Dave John

They were vertical planks Mikkel, but they don't show terribly well through the transfer. I did use microsol but enough of it to conform to the planks and the transfer just dissolved.

Hi Magmouse , That was Mr Decal Paper brand, with an Epson 2650 printer. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175336311203?epid=1505415282&hash=item28d2dbc9a3:g:M0EAAOSwmZxivgPJ&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4KFiCcqXK9qrSjCyoNmoj3N6pUSNzt8hx348OxtbKf2IF3Kh%2F2%2FI5LvsFux5rTKTirKirV0Jvi6rKV%2BEw5rjo3Xhp9eMQ0WvfWP6xGT1Yf%2Fk%2BYa1EN68LvVI%2FGodW%2B%2FrD2Na8T2qkx82JPnyEDZMcLPa8O1jHzcosxAmiWsez9Uq6eJd8zkKyqa2hHZRN074uWjVGb69O4hM%2BzTjCCO64ZLGGPesMY0Nfbp1MW9AWcvNqm9qWvYsWX%2BC6Bj6gb00ADFSj21DpNgvU8B%2FhF0tlgFmG5QdQvzW89NuJYanr0WY|tkp%3ABFBMxNqYkZ1h

These two are wagons built by Pickerings of Wishaw. The bodies are in resin from True LIne Models, available through the CRA. A straightforward build, my usual copperclad sub frame with compensation, mainly 51L parts, the buffers are correct RCH pattern in brass from Gibson. I have good ex works photos of two suitable candidates, Wilsons and Clyde 2329 in a brown livery and Oakbank OIl Co. No 132 which looks to me to be a varnished wood finish. Could well be a yellow pine so some sort of light buff colour. Having had a go at transfers for coaches I wondered how well the white transfer paper would work for PO wagons. The design was done in affinity with several different fonts needed . I also learned that affinity has some powerful tools for creating drop shadows. A doddle to use when you find them and read the tutorial. Anyway I printed them out and had a play with them on some scrap plasticard painted in what I thought would be the wagon colours. I knew that I would then have to produce colour to match the transfers to go round them and lose the white edge. That proved to be easier said than done, mixing colours to get the right shade Isn’t one of my skills. I had a think and decided to do it the other way round. I chose nato brown for the Wilsons and Clyde and a mix of buff and white for the Oakbank OIl Co. Paint a couple of inch square swatches, scan them into affinity then sample them to give the transfer background colour. That seemed to work reasonably well, transfers applied and carefully painted round. So this is how they came out, A lot of messing about to make a couple of PO wagons, but something original I think.

I totally agree t b g . A couple of years back I made an ambient sound generator. Some distant Caley engines from an ARGO recording, some Edwardian sort of street sounds. Not strident loco sounds as if I'm stood next to them, just an urban ambience as if I'm viewing them from a few hundred yards away. Moot point anyway, dcc sound is way above my cost level.

To answer Sir Douglas, mineral bogies in Scotland tended to have a single shoe brake with the lever mounted up on the body . Must be on the other side in penlans photo, the brake block was always at the end door end. Hence no rh doors. There were hundreds of variations on the theme, lh doors one side , centre doors both sides, end door only and bottom door only.

I used the 136 RPM double shaft n20 with a 20 mm wheel on a recent project ( 1/50 scale metre gauge ) though that isn't far removed from 4mm in terms of wheel size. I was surprised by the motors, as described unstoppable. I chose to leave the 3 mm n20 axle in place and form sleeved wheels. Some traction tests ;

Look carefully at the signal lamp in that picture, you can see a small lens on the rear of the lamp. That is to allow enough light to be projected backwards for the blinder to act as the Stationmaster describes.

It looks very neat. Nice to find a kit that goes together without a few mods.

The inside motion has printed very well, it would be a lot of work to fabricate from brass bits. Must have involved a fair amount of design too. I must admit to cheating on a few builds, I just stuck a photo of inside motion between the frames.

I have a vague memory of a cartoon of the seaside postcard variety in which an attractive young lady asks a station porter, " Am I alright for Chorleywood? " To which the porter replies, "Not'arf miss. Oi Charlie, there is a lady looking for you " Odd memories....

Well, the electric organ blower I described replaced a water engine, dated I think mid 1880s. Very little engineering data exists, though it appears to have been a water turbine driving a fan situated 120 foot up in the church tower. What I know for sure is the supply pipe was 3 inch cast iron. Now, if you went to a water company these days and suggested connecting a 3 inch pipe to a water main , letting the water flow up, round a turbine and then down to drain they would kinda have a fit. Can you imagine how much water /hour that would need? One thing that I regret, I have seen so much historic engineering over the years and digital cameras came too late to record it all.

Many years ago one of my more obscure jobs was to restore a blower for a Willis organ. Four foot diameter centrifugal fan powered by a monster of an open frame motor, dated 1905. You could put your hand in and adjust the brush gear while it was running. The whole thing was stripped in situ, taken down 80 foot of spiral stairs. All the bits refurbed, motor rebuilt, then taken back up and reassembled in situ. Runs like a dream now.

Well, to be pedantic the 439 class has is roots in designs by both Drummond and partly Lambie. The first McIntosh version was the 19 class (1895) followed by the 92 class. (1897-1900) . Both were condensing engines built for working the tunnels of the Glasgow Central Railway. The 439 Class (1900 -1914) was essentially a 92 class without the condensing apparatus. That said, I think that an M7 might well make a good starting point, particularly in N, if the cab and bunker can be narrowed to fit the mechanism.

On a practical note is it one of the self assembly type bookcases? If so would it be possible to disassemble it and turn the shelf round or upside down so the damage can't be seen? Just a thought.

An excellent blog as ever Mike. I have always tried to check dimensions with as many sources as are available to me and even so I know I get things wrong. You are a long way back in history compared to my modelling and you have no photos to work off. You use an interesting phrase, " based more on the skills of individual craftsmen" . There are two levels of craftsmanship involved. Firstly there is that of the men that built the originals and I can see how they interpreted rather than followed the issued drawings. Indeed I have detailed models on little more than a marginal note . The second layer is your craftsmanship, taking the available information and creating a model. You are concerned they might not be perfectly correct, but if they look right to you then the chances are that they are a highly realistic model. I sometimes comment on my blog that if further information becomes available then I'll correct my assumptions. It rarely does and I suspect your models are as accurate representation of history as you can get.

That is the same sound module I used for my ambient sound project. Next to the speaker terminals is a small socket for a 3,5 mm plug , so any small speaker with a built in amp will do. Typically; https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-Computer-Speakers-Desktop-AC-Powered/dp/B07D94Z3JH/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=speakers+with+jack+plug&qid=1668179561&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

The Belgian class 30 showed a lot of CR influence, but it was a local design, longer wb and boiler.

DJH still sell the kit for the small jumbo. Make sure you can't fall on anything nasty when you see the price.

Hmm. So you want locos that can couple or uncouple anywhere on a layout at the touch of a button? Absolute control with even fewer wires than just the two for DCC, or er, simple DC ? Never want to clean the track again ? Ability to negociate 600 mm radius curves ? Easily removed bodies so you can swap the magnetic drivers about ad nauseam ? No trailing wires between the body and the chassis? Fully open cabs with no bits of loco in them to spoil the view ? Working buffers ? Oh, and since folk are feeling the pinch all of that for under 100 quid ? Ok, only a very daft modeller would think all that is possible. But then again, I am very daft........ I appreciate it won't be to everyones taste but sometimes you have to ignore convention and just go back to basics.

I have tried sound Mikkel but with the camera sitting on the baseboard to take video it just comes out as annoying noise.

An elegant photo of the twin trap at Brechin, together with the signal diagram showing how it was operated was discussed on the CRA forums recently. https://www.crassoc.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1877 Interesting to model given that it is built on interleaved sleepering.

Thanks Kit. I have a Nikon D3400 which tbh I wish I hadn't bought. I have a lot of difficulty focussing it and annoyingly it doesn't support tether mode so I can't connect it to a big enough screen to see what I'm doing. So for video I use manual mode and try to lock the focus, which it promptly ignores and tries to focus on the background. Same as your phone. I then use iMovie to edit, again I'm not an expert but it does correct the hand cranked look and I can chop out all the video of floors, hands and so on. Honestly, there are lots of folk on rmweb who take far better pics and videos than me. I sometimes read about the gear the pros use and look at prices. Then I go and lie down in a dark corner till the shock wears off.....

Probably should be at the end, but then folk would have to watch to the end of the video...

The painting and lining seems to have gone fairly smoothly with this one. I used the same double transfer technique developed for the Grampian Corridor stock which helps. Certainly not as sharp as an expert painter could achieve, but I know my limitations. I have painted the interior in a simple fashion and added a guard and some parcels, mail bags and a tandem. Very little of that can be seen , but it gives the impression of use. Anyway, a couple of posed pictures. A short clip of the D 35 in a very mixed train of npcs, Some more wagons next.

The ones used by the Caledonian Railway were 1' 6" long. I can't say whether or not that is typical.