Mikkel

Many thanks Paul, I think I'll order this one and see if its any good.

You’re right Paul, as Blackadder and many others have proven. But with the “war and peace” title I was drawing a parallel between the real war and the everyday battles we all face. Then I read up on WW1 and was reminded just how gruesome it was, and the parallel suddenly seemed a bit academic and inappropriate. I also felt I was getting in a bit over my head. It’s only model railways after all :-)

Maybe in Harris' GW Coaches? On page 35, he writes first about the experimental all-brown livery painted on some coaches "shortly after" 1902. He says this may have been the old Windsor brown, but refers to it as a "chocolate lake" that "would probably" have been a form of "madder lake". He then goes on to mention the 1908-1912 all-brown, which he says "was described [by whom?] as a chocolate-lake". He then says "From 1912, a much deeper shade of chocolate was used for the basic scheme". By this latter statement I expect he means the crimson lake - quite confusing! I must admit I tend to rely more on the HMRS livery book, as I am not sure Harris (whose book is otherwise very good, I think) was a livery expert. Interesting! I wouldn't have thought it was possible to smell with all the other smells on a foot-plate. But you are right about the slow speed, that might have made it possible. And here I was thinking that T.F. Oberon had a unique skill :-) Thanks for pointing that out. It made me read the Wikipedia entry here. Fascinating. The section on "Procurement" claims that horses under 15 hands were allowed to stay home (so the children didn't loose their ponies!). In the comments to an earlier entry we have established that Mr Bull's champion is a yearling of limited height. Hardly below 15 hands (!) but knowing Mr Bull he just might try something! ;-)

OK thanks Ian, I'll follow your experiments with interest. Must look up Limonene.

Brilliant name for a pub!

That really looks the business. I especially like the edging to the pit, and the duckboards. Must have been time consuming, but really worth it. Looking at your avatar reminds me I must order some Conti Comp tubes for this summer. I understand Cav uses them, so they should meet my standards too :-)

Yes, best not compare with Tolstoy! Especially as War and Peace is in 4 volumes... Mind you, he also changed the title, it was originally named "1805" (I did not know these things, but Google is our friend). In retrospect I agree about the weeds etc by the buffer stop. Since this is an area visible to passengers, it would probably have been kept free of such things during this time. The 517 number confusion was a typo - now corrected. Thanks for pointing it out. I'm afraid there's nothing ingenious about the stairs. They originally came from a kit, in two parts (stairs and sides). I think it was this one. PS: Noone has commented on the driver's ability to smell a hot axle box from the footplate. I was only joking - I don't suppose you could do that in reality?

You're clearly on a roll, Frank (ouch!). Congratulations on the last shot, it's a fantastic centerpiece.

That middle one has a very lifelike bark texture. Great stuff!

Hi Paul. That hand vice looks sturdy and good quality. Can I ask what brand it is?

Ta :-) Mike, the s/h stock was mostly collected over many years back in the 90s and early 2000s when opportunities arose - from shops, fellow modellers or via ebay. Then I started building things myself, so not sure what other options than ebay exist these days. Still some stock in the drawer that needs restoring though. Robin, it would be fun if several layouts on RMweb shared potted histories and stories. A sort of modular approach but applied to stories rather than layout modules :-) Jonte, no videos planned just now, must get some real modelling done :-)

I like photo 2 as well. It's difficult to take the picture because of the angle, so it cost a bit of swearing. The grass are the sticky Silflor tufts, I toned them down a bit I think. On the issue of GWR lake, the rather brownish shade of the horsebox in picture 4 is a bit unfair to the actual colour, which is better reflected in photo 3. The latter I think is OK for the lake colour? It's similar to this example. The horsebox is from a D&S etched kit of diagram N4, introduced 1887. No longer available I think? As mentioned it was built by Pete Morris many years ago, possibly for his Drefach Felindre layout (not sure). It is due for a repaint into earlier GWR brown soon (I think the number needs changing, 475 doesn't appear in the lists I have).

Actually I'm not sure where this is going :-) Just thought it would be nice to explore the idea of a continued story. I've changed the original title though. It occurred to me that war is not an appropriate topic for a bit of light amusement. Granted :-) These days no doubt he would have sued the company! I'm sure he would welcome you. After working hours, mind! :-)

Hi Ian, good to see progress on this. What I like about boxfiles is that they are so approachable - no complex woodwork and associated risk of "modeller's block", it's just a matter of grabbing a knife and cutting into them. I wasn't sure what you meant about the tunnel effect, until I saw the last shot. Quite effective. Maybe I should try the depron as underlay next time. The 5mm neoprene that I've used before has a tendency to get hard and therefore noisy when stuck down with PVA. What glue have you used for the depron?

Thanks gents :-) This is the result of another bout of "out of period" operation (normally it's 1906-1907). I don't have much lake-liveried stock, but fortunately with a small layout like this not much is needed. Mr Bull's overbearing look was accentuated recently, when he fell to the floor from his normal position at the front of the platform. He literally lost his head, and when I put it back on he somehow looked even more arrogant than before :-)

Farthing, June 27, 1914. Europe is on the brink of war, but noone knows. The staff go about their morning routines, and No. 835 sleepily shunts a horsebox. Station Master A. Woodcourt examines the scene. He likes the order and calm of the bay area. He is feeling his age and hopes it will be a quiet day. But it is not to be. As he propels the horsebox into the sidings, driver T.F. Oberon notices a problem. Throughout his life with the railways, he has been able to smell a hot axlebox. And he can smell one now. As the "hot box" is confirmed, Woodcourt realizes he has a problem on his hands. There is a major event at the Farthing Race Course today, and there are no spare horseboxes to deploy. To make matters worse, the owner of the horse turns out to be the rather brusque and imposing Mr Bull. As Bull launches into yet another of his long-winded complaints about the state of the country's railways, Woodcourt realizes it is going to be one of those days... *** Credits: Horsebox built by Pete Morris. *** Will Woodcourt solve the problem? Will the horse make it in time for the races? What else is in store for the good people of Farthing? Find the answers in the next instalment of "All in a day's work"... Go to part 2

That vertical boiler looks pretty much like the vertical tumble dryers they have in laundromats. Are you sure you've got the right kit? Jokes aside, it looks really good Nick, quite a beast! Must have required some fiddly soldering...

Lovely. The outside light shows off the brick colour shade really well - not to mention the quality of your work!

Looks like an excellent build. Delicious-looking flywheel, no doubt the running qualities will be worth the trouble with the firebox and backhead etc. Very much agree about painted domes, they don't look half as good as turned brass ones. Problem is the latter seem so hard to find these days.

Nice design there. The layout seems to have a fair amount of green already (shed, grass, stock), so maybe the black or grey would set if off better? Bncpete has applied the dark grey to rather nice effect - although not quite with a fascia like you have here. I think I'd vote for the black in this case.

Station building looks a treat. Your skills with card are brilliant Pete. Fingers itching to weather it. Enjoy :-)

I've also been enjoying these builds, Paul. These are fascinating wagons and your modelling is very neat. I like the detail with the hinges, even if only you (and us!) will notice its there.

Good to see Loose Ends again, Nick! And glad to hear you've managed to get closure on the warping disaster :-) That BG track looks very tempting, very nice ballasting too. I assume the wagon is one of the BGS offerings?

Many thanks for sharing this Knuckles, following your entries and the helpful comments is extremely useful for us newcomers to this. Yes I've learnt the hard ward way to use the bluectack trick. Takes a little getting used to though: Having fixed the bottle with bluetack I came back later and wanted to move it: "Hm, why is it stuck to the table? - must pull hard to get it loose - oops!".