK. I had the same problem of a post appearing twice recently, but I couldn't find any way of deleting the duplicate other than reporting the post. Jim

I've done this by cutting thin strips of 5thou brass shim with a craft knife, then tack soldering one end to a corner of the cab roof, hold the strip taught along the side of the roof and solder the other end, then solder the rest, finally cutting the excess of. For the curved front and rear edges you can gently curve the strip ti fit and repeat the process. The centre strip need to be pre-curved and cut to length then held in tweezers while soldering in place, again tacking it at one end first, then the other and adjusting each end to get it in the right place. Solder paint is your friend for making a quick joint, otherwise you need to tin everything first. Don't expect to get it right first time! HTH Jim

Have you tried the GNSR Association? Www.gnsra.org.uk Jim

You now need a signal box from which it can be operated! Jim

I have just been tidying up my bench (AKA desk) after completing my saddle tank. The hardest part was deciding which little bits of scrap etch, wire, brass etc. were worth keeping and what just gets tipped in the bin! Many of the little compartments on my soldering mat had off-cuts, and bits of etch fret frame in them which had to go before i could give it a wash. I'm not good at throwing things out! Jim

Every modeller should have one!! Jim