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I know exactly what you mean Jon, it's the same for me. Hating doing the track for Whatley at the moment and getting distracted by everything and anything.

I'm liking the 85 on PTAs. Pity they didn't work to Whatley!

Looking great Jon. I know what you mean about the ectoplasm - totally over the top! What are your plans for removing it?

The problem with LED strips is that they look like what they are: lots of individual LEDs. What is needed is something that emits a "line of light" to emulate the fluorescent tubes of the prototype. The Maplin side-facing LEDs seem to be the best thing available to emulate this.

IIA looking good Jo! How about a rake?

Great work Dave, the stepped terraced houses really look the part!

I'm not sure that it does, as he is not criticising or reviewing the photograph, rather the subject of the photograph. Surely Martin's annotated photograph is an adaptation and thus an infringement within the scope of section 21? Although he might be let off the hook by section 32 as he has provided the image for the purposes of instruction on a non-commercial basis.

It's simple! For images, the following is the situation: 1) Inline linking of images (hot-linking) UK LEGAL POSITION - Probably permissible but no test case to date. Test cases in Germany and USA say it's legal. RMWEB POSITION - Only do it if permission has been granted in advance (e.g. Flickr, Smugmug etc) otherwise contact the copyright owner before doing it. 2) Copying images from one website to another website (e.g. flickr to rmweb) UK LEGAL POSITION - Illegal without permission from the copyright owner. RMWEB POSITION - Contact the copyright owner to get permission before doing it.

I should probably clarify: this has ONLY been proven with test cases under US and German law. I'm not aware of any test cases in the UK, but this is something that might happen at some point unless the UK government decides to legislate first. Vince Cable seems to be pro-active on this issue (although he doesn't explicitly mention inline linking and framing): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14384268

On the subject of inline linking of images, TallTim's point is the best one I've seen made, notably, there is no actual copying of the image, rather, a pointer to the image is placed on the page. The user's browser then downloads it directly to the browser cache from the originating site. Note that this has been tested in the US courts and found not to infringe copyright (read the wikipedia entry to find out more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inline_linking). On this basis, Google are allowed to inline link a full size image from their thumbnail page when you click on it. Inline linking of images is not a copyright infringement. Taking text from another website (e.g. product review) and reproducing on your site is a copyright infringement. Of course, whether any of this is a gentlemanly thing to do (or not) is open for debate!

Tamiya acrylic paint is ace!

I've had the same problem with acrylics in hot weather. I think the paint dries whilst in the air between the brush and the model forming a nice pebbledash finish. You could try either thinning it more than you normally do or using retarder. I use Liquitex slow dry fluid retarder bought from an art shop. Or wait for colder weather to paint? HTH?

Don't know how I missed this thread since September? Anyway, great progress Jo! I'm glad to see you back into wagons... and aggregate ones too (the best kind!). I hope your airbrush troubles get sorted soon. Guy P.S. Here's a picture of a Peak Forest to aim for! And don't forget the JMAs in the foreground! ;-)

A quick search on Flickr suggests that 56013 was scrapped around 1995/96 whilst still in Trainload Triple Grey (Coal). At least I couldn't find any pictures later than 1995 of it. This suggests that it never gained the later style grilles. For me, this highlights the difficulty in producing a model of the 56: there are SO many detail differences that it makes it really difficult (without a lot of different toolings) to produce 100% accurate models with a wide range of liveries from a range of eras. For the record, Hornby haven't managed this very well either: e.g. 56032 also missed off the full buffer beam cowling. Regarding Cav's comments about the shape of the cab, I would have to agree. I can't put my finger on what it is. The principle dimensions of the cab look right (I did some crude calculations in against a prototype photograph), so maybe it is an effect of the glazing being quite deeply recessed in a 2mm model? Perhaps Laserglaze would sort this out? The front windows should have a very slight droop to them (not as pronounced as the 50) and I can't tell from Andy's photos whether Dapol have reproduced this or not. Anyway, hats off to Dapol for having a go at the 56. Looks a million times better than the Farish model even if there are a few details to sort out to match your chosen loco (it's called modelling isn't it?).

When I did a BR Blue 47 a couple of years ago, I spent ages scaling photographs to work out whether the transfers for the numbers I had in my possession were to scale or not. The conclusions I came to: All transfers are not the same height or "boldness" - there is considerable variability in height between Fox, Modelmaster, Replica and Nairnshire's ones (to name but a few). Off the top of my head this was between about 1.9mm and 2.3mm in height. Scaling numbers off various prototype pictures suggests that there was variability on the prototype too so the prototype might dictate your choice of transfer. There is massive variability in the size and "boldness" of what manufacturers print. This is seldom picked up on in reviews of models. Probably best to ignore what Bachmann have done and go back to prototype pics to work out how big they *should* be. To get perfect consistency you will need to replace the TOPS class numbers too. Replica transfers seemed less anaemic and being rub-on gave the best result (IMHO) and were the ones I ended up choosing. Hope that helps?

Wow , I'm amazed how quickly you knocked up a fiddle yard with the foam core! Fancy a commission? Looking forward to seeing how far Embankment Road has come on since StormEx this weekend at Showcase. Guy

Thanks Chris. Hopefully I can answer that soon as I've ordered two pairs as a trial this afternoon. Now where did I put the HHAs and the paint stripper...? Whose paint and transfers did you use for yours in the end?

The need to place an order with Shapeways for components for the PTAs has seen some frantic work in completing a few other bits that have been on the back-burner for a while. One of these is a version of the LTF-25 bogie designed for the national power JHA/JMA: There are actually an awful lot of differences between this bogie that is fitted to these Finnish-built wagons and the one fitted to the ARC JHAs (built in the UK). Again, there are two versions of the bogie, one with a hand wheel and one without and again each of these has differences when viewed from the left side or the right side. The picture above shows the hand wheel version. Here are the main difference between this version and the ARC version: The main frame has a deeper profile box section onto which the secondary air suspension sits. Mounting points for the dampers are totally different Different hand wheel mechanism and brake application indicator board positioned side-on Larger cable stays Like the ARC bogie, this version also makes use of Colin Craig wheels and hand wheels plus the sequin and o-rings for secondary suspension. I have cut pilot holes for Colin Craig hand wheels that are in different positions on either side of the bogie. Here is a prototype view for comparison (albeit from the other side):

Ok - found a photo of 141. You can just make out the yellow cab of the centre (/2) car on the left of the photo. The livery is definitely "Sprinter" and not "Original Provincial". http://www.flickr.co...57627503053188/ Here is 143 in "Sprinter": http://www.flickr.co...947/6147738686/ And 143 in mixed: http://www.flickr.co...N03/2344285744/ 148 in mixed: and "Sprinter"

A very interesting thread. I remember seeing these at Worcester SH as a teenager. I've bought a /1 and a /2 to model exactly the same thing but it's way down on the modelling back-log! Although I remember seeing 146 as per the photos you posted, I seem to remember a set or two in uniform sprinter livery (as per the /2s). You've got me digging around on Flickr now....

Thanks Martin and Chris! Yes there is a plan to create more! It's on hold at the moment though as I focus on the layout. The target I set myself is to complete 5 JHAs and 5 PTAs in time for DEMU Showcase this summer. This should be the minimum I need in order to operate a reasonably convincing "mini-Whatley". The plan after Showcase is to focus on the layout ("Murder Combe" aka "min-Whatley"). I'm still in the track-building/laying phase (you can see it in the background of the first shot)!

I finally finished off the rake of 5 scratch-built wagons that were built by prominent modeller Andy Elliot who built a number of models for Foster Yeoman before he sadly died five years ago. I obtained these last year from Gridwatcher who was a mate of Andy's. Andy constructed the wagons in styrene sheet and they are surprisingly detailed. I've done them as a rake of 2 outer wagons and 3 inner wagons: There was a actually quite a lot to do in the end: - Creating mounting points for the bogies and fitting my 3D printed LTF-25 bogies - Fitting lead weight - Fitting kadees as inner couplings at prototype height - Adding buffers to outers from Skits - Fitting kadees as outer couplings at normal kadee operating height - Painting - lots of coats of Phoenix enamels! - Transfers - from Fox and using my own home-printed data panels - Varnishing - good old Klear They still need weathering and one or two extra details adding such as the distinctive coupling bars. Here are a couple of shots of the individual wagons: Outer wagon: 17918 Inner wagon: 19890 Just to show how much had to be done, here is a pic from Gridwatcher showing the state of them when I got them from him:

Sorry to hear about the airbrush! The layout is looking good. It's a big project so it's understandable that your enthusiasm for it will wax and wane. By the way, I hope you are going to run some 4TCs on it? I have many happy memories of watching the trains on the far side of the boating lake from Poole Park when I was a small child. Mostly Blue/Grey 4TCs being propelled by a "bagpipes" 33.

£639.20 at Minitronics for a Pro license. Not sure my pockets are that deep!

So you made a sneaky purchase from East Somerset models huh? Looking forward to seeing progress on the fifty!