Giles

Ah...... Well, if your careful, you can actually do the cutting back trick to the varnish, as well as paint - the same applies (so long as it has gone off) the only thing one has to be very careful of is not to go right through the varnish, as you then can't get rid of the 'joint' line, without re-varnishing. The NG Bagnall has this technique applied to the varnish coat, rather than the paint coat..... (If in doubt, do a test piece) None the less, I think you've got a better, much more plausible panel than you otherwise would have got. Superb.

... And I've finished the third (and final) standard Guage point. That might seem like not a lot to everyone else, but it seems to take me forever - so it's a nice hurdle to have jumped. Baseboards next, then some track can go down!

Well, that might rumble in on the main line, from time-to-time - though I dare say I'll have to re-profile the wheels, which will be a nuisance - but we'll see...... (It would be more useful with finer profiles, of course)

I'm afraid I don't know - but you might like this - if you haven't already found it......

That Fowler is looking superb...... It makes me want to re-paint mine! Love the oil leaked from the donkey engine - excellent touch! Brilliant!

Oh yes.....! And of course what isn't clear on the drawing is the 1:15 gradient up from the 'main- line'...... It should get those engines rocking....

Bless you Martin... A longer story of the build will be appearing in either Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Review or possibly the new Finescale magazine - it's up to Bob Barlow! I'm delighted that you are getting on with the flatting and polishing technique - it's a personal thing, but I think it makes all the difference in the world to my models..... It takes a bit of time, but it's quite satisfying, and the result is great! (I use 2000 grit though, but 1200 would seem just about fine enough!)

Hi Stephen - They're 8' x 2' 10" ( 2 off 4' x 2' 10") - as much as I can possibly store and fit into the car!!! Meanwhile, I've built one of the proper two points. The stock rails have a joggle to each of them to take the blade. This was done easily by putting in two bends with pliers, side-by-side (then dressing the top down flat again) The blades needed a break to allow them to pivot, as they were too short to rely of simple flexing. I therefore made simple fish-plates from nickel-silver (etch off-cuts) and silver-soldered them to the chaired rail, drilled out a 0.5 hole with the blade placed in the fish plates, and then put some 0.5mm wire through the lot, and put a touch of silver solder on both ends of the wire. This gave me a little movement on the blade, while holding it nicely vertical. 0.8mm nickel silver wire was silver-soldered to the tip of the blade to engage with the tie bar - which is a piece of 00 copper paxolin sleeper, with two pieces of small diameter tube soldered to it. Once the blades are in position in the tie-bar, the ends of the 0.8mm NS were bent over at 90 degrees to retain it all, and then trimmed off. I know it's not a wonderfully correct scale point, but I think it will read correctly, and mechanically it's OK

No, they were also oil-burners - but then I'm not trying to recreate the BICC! (They had some interesting locos there, and some very pretty well-wagons!)

I've been working on one of the other points (which will be ballasted, and are therefore conventionally made with C&L chairs and sleepers). As you may know, I've recently got back into silver-soldering in building 7mm stuff (I've been silversoldering bigger stuff and smaller stuff all my life, but like most people, revert to using soft solder on almost everything model railway simply out of habit!). All the valve gear and slide bar assemblies on the Garratt were silver-soldered, together with all the valve gear rivets - which was soooo much easier than soft soldering..... And so I've been continuing this into the point making as well. The nose of the points is silver soldered, together with the 0.8mm nickel silver bar, which will tie in the wing rails. Apart from being extremely easy to do, the value of silver soldering all these, is that when I come to (soft) solder the wing rails to the bar etc., there is absolutely no risk of anything coming adrift and causing me difficulties. The silver-solder melts at around 720 degrees C.

Widor's Toccata for me as number one (probably), with things like Faure's requiem, Chopin's Fantasy Impromtu, Allegri's Misareri Mei Deus (sung well...), Stamford in C and B flat, Parry, and so many others.... What a nice thread..... Interestingly, when we were young, we had a 78 of Widor playing his Toccata himself, and he played it at about half the speed (that it is always now played). Whether that was to fill the record or not, I don't know....

For the sake of tidiness and continuity, here's the video of the trial set-up of the transfer crane in action (I know most people have seen it on other threads, but this is the layout it is destined for....)

Ah... 'Sir Tom' etc.....! A very happy coincidence? I think they must have handled some quite large drums there, as their wagons required bars in between, which mine don't (for the diameter) unless there was some other reason requiring separation.

It's about time I started a thread on the next little layout (and also started doing some work on it!). It will be based around a small cable manufacturing company, again circa early '60's. The viewing portion will consist of the trans-shipment of cable (drums) out of the factory via the 2ft gauge railway onto standard gauge wagons for distribution. I dare say road transport may also play a part..... [/url] The narrow gauge wagons have been made and I have lots of locos to haul them I've built the first point, which will get tram-wayed in, and made a tool to emboss 'setts' easily into the surface (the shorter side on top of the tool fits into the 'four-foot') and of course the transfer crane has been built and working for some time. Lastly, of course, the Garratt has finally been finished, and will find a home here.... It will all take a bit of time - but that's the fun.....!

It's quite a nice natural 'cheat'! I fold up a piece of 2000 grit W&D quite small (rectangular, so it is only 6 or 8mm wide) and than flat down within the panels - carefully avoiding the lines of rivets. I'll go up quite close to them, but not touch them. This means that the paint around all the rivets, and any other detail I can't physically get into is still comparatively quite 'rough', so it will also take weathering paints and powders more easily, which works very well...... If I do happen to catch a rivet by accident, it's no great problem, I just get a very fine brush, and spot a bit of paint on top of it. It happened to a dozen or so rivets on the Garratt, but it would be impossible to tell which. After flatting, I concentrate the polishing within the panel, but then to finish, do a final 'all-over' polish - rivets and all. I always use the wet and dry WET. To be fair, it is a time-consuming and laborious process. But it is one that is for me worth-whilst, as I think it creates a base finish unlike any other method. I dare say there are some who can produce a finish that good with an air-brush - but I am not one of them! This is a way whereby a bit of careful persistance can enable a moderately skilled modeller to achieve a really nice finish (just using car aerosols!)

Hi Phill, No, of course most of the powders are going into corners, nooks and crannies, so they're less susceptible to wearing away anyway... The better powders (like the Tamaya or whatever they are called!) can be worked into the paint to 'stain' in almost indelibly ( if you work it in with their sponge thing!) and it is only the real cheap and cheerfuls that just won't take..... In any event, it isn't a significant problem, and it's a joy not having any varnish to spoil the look!

The bush I think you're referring to is part of a Polak bush - a very good range of scenic products!!

Thank you Hauk, I did briefly describe the techniques on this thread here..... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/80509-giles-weathered-locos/?p=1788582

The Garratt was weathered with water-soluble oils (lamp black) and then the addition of a few powders (though not much) and a dusting of a soot mix (the only air-brush contribution) over the top of the boiler and roof.

Please forgive the self-indulgence! The Garratt in B & W

This is looking very impressive...... When the time is right, might this etch be available for sale? I have a Baldwin I built to 16.5 many years ago that I should like to re-gauge to 0-14 (I was planning to do it the hard way.....!)

Thankyou Market65 - I had a painful time building it, but I did enjoy the weathering! (And a nice camera and real daylight makes a difference!)

Industrial steam in the late afternoon