Hampshire Hog

Coz I'm worth it!! No, that wasn't me in the photos but my trusty mate Bert, He will keep blowing the marigolds up and placing them on his head Thanks guys. regards Kevin.

Hi 'Mike W', with my eyesight I would not like to attempt it in N, and I certainly wish you the best of luck, perhaps you could post some pictures when completed. Regards Kevin.

Many thanks guys, Temeraire the Sunday at Melksham will be good, you will be welcome, I am also looking forward to the 26th, and as for my early starts they are a result of many years having to get up early to drive trucks to some where that always seemed along way away. Regards Kevin.

Hi guys, As you know I have been threatening to put together a step by step guide to one weathering technique that I (and many others) use, I hope that you are not going to be disappointed. Whenever you use glues, adhesives, or paints it is always recommended to read what it says on the tin and follow the manufacturers instructions, I would suggest a well ventilated area, No Smoking, and as the paint can soak through a soft cloth, gloves should be worn to protect the skin (Marigold type or similar), also I would not suggest trying out this technique on your favorite loco to start with, I would suggest an old wagon first, as I said earlier this method is not for the faint hearted. I am afraid I am going to ignore my own advice and weather brand new Bachmann Class 47 47614 Titan after checking that it works ok and chipping it first. To start with you will need some matt black paint or similar, I always use Railmatch Weathered Black and some sort of mixing pallet (as can be seen in the picture an off cut of 2" X 1" PAR does for me) then thin the paint down approx 50/50 with thinners (I use turpentine substitute) be careful - do not to splash it when mixing, Wear eye protection if necessary. Now for the part that is not for those with a nervous disposition, paint the mixture on to just one side of your model first - approx 1/4 of the length to start with, including under the handrails (try not to get the paint onto the windows - (if you do clean it off with a cotton bud for the fiddly bits or a soft cloth). And now slowly draw a soft cloth gently down the side of the loco from top to bottom as if you are wiping the paint off (try to keep a straight line and at right angles to the length), you will now see a build of paint starting to form under the hand rails, under raised detail, cantrails and in the sunken detail and streaking down the side, repeat this until the weathering is to your liking. Now paint the next 1/4 section and so on until the entire length of your model is completed, let paint completely dry on that side before moving on to the fronts, roof, and other side. When doing the fronts of a loco again paint all over - but keep paint away from the lights and windscreens, - but make sure that you do get paint behind handrails, pipework, cabling, etc because that is where dirt collects and is the effect that we are after. And consider using cotton buds as well as a soft cloth to assist in removing the paint. Again let completely dry before starting another area. Do the roofs as described previously above by painting a 1/4 at a time, starting with the soft cloth in the center of the roof slowly moving towards the outside - be aware of the paint overflow of off the cloth and the effect it may have on the finished sides. Again let completely dry before starting another area. When weathering the underframes of rolling stock I sometimes paint it a mixture of Railmatch Frame Dirt and Weathered Black which will bring out the detail itself, and then use weathering powders to enhance the detail again, and other times for a lighter effect I just use the powders brushed on with a soft brush as in the finished 47614 Titan model pictured below. Be careful when using weathering powders, ensure that you clean the model thoroughly first otherwise it will have more fingerprints than a CSI Crimescene, and always do a little at a time slowly building up different levels - Caution consider wearing gloves when using weathering powders and when used on the underframe, clean the wheels after to maintain pick-up and adhesion, and one other thing try not to sneeze as you will weather anything else in close proximity!! This guide demonstrates just one technique for weathering stock, there are many others, however, I hope that you have found it of use, it is really about individual experimentation, for example - to get a faded rail blue you can use whites and greys thinned in exactly the same way using the same technique on a rail blue loco. My regards Kevin.

Hi Paul, its good to hear from you again, yes your the one responsible for my Scottish moment, if you hadn't brought your 37!!!(they are just so nice though),When your chips are done perhaps another running session? A weathering masterclass sounds a bit grand you best wait to you see it first. You know 31s are not bad either. See you soon and regards Kevin.

Hi guys, Ragtag wrote " I've seen warflats crop up a couple of times in Model Rail and the decking always seems to have a natural, or at least treated wood, finish to it - rather than painted (which would probably make life easier )" I am sorry I missed you all last night, but I am afraid my bed was calling, and talking of beds in answer to the question on Warflats I did mine in Railmatch Sleeper Grime (it just seemed to be roughly the right colour, and it was handy). Ragtag also wrote "Loving the PCV, is that an Express lighting kit?". The PCV is fitted with an Express Models Class 121 with Headlight Kit(or half of one), many thanks to you all for the comments. Anyway a close up of one of Bachmanns finest Class 37/4s 37410 "Aluminium 100" Again sorry for missing you all last night, and my regards Kevin.

Hi guys, I hope that you don't mind but I thought I would post a couple of pictures of a project that I started some 15 years ago, and have just today got round to nearly finishing it off, there is still stuff to do, anyway see what you think. PCV RES activity in Leaford yard and 47768 "Resonant" brings up the rear upon departure. the PCVs are conversions from some ancient Lima Mk 1 coaching stock, oh well more weathering to do, that reminds me the step by step guide for weathering is nearly finished and will be coming soon. And finally a 33/1 heads a parcels train for Willesden out of the yard. My regards Kevin

Hi ChrisB, It will be good to meet at long last, I am looking forward to seeing Wintringham Haven at Trainwest 2010, ever since I saw it in the Railway Modeller it has been a favourite of mine and I have never seen it for real. Anyway a photo of Leaford It would appear that there is a troublesome truck of a different nature in the yard, it must be serious as it is taking three people to look at it. My regards Kevin.

Hi Guys, just finished setting the layout back up again in its natural habitat after the weekend at Romsey, and boy what an enjoyable weekend, it was nice to see some old friends and equally as good to meet some new - Hi yellowvanman thankyou for coming to say hello I am sorry we did not talk more, but it sounds that you met an old mate and had a good chinwag, perhaps next time if you can make it, it wont be quite as busy - I cannot take the credit for the sound locos they are all down to NCE, ESU Loksound Chips and especially Brian from Howes of Oxford, and they are certainly Hellfire!! Hi ChrisB and Temeraire, "Its on the list at Basingstoke next year 2011 I believe! Next outing is Melksham April 10th & 11th, where I hope to be "driving" again on the Sunday. Hope you don't mind me replying for you Kevin, how was Sunday, did you get the signals working again?." No I dont, and yes indeed we did, it would appear that everytime a short circuit occurs the ESU Switchpilot has to be re-programmed, is this normal I wonder? however it did not detract from a very enjoyable weekend as I have already said, and I must thank Patrick (PatC on here) and all the other organisers for a splendid show. Many thanks also to Barry, Temeraire(Ian) and Pitbull(Scott) for their operating skills, and lastly thankyou to all of the people passing by both days for their interest. Hello Jaggzug "I really like some of the dusk/nighttime shots like the Class 60 on Depot, it is very atmospheric. So I was wondering if you explain how you archive them; what sort of background lighting do you use apart from the lights on the layout itself and do you do any 'photoshopping' of the image to get the dusk/nighttime feel." You make it sound as if I know what I am doing, but in reality my little Kodak Easyshare 813 is the very first camera that I have ever owned, and I have only had that for 18 months and that really is my only experience of photography, my misses taking all of our family/holiday photos over the years, here is a photo of my "lighting equipment" that I use. The only 'photoshopping' that I use came with a £39.00 HP Photosmart C4480 combined printer/scanner/copier and is called HP Photosmart Essential 3.5 in which enables me carry out limited cropping and lighting improvement, what I do is experiment with different camera angles, zoom settings in both normal and close up modes, and turn the room lights on and off, draw and undraw the curtains and use the lighting equipment pictured above, and take loads and loads of shots - most have to be sent to the recycle bin but every now and then I like to think a good one comes out, I hope that this helps. And just to remind you of the next show at Melksham on April 10th and 11th I cant wait. Regards Kevin.

Hello Ian, you're looking well, yes both Titan and the 60042 Dunkery Beacon are sound fitted, and will be working trains at Romsey this weekend. Here are more pictures of both. See you at Romsey, and my best regards. Kevin.

Hi guys, hello Temeraire I look forward to seeing you on Saturday at Romsey can I discuss Basingstoke then? and Jonhants I wont forget your 08. Class 60 on Depot with MOD van train. Hi Healys1 thank you for your kind comments, I am taken with the NCE Power Cab and subsequently the Power Pro it really is easy to use, again discuss at Romsey this weekend, oh! and by the way I hope that your sandwiches are cheese!! Class 60 60042 waits patiently in the yard at Leaford for a return working to Eastleigh Oh! did I mention Romsey Exhibition this weekend only a couple of days to go, I for one am looking forward to it. 47612 "Titan" shunts BDAs (more on the weathering of this loco soon). See you at Romsey. My Regards. Kevin

Hi guys, sorry about my lack of posts recently, but I have been busy - it is terrible how work can interfere with your hobby sometimes, Hello Pitbull, little Ollie is a bonny baby and I wonder if he will inherit his dads love of railways? perhaps mum hopes not!! - Don't worry about the operation of the new signals it's only a couple of extra numbers to remember, really . To Jerry (Roadstone) its good to hear from you again:- "I love the 117. Mines in the dog house at the moment, I don't think it likes the hot and humid conditions here!" I will give you one of my secret tips on improving the running of stock, as long as you do not tell anybody else - Use WD40 to clean the wheel treads and pickups only, just use sparingly on a cotton bud (put it on with one end and take it of with the other), and be careful not to get it onto the traction tyres in particular, or any other plastic areas (if you do - just wipe it off with tissue or soft cloth straight away), and just a bit of light oil again sparingly (Peco Electrolube or similar)on the motor bearings. I find that the old Lima stuff can run as nicely as anything else, it just needs a bit more patience and maintanence, I just hope that this will improve the running for you, it allways works for me. Anyway time for a photo, "Oi, mind my Beemer". Just a reminder that the Romsey Exhibition is next weekend (6th and 7th March)and it looks a very good show as per usual, unfortunately they will have Leaford lowering the standard this year, but I hope that you can say hello if you can make it, saying that I hope that Temeraire can still make it on the Saturday, and perhaps Pitbull on the Sunday so that will at least make the number up at Leaford? And finaly, Class 58 reverses scrap wagons onto the depot. Hopefully see you at Romsey, and by best regards Kevin.

Hi guys, at long last the first signal has appeared on Leaford as can be seen on the photo below, it is a Veisemann banner repeater and works very well (not quite to british practice) but effective. I seem to have polarity problems between the accessory decoders and LEDs when installing some of the others, I will let you know how I get on. As can be seen in the photo above the yard crane has finally returned after repair. And the last photo for now, its late evening and a 33/0 makes ready for departure to Eastleigh whith an engineers train, as an 08 waits. Hello Scott, again congratulations and if you can make the 7th at Romsey you would be welcome. My regards to you all. Kevin.

You are correct cromptonnut as seen from the picture above, Leaford is a bit of a tight fit in its natural habitat as the same room has to double as an office as well. I do have plans to turn it into a "roundy roundy" but I am not sure that it would not take some of the operating fun away, having previously owned "roundy roundy" layouts they can become boring to operate as the tendancy is to sit and watch trains go round, and at exhibitions all of the trains in the fiddle yards can be seen in about 5 minutes, even with double deck fiddle yards, and so I still do have my doubts. regards Kevin.

Hi guys, trying again with trackplan. Yeees!!! Many thanks to PAULRHB for his patience trying to explain modern technology to an old philistine like me, I only hope that it can be understood now that it is there. Georgie, how to weather stuff is not for the faint hearted, I will do some with a picture by picture description the next time I have some to do. And to MRDBLUE17 (Mark) the Lima 117 in my opinion for all of its faults was one of the nicest in their range, bearing in mind that mine was one of the first to come out, it did'nt clean up to bad. Regards Kevin.

Hi guys, I thought I could now transfer a Word Document Leaford Trackplan but I have had an Error message, and so it is not to be, never mind, I will try again at another time? Regards Kevin.

Hi cromptonnut, I have tried to transfer a copy of the Leaford Trackplan onto here, it is in Microsoft Word but it doesn't want to play, but I will have another go, in answer to your question the minimum radius of the inside curve on Leaford is 24" or.610m, ideally, it should be 36" or .910m minimum radius but unfortunately like many these days I do not have the space, I suppose it will always have to be a compromise to balance all that we are looking for in our model railways, the overal size of the layout is 1.5m or 5' width by 3.8m or 12'6" lenth. Here is another picture of the curve, perhaps this is to much of a compromise for some? And as requested another shot of the ancient Lima 117 unit Many thanks for the continued interest and as usual my best regards. Kevin.

Many thanks for that Jon, and I look forward to seeing you at Romsey. Another picture, I hope that you like it. My regards Kevin

Hi rob D2, thankyou for your comment, I was just the same (just dont tell the misses!!). Class 47 waits in the early morning mist. (One of Bachmann's latest, I think they have done a good job). My best regards Kevin.

Hi yellowvanman, The Romsey show line up looks as excellent as usual this year, I am sure you will enjoy it if you can make it, please come and say hello if you do. "Here Bert, What you been doing you have got a glow about you this morning!!!" Regards Kevin

Hi guys, I am sorry about that Paul I hope that you will not hold that against me for to long, my apologies for not responding earlier but I have had some computer problems. The Alton show was fantastic, both myself and Barry had an enjoyable time, many thanks to Den and all the other organizers for a good weekend, my sincere thanks to Pitbull and Temeraire for the operating sessions, I promise you your welcome will never be overstayed, and Temeraire your help on the 6th March will be appreciated, To Pitbull please post pictures if you wish, for all of the visitors to Leaford I thank you both for your time and interest, just time to say we will be doing it all again on the 6th and 7th of March at Romsey - please see the exhibition thread of this forum ??“ and some more photos!! Class 4TC Unit 8012 heads out into the country on its way to London Waterloo after a brief stop at Leaford. NSE Livery 33035 shunts the yard. And one for JONHANTS nice to see you at Alton Jon a Banger Blue 08 pauses during shunting. See you at Romsey 6th and 7th of March My best regards Kevin.

Hi Guys, just got back from setting up at Alton Febex, the show looks great, It will be a shame to miss it!! My latest acquisition tries to look inconspicuous in its NSE Livery!! Regards Kevin.

Yes Ian, the exhibition is open both days 10.30am to 5.00pm, I look forward to meeting you and any other rmwebbers who may be around. 47114 arrives with the night sleeper stock for Inverness via Birmingham New Sreet. Regards Kevin

Hi guys, just a mention of the Alton Model Railway Exhibition this coming weekend 6th and 7th February which Leaford will be pleased to attend, amongst a varied collection of other quality exhibits and trade stands ??“ please see the link earlier in this thread, or in the exhibition thread - There was also mention of a RMweb meet on the Sunday at 11am by this stand, if you can make it, it will be good to see you. Anyway, a couple of photos. A skinhead on scrap. And a quiet time at Leaford. See you at weekend. Kevin

Hi Paul, The layout is looking superb, excellent, reminds me so much of Via Mala, perhaps I could see it at some time convenient. Regards Kevin.