Buckjumper

Interesting reading - I've only just found your blog and have now read the post on milk trains. I'm afraid I don't know great deal about the LNW except traffic in the London district, and I've still much to learn about even that. My D.46 vans will be mixed in with D.45 Meat and D.15 Beer vans along with some general merchandise wagons in a train with some comparative L&Y stock, all bound for the London markets. Quite how I facilitate that remains to be worked out. In reality I believe the North London was involved, but my MyUniverse with the extension lines in place, it might not be unrealistic to come up with some sort of quid pro quo with one of the other companies which had a more direct access. I can't help with the WCJS query, except to say if they were built on the WCJS account, one would expect the WCJS to insist on its build plate being fitted on financial grounds.

I have this same conundrum. The real PITA of representing more than one company is that you're rarely going to get a complete historical record for a particular year which covers all the eventualities you need (or would like!) to model. Once I accepted that anachronisms are inevitable (and that was a bitter pill to swallow!) I decided that within a scene each train would be faithful to a year, even if something else it passed was a temporal anomaly. I think I once likened it to each train existing in it's own alternate reality - the setting being the unifying factor. Even so I've made a feather-edged split of two periods, c1890 - c1897 and c1898 - c1905-ish, so that the timey-wimey stuff isn't too wibbly-wobbly.

The D.46 refrigerator vans are a lovely little kit - I've got a small batch to build at some point, and will probably ring the changes with different liveries, but not the block LNWR letters - 1908 is a little too late for me. Of course the other challenge is trying to interpret the colour of the lettering - black, grey or red, some photos even suggest a possible mix . At this length of time, unless someone comes up with official records, it's difficult to be certain - or for anyone to challenge your decision! The Midland coke wagons are a nice little kit too.

Like Poggy I too had a blooming experience with Dullcote, and my workshop is set up for year-round spraying (nice & warm + a dehumidifier). I've now moved away from railway modelling based varnishes and get excellent, consistent results from Windsor & Newton Galeria varnishes. These are acrylic and come in matt, satin and gloss. They work well over enamels, and weathering with enamels over the top is also fine, as long as you've allowed plenty of time for each medium to not just dry, but to cure properly. Other advantages of the W&N is that they're touch-dry quickly, so there's less chance of wayward motes sticking to your finish, and the matt when sprayed is the flattest matt I've ever seen.

Well done - it looks great. Tender flare corners are always a pain. I've found that the more fingers of brass the better the solder meniscus grabs and will carry over from one finger to the next, so if there's only one or two fingers supplied I'll instead make a splay of five or more, shape them and fix in place with 188. Then like you I use 100 to fill the joins, however, if the solder really won't play ball I'll clean up, make the initial pass with 145 (which is why I use 188 to fix the fingers in place) and then drop to 100 for the final filling of gaps. Then it's out with the burrs (in the mini drill for the inside), files, w&d cloth. As you say, it's one of the worst anticipated jobs in building locos, but despite the mental hurdle it invariably works out ok, and there's quite a feeling of euphoria when it's all polished up and done. I can't think of another way of achieving it.

It simply means that you can chop and change the image as much as you want, none of it is irreversible until you save it

That's coming along splendidly Dave - Gordon's techniques provide excellent results. For anyone experiencing palpitations at the thought of the price of Gordon's book on Amazon, my chum Simon Castens is now the proprietor of Wild Swan books, and it can be bought directly from Simon's bookshop The Titfield Thunderbolt for the heart-safe sum of twenty five quid. http://titfield.co.uk/WildSwan/WSM_TECH.htm

That's looking very good! Many cattle docks seem to have had hard standing with drainage in front of the dock to protect the track. ISTR reading that the docks were swept, washed and disinfected once the cattle had been removed, and the mix usually went straight over the side. Not sure if they were consistently there in Edwardian times - I'm still unpacking boxes and haven't yet found Edwardian Enterprise, my branch histories or GWRJ's to check. http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrkd2801c.htm This one's dated 1932 and has a concrete apron, but I've seen (earlier?) aprons made from both timber and setts.

Great story and photography. There's something deliciously farcical and oh, so very English about scoundrels tucking illicit goods down their trousers. Nice to see the many of your recent blog entries taking cameo roles - the LSW van, the shiny fittings on the Buffalo, the printed crates, and the figures. Looking forward to part 2!

Nice to see the Stadden figures in 4mm at last - and 2mm too! Figure painting is definitely one of my b

As I mentioned on the 1854 entry, the brass castings make a big difference. I'm surprised that neither the SE&C nor its antecedents bothered to shroud the Ramsbottom valves in the same way that, for example, the LSW and GE did, which would have prevented any possible tampering with the setting as well as directing stray steam away from the driver's vision.

It's a pretty little engine, and the brass castings make a big difference. But wait - you have a workbench thread too? Noooooo! More catching up!

It's a lovely little wagon, and that rich sou'western brown makes a nice change from the local reds and greys. However...in the shot from the goods shed, my eye was immediately drawn to those lovely wicker baskets as the colour and shading is absolutely spot-on. They really do look like they're made from wicker!

Fantastic - I'm definitely going to utilise this idea, and I'd never even considered that a printable veneer was available. Many cast boxes and crates, especially in 7mm, are coarse and look like they've been mastered in plasticine.

Nice to see some bones on the concept. Perhaps one way of checking the initial higher speed would be to have the biscuit siding fall away from the headshunt so that it ends up a little lower than the rest of the trackwork. In that way the incline along the whole layout would be less than 1:60 and the wagon speed more consistent along its length. If the track reverted to level as it entered the shed, your toothbrush bristle (shaving brush bristles may be softer?) retarders would prevent any accidents. Different levels of track add another visual dimension, even if they are only a scale foot or two apart. I'd say, '...is definitely better than most of the natives'. Seriously - I often forget that English isn't your first language.

What can be said that hasn't already been written about this piece? Wonderful storytelling, modelling and photography. Who cares if the method of lighting is crude (I rely on the fat old sun - none more crude than that!) the result is highly evocative!

Catching up, catching up... A range of emotions about this one Mikkel, from delight to disappointment! Delight in the lovely model you've created - all those little niggles about chamfers and paint end up lost in the overall scene, and that last shot with the van waiting for attention is perfect. Disappointment? I thought converting one of my 7mm Midland kits was just going to be a case of building new doors. You know, one of those single evening jobs after the kids were safely shovelled into bed. Discovering that the Midland van sides aren't symmetrical (how did I ever miss that one?) has put the kibosh on that and has demoted the job into the less important pile for now. Bah!

I've thought long and hard about the practicalities of, and how best to reduce duplication of posts of my modelling and prototype musings across the net. As a result this 'mirror' of my external blog - a journal of prototype and modelling information pertinent to Basilica Fields - has run its course, so I've deleted the prototype information teaser entries, but all the information which was here - and a whole lot more! - is still available externally: https://basilicafields.wordpress.com/ Twenty-one months after the flood which tore through our house and the ensuing battles with insurers, loss adjusters, builders, illness, hospitals and bereavement, I'm finally back up and running (although at the time of writing we're still waiting to be signed off by the surveyor!), so I'll slowly begin updating the external blog once again. Any practical advancement on Basilica Fields will be dealt with in a new layout thread on the main forum. Many thanks for reading. Adrian

It's not obese; the old boiler's got love handles.

Exactly. I tend to spring my own stuff passively, with the stock riding on the stops and the springs keeping the wheels interfacing with the rail. Others like to spring actively with the ride-hide at a mid-point, allowing the wheels to move up as well as down. I have done it on a few bits and bobs, but generally, unless specified in a commission, it's a bit of a pickle and life's too short. If passive springing works for me in S7, it'll work for you in F/S. Of course, the trade off in pickle and time is that actively sprung stock glides over uneven rail joints at baseboard edges without ne'er a shimmer. Of course the answer to that is to not have uneven rail joints, and that is largely determined by your skill as a carpenter!

Very nice David. Many photos show 2 coach trains in a mash of Gresley and Thompson non-vestibule stock. One shows a Thompson 5-compt brake dia.361 paired with a Gresley lav compo dia.244. A close up of another train shows Dia 244. no E88228E.

Massive improvement already. +1 for barkeeper's friend. It's a fine powder, so is slightly abrasive, and I mix it into a paste and work it into the metal. Big advantage over other powder-based cleaners is that it doesn't leave residue when rinsed.

Fantastic stuff Mikkel, what a smashing range of goods you've put together. Crates of powdered Coleman's mustard - the perfect excuse for a consignment from Norwich in a GE van. Uh-oh, now you'll need a GE van...

Very nice Ian, no wonder you're delighted - so you should be! Bin that Humbrol varnish now - horrible stuff! Ronseal, as Dave says, is excellent, and I've also had brilliant results with Windsor & Newton Galeria acrylic varnishes (sprayed the matt is dead matt) over enamel. As long as it's given time to cure properly, enamel weathering over the top causes no problems either.

The signals look superb Dave, and in that final shot you can see it all coming together now. Seems to me as though you might have a 'classic' there All the best with the op, and hopefully a very quick recovery!