David Holman

Exhibiting Going to a show is a bit like having guests visiting - you tidy up and make the place look respectable. Except with a model railway, it all has to be dismantled, boxed up and made safe for transport: in my case a Kia Sportage with the back seats lowered. Mostly I'm fairly tidy, but there were a few things noted from seeing how the Gravetts pack away Arun Quay that made me resolve to do better, plus address a few things that really should have been done ages ago. First was wheel cleaning. I use a 12v plug in wall transformer for this, but holding the two wires against the wheels with one hand, while using a cotton bud soaked is IPA [no, not the beer] with the other is fiddly, so made up a holder for the wires from a barbecue skewer, which is much better. Looking after your very precious stock is always a concern and I despair at folk packing stuff in old ice cream tubs and the like. I've now largely standardised on those plastic crates that come in a variety of brands, with most coming from The Range. The pink lids are a bit Barbie, but they do the job, especially as, a]they are deep enough for the stock to stand on its own wheels and b] I've added various dividers and all important end pieces to protect the AJ couplings. My trains are short, so I can fit one per box, which helps setting up and at the end of a show. A few non-standard items require a different approach, in this case A4 filing boxes. The crane, F6 and a couple of spare wagons go in one... ... while Railcar B and Wolf Dog, being both too long to go in an A4 box have their own, home made ones, using mdf/ply. One other box is a deepened box file, which takes the station building [it is loose because it spans the baseboard join], plus one or two other scenic items. There are 14 boxes in all, some of which can be seen below. A large supermarket carrier bag will take up to four at a time, which makes carrying things fairly easy. The layout comprises just three baseboards [two scenic, one fiddle yard], but there is all the other stuff too: Trestles, beams, pelmets, fascia and lights, plus two larger plastic crates. One has all the electrics - transformers, controllers, extension leads etc - the other everything from my drinks cup to packing pieces, bolts, the drapes and a myriad of other odds and sods. There is the tool box too, which you hope not to use, because that means something needs repairing. As can be seen, stuff is arranged to fold up, nest, etc and is secured with velcro strip to help with handling. And yes, it does all go in the back of the car! I usually spend the week before a show dusting and vacuuming the layout, cleaning wheels, stock & so on. With everything ready, it takes less than an hour to load the car, though it is always worthwhile making sure stuff is suitably padded with old towels to stop and rattling and protect the interior. Once you get to the show, it is always nice if the unloading points are near to where the layout stand is going to be. One or two venues [Chatham and Allypally for example] are big enough to let you drive your car to your stand, which is nice, otherwise it all has to be carried by hand and it is quite a few journeys. Setting up can be done in an hour [less with help], while knocking down takes half that, because at the end of a show, stock can be gradually put away before the finish. After that, it all goes back in the car, only to be unloaded again when you get home. All the more reason to be careful and worth remembering next time you visit a show.

Fine work and also like all the research. Anyone modelling wagons from this side of the water usually has a wealth of photos and other material to work with - even whole books on the subject. My experience has mostly been peering at the background of photos to try and identify details, so Ernie's archives are really important and the one of 11562 a real gem. Hadn't noticed the missing axle box cover before, but learned fairly early on not to get too precious about certain details and things like different buffers on opposite ends and different wheels on the same wagon seemed quite common!

Definitely looks like room for a layout there!

With NPQ going to Railex at Aylesbury in less than three weeks time, attention has turned to a bit of tidying up on the layout. The trees either side of the station [I'm calling them hawthorns] have never looked quite good enough, so teased out the Woodlands Scenics matting a bit, glued on some more and added some lighter coloured scatter/crumb to hopefully improve the texture. Am temporarily adding the crab & lobster pots I bought for Swillybegs to the quayside, while the donkey & its cart have had a tidy up too. Now find myself wondering if I should try and fit a small fishing boat in next to Acla? The space below is about 35 scale feet. Something else needing a tidy up was my Deutz G class. The roof had come loose and the brass was starting to show through the paintwork in several places, while the buffer beams had got very tatty. Still have the aluminium colour rattle can, so sprayed some into a paper cup and used that to touch in the exposed areas on the bodywork, while the buffer beams have been given a new coat of Humbrol red. The model uses a set of Worsley Works etches, adapted to look more like the early version. Fairly sure I described it all on my workbench thread, several years back.

The capacity of the Orange Man Baby (as the Daily Star calls the current POTUS), to invade every part of our lives is quite remarkable. The fact that he has now put politics into the former sanctity of our hobby borders on the unforgiveable. We must hope that, as with all his other T word shenanigans, it is (mostly) bluff and bluster - what he does as part of 'doing deals'. And focussing attention on himself, of course. What never ceases to amaze me is how (particularly in more modern history), regimes built by individuals have prospered, even when basic logic should tell the masses what is proposed is not right. The power of the internet doesn't help either.

Looking at one of your earlier pictures, the loco only has three link couplings, so chances are it might also only have a mechanical hand brake, operated by a wheel in the cab, as per a steam loco. Presumably, when the Gs were used to operate mixed trains, a vacuum or air brake must have been fitted, along with screw link couplings. Given that there were two batches, could this have been fitted to the later ones from the start? There were other differences too, in cab windows.

Put bluntly, this is what happens when you let a fox loose in the hen house. Regardless of where you stand politically/economically, no problem is ever black or white and all actions have consequences. It might seem easy to say "just do this to fix the problem", but no good ever comes out of meddling with world order because you think you hold all the advantages.

Having spent 20+ years helping run the Chatham Show, the word that best described many modellers is fickle. They like what they like, often to the exclusion of everything else. Comments like 'not enough N gauge/BR blue/GWR etc happen all the time. Perhaps the most extreme one was a trader showing me a very nice, ready to plant on the layout, greenhouse which a customer had just refused because it had no plants in it. Certainly sympathise with IRM, because such narrow views must make it difficult for any trader to know what stock to display/take to a show. I'll happily look at anything that is well made, interesting or just makes me smile. For example there was an amazing model of the Forth Bridge at the recent Ashford Show, built of Lego, with very recognisable trains running on it made the same way. Went back to it several times because it was so interesting and well done. Equally, much as I like seeing new products, I'm not going to buy them because I model to (very) niche standards, making most of my stuff from scratch, so it is materials, fittings and so on that I want most. Pot, kettle, black? Probably...

Great picture of Pat. Diorama anyone?

Stuff! A combination of Mayner's writings and a weekend with Gordon Gravett, has prompted a serious look at my exhibition stuff, in an effort to tidy things up and make life a bit better than 'it will do'. A big problem with going to shows is that [for me anyway], however good the intentions going out, coming home tends to be a bit hit and miss. I keep a record book to note everything that goes wrong, but this means I'm more reactive than proactive. All a bit C minus, must to better! So, first up, did a bit of an audit with the aim of trying to be more preventative. Something that has had me worried for a while is the sliding/rotating fiddle yard. It's a bit of a nervous breakdown every time the train table needs rotating and though I'm [fairly] sure everything is safe, decided a bit of belt and braces was needed - hence a couple of wooden blocks screwed to the frame so that long bolts can go through the beams for a bit of extra security. Also decided a new, separate storage box was merited for all the electrics - instead of chucking them all in the 'sundries crate' at the end of a show. As Mayner has already pointed out with his large scale garden railway stock, our models can lead a hard life and so it is with exhibitions - mainly down to getting things in and out of boxes all the time. Going through my stuff found a host of minor problems, plus several niggles like loose cab roofs and so on: Above is the under frame of Railcar B, missing one of its struts. Below is one of the exMGWR 6 wheel coaches, lacking a cover to the guard's Duckett. Discovered several wagons with missing bits of under frame, brake handles & so on, while even Wof Dog wasn't immune, having lost a step from its tender. None of the remedial work took long to fix - though the repairs still need painting and there are a fair few other models that need a bit of touching up as well while I'm at it. As stuff goes back in the stock boxes, I'm also taking time to make sure each of the sections is secure, including the all important pieces which protect the Alex Jackson couplings. Decided it might also be a good idea to have a spare Tortoise point motor - just in case. They rarely go wrong, but you can be sure if the do, it will be at a show! Fairly easy to fit a new one - though probably not from underneath the layout... Finally, a neat little idea I learned from Gordon at the Ashford Show. It's his track cleaner, which uses a barbecue skewer with a hole drilled in it to take half a cotton bud. Soak the bud in meths/alcohol/lighter fluid and it becomes a very handy way to clean to the rail tops.

Lovely model, Alan and well worth the effort.

Likewise. Hadn't realised there was such variation in Donegal wagon grey!

Gold dust. Maybe it is just me, but that ground signal would make a rather nice garden ornament.

4mm? I thought it was the 1:12 doll's house from those interiors!

Great stuff and looks like good fun too. What scale have you used?

We were talking about colours down the Club last night, though in this case it was roof slates, where there are certainly a lot more than 50 shades of grey. Ultimately, you can spend any amount of time trying to get something 'right'. However, this also means doing the same thing on everything else. Fine if it is a showcase model, weathered or pristine, but from a whole layout point of view, it starts to get difficult. In any case, a single 'perfect' wagon or coach is arguably unnecessary from a whole train point of view - especially if the train is moving. It is the overall impression that counts. Likewise buildings and scenery, where the eye registers the general scene. One stunning model among stuff of lower standards will stick out in the same way as a poor one. So, consistency may be more important that total accuracy, perhaps?

Apparently clean front ends is a bit of a health and safety thing, especially in BR days when the yellow ends were meant to be clean(er) to improve their visibility.

There are a couple of layouts recently that have done the monochrome thing and it can be quite effective. Have considered it myself, though the biggest problem is scenic scatter and fibre materials, which would need recolouring or painting as there appears to be no grey shades available.

A further point, which I have mentioned before, is that males of our species start to lose colour definition with age - a bit like the film. In this case it is appreciation of green that goes. Not good for the Irish scene! Read somewhere that we should check with the lady in our life as the female of the species does not suffer from colour matching issues as much - but am guessing most of us knew that anyway... As Jim says, light is probably the most important thing. The light when the photo was taken and the light the model is painted and viewed under. JHB of this parish has done a lot of work on identifying the paint 'code numbers' of many of the livery colours, presumably based on analysis of the real thing, where available, so this gives a bit of a bench mark. Equally, as soon as anything is painted, it quickly comes under the influence of weathering, in all its forms, from the accumulation of grime to fading from sunlight. Therefore, if our models are depicting a working scene (rather than intended for the show case), then weathering is key, which is why Martyn Walsh's book on the subject remains so important to me, though there are plenty of other options as well.

A beauty! The paint work looks just right to my eyes - subtle difference between smokebox and nicely polished boiler. Cab interior too.

Always interesting and made me wonder, can a 'stay alive' be fitted to a dc set up?

Me too!

Thanks folks. The air brushing took all of two minutes, though I did practice on bits of card beforehand to try and get the spray pattern right. Truth be known, it looks ok with the two foot rule, but close up, it could be better. Must make sure I request barriers when the layout goes out again! Going back to Gordon's masterful work, have come to realise that time is never a factor in what he does. Apart from the obvious skill and experience, he simply works on stuff until it is right - and if it takes more than one go, so be it. Indeed, he will often practice extensively before making the actual model or component. One example he told me last weekend was about Pempoul's track. The Reseau Breton was metre gauge, while the layout uses EM (18mm) track. Not quite correct, because the scale used is 1:50, but a reasonable compromise. The track itself utilised S scale components: code 98 bullhead rail and cast whitemetal chairs. Gordon assembled everything using aradite. Not the 5 minute stuff, but the full on 24 hour setting version. Immensely strong, but requiring numerous half track panels to be assembled one at a time, over many evenings! I guess we all have certain things we are happy to spend more time on than others, but the very best modellers do it on everything - and there, I think, lies the difference. Add in skill, experience, knowledge, vision etc and you get the very best of the best.

It's been a busy couple weeks, including a short break in Paris sandwiched between two exhibitions. Northport Quay behaved reasonably well in the first, though there was still a list of things to look at afterwards. The second show, last weekend, was at Ashford, in support of the National Model Railway Centre. The latter is the brainchild of Cliff Parsons [of Gresley Beat fame] aimed at preserving some of our most iconic model railways. Gordon Gravett's Arun Quay was at the show, but so was Pempoul, his Reseau Breton masterpiece - and with Gordon busy on Pempoul, I had the delight and privilege of operating Pempoul. Those who know the layout will appreciate it is a scenic masterpiece, but it is also a mechanical and electrical one too. It uses one of the ZTC DCC controllers, complete with semi automatic control because the five storage roads are well out of reach at the back of the oval. Choose a train and the route is set, then all you have to do is drive it, via a very nice regulator lever, round to the station. There was an 0-6-6-0 and 0-4-4-0 Mallet, plus three railcars to play with - all scratch built, as indeed is the whole layout. At least 13 years work in total... Helping Gordon pack up Arun Quay after the show, I also saw how well engineered his layouts are. Arun Quay's structure is largely made from laminated foamboard and the two baseboard fit snugly in a beautifully built wheeled box. Baseboards sit on a purpose-built frame [which will also support his new Reseau Breton layout]. This folds up neatly for transport, with carefully made slots for various other pieces, while the fascias live in their own, purpose made gunny sack. Exquisite doesn't begin to describe it all. Came away feeling I really should do better! Anyway, this week, finally got back to the Swilly Pacific. While looking very smart in its lined green livery, for me it was a bit too bright and clean and I wanted the finish to be more like the photos in Norman Johnson's splendid 'Irish Narrow Gauge Railways in Colour'. The two pictures below, while not the best in terms of definition [They are early 1950s colour, after all], give a good idea of what I was after. Fairly clean, but with lining and lettering appearing only faintly behind a haze of everyday grime. So, it was back to the bible that is Martyn Welch's The Art of Weathering. Produced nearly 30 years ago, it remains my 'go to' for such work, because it makes everything seem very achievable. However, I also had to gird up my loins and get out the airbrush - very much NOT my favourite implement, but needs must in this case. The basic work is to spray a fine mist of Humbrol Metalcote gunmetal, mixed 2:1 with tarmac, though as the latter isn't available anymore, I used slate grey instead. The main concern was getting the right amount of misting & overall, it seems to have worked out ok. After leaving the paint to dry overnight, I then used cotton buds to polish the tanks, boiler and cab to give a more cared for look. Glazing was then added to the cab, the roof fixed in place and vacuum pipes fitted too. Judicious use of weathering powders finished the job. Still a bit of final fettling to do, but thought it would be nice to pose the loco on the layout, along with some of my other Swilly stock.

I have an extensive catalogue of rude words, epithets (and sequences of such), which I find can be very helpful in such work. However, Rule Number One, which is much more useful, is always to stop while you are winning. In my experience, the temptation to fit one more piece almost always comes back to bite you.