Killybegs

Very difficult to get any modelling done when the weather's like this. Maybe it's a joke and normal service will resume tomorrow!

GWRJ No. 36 has drawings of 2,3,6 and 12 ton cranes. MRJ No. 0 has details of Ross-on-Wye goods shed complete with details of crane. John

All this correspondence displaying such a wealth of obviously well informed local knowledge leads me to wonder just how many RMWebbers are lurking down there in the South Hams! John

I'd be very dubious about employing this guy. He never did a stroke of work when he was up in the Forest of Dean! John

Time for the big picture! The shot below shows the full length of the 'scenic section'. Obviously there is a long way to go. The loco shed will be in the centre foreground, as a guide, the Deeley tank is standing just outside the shed. There will be industrial buildings at each end providing scenic breaks. The nasty exposed polystyrene on the right is the result of me removing a high retaining wall as the latest plan is for the embankment to continue down to ground level where there will be some scrubby trees, pretty much like the prototype in Worcester. Up on the embankment, Totnes Castle on the up 'Cornishman' is about to pass Postlip Hall on a down fitted freight. The non corridor coach Diag. C83 is now finished and you can see that I am faffing around before getting on with the next job (a water crane enclosure for Brinkley).

Back from my trip to the UK, so more progress on the non corridor coach Diag C83. The ends have been painted and the sides have been weathered and glazed and door and grab handles have been fitted (only to one side so far!).

Not quite in the garden, but a couple of hundred yards away down on the sea yesterday, I spotted two Black Guillemots. Not unusual, but one was in full winter plumage and one in full summer plumage. I wonder how long the transition period is between the two plumages.

Getting there. The coach still needs glazing, brasswork and weathering but it's beginning to look the part. That might have to wait until I get back from the UK. Off on a wee trip on Monday which will include attending one of Gordon Gravett's landscaping courses and visiting the Spring Steam Gala on the SVR.

Strange day. C83 was duly masked up, compressor and spray booth set up, airbrush connected up. Now where's that can of paint. Ah, there it is. Give it a good mix. Is it the correct colour? Check label again. B****r, it's BR Coach Crimson (as in Blood and Custard) not Maroon. Then I seem to recall that it was useless for Blood because it was too maroon. So, as everything was already set up. I decided to spray my preprimed test panel to see what it looked like. Too crimson. Oh well, I'm off to the UK next week, I can buy the proper colour. Very frustrating having to go through all the hassle of cleaning the airbrush, paint jars, etc. with nothing to show for it. Turned everything off and was just about to put everything away, when I noticed my test panel had gone considerably darker and was now looking like a pretty good match for what I wanted! Set everything up again and sprayed the coach. It's now drying and I am waiting to see how it turns out! There's always a bit of an argument about whether or not you need to prime plastic before airbrushing. While I had the airbrush out I gave a sheet of white plastic the same treatment as my test panel. Now that really did turn out scarlet! I wonder what it would be like on red undercoat. Maybe a bit warmer in colour. I must try it next time I have paint in the airbrush.

My 'friend' the sparrow hawk was back again yesterday. To my mind he always seems to appear around morning coffee time but it could be that's when I'm looking out of the window! Very wet here today so perhaps he decided not to venture out.

The non corridor C83 is finally nearing completion. It's had a coat of primer and it might even get a coat of paint before the week is out.

I would fit them now. Reinforce any half etched bends with a little solder. John

Lovely scenery, glorious weather ........ John

Our siskins and redpolls haven't arrived in Ireland yet, they're late!!

Here's one reason we have fewer birds in our garden this year. He has a mate as well!

The battery boxes have now been fitted. GWRROB has been having a few problems assembling these Forogmore Confederacy etches, so I have given him a few tips. These can be found here

Careful, this could go to my head!!

With the superstructure pretty well up together, I have turned my attention to the underframe of the C83. The trussing is soldered construction fabricated from 1mm brass angle. It was while checking the length of the cross braces against the model that I discovered that the solebars were 2mm too close together, oops! Moral, when you draw a guideline on the floor, remember which side of the solebar should be fixed! Amazingly, I managed to separate the sole bars intact from the floor complete with running board and refix them in the correct position. Soldering up the trussing on an etched brass kit is relatively easy as you can build it up from the sole bars, however, I didn't have that luxury and eventually made it up as a free standing cage that was then fixed in place with araldite. I raided my box of BR Mk1 detailing bits to assemble the brake gear, and used short lengths of plastic tube to represent the vacuum cylinders (you can't see that they are hollow from the side!). The dynamo also used plastic tube, the domed end being formed with milliput. I'm afraid the brake gear, along with the steam heating pipework is somewhat impressionist and doesn't bear to close inspection! The bogies were tackled next. These have Exactoscale wheels running in a Bill Bedford 9'0" LMS frame. I'm sure the GWR won't mind, they will be fine once the cosmetic sides are attached!The bogies rotate on a brass tube pillar let into the plastic card mounts on the underside of the floor - see photo below. I had to suitably enlarge the holes in the bolsters by drilling them out with my pillar drill. The bogies are retained with 6BA nuts and bolts, the latter being araldited in place through the floor. I am now waiting for cosmetic bogie sides and battery boxes to arrive. If the latter don't come soon, I will scratch build them as that will allow me to get on with the painting.

Great work, it's hard to believe they are 2mm.

Very good Robin. I particularly like the old wooden ones. John

Well, the roof is now pretty well finished. I used the double skin technique as per Geoff Kent's article in MRJ. I have to admit it's not as easy as it sounds, maybe it takes a little practice. Anyway, I think it's just about acceptable. My roof is removable for the time being which I think made construction a bit easier but left the ends of the gutters vulnerable - two got broken off and will need repairing. I incorrectly drilled the holes for the ventilators on the centre line, whoops, so those have been filled with Milliput! Having got the roof to that point, I returned to the ends, one of which is now pretty well complete. The end of the roof will need tidying up a bit in due course. Those locating holes for the buffers will also need levelling up! I have also cut all the seats to size and packed them out a bit to get the levels and angles better.

One week on and the first coach is progressing. The sides were basically finished apart from glazing and door handles (which will be fitted post painting) prior to assembly and have been mated with the ends (which I am starting to detail). I won't finish the end detailing until the roof is made and fitted as they could get damaged in the process. Seats will be fitted once they arrive. I have fitted the sole bars and steps and will be moving on the the bracing, brake gear, battery boxes, etc. The mounts for the bogies have been made and fitted and two sets of Bill Bedford bogies have arrived in the post this week and await building. In the meantime, I have been using bogies off one of my Mark 1's that make up the Cornishman rake to check ride heights. Progress pic below:

Hi wagonbasher. Assuming my 'photo library' is in chronological order and looking at the leaves on the trees, my best guess would be early autumn 1967. I have seven more photos, as you will see these are more about industrial dereliction than railways! John Walsall Canal Tame Valley Canal Ryders Green Locks Bradley Locks Wednesbury Old Canal

Seeing those wonderful photos of the canal and railway in model farm reminded me of a day I spent in the Black Country exploring the canal system in the late sixties. I am attaching a selection of the photos taken that day. The weather was awful and these are scans of small prints so I apologise for tghe quality. The locations are those that I noted at the time, I hope they are correct! Tame Valley Canal Walsall Canal Ryders Green Lock Walsall Canal Bradley Lock Bradley Branch

It's funny how a problem encountered by someone else gets one thinking about one's own unsolved problems. I was reading paulprice's blog and the problems of streets that go straight into the backscene. I have the same problem on Worseter with the canal. The answer came to me in a flash - only twelve years late! A pair of lock gates just forward of the backscene, together with associated increase in ground level, will make a great scenic break, especially as the the railway bridge already forms a partial screen. I had already decided, before I got sidetracked on the coaches, that it was about time I progressed that end of the layout seeing as it has had no attention for over ten years!