Sithlord75

The next ZAG meeting is this coming Saturday 9 July 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

I’ve had a bit of an enforced hiatus from the workbench - travelling to the DJ Expo in Derby and then having a week of catching up on everything I missed will do that! However as it was a cold wet and miserable day in SEQ today management decreed a craft/hobby afternoon and so I decided to make a start on some of the packets which came home from Derby with me. These five MR bodies were obtained to provide a bit of variety amongst the LNWR and GNR home teams. A few hours later and voila: The three vans in East Somerset Light Railway livery until I can get some chassis built for them - or obtained as I think the D362 goes on a 2-341 which isn’t in the present Shop 2 list. Cattle next - not sure if I’ve chassis for those either!!

Queensland likewise uses 1067mm and has the largest system to that gauge in the world - including some oddities like the Gulflander. Language issues similar to WA and NZ however 😉 Cheers Kevin

Where's the "groan" option in the feedback button? 🤣

On the subject of guest locos, here is one which turned up over the DJ weekend.

Three of my favourite photos from Derby. DoC going past my train on the goods line, me with the Gents, and Tim photoing MM on Ale Dock. As prints, they'd be going straight to the pool room (as we say Down Here). Thanks for the hospitality, generosity and inspiration to the whole CF team at Derby. A great weekend.

Padstow and Wadebridge:

Llangerisech:

Having made it safely back home (albeit late due to storms in Germany meaning we lost our path out of Heathrow) I thought I could contribute some of the photos I took at Derby. It was well worth the trip (and the two year wait) with lots of inspiring modelling. Moretonhempstead:

Hi Jerry, I would say have a look at the L&Y wagon page at the L&Y Society and see what you can determine. It what I did with the LNWR etches. Cheers Kevin

‘‘Twas a good day indeed. Thanks for the hospitality from you and Kim.

Next ZAG meeting is this coming Saturday from 1930 GMT. Please adjust accordingly. I’ll not need to get up early for a change - I’m hoping to join in from Darlington! Cheers Kevin

Skippy has landed. And the luggage appears intact. Won’t have a chance to Inspect until later today. Looking forward to the 18th.

MERG do some useful kits for the novice electrical engineer John. I seem to have not had the magic smoke come out of mine yet.

Fresh etches are a thing of beauty! I shall do something about the train shed when I get back from the DJ Expo.

Screen shot of the VR S type carriages under construction - a bit more of the underframe and roof line to go and then test shots. This is the corridor side. Go to http://www.victorianrailways.net/pass cars/pass car pages/as/as.html to checkout the prototype for the First Class - the differences between first and second are all internal - 3 a side seating in the firsts and four a side seating the seconds. The second run of coaches were welded, not rivetted and this will be done too. Crazy? Probably. The ambition is to do all the various types of S cars - First, Second, Dining, Buffet, Palor, Mail, Guards Van and State Car 5 and end up with all 39 examples. Only two of the 39 vehicles in the S series have been scrapped - DS1 (the mail van) after conversion to CS2 and AS7. The rest are still around and of the original 13 vehicles built for the SoP in 1937, all but DS1 are around.

The next ZAG meeting is this coming Saturday 28 May 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

Almost finished the electronic stuff for mine - hopefully it all still works with the "right" version rather than the test version. Still a bit of cosmetic stuff to do and, assuming the sodden weather improves for next weekend, then it'll be "finished" as such. I'm going to bring the surplus Australian wagon bodies and etches - so some tar wagons, LNER vans, LMS Beer Vans and some Mink Ds. We have plans for a complete chassis for the Minks but it hasn't progressed off the to do list. As this is actual 2mm not N, the Dapol etch won't fit. @John Brenchley has managed to cobble some bits and pieces together to make a chassis so it's do able. The tar wagons, LNER van and LMS Beer van all come with transfers - a selection available for the tar wagons.

I seem to have managed to sort out the photo issue I was having and so some of the workbench efforts from the last week are as follows: A pair of Yeovil Gas Works wagons (which aren't going to make it to Derby as they'll be staying at Clayworth). A pair of Carlton wagons are the start of around 20 I'm building for the as yet unstarted St Alban's LNWR. These have 3D printed buffers but I'm not convinced about their long term strength. I suspect replacing them with brass will be something I'll have to do over time, as funds permit. 1923 RCH wagon - the others were all 1907 length. Probably too late in the day for @queensquare to use but I'll get a photo of it placed at least, even if it doesn't stay. I've also started a couple more Knight & Co wagons which maybe left behind as calling cards. Tonight I'm hoping to finish the wiring on Ale Dock as the paint should be dry.

You'll be able to the DJLC one for the Platinum then Ian!

That video is a thing of beauty Ian.

Some weeks have passed since I last posted and as I was explaining to the ZAG this morning (or evening - adjust as appropriate) a few days after the last post, we had a significant flooding event here in South East Queensland which put over 5 feet of water through our retirement property. This has obviously been taking quite a bit of time (and money) to sort out and I haven't really felt like getting much modelling done. I've tried to do various bits and pieces and I guess the sum of the total is such that had I taken some before and after shots (allowing for the befores to be weeks ago) there would be things to show, but I didn't take the befores, so the context of the afters will be missing. However, I feel I have managed to get back on the horse so to speak in the last couple of days - a plane trip looming on the 6th of next month with an exhibition to attend as an exhibitor tends to help focus the mind as deadlines often do. I managed to get some paint on some wagon bodies which have been sitting on the workbench since February - a pair of LNWR D33s, a D88 and a D103. They still need the black bits done but at least they are moving along the production line. I built a pair of MR 9' chassis (2-342) which is my preferred option for going under my home brew PoW wagons during the ZAG. With any degree of luck, the other 8 chassis will be dealt with this week and then there are the chassis for the collection of LMS vans. But the main goal is to finish the DJLC and the associated locos. Photos when I manage to get my new camera to talk to the computer (or find the card reader - which ever happens first).

Obviously adjust track gauge to suit! 😂

The next ZAG meeting is this coming Saturday 14 May 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

Looking good Mark - very much looking forward to seeing it in action.