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So as I mentioned on the previous blog, I've started more than one thing. And finished none of them! Here are the other things I'm working on at the min. Hornby class 91 - so I bought this aaaaaages ago, and thought I'd have a mess about with a "what if" livery. Thinking along the lines on 50149, I wondered what would happen if the 91's were repurposed for some high speed freight work? So I took it to bits, and then decided I'd try and replace the motor with a CD motor. Which I then burnt out. So I tried again, and thought I'd try and add a dcc socket, and then an Express models lighting kit. Which I've pretty much done, as you can see in the wiring mayhem shown below. Though I've soldered connectors on, so I can disconnect the lighting from the decoder if one ever goes pop. I'd messed the yellow front up on the 91, and lost the headlight infill, so re-did it and messed it up again. But also learnt that cheap masking tape and fox transfers that aren't sealed don't get on too well! So when I've practised my weathering on other models, this will will be looking more "careworn". There's the hole in the roof to fill, new pantograph to fit and the roof apparatus to sort. Also need to clean the wheels, as the pickup is quite poor. drill the holes for the lights at the front, try and make all the wires fit, and see what happens! Another Heljan 47 that I was practising on is one I did in "dutch" livery, mainly to test out my airbrush and my masking. As you can see from the photos, I didn't get the masking quite right, so there's some remedial work to do, but I'm not unhappy with how this has come out. Not sure where I'll go with this one, maybe this one will be "ex-works" or very slightly weathered. A 3rd 47 is one I saw a piccy of and liked - a Scottish 47, large logo with ploughs. This one I've made a couple of hashes of too. When I wrapped around the yellow on the cab sides, it didn't match the yellow from Heljan, and it irked me. Plus you could see the vertical line where the "old" yellow finished. So I rubbed it down, and re-primered it. The roof it already rail grey, and the bodysides are primed, so when this has gone off, it'll be back to the yellow, then masking up for the blue. I'm also messing about with adding better buffers, have some nice sprung ones, but only 1 chassis I have will take them. And lastly (for this blog anyway) is a Bachmann 20, that I resprayed green with Halfords rattle cans. I thought I'd done an ok job, but the photos don't lie - the masking of the grey/green under the rail is terrible! I also need to lay my hands on some cab glazing as the stuff that came with it was so brittle if snapped in half. Managed to pick up a chassis in Cornwall on hols for £9 (iffy motor), so I'm hoping to either fix the motor, or just run it as a "dummy" paired with the factory 20 at the side of it. I'm hoping a coat of matt varnish takes the gloss off. So that's mostly it, as ever, thoughts, ideas, comments welcome! Even if it is "finsh *something* Matthew!!!" :-) Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

To-day I finally managed to get the two new street lamposts correctly wired up after several failed attempts. I had got one to light up, but the other one didn't, not because it was wired the wrong way round, but because of a faulty connection and, possibly, a slight fault in the post itself.I say getting closer, because the stage has been reached where uit can be said that the layout is almost finished I suppose that you can never say that a layout is finished, because there are sdtill umpteen details to be attended to, somr will be attended to, but others perhaps not. After eleven years at the job and with ever poorer health, I am beginning to get a bit tired. I may have a look at modifying some of my HO rolling stock, although I don't know whether it will be worthwhile. View the full article

Hi, I'm Matt, and I'm writing, well, to get my thoughts down on (virtual) paper, to share what I'm doing, to motivate myself to finish something, and to hopefully gain some critique of what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, and how I can improve. To be honest, I've not got a model railway - had an n gauge layout as a kid which I didn't appreciate enough, and have never got round to another one. Keep toying with the idea of building one in the loft, but it's too hot or cold, and if truth be told, I can't be bothered. The idea of building it and getting it working appeals much more than actually using it, so it seems a lot of cash to put into something. I have however been intruiged about the box file models that I'd read about on here, and may well give that a go. Anyway, I digress! Over the past few years, I've bought odds and sods off eBay or Hattons, which have needed work, and then they've laid about in the loft not getting anything done with them, so I recently decided to get on with doing *something*, and trying to improve my modelling skills (I also have an cupboard filled with varying airfix kits to build "one day", so I want to get better! So what have I got. A few Heljan 47s, a Hornby 91, a Bachmann 20 and a load of other things in the loft that I keep away from the wife :-) I've been starting and not finishing anything for a while, for one reason or another, so I've got a few things on the go. Here they are. Looking at the close up, via unforgiving photos, they don't look great - I'm slightly put off actually having seen them, but that's the point, I want to improve, and there's some talented modellers on here, so please (constructively I hope) feel free to point out what could be done better. First one is a Heljan 47 - I bough the body off eBay in a real state, it'd been roughly done in DRS livery, and was a bit battered - I intended using it for practice, but when I'd cleaned it up, I thought I'd try a loco I've had an interest in for years - 47299, Ariadne. I know you could buy them, but I fancied a dart at a BR blue loco, so went for this. I've bought George Dent's weathering book, and am part way though it, but have looked at pictures online to get a sense of what the loco looked like. So what have I done? The headcode box on the model was mashed up, so I filled it and sanded it, and re-drilled the headcode lights using another one as a guide. I've lost the "ring" around them, but I can't think of a way to scribe a circle that small in filler. A coat or two of halfords white primer, followed by yellow on the cab windows, and a few coats of rail blue. I've got a cheap-y airbrush setup off eBay, which is ok, and a little spray booth in the garage. Am spraying with a combo of railmatch, tamiya and humbrol acrylics. The cantrail stripe is orange lining tape that I found in a model shop. Looks ok on the long runs, but I'm not happy with the short verticles. I started to "distress" the paint based on photos using some thinners and a cotton bud. I'm *ok* with the result, but it's not quite the effect I was looking for. Maybe chipping solution is an answer? A coat of Humbrol gloss varnish (though I then read on here to use anything but!!) follwed by a set of decals from Railtec, applied with decalfix. I'd bought a set of enamel washes and powders (humbrol) and started to use the washes on one side to represent streaking - again, I'm *ok* with the results, but I know they can be improved - for reading required. So that's where I am with this one - will "streak" the other side, tidy up the blue overspray around the cab windows, then think about a matt varnish. Then maybe some airbrush weathering, frame dirt, that kind of thing. I've bought a new set of wheels to replace the ghastly bronze Heljan standard ones, so will re-wheel it when they arrive. I've also got a express models lighting kit, but I'm seeing whether I'm brave enough to splice it into the ESU sound decoder that I have. I'll be keeping this one, so would like it to have all the bells and whistles. So any thoughts welcome, will add more pictures as I make progress. Will also add a bit around some of the other things I've been doing. Hope it's of vague interest to someone, and thanks for reading! Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

As today wasn't too cold I managed to get out to the laser-cutter and cut the the two sheets of ply needed to make the cassette shelf for the fiddle-yard. This is a single board nearly 6 feet long which is held on the wall by some ply brackets. The shelf is now on the wall and I am really happy with the result. I also managed to get the point to my fictitious 'mill siding' laid. I've used the new Peco bull-head rail joiners to join the point to the plain track here and they are excellent for joining rails on a curve. I'm wondering about revisiting the layout of the trackwork in the mill siding, I'm trying to balance not squeezing too much in with the desire for a wagon turntable and/or a headshunt to allow for a tiny industrial loco (I've got both a Barclay fireless and a Ruston 48DS which it would be fun to run). I did a bit more work on the J20 tender, I was struggling getting the front of the tender as clean as the rest because there is no way to hide the soldering inside. I put the tender behind my D16/3 which used the same tender and realized that actually most of the area is hidden under the cab roof and you just can't see it. I think a coat of 'Stratford special black' will cover a multitude of sins. So the next jobs is to cut the little 'corner board' which sits between the mill board and fiddle-yard, this board is about 2' along each side and just has the single line of the main line on it. I also need to mark and cut the cork for this and the mill board. So back to TurboCAD for more drawings or maybe I'll get distracted by that tender again... David Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

For about two years now, I have been planning on a modest T-trak layout. If you are not aware, T-Trak is a system based around Kato's Unitrak system, taking advantage of the strength of the joiners used. The modules are also based largely on Unitrak's standard lengths, with the normal straight module being 2mm shorter in length than a Kato double crossover, the largest single piece of track in the Unitrak catalog. Part of my goal with this layout is to run...whatever I damn well please! Rule 1 and the like. Still, I do want to strive for some realism. Part of my idea, therefore, was to build the scenic modules as generic as possible. Green rolling hills, which I've seen evidence of in the US, UK, Japan, basically anywhere I could think except Australia. No obvious signaling, no roads, nothing obvious to place the layout save for the train running through. I run into a dilemma here. I also would like a nice, longish bridge as a centerpiece. Nothing too grand, as the T-Trak standards don't allow for much height or depth to the modules, but a triple or quad (928mm and 1238mm, respectively) cutaway module for a good length or several lengths of span. I question, though, the suitability of Kato's bridges they have made available for Unitrak. There is a through-truss, and a box girder. The only country I have not seen evidence of such bridges being used in is the UK. So I pose a question; Does anyone who might pay attention to these have any knowledge or evidence of either bridge supplied by Kato being similar to a real bridge in the UK? Particularly Wales? Please let me know! View the full article

Even though the car is pretty grotty, I thought that the driver might make an effort to keep the windows clean. Clean white spirit has been used to remove the Dullcote layer. Soaking a cocktail stick (wooden variety) in the white spirit will allow a gentle rubbing action to gradually remove the dried Dullcote a little at a time, and if you don't go right into the corners it can leave an accumulation of 'dirt' there. The tiny flakes that will be left adhering to the plastic windows through static electricity can be removed by wiping with a cotton swab or a blast of air from the airbrush. This would have been the last stage for this model, but recent information received suggests that there are some areas where rust should be, and isn't. More to come. . . . . . . . . Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

My initial attempt to mount the Tortoise point motors involved me underneath my layout on my mechanics creeper using eyeball mk1 to align the piano wire actuator. The point motors were mounted on thin ply and then attached to the baseboard using Velcro. The problem I faced was that the tension from the piano wire would mean the the point motor would eventually be found hanging underneath the baseboard as the alignment wasn't good enough. Searching the InterWeb I found several jigs to align the pint motor http://www.vikaschander.com/points-and-tortoises-install/ https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/17165 and someone on Feabay is selling a jig https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tortoise-Switch-Machine-Drill-Jig-with-mounting-screws-drill-bit-/291273710283 All these solutions provide an accurate way of aligning the point motor during track laying but not for retro fitting. I do not claim to have invented this idea ( but I can't remember where I read of this on the InterWeb) . Anyway, here is my take. Modifying a Kadee couple height gauge (#205) to create an alignment jig to improve the the alignment of the piano wire actuator - here a picture is worth a thousand words... Using the jig has enabled me to align the point motors far more accurately than using eyeball mk1. The point motors are still attached using Velcro (and I've added a couple screws to secure the point motors). The point motors are not as well aligned as could be achieved using any ofthe jigs - but I don't have the resources (or the skills) to make either of the jigs above. Hope this helps someone. Edmund Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

The second application of pigment is AK Interactive Dark Earth. This has been used to represent areas of bodywork where rust is only just starting to show through the paintwork, and also to impart a dusty appearance to the whole model. Note that it has been used on some of the chromed areas (bumpers and hubcaps) to give the impression of rust taking hold. Application was achieved with the filbert brush. Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

Thought it was time to start up loads again for the humble engineers wagons. Having a few Dapol Grampie, odd bits of sleepers, old track ballast and some vegetation all went into the mix as a load. Heres some images of what can be achieved. Picked a kit built Cambrian OCA at a swapmeent for a princely sum of 3 quid which already had a load of sleepers, added a small amount of ballast and vegetation. There really easy to do and with a bit of imagination - and remember its your railway! Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

Here is my track-plan of the new Aberffraw layout, made using AnyRail 5: based on the initial rough sketch map I created earlier in the blog: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1889/entry-21674-he-we-go-with-a-bit-of-background-history/ Please read my other blog posts in order to understand the fictional history of the line. View the full article

Another long overdue update and to be honest not a great deal has happened with the layout itself it remains in store at home. I did get round to removing the legs and intended to rework these to make them longer by adding extention pieces to raise the overall height of the layout nearer to the 40 inch mark. Just need to make that trip to the local wood shop... I have been fortunate to have inherited an old kitchen table to use as a workbench that my partner wants me to use. This has allowed me to do more work on the existing buildings and newly acquired Walthers kits to expand the quarry structures as needed and bash the kit parts around. So progress has been made on that front.. photos to follow. On the rolling stock front I made a decision to standardise on Bachmann 37s and to this end have acquired some additional models to enable me to model all of the Buxton allocated 37/5 fleet with some visiting classmates. I still need to source a sector grey Hornby 60 to enable 60011 to be modelled in Construction livery. Sadly some of my Hornby 31s have perished due to that damm mazak rot $#!+ grrr!! I've said it on the thread surely some 3d whizz could knock up a replacement chassis so you could swop them over?? Although freight stock dominates the layout I have managed to acquire a Bachmann BR blue grey class 101 to run with my class 108 on a proposed railtour rambler... oh and a Dapol 122 bubblecar for route learning. A short railtour rake of Mk1s and 2s will follow.. As for the wagons.. still no progress on doing my PGAs need to get going on the Portrait cutter for those to make the bodies. The Hatton's/Oxford Rail I.C.I. Hoppers have been well received and I have a happy quantity of these for use on the layout. I am tinkering with these to add in missing detail on them to make them suitable for my 1989-1991 time period. They seem to have had a lot of stick over the weathered versions and yes it wasn't what had been shown but me being me I have put my money where my mouth is and brought a good quantity of them. I don't know what will happen next given that the last 2 models of the planned 20 were cancelled/not produced and no proper explanation from Hatton's on that which is a shame. I have a hunch that OR will release them again at a higher price soon. Having waited a long time since the old solid resin models for a decent model to be produced there was no way I was going to let these pass. I have a liking for oddball wagons so have some MEAs to backdate to the trio of SJAs.. yes I know they never made it to the real Buxton area but it is my layout so rule one and all that. I am mulling over getting a pair of Kernow PRA models again for a what if scenario once they had finished in clay traffic a pair were trialled in lime traffic.. Likewise the Accurascale PCAs are very tempting as well.. especially the STS grey ones they would look rather nice under the powdered cement silo loader I have built.. So lots to do. Yes my modelling mojo isn't quite on full throttle so I will just have to do what I can. If anyone knows of a secure rent free well lit dust free workshop in Hazel Grove or Northwich let me know min 20 ft long lol. No planned outings for the layout it needs a lot more scenic work doing on it to get it anywhere exhibition standards. Cheers for now Paul View the full article

I have decide to part with my half built Swiss HOm layout as seen in the pictures and as featured on this blog sometime ago. If anyone is interested please contact me via RMWeb email for further details and to discuss the matter. The layout is to be found in Exeter and can be viewed or collected from there, subject to arrangement. Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

Well 2018 was a very quiet year for Junction Dock - I did precisely nothing! No, sorry, I take that back - I fitted one piece of ~A4 card to complete the curved back scene in, I think, April... Club commitments, and 12-inch-foot commitments, mean I've not done much 'home modelling' this year. I have had fun with a few wagon kits, so I thought I'd round out the year by posing them in front of the half-finished 'goods shed' on Junction dock. From left to right, an LNER Fruit; mostly done, awaiting more weathering, a GWR V16 Mink; awaiting a second go at decals, and weathering; an LNER 5 plank open, awaiting details, decals and weathering, an LMS 3 plank awaiting a general going over and tarting up. All are parkside(-dundas) kits. The buildings behind need detailing and the roofs sticking on! Pushing the wagons about was useful - the trackwork is simply not good enough. I have serious gauge narrowing at the tips of the point blades (all hand filed, probably not finely enough, and with not enough set), the steps between sections are very noticeable, and the turnout mechanisms aren't positive enough. This is the real reason I've not done anything on the layout for a while - the fear that the fundamentals are not quite good enough... That and the terror at trying to cover the entire lot in scribed DAS setts! My initial idea - misguided I now realised - was that I could mask my first attempt at trackwork in setts. The ugly soldering, lack of chairs, mis-shapen sleepers etc would all be hidden. Of course the opposite is true - if you're going to encase your trackwork in clay, you'd better be damned sure it is up to snuff first! So I think Junction Dock needs some serious rework on the fundamentals. A shift of EM is appealing, given I feel I'm unlikely ever to have/want a big empire populated by a stable of RTR stock. Perhaps after a year dormant the project should be marked 'DNR' and I should consider something more classical? The good news from 10 minutes of pushing wagons is that I do still like the concept of the layout, and can see what I want. So perhaps it is not DNR but WIFLI - When I Feel Like It ! After all, the rest of life is stressful enough there really is no point getting worried about a lack of progress with little trains :- Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

As the weekend is upon us, railway work can commence again. I have drawn up a rough plan of what I'm thinking of... I was unsure of a secondary road bridge along line AA so any thoughts and comments would be much appreciated. View the full article

Today, my DCC Concepts order arrived - so it was time to fit the bodyside indicators. I have used DCC Concepts MicroLights - these are pre-wired LED's measuring less than 1mm in either direction. I could have used any surface mount LED but the benefit of them being pre-wired is a necessity for me at this size! I bought a 0.5mm drill to make a hole for the wires to pass through and just stuck the LED on the surface with Loctite. Not a great photo at the moment - My wife took the photo while I held the wires against my multimeter. Still en-route is the two speakers and the Howes sound decoder, I still have to decide on the LEDs used to fit head & tail lights. I also ordered some 1.6mm 'Butterfly' LEDs which I am planning to use for cab and passenger lights. I'm currently waiting for a new soldering iron before I construct a stripboard 'roof unit' which will contain all resistors for the cab, saloon and BIL lights - when I have this along with the decoder I'll be able to take some better photos! Then I just need to think about micro plugs to connect the two units. Does anyone know how I can insert more than one photo into a blog post? Fred View the full article

<p>It's been a while since I updated my blog but we haven't been idle. Chris has made two Power Boxes one for the scenic side and a Booster box for the Storage sidings. Each contain a Maplins X21M Power unit, PSX circuit breakers, a DCC Concepts 12v Power supply PSU2 and NCE Units - a 5amp command unit in the main box and a Booster in the other. They do look rather smart.</p><p> </p><p> <br />Main Power Box</p><p> </p><p> <br />Booster Box</p><p> </p><p> Engine Shed Sidings now has a panel for the turnouts which controls the Fishponds banker siding and the south exit from the engine shed</p><p> </p><p> <br />Engine Shed Sidings Panel</p><p> </p><p> Chris has done a brilliant job with both Power boxes and the panels and is currently building the Lawrence Hill Junction Panel. When complete and fitted the scenic side of the layout will be fully operational. Both Panels are designed as an interim measure whilst a decision on the design of signalling the layout is made.</p><p> </p><p> The track in the storage sidings is now complete with the addition of 16 Peco EM buffer stops on the dead end sidings.<br /></p><p> </p><p> Here are a few photos of the completed sidings. My next task is the complete the wiring on the storage boards.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><div id='attach_wrap' class='rounded clearfix'> <h4>Attached thumbnail(s)</h4> <ul> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21796]' id='ipb-attach-url-1096872-0-19993700-1546625522' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-6970-0-64485100-1546624321.jpg"title="IMG_20190104_141647692.jpg - Size: 294.94KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-6970-0-64485100-1546624321_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-1096872-0-19993700-1546625522' style='width:800;height:600' class='attach' width="800" height="600" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21796]' id='ipb-attach-url-1096873-0-21658600-1546625522' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-6970-0-99691900-1546624359.jpg"title="IMG_20190104_141704346.jpg - 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Size: 267.26KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-6970-0-14415600-1546625305_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-1096893-0-21693900-1546625522' style='width:600;height:800' class='attach' width="600" height="800" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21796]' id='ipb-attach-url-1096894-0-21697900-1546625522' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-6970-0-69849100-1546625337.jpg"title="IMG_20190104_151043800.jpg - Size: 271.45KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-6970-0-69849100-1546625337_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-1096894-0-21697900-1546625522' style='width:600;height:800' class='attach' width="600" height="800" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21796]' id='ipb-attach-url-1096897-0-21701800-1546625522' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-6970-0-17506000-1546625430.jpg"title="IMG_20190104_151133254.jpg - Size: 335.05KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-6970-0-17506000-1546625430_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-1096897-0-21701800-1546625522' style='width:600;height:800' class='attach' width="600" height="800" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> </ul> </div> View the full article

I have got on fairly well with some free time over new year. The last difficult bit of the body was getting the roof soldered on neatly and adding the cab handrails. The spectacles were giving me a bit of grief, and awkward thing to form in brass. So I stopped and thought about it. 10 minutes later I had enough to do a fleet of engines thanks to the silhouette. The dome and chimney from the DJH kit fettled up reasonably, safety valve and whistle are from Caley coaches. So next step chassis. Calculate the shims needed, carefully clean and paint the frames first. Rear wheels and gearbox in without problems and nicely square. I sometimes find quartering problematic but this one required very little adjustment. The backscratcher pickups are from my bits box of very small springy contacts taken from old electronics. they actually are double contacts but are only the width of the rear of the flange. So, put it under the body and stick it on the track. This is where you normally find the coupling rods foul at the top of their travel, but lo, it ran. This is a dry run, not even oiled it yet. A bit grainy wthj me just holding the camera, but it gives the general idea. Most of the tender is done too, getting there . Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

Although I have complained about the Hattons/DJM mechanism and chassis at length, I have never had any major criticisms of the body on this model and this remains the case, apart from the fact that you have to dismantle the body, in order to get the Hattons/DJM motor out, without resorting to the use of a mains Dremel. The level of detailing is very fine and some of the components are, by their very nature, somewhat delicate. The pipe runs along the edge of the footplate are a case in point. The pipes themselves are formed of steel rod, which is rather unyielding as is usually the case with steel. The end of the steam heating pipe, which runs along the left-hand edge of the footplate, actually fits into a corresponding hole in the rear of the plastic steam pipe moulding, which comes in a small bag for the owner to fit themselves. The steel rods are held in place along the edge of the footplate by small plastic clips, which are the vulnerable component here. The steam heating pipe on my model needed to be bent back slightly, in order not to place too much pressure on the plastic steam pipe (which you have to glue onto the buffer beam, fortunately Butanone seems to work OK for this). When bending this steel rod back a little, it popped out of the leading plastic clip on the side of the footplate, which in any case had, I suspect, been compromised during previous work on the loco. As a result, the plastic clip was broken and wouldn't hold the pipe securely any longer. My solution to this was what I have done before, when fitting similar pipework to kitbuilt locos. Two 0.5mm holes were drilled into the side of the footplate valancing, one on top of the other and by necessity, very close together. 0.5mm is somewhat too large but with a smaller drill, there is an increased risk of the drill breaking off, which wouldn't have been very helpful. Both holes are hidden behind the pipework when all is done, in any case. The first thing is then to epoxy a short length of 5 amp fuse wire into the top hole, having previously drawn the wire through some fine wet & dry paper to roughen the surface up to key to the glue: The top 0.5mm hole just goes right into the plastic of the footplate moulding, to a depth of about 5mm, enough to let the epoxy hold the fuse wire nicely. This is left to harden overnight. The next stage is to use a fine pair of tweezers to feed the other end of the fuse wire into the lower hole. This lower hole emerges on the underside of the footplate moulding. The fuse wire is then carefully pulled taught and some more epoxy applied to the underside of the footplate: The result looks like this - the fuse wire forms a very small little loop, that holds the steel steam pipe run in place and will disappear when dabbed with a black permanent marker or a bit of black paint: Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

The Dullcote has presented a nice matt surface for the next stage - pigment application. The aim is to use two colours to represent various rust tones. Well, two, at least! The first one is MIG Productions Track Brown, now marketed as Abteilung 502 Track Rust. It is used here to augment the rust spots by creating a larger rusty area with surface rust just starting. Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

<p>As a break from plywood engineering (and a cold garage) I decided to do a bit of work on my 'Friday evening project', my 4mm Crownline etched kit for a J20. The engine itself is coming along nicely and is waiting for its day in the wheel shops soon. So I thought it would be a good time to work on the tender. Crownline kits are 'a bit old school' so the chassis makes no allowances for springing/compensation. I cut out the chassis etch to fit High Level 2mm bearings and these are sprung using wire and handrail knobs following the continuous springy beam style.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> GER tenders had a 6" flare at the top and the etch needed to be bent to make this. I made a up little jig using a couple of bits of ply and some hard brass rod. This has a 'gate' which the bottom of the tender side rests against to ensure that the bar is parallel with the top of the tender. The brass used by Crownline is quite thick by modern standards and I had to resort to a small hammer to bend the flare over.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> The tender rear was similarly treated there being a gap in the 'gate' on the jig to allow for the tab which locates the tender rear in the foot plate.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> Work on the tender was fairly straight-forward though there were some times when asbestos fingers would have been useful. Getting the long joints to tack solder, then align, then make the joint clean and solid was the order of the day. The old rule about keeping everything clean being most important.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> The only part with a high 'F-factor' was the lamp iron brackets at the rear which were extremely fiddly. Also the photographs and plans showed a third knob in the middle of the handrail on the rear which had no hold etched for it on the part.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> I'm pretty happy with the result, There needed to be more solder used as filler than I'd would have liked around where the top of the tender joins the sides but I think it hasn't cleaned up too badly and will be hidden under a good coating of coal dust and grime. I've still got to finish off all the front part of the tender and make up toolboxes etc but I'm happy with the progress.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> I know the J20 was a bit of a beast to be going down the Stour Valley but Rule 1 will be applied. I quite fancy a diverted coal train!</p><p> </p><p> David</p><div id='attach_wrap' class='rounded clearfix'> <h4>Attached thumbnail(s)</h4> <ul> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21792]' id='ipb-attach-url-1096649-0-74592200-1546565506' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-35147300-1546563277.jpg"title="IMG_6786a.jpg - Size: 842.29KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-35147300-1546563277_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-1096649-0-74592200-1546565506' style='width:800;height:592' class='attach' width="800" height="592" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21792]' id='ipb-attach-url-1096650-0-75616400-1546565506' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-19429300-1546563464.jpg"title="IMG_6784a.jpg - Size: 734.2KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-19429300-1546563464_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-1096650-0-75616400-1546565506' style='width:800;height:597' class='attach' width="800" height="597" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21792]' id='ipb-attach-url-1096651-0-75621500-1546565506' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-42457600-1546563478.jpg"title="IMG_6782a.jpg - Size: 809.13KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-42457600-1546563478_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-1096651-0-75621500-1546565506' style='width:800;height:559' class='attach' width="800" height="559" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21792]' id='ipb-attach-url-1096652-0-75625700-1546565506' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-62114800-1546563710.jpg"title="IMG_6787a.jpg - Size: 286.07KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-62114800-1546563710_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-1096652-0-75625700-1546565506' style='width:800;height:600' class='attach' width="800" height="600" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21792]' id='ipb-attach-url-1096653-0-75629700-1546565506' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-28261200-1546563725.jpg"title="IMG_6788a.jpg - Size: 737.55KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-28261200-1546563725_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-1096653-0-75629700-1546565506' style='width:800;height:591' class='attach' width="800" height="591" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21792]' id='ipb-attach-url-1096654-0-75635100-1546565506' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-16598900-1546564061.jpg"title="IMG_6789a.jpg - Size: 266.83KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-7212-0-16598900-1546564061_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-1096654-0-75635100-1546565506' style='width:800;height:600' class='attach' width="800" height="600" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> </ul> </div> View the full article

King Tiger 104 at Bovington in 2017 during the Tiger Collection Display The King Tiger, Germany's Final major Tank Development, combining the Tiger I and Panther, this combined the very best, using this Tiger's Armour with the Panther's Sloped Armour. This tank made all Allied tanks in the field look like toys and the King Tiger almost In penetrable from the front. These are a few selected Tanks Fielded by the nations fighting the war in France & Belgium) British Forces: Comet - Late 1944 Only - Medium Tank Cromwell - Medium Tank Centaur - Medium Tank with Cromwell with Howitzer fitted Churchill Mk VII - Heavy Tank Sherman - Medium Tank Sherman Firefly- Medium Tank fitted with British 17pdr Gun the only gun that could take on German Tanks from range. Achilles (Wolverine) - Tank Destroyer US Forces: Sherman - Medium Tank Wolverine - Tank Destroyer Hellcat - Tank Destroyer & Recon Tank Jackson - Tank Destroyer Chaffee - Recon German Forces King Tiger/Tiger II - Heavy Tank Panther - Medium Tank (Heavy Tank by Allied standards) Tiger I - Heavy Tank Panzer IV - Medium Tank Jagd Panther - Heavy Tank Destroyer/ Assult Gun The Germans out gunned everything even the Firefly... So because of my interest building Tanks from the past and so far I've built 3 WW1 Tanks (Two British 1 German) - 2 Cold War Tanks (Centurion & Chieftain) and the Sherman FURY (American ww2) from the film Fury, I thought I'd build a tank from WW2 from the German side of the conflict: So at Christmas, I was kindly given this Kit of the German King Tiger Tank by MENG in 1/35 Scale. This kit is nothing short but amazing, the quality of the molding is astounding, the kit has had molded into the plastic as if it was properly cast, showing the pitting and rough edges that metal would gain when going through the casting process. Furthermore, the kit has been gas cut out of the steel and the welding marks where it has been put together by the men in the factories (Yes Men not Women - It was deemed un-womenly if the women went into the factories so German Men built and fought in their tanks). The Modeling News - Photograph How is it going to look? History for King Tiger 105 The Tank I intend to do is the King Tiger No.105 as part of the Kompanie SS - Pz, Abt 501 K-G Peiper which was commanded by Obersturmführer Jürgen Wessel, on the 18th of November 1944 (Two Day's into the Battle of the bulge) A formation of King Tigers were moving towards Stavelot in Belgium roughly 107 Miles from Antwerp (The German's Target of the whole operation) The town at the time was held by the American's. A Wolverine Tank knocked out the lead tank (No. 105) 88mm gun, the commander Wessel moved the column along another road which was parallel to the main road, at which point it is believed something spooked the German commander, forcing the tank to retreat, the tank smashed into a house and the gearbox of the tank was destroyed. Following this Commander Wessel jumped onto the second tank King Tiger No. 132 in the column and directed the Tank to the threat, which is believed was destroyed. The Tank Column moved forwards to Antwerp leaving King Tiger 105. After the battle, the tank was found by the American's when these photos were taken. These photos have been so reliable I've been able to work out what camouflage pattern & style that Tiger 105 carried, in addition to this I've been able to work out the German RAL Colour Schemes. Thankfully German Tanks in 1944 tended to carry only 3 different colours as part of the Camo they carried and German Tanks Tended to be quite personalized as the Sand Coat was applied in the factory & the crews themselves applied the rest of the camouflage as it depended on the area in which they were fighting. In this case, Tiger 105 was in a form of the German Ambush Camouflage but having white dots, dotted around the tank to act as snow. To aid the camouflaging of the tank when trying to avoid Allied Recon or Ground Attack Aircraft. German Camouflage Numbering Scheme: RAL 7028 - Sand Basecoat RAL 6003 - Dark Green RAL 8017 - Red Brown So using the photo's I've managed to come up with these photos for the Camo scheme that the tank will carry, further to that I bought some Decals from Star Military Decals via Hannnetts which they have various types of Tanks which modelers can do. In this case, I had the choice of doing 3 King Tigers 2 with the Zimmerit Armour plating and 1 without this being King Tiger 105 and the reason why the whole journey began. So after all that in the next part I'm going to cover the Sprews & the beginning of the kit build, so until next time happy modeling. Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

<p>The application of rusty areas is now finished. Some of the more obvious blobs of wash have been either removed or significantly diminished in appearance. Simple wiping with a damp (white spirit) rigger brush, holding the bristles as flat to the surface as possible, will achieve this. The model was left to dry for an hour or so (measured in coffee consumption at the rate of one every 30 minutes) and then given a generous coat of Testor's Dullcote from an aerosol can. This part of the process achieves two things - it protects the wash finish in subsequent stages and removes the high gloss shine of the paint finish.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <br />No masking was done. The whole model was covered.</p><div id='attach_wrap' class='rounded clearfix'> <h4>Attached thumbnail(s)</h4> <ul> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21791]' id='ipb-attach-url-1096344-0-89297900-1546529526' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-2194-0-96337100-1546528951.jpg"title="IMG_7855_Cropped.JPG - Size: 127.88KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-2194-0-96337100-1546528951_thumb.jpg" id='ipb-attach-img-1096344-0-89297900-1546529526' style='width:800;height:399' class='attach' width="800" height="399" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> </ul> </div> View the full article

<p>Seems like an eternity, but the Christmas break gave me a push to do something. A strip of LEDs is hanging over it at the moment while I decide on how to mount it permanently. Christmas delivered several workers for the allotment and waste ground, so they received a quick wash along with the pigs and took up residence.. I saw the frame for the warehouse crane while browsing and decided that it was the way forward and I’ve just knocked it up after tea. Away for a few days so the painting will have to wait. Managed to finally pick up some plastic for the drainpipes as well, so these will now move forward. Looking at it now, some of the paper is beginning to come away, so an hour with a very fine brush is needed. The factory has gained a chimney, and the area to its left will gain a crane, based on Daisyfield overhead by combining the ratio overhead traversing crane and a converted lamp hut. I picked up the Metcalfe fire station as well, with a bit of modification I’m hoping it will help fill along the back.<br /><br /><br /><br /></p><p> </p><p> Happy new year all, thanks for looking.</p><div id='attach_wrap' class='rounded clearfix'> <h4>Attached thumbnail(s)</h4> <ul> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21787]' id='ipb-attach-url-1095922-0-64622100-1546459910' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-25997-0-08318200-1546458192.jpeg"title="4B76BFFD-EA1B-4F6A-8926-1AB911FC6840.jpeg - Size: 236.35KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-25997-0-08318200-1546458192_thumb.jpeg" id='ipb-attach-img-1095922-0-64622100-1546459910' style='width:800;height:598' class='attach' width="800" height="598" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21787]' id='ipb-attach-url-1095926-0-65673100-1546459910' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-25997-0-67224100-1546458455.jpeg"title="D2EC8F3B-D9A1-489F-8EC5-66487F8339A8.jpeg - Size: 308.2KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-25997-0-67224100-1546458455_thumb.jpeg" id='ipb-attach-img-1095926-0-65673100-1546459910' style='width:800;height:598' class='attach' width="800" height="598" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21787]' id='ipb-attach-url-1095927-0-65677900-1546459910' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-25997-0-03650000-1546458503.jpeg"title="588AD13B-FCB4-4C29-9FF2-740D1F904C83.jpeg - Size: 241.57KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-25997-0-03650000-1546458503_thumb.jpeg" id='ipb-attach-img-1095927-0-65677900-1546459910' style='width:800;height:598' class='attach' width="800" height="598" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> <li class=''> <a class='resized_img' rel='lightbox[21787]' id='ipb-attach-url-1095928-0-65681900-1546459910' href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-25997-0-98843300-1546458575.jpeg"title="39E8825E-1E70-437E-BF53-A3DD08577D0E.jpeg - Size: 290.01KB, Downloads: 0"><img src="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_01_2019/blogentry-25997-0-98843300-1546458575_thumb.jpeg" id='ipb-attach-img-1095928-0-65681900-1546459910' style='width:800;height:598' class='attach' width="800" height="598" alt="Attached Image" /></a> </li> </ul> </div> View the full article

For some time now I have been meaning to have a go with a microbrush. I'm sure they've been on sale for years, and been used by thousands of modellers for all sorts of useful things, but I've never had a go. Until now. By applying a very small amount of wash from the tip of the rigger brush, I was able to just about colour the tiny bristles of the microbrush. The tip was then poked carefully at areas of the car where I thought rust would form. I have no photograph of a rusty SunbeamTalbot 90 to work from, so have guessed where the rust might form by recalling all the work I had to do when 'fixing' my own cars all those years ago. You can see where my guesswork placed the rust in this photograph, and if anybody knows that it's in the wrong place(s) then please let me know. Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article

Hi all - well its been 6 months almost since the last update and as usual progress has been glacial. I did finish off the 517 - at least I thought I had - but running problems meant I had to disassemble it and do some mods on the chassis. Its still awaiting testing. I did make some progress on the scenery All the buldings are scalscenes or cut and paste version of their kits. The buildings are only places at the moment so are not all "level", in addition the mirrors at the rear are only temporary and have film over them to protect them. So have a "gott nytt år" as they say in these parts and here is to a good modelling year in 2019. Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article