Portchullin Tatty

A Highland Railway Clyde Bogie, in LMS Livery. Designed by David Jones and delivered from 1886; the last of these lasted until 1930 and as you can see picked up the full LMS livery (but lost its name, which had formerly been Durn but this was taken by another locomotive. They were once the premier locos of the line but by this time the last survivors saw out their last days on branch line duties, which is what this one will do. The model is built from a Lochgorm Models kit, to P4 standards by John James. And yes it was a pig getting it to work within the side frames! Apologies for the slightly droopy tender; a spacer piece of plasticard did not get put in when I reassembled it!! For other highland and similar things; take a look at my blog at www.highlandmiscellany.com..............

One caution with regard to these jigs is that the steel is case hardened and therefore you will blunt your files. I have a set of files that I use for filing my crossings and switches.

Hi Warren, Are you able to confirm what the paint mix colour code was please - your supplier will have needed to have determined this to mix it? As I suspect you are aware,there are various possible systems that they might have used; they might have either "RAL" in front of a number, "BS" in front of a number, simply a number or (and this is most likely) a mix of numbers and letters. I have reached the conclusion that Precision's crimson lake has darkened and have thus decided to procure my own and I also prefer cellulose paint so can get it in this format as a result. My problem is getting a match although red in reality is not a particularly colourfast colour, so it will have changed over time on the prototype. Mark

The provisional intention is that this will be launched at Scaleforum in Aylesbury on the 22 and 23rd September. It will predominantly look at permanent way cranes.

Thanks Dave. I have been a bit slack of late in keeping my RMweb workbench up to date. I have been doing lots more stuff but I am typically only putting on my public blog. You can find this here: https://highlandmiscellany.com/ If this is of interest to you (or anyone else) then there is an ability to subscribe to the blog by entering your email in the box (to the top left of the page) - when I post anything you will get an immediate notification and the initial few paragraphs of the post. Mark

Yes; although it is missing its sandboxes on the front splasher and I suspect it will be painted in the wrong shade of green!! It should look like this...............

That is a very handsome engine Dave!

Dave, I wonder about the casting for the smokebox door? It seems really thick - is this right? You might want to take a look at the cast brass one from Lochgrom Models - they are what I use for the fairly similar Highland locos. Mark

Below is an extract from a MacKenzie & Holland catalogue. Although the original of these are obviously a scale drawing, there is not scale on the drawing I have. There were variants of different heights, where the post was extended vertically. Wizard do a 4mm and 7mm version of this

Could I trouble either Arthur or Daddyman to include a photograph of what they are describing as I am not sure I quite understand what you are describing?

Looks good Tim! When shall I tell Terry to book you for?# The easy way is to upload it to YouTube and then paste the link into the post.

Looks pukka Andrew!

Oly is not really a fan of forums, so I doubt that will happen. You can see it on his blog which is here.

10/11 November in Spalding is the next UK invite. Not sure Spalding has a red light district though, sorry to disappoint you!

If you mean has he stopped moaning about midges and rain..........................no!! However, it is only the topic of the moaning that changes; Oly without a good whinge is just not Oly!

Gosh it is a long time since I have written anything on this topic; sorry guys. But fear not, Portchullin is not dead and is still going to shows. Its next exhibition may not be the furthest it has travelled but it will definitely be a first for the layout and indeed myself – an exhibition on the continent. In this case Modelspoor 2018 which takes place on the 23 – 25 February in the Euroteco Centre, Houten, near Utrecht in the Netherlands. To the Anglo-Saxons amongst us, do not be put off by the website being written in Dutch. Basically almost everyone in the Netherlands speaks good English (embarrassingly perfect English typically) and it is a really easy country to travel around, engage with people and see what they have to offer. Although I have not been to Modelspoor before I have heard a lot about it – think Warley x 3 seems to be the gist of it (which may be a bit much in truth!). However, it has a core of “finescale” from across Europe to which I was very flattered to be invited and I hear is worth seeing in any case. And of seeing Portchullin is a sufficient excuse to high-tail it over to Holland, coming in the van will also be Oly’s Six Quarters layout. In contrast to the fresh air of the west of Scotland, Six Quarters has air laced with Cumbrian coal dust and grime! There are a number of other very good layouts there, including Jerry Clifford’s Highclere Colliery (under a new name I hear) and Gordon Gravett’s Arun Quay. Se even if you don’t fancy Portchullin or Six Quarters much (shame on you), it is still worth a visit. So if anyone that reads this thread (either of you!) is over in Holland in a couple of weeks time, do pop over and say hello!

Hi Malcolm I had forgotten this posting until lately but I have since written an article on my blog that shows the process I use. You can find this here and it includes a few photographs of each stage. https://highlandmiscellany.com/2017/08/20/making-louvered-chimneys/ And I would love to know what else you are up to (especially the Highland stuff!)

Surely that is a job for photo etching?

Warped resin is normally an easy fix. Put the resin in warm (35 - 40C) water for a few minutes and softens significantly (alarmingly even!). You can then ease it to remove the warp or - if this is the effect you are looking for - introduce a sag or splaying of the sides. Don't use boiling water though, as you may get a blob of resin as the outcome!

The use of the coloured dyes to mark ownership of sheep is a modern thing. They would have been branded with a branding iron at this time, so a slightly blackened (and much smaller so not really visible) mark would have been all they exhibited.

And now a pair awaiting painting...... These are Highland Railway in origin; dia 51 Full Brakes. Built between 1911 and 1917, the last of these made the early 1950s. It is based on my own artwork where I have tried to make a model that really does go together without needing any fighting (not something that is always true of all the kits I build!). As version 1 needed a little refinement, I built two test builds (no accusing me of not building my own kits!); one with cupboard doors and one with sliding doors. One will go in Crimson Lake and the other in Highland Green. Indeed, the airbrush will be out tomorrow. If you want to see the test building unfolding, it is best to go to my external blog at www.highlandmiscellany.com. When the kits are available for sale I will make a notification there too.

You have a vast selection to chose from! Here are a few from the top of my head. Roxey Mouldings - emphasis on the southern pre-group companies London Road Models - MR, LNWR, NLR and others Lochgorm Models - Highland (NB, this includes some very old vehicles, potentially quite suitable for you) D&S - a wide range of prototypes; NER, L&Y, GER, GNR, MR and others. No longer attending shows but if you are prepared to wait (a long time) then he will still supply the etches Caley Coaches - CR prototypes NBR 4mm Developments - NBR prototypes Ratio - some GWR 4 wheelers Mousa Models - some GNR Prickly Pear - GNSR prototypes This is hardly the end of the list, you have a huge range of possibilities. Remember that if you are modelling and light railway line, there probably are no rules as the company would acquire from wherever they could. 6 wheeled vehicles are a bit more challenging to get going than 4 wheeled; find the Brassmasters cleminson chassis.

Sorry Allan, but I can trump that! Oxford Publishing Co ran an one off exhibition in maybe about 1980. Mike had brought his layout for the day but had no one to assist. As a spotty 14 year old I got roped in to assist and after a while I seemed to prove myself as reliable so I was left to myself for around 3 hours. It was just as good (and idiosyncratic) to operate as it looked. It remains one of my highlights of my "playing with trains" experience and I only regret I did not take a camera or have an opportunity to repeat the experience. I hear that Mike is far from well, so I am afraid you are unlikely to see his layout again. Mark

A clumsy b*gger keeps dropping them off the baseboard?

Since Larry went all WR, we don't get to see a succession of lined red coaches and I for one miss them. So with apologies if anybody has seen them before and to remind Larry what he is missing over on the dark side, I thought I would periodically post some pictures of my LMS and constituent coaches. I model in the mid 1920's, so most but not all are in period 1 lined livery. Some are built/painted by myself but some are examples of other's works - there may even be some familiar hand writing to be seen in the future if you look hard. Starting with a couple of LNWR full brakes: To the left is a 42' full brake from London Road Models and to the right the 50' equivalent from an old Microrail kit This is my fathers' work - a scratchbuilt HR Travelling Post Office. I have mounted fresh bogies to this of my own concoction - they are etched and have primary and secondary springing (something that I have worked with Justin Newitt on). They also have have Branchlines wheels with an etched disk to turn them into Mansell wheels). Shamefully, I must admit that even as I post this they have not yet been painted! So, as a prompt to others, perhaps they could share pictures of things red?