37Oban

Hi, if IRC all the mooring points in Oban (fishery pier, Railway Pier and North Pier) are double. It allows more flexibilty for the mooring of the CalMac ferries as well as the fishing fleet and visiting vessels, especially when the weather turns nasty! Roja

Hi, had a qiet week, modelling-wise, byr fulfilling nonetheless. The 303 now has sliing lights fitted to the windows. These are printed on 0.5 mm (165gsm) , fixed, cut out the fixed in place with Glue & Glaze. They still need a wee bit of tidying up, but they look okay. Now for the dmu. No prizes for knowing it's a Gloucester RC&W Cl 100. The curve at the base of the sides gave me pause for thought, but the solution was simple. My first thought was to curve the the base around some plastic rod or tube, but a quick look at my supplies revealed I had hardly any in stock, and, in the spirit of keeping it cheap, I looked for an alternative. After a brief rummage, and I came across a pack of wooden barbecue skewers which I'd bought to use on my now defunct N gauge layout. A quick check an they proved to have a near-enough radius to make the curve once glued into position. However, it wasn't to be as simple as just trimming the ends of the skewers and gluing in place. Being wood, an cheap, most of them have sections the are slightly curved, which is no use whatsover. I selected some that had the shortest sections of curvature then cut the srtaight parts out. The base of the sides were then carefully pre-curved between my finger and thumb, then sections of the skewers glued into place, held together for a moment or two to allow the glue to grab then left to dry. Be a bit of a pause now while as I need to get s few bits and pieces to continue the 100. Then again, I still have the 303 mbso to complete, then two complete 303's to do, so I shall be keeping busy! Roja

Hi, blimey, reading that brought back memories! When I was but a lad, in the late sixties, I was on holiday with mum, dad and younger brother, heading westwards in a Transit dormobile. We were parked up in Cheddar Gorge, having a brew when a loaded Grimsby fish lorry passed us, heading towards Cheddar. Never could figure out what it was doing down there, now I know! Roja

Hi, another excellent book on the Ballachulish branch is "The Birth and Death of a Highland Railway" by Duncan Kennedy. Well worth reading, especially regarding the practises of the contractors and men building the branch. Roja

Hi all, well the book proved worth the money! I didn't get as confused as I thought I would, but i could do with reading it a couple of times more just to clear up a few points. As a break from the 303's I've started a dmu, just for a change! Printed onto 165gsm/0.5mm card, sprayed with fixative (I remembered!), given a coat of acrylic matt varnish then glazed with acetate. I shan't do much more to this, apart from fit door hinges until I get some etched door handles and grab rails. One wee problem, which I have an idea about, is the sharp curve at the base of the sides. It's not quite a tumblehome as most would recognise it, but once you know it's there it's very obvious, especially seen head-on. Cabs are going to modified Derby lightweight mouldings. As to what it is, I'll leave it for Clive to tell you! Roja

The plural of walrus is.... walrus! Ain't the English language wonderful! Roja

Hi Clive, I'm looking forward to reading it. My proposed EM layout is based in Glasgow 1964-72, and will be very simple to signal, but you never know, maybe, one day I shall have the space, and money, for my magnum opus, in which case it will be very useful! I'll be able to impress my brother too! Roja

Hi one and all, it's been one of those weeks, but some modelling has taken place. Now for the continuing saga of the cl303 emu's! A few weeks ago I experienced a quite serious problem of my own making. Guess who didn't seal the printed sides of his models with fixative? I thought I would give them a light coat of carnish to help protect the sides, which I duly did. After only a few minutes, disaster: the varnish lifted the ink from the card, leaving it all blotchy! Doh! After a failed attempt at remedial work the only choice I had was to bite the bullet and start again. At least it was only the sides! And in a stange way it proved a blessing in disguise! As before, the sides were printed onto 0.5mm card and glazed with 140micron acetate sheet, but unlike before, I haven't added any strengthening card on the inside as it was not felt necessary and made construction easier, and the fitting of the chassis a doddle, with no need to glue the bodies in place, the springyness of the card being sufficient to do the job. The handrails and jumper leads/brake hoses are nickel-silver rod, the buffers are cl31 sprung from Peter's Spares. Underframe boxes are 0.5mm card around balsa wood cores. The roof was painted diesel roof blur-grey and quickly weathered and dry brushed using a leather acrylic paint. There are still quite a few things to do, namely fit the sliding light frames to the windows, door activation buttons and jumper sockets to the body ends, but I'm getting there.. After that there's the mbso to build, and once that's done two more 303's, but before I do them I shall take a little detour via a scratch-built 2-car dmu! But before I do that, a little bit of light (no pun intended) reading! Should keep me quiet, and possibly confused, for an hour or two! Roja

Hi Clive, Jazz rock? I agree, it is 'king good! It was good to see you Saturday, and the bus. Once pased one of those going up Dragonby Hill heading from Scunthorpe to New Holland when I used to ride an 18-speed racing bike! I waited for it in Barton market place! The driver and passengers were not impressed! I also has a good chat with Dagworth about cl 303's. My rebuild is coming along fine so will be posting it soon. (famous last words!) Roja

Hi, I prefer the conventional view, for purely personal reasons, the main one being that until the 21st century drones didn't exist and, unless you had a friend who was a pilot, it was virtually impossible for any enthusiast to get a airborne shot of the railway, let alone an action film. We've grown up with the conventional view in the real world so we like to see it in our models. Roja

Hi, nothings for months then 2 posts in one evening! Don't get used to it, it wont last! Before i go any further I feel I must make something clear. I model to please myself, and that doesn't necessarily mean that every nut and bolt etc is going to be modelled. My modelling is more like being an artist who paints a tree: they don't paint every leaf or twig yet we know it's tree. Likewise I don't model all the details, such as brake linkages, below the underframe, and if you can't see it from a couple of feet away it's not going on! Likewise with transfers. Unless the lettering is really large, like NORSTAND in the previous post, or is going on clean coaching stock, in which case I use transfers, then all my lettering is done using a fine brush, or even a fine-pointed cocktail stick, and is usually just a series of squiggles. When weathered it is very effective. And also cheap! Back to the models! the first is a Cambrian kit 16t mineral wagon, built pretty much to the instructions. It went together fairly well, with no issues, although I did, as is my usual practise, fix one solebar and 'w' irons to the floor then left to dry before fixing the second one. The second model for now is not a Shark but an Oyster! This started life life as a Cambrian Shark kit. The verandah sides were shortened and a corresponding section added to the cabin sides, then built as per the instructions before painting and weathering. That's it for tonight, heading to Newark Showground tomorrow for the Lincoln show. Roja

Hi eveyone. Well, it's been a wee while since I last posted anything. A lack of mojo, a health issue then Christmas conspired to stop any modelling getting done, but then the New Year approached and the mojo came back with a vengeance, but not without a problem or two, which I will return to at a later date. So, what have I been up to? Quite a bit, as it happens. I've done some work on a test N gauge layout, but not very much, being distracted by my foray into EM. Hopefully, I'll have progress to report on both layouts in the future, but for now I'm concentrating on EM rolling stock. In my earlier posts I was building a 3-axle tank wagon for the Scottish Cable Company. I had nearly completed it when modelling ceased, and in a way, I'm glad it did. the model ran well, but not as well as it could, and during the layoff a problem arose regarding the tank barrel wrapper. To put it mildly, exposure to the ultraviolet spectrum in sunlight caused the ink used to fade to a dirty purple colour, and patch painting started to lift the ink too. Guess who hadn't used a fixative? Doh! So in January a start was made on rebuilding the model. What I have now is mk 3! The wrapper was removed, reprinted, sprayed and replaced but the running issue still remained. Enter mk3! The original chassis was replaced by a Lima chassis. To fit EM wheels the width of the chassis was increased by 4mm, bearings fitted, the wheels test fitted then removed to allow the rest of the work. The centre axle has 1mm of sideplay and a little vertical movement. I found a way to be able to print both sides of the wrapper in one piece. It was printed onto matt photo-paper, sprayed with fixative the glued to the tank barrel, then this was glued to the chassis. Various wooden fittings were made from balsa wood, straps from microstrip and new buffer beams from plastic sheet. NB 4-bolt buffers were fitted and the filler cap from the scapbox along with the ladder. Tie rods are 0.5mm nickel-silver rod. It was painted using weathered black. The wheels were refitted an it was pushed, very gently as it is so free running, through a 36" radius curve which it negotiated with no problems. All it needs now is the couplings fitting. A job for another day. The second wagon is a bit of a whimsy! I used to have a Norstand wagon many years ago an when I saw this on a secondhand stall at a show. It has had it's chass replaced by a Parkside 12' wb chassis. A white stripe was hand painted to indicate the end door then it was weathered. Couplings to be fitted. Actually, couplings need to be fitted to all my models. I'll be using S&W. Be a good weekend or twos' work sometime in the future!

Hi, I think the butanone will work. In fact it may work better than on ply as the limewood is not so tight grained as plywood. A little experimentation will see if this is right. When I built my N gauge track I soldered the rails to 0.4mm brass pins that had had their heads filed flat! I used this method both for plain track and custom turnouts, including a bisected turnout and curved single slip, built using templates I drew myself. There are two main advantages to using wood sleepers and timbers: saves on cutting insulation gaps and looks very good when dyed and weathered! Roja

Hi, I used limewood strip when building N gauge track and points, and found it easy to use. A gullotine cutter makes it easy to cut to consistent lengths. And always pre-drill holes for pins or rivets to prevent splitting. The layout I use it for has passed to the scrapline, but I'm thinking of going down the the same route as you for a forth-coming EM project. Then again, I may just get some SMP track. I only want a few metres and the cost of gauges may outweigh any savings. I shall have to research it a bit more. I already have the necessary turnouts: pcb construction, unused at £3 each, which, I thought, was too good to miss! Roja

Hi Clive, it's all done by the power of her mind. You imagine the drums playing! Roja

Was a vet involved?

Hi, have you tried one of the special model boat suppliers? Some-one like Cornwall Model Boats may be able to help with the fenders? They are also a good source of different sorts of wood strip. Roja

Hi, thanks for the info! I only knew that 035 had the doors and not the reason they were removed. Roja

No. 035 was built with Peter's external sliding doors. I'm not sure, but I think these were replaced by standard sliding doors, possibly when the unit was refurbished. Roja

Great video! Are you going to bury or cremate your dead chair? Roja

At last, litter in the tracks! Just needs a beer/pop can or two! Roja

Hi Clive, for my two penn'orth, don't go! Don't let the jealous numpties win! You inspired me to have a go, and to be happy with what I can achieve, even though it's not up to museum standards! Some people are only happy when being negative. I have learned to ignore them and get on with things. They are not my problem! Now, converting an old Tri-ang weltrol to EM with S & W couplings is! Roja

Hi Clive, I read your post on the above and sent this reply to Andy, but I think it will be of interest to you. Just my thoughts on the subject of the missing millimetres! "When doing a "cut and shut" it's easy to forget to take into account the thickness of the razor saw blade used to make the cut. If a lot of panels are cut the discepancy could easily account for a millimetre or two. I know we are advised to always cut to the waste side of the line and gently file back to width, but when cutting panels no-one wants to waste any, so the temptation is to cut exactly along the line." It makes sense to me, but then again, so does quantum physics! Roja

Hi Andy, when doing a "cut and shut" it's easy to forget to take into account the thickness of the razor saw blade used to make the cut. If a lot of panels are cut the discepancy could easily account for a millimetre or two. I know we are advised to always cut to the waste side of the line and gently file back to width, but when cutting panels no-one wants to waste any, so the temptation is to cut exactly along the line. Roja

Hi Clive, in my experience there are quite a few layouts I've seen over the past few years that I've read about and wanted to see but been disappointed by their operation. One that springs to mind was a BR blue diesel era branch terminus where the operator actually ran it as a 1:1 timetable! If a train departed at 11.30 and the next one wasn't due to arrive until 13.30 he'd actually set the train off at 11.30 according to his watch then he'd disappear for a couple of hours, come back just before half one, drive the train into the station then vanish again until it was due to depart! Roja