Rumblestripe

You were the highlight of the show for me. For me the effect of the layout is almost to elevate me, the viewer approaching the layout, to the feeling of being a skylark soaring above a valley in the northern fells. The sinew like curves are utterly beguiling and on closer inspection not a single element dominates. In some layouts the scenery dominates or the rolling stock not here you have achieved a coherent image. A triumph.

Twas a grand day out indeed. If anyone is thinking of going don't think twice, some superb layouts and excellent traders. Oh and the steak pie was a triumph! Car Parking was a little tricky, the signage was so low that it was obscured by a parked car. If you are going and assuming you have good mobility I recommend parking at the far end of the car park which is better drained and less "claggy" - to use a good Yorkshire phrase. Well done and thank you all who worked so hard to put the show on.

One thing to bear in mind when weathering your structures is how long they have been there. So your Victorian terrace behind your pre-Grouping station is only perhaps a decade old ,so go easy on the weathering. For example, lichen on concrete is VERY slow growing. So your 60s concrete signal box is unlikely to be covered in lichen spots in the 70s. Of course in steam days the houses will get smuts all over them from the those dreadful "Iron Horse" thingies...

Many moons ago I was a young student at Liverpool University pleased to discover Hattons in Smithdown Road was close by to my halls in North Moseley Hill Road. So it feels like another little bit of my youth has gone. A sad day indeed. I'd just like to echo other's thoughts on here for the staff and those affected by this closure.

The Wickham looks fantastic, but the standout for me is your figure modelling, lovely depiction of a couple of characters perfectly portrayed.

No she went of her own accord... If the town doesn't look too combative I might brave Smiffs in the morning otherwise it can wait till post Chrimbo. Contents looks good mind.

Well this is a most surprising turn of events. What a lovely bit of news to start the week. I do hope that the trader who did the right thing doesn't end up out of pocket. Will the insurance reimburse him?

There is a very useful website that may help you find appropriate model paints. The site quoted by @Moxy gives you the RAL reference number. Open this website https://www.modelshade.com/paint-conversion-chart/ and choose the option for "RAL Colours" So we can find a wide choice of equivalents for those shades Cinnamon/ Ducks foot is RAL 8001 in Vallejo Model Color 70.865 "Ochre Brown" Purple Brown/Burnt Umber is RAL 8016 Vallejo Model Color 70.985 "Hull Red" Cream is RAL 1015 Vallejo Model Color 70.837 "Pale Sand" It also gives Humbrol, Revell, Tamiya, Testors and AK matches though some of them are not very close. For example for the cream shade the site suggests Tamiya Flat Flesh which is way too pink. But it can give you some good options outside of Railway colours. Vallejo in particular has a huge colour range and also a considerable range of airbrush ready shades in the "Model Air" range. Where there are no RAL colour codes given you can sample your screen and convert the hex code to RAL values (search for an online converter there are several)

I haven't seen the article but I feel duty bound to point out that the Lotus Elan was Glassfibre bodied and would not, indeed could not, rust (the chassis was a steel and did rust... enthusiastically)

No, that's Jerry Beale I think 😕

Smiffs in Darlo seemed to have fewer copies than usual. Three left after my visit and one of those was a bit creased. Good read as usual.

A quick note - when I try to access the video, YouTube reports it as "private". You probably need to tick a box or summat? 🤷‍♀️

I follow this guy ("The Bearded Explorer") on YouTube mostly he does abandoned properties and occasionally classic cars, he never takes anything other than photos and tries to leave everything undisturbed. He doesn't tell us where it is to avoid less scrupulous visitors so please if you know don't say. In this video posted today he goes to a barn and shows us several locomotives, a few carriages, a rail mounted crane all stored in barns and shed that are literally falling down. I thought it might be of interest on here.

Getting a similar problem using MS Edge Browser. AdBlock is disabled but I was unable to access the site until (rather unintuitively) I promised to sign up for Gold Membership just to be able to report the problem.

Thanks. I'll have to have a dig through my back issues.

The "wood" article sort of chimes with me. I'm taking infant steps into O gauge and my thinking is that I won't be building huge numbers of wagons like I would for a layout in say 4mm. So, might it be possible to use materials more closely analogous to the original? So, make my open wagons and vans out of wood (ply or perhaps strips of hard wood) with etched brass for the metal work with the exception of things like buffers and axle boxes which would (in my cunning scheming) be made from 3D printed resin. So I was delighted to read the article. Top issue (the paper does feel a little "thin" or is that my imagination?)

Entmoot!

I think that the closest I have seen are from Vallejo in their "Game Air" range The more yellow- shade is called "Light Livery Green" and the less vibrant colour "Scorpy Green". As the name suggests these are thinned for use straight in an airbrush. There is a hairy stick version of "Scorpy Green" in the Vallejo Game Color range. Worth a try as they are reasonably priced at around £3 a go. They will dry a matt/semi-matt finish so you will need to apply a gloss varnish if you want that "just out of the paint shop" look. The NER colour was dubbed "Saxony Green" but the colour seems to have varied considerably even though it was "standardised" by TW Worsdell in 1880-something, the Darlington green being more yellow than Gateshead (or possibly vice versa and no one seems to know about York!). As ever with Pre-Grouping liveries even paint chips are unlikely to be a reliable guide. I think these two are a pretty decent approximation, they will be reliant on the undercoat you use and if you use white, grey, red oxide or black you will get different tones. I believe historically the undercoat/primer would have been a red-oxide and that would give a more brownish tinge to the finish which some seem to think is correct?

Some amazing modelling to be found in the BritModeller.com Maritime Modelling Forums worth a look if you ever want to model a ship/boat as part of the "scenery" of if you want to model water as some of the techniques and materials used I have not seen documented on a Model Railway site or in a magazine and the results these guys get are jaw dropping.

You need to get some colour in there. I would suggest painting the base as a light-medium buff colour then use washes of green, brown and black and streak them downwards to create variation, these washes should be thin and low in pigment to build up the effect gradually then a VERY light drybrushing with the original base colour. There are commercial washes or you can create your own.

The trick with painting track (or IMO any weathering techniques) is to use very light coats of paint building up the weathering gradually, that way you are in control. I have in the past sprayed the sides of the rails with a rust/track colour from the side masking the sleepers and ballast. There is no reason not to do this before ballasting with PVA as acrylic is chemically unaffected by PVA in my experience, though as ever test first if you are in doubt or at least before treating the whole of your running lines!

Oh, my word. News can travel so slowly sometimes. Just found out of his passing in a reference in the MRJ292 thread. We have lost not just a fine modeller but a superb communicator, a much under-rated attribute, his words were always a delight to read as well as inspirational in content. My thoughts and sincere best wishes to his family and friends. RIP and thank you.

There we go... The "red" has come out a bit pinky it needs to be darker and more earthy. But a bit of fun. A very quick bit of photoshopping, I reckon I could make a print your own card kit for it if anyone was interested.

Just resurrecting this thread with a photo of a mock up of the Goods Shed. It sits here beside a Slaters MR 8T open on Peco O Gauge track. So, mocking this up raised a couple of questions, first and foremost was how do my little humans get inside it?! Both doors are sliding doors and raised up to allow ease of loading/unloading of railway and road vehicles alike, they also seem to lack any obvious door furniture or trace thereof that might suggest that they could be secured from the outside. There doesn't appear to be any trace of steps up to the door on the gable end so I think there must have been an "office" door to the rear gable end which I have not been able to see? The "vents" mentioned by @DGO in the message above appear on closer examination of my photographs to be strips of wood that would allow signage to be mounted, it's a bit messy so I suspect an LNER or BR addition. Also re-examining the photos I took it is obvious that the shed was not directly at the platform edge but set back slightly See the large yellow circle, that large piece of dressed stone looks like it would form the corner of the platform. I'm going to mock up a coloured version showing the roof and roof lights that can be seen in a photograph in North Eastern Railway Architecture Vol 3. p107. Looking at that photograph the "rail-side" door (small yellow ring) is ajar and I can clearly see daylight through it. The photographer (author?) is standing to the left of my position. Is that the "office door"? However, the building in this photograph is in some ways in a worse state of repair than in my photos as there are several of the horizontal planks missing or dislodged allowing a view of the interior framing.

Hi I find this paint conversion site quite useful. Modelshade Paint Conversion Chart This is looking at equivalents of Humbrol 20 which is a pretty good match for Crimson Lake I would be surprised if you can't find a decent match in the Vallejo range! With all these red colours they are quite translucent so you need to try different undercoats/primers to get the right effect. Try a sample over white, grey and red oxide to see the difference. I believe that red oxide would be the best option.