trainfan4472

Did you teach Paul from Foster Street fame on here how to weather locomotives as his weathered LMS stock seems to share the same approach as you, but his models are in N gauge???

Any more progress on your B1?

That B1 is certainly making me think about modelling in N scale, I have seen the RTR versions, but yours has something I can't quite put my finger on which makes it more appealing to me, you will have to keep the update coming on this one, especially when you start to line the loco

You need more locomotives, especially off the green persuation

How have you manage to get the lining that fine, it must be incredibly thin? Considering you claim not to have much time to model, you are certainly producing some fantastic results

Good to see a LNER prototype working its way through your workshops, you have a rate of production that would rival the Big Four

Its beginning to look good, I must admit I like following your progress along with that of Paul from Foster Street fame as you both seem to produce brilliant locomotives from sources most of us ignore

Would you consider taking commissions? I'm sure I am not the only one thinking this but your Locomotives and weathered stock are fantastic, I'm sure I can be the only one who thinks this?

Which exhibitions have you got invites for or can you not tell us? The other thing, is how can you be thinking of replacing Foster Street, most of us can only dream of owning a layout like yours?

I know I should not be asking this as a NE fan, but is the Flying Scotsman actually the real Flying Scotsman anymore? How much of the actual LNER constructed locomotive can there actually be left? Even I have had a couple of hips, a knee and a disc replaced

What layouts are you trying to book? Any from here?

Brilliant its good to see work horses modelled rather than just "pretty" passenger locomotives

Paul Good god how many years have you ben collecting to get that many locomotives? I'm jealous, the Domestic Overlord must be very very understanding, I'm even more jealous.

Paul Are you sure I cannot change your mind? You seem to be able to capture the look of a working locomotive which is something I'm looking for, as for wrecking stock if you look at some of the items I have built you would think they were wrecked from the start. Malc

I must admit, since my return to the hobby after a long absence I still find the state of RTR stock to be amazing, especially for the money they are being sold for. Maybe we kit builders are a dying breed......

Congratulations it looks to me like a very professional job, I look forward with envy to the next instalment

Magic, the Scott looks really impressive, it certainly looks like a working locomotive, I can't believe you do this without an airbrush and in such a small scale a N gauge. Have you ever considered taking commissions as I have a couple of locomotives I would love you to work your magic on, as I just cant get to grips with weathering models myself. Have you thought about City of London, or City of Liverpool for your semi Regards Malc

Andy Sorry I'm new to this site, how would I go about doing that? I must admit the Foster Street blog keeps me laughing to myself, and wondering were does the lad find all the time to create the models, I need to see this layout in the flesh, I will ask when its next out I think Malc

What a brilliant blog Malc

Having read your blogs I have definitely added your layout to my list of ones to track down at exhibition Malc

Fantastic you are making this old 4mm modeller think maybe he should change scales

Paul, I really think you are under estimating your skills, especially as you model in N gauge I think your a credit to the Hobby. Malc

Paul Another great blog, its good to see someone is thinking about what to use old models for, instead of just buying newer alternatives, are you trying to create a Royal Scott as you don't see many of the original ones modelled?? If you like parallel boilers why don't you cast your modelling eye to the NE section of the world, it would be great to see you working on locomotives from a real railway. Keep up the good work Malc

Well Since my first posting I have been doing a lot of research on here, well actually just reading some brilliant blogs by some really talented modellers and I think some of them need some recognition for the quality of what they produce. So far my favourites that provide not only an very informative and inspiring read as in the Northall blogs, but also in the case of the Foster Street blogs a very, very amusing one too, so I would like to list the blogs that has impressed me so much so far. If you can add to the list yours or your thoughts on my selection, I will know what other ones I should be reading too. My recommendations so far are NORTHALL - Very inspiring models, almost makes you feel like you could actually visit the real place, in fact on some of them you would think they are real photographs of actual places. BARRY O's weathering blog - Its great to see examples of such a talented modeller as he makes models look just like the real thing, and included lots of ER stock, which I would be happy collection FOSTER STREET - A great looking layout, built by a great modeller, who seems to produce everything from buildings to stock to a consistent level many of us would envy, and a wicked sense of humour, even my dear Lady wife enjoyed reading the series so far, especially references to the Domestic Overlord. CHRIS G's BLOG - A brilliant series on how to build a prototype location, and how all aspects are considered. just like articles use to be in the press years ago So what else should I be reading, what do you recommend, and do you share my views on the above?

Paul, Its good to see some weathered stock, how do you do it in such a small scale, make sure you post the progress on these loco's I'm sure others like me will be very interested. Maybe you should consider writing posts on particular improvement works to certain loco;s. For example what you would do to improve a Black 5 (a poor alternative to a B1), then others could learn to do the same things. Sorry to add jobs to your workload but reading some of your past blog entries you certainly appear to be more than an average modeller - I'm sure others on here would agree. By the way what are your minimum improvements to a loco before you are happy with it, before the new slimmer 00 couplings they use now, one of mine was to remove the terrible Hornby couplings and replace with 3 links. Malc