Barry Ten

I have just come to this after a general Google search on S&W delayed action - I couldn't visualise how it would work. Many thanks for such a useful summary, Mikkel.

Hi Chaps - yes it is the camera causing that distortion, thankfully One of the unanticipated problems with building Shillingstone at eye-level is photography, in that my biggest tripod still doesn't get me high enough. For some of the shots I've put the tripod on my Workmate but that's a bit precarious and it's a pain having to move the Workmate around or clear stuff off it just for a snap or two. Mikkel: I think you're right; I'd be in danger of drawing more attention to the backscene than I want. There might be room for a kind of low-relief tree, but I'm not sure how it would work in terms of shadows falling onto the backscene; I'd need to experiment first before committing to anything. For now I think I'll leave well alone.

More work on the winter module - I've ballasted the track, and begun to add some of the foliage and hedges that will eventually be snow-covered. I've also done some more work on the backscene, toning down the pink a bit with some oversprays of dilute white and then a mist of Naples yellow. I then turned to one of my S&D books and found a nice Ivo Peters photo of a 7F struggling up a bank with a background of snow-covered hills, which I've used as the basis for the hill on the backscene. If I'd been painting it from my imagination, I wouldn't have thought to put a line of trees and hedges along the ridge, so sometimes it's good to refer to photographic reference material. Since taking these pics I have cut back into the ridge with a bit more white. Next, I'll be adding more foreground foliage and hedges, to extablish a visual separation between the modelled scene and the background. I'm still undecided over what to do about the seam in the backscene - whether to just live with it (it doesn't really offend me when I'm looking at the module with my own eyes) or to disguise it by overpainting some tall foreground trees. Decisions, decisions...

I've done 3 - 4 for the last few years and even that's beginning to seem like too much! As a one-man operation it is very tiring, but aside from the exhibition there's also a week or two of mucking about with the layout beforehand (fixing stuff broke last time, making little improvements, tweaking stock and running etc). I think one or two a year from now on, preferably local, and aiming for the more relaxed type of show where no one's going to object if you nip off for a few minutes to grab a coffee.

Cheers, all - it's a fun little project. Mark: yes, it does retain the traction tyres, for now. I may look at swapping out that wheelset from a spare chassis, using (as you say) the auto-coach for pickup, or (rather more likely) just live with it. The main thing is that the pickup arrangement is much better than the old chassis.

Just a follow up to say that YES! this works, many thanks. Tonight I was able to set up a second consist, after first making sure that neither of the locos were in the "stack". It's such a basic thing, you'd think they'd mention it in the manual, wouldn't you?

Bad Rabbit - I don't have the Dapol mechanism to hand, but with the Hornby one, the motor intrudes into the cab quite a lot. I reckon you could saw the white metal backhead in half and fix it to the top of the motor, which might look convincing from most angles, especially with a crew in there. The MT instructions do say that you'll need an etched chassis otherwise - Comet do indeed do one, as do MT themselves (according to the kit instructions) and I think there's another one out there as well. I find the Hornby mechanism to be a big improvement on the old one though. As Brian points out, the kit is an Iain Rice design, with the instructions bearing his characteristic drawing style. Mikkel: I think you've swung the jury in favour of black!

Jamez - I've got one with a Dapol chassis (although an old Airfix body) lurking somewhere as well. I bought the chassis when Dapol were selling them off for a tenner. Brian - in my spares box I have 1440 as a number - was that a Welsh engine by any slight chance? Gwrrob - I'm open to persuasion; don't mind a bit of green but my auto-coach is currently in crimson so I reckoned black would be more appropriate for the motive power. Personally I think black locos show off weathering the best, but that's a personal thing.

My wife was unwell yesterday, so rather than retire to the railway room, I did the chivalrous thing and brought a modelling project down to the living room. While she watched tennis, I busied myself with files and drills. Several hours later, I was the happy owner of a spruced up Hornby 14xx, courtesy of a Mainly Trains detailing kit and some bits and bobs from the scrap/detailing box. The main alterations to the model concern the boiler fittings; the smokebox door is replaced, as is the chimney and safety valve. There are a number of other useful lost-wax and white metal castings in the MT kit, including cab parts, but they can't all be fitted if you retain the Hornby chassis. I added those that I could, as well as wire handrails, lamp irons and some hoops for the shunters' pole. My intention is to repaint into BR black, but I thought I'd show these in-progress shots beforehand. Also in the works is an Airfix auto-coach which will run with this loco in semi-permanent fashion.

Thanks for this, I will definitely give it a shot!

Hi Brian - no, I checked - all the locos I was attempting to consist were capable of supporting advanced consisting. In fact as I programmed the consist, the individual locos would "twitch" the way they do when a CV is being updated. It's just that attempting to run the consist always failed. I tried UA as well, no joy. Since I model American and need to run multiple units, I just assigned the same address to all the engines in a given consist, but that's a crude workaround.

Radio Free Europe - REM

I certainly experienced this "interesting" behaviour, before I dumped the early chips. Has anyone had problems with consisting with their Prodigy? I was able to set up one consist (defined as consist #1) , using advanced consisting, and that was it; I've never managed to set up a second consist, using either advanced or simple consisting. Most if not all of my locos have the right decoder functions for advanced consisting, but the Prodigy doesn't seem to want to play ball.

European Rain - The Big Dish

Yep, same with mine.

I was watching a program on art history once, where they were discussing the precise period of a painting (I think it was a Manet or Renoir) - they had an expert on Victorian fashions who could date it to a very specific few years, if I remember rightly, just by some detail in the costumes. When you stop to think about it, it's obvious, but it was a bit of an eye-opener to me - not only that Victorians had fashions that changed that rapidly, but that those fashions were documented.

Marvellous.

I've heard of that one - I think it's called ... string theory? B)

Sorry not to have seen this before - glad you had a good time, and took some nice photos - thanks!