Galteemore

Fair enough Harry. Have had a similar inner monologue myself when finishing the PP last week. Some pics show a gleaming smokebox, others don’t! You can certainly take pride in her

Terrific job. Subtle but effective. For a lot of my own work now all I do is a MiG dark wash with a few powders. Seems to do just enough. Might you consider a soupçon of dark powder on the smokebox?

Looks really good. Totally off topic but that’s a bare 17 years after the SLNC closed -1974 seems a lifetime ago now!

There’s a lot in this. I think the best we can generally hope for as modellers is an acceptable range of a particular colour. I have recently been experimenting with GN loco blue on a HD body, and there’s an inexact sweet spot which just looks right based on taking some kind of average of published pics! My own experiments are a work in progress. Ian Rathbone, who is the guru of model loco painting, says in his book that GNRI blue is basically impossible to define! And he’s painted a few. Two of his paint jobs below. One of these looks too light, but is what his client supplied. The other looks more on the money. Fred Graham’s were painted with genuine Dundalk paint but actually look a if anything little dark.

Try @Past-Avenue @jhb171achill

Thanks Patrick. I picked 74 as it was both a regular Enniskillen engine, and the last PP of all to survive in service. Although, famously, she wasn’t scrapped bearing the number 74 but rather 42. About 1961, UTA HQ decreed that 74 should be withdrawn and 42 kept running. Newry shed was horrified - 74 had the newest boiler in the PP fleet and was a superior engine. So they simply painted over the numbers on each engine and sent the real 42 off to be scrapped. 74/42 ran her last years with an x suffix meaning she would be withdrawn when any major fault developed and would not be repaired. She lasted long enough to do a fabulous railtour to Omagh. The sound of her getting away from Pomeroy must have been something else. Were you there @leslie10646?

Well after much fettling and fiddling the PP is done. Thanks to the helical gearbox she floats along very nicely and runs very smoothly. Haulage seems adequate. Little bit more subtle weathering to do but that’s it I think. video of her rolling - and hitting the buffers! https://youtu.be/65vNarq38KY?feature=shared Also fascinating to see how tiny PPs were. Look how she (in the middle) stacks up against a JT and SG2… My thanks to @Rob R and @Colin R for alerting the forum to the box of bits on eBay!

That’s most interesting David. One assumes that Gordon just imagines something and it appears perfectly formed in front of him! I know I’ve been guilty of the ‘it’ll do’ approach too often..

John - both sorry and pleased to hear this. Sorry on account of your health issues but pleased that you are actually taking positive action to look after yourself.

Have to say that you have brought more than a touch of Gravett magic to the Irish scene David! The locos look fabulous.

The ‘Drew Donaldson’ edition runs to several volumes.

You realise that now you are modelling in brass, the carpet monster has arrived. This creature survives by consuming small parts of etched kits dropped on the floor.

Looking great already Alan!

What technique did you try? For vents, sweating is normally the way. Tin both surfaces lightly and then use plenty of flux. Although in 4mm I’d be tempted to superglue them on once the main carcass is done!

Good to hear Joe. What a lot of us do is have a little ‘pot boiler’ layout on the go to keep the juices flowing. Lots of firms do small laser cut baseboards which provide a firm base for a little shunting plank of a few square feet. Easy and quick to build, and provides a test track to develop scenic skills etc while you work on the magnum opus! Building a large layout is a bit like doing a PhD - lots of effort but without tangible results for quite a while. Having a small set up in which you can run trains whilst the grand plan is under way helps keep your interest up and reminds you of what you can achieve. This kind of idea….it’s N gauge but Google ‘00 Micro Layout’ and see what appears….