Dragonboy

Thinking about the sharpness of your blocks which makes them look newly laid - which they are of course, but I was wondering if brushing the stones with a wire brush would take some of the crispness off of the edges? Maybe try on an expendable area if you think it might be worthwhile. Or of course you could try it on individual stones before laying .................

I think the addition of chains and shackles really brings containers to life. I did the same on a refrigerated container a few years ago but as I model in N I used N Brass locos etches. I did try to do a second container last year but failed miserably and decided to leave it TPS another day and seeing yours is spurring me on to giving it another go.

Lovely videos John and if you do any more, could you please squeeze some footage of your off scenes area in. I do enjoy looking at the rest of the world when at shows.

Won’t be long before they’ll be joined by another King with a Star in the distance.

Now there’s a challenge if ever I saw one.

Like many of the posters above I really enjoyed the event. My bacon ciabatta was absolutely superb. I’m yet to catch up with everything but I would have liked more layout video content like Retford and Little Bytham but I guess that wouldn’t be that simple. Both of these layouts are clearly housed in spacious premises where social distancing is easier to achieve. I was also wondering why Andy Y was brandishing his supervising others make up brush during interviews. Thanks to everyone for all the time and hard work put in for our pleasure.

is it not possible to return the stairs to the supplier particularly as they are opened?

I second that St Enodoc I saw Retford at the beginning of the century at an exhibition at a leisure centre is Watford when it was an expanse of bare boards with track beginning to appear. I just stood and stared trying to grasp the magnitude of the undertaking. I remember looking at other members of the public and they were as wide eyed and open mouthed as I was. I’ve always looked out for any mention of Retford in magazines and more recently on YouTube and as an avid modeller and model railway fan I think it’s brilliant not only that Retford has been saved but that Sarah is generously allowing it a little more exposure to those of use who are not involved. A huge thank you to Sarah and all other contributors to Retford

Many thanks for posting this photo Mr Wolf. I was painting some N gauge fish boxes yesterday and was really struggling with the colour so I’ll have another go later.

Yes totally agree there Tony. My newest layout I’m building is using British Finescale hand made code 40 track and I did look at 2mm Association point rodding components but decided that was an insane idea.

Interesting how we all have slightly different preferences. I always paint rails before I ballast so that I don’t get any unintentional weathering spill over onto the ballast.

I use these magnets but get mine in the UK from https://www.first4magnets.com/ No connection just a satisfied customer.

My experience supports MrWolf’s post I think.

I remember years ago watching a metal bodied Graham Farish pannier running on my then layout, and thinking that smoke really looks very realistic. Penny dropped that it shouldn’t be happening so I instinctively grabbed and instantly dropped the red hot loco. I never worked out what caused it but the loco was kaput and I had to put a replacement in.

Modelling in N as I do, I find that to fit crews into locos involves surgery to figures that is positively medieval. i did speak with Alan Butler about this by way of a general discussion, and not in any way criticising, but locos are built to scale size for the period they depicted and time they were built. Scanned humans in 2020 are appreciably larger than they were in those times, both in height and girth so today’s crews will always be larger than needed for loco cabs. it has taken a while for the penny to drop but I don’t spend quite so much time with 2 bristles on a stick painting my crews until I’ve butchered them and have a fair idea what will be left and visible.

A suggestion if I may, but just a subtle touch of rust on the chairs as they look as if they have been there a while.

What this old loco ........ no I’ve had it for years.

And I’ll add my thanks for the shared information on the couplings. i model in N, and with not much hope, I logged on to WHWW and was astonished to find that these couplings are available in N.

Do I detect the influence of Ofqual here?

I think it will be a long time before I would think about going to an exhibition again and a lot would depend on the venue. I've been to schools in Milton Keynes, Warley, and the Motor Museum at Gayden where everyone was packed in almost like sardines and can’t see that I would go back to any of these venues. I doubt restricting numbers would be viable because costs have to be incurred in these events which is I believe why Warley only have a percentage of the hall available to them and consequently reduced numbers would impact on the profit for the organisers. Like I guess a fair number of people on here and in our hobby, I am now in sight of 70 and thankfully in good health, but nevertheless I have very little contact with other people by choice, and I am following the guidelines. On my rare trips to a supermarket I am appalled at the cavalier attitude being displayed by others - unless of course they are genuinely medically exempt from wearing a mask over mouth and nose, and I have no doubt this would also carry through to exhibitions.

I tried one of these on my N gauge layout with very limited success as it wouldn’t go through tunnels or along platforms as it’s so out of gauge. I use Ten Commandments track wagons which rub pads across the rail heads although not cheap but at least they can go everywhere.

And such incredible craftsmanship. The texture on those cottages looks superb.

Took me a couple of reads to understand that because for some reason I read it as Cat Flap and was picturing you trying one for size.

I too love these videos but they’re not appearing on YouTube for me