aardvark

I know nothing about pretty much everything, but the first photo might be closer to the prototypical viewing angle, and hence more "normal" than the second?

Thanks @uax6. I thought that the 20-thou might have enough give to just glue it down, but pre-shaping it would reduce the stresses involved. Sanding the edges once in place seems like a good plan. I hadn't spared a thought about hinges. With the doors open, the hinges would be largely invisible, so I was ignoring the issue. Your suggestions sound useful. I shall give this topic a good think. Of course, @KNP has another solution for doors. Edit: And, of course, I'll have to paint all internal walls as well as the floor. The grounded wagon has windows. Can't imagine who thought that that was a good idea.

Cutting out and assembly of the grounded 8-ton van sides will continue today. The van will be modelled with the door open, as pictured earlier. It occurs to me that I need to paint the insides before the roof goes on, or possibly before the walls are assembly. Perhaps I need only paint the floor and back wall. Comments anyone? Before anyone reads this, I also need to ask about the roof. I'm planning on using 20-thou, which looks to have enough flexibility to cope with the curve of the roof. My question is: should I concern myself with trying to bevel the edges of the roof such that they look vertical once the roof is in place.

Regrettably, all points vanish immediately on 1. or 2., and you're immediately in the red. In my experience, the best way of accruing points is to hand deliver flowers to her at her place of work for no reason. When her co-workers ask what you've done, she has to say "nothing".

Looking forward to a picture, when conditions improve.

Being someone who knows nothing about your modelled location, the UK, trains, or much anything else (Mrs Vark will confirm), what is/was the purpose of the struts on the side of the Queensbury viaduct?

The engine shed has gained ridge capping, 1860's roof vents, and a set of unpainted doors at one end: The doors are just blue-tacked in place while I figure out how to paint them (not my strong suit). They were cut from 10- and 20-thou plasticard with a Silhouette cutter (details here).

Invariably the one on the bottom.

A long time ago, I had a small book called "The Bad Liar's Handbook", or some such. On the right hand page was a list of excuses for a given circumstance, and on the left, a grid where you could fill in which excuse you gave to which person and on what date. The book has been lost amongst many house moves, but I do recall a scant few: For being in an intoxicated state: I'm allergic to pineapple juice. For arriving late: I had to dig my mother-in-law out of a snow drift. I had to dig my mother-in-law into a snow drift.

No such thing: https://www.cantmakeit.life/mobile.html (excuse generator)

An update regarding cutting of 20- and 40-thou plasticard with a Cameo 4 and a 3mm Kraft blade. I recently cut the framing for OO-scale engine shed doors in 20-thou. This is the most intricate design I've tried in 20-thou to date. Here's what one door looked like on my screen, after the normal jiggery-pokery to reduce the number of "Smart" cuts. Interesting, the software didn't deem it necessary to include a "Smart" cut for the purple diagonal at the top of the design, presumedly as it was close enough to the pink ones which were cut before it. I'm being more patient/conservative with cut parameters these days, and used 6 passes overall with a blade depth of 1,2,3,4,5 with force=1, then 6 with force=2, all with speed=1 and passes=1. This cuts through, although the corners have to be released with a scalpel. Here's the result. Inspired by that success, I tried cutting the same design in 40-thou. Regrettably I didn't record the settings, but it was a similar approach, with blade depth 1-12, then increasing the force in steps of 3 until the machine mis-cut, possibly somewhere around force=20, when I aborted the process. I think 20 is too much force, and will try multiple passes at an intermediate force next time. The awful cut on the left is what happens when you forget to reset the blade depth from 6 to 1, but the cut on the right correctly started at 1, and was completed by hand. Here's the result, with the 40-thou on the right. Up close, the 40-thou is rougher than the 20-thou, probably due to my hand-cutting, but is probably fine at Normal Viewing Distances. Here's the assembled doors using 2x20-thou frames and 2x10-thou planking - each scribed on one side.

Must be the weekend somewhere.

Copied from the jokes forum ...

Have you ever noticed how the & symbol looks like a dog dragging its butt across the floor?

Good pickup on the drafting table - it'll give you another surface to put stuff 🙃

Many thanks for the kind words, @Tortuga. I suspect that progress could be more abrupt if I wasn't so fussy, but it's my pastime, and so long as it brings pleasure then it is serving it's purpose. I've long ago given up the expectation of ever getting the layout finished - whatever that might mean. In return, don't stress about bare boards - plenty of those here as well!

I've resolved not to attempt to keep up with those who achieve and post interesting things on a daily basis, and to only post here when I have something worthy. Today I achieved a milestone (inch-stone?) by getting the roof on the engine shed. There have been plenty of missteps along the way, but I am generally happy with the result. The colour of the stonework is all wrong. but as @brylonscamel commented earlier in this thread, Banff stonework colour and texture is not exactly the friendliest to model, and most likely beyond the skill level of this beginner. There is plenty still to do, of course: ridge capping, railway doors at both ends, grounded van, cap stones on the end walls, the bothy chimney, 1860's roof vents, guttering and down-pipes. I'm sure you're all familiar that such detailing continues ever onwards in a fractal fashion. In the meantime, I'm beginning to eye the station building. Apart from being bigger, it's construction must incorporate the platforms. If I make a start on it soon, I should be done by the end of the decade.

I must admit that this is my all-time favourite joke. It's nonsense, of course, in the way that Lewis Carroll wrote Jabberwocky. For the teller, the joke is in watching the listener's face as they try to fathom it. Priceless.

In response to a parliamentarian shouting "I am a Country member", former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam is recorded as responding "I remember". https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/21/gough-whitlam-in-his-own-words

Dunno about Shaun, but my whipper snapped years ago.

Reminds me of my son's early attempts at humour: Q: Why did the pirate ship cross the road? A: To get an ice cream. I think he would have made an excellent Python.

Waiting for a train here is never a problem.

Just to clarify, I was not intending to cast aspersions towards RRH, or anyone else, but rather to support MrWolf in the premise that there are subjects that shouldn't be raised.

It's said that a woman who carries a little extra weight has a longer life expectancy that a man that mentions it.

After Silhouette providing me with a solution for something other than the problem that I was reporting, they've now given me useful directions, which were to uninstall v4.5.152 and re-install the "legacy" version 4.4.945. This has restored the missing custom material settings. So my blood pressure is back to normal levels, and have exported my settings to a CSV file. Not sure that I'll risk "upgrading" again.