Anglian

I'm not sure that's really fair to other owners. My father and I are working through a painstaking total restoration of his classic that he has owned for 62 years. We've retained most of the original parts, only needing to replace five metal panels and part of the ash frame. It will be painted by a professional. The instruments are currently being recalibrated by a professional. Once completed we'll take what will then appear to be a close to mint car to various shows and rallies. If somebody suggests that all we've done is gone out and bought it I will take great delight in telling them that they are very mistaken in their assumption. I'll also invite them to get under our car to see for themselves the level of detail that we've gone to. In my experience of going to many classic car events I'd estimate about 1/3 of the owners I've spoken to have restored the car themselves, often to a high standard. Many more have owned and maintained their cars themselves for many years.

The best way to cut out anything in Photoshop is to use a layer mask. (There are plug-ins available that enable smart masking to speed up the process.) This method allows any combination of selection tools to be used ensuring the quality and sharpness or softness of the cut edge is infinitesimally variable, rather than having to accept a global value for the entire layer. The user can combine other techniques with layer masks, for example using the channels palette to make precise selections. Perhaps the greatest advantage of the technique is that you can make endless adjustments and refinements. Essentially Photoshop used professionally is pixel perfect, entirely natural looking and its use undetectable.

What are the main frames made from?

Horse power is just one part of the equation what's equally telling is power to weight. As Colin Chapman said 'add lightness'. An S1 Elise manages to out-run an awful lot of other cars, especially through the twisty stuff, with just 118bhp.

I know this is only a test model but the cab side numbers are a bit out. If they've been printed, rather than hand decorated, then the system that prints them needs an adjustment. The 60 portion is high and the 505 low. ie the baseline rises towards the back of the cab (this observation is allowing for the font and the cursive letterforms).

An alternative acid etch primer is available from Advanced paints. www.advancedpaints.co.uk I have used it a lot and during the summer months it's possible to waft on very thin coats. I think it needs to be at least 66 degrees F and less than 60% relative humidity to work properly but not more than around 77 degrees F otherwise it dries in the air when sprayed, not after it hits the model. You can tell if the air is too hot as you get a toothy surface on the model. You must spray this paint over a very clean and properly degreased metal for it to work. I have recently tried Citadel Corax White primer and again onto degreased white metal or plastic it bonds extremely well. It can be used down to 15 degrees C. It retains better detail than the Advanced Paints primer – probably because it's designed for model making purposes. My plan is to switch over to this since I can buy it easily and it works so well. In terms of scratch resistance the very best bonding primer I have ever come across is MIPA acid etch primer. I bought this for a classic car I'm restoring. It does have filler in it, which I wanted. I've brushed painted this on degreased metal and the scratch resistance is simply out of this world. This quality did make me wonder if it could be thinned enough to make it suitable for model making but I've not yet tried it and to be honest doubt I will given the other options.

Hello Ken, Thank you for taking the time to respond in such detail. Definitely an interesting challenge and one that I look forward to reading how you get on, if you do decide to try it after all. Given the precise measurements you've made it does sound viable, if only just.

Is a second run of a Rails LBSC umber liveried Terrier expected or in the pipeline?

May I just clarify that there is room for EM wheels with a narrower tread than the original OO wheels if you use Gibson or Ultrascale alternatives?

With the discussion on slip coaches I thought this introduction and footage might be of interest to some. I enjoyed it…

The fabric is sewn onto the wing ribs so the wing profile remains fairly constant. The rib positions are always relatively prominent. The Valom wings can be improved if you at least fill the score marks.

You might want to improve the wings in the Valom kits. I bought a couple but found that the rib position is indicated by depression ie. scored line, when in fact the wing ribs are prominent once covered with fabric. Of course if you suspend your aircraft high enough above the layout you'll only see the undersides of the wings.

I totally agree, the difficulty is not in using the software effectively but in deciding what the end result should be since, as you write, what is true the colour range. Since our computer screens will be showing slightly different things anyway it's an impossible task to satisfy everyone and say 'this is what the true colour looked like on the day'.

I understand that the silvery blue elan does still exist and am fairly sure it changed hands at auction some years ago. Equally I recall reading that the whereabouts of the white car remains unknown. The Elan, in Sprint form, would be near the top of my list of favourites to buy, if I ever had the money.

If the digital file is corrected by a professional who knows what they are doing there won't be unwanted side effects. Individual areas can be altered without effecting other parts of the image. However, such an approach can be very time consuming and there has to be a strong understanding of exactly what is required for such adjustments to be successful. As a wider note on using Photoshop to alter photographs – if you can see it's been used then it hasn't been used to a professional standard, unless a surreal effect is wanted.

1948 saw the locomotive exchange trials so you could have a Hall, B17 and Bulleid Pacific. Fairly sure I've seen a picture of a J39 on a football special. Also fairly sure the Beyer Garratts were seen on the line as far south as Rowsley.

The cab on the GWR version doesn't look like is is fully in place with gaps showing, or is that just the camera being unkind?

Also of interest (to me at least) are the wonky telegraph poles.

More gorgeous images that not only showcase the wonderful stock but also the sense of light and space. This layout has already become one of my all-time favourites and demonstrates that you don't necessarily need a vast space to model a very convincing mainline scene. I find it endlessly inspiring.

Sorry I can't resist making a comment. I don't believe a hyphen is needed between 'universally' and 'good'. The text that reads 'was usually correct - the radio…' is in fact incorrect. Rather than the use of a hyphen the punctuation mark should be an en dash so the text should read 'was usually correct – the radio'. On my keyboard I set an en dash by holding the option key when using the hyphen key. Essentially it's a longer dash than a hyphen. In traditional typesetting an en dash is as long as the width of the lowercase n character. An em dash is longer being defined by the width of the lowercase m character. Depending on the font used sometimes it's better to use an em dash if the en dash isn't long enough to distinguish it from a hyphen. An em dash is set using option-shift-hyphen to give —. However, the en dash is usually sufficient. I apologise in advance for any errors in my text!

Dame Maggie Smith pronounced it 'Ed-whar-dee-yan' in an episode of Downton Abbey. I presume there had been some research behind that choice. I'd say 'Ed-ward' rather than 'Ed-whar'.

It's never too late to start.

Thank you. So whilst possible in EM the end result wouldn't have enabled the easy access that makes the design really viable in terms of your needs for photography and on going maintenance.

Tony, Had you adopted EM would this choice have prevented LB fitting into the space you have available?

I've sprayed etch from a rattle can into the plastic can lid and then used this for brush painting. I know some do this and pour the paint into their airbrush. If you try this you must wear a spray mask as it can come back at you as you decant into the lid. To prevent the worst of this I cover over the lid with cling film and direct the nozzle under one edge of this. It's surprising that you don't need many squirts to get a useable amount of paint and it illustrates just how wasteful rattle cans are. Alternatively you can buy tins of etch primer for car spraying. I've not tried this option but suspect the primer will need to be thinned. For example… https://www.advancedpaints.co.uk/product/clostermann-1k-etch-primer/ I use the rattle can version of this paint and think it's excellent on degreased really clean metal. It will etch into clean brass very well.