Irish_R_M

HMG make a metal Primer in a spray can, and is simply the best primer on the market. https://shop.princeaugust.ie/brands/HMG-Paints.html That's the chap if you can source it locally. RM

Feeling very conflicted about this. I'll be in that neck of the woods for work a bit after (not rail related), and I also want to hoover up a load of stuff from all those traders...what to do..21mm is an awful drug... RM.

Thirded - I'd like to get my hands on one of these kits, fabulous locos.

Very impressive finish with the FED! Quick question, the Mother of all Sharp things - where would a fellow get such tasty looking bits of kit? Rich.

Very salient point. Working on a model at the moment, and thinking of all the comments thus far, (as an enthusiast and designer) I'm having severe difficulty in working out how its practically possible to implement this . I'm not saying it can or cannot be done, but it does ask a fundamental question. What bits do you leave off and end up with a reasonable representation of the prototype. RM

The brake shoes are offset 0.5mm from the wheel face, (Manufacturers tolerances) , aligned as per prototype, as are the V hangers. Right size, right place, unless the measuring tape needs an MOT...? R.

As you look at the wagon, the central handle is not centered, it's either to the left or right. If you turn it anti clockwise it closes the doors, and if you turn its neighbour on the right in the same way, it also closes. The handle on the other end is mirrored, to suit the mechanism, and you turn it clockwise, so you will never have all three in the same position. They are handed in a 2 - 1 configuration on both sides. I'm not sure if that's made things better or worse, actually Richard.

If it's an older machine you might need a keyboard with a PS/2 socket rather than a USB type, but it sounds like either your primary hard drive has died, or the bios has somehow gone and selected a non-bootable drive, such as the cd drive to start from. First thing to do is check that the cables are all sat comfy from motherboard to drive, even swap out one with the main drive, I've had SATA cables fail for no reason. us posted. R.

The reason for the cranked coupling hook was for visual fidelity as opposed to having a large block of NEM plastic hanging down. It also helps reduce the visual impact if folk want to run the last bubble in a rake with the coupler removed. It wasn't an easy decision to make. Richard.

Personally, I use an Intel Chip and nVidia card for use with a multitude of 2D and 3D packages. I've used AMD previously and found the drivers for graphics flakey and annoying, but that may be a personal thing. If you can get a second hand gaming unit, look for one with a decent Intel chip and RAM capacity. GFX card is really low on the priorities - I started with 3D Studio Viz R3 some 15 years ago, with onboard graphics on a desktop, and it handled large files easy enough. A robust graphics card does little for the work you will be doing. Get as much memory as you can, if it's a thing you can upgrade, bit by bit. Don't worry about latency and timings, it's not relevant here. Quantity, not quality! The package one uses is dependent on the output platform, but parametric modelling such as PTC Creo, Autodesk Inventor and Solidworks is an option for CNC, whilst 3DS Max, Maya, Sketchup, Blender and so on, the traditional modelling platforms, are great for speed, process and 3D printing. Rich

"some" ! You don't know the half of it my good man! Richard

Very, very impressive work chaps, stick at it. Richard

Weathering Powders - Mig Jimenez are simply pastels (chalk) refined down to a powder, and do a tidy job on really subtle effects, particularly on armour and air models, but you can buy chalk pastels, grind them into sandpaper and replicate it at a fraction of the cost. I've found them as useful as a chocolate teapot on rail wagons and have reverted to AK interactive, far more suited to replicating distressed W-Irons, shiny buffers, and streaking on certain wagons. Under no circumstance should you google Mig Jimenez's wife either. Blood pressure and all that. Richard M.

Just a quick +1 to Tim Shackelton's Books, and they are quite funny to read too. One technique that is reversible is using Daler Rowney Gouache paint. It's an oil based paint pigment with a water carrier, so it never "plasticizes" like other paints. The paint comes in small tubes, 24 for £12 if you search about. A piece the size of a pea is more than enough, dilute slightly, with a touch of washing up liquid to remove any surface tension. Cover the piece of rolling stock in your paint with a distemper brush or less coarse, let it dry, then re-wet the dried paint with clean water and draw off the excess, leaving dirt in the places it naturally builds up. You can let it dry, go for a pint, come back and if it's too heavy to your eye, reactivate the paint with clean water, and remove more. You can keep fooling about with different shades, colours, tones, textures, and if you've made a complete hames of the thing, you can simply wash it off, several months later even, returning it to a pristine model. Burnt and Raw Sienna, Burnt and Raw Umber, along with Paynes Grey are my few tubes of choice for relatively small outlay, and should last years. It's a great way of making vents, panel lines, weld seams, and the like "pop" in the same way that dirt builds up in real life. As for track dirt and and muck that is something that must be applied by an airbrush to replicate the effect or how it gets there in prototype land, but the above technique should allow you to have a crack, without destroying your beloved stock. HTH Richard M