brightspark

Very nice. I like the use of the dock shunter and the narrow gauge wagons to carry the tank.

It is there waiting for you. Listen to the Siren sound, calling, calling, calling you. Well you were busy with the Isle of White layouts. They are impressive. It was nice to have a chat.

Daisy had a good day today. The little 48DS shunted up and down all day with no problems A few people had a go and we have a new high score with the train still ending up in the wrong siding. But it doesn't matter about the score, it was the fun we had getting there. I look forward to tomorrow and perhaps see some of you. Happy shunting.

I am just starting to pack the layout up ready for the weekend at Basingstoke. I find it interesting that I now have to take 2 boxes of bits for the layout. The original plan being to take just one box. The extra box is filled with tools and spare stock. Including the spare shunter, still unfinished. Since Southampton I have done some work on the layout. This might be helpful for anyone following my steps. First the trees. These are sea moss just planted into the baseboard. One of these was starting to come loose and was beginning to break, so I stiffened the base with a cocktail stick and wrapped tape around it. The tree now has a fatter trunk and this has actually improved the look of it. I have also given them another coat of flock. For this I dabbed on some PVA and spinkled flock over the glue. I then shook the tree/ baseboard and then sprayed the tree with some hairspray. Hopefully that will stay on for some time. The uncoupling magnets. I found that in practice, that these did not drop far enough away, with the result that the coupling hook would remain dropped. So I have for an experiment installed a longer arm on the magnet in the back road, so the magnet drops further away. I also noted that some of the AJ couplings were not behaving when uncoupling. I checked all of the stock and found that this was its worse when coupled to the locomotive. It seems that the short hook highlights the problem that some couplers would not pull down clear. This turned out to be either, the dropper being too short and too high, or that the hook was pressing hard against the stop. [It should just rest on the stop] Finally some of the wagons were too free rolling. I had made the mistake of having a small rise on the rear siding, with the result that free running wagons will roll out. To reduce the free running, I have put some foam rubber under the chassis that touches the tyre of one of the wheels. It does not seem to introduce too much drag so that the loco stalls, but hopefully enough to stop runaways. I have also decided to simplify the puzzle for younger operators as the full 5-3-3 puzzle takes them too long and parents (and I) get bored. So I shall suggest that they just have to make up the first 3 wagons of the train and run it as either a 3-2-2 puzzle with 2 wagons in the headshunt, or just 3 wagons but allow the full headshunt. If you at Basingstoke this weekend, please do come by and say hello. It looks to be a good show.

It was explained to me, by someone who valued their own opinions a great deal, that a proper sport was one where people paid to go to into a stadium. So, according to him, the cycle racing I did was not a proper sport, at any level. Someone else told me that the only proper sport was one that featured in the Olympics. I was doing motorbike racing at the time, so not a sport. Perhaps my PE teacher at school was correct, when he wrote in my school report that I "have no sporting aptitude".

Hi Tony, I am glad that you have a plan for decent pipework on the class 5. Personally I find this the most enjoyable bit of building standards. I also enjoyed the pictures posted. To think that at the time the spotters thought them too modern...spaceships indeed! Anyway I am looking forward to the result.

Hi Tony, I disagree with that last comment. 🙂 You have the twiddly bit to do yet. I think of BR standards as build of three parts. The chassis, the body and then the pipework. The DJH pipework mouldings look a little feeble to me. This is an area that can be really worked up especially around the injectors. This is my attempt at the Standard class 5. It's a DJH kit but on a scratch-built chassis in EM gauge. The fittings are from Alan Gibson with copper wire for the pipework. (Yes the rear wheels are lifted off the rails. That would explain why it couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. My mistake was correcting the tender height and forgetting to adjust the drawbar to match. All corrected now and this loco is good performer.)

Just beyond the petrol station and towards KFC, parked in the layby, is an excellent kebab van. The burgers are very good.

That's great. I am so glad that you took inspiration from me and I look forward to seeing your progress. Can I suggest that you start a new topic in this section of RMweb to describe your adventure. The process of putting into words and pictures, I find, helps get the creative juices flowing.

Thanks Nick. And thanks to everyone else who said nice things about Daisy. NIck C at the controls. High score today 75 and low score 18. Both by Alan (Bodmin16). The low score was a "lucky" draw on the cards. More of the same tomorrow. Do come and say hello and have a go. Andy

Colour? Would it help if I post a picture of the paint pots that I am using? 😄 Yes, very lucky with the wheelsets. Hopefully they are not the only source for gears. Just been confirmed for Mid-Essex show in September, so see you there. Just prepping Daisy for Southampton next weekend.

Spotted at Daisy. We should really start a thread for these.

Hi Nick, Daisy is back at Southampton at the end of this month. So you have a chance to see it again. Even better, if you are there, say hello and you can play with it. Daisy has also been booked for Basingstoke and ExpoEM. And maybe one other show in Mr Barclay's manor.