Graham T

I've got a cigarette and chocolate vending machine and a weighing machine from Dart Castings to go on the platform at Chuffnell R - can anyone tell me what colours they would have been please?

I’d give my right hand to be ambidextrous…

The roof has now had some Vallejo primer and a couple of coats of Tamiya German grey.

Sad news Jonathan. I wish you strength, and hope that you will be able to get home, and perhaps "play trains" a little.

Even though I'm between jobs right now, a pre-order that I won't have to pay for until early 2025 didn't seem too much of a risk, so... I've gone for the shirtbutton loco, without sound though as I will add my own using a Zimo chip.

Scrumpy from Hereford. Proper rough cider that. And utterly lethal!

Thanks for that Jonathan. Hope you’re doing well.

From what I hear etch primer shouldn't harm the plastic... I don't have any yet in any case, so am thinking about trying with some Vallejo acrylic spray paint instead.

I've now added the remaining rain strips. Seeing as a picture paints a thousand words and all that, I thought a few photos might help to explain the process. Firstly, I marked the centre of the roof and then how far the rain strips needed to sit above the gutter. I also marked those heights at the end of the roof, and then taped the strips down in parallel. Then a dab of thin CA to fix the strips in the centre. I then removed the tape, marked the heights of the strips above the gutter at the ends of the roof, curved the strips into position, and taped them down. The tape was deliberately placed where the water tank covers need to go, so that length of the upper rain strip wouldn't get any glue (it needs to be removed later). A third hand would have been useful here... And so the strips are in place with a (reasonably) sweeping curve down to the ends of the roof. I already had markings in place for the water tank covers, so was able to mark and remove the short sections of rain strip either side of the tanks, and then fit the covers. I gently curved those between my fingers first so that they weren't trying to spring away from the roof while the CA grabbed. Not perfect by a long stretch, but better than with the overscale strip I'd used before I think. And paint should hide most of the howlers, with luck.

I've got a Parkside set that I can send you Kevin. PM me your address please.

That's great - thanks very much Paul.

Lovely workmanship as ever John! I don't suppose you have a source for 0.5 mm drill bits? They are one of the most common sizes that I use, and seem to be very easy to break... All of the suppliers I've seen just do them in packs with assorted other bits, which I don't need.

Nice touch that it even has a tail lamp 🙂

Thanks Bill, I’ll be interested to see what you make of the lamps. I’ve now got some more of the Dart Castings ones to add to my platform.

Me too. Wake me up when things get better…

Unfortunately the roof is aluminium Bill, so I've had to resort to CA glue. Although I used a similar method to what you described, just without gluing my fingers to the coach! I marked the centre of the roof, then the height of the rain strips from the gutter. Then used masking tape to fix each end of the strip parallel along the roof, making sure that it was taut, before glueing the centre. Then curved the strip down, again used some tape to fix it near the ends of the roof, before gluing the end of the strip. Finally worked along the remainder with thin CA on the end of a cocktail stick. Far from perfect, but an improvement I think. I will do the other side tomorrow.

Very true... I have some other stuff I need to do this afternoon, but will see if I can have another go at the roof later this evening. Watch this space!

Interesting idea Andy. But my micro strip arrived in the post this morning, so I can make a bit more progress now.

I'm still waiting for some low temp solder and the plastic micro strip though, so the project is on hold for just a little while (hopefully)...

They have an auto section so hopefully will stock some. And thanks to everyone for all the inputs - really useful!

Great, thanks. I'll see if I can get some at the local version of B&Q.

Any idea if it would destroy the styrene Rob?

It just occurred to me - is it ok to use etch primer on styrene? Although the roof is aluminium, the water tank covers and rain strips are plastic.

Thanks Rob. And Andy!

Yes, I have some on order. Maybe paint some passengers while I'm waiting... That was indeed the plan. Just hoping that I can persuade some paint to stick to the aluminium roof!