Rumblestripe

Thank you for the positive comments and I hope those that have taken the plunge have as much fun with their new tool/toy as I'm having! So just by way of a summary here are some pictures of the finished Matilda Tank. The details have been touched in by using a brush. So the various tools are picked out in the required colours, there is a spade and a crow bar, the tracks and spare track links, canvas sheeting etc. Then the decals were applied, standard "waterslide" type. I then applied a thinned overall wash with "Sepia Ink" thinned 1:1 with a water and "W&N Flow Enhancer" mix. Washes seem to be a technique that isn't used often in Railway modelling but it is a very easy and effective technique. By adding the flow enhancer the wash flowed into panel joins and particularly on the exhaust where the wrapping was picked out to great effect. Once everything had thoroughly dried I got out the airbrush again and applied some muck and rust around the wheels, tracks and underbody. The final colour coat is a unifying dust coat. Again, this is a technique I have not come across in Railway Modelling it is a very simple idea, you simply spray a thin coat of "dust" colour over the top of the model so that it falls, well, like dust. As this is a model of a vehicle from the Western Desert I used a thinned coat of Vallejo "Buff" which is a pale sand colour. For a model set in this country I would use a darker more "browner" shade. I then finished with a protective coat of varnish. My favourite varnish is Windsor & Newton Acrylic varnish which is applied with a brush and dries to a lovely finish. I like it so much that I haven't even tried to airbrush it as it reliably dries to a nice matt finish when daubed on quite liberally by brush it is very forgiving and no chance of the dreaded "bloom" that can beset sprayed varnish coats. ...and I'm pretty pleased with the model, it's not perfect but I didn't really expect it to be! It has been a very useful learning exercise. I'd recommend anyone trying airbrushing for the first time to try something like this or perhaps an aircraft rather than something for the railway it's somehow more relaxing, the thought that it is not part of some greater project I suppose? Pluses for me have been the paints. I've always been a big fan of Vallejo brushing acrylics and to find that the "Air" range is just as good is a big plus. They are used straight from the bottle and also give you a feel for what a paint should "feel" like to put through an airbrush. I know people say the "single pouring cream" thing but until you get some and try it I couldn't visualise that. The airbrush has been of a better quality than I hoped. For the price of a couple of issues of MRJ it is certainly very usable. I think this is probably down to the expansion in markets for airbrushes, they are advertised (and presumably used) for body decoration(!), nail varnishing, craftwork and cake decorating, so I suppose that they are now selling into markets/sectors that they previously weren't so increased sales volume = cheaper? The spray is fine and controllable and I have found no issues with overspray mussing up the work area despite not having a spray booth. Another plus spraying acrylics is that there is no pong to offend the domestic authorities. One thing I did find useful that I wish I'd done at the start is to strip the airbrush down and lightly oil the components before use, it makes the (already quite smooth) trigger action smoother and freer. If there is anything further I can help with I will reply here and maybe update with a something a bit more "Railway-ey" and thanks to those who have helped me along the way.

Not wishing to be but why does it matter to you? The alternative is an original 4472 stuffed and mounted in the NRM, I know my preference.

The fittings on the compressor and airbrush are the (as I understand it) standard 1/8in BSP fitting.

She looks terrific, hope she runs as well as she looks. The attention on the National TV News, top trending topic on Twitter and all over other social media, she's quite the "Grande Dame".

Fair point, you can leave the needle shroud in place if preferred until you have removed the needle, I haven't actually removed the nozzle, but you're right you need to be just as careful with the nozzle as the needle.

Right this is going to have LOT of pictures! So I'll keep most of them small. Taking the Airbrush apart (and putting it back together again!) Ultimately you will need to take you airbrush apart to give it a thorough clean. Given the rather "basic"instructions that come with the airbrush I hope you will find it useful to follow me stripping and re-assembling the airbrush. The unsuspecting airbrush, first remove the paint cup. Then the needle protector, which simply unscrews Next remove the nozzle shroud/cap, again simply unscrew Now to remove the needle, remove the plastic handle then loosen the needle locking grip Remove the needle locking grip then carefully pull the needle slowly backwards being careful to draw it straight backwards to make sure that the fine point of the needle does not get bent Remove the Trigger Spring retention doodad (forgive me the techno babble) and the spring and trigger mechanism can be removed With everything in bits (well apart from removing the nozzle which I chickened out of) take the opportunity to apply some lubrication to all the threaded components and any other moving or moveable parts. I was recommended that a thin wipe of "3-In-One" is perfectly acceptable. If you are using enamels it is a good idea to take the needle out and augment the rubber seal with some plumbers teflon tape. I am using acrylics which are much kinder to rubber components so didn't bother, you can always do it later if you find that the seal is failing. Right, reassembly. The first thing to replace is the trigger, this drops into the hole above the air valve, it's fiddly (and I couldn't take a photograph to help you) if you look down into the body of the airbrush you can see the hole you are aiming for. It will take a few attempts as it seems to have a will of its own but once in you can feel the operation of the valve by pressing the trigger downwards and feeling the spring return. Reassembly is pretty much the reverse of the tear-down procedure, so just a couple of pointers 1. The "Trigger Guide" is a right fiddly b to get back into place, unless you have fingers like a seamstress you will need a pair of tweezers! Hold the body of the airbrush upright and guide the trigger guide into place... ...keep the airbrush upright and replace the trigger mechanism and spring Next screw the spring retention doodad into the body of the airbrush, screw it finger tight and then release it by half a turn. Gently feed the needle back into the airbrush, if you feel ANY resistance STOP. Check what you have done, the needle should slide in with gentle sliding resistance, if you force it you may damage the top of the needle, push the needle gently home and then lock in place with the needle locking grip. Replace the plastic handle and then the nozzle shroud and needle cap. And relax! If you can get beyond the annoying presentation, this You Tube video shows you how to do this to a very similar airbrush Sorry for the length of this posting and I hope it is useful.

Just a couple of supporting pictures to let you have a look at "Airbrush 2" in more detail Airbrush 2 shown here on a cutting mat with 1cm square grid and a pound coin shown to give an idea of size A detail shot trying to show the (quite reasonable) quality of finish on the airbrush, this is the paint cup, behind it is the cap for the paint cup. And this is how it fits in the hand of a bloke with fairly large hands (I'm a 6 footer). It sits quite nicely in the hand not too small or fiddly at all. Memo to self - moisturise hands and trim nails

Thanks again for the kind comments. In terms of the airbrushes, I have only used one of them so far, the brush I labelled as "Airbrush Two" in the first post. I chose this one as I was only painting one (relatively small model) in railway modelling terms probably about the size of a small 4mm coach, perhaps a six wheeler, in terms of surface area. I was drawn to the side cup as it would use less paint and looked easier to clean (perhaps!) Picking the airbrush up for the first time I was impressed with the solid feel of the tool. The threaded components seem nicely machined and as far as I have stripped it down (not completely) it came apart easily and went back together nicely. All the threads were well cut and finished and the seal on the cup to body join is good. The double action lever moves smoothly with even resistance and no sticky spots and seems to give a good gradual control of air and paint with a little practice. I cannot compare it with a more expensive airbrush as I don't have one, but it is certainly good enough. When I bought the kit I considered just buying the compressor on its own but when I compared the prices of the compressor as a single unit I realised that the airbrushes were so very cheap it didn't seem enough of a saving to be worth while and if the airbrushes were complete "pony" I wasn't going to worry for the price of a couple of magazines! I may in future "upgrade" to an Iwata or some such but at the moment this little no-brand model is working perfectly well enough - for me! What I need from an airbrush is the facility to apply a smooth even finish to a model. As a railway modeller I don't need to be able to draw fine lines freehand like you might do on an aircraft model for example. I don't need to apply large amounts of paint over large areas. As Jagzzuk says there are quite a few variations in the kits for sale, I settled on this one as it was one of the cheapest and I wanted an airbrush with a side cup. The compressor is certainly decent enough for the casual/amateur modeller like me, to be fair it doesn't seem to run hot, because of the tank the compressor is not running constantly to maintain output/pressure. I haven't posted any further progress on the Matilda as all I have done is the brush work to touch in the tracks and other details and apply the unit markings from the kit decals. This is a Railway Modelling Board after all, so I didn't want to deviate too much from its raison d'etre! When I take up the airbrush again to apply some weathering and finally seal it with a matt varnish I will share my final results with you.

For those who were saying a few years ago that she should be stuffed and mounted. You can argue over how much the restoration/rebuild has cost versus the cost of Tornado/Prince Of Wales but the public profile of THIS locomotive (whether right or wrong) transcends logic just witness the crowds attending a test run! Welcome back old girl, we've missed you!

Thank you for the kind comments. A few more photographs of my adventure with Matilda. The "Caulter Scheme" consists of three colours so I have been masking up and spraying the final dark olive green patches/splinters. As you can hopefully see I have been much more careful with the masking using an improvised wooden tool to smooth the edges into place. I also took the good advice to spray in thinner misty coats rather than trying to bung the whole lot on in one go. I have to say that the Vallejo paints are very forgiving to use, the consistency straight out of the bottle is perfect. I haven't worried about overspray onto the tank tracks as they are to be touched in with a brush once all airbrush work is complete. This view from above gives a good impression of the camouflage scheme, the idea was to apply this pattern to make it difficult to identify the object at a distance in the desert. How effective it proved I'm not sure but it doesn't seem to have been particularly long lived? I still have some problems on the rear engine cover I still have the pronounced ridges at the edge of the blue pattern, I want the paint properly hardened before I try to deal with that ridge. You can also see where my masking didn't match up and I have a little sand colour showing through, that should touch in easily with a brush. The next job is to paint in the details which have been sprayed that shouldn't have been, like the tow ropes above (steel hawsers I believe), there is also a canvas sheet on the side of the turret exhaust system and tools such as a spade and crowbar stowed on the tank. Then I will apply the transfer markings and it will be out with the airbrush again to seal them and then apply some weathering. Work still to do.

Before I continue a quick disclaimer, I have no association with any of the products I have used other than as a customer. The purpose of this thread was hopefully to help people considering buying a cheap airbrush and to document my learning process with this tool. Nothing more, no agenda. I know I dithered thinking I might just be wasting my money and will I ultimately just have to buy a "good" one? So, let's have a look at what we are going to use This is "Airbrush 2", model HS-23, it has a gravity feed cup which screws on to the side of the tool. The piece of paper it is resting on constitutes the accompanying documentation (all of it!) We're going to need some paint. On the recommendation of several experienced "Airbrushers" I decided to use Vallejo "Model Air". I am a long time user of their range of excellent "Model Colour" range of brushing acrylics and these are ready mixed to an appropriate consistency so no messing about trying to get the right "runniness". So, what shall we chuck paint at? This'll do. I like to model in several forms and 1/48th Scale gives you a model of reasonable size and good detail, I can also practice some weathering techniques on it. The paints, yesterday. The good thing about these paints is you just give the bottles a good shake, make sure there are no blobs on the dropper nozzle that might end up in the paint cup and dribble enough paint into the cup and away you go. I sprayed the model all over with 71.027 which was pretty easy BUT it was such a close match to the colour of the plastic Tamiya used for the kit, you couldn't tell! For that reason I didn't bother photographing that stage. I let the paint dry thoroughly for a couple of days and then masked up for the first colour in the "Caunter Scheme" (as this camouflage pattern is correctly called) and then sprayed the light blue splinters. I used Revel masking tape, recommended by a few as "just as good as 'Tammy Tape'" (that's Tamiya masking tape to me and you) and it worked pretty well. No problems with lifting paint when removing after spraying or coming away whilst spraying and it left a pretty good hard line. I poked it into the crevices on the model using some wooden tools fashioned from a hardwood barbeque skewer. A wedge, a point and a rounded end. I found the paint an absolute doddle to use, it covered the light brown pretty well and was easily cleaned up afterwards. (Oh and no nasty smells meant I got away with doing it indoors!) There is another colour yet to apply, a dark olive green to complete the "livery". I cleaned the airbrush by rinsing out the remaining paint in the cup with water until the water was just about clear. I simply tipped the waste water into a little pot. Then I blew some clean water through the airbrush until the spray was just water. I then dropped some of the Vallejo "Airbrush Cleaner" into the cup and blew that through. Not all is perfect though That is the rear engine cover and as you can see it is very "hilly" which has produced two separate issues. Firstly there has been some paint bleed under the masking tape, probably where I didn't quite get the tape right down into the valleys. I'm less fussy about this for a couple of reasons. 1. I doubt that on the real thing that the lines were perfectly straight and 2. once weathered will (I hope) be barely visible. But the BIG problem is where in order to get paint into the deep crevices I have built up the paint too much on the tops of the ridges. Aaargh. Anyone got any good ideas how to get rid of this? I'm pondering either a waft with a scalpel, a tickle with some wet and dry or perhaps even something like a track rubber? Suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks Mick for this, I hadn't worked that out! This is how you do it, hold the button on the airbrush down and with the red ring unlocked pull up and then twist the black knob until the gauge shows the output pressure you require. Here I have set it to 20psi. Oh and here is a small example of the instructions included with the compressor "However, 100% airtight is only effective for auto stop function air compressor" So that's that cleared up then... And IS teflon tape available in all stores selling sanitary products? (they are even sparser for the aibrushes, consisting of an exploded diagram and a part list)

OK, let's have a closer look at what you get for (less than) seventy of your English pounds. The controls on the Compressor are simple but seem well enough made The rocker switch starts the compressor, it pressurises the tank to 4 bar and then shuts off. Once the tank pressure drops to 3 bar it will restart and keep going until 4 bar is reached this means that you have a pretty good steady pressure delivered to the airbrush. The Pressure Gauge, yesterday. The air pressure delivered to the airbrush can be adjusted (in a rather crude fashion) by undoing the red knurled ring and the pulling the black knob upwards and twisting. Thus! Unfortunately the gauge only shows the pressure in the tank, not what is delivered to the airbrush so you must sort of just tweak it until you are happy with the pressure being delivered then locking it in the setting you have arrived at by tightening the red ring again. I simply put some water in one of the brushes and adjusted it so that it could deliver a reasonable supply of water spray. Not scientific I know! I'm telling you this, because if you buy this kit you will find that the instructions are (let's be polite) less than comprehensive. Coming next, chucking paint at a model, in this case it will be a military vehicle...

So, after doing some research I decided to bite the bullet and buy a cheap airbrush and compressor. I purchased a "Foxhunter AS 186 Complete Airbrush and Compressor" kit from a company on Ebay called "kmsdirectshops". My research included asking questions on here and reading reviews on Amazon and elsewhere of compressors and the cheap airbrushes that tend to be bundled with them. It appeared to be the collective wisdom that buying a compressor with an air reservoir was a "good thing", hence the AS 186 which comes with a small tank attached. My previous experience of airbrushing was limited to using air canisters which was expensive and limiting. I still have a Badger double action airbrush but I have no idea if it will still work (or where it is...) I decided on buying a bundle as it seemed that you are getting the two airbrushes for next to nothing compared to buying the same compressor on it's own so even if the airbrushes turned out to be complete bobbins (or I wreck them) I haven't wasted much money and I can go out and by something like an Iwata Neo (which you will notice costs nearly as much as this bundle!) The bundle arrived promptly and well packed Let's have a look inside... Airbrush One Airbrush Two The Compressor Quite an impressive bundle for a little less than seventy quid. As you can (hopefully) see the compressor looks tidily built and it feels solid and weighty. A visual inspection shows it to nicely finished, tidy welds on the tank and an even paint coating. It has a pressure gauge and a moisture trap fitted. The pressure gauge had a protective film over it to prevent scratches. At this point all I did was plug it in and let it run for a few moments as a simple test of functionality, it is quiet enough not to disturb a domestic environment and didn't feel at all warm after a minute or so. In the next part I'll examine the airbrush (I'm drawn to airbrush 2) and use it with the compressor to chuck some paint at a model or two. Right now I'm pretty pleased with my purchase. Watch this space...

I'm building myself a new PC and intend to install W10 on it. I notice a plethora of very cheap offers on Ebay and elsewhere for W10 licenses, has anyone used one of them? I presume they work but are they legit?

The Blast Furnace at Redcar, Teesside, beneath glowering clouds awaits an uncertain future. Seen on a foggy early morning dog walk, a crow sits atop a dead tree.

As someone who realises with some shame that I have been guilty of prejudice against others because of their "differentness" I'd just like to let Nick Lowe say it best https://youtu.be/lAqAmLSIGU8 And simply wish you strength and positivity.

Prototype for Everything After struggling for sometime trying to get the wheels quartered and running smoothly, the staff at Grosmont Shed on the NYMR admit defeat and install a Tenshodo SPUD "just to get her running"

Patina... Another oddment from nosing around the NYMR shed at Grosmont I thought it might be useful for anyone trying get the exact shade of BR green (it must be on there somewhere!)

A bleak day at Ribblehead 18th April 2008 No idea what type the DMU is. Photoshop jiggery pokery confession: the sky has been "enhanced" using a graduated layer then compressing the levels, the overall colour has been tweaked by increasing the saturation and there was a figure in a high vis suit walking up the path to the left of the viaduct near the white vans, he has been expunged, nothing personal just he stood out like, well like a lone figure in a high vis suit on a dull day! I thought about taking out the white vans and I'm still not sure that I should have!

A little post production... The original of this image can be found in my Gallery http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/67115-steam/ I was unhappy with the image straight out of the camera but wasn't sure why. If you see the original you can see the high vis jacket of the driver (or other footplate staff!) and an item of high vis clothing in the "spectacle plate" of the locomotive. (Is that the correct term for non-round front windows?!) Anyway all I have done is selected the items using photoshop and de-saturated them and it no longer draws the eye in the way that the High vis did (doing its job I suppose)

If you are happy to brush apply varnish I can thoroughly recommend Windsor & Newton "Artist's Acrylic Matt Uv Varnish" http://www.winsornewton.com/uk/shop/oils-solvents-mediums-and-varnishes/acrylic-colour/varnishes/artists-acrylic-matt-uv-varnish-4-22-us-fl-oz-125ml-bottle-3030930 It applies very easily with a slight milky haze and dries perfectly clear giving a lovely matt finish with a very slight sheen like unglazed china (it is a VERY slight sheen) I've never tried airbrushing with it, as I find no problem applying using a brush, it is quite "runny" (for want of a better word) but seems to dry without noticeable pooling or brushmarks. The advantage of a brush applied varnish over aerosol or airbrush applied is that you don't have to worry about fumes or "blooming" from adverse atmospheric conditions and being acrylic means no unpleasant fumes and happy domestic authorities! Happy customer is all I have to declare

44781 on a visit to Battersby

I'd say the car carrying the mantle of the R4 is the Honda Jazz. The seats fold into the floor giving you a van and the engine is frugal and pretty bullet proof. You could also consider the (no longer current) Toyota Yaris Verso which has similar attributes and is damn ugly too! I've had mine for thirteen years and done 100k in it. Tyres, one battery, two exhausts and a few "sensors" aside from servicing and petrol!

Just a heads up for anyone looking for a cheap temperature controlled soldering iron. Lidl have this fellow on offer from Thursday 22nd January for £8.99 I don't think it will be of the highest quality but all the stuff I've bought from there has been of basic workmanlike quality. This is the specification from their website: Compact station with soldering iron holder and soldering sponge Temperature adjustable between approx. (°C): 100 - 500 Includes replacement tip and 2 rolls of 10g electric solder stored conveniently inside of station accessory compartment 48W I'll be bagging one, for less than a tenner you can't really go wrong. This and other offers including mini tool assortment http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?id=472