JN

@Accurascale Fran Just letting you know you (Accurascale) have used an incorrect spelling on your website. 'Onllywn Colliery' should be Onllwyn Colliery.

One is crumpled. One is dented.

You are allowed to praise models for being good models.

Yellow is yellow. Light sources (bulbs or the sun) might affect colour perception. I know from photography that light bulbs are about 3300k and sunlight is about 5500k (the higher the k value, the bluer/colder the temperature). Bleach (fade), dirt etc will impact on how a colour is perceived. Old photographs (can) fade and the way screens are calibrated (RGB etc and emit blue light) might have an impact, too. However, yellow will still reflect the yellow part of the yellow light spectrum. Different wavelengths, so the colour can be measured objectively assuming the other variables to be fixed. I do not understand why a colour would change with the size of an object given light behaves the same way for all things in all places. However, I get most people want to operate their new model and do not have a spectrometer to measure everything. I imagine the people involved in the design process know how to mix various colours to get the correct colour from a British Rail manual. Basically, the same idea as the Deluxe colour charts. If not, I imagine design teams order paints to that specification rather than buy a few tins of the closest matching Humbrol.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134886031132?itmmeta=01HR4MHW83QK3GD5D5CGTMN3JG&hash=item1f67d57f1c:g:zPUAAOSwBrtj3jzX&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0C0FITiewXTCRBlo4BCTWJJ6YqkM0e5jzciUS2gRe9XvH9o1%2B4mtEvcyJ3cBgZOFGrNUKDTWx1PktEgo11KbsVrwtgpYFZfG4oTwso0%2BIU0s1kkqzLD2lH9QJ%2BuBgRHrkdV4c3DPUQNT3me5042xIXEgQ%2B2MyD8opXRCideMW%2BxsEkAJjMrrIMDjsS36VQadXXnkz5MaXYfWh43lQpzc7ZqZQJObxod%2FmATIy7j9Bz8Sdo2A6vALygR1okLBKPJKLxOcCNrPqtRerLRGMzAJdEo%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR5jEx5TBYw if you feel like nine is too many ;). Thank you as well, Roy.

Thank you for that. His loads certainly do look impressive. I remember asking Accurascale if they would be making loads for their HAAs as was done for the PFA wagons (was not a deal breaker) and someone told me I should be making my own loads. Anyway, I have just got myself some loads from the smuggler7 ebay store. A few of the other loads look impressive, too. Thanks again.

Thank you for tip. Will check the store out.

I hope the following pictures help. Route: York-Leeds-Sheffield-Birmingham New Street-Cardiff Central-Swansea. Sorry I cannot help with identifying the first few coaches. A couple of miscellaneous services: Bristol Temple Meads - York Glasgow Central to Birmingham New Street (via Kilmarnock) Wolverhampton High Level-York Also, I do not know if Nottingham-Cardiff would count as XC service, but that would have gone through Birmingham New Street and was usually a 158. Not sure if I know of any other services, sorry. Anyway, I hope you have found these useful.

Awesome. I am tempted to use the same photo for my '074, but I want a little practice beforehand. I noticed another photograph on Flickr of '074 going through Doncaster station with the same streak (about the same time (spring 1991)).

I got myself a triple pack. I am wondering if people know a good way to make coal loads from scratch. What technique do you use? What I have in mind is to make a card base and a sort of papier-mâché mound with smooth that off with something then putting the coal on that smooth surface.

I ordered from Ultimate Model Railways, so getting the pipework prefixed was not an option. I do not mind trying, but is something I have not been successful in this instance. Still, better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all. Best to have succeeded, but some worth in trying. I do get easily demoralised and I was also annoyed with myself for not being as good as other people. Due to my autism I also have a very binary worldview - in this case: pass or fail. I look at the Doncaster layout and am impressed by that and would like to be able to produce something of that quality myself. I am my own harshest critique and being a perfectionist means my goals are often higher than my abilities. Thanks, but I was not complaining I never got help. Someone had advised me to use blacktack and that seems to have worked for the nameplate. I get you are busy and I am not the centre of the universe. Also, my point was more about critics who do not help, but I get people have other demands on their time than the latest post on a forum. The depot plaque and double-arrows I used glue for as the 'tack was too fiddly for me. The depot plaque was really easy as I just put a blob of glue in the centre and I managed that as soon as I got the glue home from my local newsagent. I used a cocktail stick for a small blob of glue as using the nozzle would have wasted glue even if the glue does dry clear. I used a moist paper towel to clean up. The jig was easy to use for the plaque and the plaque's shape and look made straightening easy. I had difficulty lining the double arrows and nameplate (especially the double arrows) up straight and put the jig hard down to the roof to make sure the nameplate was straight and used the grey line to make sure the plate is on as straight as possible. I did try the two-sided tape provided once I realised that the two-sided tape is the two sided tape, but the blacktack seemed to work better for the nameplate. Just really thin sticky stuff and used the technique as with the PVA glue. However, I was struggling to get the pipework in the holes just because of my shaky hands from anxiety and such. For the three I have done so far (the coupling chain and two pipes to the left) I just held my tweezers near the grab and put them in. The pipes have stayed in, so I will not be messing with them. I just need to put the remaining two pipes in. As much as I would like to use the chain coupling I will be best using the tension lock coupling, so I only really want the piping at the one end. I have no idea . I can barley tell the contours of what the model people are wearing, so I am going to struggle painting the crew. I have got a set of very thin brushes, but the detail is looking too fine. I joked with my dad about me probably needing a magnifying glass to see the model let alone fixing pipework to the model. Not, obviously, so, but I was using the exaggeration and humour to make a point. I prefer oo-gauge just because that is what I already have. The HAA wagons I ordered came today and I want to get on with making coal load mounds, but I will pop some advice request on the HAA wagon thread. My dad gave me a copy of The Guardian on Thursday, so I have some papier-mâché material and I have thought I could use the cardboard the wagons came in as the base for a papier-mâché base (I did not ignore everything on Blue Peter!). I just want to have a go at a different task. I have no deadline, no exhibition, to get everything done by/for. I had a quick look at the wagons and, well, another excellent model. I do not even know where to begin with making a model, so thanks for making a well-made model. Thanks to Trains4u, too, for sending quickly - I thought the wagons would be coming early next week. Not as exciting as a locomotive, but still high quality. Sorry to AY. I was a little over the top. I tend to keep silent until things get too much. I also have the sensitivity skills of a sledgehammer at the best of times. Before I sign-off on this essay, I found a website about coal mining: https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-mining-in-the-british-isles/yorkshire-coalfield/. Some of the details are a bit much as I only really have a railway interest, but people with an engineering interest might be interested in the technical aspects of the pump house engine details. I checked out the website for dates of coal mine closures, so I would not create a timetable for a colliery/power station run from a closed colliery. If people are interested in the operational side of things I have found: http://www.railwaycodes.org.uk/elrs/_mileages/w/wag1.shtm. I cannot state to the accuracy of the website, but a useful guide (the order is correct, but the measurements might be incorrect - I am using the information as a standard). My dad uses the guide of eight revolutions of his six by four layout as about five miles. In my flat I have a six by one alcove for a shed layout. I could probably do something such as the foyer area of Knottingley MPD Use as a working diorama as well as learning to weather, scratchbuild and put together kits etc. Maintain the locos with a rolling road and join a model railway club to talk trains and life more generally. I am doing this, amongst other reasons (such as: I like trains), as something to do other than watching YouTube.

I will give you an opinion ('A bit of a sad reflection') of a possible fact ('effectively killing the idea off for good'), but 'A bit of a sad reflection of the how little some were prepared to do even 12-15 years ago effectively killing the idea off for good' is not a factual statement. Also, pre-liveried items have been available since model railways began. Am I telling you that your preference is 'A bit of a sad reflection' of something? No. I did not realise I was objectively ruining the hobby for you or for anyone. Sorry if I am, but I do not believe I am doing so. Would you prefer me to stop? Presumably so if me buying models the way models are produced is factually 'A bit of a sad reflection' of something. Perhaps people have other priorities outside the hobby or different priorities within the hobby (I am collecting route information then I can drive the train according to that) or have wider tolerances generally. Some people build kits or modify or scratch build an item rather than buying (fairly) generic ready-to-run models. That is all fine. Some people do not have the skill, space or time to do the same as you or James Makin. Seemed to me you were lamenting this for whatever reason. I do not have the skill or space to do everything, but last I checked I am allowed to buy an off-the-shelf model which coincides with the particular theme I am going for. You seem to be complaining off-the-shelf models which may or may not need further modification are available to the experienced an inexperienced modeller given 'A bit of a sad reflection of the how little some were prepared to do even 12-15 years ago effectively killing the idea off for good'. You replied claiming this as 'a fact' not as an opinion. I am struggling with getting the nameplate straight even with the jig. I am also struggling with the double arrows and the piping. That is even having done Airfix kits. I have noticed I have probably clipped off the left-hand guard/step at the number two end when I rested the locomotive on one end, so I could hopefully attach the piping more easily. I probably bent the aerial with my sleeve when reaching over. I will just have to learn. The last time I tried putting on numbers etc, well, that did not go well. Putting the big numbers on was fine, but I made a mess of the TOPS panel. I also made a botch of making wagons despite having made Airfix kits. This is aside from the electronics of a locomotive. If I can buy unique numbers on the model already I will do that. I would be prepared to tolerate replicating wagon numbers as a way to compromise on not making a botch of renumbering - the whole do not let the best become an enemy of the good. Models are a simulacrum for me. I can cope with a train just looking similar to the train I am trying to represent rather than I need the model train to be a perfect scaled down version of (for example) 6D43. I as with everyone else buy the best I can afford. I am not sorry for buying an item. I asked for advice in this thread and only one person responded. I have followed his advice and ordered the blacktack. Did you respond? Does not matter as someone else gave advice and no-one has infinite time to help everyone. I looked at James Makin's thread for advice on attaching nameplates etc. I watched an Everard Jn (and a few others) video of him attaching a nameplate. I bought cocktail sticks and some PVA glue as well as varnish. I will try the blacktack before trying the varnish. I just hope I can make a really thin strip of 'tack, so the nameplate and arrows do not look silly and (in scale) hyper-elevated. I do not see how any of this reduces your enjoyment of modelling railways. Not as much of an achievement as scratch building and painting and creating your own transfers? I agree with that, but some people just want something to do rather than doing the hobby to win competitions. I am fine with that and the latter is more where I am at. The BR Blue Doncaster layouts and other layouts are quality layouts despite not every item having been built from scratch.

The posts quoted seem insulting.

Glad to hear this. I am hoping for some more FEDN (1991) locomotives.

I have made a little progress on the piping and plaques. One of the Toton shed plaques is fixed. I am pleased with that. However, I am struggling with the BR double arrows and the nameplate. The piping is a struggle, but I have managed to fix two pipes (though now the pipes are a little scruffy) and the three-link coupling. I am glad I am not doing this in n-gauge.