brossard

I make paving stones from Evergreen plastic sheet. I use an OLFA cutter: https://www.rona.ca/en/product/olfa-pc-l-plastic-laminate-cutter-abs-plastic-and-steel-black-and-yellow-1090486-00025018 It makes a V shaped groove. You can then paint it and apply black wash to the grooves. John

I built all my 0 gauge turnouts using Peco chairs and Intentio ply timbers. I used MEK purchased from a local DIY. This was quite a few years ago. Yes, decanting into a glass bottle is good. I just use a cheapie brush. Turnouts are all in good condition. John

I did the same thing, buying a starter set of acrylic paint in tubes. The intent was to use it on figures. I had the same experience. Back to Tamiya for plastic models. Can't answer the question, but no harm in experimenting. John

Using a Dremel slitting disc will require one of large diameter in order for the disc to be perpendicular to the track. The regular sized disc, about 30mm, is difficult to get perpendicular and you might get a larger gap than you want. Or you can get a flexible attachment. I prefer a razor saw which works well and gives a very small gap. The gap can be enlarged later by filing with the boards separated. John

62C lists coach seating: https://62cmodels.com/Accessories.htm I have built two of their coaches and the seats are shaped wood and quite good. I didn't take pics unfortunately. John

Just a quick note. I checked out the bell wiring yesterday. A bit of a faff, but all my fault. All works now. Can't really take a pic. John

The shade of chocolate, depending on percentage of cocoa, can be nearly black to light brown. For me, "chocolate" sounds close enough to red oxide. John

Interesting discussion. However, where does that take us as far as modelling goes and what colour should the modeller use for Lake? Perhaps the actual colour varied from railway to railway. I have built pre group NBR 4 and 6 wheeled carriages using red oxide primer as a base and crimson lake as a top colour. John

I have installed an additional lever and the new signal. Wiring was a bit of a faff but I got it sorted out. Nothing to do with the product but all on me. The board is on its' side to facilitate wiring. Underside view showing the servo box. The signal must be demountable for transport, hence the connector. I think I have the wiring for the bells done. I need to test. John

Slaters do a BR Standard Van (12T) kit. I don't know what the axle boxes you are seeking (I did a search but came up empty) look like, but I have bought bits broken out of kits from Slaters in the past. Perhaps some modification is possible. https://slatersplastikard.com/linePage.php?sfx=JPG&pid=7064 I have a JLTRT Presflo but haven't really had a good look yet. John Another thought - you may be able to do something with Slaters 71546 BR Sprung Axleguards. These are etched brass. You need to source your own axle boxes. Here's a pic: Note the included bearings and coil springs.

Sounds like you have the book. John

From my reading (Jenkinson primarily), I always got the impression that lake was an undercoat and similar to red oxide primer. When painting LMS stock, I used red oxide as an undercoat followed by crimson lake top coat. (Undercoat is important. I once stupidly used grey primer as an undercoat for crimson lake and got purple.) I also note that during the war, as an austerity measure, some LMS NPCS vehicles were finished in lake, not crimson lake as they would have been in happier times. Carter in his book on liveries doesn't have a lot to say about the Furness, with no info on carriages for 1864. Later on, towards the end of the century, he mentions that carriages were "blue". A paint sample, in the book, looks to me to be a very dark greeny blue. John

When I did 00, couplings were always a bugbear for me. I took a stab at 3 link et al, a couple of times but never pursued. I settled for Kadee which work well but don't look right obviously. Now that I'm doing 0 gauge things have changed. I can (fairly) happily use 3 link, instanter and screw link for operation. I made these for coupling and uncoupling: LED torch. Make sure you can depress the button one handed. I had one make that needed two hands to turn the torch on. Wooden dowel and steel wire (0.032" or 0.9mm) with a hook on the end. These have been in use for several years and for many shows. I was speaking to an operator at a show about 6 weeks ago. He had a quite nice small EM layout but was moaning about how difficult coupling was. He let me have a go and I was able to couple without too much drama. Maybe I should have persevered in 00. My suspicion for why 00 stock has problems with realistic coupling lies with the narrow gauge nature of the track. This causes wagon overhangs to be excessive and loss of contact with buffers. I think EM and P4 will likely work better because of reduced overhang. John

I must stand on my tippy toes because that went way over my head. However, there was a life sized Dalek on the Rapido stand. John

My Officejet is "smart" and linked to the internet. It is also clever enough to detect non HP cartridges. I never tried to open a cartridge to refill it, I daresay HP have thought of that though. I did try the subscription but I got rejected 🥲. Still, as I said before it has been brilliant, and I'd get another similar one if I had to. John