Martin S-C

Thanks Kevin, I have never seen that photo of them. I understood that official photos of these have never been found and I know of only one other which shows one involved in an accident. Its from Jim Russell's book: Note that this photo shows the "two tier" door framing while Jim's drawing shows the "single tier" door with only one long diagonal brace. Your photo shows a single brace as well, so I am happy to see that as it means I do not have to hack my Dia O.2 sides around so much. Do you know where that photo in your post was taken? Or anything else about it?

Its a Great Western milk van. One of their earliest 6-wheelers of diagram O.2 that came into use in the 1880s. I'm chopping it up to make an earlier 4-wheeled type, the O.1 which were built in the 1870s and were all out of service by 1914. In my fiction, my independent line has bought a second hand one. Its going to need some chopping about as the door bracing was of a different form as well as the underframe though I may invoke some use of Rule 1 and go with whatever is nearest using the story that doors and some other parts were reused from other vehicles. https://howesmodels.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DSCN86851.jpg http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-tzLNK4zRef8/TvuePkvCkrI/AAAAAAAAAdY/hz3c0-Z8elA/s600/gallery_738_870_58960.jpg

It's the old K's kit. The width of the planks in the slatted sides are a bit over-scale. It's been in its vacuum-packed wrapper for nigh on 40 years I presume, so several parts are distorted - I imagine it would be impossible make the 6w version since the white metal underframes are pretty well distorted all over the place. I was able to salvage the best two axles from each side. The plastic is extremely brittle as well, looks like it may have sat in a shop window in the sun for a while, poor thing... After patiently waiting years on the shelf, so to speak, I plan to give 2/3rds of it, at least, a long and happy working life.

In the accent of an Australian entertainer whose name we no longer mention... "Can you tell what it is yet?"

Evening all. Over the last 3 days all the plasterboarding has been completed and plaster skim over the screws mostly rubbed down, lights fitted and working and new door and one window in. One more window to go in, roof ridge to be finalised, one end gable to be replaced and general tidying up and fettling to be done. The lights are really something, giving a very nice warm light all over. It looks a little orange in the photos though.

Seagull attack cam! You also get to see bits of your modelling you may have forgotten were there like the wooden footbridge and the rusty rail length.

At first I thought that was going to be a monster viaduct. Very neat - is the whole structure going to be built from ply with 2x1 for bracing? Or was that just shaped for access in this particular area?

You're confuzling me Corbs - you've put your pipe away. EDIT: Yesterdays workbench fun and games. Chopping up a Parkside 1921 GNR bogie brick wagon to make a shorter bogie loco coal wagon:

Beautiful depth of colours on that coach. A light patina of dirt seems to enhance the tones as well.

When the power is restored and the lights are on I'll give a report but I was very impressed by the light put out by 8 x 300mm square ones in my friends garage which is about 15ft x 25ft. They also of course only burn the electricity of a 40watt tungsten bulb each.

I would say you'd need a big support rig to hold them, even if you went for the smaller panels such as 300mm square. If your layout has a full fascia and overhead supports then they might be an option as long as you transport them in some kind of padded carry case. Maybe too fragile though, perhaps more conventional shaped LED lamps would do a similar job more easily. The quality of light from them and lack of heat output is what appealed to me and the same would apply at an exhibition as well. The same shop offers lots of ceiling lamps and floor lamps.

Here you go: https://www.wholesaleledlights.co.uk/36w-led-panel-light-1200x300mm.html They are incredibly light and very thin - only 1cm overall. The plastic surround has a small lip in it and the fitting just rests in a hole cut in the ceiling on this lip. To access them you just push the whole unit up like you would opening an attic trapdoor covered by a loose hatch. They generate no heat at all and a friend of mine has 8 of the 300mm square units in his garage (converted to a wargaming room) and they flood the whole room with a very bright even light. I've gone for the 4000 lumens daylight colour.

There has been a break of a week during which time the builders were unable to get here due to the bad weather of last weekend holding up another job. Yesterday they returned in force and the electrics have all gone in, as has the first of the 120mm x 300mm LED flat panel ceiling lights. The plasterboard false ceiling is up and plaster-boarding has begun around the walls. The first photo shows a very gloomy end of the room where it was extended and where its furthest away from the windows. However with the ceiling boarded the place is now looking much more like a room and less like a garage. On the modelling front I tried an olive green departmental colour on the gas tanker wagon and it looked weird. I have reverted to black, which seems to have been a universal colour for these vehicles used by many companies. Now to letter and weather it. The pair of Wisbech & Upwell tram coaches are awaiting extra parts as they lacked a few details - each kit was short of a pair of gas lamps and there is no representation of any underfloor bracing or brake gear. I've sent off to Dart Castings for a selection of detail parts to go in the bits box for a variety of projects, and some gas lamps are included in this order. Guy Rixon does some very nice looking LNWR brake gear parts on Shapeways and I will probably order a couple of these. https://www.shapeways.com/shops/guyrixon I have several photos of the preserved bogie coach No.8 but none show the under floor gubbins in any useful detail. When the gas lamp castings arrive I need to add the gas lines on the roofs as well. Yesterday I fitted the seating into the two coaches. Luckily for me this was dead easy as the seats were all tram style with passengers backs to the windows. Making up bench seating for the 4-wheeler. First bench in place, second one being prepared. Seat backs in place. The bogie coach is a 1st/3rd composite, each compartment being accessed from opposite ends of the vehicle. Here the 1st class saloon is having seating added. Long benches for the 3rd class section are underway. I have little to go on for the original interiors but chose to add a transverse seat against the compartment wall for 1st class. Both saloons finished. The 3rd class will have red cloth cushions and wooden seat backs. 1st gets blue plush cushions to both seats and back rests. I picked up this on e-Bay a while ago. The plan is to shorten it by 1/3rd the length (there's three big dropside doors), build it unfitted and make it into a mid-length bogie loco coal wagon. The idea of a few bogie freight vehicles is another Madder Valley inspiration, though I want to restrict these to British types, not North American ones.

Why has that bird got a halo? Or is it an O gauge bird?

On this thread? If they did you'd have to ask for an explanation of the explanation.

There's something oddly appealing about a loco where the dome wants to be a chimney.

Don't do yourself down James. I would never dream of saying (or thinking) the Castle Aching drill hall had been built by someone taking faltering steps!

If it was flexible track you should be okay

I don't know of whom you speak and do not wish to know. I'm aware one person in the trade is banned from here and that was due to being over-critical of other - perhaps competing - products, though why one's opinion, if honestly formed and given should be a case for excluding someone from a hobby community I do not know. This person is now anti RMWeb and attacks it on other discussion groups, so such bans generate a loss for everyone. It is a shame. When I were a lad and joined my first two model railway clubs around the age of 14 or so, the "hierarchical and paternalistic" social order was very much in evidence, and groups of gentlemen in tweed jackets with leather patch elbows would gather in their usual corner of the clubroom and smoke pipes and do very little else, or so it seemed to me. I was told they were "The Committee" which phrase was usually uttered in hushed revered tones. Perhaps it was because of my youth (I grew up in that age when children were taught to respect their elders and to certainly respect authority such as teachers, churchmen, police and railway officials) or perhaps it was part of the social order of those times (this was the mid-1970s) that was breathing its last gasp around me and of which I was completely unaware. As several here will know I recently acquired a complete set of old railway modelling magazines to replace a lost collection and have been nostalgically returning to my youth of the 60s and 70s by re-reading them. It certainly does seem that that sort of modeller was a creature of his age and its also possible that many of these people saw service in the armed forces. The hobby in the 50s and 60s still being the preserve of white middle class gentlemen, I suppose many of these were former officers and so this self-regard of being right and telling others what to do was simply how things were and were expected to be. No-one is wrong or a bad person for being a child of their time and social group. David Jenkinson comes to mind; an ex-RAF officer and in his photographs very much a straight-backed, play-the-game-by-the-rules sort of person. Today's modellers are probably much more liberal in their outlook and the hobby has widened to include a broader appeal to people from all walks of life. Had Rod Stewart been modelling in the 50s or 60s and the Old Guard had encountered a pop singer in their midst I am sure some eyebrows would have been raised. Anyhow, I originally popped into this thread in order to post this, and was side-tracked (or in railway modelling terms is that "goods looped"?). To coin a phrase from TV advertising, I saw this and thought of you:

I often shout this but not when I am soldering. Am I doing it wrong? Yours Perverted of Peterborough

Kevin, post #3005 shows some really nice dust effects around the rivet heads on the King. What is your recipe for achieving that please?

Soldering is a Dark Art to me. I sorely need some tutoring in the subject.

Can you tell me what make of pens you use? I have a Hobbycraft near me and picked up a white pen there that I hope to do chalk marks with but it was too thick and "blobby". I imagine I must track down a proper art supplies dealer. This was the finest they had at 0.7mm. Truth be known, given that I shy away from lining coaches I actually don't know much about the different styles. I ought to sit and study some photographs carefully. I suppose if you break a lining scheme down into its component elements its not as scary as it seems. For now I mess about with my finest brush and thinned paint for chalked instructions. EDIT: "blobby" has an "L" in it. Sheesh.

Is it possible please to have a link to Guy's Shapeways shop?

Lining is beyond my skillset and probably always will be. I suppose I could have used transfers but the idea of all those panels gave me the shakes. I've discovered that Prickly Pear Products are still in business and he makes an all third and composite GNSR 4-wheelers to go with the brake. The others are equally attractive vehicles with that very old-fashioned look.