sixteen 12by 10s

It has been a few weeks since I reported about my problem, but the shrink says I'm doing well..... up's, wrong forum . The last few entries I made were about the deliberation of what type of  fiddle yard to build. In the end I decided on a “Denny†type full turntable. Now at last I have a fully functional layout, time for a full test run. I had proposed to set it up in the front room, and the domestic authorities had not give me permission for this. Anyway, a railway modeling friend had offered the use of his garage, for a test exhibition, now I had a big debate, set up in the front room and suffer the consequences, or set up in my mates garage and have the p!** took out of me. So i booked a day off work and went ahead with the front room plan. When Mr Gary came home from work she was very pleased to see my creation in it's full glory.....The words were “ what's this bloody thing doing hereâ€, look at the mess on the carpet, what's happened to the curtains.....why aren't there any trains running. It has cost me, but with a bit of a demonstration, i am forgiven, with conditions, tidy of the yard, fix the fence, clean the car, what's cleaning the car? Back to the modeling, i now have a long snagging list, but nothing major. A Bit of wiring in the fiddle yard to sort out., and a few problems with the Sprat and winkles, uncoupling automatically at random.While i had it set up i made a short video, it just needs editing and i will  post it for all to see. Set up in the lounge The completed fiddle yard

 I will only say two things on the latest photos 1, the Scottish light strikes again 2, “i woke up and it was 1985†Brilliant Gary

 Hi Dave, Mr Waverly west. What a superb study of 37043. I can just imagine myself sitting on that trolley with a four pack of Mcewans export, after a skin full in the Gildford arms. Pure atmosphere. Gary

Claggy, any flack of the other half, just tell her this “those trains don’t run by themselves†(and then duck) “its dead serious stuff this running a railway†preparer for the arrival of the divorce papers! Gary

Hi That'll have the bashers tearing up the TOPs list, and running to the nearest phone box to phone  a friend  in control. Dunrobin Castle Lives! Gary

Hi Russ Welcome back to cyber model land, glad that the interweb has reach the wilderness of Argyle. Thanks for the comments, I have missed them over the last few months. Have you tried the ones from the chippy in George street Oban, take the wallet with you, but there good!. Stuck at work at the moment, but will drop you a PM when I get home. Gary

Hi Keeping my eye on the great broom and gorse debate, i can't tell the difference. I will get Mrs Gary involved in this one, she enjoys messing with the compost and flowers, and knows these things. I have had a go at modeling the stuff, so far carpet underlay and wire wool have failed,hanging basket liner next. Just had a look at the map. If you had been able to traverse the line in the eighty's, i wonder what the Ardlui to Inverarey section would have been like with an Eastfeild 37 on the front. Gary

Hi Dave How on earth do you model the Scottish light,  it just brings out the definition, on you wonderfully models. Give my regard to Zontar Gary

 Hi all  Bill, have not tried draw runners but i was thinking along the same lines, can't see why not. Since my last post i have been having a big think, and been measuring what will fit in the car. The layout was designed to fit on the back seat, 1050mm in total length. If i built a traverser with loco release the length would work out as follows. 970mm  3 coaches and a class 37 ( this is also the distance from the stop block to the starter signal) and 250mm each end for the release. This all adds up to 1470mm or no where for the passenger to sit in the car. Now if i did a U turn (pardon the pun  ) and used a turn table fiddle yard, the deck could be removable, and the base made just longer than center line of the TT, so the longest piece of the yard for transport would be 970mm.With this in mind it looks like the turn table has it. The only worrying thing is the ability to drive a train of the end. On a previous layout i guarded against this, by having end protectors the were electrically interlocked with the track.I will give it to the weekend before i make the final decision. GaryÂ

Hi folks The Glen is now in the advanced stages now with only scenic detailing and a few bits of stock to sort out. I have got one big decision to make, my trains have no where to run too and from, beyond the hole in the back scene, the rest of the world dose not exist, Ok i need a fiddle yard. Over the years i have used i think every variation possible except for cassettes, they all have there good and bad points. I have found that if any damage is to be done to the stock it is invariably when handling it. So this leaves me with a few possibility. A four road turn table (Denny style), these take up a lot of space but completely avoid handling. The train formations change direction each time. A four road traverser with loco release at each end. No handling but add on the length of a loco at each end. Cassettes, no direct handling, danger of dropping a complete unit, storage of units, track alignment. At the moment my preferences are ether a traverser or the cassettes. Comments please Gary

Hi Claggy Great sound, lots of thrash. If the 374s are the same as the 50s (and i am kicking myself for not having the drawings to hand) when the ETH is switched on, an air valve opens putting about 8Psi on the regulating air, thus the idling revs will increase. Gary

Hi again Mike Thanks for the PM I was a bit disappointed with the results of the sound fitted Bachmann 37. I was personally involved in acquiring the sample used and we put a great deal of effort in to getting it right. (and we had great fun thrashing 37190 doing so) I have read it somewhere, probably on this forum, that the problem is the size and position of the speaker. I will have one myself shortly to play with so I will see how I get on. I have just fitted two units to my class 26 and 27. I have managed to get a 40mm by 20mm speaker in the fuel tank, and the effects are so good that my other half complains about the noise a floor above. Now who’s going to get a sound decoder in a seagull! Hope the berthing trial of the Heb goes well Gary

Putting a price on a model. A well built O gauge 4-6-2 would go for about 1500 sqids, if thats any comparison. Try doing this, calculate the amount of hours, then times it by the UK minimum wage, i bet you have got more than 2K. Gary

Hi again These few snaps brightened up my day yesterday, as i pondered at work over another lot of  useless paperwork. I have had a second look today,at the flashback to the 80's. Now we are in a time of plastic units and imported characterless locos, Oh, to have a time machine. GaryÂ

Hi folks I am off on my travels again on Saturday, off to the Western Highlands and the outer Hebrides, were mobile phone signals cannot reach. (yippy) If any Scottish modellers need photographs of locations on the West Highland line (including the extension to Mallaig) or the Oban, Calendar line please let me know before Friday (14/05/2010) and I will see what I can do time, and the lady permitting. See you all soon, and I will try not to litter Rmweb with too many Cal Mac ferry photos on my return. Gary

Nice This captures the 1980s Scottish railway scene perfectly. Gary

Doesn’t a class 33 sounds like a cement mixer full of bricks? What makes a good sound file? I am under the suspicions that most of the samples are taken with the loco operating in a mode known as “engine onlyâ€. This allows the power unit to accelerate up to full speed without developing traction power. The result will be a very quick take up of revs and the volume will be reduced significantly. If you open a loco up in engine only, it will throttle the fuel up to raise the engine up to full speed, this will give an initial burst of volume as the unit gets itself up to speed, once it has reached its full speed, it will require very little fuel to keep it at full revs and the engine governor will have closed the fuel down to just enough as required. If a loco is on a load, I.E a heavy train, then the power controller will be opened up the engine will start to accelerate to max revs but the load of the generator will stop it doing so, the governor will put more fuel on to get to this position thus a bigger explosion in the cylinders, and more volume. Most of the recordings I have herd appear to have been made with the loco in engine only, of cause this is much more convenient because the loco is stationary. So all you producers of sound chips take note, any body interested in a spot of loadbank testing?. Gary

Hi Thanks for all you kind comments and it seems i have a lot of questions to answer. First of all. Mark, Mr Tatty The back scene. I must admit i had some help on the old forum from Chris Nevard and Russ,Mines a pint. I started of by taking a set of interlocking photos from the chosen location, in this case just outside the village of Glenuig. You need to get an average exposure, then lock it for the whole set of photos, five in all. I then used a program supplied with my Cannon camera called Photo stitch. This program automatically aligns the photos and merges them together to form a panoramic scene. After this the file was opened in Photo shop, in the zones where the stitching had taken place, the sky (or to the far extreme right, Skye (get the map book out)) needed blending in.When i was happy i then burnt the file onto a disk as a jpeg and off to the printers. The most difficult part was the 1000 mile round trip to get the shots in the first place! Mark MRDBLUE17 Coming soon, “Stirring in the Glen†a film of miniature Sulzers, and may be an English Electric loco. Exhibitions , well i have the first confirmed booking,and i will be attending my hometown show next year, Stourbridge on the 9th and 10th of April. Chris The “wreck†took its inspiration from one i found on my travels on the isle of Harris.It is made from plasticard and detailed with Mainly Trains etched rivet strip. The paint finish, started of with an overall coating of rusty color enamel, followed with dry brushing, and dabbing on muddy paint mixed with talc to get a textured finish. Hope all this helps Gary The Wreck

Things going on in the Glen Its been rather a long time since Glenuig made the first page, so i think its about time i gave an update. Next month it will have been a year since i sat outside the cottage on Skye gazing out towards Rum with my sketch pad, and put at the top of the page “Glenuig?†The build has slowed down from the early days, this has mainly being because i have been building some stock, and getting oily messing with real diesels. The big development has been the arrival of the specially commissioned backsceen, in the end, a local printers did it for 47 trainset tokens. Looking at the glare from it on the photos i think it shall get the mat varnish treatment shortly. I did the best with the photos i had, and am very pleased with the results. The layout has gone DCC, with sound, much to the annoyance of the lady of the house, who sits above the cellar and occasionally shouts down “it sounds like New Street bl*!!y Station here†i correct her, and shout back, “make that Queen Streetâ€. More of the DCC stuff soon. Gary The finished station building based on Arisaig Watch out for the wrinkles, the mat varnish is on the way An attempt at modelinga wreck, the “brown stuff†is the first go at the sea weed, kelp,or painted carpet felt. A Rugby tubular post WRsignal guards the entrance to the Glen

Hi Carl WOW Absolutely stunning, just wish Glenuig was big enough to take one of these ships. After seeing the latest photos yesterday, they prompted me to book myself on my next hebridean adventure. Off on Friday the 14/05/2010 bound for Skye via Mallaig, then off to north Uist, and finally returning via South Uist and Oban, I shall be taking the camera. Funny this, I used to chase 27s,26s, and 37,s round Scotland, but it seams that I am now “bashing†ferry’s. Not that it was planed or anything you must understand, the missus thought it was a nice weekend away, but my last trip was on 19/02/2010, when I did the 700 mile round trip and bumped into this one. Gary The Jupiter approaches Gourock

Hi Mark Good work, you are catching me up with your progress, i must head down the cellar and do some work on Glenuig!. Gary

Arrrr at last, a Large Logo machine, looks good and I would assume its a Bachmann sound fitted model. I have heard it said that the sound is not so good because of the speaker positioning under the rad fan grill. The sound sample was taken from another real West Highland Machine 37190 (37314). 37314 will be entertaining the crowds at the GCR diesel gala on the 17-18/04/2010. As for a suggestion for a more appropriate number, what about 37027 Loch Eil Love the station building a those chimneys have taken some work but the effect is a classy bit of modelling. Gary

Claggy Just found this while going through my photos 21/02/2010 Gary

Hi all Russ. A rummage through the scenery box has revealed what i think i used to grass up the siding. Mininature 004-23 autumn 4.5mm 004-21 spring 4.5mm Available from http://www.internationalmodels.net/ 1/76th scale midges now that a thought, they tell me its how Scotsman got to do the highland fling, by getting the little blighter's up there kilts!! Claggy, no shows booked yet, but i have approached a few exhibition managers in my area. I have not exhibited a layout for about 15 years and finding it difficult to get back in the scene. Any offers would be considered from about the middle of the year. During one of my lunch brakes, last week, while trying to ignore the disturbances, i found myself sketching Bridge of Orchy out and writing on the top “2mm fine scale, 1988†ummmm. Gary Just a few More photos

Hi Your doing well with that new camera, great shots of a supper model. You do know there was only 31, class 37's refurbished and fitted with ETH. Perhaps you should consider extending the subclass up to 37450, suitable names, Loch Caolisport, Mull of Kintyre, Isle of Jura, Isle of Islay,  and i think the ultimate would be “Gulf of Corryvreckanâ€. Anyone do custom etched plates?. Gary