Mountain Goat

Ooh. I need to catch up on developments here as I have made a little more progress. Progress on the painting and also the smokebox door handles fitted.

For the checkrails I only soldered the one side of the rail as there was no room to solder both sides like I did for the rails without check rails. When I get my backscene and control panel built I can do some testing of the track as at the moment I used some 00 gauge clockwork locos to test the track. :D

Ooh. I just saw a pattern of "g's" lining up in what I wrote in the post above. Can anyone else se them? It is eye catching! I hope I am not writing too much? It seems to come out as "Me, me, me!" Today I had where I used to work wanting me back again but I just can't as though I am just starting to get right again, I know if I did risk it I would end up even worse then before. It is nice to know I am appreciated though. They say I was the best bike mechanic to assemble new bikes they had. I am not really up to getting my own bicycles sorted though I need to as at the moment they all need things sorting on them. Easy jobs but I have not felt up to doing them. I have to be honest that I do not think I could go back to doing that job again because of both the sensory issues and the inability to cope with the background stress, even though the guys are nice ad accomodating. Somehow when I work with bikes I get anxiety kicking in when I have no reason to get stressed, but past events at another place I worked at get triggered and I hit major strings of partial shutdowns which is not helped through the triggers of sensitivity to the smell of spray oils and certain paints and though it does not seem to be a stressful enviroment, somehow for me it is. I think it starts with the trauma of past memories and then the triggers come on top of it? I don't know. Anyway. I had to say no even though I like the people and don't want to dissapoint them, as to me, they are my friends.

Well done. Nice effect. I made checkrails in 0-16.5 but I cut myself some PCB slepers and soldered my rails to them which is even more time consuming!

Ok. Thanks. I have just let them know.

I have just heard via anoter model railway site I am on that three members tried to join this site recently and they were unable to because they could not get past the security question... E.g. "Name a model railway manufacturer beginning with B" and they tried Bachmann, Bachman and various ways of spelling it and tried contacting the site seperately and could not get anything to work. I thought it was just one member, but two others have said they have tried joining and found the same thing, so could someone check it out please. Thanks.

Well. It has been over a year and I am just starting to get my abilities back so I am now modelling again and going for longer walks etc. Yes, it is a little at a time. I had good days and bad days over this year and stress kept sending me back into the "Fragile" stage, but I am on the mend though I am not right yet as I want to get back to how I was before the last three burnouts. The problem I had was that each time I thought I was fully recovered, I was offered another part time job which I had to take for financial reasons, as in the past I could not claim benefits (I was stuck not being ready to look for work so after each burnout I had long periods of time without an income, but I did not know what was happening to me because I knew nothing about autism and I was not able to put what I was going through into words, especially not to doctors who had many patients to get through... I am on benefits now with the help of my local autism team, a family friend who is a charity worker and helped with the forms, and with the help of my local benefit office who without their staff intervening, I would be back to having no income after a benefits assessment said I needed to look for work, and I knew I was not ready). But I am ok. I am not right yet because I am only able to go into smaller quieter shops at the moment. I panic in queues (Shutdown risk) and feeling trapped in one way systems. What I find strange are two things. One is that outwardly no one seems to know what I have been going through, and the other thing is that I have found out that I am not really in touch with all the feelings of my body, which is why for so many years I did not even know what the shutdowns were or how to describe them to doctors or anyone else, and neither did I know what caused them apart from having what I call "Subtle hints". Hints like my Mother saying "No wonder you had a shutdown. You were stressed" and I dis not really know until I looked back and thought to myself "Oh yes. You are right!", and other things like somehow, I would get partial shutdowns when in hospitals just trying to walk down corridors due to rhe hospital smells so by the time I would have a blood test I would completely shut down (Worse case scinario as it means multiples of shutdowns one after the next after the next because hospital staff assume I have gone into a faint, and they go through the usuall proceedure of asking me "What is my name? Where do I live? What is my date of birth? What is the date?" etc. Why does this matter? It matters because when I am in a shutdown, think of it as your train controllers overload cut out going off, but instead it is ones brain. Now think of my brain slowly coming back online and is immediately bombarded with a loud voice demanding one to have to think? This takes me straight back into repeated shutdowns! (I was once in hospital for six hours due to this ad it took me a few hours of multiple shutdowns to get the nurse to stop asking me questions so I could have time for my brain to recover. I was telling er one word at a time inbetween shutdowns... "STOP...... ASKING.....ME.....QUESTIONS!" and it took several repeats of this message before she was able to put the words together and get the hint! It took me until about a year ago to work out that it was not my body but it was my brain which was causing these shutdowns, and since joining the Wrong Planet autiam site, I have found out so much about myself. I now know most of the triggers of shutdowns. I ad a few partialshutdowns today due to one trigger. Smells. Certain smells I am sensitive to. One is perfumes and soaps. Another is hospital smells. Another is certain spray oils and paints. (I have to have the window open when I paint one of my trains and shut the curtains with the trains left on the windowsill... I can't go in a freshly painted room without starting to shut down. Also fresh new carpet or new clothes smells also cause me to have shutdowns so I have to avoid carpet and clothes shops especially if they have "Still air" in them). But anyway, today I went into town and though I was aalking outside, and though I was keeping my distance from other people and was outside in the streets, three times I started to shut down as women passed me who had way overdone the perfume! If they smelled of sweaty armpits I would be fine, but perfume and I am in trouble! (Can you imagine me on a date and me ending up in her arms (Whoever her is (I am single) due to having a shutdown when we kiss! Haha!) Anyway... Sorry. I write too much!

I need to make some name and number plates for the loco next. Then comes the coupling drop bar, the smokebox door handle and touching up the paintwork and shes done. I like your engine. I had bought two of these kits when they first came out. My nephew is building the other one. He has painted it black. Regarding the chassis, the main difference is lighter weight pickups and a different internal motor design. I am considering designing and making my own chassis in the future from the Hornby 0-4-0 parts which will include altering the gear ratios for the older locomotives as there is nothing wrong with the older motors or the wheels. They just need taming down a little!

What would we describe as "Budget"? I guess it depends on the scale and gauge, and to some it would be different to others. What I certainly do not describe as budget are things that end up with a far higher price tag then if one walked into a model railway shop and bought a similar ready made project. I once read an article in a magazine where the title was something along the lines of "Budget modelling" but the final price for a 4mm scale building was around 4 to 5 times the cost of a factory made building from the Hornby Scaledale range, which led me to think "Do they actually know what they are talking about when they use the word "Budget"?" As my comprehension of what budget means is far removed from theirs. Maybe they were just paid too much? They were assembling a lazer cut card building kit which in itself cost way in excess of a Hornby Scaledale model building. Just because the material used happens to be card does not mean it is going to be budget modelling. I would hate to see what the writer of the magazine article thought wasn't budget modelling as my mind boggles. (If I remember correctly the total spend on this little 4mm scale building was £240? And that was nearly 20 years ago). To me budget modelling will include the odd kit, but they have to be reasonably priced kits. I do look at the whole picture, so while all in I may spend £75 or a little more on a loco (After obtaining the kit, the donor loco, the glues and the paint etc); though this initial spend will be high, I can then save money by scratchbuilding waggons to go behind it, so the end result saves me money compared to if I had bought everything factory made and ready assembled in the nearest equivalent scale and gauge, as while I model mostly in 7mm scale, as it is narrow gauge, the chassis and wheels etc happen to have come from 00 and H0 sources... So my comparisson of prices is based on comparing to 00 rather then comparing to 0. If I compared to 0 gauge models, I would be modelling on an exceptional budget, even though I feel that these days 0 gauge modellers are getting far better value for money then 00 gauge modellers are as though by nature 0 gauge models will cost more, they are not as high as one may expect when comparing to what is out there in 00 gauge if that makes sense? (And no, I have no 0 gauge. Just 0-16.5. Same scale though. Just 0-16.5 fits in a smaller space). I mentioned the term "Budget" so I will give an example. Add about 20 to 40 pence to the price of a pair of wheels and that is what I am calling budget in my case. Obviously, if I spend a fortune out on a pair of wheels, the term budget does not apply! I believe that the further we go into a monetary recession or collapse, the more we will turn to budget modelling and I feel that our hobbies are an important key to help us turn our minds off the stresses of life around us. (So if there is a financial collapse, where money looses its purchasing power, there is little point in spending ones hard earned money on buying the latest model and stressing oneself out when one can't afford food or to pay the electric bill. It is why I suggest to try some budget modelling now so one stays happy and has a stress free outlet for when things in the outside world go wild. All one needs are a few tools, paints and glue and a few bits and pieces and all going well, one can carry on modelling... But make sure you are well fed and warm etc first). I believe the early years of modelling where people had to make things are coming back, and I feel that this is not a bad thing. I am not saying it is neccesarily a good thing either, but what I am saying is that it is a good plan to have a different approach now to avoid frustration in the future. Nothing worse then setting ones heart on a beautiful model when the prices are going up and up beyond ones modelling budget! I found that when I found myself with periods of no income, as far as the hobby is concerned, at first it was a disaster! But what seemed to be a dead end ended up giving me a freedom that I just did not have before. I changed from 00 to model in 7mm narrow gauge and my whole outlook and approach changed. It was no longer a case of working long hours to pay for the next new model in an addiction to wanting everything! It now became a "If you want it, make it" approach. Almost overnight the addictiveness of "Collecting" was cured. (I did not plan to be a collector as I always intended to run my models, but while I did not have a layout at the time, I happened to end up with a fleet way in excess of my needs when I modelled in 00. But the change of scale where I had to make everything I needed, meant I became far more sensible, and if I felt I had made to much, I was less likely to hoard, because if I did let one go but later found I needed it, I would say to myself "Oh well. I can always make another". So in that way I was no longer compelled to collect for the sake of collecting if that makes sense? So back to the topic "Modelling on a budget" and my point is that for some, a change of scale and gauge will give the consistency and approach required to help them in their modelling. And with that I include a loco I am building for an online friend which has been delayed somewhat as I have had issues using my hands and my focus and concentration... But now I am slowly getting back to things... Two days ago I managed to fit the handrails. A job that has delayed the build for many many months. It is not finished yet, and is made from using a Smallbrook Studio body kit on a Hornby 0-4-0 chassis.

Question regarding autistic burnout. The last time I hit burnout was september 2019 and it hit hard. I have been in and out of the fragile stage since. Anyone else experienced this? I want to get back to modelling. I am not right yet, but I am becoming impatient.

That is beautiful!

Tenby is not too far away from here, and as a treat I will drive down there maybe once a year or twice a year. After the lockdown eased I wanted to go there so I took my Mum and we went. I tried car park after car park. They had converted them all to card only! I had to abandon the Tenby idea and I doubt I will be able to go there again, as where is my right to privacy? I should decide if I pay by card or cash. Not everyone has a bank card. So I was thinking that the queue could not be that the car park was full, but prehaps they changed to card payment only and some poor driver is stuck at the barrier? I drove on from place to place and found Manorbier which has a car park I could put my money in.

I happened to find this which seems good value. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lathe-Machine-Woodworking-Craft-Rotary/dp/B08CMPWYF3/ref=sr_1_75?dchild=1&keywords=Mini+lathe&qid=1599926577&s=industrial&sr=1-75#

Lovely interiors.

I have since found that the play in slides of the more basic Unimat sets like the Unimat 1 can also be adjusted. I did not know this when I started the thread. I still find the Metalline slides much nicer to use. The two are actually fully compatible with each other so parts can be mixed if needed. I have recently had some extra goodies. A nice Powerline motor. I already have a transformer for it, so the plan is that I can put the Unimat into action and make some nice things. I enjoy making waggons and things like that, so we shall see. The sawtable means I can cut myself some wood to make a nice chassis. It also helps to be modelling in 7mm scale or larger when making things as they are an easier size to make wooden bits and pieces for.

Thanks.

Power Tools. Unimat Tools. I find these tools to be an interesting investment. I would try to get the Metalline set even though it is more expensive, as everything is so much nicer. There is no play in the slides, and even if there was, the play can be adjusted. There are cheaper alternatives available on the internet from the Far East, but I have not tried them to know what they are like. Such tools are not cheap, but they do open up possibilities. As a lathe probably a dedicated lathe like an axminster C1 would be better, but for a fun modellers gadget that can be used in many different ways, it is quite an attractive gadget to own. I see it as a cross between Meccano and Lego in the way one can set it up in different ways. Takes a little getting used to at first, but once one gets the hang of it, it really does to a lot of things. I will say that it is for softer metals or softer materials. I can possibly work slightly harder things as I have a powerline motor upgrade and reduction gearing but I don't think I would have the patience! But anyway. I thought I would start this thread dedicated to tools, be they hand tools, or powered little machines and gadgets. Feel free to add to this as you share some interesting tools and gadgets!

I have managed to have a few days break from the internet and used it to help get a garden railway ready for use. I am achy from bending over but less stressed which made a difference. It gave me a couple of ideas I can use in the future for my little railway as I would like a permanent railway. We shall see!

I told them washing liquid contains salt! It does look like it has been in a damp quarry or somewhere like that? Or on a hill near the sea, as if it was down next to the sea more would likely survive, bit about 500ft on a hill one gets salty lingering mists which tend to rust things quicker then living by the sea. (Not to say that living next to the sea is that much better!)

Can it be restored?

I am also experiencing an issue lately. When I am stressed, I am getting issues with my hands. Issues trying to pick up small objects like trying to take a coin out of my wallet or things like that. I am also prone to dropping things when I am like this.Uhmmm. Trying to fit handrails to a loco.. I ended up breaking two of those little handrail pins included in the kit. Also my eyesight sharpness goes at the same time when stressed which does not help. It is difficult to know if it is the start of a partial shutdown or stress as I can only tell either event by the results. Anxiety, stress etc are somehow things I will only feel when they are at serious levels BUT others can tell and tell me. Well, I do have feelings but sometimes I tend to not notice them unless they become extreme? Sometimes I can only really know that I am stressed when I find myself shutting down, or I only realize I have had an overload of anxiety when I find I can't get up and walk and I have to sit still to calm down before my body works again. Uhmm. Feelings do not always compute. Other times they do? But anyway. Back to the point. The last few years my hands and my eyesight have both started having issues. Also I have had my throat closing up (So that I have difficulties breathing), and it has been so far traced to excess heartburn which is another issue I have had in recent years. I am on tablets to deal with this several times and have been on them recently for a few months. My doctor wants to see me as I am still needing them. I hope I don't get mindblank again! So annoying when I need to say things and I clam up with mindblank, and need to talk about a different topic to get my mind to work again! It is why I talk or even type round the world ans back to reach the point I was trying to make!

I would not have thought so. Not when the Triang body comes so close to the origional. It goes to show how much work was done on the prototype, and probably why they only did the one!

I decided to re-write what I put as it has already been answered. But what colour was this loco in its pre-grouping livery? (And no. I am not taking on such a Triang conversion as I have enough work to do in 7mm narrow gauge). One thing I love about the railways in the older days (And it still happens today) is the way they rebuild things rather then scrap them. To think that this little shunting loco may well have been at the head of express trains in its earlier life... And I was thinking... Maybe some of our models.. Where we have a shunter which can travel at express train speeds... Well. There may be a prototype after all!

You sure you have had the more recent Hornby Smokey Joe type models. They did do one for a while which had the darkened wheels but it still ran fast. They have upgraded them again since. A few shops had old stock so the old ones were still on the shelves for a while. I bought a few by mistake as they look identical. I too have noticed how things have changed where what was once the norm, where wheel, gear and motor upgrades were common, now that the factory made models have upped their game in both detail and running qualities, the whole market for such fancy upgrades has almost vanished, and when we do see them, their prices have vastly increased as nothing anymore can be sold in bulk. It is like the whole concept of what modelling used to be about for the average enthusiast, and what it seems to be about today for the average enthusiast are worlds apart. Today (And I am not knocking this as for some it is ideal) the concept of modelling seems to be getting closer to setting up a trainset on a board ad buying a few ready made buildings. Years ago most things had to be scratchbuilt or kitbuilt or kitbashed etc... It is really why I love 7mm narrow gauge because it is like going back in time having virtually no RTR products, and yet it is not too difficult to get decent results. While on the one hand I may feel that 0-16.5 could do with a few RTR products, but then I think "No" because the few kit manufacturers would then struggle and it would change the whole experience of the adventure of modelling in 7mm narrow gauge. I will say those Bachmann chassis are nice. I once had two of their 0-6-0's on their DCC starter sets and while I felt Hornby had the better compromize with their bodies as the Bachmann idea of black plastic non see tnrough windows didn't appeal, Bachmann did seem to have nice chassis.

Does anyone get the "Fragile" feeling during and after burnout? I still have it now and then and the last burnout I had was in September. I have it now as I type which is whh I thought I would mention it.