jukebox

Gordon - we are all following the updates of your recovery here on RMWeb, and wishing you a comprehensive recovery. Your presence here is greatly missed - hope to see you back soon. Thinking of you from Down Under. Scott

Appreciate the update @BoD Like many of us here, I scan the "updated topics" every morning looking for Eastwood Town and hoping for good news. Please let Gordon's wife know the RM community around the globe is thinking of him. Many thanks Scott

Pink Supermoon: Happy Wednesday, everyone! Scott

A gentle prod before you go too far, Jeff; remember to look at the prototype (even if it is just an influence, not a copy) and observe the ratios. Think about where the track bed sits on the real thing, and what that means for the ratio of deck wall height - to arch - to road wall height. Get those right, and you will generate the flavour of the original, and set your railway's geography firmly. Cheers Scott

Even Vegans aren't safe: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/14/snakes-and-lettuce-australian-couple-find-venomous-snake-in-their-aldi-fresh-produce

Thanks for the updates, BoD - needless to say they are greatly appeciated, and most welcome. Cheers Scott

Lots of positive thoughts for you today, Gordon. Look forward to seeing you back here, and on the road to recovery post-op. Very best wishes from Perth (the other one!) Scott

Hi Jeff; Okay, so I won't win any popularity contests with this... but I also know you appreciate being pushed to do better, if it's done constructively. Take a look at your prototype photos. In fact, don't stop with those. Take a careful look at stone viaducts in a half a dozen different places. What you will see is that the stone is less-than-homogeneous - there are inevitably lighter stones, and darker stones, that flavour the overall tone. These differences do start to disappear with aging, and weathering, but they are there. Your technique so far is great... but, and this is where it is subjective... you're almost hiding all that intricate handwork by washing with a single colour. If you were to take a bit of time to pick out a few individual blocks, it would lift the textures, and really show of that craftsmanship. (and yes, you'd need to re-wash over the top to to tone the differences down, but it would be worth it, when you look back in years to come...) Also, with regard weathering: having a think about how those washes lie - they drip with gravity, so it *may* be easier to do some of those off layout before you place it in situ. It depends how hard you are going to go with the lime runs and staining... As always, just some thoughts from the other side... Cheers Scott

I'm sorry to point out the obvious, Al, but that cat is overscale. Cheers Scott

Excellent! I've got my name in the queue, too, obviously - it's right up my (NE) alley!

Given your newfound affection for 0-6-0's, are you contemplating/pre-ordered a J27 from Oxford Rail, Gordon?

Don't be in too much of a rush to tweak your less-than-chocolate box track, Gordon (unless of course it is causing ropey running) The real thing wasn't always perfect - indeed even these days is not - and whilst it's a fine line between sloppy and life like (same with lining of locos, dents and dings, and things not being parallel when they should be, in theory), you may find the 50p bit curve, and roller coaster rails, give you some character that makes the track look more real world than perfect geometry would... Food for thought. Regards Scott

So that will signal the start of your 2021 Heron season, Gordon? The videos last year were fascinating, I have to admit. Scott

Wishing you all the best for both your surgery, and a speedy and full recovery, Gordon. Kindest regards, Scott

Hate to be the mudslinger, Gilbert - but the loco chassis seems to have missed the weathering wand... will that motion be getting some treatment from the muckraking department? Cheers, Scott

Thanks for that heads-up; I ran that feed in the background last night, and clicked back to it when the railway crossing bells rang. Fascinating watching the movements, and even the comment bar was useful for background. Cheers!

Electricnose... You really need a trigger warning before you invoke that website, Andy! I'd managed to completely forget about it for probably 5 years. Back to therapy for me...

Happy New Year, Gordon. Lovely to watch those crossovers mature! Sending you very best wishes for good health outcomes in 2021. Regards Scott

Well since I last looked in on this thread, I had a good night's sleep, and have washed my car when I got up at 6am here. So I feel a little less guilty about my lack of modelling progress compared to your blink-of-an-eye speed! Looking great. Scott

Merry Christmas to you and yours, Shaun

Needs a live stream - with audio, like the stumps have at a the cricket - so we can catch the occasional profanity... Enjoy your build!

It's to be expected at Christmas time, Jeff. All that cake and pudding. Might want to lay off the eggnog a bit... Viaduct stonework is looking great. My 2c (p?) on the colour echoes Jason (and what I've always used as my mantra): base it on the real thing, or photographs of. I see the brown tone he is talking about in most of the photos online - but concede it could appear different in real life. I was amazed at the variety of tones in the abutments at Monkwearmouth when I went to paint my model - but once done, they looked "right". If you can find some close-up or hi-rez shots of AG that you can zoom in on, that should give you a palette to work with. When you look at close ups, there is a surprising variety of shades to the stonework in any of the S&C viaducts - and picking these out on individual stones would "lift" the finish on yours. I know you have said you aren't going to be slavish about it - but you're also striving to improve with each iteration, so it would be a shame to look at it in a year or three, and feel compromised... Anyway - seasons salutations to you and yours. Be sure to enjoy yourself! Cheers Scott

Wow, it has been awhile since I posted here. My apologies. Since I last posted, I dabbled a little - did start to fit those wipers to the tenders, and wire them up to the locos, but they need tweaking - too much drag on the wheels, and the tender-to-loco connections are too stiff, and to be honest, I just got jack of it. A phantom short saw me remove a suspect turnout, only to find out it wasn't the problem, and then have to refit it. Sometimes you need a win, to build up momentum. I've not had that in the latter part of 2020. *** Against the lack of progress, there was sad news brewing in the background. On the 4th of July, my father, who was 87, was crossing the road at the town centre where he lives, when a car didn't stop at the pedestrian crossing (or more pointedly, it slowed to stop, then sped up, knocking him down). He fell to the pavement, breaking his leg and arm. The driver, 91 (!) sped away, but was apprehended by police the next day, thanks to CCTV. Dad was rushed to hospital, and looked after well. His bones eventually mended, and he went from ICU, to the ward, then was shifted to a rehab hospital, where he had his 88th birthday. In early October, the nurses told my mum they though he would be ready for an overnight stay back home soon - he had not been out of hospital since July. But in late October I took a call from mum, telling me Dad's condition had suddenly deteriorated massively, and that I needed to come across to Sydney ASAP. Here in Western Australia, we are "an island within an island", with our state borders closed because of Covid. I could fly out, but needed to get permission to re-enter. Thankfully, I was granted a travel pass, and was able to fly out on the Monday. Dad was still with us when I got there, and over the next four days, I saw him in various states of consciousness, but no pain. The doctors were kind, but frank. His kidneys had failed, and he would not be going home. He had 3 weeks to live, at best. So I was able to say my goodbyes - I had a laptop, to Teams video my estranged brother (who lived in Melbourne, where they were in lock-down from the second wave of Covid, and therefore was banned from travelling to Sydney), and I played him some YouTube videos of the Class 60 NSWGR Garratts, that he took me to see as a young boy when we lived in Newcastle. The smiles on his face as he watched those clips from his hospital bed were priceless. I said my goodbye, and came back to WA to quarantine for 14 days. Dad passed away in the middle of the second week - I was actually up in the layout room, replacing that turnout when I got the call from Mum - and so at the end of the fortnight, I flew back to NSW for his funeral, and the returned for *another* 14 days quarantine. Again, my brother was only able to watch via a video link. So here we are now. *** I'm 53, and this is the first time in my life I have had to deal with the death of anyone close to me. My dad and I were not particularly close, but I am grateful I got to say goodbye, and that my final memories of him are happy ones. When he was a boy, my grandfather, who was something of a photographer, took photos of Dad and his sister in the back garden of their house in Hendon, that backed on to an LMS line. So I'll close this post with some of those photos from circa 1935. Merry Christmas, everyone. Stay safe. Wear a mask, and socially distance. I wish you all the very best for 2021. Cheers Scott

Just caught up on your news Gordon - thinking of you and sending best wishes for a speedy recovery. Regards Scott

The shark nibbling season is back... https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/10/search-for-shark-attack-victim-continues-near-esperance-in-western-australia