The Night Mail

[BoD]

22 hours ago, AndyID said:

Of course twelve would then be represented as 10 which would confuse the crepe out of everyone

There are only 10 types of people in the world.

Those who understand binary arithmetic and those who don’t.

[AndyID]

The little 8080 machine I built did not have any ROM (read only memory) which required you to key in a little program called a bootstrap loader using switches on the front panel. The bootstrap loader could then read in another program from the paper-tape reader and store that in memory.

 

It was desirable to make the bootstrap loader as short as possible because keying in binary on the front panel switches was a real PITA. The department prof was boasting to everyone that he had created the shortest possible bootstrap that only required twelve 8-bit values to be keyed into memory. He wasn't too happy when I showed him my version that only needed ten 😄

[Winslow Boy]

3 minutes ago, AndyID said:

The little 8080 machine I built did not have any ROM (read only memory) which required you to key in a little program called a bootstrap loader using switches on the front panel. The bootstrap loader could then read in another program from the paper-tape reader and store that in memory.

 

It was desirable to make the bootstrap loader as short as possible because keying in binary on the front panel switches was a real PITA. The department prof was boasting to everyone that he had created the shortest possible bootstrap that only required twelve 8-bit values to be keyed into memory. He wasn't too happy when I showed him my version that only needed ten 😄

 

Nothing like teaching an old dog new tricks. The knack is to remember that feeling when the next 'fella' - other terms are available, comes along and teaches you.

[AndyID]

4 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Nothing like teaching an old dog new tricks. The knack is to remember that feeling when the next 'fella' - other terms are available, comes along and teaches you.

 

He could run circles around me in many other areas and he was probably being payed about ten times my salary. He actually wrote a programming language called STAB and he had a competition going with the students to see if anyone could work out why he called it that.

 

Lots of creative suggestions were volunteered for the definition of the acronym. This went on for several months but nobody got it. Towards the end of the term he revealed the answer.

 

He had never written a programming language before so he thought he might as well take a stab at it 😀

 

The department had a DEC GT40 graphics processor that could run Lunar Lander all controlled by a light-pen on the screen (this was almost 50 years ago!) The real challenge was to see if you could land the lunar module on the other side of the Moon before it ran out of fuel. IIRC I did manage to do it a couple of times.

 

Happy days!

[iL Dottore]

I’m rather chuffed so many liked the pubs.
 

FYI: One (the Earl of Devon) was built for a fellow RMWebber, the other - for my own layout. The Earl of Devon is based on a pub in Devon (quelle surprise) and The Brunel is pretty much an exact copy of the Old Blue Last in Shoreditch, London (see https://victorianweb.org/art/architecture/pubs/54.html). The build of The Brunel would not have been possible without @unravelled  generous help in creating amazing laser cut architectural details he made for me (the windows, the roundels, some of the freize work).

 

I wanted to also post pictures of the buildings I made for @Oldddudders (as he was being gratuitously complimentary about my work a few posts back), but unfortunately I no longer have any photographs of that build (although I do have some photos of the foam core card prototype build I constructed of the Halwill Signal Box and sent him to see if the measurements were correct for his layout). Perhaps @Oldddudders can post a few photographs of the buildings in situ for us.

I’ve also chucked together a few bits and bobs for @jamie92208, but again I don’t have any photographs of those buildings, either (actually, I wouldn’t mind seeing what Jamie has done with the buildings on his layout - hint, hint).

I quite like building edifices for fellow RM Web members – as such constructions provide me with both focus and deadlines for my modelling. I try to make my buildings as prototypically accurate as possible and nearly every one of them has (where appropriate) a detailed and illuminated interior. In fact, given that my layout is currently stuck in development limbo, I wouldn’t mind taking on a build for a TNM denizen…

 

iD

 

p.s.  foolishly, I didn’t keep any records of either the Georgian Terraced House or The Brunel pub build; but from what I recall, the builds were north of 300 hours each!

[iL Dottore]

On 06/12/2022 at 00:28, AndyID said:

.I think I know who to blame but I don't want to upset Jamie and Oldudders 😃

You mean The French?
 

I thought “blaming the French” was a fine old English tradition - like Yorkshire Pudding with Roast Beef and Morris Dancing.🤣

 

Besides,  I reckon that even if Jamie and Oldudders turned up at the local Carrefour in (cliché alert) in a striped top and beret with a string of onions around their necks and a Gauloise drooping from their lips - they would still be - for their neighbours - le rosbifs 😁

[AndyID]

1 minute ago, iL Dottore said:

You mean The French?
 

I thought “blaming the French” was a fine old English tradition

 

 

Being Scottish tradition would have it that I side with France against England (and that principality that I can't remember the name of at the moment) according to the Auld Alliance, but on this occasion France's obsession with their gramme and their inability to give it up corked-up the entire SI system.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I’m rather chuffed so many liked the pubs.
 

FYI: One (the Earl of Devon) was built for a fellow RMWebber, the other - for my own layout. The Earl of Devon is based on a pub in Devon (quelle surprise) and The Brunel is pretty much an exact copy of the Old Blue Last in Shoreditch, London (see https://victorianweb.org/art/architecture/pubs/54.html). The build of The Brunel would not have been possible without @unravelled  generous help in creating amazing laser cut architectural details he made for me (the windows, the roundels, some of the freize work).

 

I wanted to also post pictures of the buildings I made for @Oldddudders (as he was being gratuitously complimentary about my work a few posts back), but unfortunately I no longer have any photographs of that build (although I do have some photos of the foam core card prototype build I constructed of the Halwill Signal Box and sent him to see if the measurements were correct for his layout). Perhaps @Oldddudders can post a few photographs of the buildings in situ for us.

I’ve also chucked together a few bits and bobs for @jamie92208, but again I don’t have any photographs of those buildings, either (actually, I wouldn’t mind seeing what Jamie has done with the buildings on his layout - hint, hint).

I quite like building edifices for fellow RM Web members – as such constructions provide me with both focus and deadlines for my modelling. I try to make my buildings as prototypically accurate as possible and nearly every one of them has (where appropriate) a detailed and illuminated interior. In fact, given that my layout is currently stuck in development limbo, I wouldn’t mind taking on a build for a TNM denizen…

 

iD

 

p.s.  foolishly, I didn’t keep any records of either the Georgian Terraced House or The Brunel pub build; but from what I recall, the builds were north of 300 hours each!

 

Does @iL Dottore have any shareable details of his own layout (size, trackplan etc.) that he is happy to share?  Judging by the Buildings it promises to be rather special.....

[polybear]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

In fact, given that my layout is currently stuck in development limbo, I wouldn’t mind taking on a build for a TNM denizen…

 

 

A certain Bear feels a sudden need for a model of St. Pancras Station, with interior detail of course.....🤣

[Winslow Boy]

2 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

A certain Bear feels a sudden need for a model of St. Pancras Station, with interior detail of course.....🤣

 

In N scale wasn't it Bear. That's what you said to me the other day.

[iL Dottore]

2 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

A certain Bear feels a sudden need for a model of St. Pancras Station, with interior detail of course.....🤣

I’m sure I could build one, a lot of the architectural details are repetitive, but….

1. For the materials you’d be spending the LDC budget for the next several years (if I build something for someone, I usually ask them to provide materials)
2. It’d take a wee while to build (maybe 4 - 5 years, if not more)
3. Shipping it to Bear Towers would (a) require the build of a special shipping container [as I did for the buildings for Black Country Blues] and (b) cost an absolute fortune to ship safely (although Bear could rent an 18-wheeler and come and collect it directly….)

Perhaps The Bear might want to aim a bit lower and go for a 30s semi or a low-relief Art Deco block of flats?

[DenysW]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

they would still be - for their neighbours - le rosbifs 

And when they addressed the natives in French, the reply would be in lightly accented English.

[polybear]

32 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I’m sure I could build one, a lot of the architectural details are repetitive, but….

1. For the materials you’d be spending the LDC budget for the next several years

 

Can you do Signal Boxes? 🤣  Or there's someone on here/ER'ers that might like a Garden Shed - he can gaze at it longingly whilst thinking "If only...."

[Happy Hippo]

27 minutes ago, DenysW said:

And when they addressed the natives in French, the reply would be in lightly accented English.

In Jamie's case, especially regarding his former profession, the term is Crabtre(e)esque.

 

Regarding the building of structures for model railways, having looked at Flavio's  magnificent creations, I now realise why Pantmawr North's location means the habitable buildings are restricted to a signal box, a lamp hut and a GWR style pagoda.

 

A quick check of PN's two freshly ballasted points reveals that the plasticard box/troughs protecting the point operating rods have done their job.  The PVA dribble went off overnight and the switch blades are still functional.

[iL Dottore]

11 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Can you do Signal Boxes? 🤣  Or there's someone on here/ER'ers that might like a Garden Shed - he can gaze at it longingly whilst thinking "If only...."

Yes, I've done several - a few for me (most got binned as they didn't, after re-review, meet my standards), one for Oldudders and one for a layout that ChrisF (of ER fame) was involved in (as was the pub "The Earl of Devon"). The most recent signal box build was of the Swiss Kerzers signalbox for JohnDMJ (although this was mostly a straightforward Faller kit build)

Edited December 7, 2022 by iL Dottore

[New Haven Neil]

A generous place, is RMW.  Another contributor made me a super factory last year when I commented on my inability to make a decent job of buildings and I was a bit down over it all, it's incorporation into the layout will hopefully be done this winter.  My thanks to Stu @Stubby47 for his generosity.

[New Haven Neil]

The scenery is slowly creeping towards it!

 

[iL Dottore]

 

 

 

Interior detail of the Earl of Devon (4mm/ft). A bit crude, but OK when glimpsed through a window.

[Happy Hippo]

5 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 

 

 

Interior detail of the Earl of Devon (4mm/ft). A bit crude, but OK when glimpsed through a window.

I can even smell the spilt beer!

[Stubby47]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

The scenery is slowly creeping towards it!

 

 

It sits nicely in the corner.

 

Has the name been spotted on the tank yet ?

[Canal Digger]

2 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

A certain Bear feels a sudden need for a model of St. Pancras Station, with interior detail of course.....🤣

 

In N scale wasn't it Bear. That's what you said to me the other day.

There was a very nice, unfinished, 2mm scale model of York (?) Station at Larkrail in Bath a few months ago.

[Oldddudders]

Il Dottore actually made two Earls of Devon. He first made a 'proof of concept' version, which I latched onto and bought, while original commissioner Chris F got the 'lessons learned' version. We were each well-pleased.

 

I will be home in France - but for no more than a handful of days - next week. Sherry must not leave the UK until her 12-week check-up is done, meaning not before February, so I am dashing home (in her car) for a few days to sort out commitments that otherwise will go hang. I regret snaps of buildings may or may not get taken, but am happy to re-iterate that ID does deliver pretty well. 

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I’m sure I could build one, a lot of the architectural details are repetitive, but….

1. For the materials you’d be spending the LDC budget for the next several years (if I build something for someone, I usually ask them to provide materials)
2. It’d take a wee while to build (maybe 4 - 5 years, if not more)
3. Shipping it to Bear Towers would (a) require the build of a special shipping container [as I did for the buildings for Black Country Blues] and (b) cost an absolute fortune to ship safely (although Bear could rent an 18-wheeler and come and collect it directly….)

Perhaps The Bear might want to aim a bit lower and go for a 30s semi or a low-relief Art Deco block of flats?

4. Explain to @polybearthat there's magical things called 3d printers, and that when he gets one he can  download the files from thinigverse..

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:326822

Edited December 7, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[iL Dottore]

WOULD ANYONE LIKE AN EASTER PRESENT?
 

All this talk of building edifices has got my modelling mojo practically fizzing at the seams (to mix my metaphors).

 

So I’d like to offer a bespoke edifice build to three lucky TNMers (send a PM:  first come [as defined by time PM received] first snaffled. BUT a PM without some basic outline of the requested details [see second bullet point below] won’t count). But, as alway, there’s small print 😮

• it can be a 2mm, 4mm or 7mm build.
• it has to have a reasonable footprint, so provide me a choice of two or three buildings (and their approximate dimensions) in your PM. Photos of the prototypes will help me decide what to build. Complexity of the architecture and architectural details will also be a deciding factor (I’m NOT producing 500 gargoyles in N)
• The lucky “client” will need to provide materials (partly because many things needed for a decent build - such as UK “water goods” [down pipes etc] aren’t readily available). My (mostly UK sourced) stock of materials is limited.
• All buildings will be supplied with a “cellar” (a recessed plinth to allow for embedding into the scenery)
• Depending upon structure, a detailed and illuminated interior may be also offered.
• Illumination will be either LED or grain of rice - whatever is preferred.
• Delivery (tbd) will be 2nd Quarter 2023 (so around Easter, perhaps later - depending upon complexity of the build)

Further details will be worked out with the “clientele”

 

iD

Edited December 7, 2022 by iL Dottore
Typo

[SM42]

SM42 Towers has officially entered the permafrost phase

 

The sun is behind the hill and unlikely to come out from behind it till early March.

 

 

Stocks of de-icer are plentiful and must not in any circumstances be confused with glass cleaner and vice versa.

 

Andy