Graham T

I struggle massively with painting people on canvas, I'm afraid.

I got it sound-fitted from KMRC, so I'm not sure which make it has. If I have the choice I always go with Zimo from Youchoos as well.

Thanks Andy. I don't enjoy painting figures to be honest. Seem to spend ages touching up edges ad infinitum!

I also shuffled a few trains around earlier this evening, just to see what I wanted to put on my "fiddle planks". Most stock ran rather nicely, but 1303, the dreaded ex-MR 0-4-4, is having a tantrum again, and refusing to run. It's a weird loco; either runs beautifully, or not at all. I'll see how she feels tomorrow, and try a CV8 reset if she's still sulking. It also appears that the D1666 open is not a great runner either. It was one of the first wagon kits that I built, and isn't square unfortunately. I'm not sure if it's fixable or if I will just have to put it down to experience!

I was rather busy with work today, so no time for any modelling really, apart from dabbing a bit of paint onto some brass. I still have a couple of benches and a luggage trolley to nail together, but managed to get a few bits finished at the weekend, including this porter's trolley and luggage barrow. They were undercoated in black and then painted with Vallejo leather brown. I'll probably weather them a bit too, as I imagine they would have got fairly scuffed up in day to day use? I've also put a few coats of Railmatch dark stone on the benches. I need to check my references, but the largest bench doesn't look like it would have been out on the platform. Does anyone know one way or the other? Perhaps Mike @The Stationmaster can shed some light?

Very much like that, hopefully!

That sounds like my kind of layout Phil! You must have a lot of space available? (Sorry for the hijack Neal...)

Thanks for that Alex, very useful. I’ll continue to watch with interest!

It will be rather tough to let him go I imagine...

Tony, very sorry to hear about the problem, but also pleased to hear that you seem to be recovering. All the best to you!

Damn. Of course it can't be shipped from the UK, far too dangerous! I did find a supplier over here but they want 60 euros for a bottle! I can get hold of Woodland Scenics Liquid Water Effects though, which is C1212 rather than C1211. Any idea if it would be similar?

I shall have to add some of that WS realistic water to my (rather long) shopping list. It looks great running down the rocks, as do the small pools at the bottom of the rock face.

Thanks Rob. Please remind me, do you seal the powders with a spray of matt varnish?

Z!

That does look rather tidy Rob (in an unkempt way, of course). Mostly done with powders?

I used Mainly Trains MT187 lamp irons for my bodgery.

Big fan of the little red Sentinel 🙂

Something of a change of tack today, I made a start on a new painting. This is of small prairie 4548 at Helston. Just the initial sketching in so far, trying to get the shapes and shades right... It's oils, 20 x 16 inches, on stretched canvas.

You are most definitely not the only one! I try to keep my various modelling bits and pieces organised, but fail miserably. This usually shows up when I can't find something I need, order a replacement - and then find the offending article shortly after... So I have lots of spares, mostly of things I don't actually need. A similar case just this morning. I was buying a new button battery for my verniers, and the sales assistant told me that they have a "buy two, get one free" offer. I thanked her, and pointed out that (a) the batteries last a long time*, and (b) by the time it does run out I will almost certainly have forgotten where I put the spares. * Regular visitors to Chuffnell R will know that my vernier battery lasts so long because I rarely measure anything...

My wallet also took a bit of a hit on these Ric. Now I'm twiddling my thumbs though while I wait for them to make their way here from the UK...

Buenos dias 🙂 Well, one of the things I'm learning about soldering is how to hold pieces in place while joining them. For the bench, I turned it upside down and then held the legs in position with a pair of tweezers. I have some fine grips with insulated wooden handles, but find that I can usually get away with ordinary pointed tweezers, as the time that the iron is in contact with the parts to be joined is so brief that there's not really any heat transfer into the tweezers. For other assemblies I might use the insulated grips, or sometimes a blob of blutak to hold a part still on the workbench. Hope that makes sense!

I've been soldiering on today - ahem. Got another luggage trolley bodged together, a slight improvement on the first I think. Tow handle down on this one, so the brakes are off. Very off, in fact! I also assembled another bench to sit in front of the station building. Much simpler to do than the trolley...

Thanks for getting me off the hook Paul!

It was an interesting build, let's say! And did come close to getting launched once or twice...

I suspect that’s because it’s riding up on the buffer stop rails. Something else I need to fix!