Giles

Will do....... Back in the late 80's I started to design a kit for Dave Andrews for this thing, and did a pile of research, so I've also got the makers GA's and a pile of photos, which are a real help. Digging through my old stuff I'm surprised how far I got.

Has anyone by any chance built one of these kits? I bought it a few years ago, and have now started it, to find quite a few fundamental problems - and doing various web searches, I can't find any pictures of any completed models other than the lined blue example shown in the 'instructions'. I'd be extremely interested in anyone's experiences a bit 'further down the line' so to speak! So far, to mention the big ones, I've found that the buffer-beam etches were off-centre, so I've replaced those. Likewise the cylinder etches are off and need re-profiling, and the wheels to the driving axle don't fit because of the rear beam on each engine. I've also found that the cab front and back have asymmetrical curves, and don't quite fit the cab sides, which will need shortening to make it work......! If there aren't many more major shockers, I'll beat the b*****y thing and get a decent loco out of it - but it would be nice to know what's ahead if someone's been there ahead of me! I've not yet fitted coupling rods to see if the wheels go round together.......

Other way round Chris. I took your beautiful model, and first job was to rub down all the main panels with 2000 grit wet & Dry (wet) to truly flat the surface. I then polished the panels back up with a bit of Duraglit or similar and kitchen towel to get the desired 'scale paint' finish. This however doesn't fully extend over all the rivet detail as much, which still holds on to much of the original paint texture - which is extremely useful for helping with the worn/cleaned appearance, as it leaves the outer edges dirtier, and also gives one thing for things like powders to key onto. An extremely dilute matt black 'enamel wash' was streaked down the panels, and then polished off with a dry Q-tip. Powders ( mostly black) finished the main body off. The other thing of note is that the running plate, buffers, buffer beams and main frames were all painted and then were coated in talcum powder whilst still wet. This was then either brushed off or polished off where relevant. Unusually, no air-brushes were harmed during the painting of this loco.... Feel free to browse my Photobucket collection to see all the photos, by clicking on the photo! All the best, Giles

The Fowler also had its panels polished before weathering, leaving areas around rivets and other details unpolished for contrast. Other areas such as the running plate has a thin matt black wash, followed by a coat of talcum powder (whilst still wet) which was then polished off. This added texture and gave a metallic, oily appearance. Nearly all of the chassis, buffers, buffer beams etc, were also treated with talcum powder in the wet paint to add texture.

Thank you Gents....! The grass is a mixture of Polak and MiniNature, with assorted additions..... There's some boring videos posted in the scenery section with more detail, if you're sufficiently interested!

There, there, Jaz........ It's alright..... Better now......! (But you can browse around my photobucket account by clicking on the above photo....)

I've just about finished mine (although you never really finish...!)

I would generally suggest adding the grass afterwards. There are two reasons for this. Unless you are using a plain sheet of Perspex or similar, you are likely to be using a resin or varnish - and this will probably form a meniscus, and creep up the sides. I therefore like to be able to work on the banks after the water has dried, in order to hide this as much as I can. Secondly, grass so often over-hangs water, and it's very easy to do it this way round, without again having water creeping up what would otherwise be dry grass. There are bound to be exceptions where doing it the other way round makes sense, but this is certainly my preference!

At risk of being boring and repetitive... I've finally had a chance to start playing with my new Fowler -plain green - a Christmas present from my lovely wife. It's come with the full sound package from Paul at EDM, and the whole thing is superb - and I'm a fussy b******r! The loco itself absolutely comes up to expectations, with all the fine detail one would wish for - and the slow-speed running (out of the box) is the best I've come across. The DCC / Stay-alive / sound installation is so good, it's just showing off....... I agree the rods and fly-cranks are a bit 'bling' – but they were never going to stay like that anyway! Mine have already changed colour and I'm in the process of polishing the paintwork prior to weathering. All in all, a first rate job from all concerned.

A Fowler Marshall in 0-14 And a Bachmann Brassworks 04 And an Ixion Hudswell Clarke

I thought I might post some photos of various locos I've painted and weathered over recent years. I find that (for me) the best basis for a decent looking model is to get the 'base coat' of paint looking as realistic as possible first - and rather than apply various coats of varnish to the paint (which is the norm) in order to 'flatten' it visually - I prefer to have a go at it with 2000 grit wet-and-dry (used wet), and REALLY smooth the surface out. The surface can then be polished up with a finger, Duraglit silver polish, or a piece of kitchen towel, according to how much or how little gloss you want on it. But however much you polish it, because the paint surface has been flattened, it genuinely looks much more 'scale', in my opinion.

Finally completed the Ivatt....

But, on topic, the one loco I should have a very serious talk to my wife about, would be an O gauge Duke-Dog (in BR Black) - by next Christmas, if you'd be so kind, Dave!

Sorry Pete! Button pressed by accident!!! bl*****y Ipad! Profuse apologies...... Best, Giles

Re 'you pays your money- you takes your choice...' I used to have a Noch GrassMaster, but I sold it and bought the much better (in my opinion) Green Scenes Flock-it for only £75. Interestingly, this is also exactly what another highly respected scenic modeller did as well!

I believe mine has arrived - but can't be sure until Father Christmas does his stuff later in the month..... But I'm very much looking forward to it! A shame I wasn't able to request rods-and-wheels as well, but that won't take long.... Having had a look at the real thing at Reading, it really does look as delightful as we were all hoping for. Thank you to all concerned!

Allan, just between you and me, I don't think the Noch GrassMaster is necessarily all it's cracked up to be – and in the best of hands it still leaves some of the grass lying flat... I did The End of The Line with a Noch GrassMaster, and got to know it quite well, and used bog-standard PVA (about 60%) and water (40%). Of course the highlighting was done by hand anyway..... A year ago, I saw a demonstration of the Green-Scenes Flock-it machine, and bought one on the spot, and found it very much better than the Noch. I was then lucky enough to sell the Noch on Flea-Bay for the same amount as I bought the Green-Scenes job - so I was very happy! Green-scenes also do a special glue - which is extremely good - but I still use the bog-standard builders PVA.......... I doubt that emulsion paint alone is going to do it - but it may be worth a try.... Don't hold you're breath though.... Best of luck Giles

John, that lorry is absolutely superb! It looks really good in motion - do please post more of it when convenient! You should be very proud! All the best, Giles

I too have a couple of large lathes (a Colchester Student and a Warco MT500) but nowadays my Unimat 3 probably sees more work, and I wouldn't be without it (and the milling attachment). It's been a cracking little machine for donkeys years. I did however replace the motors with a pair of very nice motors off of sheep-shearing machines, to which I added potentiometers (they were 180v DC, if I remember rightly) so the lathe is a bit more powerful with variable speed.

Re-gauged Fowler-marshall on The End of the Line

I do find that a 'Sandhills' is a bit like a 'Banksey' - an easily distinguishable and distinctive quality, that achieves so easily the very thing the rest of us strive for......

That really is encouraging! Excellent! What's the capacitor that you've wired across the motor?

Bending grass is quite possible - it just takes a little patience and care - there are some bits in the photo below, such as the clump beside the loco buffer beam, and another alongside the buffer stops down by the water. You do need a temperature controlled soldering iron, and start off with it cold, and gradually raise the temp, placing the iron along side the grass. When it is the right temperature, the fibre will start to curl towards the iron.... DON'T get the iron too hot, as the grass will frazzle...... So patience is required to set it up. Works a bit like curling tongs, I suppose..... i've never had that much hair.... Like all the things, a little does make a lot of difference to the overall picture.