Hollar

At last, something I know a bit about . A lovely model of a gully-roofed parapet London terrace - close cousin to the London house I've lived in for 35 years. Two of your householders are going to dread the coming of winter, because they have no fires - and they will all suffer with no toilet lean-to stuck on the back of the scullery. Actually, it's likely to be two householders per house because these were almost always rented, often to two families even with the smaller ones like these and would be in a shabby state with probably green or brown woodwork. Apart from leaving no scope at all for building a layout, the roofs are a problem for those beneath them. When we moved in we had to spend a fortune on expertise and sheet lead to get them watertight - especially where the slates/tiles abut the parapet wall. So the flashing (maybe concrete) should be prominent. After the war they would have been repaired with whatever slates or whatever the landlord could get so there would not be much uniformity . They may be on the hidden slope of the roof, but each house would have a hatch opening out from the roof (on the same side as the front door). These were the burglar's friend for many years as they could trip from house to house along the terrace, taking apart the rotten wood to open them. The chimneys never match - I'm convinced that one of mine is Jacobean. And if you really want to go the whole Scalefour, there should be a nasty bulge in that great side wall, though how you could model that other than accidentally I haven't a clue. Having said that, they are lovely houses when maintained properly and we have never seriously contemplated moving and with the middle classes firmly entrenched look good for another 150 years provided there isn't another blitz to bounce them around - and that something doesn't happen to make us rue the lack of foundations. Tone

I can take no credit for the attached loco, since it was built by John Brighton from the Craftsman kit. It's miles away from my GE interests but I think the L&Y class 67 is really the epitome of the unspectacular everyday Victorian engine. John's model catches this perfectly, trundling past with an fitted goods. Tone

Someone has been trying to get waterslide transfers to bed into a matte surface. We've all done it

If the coaches were mine, and especially if I had done such a wonderful job building them, I wouldn't even think of selling them on. They look lovely and the lack of flat ends wouldn't trouble me at all.. I've sold quite a few surplus items on eBay and have always found that warts and all descriptions have done nothing to damp down the bidding. I sold a couple of Jidenco kits for more than I anticipated despite being blunt about the experience any buyer was letting himself (or herself) in for. Tone

Put them on eBay. My experience is that you are likely to do ok and that a straightforward and honest description won't put much of a damper on the bidding. Personally, I would find it hard to step away after all that excellet hard work. Tone

If Fireball XL5 had been used as a loco name, it would have to have been a Co-Bo. And if we are looking at locos named after puppets, I would suggest the best puppet of them all - Sooty. Tone

No - crusading has certainly gone seriously out of fashion in the last 90 years, though the crusaders' business plan for religious conversion (sword or water - your choice) seems to have caught on with other groups. Tone

Wonderful film, and the balloon creature was clearly modelled on the man who ran the internal mail system at the bit of the civil service I worked in during the early 1980s. Many's the time I contemplated flinging him down the lift shaft. Tone

7-planker minerals stayed in traffic through the 50s and into the 60s, though obviously in diminishing numbers as the 16 tonners entered service. Mostly they looked pretty beaten up, but occasionally a freakishly clean and tidy one can be seen. Larkin's Prenationalisation freight wagons . . has a 1961 photo of a coke wagon in reasonable condition and one from 1965 of a standard RCH coal wagon on its last legs, and they show up regularly in the background of photos of goods engines. During WW2 they were requisitioned into a national pool, and from then on they could turn up anywhere regardless of their branding. They were regularly repaired, with whatever timber was to hand at the time. This could give a real varied of raw-wood colours, and very occasionally a plank of an entirely different colour would be stolen from another wagon. I believe that towards the end of their use, they were used as one-trip loco coal wagons - and presumably broken up and burned on at the destination loco shed. Tone As an aside, I've found that a good smear of Humbrol 64 (matt light grey) is a really good quick way of toning down the colours on RTR wagons and is usually my starting point. I find distressing PO wagons very therapeutic when other modelling hasn't been going so well. Tone

The evidence seems to me that in the current state of things the risk of contracting the virus at a public gathering is minimal. For a Premiership game with 50,000 spectators in an open air stadium, the number of people infected is projected as being in the low single figures [Source: epidemiology prof on Radio 4 - not as knowledgeable and reliable as President Trump but the best the BBC could manage]. The ban on sporting events has more to do with whole clubs self-isolating (the West Ham defence has been doing this all season of course) and the strain on public resources of policing etc. So, there is not much logic in not going to model railway shows, but t.hat's not to say that attendances will be seriously down, since logic is always in short supply in these circumstances. Not excluding myself: we are running out of toilet rolls and I am reluctant to pop down to Savers to buy some in case the neighbours think I am hoarding. Tone

Just off the production line - one of a pair of BR twin bolsters for Millhouses, just finished off after a delicate weathering session. Fortunately, I found a colour photo of a very similar wagon which showed the (to me) unlikely-looking streaks down the panels from the top rail. The bolster tops are a bit overdone, but by this evening I hope they will be covered by a load of pipes - on their way down from Chesterfield. The problem is with how to weather the pipes. They were apparently coated with bitument(for which Marabu Anthracite aerosol is quite a good match) but they seem to have acquired thin streaks. Anyway, I have a dummy load made from offcuts and I will be seeing what can be done by washes - rather than hunching over and painting in every single streak individually. To slightly misquote the Sex Pistols - it's my idea of fun. Tone PS Isn't it odd what the RMWeb spellchecker objects to. Offcuts in this case

To quote Billy Connolly - they are more to be pitied than scolded. Tone

Very nice piece of work indeed Do you apply the TCut with cotton buds or with scrubby brushes? If brushes - how do you clean them or do you use sweetshop ones and treat them as disposable? I've used TCut to produce a worn-looking finish on coaching stock but have always avoided locos until now for fear of serious accidents. Tone

A small point, but it surprised me when I noticed how rarely a brake van's posted tare weight equates the nominal rating Tone

The Bradwell 14T hopper really is a great kit to build, but don't do what I did and decide you can improve on the recommended building sequence. I did just that on my first attempt, in several moments of madness. By the time I saw sense it was too late and it ended up in the bin. The second was went together fine, but of course it's not a quickie. Tone

I once heard the great rugby referee Nigel Owens say to a player I didn't hear that, but if I hear anything like it again your afternoon will be over, is that clear? A great inspiration to me when I was umpiring county league cricket, where emotions would occasionally run high (in that controlled English manner, of course). On the other hand, racist or strong personal abuse, I could hear clearly from miles away. Tone

Unusually my school (in the 60s) was classed as multilateral. Essentially it was a grammar and a secondary modern sharing a site, but in practice it had separate buildings, separate staff (and staff rooms) and the two streams of children only really came together for sports and the weekly school mass. Everyone in the grammar streams knew where the metalwork shop was because it was directly underneath the 5th year GCE grammar classrooms (which gives you a flavour of how well the school was organised). As a grammar boy I never went into the metalwork room except once to give the teacher a message; and I didn't know where the woodwork room was until 6th form when I stumbled on it while doing the lights for the school opera, and looking for the lighting store. Write this down I suddenly feel me age.

I've been working on a while on a J72 that started as an ancient and unadorned Mainline engine, which I thought deserved the full treatment. I can't claim credit for the chassis, which was whipped into shape by a friend of mine, but I am happy with the result. It is finished as one of a pair of new J72s sent by BR to Ipswich, where of course they were apparently loathed and rarely used - and the engine's state of filth reflects its unloved status. I'm old enough not to have been surprised when Bachmann announced their lovely new J72, but on the other hand just at the right moment Northeastern Kits announced its J72 kit and the proprietor very kindly let me buy me the lovely chimney, tank vents and several other refined lost-wax items virtually straight out of the mould. It was a very satisfying build and one picture shows it running on the nearest thing I have to a layout. Tone

I have been playing around with the airbrush trying to come up with a paint formula that will come out as the tyical base colour of hardworking steam engines. There is a very definite reddish tinge to be seen. Was this something that happened to 1950s paint over time when it was applied to iron which regularly got quite hot. Or was it a function of the imperfect technology of contemporary colour film. And if it is the latter, should we add red, in classic follow the photo mode - or stick to greys and browns? Personally, I hope it is the paint, because I may have found a blend which keeps me happy, and I would have to do ore than just finish off my new 8F. Tone

I've not had a problem with CCT coach window transfers falling off, despite not sealing them in. But I'll do it in future just to be sure. Tone

Sounds more like sales than marketing, Tone

For irons that need a tiny shelf, the advice given to me was to solder a bent one on top of a straight one, file to shape and then jamb it in a bigger hole. You would have to be very sharp to see it when it's in place, even on a smokebox door. Tone

Yes, but rarely run tail traffic so durability isn't an issue.

Lamp irons. The importance of lamping up your locomotives has occasionally been mentioned here. I've always concentrated on goods wagons, but having started building and improving locomotives I realise that etched brass lamp irons are just not going to be up to the job long-term. For the moment, I am using staples filed to shape and then spiked into place through a guide hole (plastic) and superglued or epoxy them into a larger hole (metal). They are cheap, easy to make, and look ok, with the excessive thickness not obvious unless you look carefully (which few do). I'd never noticed them on the locos I commissioned from the friend who passed on this tip. I'm happy with the result (on my Brassmastered Hornby 8F), or at least I was when I realised I had to sand them down before you try to solder them) but while sitting there yesterday happily filing away to the music of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers I wondered what other people did. Tone

It may work very well in practice, but how does it work in theory is often thought to be Garret FitzGerald's reaction (when he was Ireland's Taoiseach) to a cunning plan from his finance minister which would cure the Irish balance of payments deficit. There are other claimants. FitzGerald was an intellectual first, politician second. Tone