Cornholio

I was wondering if anybody could tell me if a coal stage would typically have internal lights, as I'm currently modelling one. Perhaps I'm over thinking things, but I was wondering if gas lighting in particular was avoided due to the risk of fire from coal dust etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Andrew

@Howard Smith, I think this is as far as I'm going to take it for now.

Hi @Howard Smith, Thank you for the kind mention in Friday's WoR newsletter. Unfortunately life got in the way of modelling and I wasn't able to finish in time. You've prompted me to finish it off, the building gained its roof this afternoon. There's still some bits I want to work on though - I'll keep you posted!

@Captainalbino likewise!

Hi Chris, The water is simply PVA pasted over the green coloured print-out from the kit. Canal water should be still/flat. I had some visible brush marks that I wasn't happy with, so I stippled another layer of PVA over the top to give the rippled effect. Maybe it was raining? Regards Andrew

Thanks Grahame, They are from Gaugemaster/Kestrel GMKD75, nine figures for under £3 is a bargain in my book. Andrew

If Kev has the largest entry, mine is surely going to be one of the smallest. My entry is the stairs portion of the latest Scalescenes boxfile layout, but shrunk down to N-Scale. Rather than repeating myself, I've put a build summary over in the Card Modelling Section. Best of luck to everyone that enters, the deadline is fast approaching! Andrew

Some people may have already seen this, as I posted it on the Scalescenes Facebook page last week. I've just entered the staircase part of it into Round 4 of the See It/Make It Challenge, so I've reposted it here on RMWeb in case anyone was interested in how I went about adapting the kit. OK, so this is my N-Gauge reworking of the LY02 Canal Wharf built into an A5 boxfile. Here's a brief summary of how I went about it. I'll also share a few of the "complications" that I faced along the way. I started off by printing the kit at 52% scaling, to give a rough conversion to N-Scale. Following the instructions, I cut out the wharf base layers and fitted these to the boxfile. It turns out that an A5 boxfile is proportionally larger than its A4 sibling. Not a problem though, I simply printed off an extra section of wharf to fill the extra 2" of width. I then kitbashed a 2" wide warehouse using the base layers for "structure A" (the stone building) and textures from the T026a Factory. I continued building, hoping that I'd overcome the biggest hurdle. But no. The side walls of the boxfile are the same height as the A4 version. This means that Structure B (the white building) doesn't fit. This received extensive modification to realign the green doors to the edge of the boxfile, rather than sitting on it. The frontage of the building has been shifted about a ¼" to the left. Every single piece of the kit needed modifying to make it fit. Even then, the clearance between the structure and the far track is very close. The bridge has been stretched to account for the extra 2" depth of the boxfile (something that I should've spotted earlier in the build). Obviously this allowed me to have a much wider canal area. Structure C (red brick) went together without any real headaches. Unfortunately it was too deep for my wharf base and hung over the water! This was resolved by adding a small extension to the front of the wharf. I'm pretty proud of that bit because it doesn't look out of place. If I was to make it again, I would extend the entire wharf forward by about 2cm to improve clearances and also make the entry under the bridge at least a cm wider to allow a bit of breathing room Extra Details: The extra piece of towpath at the front right of the boxfile is made from the canal lock in T018 Narrow boats. Lifebelt and wharf bollards are from Langley Models. Windows are a mix of Brassmasters, Scaleglaze and Sticky Labels. Fencing is the recommended Ratio 246 and boat detailing is TB1 solid 1.4mm tube from Squires. Foliage/Buddleia is homemade from scatters. Light Card is the printout stuck to another sheet of 100gsm paper, Medium card is Cornflake Packet, Heavy is 2 layers of cornflake packet. Glue used was Roket Card Glue. I think that covers everything , but if anyone has any questions I'm happy to help. Andrew

@George Hudson I have a question about your window making technique. Do you make the fine glazing bars by scoring the plastic, then rubbing white paint into the groove? I can't fathom how else you get such fine sharp lines. Thanks in advance. Andrew

Just remember that an item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. It's still perfectly possible to buy a copy at a sensible price. I think I paid about £6 or £7 delivered for my copy about a year ago (eBay). Happy Hunting! Andrew

Wow, the canopy looks stunning.

Hi Steve, I've sent you a Private Message. Regards Andrew

My Canon inkjet printer doesn't like collecting OHP film from the paper tray, it always gets itself in a flap, invariably jamming in the process. I now use a thin strip of masking tape along the top edge to attach a carrier sheet of normal A4 paper to the back of the film. This allows the printer to grip the film properly. This idea can be combined with @JimFin's suggestion to print on off-cuts. As far as the printer knows, it's still printing on an A4 sheet. This allows you to use every last scrap of film, should you so desire.

@Dan Griffin Chris Heath has a couple of articles about the Scalescenes cargo ship build on his blog: https://wynyardlanemodels.blogspot.com/2015/08/cargo-ship-revisited.html Lots of construction photos to give you an idea of what's involved. Best Wishes Andrew

Spotted this advert in Model Rail: