Sithlord75

The next Zoom Area Group meeting is this coming Saturday 26th of November from 0930 GMT. The details in the immediate post above should take you to the meeting. All welcome.

No one in the Outback drinks Fosters. We send that p*** over there!!

G'day all, The next ZAG meeting is this Saturday (12 November) from 1930GMT. Please adjust according to your location. As always, all are welcome to join in, and share what they have been building, ask for advice (and share their favourite tips for success) and generally have a chat about their projects. The link below should take you straight there or the ID and passcode. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83287616944?pwd=WGRnQkprN1IwcitVRm56OThtMUFVUT09 Meeting ID: 832 8761 6944 Passcode: 222372 Cheers Kevin

I got an email from the Chief Designer on Monday but it wasn't about 2mm Victorian Broad Gauge. No, it was a file of 35 A3 sheets (if printed out) with a very comprehensive plan for St Albans drawn on it as shown below: The numbered sheets, when printed out, are full size - track centres and rails together with important bits like the platform, signals, goods shed etc all drawn in. Beats my Templot attempt by miles. Bruce traced over the OS map I sent him along with using Google (I think) to produce. I've printed out 1-6A and B which will be enough to make a significant start. Now I just need the fine weather to build the boards to go under it and send off an order to Shop 1.

Hi Rich, As Bruce said, the result is better and way more resilient. For vehicles with windows, 3DP tends to leave the window frame either too thick or, if thin, the print is prone to failure or breakage. As we (i.e. those down here doing 3D design and printing) prefer to have an etched chassis, it wasn't that much harder to have the whole vehicle done. It really is a case of, excuse the pun, horses for courses. I'm drawing a couple of Caley cattle wagons in class at present but have yet to identify the best chassis for them in Shop 2, so still expanding the 3DP library.

I put the Furness one together tonight. A few minor tweaks to maybe be made on the etch (really depends on if enough interest to justify doing it) and I made a couple of forays into the bits box - again something which Bruce could amend easily enough should the demand be there. Still have to add buffers and the roof vents (which I’ll make out of some square plastic or brass). Very pleased considering the Chief Designer is a VR modeller and the drawing was pretty basic.

No new LNWR etches yet - although progress on finding drawings for some I’m interested in has been tentatively made. However, a package arrived from the Wodonga Design Office for the Burpengary Wagon Works Gnome containing a number of goodies. The Chief Designer has shown three on his 5’3” thread. The rest are shown below. So far so good - comparing them to the drawings I sent Bruce he doesn’t appear to have missed anything significant. We shall see how I go building them. Those who’d like some, can form an orderly queue!

Is there a kit do you know Jim?

I'll let you know in a week or so Simon when I build it. We're blaming @Nick Mitchell for it actually.

That's good news Chris. Does this mean the previous post about some of your stuff being produced in limited numbers is now back on? Cheers Kevin

Hi Chris, Depending on volume and presuming you have the .stl you want printed, you'll probably find the easiest way is to find a fellow modeller who has been successful in printing items and arranging some sort of deal. I'd happily look at it for you but the biggest issue with me printing it would be the time waiting for the parcel to come from Aus! However, the offer stands. Cheers Kevin

So having done the marathon job on the VR wagons (work on which continues but at a much less frenetic pace) I've been doing a few things for me. One of which has been trying to sort out the curve into the platform and yard on the templot version of St Albans with the hope of using the Christmas break to at least build some base boards and put the platform down. However as the break isn't until December I've time to sort out the curve (which I am still not happy with and think I might just stop tweaking and start a fresh plot). Knitting club on Thursday nights coupled with the LAG meetings on the Third Saturday have seen me doing some work with the soldering iron. I decided to have a look at some of the older etches in the gloat box and so it came to pass that the 2012 David Eveleigh designed LNWR D436 Horsebox pair came to light. This is what I got - very cramped by a lot of design standards which I am not a fan of. I guess it is done for economic reasons but I don't think the difference in cost is really worth it - I like things with fold up rather than stack on top as it winds up being an easier build and usually a neater and squarer result. However, I don't design etches! There are also a few bits and pieces missing (the location for the oil lamp for the grooms compartment, the emergency brake apparatus, the axlebox covers are wrong when looking at pictures - nothing significant but these things, together with a more "builder friendly" design would make a satisfactory kit into a good or even great kit). 89.9 degrees square in all corners 🥴 The strapping got itself into a knot getting it off the etch and it looks ok in real life but in the photos, well you can see it. I'll live with it. What I didn't live with was the louver - this got sorted once I looked at the photos. In that respect the ability to take a decent digital photo and blow the model up to see what is glaring is useful. Somethings you can live with, somethings you can't - and it's individual. I added the emergency brake T section. I'm wondering if it would be better to solder the chassis to the body (David's design has a nut and bolt in the center) but then glazing the grooms compartment becomes an issue. However, since I've a second etch I could use that as a template to cut out all the necessary windows (and some spares!) to glue in with canopy glue. I haven't done this before so worth experimenting. Biggest issue I now have is painting. The LNWR painted their NPCCS "quick brown" rather than the Plum of their coaches. In practice this seems to have been a shade similar to the plum but with less varnish and effort. Most modellers it would appear just use the plum and a matt finish rather than a semi-gloss and that's what I did in days of yore when I did a PC models shoot down obtained from Etched Pixles. The recipe for quick brown is Indian Red mixed with Black with a touch of Umber - but given Indian Red comes in at least 6 shades at my local paint suppliers this isn't particularly helpful. Thoughts would be appreciated. Given the weather (and the need to use the airbrush) it won't be getting painted for a while (and there is the second one to build along with the CCT which was done at the same time which will help justify the hassle of using said airbrush) so no hurry.

G'day all, The next ZAG meeting is this coming Saturday (22 October)) from 0930GMT. Please adjust according to your location. As always, all are welcome to join in, and share what they have been building, ask for advice (and share their favourite tips for success) and generally have a chat about their projects. The link below should take you straight there or the ID and passcode. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83287616944?pwd=WGRnQkprN1IwcitVRm56OThtMUFVUT09 Meeting ID: 832 8761 6944 Passcode: 222372 Cheers Kevin

Too busy working (and also on the paid employment side) on these wagons for @VRBroadgauge to be posting over the last few weeks. I didn't quite get all 50 Bruce sent up built prior to the Australian N Scale Convention in Goulburn but I did get 40 built, painted and decaled. I came home with three which we decided had failed quality control (to be honest they were all ok but we're trying to set a high standard from the get go as it is easier to maintain than to retrospectively try to achieve) . I also came home with 40+ unbuilt VR wagons plus a few other goodies.

G'day all, The next ZAG meeting is this coming Saturday the 8th of October from 1930GMT. Please adjust according to your location. All are welcome to join in, and share what they have been building, ask for advice (and share their favourite tips for success) and generally have a chat about their projects. I'll hopefully be joining you from Goulburn, NSW where I am attending (and presenting at) the Australian N Scale (and friends - @VRBroadgauge and @2mm Dabbler will be there with me flying the 1:152 scale flag) Convention. At least with NSW being on AEDST it's a +11 on GMT rather than the +10 for Brisbane! The link below should take you straight there or the ID and passcode. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83287616944?pwd=WGRnQkprN1IwcitVRm56OThtMUFVUT09 Meeting ID: 832 8761 6944 Passcode: 222372 Cheers Kevin

Can confirm the Scalefour Society lever frame is very nice to operate.

G'day all, The next ZAG meeting is this coming Saturday (24 September) from 0930GMT. Please adjust according to your location. All are welcome to join in, and share what they have been building, ask for advice (and share their favourite tips for success) and generally have a chat about their projects. The link below should take you straight there or the ID and passcode. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83287616944?pwd=WGRnQkprN1IwcitVRm56OThtMUFVUT09 Meeting ID: 832 8761 6944 Passcode: 222372 Cheers Kevin

Does the steam passenger service have to have Mk 1s with gangways? Could it have Suburban Mk 1s (which are significantly shorter)? Not being familiar with the location etc, I may be well off!

G'day all, The next ZAG meeting is this coming Saturday (10 September) from 1930GMT. Please adjust according to your location. All are welcome to join in, and share what they have been building, ask for advice (and share their favourite tips for success) and generally have a chat about their projects. The link below should take you straight there or the ID and passcode. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83287616944?pwd=WGRnQkprN1IwcitVRm56OThtMUFVUT09 Meeting ID: 832 8761 6944 Passcode: 222372 Cheers Kevin

I feel you with the end door variations! I ended up doing qtrs which I mirrored into halves and assembled the halves rather than drawing a half. I have a large collection of quarter wagons as a result! But it does mean, at least when it comes to RCH types, I can put together over 25 different types.

Am I the only one who thinks of a Turkish Bazaar (or Turkish Bath!!!) when I look at this picture? Yours A Carded Member of the Untidy Deck Union.

What's wonderful is Laurie having an Aussie shed sized room to capture the feel.

Are we able to identify the various vehicles on this train? It would be nice to be able to replicate it at some point.

All great layouts have a model of the model. No finer example than this, snapped at Derby in June:

Sometimes more than once!