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Not sure how you get away with it - I would never be allowed to that on holiday! Looks a nice kit though, think I may have to get one myself

Starting this thread has given me a bit of a push to get some things from my partly done pile finished. First off a couple of Parkside plate wagons, I've fitted both with clasp brakes, one BR and one LNER, they should really have four door hinges not three but I hope most people won't notice, as I thought trying to change that was a step too far! Then this week I have working on a JLTRT presflo that had been sitting unfinished for at least 5 years. Still not sure it's done as I'm not really happy with the paintwork - I don't enjoy painting. Joining one I did some years ago You may notice that some of these still need vacuum pipes, I'm struggling to find some , I had some 3d printed but they are proving to be very fragile, I may try getting some printed with the new flexible resin. - Also just noticed one of the presflos needs lamp brackets, funny how pictures always show things up.

I've never had that problem

Try a can of this - it's not quite as matt as Dullcote, but it's pretty good and it's a lot cheaper and easier to get hold of

Thanks I agree, there's not enough wagons in general but for some reason whenever you see a 7mm wishlist all people seem to want is locos.

Thanks I use a chisel blade in an xacto knife for a lot of things as I find it more controllable than a scalpel blade. Just hold the knife vertical and gently pare back with the blade square to the surface, don't try to cut it all off in one go, or you're liable to take lumps out of the surface - and maybe your fingers too! The plastic in these kits is quite soft so it's easy to do, if you're careful you can do most of it with the knife then just finish off with some wet n dry. If you're having a go, then these sides in particular need to rest on something soft when doing it - I used some folded kitchen roll - so as not to damage the moulded detail on the other side. The painting is not anything special, I'm afraid it's something I'm not very good at, these are just brush painted with acrylics, I always thin them and apply a couple of coats, and then a few powders over the top, sealed in this case with a bit of dullcote. - and previously primed with the usual halfords spray

I'd take a guess that it's an afro comb

Finished the second one now, this shows the added/altered bits. Both together, I'm quite pleased with them, thought it would be years before anyone produced these rtr, but expect an announcement anytime soon now I've done them

Generators from Didcot PS went to Germany for further use

As I've been on the forum for quite a while without really posting any modelling, I thought that perhaps I should start a thread to show that I do actually occasionally do a little bit. I did just short of 39 years on the railway before taking voluntary redundancy with most of that as a driver, so the urge to 'play' trains has gone, and as such I don't really have much interest in locos , although in saying that I do own a couple, as the thought of a small wagon shops type layout is sometimes at the back of my mind. So my main interest is wagons, with the period I remember most fondly being somewhere in the first half of the 1980s, with vacuum wagons and Speedlink trains, it was still always interesting. Like many of us my modelling comes and goes in waves so I doubt I'll be posting new things too often, but I will probably post a few of my older finished projects. The latest thing I have been working on is a couple of rebodied HTV hoppers, I spoke to Parkside (Ian?) a couple of times at shows and he told me that the rebodied hopper was on his list of future kits, as they already made the 4mm kit, but sadly he never got around to it before selling to Peco. I'd converted a couple of 21t hoppers to vacuum brake with altered end stanchions previously so thought it was probably possible to make a rebodied one. The first one finished, I'm happy with it, although the weathering needs finishing/improving. Using a PS104 kit, the first thing to do was to pare off the two outer and middle ribs on the upper sides also remove the 3 inner ribs and put two new ones on from microstrip in line with the outer ones. Then a couple of ribs were added onto the bottom hopper sides. It was then just a case of making the triangular side supports from plasticard and the end stanchions from microstrip. The vacuum cylinder is I think an ABS one and the vacuum pipe running along one side is brass wire/rod. I also replaced the springs with larger 3D printed ones as I wanted to model the uprated 25t hoppers that were in Stone traffic. The next one on the workbench showing the mods to the body quite well (sorry that photo was deleted and lost in the forum crash) Thanks for looking

I have no experience of the hardshell tents, but I used to have a Howling Moon tent. Mine was on a defender so no problems with weight, I had it opening over the back and also had an awning that fitted below it covering the back door of the truck and enclosing the ladder. It was a superb tent, that was always comfortable even in very windy conditions and we got to the stage where we could have it all erected and the kettle on within 5 minutes. The main problem I found was that it was too heavy/awkward to keep removing from the roof when not in use so it ended up living up there year round, deteriorating from the weather, but that may not be a problem with a hardshell tent. I think roof tents are more suited to touring/expedition use where you are stopping for one night before moving on. If you are stopping at a campsite for more than one night and want to drive anywhere during the day you have to pack everything away, and then will probably find you have lost your pitch when you return, we actually carried a small tent just to erect to keep our pitch sometimes, which is a bit silly when you think about it. I eventually sold mine and bought a Oztent (used to be advertised as the 30 second erection!) Another excellent tent, though also pricey, but this solved all the other problems. Plus it is much easier to store - even if you can remove your tent from the roof it takes up a lot of space, my Oztent is currently sat on top of a shelving unit in the garage.

Just noticed this, many apologies as Rumblestripe has correctly pointed out, I linked to the wrong thing. this is what I actually use - don't know why I didn't just take a photo in the first place!

I've often wondered why that thread is hidden away down there, instead of being in the prototype forum

I often use this stuff, dries very Matt, if you google it you will find a lot of military modellers use it. I don't like using the airbrush much because of the hassle of cleaning it afterwards, but if you dilute this first it sprays easily and you can just run water through to clean after using it. *please ignore the photo as its wrong - I should have linked to a photo of their Matt varnish - see posts below

I'm fully aware of the situation today, however the railway then (prob 30+ years ago when I had that conversation) was a very different place, and in this instance the instruction being issued was that you stopped 6ft short and remained 6ft short. It quickly died a death though, presumably because it was realised it simply wasn't practical in many places.

Whenever you took a loco onto a shed (depot) unless you were met by a shedman or fitter asking you to stop in a particular place you just buffered up to the loco you arrived behind, and the shedman would move it for servicing/stabling. Similarly if you were stabling the locos you just buffered them all up to the stop blocks, unless of course there was a crossing to be kept clear. If you left room between them all you could have quickly run out of space, and if you think about it leaving a gap may have tempted others into taking short cuts between them. The stopping 6ft short of everything is a fairly new idea, and I well remember a 'safety manager' who I'd known previously as a guard, getting upset because I didn't take him seriously and laughed when he told me I had to stop 6ft short of stop blocks, and if I didn't he'd discipline me for a collision!

The only time we had the upper hand over the signalman - you had to let us savour it a bit!