kes

No 44 is Louis Hamilton's racing number.

Looking forward to updates from you, as the weather improves and the temperatures warm up. Most of my modelling has been done on the dining room table for the last couple of months.

I have two more spare ends, four axle guards and some wheels/brake parts, so with some more plastic channel and sheet, another one could be built.

Thanks Hal - it took me while to figure out which lever went on which side, and which way up the pull/push rods went, even then I glued one set on the wrong way around and had to remove and refit it!

Two are Parkside, one is a semi scratch built fake. They are awaiting weathering and final varnishing.

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Due to the unseasonable weather I have been able to spray the tank and chassis, and have started adding the transfers. These are Fox for the GWR and Slater's for the United Dairies logos. I had forgotten how much trouble you can have with Methfix transfers, but I got there in the end.

Mickleover will be out and about at the Whitby show at Goathland on the 18/19th July 2020. We are looking forward to running some long trains again. Cancelled due to covid.

Sandy Bay will be at the following exhibition during 2020. Tings 12/13 Sept. It should also be in BRM with photos by Tony Wright during the middle of the year.

Pawson's will be in the March 2020 Railway Modeller, and will be appearing at the following exhibitions in 2020. Redcar 1/2 Aug, Pickering 22/23 Aug, Shipley 19/20 Sept, and Hull 7/8 Nov. A busy year ahead! Of course all these were cancelled by covid!

I got some ladders today, so bent them to shape and added the remaining tank details. There is some filling to do, then I can paint it and add the transfers.

The remaining details are coming from the few photos I have. I need to add ladders to the tanks, so will be using brass signal laddering.

Recently I bought a few projects inside. One of these is to convert a couple of Slaters O gauge tank wagon kits into the GWR United Dairies 4 wheel wagons. This has involved replacing the tank barrel with smooth plastic tube. I found one of my wife's discarded hair sprayers was the right diameter. I have added the 3-plank side board to the frame under the tank, and removed the heavy moulding where the diagonal rods terminate on the outside of the chassis. I intend to have a couple of representative tanks from this series, so they will not be 100% accurate.

Not much progress at this time of the year. I have moved all the stock out of the shed for the winter and have commenced the construction of two Kirk GWR Collett suburban coaches.

Thanks for the kind comments Alan.

Hi, I use servos with a 12v battery but feed them from a lm7806 3 pin voltage regulator which gives 6volts output. They can be found very cheaply on eBay etc. They are simple to wire up. Pin 1 12v in, middle pin to ground-0volts, pin3 output. 6 volt positive. Screw it to a heatsink about 5cm square, as it will get hot, and away you go. Kev.

And the guys from St Georges Riverside decided we needed a bigger boat in the harbour!

We won the Trevor Jones Trophy for the Best Visiting Layout as awarded by the other exhibitors. Many thanks guys.

We had a fabulous time at the Shipley Exhibition. The layout worked perfectly all weekend, and we only had one engine failure, traced to a loose blanking plug which was quickly sorted when we got home. A big thank you is due to Bill and John and the team at Shipley, and to Maggie who operated with me all weekend, and to Paul and Nicola, who took over on the Saturday and sent Maggie and me out for the dinner break together.

Thanks for the kind comments Ian. The traverser is deliberately that length because the run around loop out front will not accept trains any longer than that. It is permanently fitted to one board, which helps with alignment problems. Exhibition halls vary in temp and humidity throughout the day, and you would be surprised by how much boards swell and change size.

I have been cleaning all the loco and stock wheels a head of the coming Shipley show. It is amazing how much crud had built up after the last exhibition. It reminded me of the old Triangle plastic wheels where you had to scrape the crud off with a screwdriver.

Did a bit of shunting today to check the passage of wheels through the crossings and across the board joints. A little remedial work was required with a needle file in places as the track and boards settle down.

The wiring will be tidied up with cable ties and supports once it is all tested thoroughly.

Today I finished the wiring under the boards and tested it all. To my surprise it all works with no shorts or open circuits. I must get on with building the control panel and drinking the bottle of port!

Sandy Bay will be at the Shipley model railway exhibition on the 15/16th September. We hope to see you there.