Phil Bullock

@railtec-models That’s some response Steve! Well do for finding the time to write it… you describe your situation very succinctly and it behoves us all to bear your words in mind when we are agitating for something we need … desperately???? Your sanity is prime… without it there’s nowt. No need to apologise for the thread drift , it’s a feature of all web forums. Will get it back on track with photos as you suggest. As for no railway of your own …. Come and have a drive on the new Abbotswood and Norton Junction if it floats your boat…

@McCa question re the pre TOPs locos if I may please… D6601/92 ordered regardless but more needed… The web site mentions D6600 is as built without the coupling reinforcement mod … but no mention of that on D6992/56 . Can’t see it on the artwork so is it omitted from those two as well? Many thanks in advance Phil

Everything I own …. Bread (but not my model railway or fishing tackle!)

That looks great Steve heading over to your web site now….

Not as far as I know Steve …. But there’s bound to be an exception!

@railtec-models Steve thanks for chiming in with your thoughts. Am sure it would be popular but know you have heaps of work on your plate! @chuffinghell Steve no need to apologise to me….. t’other Steve is more than capable of mounting his own defences… And I guess that’s what we all need to remember particularly with the one man and his dog companies like Railtec and Shawplan … both of whom do a brilliant job in keeping us all supplied with what we need for our pet projects… they can’t do a lot of comms as well as being productive! But hands up I have been just as guilty …. Not least with Accurascale who I have harassed mercilessly to produce as built South Wales EE3s …. Now my wallet has to pay the price! They are of course a much bigger company with excellent public facing communications … and the resources to do it! Now back to those verdammt etched plates … I have another idea, will let you know if it works!

Thanks for all the suggestions gentlemen. Going to try a combination of them all .., Paint whole plate white Spray with gloss varnish and leave to harden Fill background with thin black paint and wipe off letter faces and border Spray with Matt varnish The alternative is to paint the whole plate black, leave to harden and then polish away paint on lettering and borders with fine abrasive. Leaves letters silver though not white…. Phil

Funny …. I’ve got one just like that too! But ordered another

Cheers Ian. Only problem is am not talking transfers here … my problem is getting decent white paint on raised etched plates over a black background. But sealing the white with your gloss coat before trying to apply black may help… Phil

Hi Ian i hadn’t thought of that option but it might be easier! Narrow Planet have done me some lovely etched plates for both Abbotswood Jct and Norton Junction Signal Box but I can’t get them painted without making a mess. Advantage of etched plates though is that if you don’t like the result they are easy to clean off. Phil

Was planning on using the Hornby Skaledale East signal box at Abbotswood as per the last layout but….. the locking room windows ain’t right and other areas are a bit coarse. So have gone for a Ratio 538 Midland box instead. As supplied again the locking room windows were wrong for Abbotswood which lacked end windows but with the help of some extra parts courtesy of Peco I have modified the model. Just waiting for the Bobby to re-appear - looks like he has dashed out to grab the rabbit he shot earlier, he has left the up and down mains pulled off….and me to figure out how to paint the etched name boards …..

D6601 and D6992 ordered on 6 monthly payments option …. All went smoothly . Great models and a fantastic payment system … millionaires shortbread all round! 😀

Hurrah!!!! D6600 and D6956 and D6992! You know how to hurt my wallet, good job just finished paying for 31…

Agreed! Plastic saw horses plus studding beams work very well … easily portable, stable and don’t add weight to portable baseboards

Infamy …. Infamy …. They’ve all got it in for me!! 😀 Good to hear Sherry was on the mend hope that has continued. Ordered Woodland Scenic materials from Kernow 14.20 yesterday…. arrived 09.30 this morning! Wonderful service …

Think there’s a DE 0-4-0 at SVR which might be better…

Me too! Suspect most other than Scottish bed were still VB only in my era….

A great concept! But… The curves on the plan look very sharp, wondering what minimum radius are you working to?

Thats a very convenient thing about modelling the Birmingham to Gloucester line…. Plenty of coal flows in both directions! Steel too…

Some excellent images … on the must have list!

Beyond any slack in the operating mechanism I don’t worry …. Happy just to have working signals!

@The Stationmaster @Midland Redwell with their J67/68/69 project the Accurascale team might think they met our 68xx S Wales EE3 heckling! Well - with locos in the 68xxx number series it’s the right numbers …. But not necessarily in the right order! 😀

Red kite over Churchdown the last couple of days. Local jackdaws and rooks not impressed….

861 looking very smart there! Great photos thanks for sharing

My first butterfly of 2023 today… a male brimstone. He was brave coming out on gold cup day … the weather is usually foul, but not today.