Dad-1

Last evening I lost my 'cool' because of couplings riding over oneanother when reversing trains of 13 wagons. I expect to manage 20 through points without difficulty. Now adding excessive weight just adds to pressure on the couplings making the problem worse rather than fixing it. I have tried a mixture of straight and drooped NEM couplings and because of my sticking the NEM pockets into small triangular housings they are not adjustable. My approach is now that couplings are in a strong and bendable plastic so I am actually bending them to match up heights. So far it seems to be working much better ........ I'll also lift some of my welding wire tube from the 22 ton long tube wagon load, I think it's now rather too heavy !! Dad-1

Hi Phil, Thanks for the comment & advice. One good source for weight are car balance weights, the stick-on type used on alloy wheels. Often these are in lengths with thinning between sections graded at 5 Gram & 10 Gram. Any running trouble has been getting couplings to sit straight and at a matching height. That said you will even get problem wagons when using RTR, some Bachmann sit high, whereas Dapol tend to sag !! While I find RTR easy enough to modify, some of my kit built the NEM pockets are held in home produced sockets ..... but have stuck in - currently trying to loosen without pulling right off !

I'm not a frequend poster on here. I prefer to be working on something rather than be on-line. Trouble is I've just painted the loft hatch and can't get in there today. Still, it's like this ...... At Warley I saw a Parkside Dundas wagon kit, one promised by Bachmann many moons ago, the 22 ton tube wagon. Having spent what seems like a lifetime making scale aircraft kits I thought why not .... it's only £9 & could be fun. It was fun & I kind of caught the bug, purchased 4 more steel industry wagons & since 22nd November have made up all 5. I was, & to some degree still am concerned of the running qualities, both pulled & pushed, as well as how robust they will be in regular use. I've been adding weight and trying to match coupling heights & still have some way to go before I'll be satisfied, suffering some over-ride when pushing 10+ wagon trains. Here we have the set I still need to source transfers & finish painting, but good running was THE important aspect. Since that Have bought 3 GWR Ratio 4 wheel coaches. What I should be doing is finishing some of the many pending jobs ..... Dad-1

Hi ullypug, A little help from real craftsmen is so valuable. Now I think I have a minor problem regarding the honing. I seem to get a better paint flow with the tip at more of an angle than I want. These cream lines are somewhere in the region of 0.4 mm, perhaps the far left nearer to 0.3 (very rough eye calculations). I will sharpen again and add that small 'flat' when holding more upright. Having skilled finishers to pester with questions gives me the confidence to plough on. Some of my rough black lines may have been due to the tip being run down a steel rule and I could feel the graduation marks - methinks a smooth edged rule is needed !! Dad-1

I thank you for such a rapid reply. I can see I shall need loads of practice, as of course is mentioned all through this thread !! Now to try some semi gloss Revel cream. Dad-1

O.K coachmann, Christmas is over and at last I have time to play. I have no book, no experience, have just the vaguest idea of what I'm doing. But first gloss paint attempt shows some promise to my eye, but I have some questions, first a picture of my pen tip & ruled lines scaled against a dressmaking pin. First - How much pressure should I use. I fear I may have used too much & scratched the plastic. Second - I tried to move slowly & steadily, but ended up with some faults in the line when pace changed. Do you think that is manipulation, or perhaps paint (not enough, too much, too thick, too thin ? Although against lining-pen paint lore it flowed better after adding a little raw white spirit. It was then I ran the curve around my magnifying glass rim. I used the glossy side of raw plastic, is that giving me a false feel ? should I gloss paint a test piece ? I hope you don't mind helping a 72 year old beginner !! Dad-1

MMmmmm ...... Will I get shouted at for reviving a thread that's been dead for over a year ? Several years ago I almost finished a DJH 4 mm Caledonian 439 kit, but the drive was lost when I found I couldn't get suitable decals for lining. I looked in at Ian Rathbone while lining at Warley a few years back & nearly bought a bow-pen, but got lost in other jobs, as we do. In the local market last week I saw 3 bow compass sets for sale, & just one loose head which I obtained for £1, at that price I could afford to experiment. After cleaning up through a range of wet-n-dry papers I loaded with matt black paint off a paint brush being used with matt black. All I had handy was the backing paper from a wagon kit, which I tried drawing a freehand line on ........ It worked !! Today I went back & bought a 'Lotter Germany' compass with what looked like an unused bow for £3 and having read this thread a few times will be experimenting again. One thing I would be interested to know - How do you do a tripple line - white each side of a black line ?? I think there will constantly be new-comers wanting to learn lining. Is 72 too old to start learning ? Dad-1

At The Going Down Of The Sun And In The Morning, We Will Remember. Dad-1

Sorry to hear of the accident. Now the children have gone back to school we have to watch out for the old drivers who come to our Dorset coast, at times one wonders if they should still be driving !! (comment from a 72 year old !!) Brilliant painting - my eyes still hurt at the memory of painting Langley 4 mm scouts. You may as well ache somewhere else as well !!! Dad-1

My little 18" x 10" diorama is getting close to being finished. Had I not left all my stiff glueing brushes at the caravan yesterday I would have grassed the embankment last evening. Took this and thought I'd share, a nice little Welsh valley rail bridge with mountain stream & pub. I'm still trying to get the right quality of Rhymney beers logo to attach to the pub. Also need to purchase Deluxe Products resin water for my stream. I love dioramas, they take no more than 8 weeks and then you can move on to other ideas. What was that ? The trains don't work ? True you don't have far to drive, but a sound steam loco simmering is very nice !! Dad-1

Having lost the caravan to family for the whole month of August & now having tidied it up I may get some time for me. What I did was this small diorama when exiled & although still not finished it's well on the way. First we have a lighting test, two grain of wheat bulbs connected in series under the bridge so they stay well below maximum output & a 100R resistor in the pub lamps wiring. First grass laid today, but it became quite warm, drying out the pva mix more quickly than I wanted. Perhaps some more tonight after this ? I now urgently need to replace the pub sign with the my new one, make up two spotlights (non working) replacing my first oversize attempt. I'm quite pleased with results so far for just 1 months work. Dad-1

Rather than getting on with long term layouts I've allowed myself to be distracted again. Is it a case of a change is as good as a rest ? Anyway I ended up with a requirement for a pub to fill an awkward corner. The whole thing, a corner filler needing to be an odd shape meant bespoke window frames made from microstrip & scrap plastic. As yet not fitted due to my satin black is being slow to dry, but here is the current state of play. I've come to the conclusion I love diorama scenes. No electrics needed, no turnouts, in fact little if any stock. Just hours of fun, cutting, scraping, glueing, painting to make that 3D picture floating in your minds eye ! Need to get the railway set up as my 3 year old grandson will be here soon. Dad-1

My current excuse for being so slow with that main layout is that I get easily diverted on to other jobs. This makes 2 posting in one week ................. Bridport & Dist MRC had it's main exhibition on Saturday, I had a call on Tuesday to see if I could bring a layout to replace a cancellation. Later I found out that there was a 12 foot space which was no good as my layouts are both somewhat longer than that. I suggested that I could do some demonstration work, with a couple of dioramas on display alongside me, Thursday I had confirmation ....... I looked around for a small piece of waste ply & decided on a small rural/farm scene and roughly stitch drilled a hole for a small pond. I made a small piece of rising ground from packing sponge foam and sealed down using strips of kitchen towel soaked in PVA, from neat to ballast strength. I even used one small piece of uncovered foam and laid grass over it ........ Wait for Saturday to check results, it worked out fine !! Here is the article made up during the exhibition !! Not perfect, but with ballasting a track sample & making a plastic 6 x 8 garden shed not a bad days work !! Still have a croaky voice from talking too much ........ Dad-1

Ahh we do like to have a little moan ....... Too wet, Too cold, Too hot ........ I can hardly believe that it's taken over 2 years to get from this :- To This :- At this rate, when finished, I'll be too old to to get it from the garage & assemble !! They say the journey is more important than the destination - perhaps that was said by a railway modeller ? Dad-1

Never enough time, never enough space ............ Since moving in December I've not done much on the planned big layout Castell Mawr. It's too big to work on more than one board at a time, frequently needing 2 or 3 joined together to visualise what I want ..... and work out how to do it !! The recent few rain free days have had me getting some work done, before we're away to the holiday caravan by the coast. Firstly 3 boards were put together, interesting that the bungalow is on a steep slope & allows high 'helicopter' views. Then as can be seen my cutting is fully grassed by the operating desk. Limited progress, but at least it is progress ....... at this rate it'll take 2 more years ? Note the small wild animal paths up the cutting sides, these are all over the countryside if you look. Dad-1

Thanks for the 'Likes' guys. One thing I'm always pointing out is that railway modelling dosen't have to be mega expensive. Much more a thing to take into consideration with prices rising so fast and soon as I see it, locos costing upward of

6 weeks since I posted and in truth not a lot done. Family members are having the caravan this weekend so I had to do something with Shillingstones Lane. Pt.I shown in the last posting was all but finished however Pt.II was sitting unloved so I brought home and added some grass, fixed (although not painted) fencing around the cottage then planted a real height tree roughly a 44 footer. I enjoy the making up of a scene, much more relaxing for me than trying to copy some existing location. I think it's been good use of a space 16 inches x 26 inches. Now I have to work out the best way to join Pt.I & Pt.II ! Dad-1

Today I went to open up the caravan for the 2014 season. The site is closed from the end of October until 16th March. Tucked under the double bed is my Shillingstones Lane diorama that I'm looking forward to working on again as I extend to double the original length. Here is the first half, photographed back in June last year. Loads of green fields with bronze age barrow & other hidden shapes in a field. I have contemplated adding a simple roundy extension behind a high green hill to allow a continious tail chaser, but also the scope to change stock & loco ? The caravan needs some attention, but at least it survived the storms of spring 2014, Dad-1

Dug out the Bachmann 3 car 108 DMU, it runs so smoothly I did a nice gentle pull out from North Quay terminus, platform 2. I have a key-fob video camera, but not enough light in the loft to get acceptable videos of cab rides into the tunnel. The result is more simple videos from the small digi camera. I don't know if I ever told the story behind the layout being Two Short Planks. I started when I knew nothing and in model railway terms was as thick as two short planks. It was also going to be somewhat shorter and built on 2 melamine covered shelving 'planks', however when I went into that well know DIY place they only had very short ones or 6 foot lengths, so I got 2 x 6 footers. Never thought I'd one day use it at a few exhibitions where the lengths are not easy to carry. Still, built 2008-9, my first ever layout with a track plan from my head I enjoy running on it and even now within the available space I don't think I could improve on the track plan. Dad-1

I know what you mean about the Dapol couplings ...... they sort of sag slightly, fine when attached to other Dapol wagons, but not too happy with slightly high Bachmann. Hey what would life be like if there was nothing to have a gripe about !! Dad-1

I have a printed chart with timings over 1, 4 & 8 feet for speeds from 1 mph to 25 in 1 mph steps then 5 mph steps to 50 mph, then 10 mph steps through to 120. I have subtle 4 foot markings on sleepers & use my wrist stop watch ....... a 20 mph goods train in 4 mm is quite slow. Good fun though & you need to be quick on that watch !!! I should add I hate fast model trains, probably why I love freight Nice one knapper. Dad-1

Why Not indeed !! I've been trying over several evenings to produce a video showing some shunting. Although the camera can be stuck on a tripod it involves many changes of points and some carefull use of controllers, particularly when trying to run a DMU into & out of the station at the same time. Thanks to small digital camers one can try & try again, interesting hearing the expletives on play back of failed 'takes'. Dad-1

Hi naturol, I wish my Dynamis was reliable at home, but I have so little faith in it working that I've been taking my daisy chain of Selects to exhibitions and always had to revert to them for reliable running. Even now it fails to communicate quickly enough with my hand set around 6 feet away and pointed at the receiver !! I will have to change, but the Dynamis system has cost and I don't really want to write all that off. I couldn't sell off it just wouldn't be fair on any Ebayer !!! Oh yes still very damp air & scenic plastering taking too long to dry. Shame as I want to get on with this. Dad-1

Well the MKMRS show went O.K, although the Dynamis system failed. Just got it back from Bachmann at a cost of £100 !!! Anyway back to more interesting things. I returned home with my CM layout after the exhibition and had to store in the garage pending arrival of my new shed. My shed arrived on the 20th of last Month as I went down with a rotten cold. This was the largest I could get in the available space, just 12ft x 7ft. I have moved one end board into the shed and done a little work on it. Some fencing made up although not fixed until all the fields are grassed. Been using various cows while 'playing' - Highland, Fresians, Jersey, Dexters, Devon Reds, but they need a re-paint not ginger enough !!! It's good being able to re-start work on CM ..... but I do miss my 20 x 10 garage !! Dad-1

Hi Andy, We had great fun - learning how to run the layout as one of the team had never seen the full layout before. To make things worse some of the point numbers were marked on the inside of boards, but having a bad knee he had to drive from outside !! Managed to get it all home by 21.30 Hrs, unloaded today Sunday. I hope you were able to enjoy the day even if you had work to do !!! Dad-1