Golden Fleece 30

That's right, see you in a couple of weeks time. Garry

A little bit further on, our little one helping put some static grass down and then I have made the long retaining wall. At the moment it is loose but this later will be glued and screwed to the upper level so that it makes the termius one complete and separate unit. Our little one has had a practice shunting 3 wagons onto different lines and knows which points to change for a specific route, more than what my wife did, she got it wrong lol. Thankfully I can get the layout back into the kitchen to work on, only 2 weeks to the show. Garry

With the heading as it states I thought this was nostalgic Rod with Tri-ang TT track used, Tri-ang TT stock, old Bec kits etc and more recently Merco and Bilteezi mentioned. After the first few posts, unless I made a comment there seems to be very little, if anything, said. I can only think of one other layout mentioned, which was recently, so where are all the "nostalgic" layouts hiding, surely I cannot be the only one around or because I am building it now does that mean it is not nostalgic? Garry

. Cannot look at anything now Ray as Keyboard has stopped working, all this is done on my phone. Garry

Just seen the % button which I never use, I always use the pixel button which might be the same. Garry

I saved the print you put on which is probably why it is bigger as Merco's papers are all different sizes and not A4. It is not too far out but I don't know how to scale it for printing. Garry

I have just come across that problem Ray. I saved them when I scanned them as a Jpeg but no way of printing to scale so re scanned as a PDF which allows me to then print at 76%. Just tried yours and it is larger than 00 scale. Garry

I have never had much luck with printers from 20years ago, lost count how many I have had. I run the software nozzle cleaners, twice, using their secondary clean. The alignment settings are always spot on but even new cartridges will be classed as empty. As for the PC it was the same with my old one and even now if I try the laptops. I just use the print facility from the PC whether it is Cad, Paint, JPEG etc. Garry

I know it's a free one Ray but my printer will not print the the colours as you saw with the SR wagon, that should have been a rich brown. I wanted to go to the local town yesterday to a printers but due to the weather did not go. Today it is worse as the little one's school is shut. I only use my printer these days for testing the scale etc and not to use. I do have a few of the Wordsworth ones I did before the issues. Garry

Thanks Ray, I have seen them and thought about it but being a tight Yorkshire man the price put me off as it comes back to the printing. Wordsworth are similar and free although not to the same standard. Garry

I thought about cutting out the windows etc but it stops other things getting done, maybe one day although those days are earmarked for trains really. There are not many Bilteezi sheets left in TT scale and the main one I wanted was the loco shed but they have now all been sold. I do have a few Wordsworth ones which are very similar and make up into a nice model. Garry

I have made a start on the upper level track wiring and here are some of the points. Baseboard has had one coat of "ballast" paint and should get another tomorrow. Managed to put a Bilteezi signal box together, no window cutouts etc but in keeping with the layout era. I am lucky I have been told I can leave it all in the kitchen due to the weather, snowing heavy outside at the moment. Garry

Here is his TT coach, look at the knife marks and description. Tri-ang never painted their TT solebars and the green looks to be a re-paint. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRI-ANG-RAILWAYS-TT-MODEL-No-132-BR-MK-1-SR-MAINLINE-COMPOSITE-COACH/302365896833?hash=item4666697081:g:dtoAAOxyu0BRfqs8 Garry

Getting back to TT, here is the wagon with modified ends. I glued an extra piece of card on each end with the end papers the on one side I just glued the corner straps in situ, the other side I cut a side into 3 just inside the centre hinges using the outer pieces and gave it the appearance of a wider hinge. This fits the chassis just nicely. One of these should suffice depending on what the price will be. Garry

This seller is well renowned for very high prices, many times the wrong photo to the description, and often a very poor model for the description. For the last two years he has had a Tri-ang TT coach on with the description "like new, very good condition, super example" yet when you look at it there is a deep knife mark from roof towards the solebar for half its length, repainted and I am sure Tri-ang never sold it like that. A lot of his stock does not get sold in years he still has Exleys that have been advertised for at least 6 years and never sell due to their exorbitant price. He must have a shed full of unsold items.

In reality I could just redraw everything in AutoCAD at the correct size but that is time consuming and then I still need to get them printed. At the moment we have had that many printers and issues with them that any photos we want it is easier and cheaper to go to Tesco with the memory card and just use the printer for letters. Garry

Hi Ray/David, Ray, I did once try calibrating my monitor but gave it up as a bad job. In the last 7 or 8 years I have had two Cannon printers, one Samsung colour laser (the worst of the lot) and an HP. All the ink jets especially the HP continually have nozzle problems and I have done the recommended double clean countless times. The inks are mainly manufacturers and the paper HP, Xerox, gloss photo paper. My software will say no ink yet the container shows half full. My only successes are setting to black ink only for letters. David, Due to the above is one reason why I am looking at a professional printing firm, especially as they should scan them in a better resolution. I have never used Photoshop but it would have to be done after the scans and I was hoping a printer business would do it all there and then. I would like the scanned images saved for me for future use if they would do that. The vans at the scale I print off have the ends exactly matching a Tri-ang one, the coaches though I have done slightly smaller to fit the length of a Tri-ang one to save scratchbuilding as I have not enough time (or the inclination) to do coaches that way. Cost does come into all of this so I have to be careful as I will not be doing that many. These sheets only cost a £1 for wagons and £1.25 for the coaches so at least they did not break the bank. Here are some of the other sheets. Garry

I have just bought some original Hamblings/Merco wagon and coach papers. I am not a fan of overlays etc but these will be in keeping with the layout design/era. I have printed some off suitably scaled down but unfortunately my printer is very poor and the colours rarely work. As you can see the SR open as seen here should be brown as in the scanned original. A decent printer should give some good copies but the next issue is that they are 9' wheelbase wagons but Tri-ang's wagon chassis's are 10'. If I get good prints I will probably saw a chassis in half to shorten it. In Edward Beal's book I think he lengthens them this way and even makes a 6 wheeler which will be of use as there is an Insulated LMS vehicle amongst them. Garry

Thanks, I lost my badge many, many years ago, possibly in the early 60's as a child. I never had a set with the Type B track but that itself will not be used. The sets are mainly for taking to shows. I don't know the age of these as I have no idea if Type B track sets had controllers in them but obviously 1959 onwards. I need to get this layout finished before starting the larger Peco track one which I hope to have on the go later this year so stockwise will not be the priority. How many of us have the same problem of not enough time? I still have my 0 gauge I take to shows, then the larger 00/Dublo 3-rail one to finish and hopefully sell the N gauge one. Garry

A little corner of the layout so far. You can see where the static grass has not gone "sideways" on the formers but these areas will be dealt with other textures. I forgot to move the bridge/tunnel section back into place, this is removable in case there is a need to get to the track underneath. Garry

Don't worry Dava these will not be getting modified etc. You can forget about pension pot, with what I paid for these it is less than half a month.

Back with TT gauge on this thread, managed to win these today at a good price, just waiting for delivery now. The M/N set looks like it may have not been used, the oil looks to be unopened. Garry

It is going to get a lot colder Ray. I managed to do a lot of work on my layout outside in the garden today leaving the next part to be done in the kitchen on a night when Jackie has gone to bed lol. She knows I do it but reminds me to make sure I clean up afterwards. Garry

Hi David, I understand what you mean although my reply was more directed to Ray as he stated he only wanted one road onto the turntable. For more roads you are probably on the right track with Meccano's idea. I guess it depends on how far you want to go with it. Electrically stopping it would be beyond me that's why I have the Fleishmann/Marklin ones which are brilliant but very expensive. I think the very first Tri-ang one with a knurled wheel rubbing the disc around was hit and miss by pressing and releasing the buttons but as it was a slow turn it might not have been too bad. Garry

If only one track is required to use the turntable and no run-offs used opposite the end then a simple alignment can be made soldering a pin on the same rail at both ends. In the photo the pin holds the tracks against the upper line, turning through 180 degrees the other pin then holds the tracks aligned via the lower rail. The turntable can only revolve 180 degrees left or right and no other tracks can be added. Please note my drawing shows a small gap just to help understand the method, in reality the pin is soldered on the rail side and locates on the adjacent rail side. Garry