David Holman

Another one to follow!

... excellent! Now all you have to do is tidy the garden! Can't do gardening in the dark though, so still plenty of modelling time.

Wouldn't give up on Omagh just yet, Tony. The shed may not be perfect in the winter, but it makes a fine escape for the rest of the year, while the layout is coming on nicely. However, nothing wrong with an indoor layout either, so enjoy having both. Presumably, trains would be common to both? For what it is worth, if you do get permission for you indoor layout (make it a good bottle of red!), aim to keep it simple. Something you can get running and sceniced inside six months, leaving Omagh as your long term project, to be dipped into as the muse takes you. I've got two layouts at home, but fellow Chatham club members have been known to have four on the go at once, often in different scales and gauges. Now there's a thought!

Excellent work and love the interiors. Can only agree that scratch, or even kit building coaches is a lot of work and not just because you usually want several of them. It is easy to think it is just sides roof and bogies, but all the details add up, especially stuff like handles, hinges and so on. Well worth it though and your paintwork provides a lovely finish.

Thought you'd have some solutions, thanks John! The 4mm scale models are certainly impressive and it is really good to have a fleet of them in the various modifications. I have lost count of the number of times my own approach is the opposite of the practical one, while I can almost guarantee to assemble anything 'handed' back to front and have to redo it afterwards. Took two goes to work out the cab steps. Maybe it is because I'm mostly left handed, but do knife and fork conventionally, batted right handed in cricket (left hand bowler) and right footed too. That or just a bit mixed up... Ken, the frame spacers are simply 4mm brass rod. This works really well with my new Poppy's Woodtech frame jig. Guess you could do the same, or maybe go for smaller diameter? Clever idea to narrow the frames on the middle axle, by the way. The TDM kit is really just a set of etches, I assume Terry just enlarged the photo. Hence there are no frame spacers because the 4mm scale kits relied on square section brass spacers, with turned ends, drilled for the fixing bolts. At least that is what the drawings supplied with the instructions suggest. I'm sure there must be an official distance for frame spacers in 7mm finescale and there's bound to be in S7, of course. My first broad gauge loco was the Tyrconnel J26/E class. Here the foldup frames were for 32mm gauge. Roger Cromblehome suggests fitting the top hat bearings in back to front for broad gauge and this works well. On my own scratch building, I've used the same distance as the North Star kit of the SLNCR tanks, which is 29.5mm. This gives enough side play on the centre axles to go through 6' radius curves, with washers packing the outer axles.

As you can see, have managed to get on a bit of a roll with the 101 kit. Following on from getting the bodywork finished yesterday, focussed on the chassis next. I'd got as far as making sure it rolled nicely, with the rods attached, but moved to the bodywork to ensure everything would fit before going any further. Hence it has been a case of adding pickups and wiring back to the motor. Pieces of copperclad were epoxied to the frames for the pick up wires, then phosphor bronze wires were soldered in place and bent to connect with the wheels. Much to my delight, the chassis still runs nicely, so next step was fixing it to the body [to check there were no shorts - always a possible problem with metal kits - and then run it on Arigna Town. Again, all was well, with the loco negotiating the points and curves without problems. Buoyed up by this success, this afternoon, I tackled the brake gear. Be it locos, coaches or wagons, brake gear is definitely not one of my favourite jobs and the 101's looked pretty complex. So it proved, though it has actually gone together quite well. However, I certainly take my hat off to John Mayner and others who have built this kit in smaller scales, because 7mm is more than fiddly enough for me! The kit comes with six etched brake brackets, which need drilling out to go on the cross rods. There are also 12 brake blocks, which are meant to be soldered in pairs to give the necessary thickness. However, there are pull rods on both sides of the wheels, so have decided to use some Slaters plastic blocks instead, in an effort to minimise the risk of shorts if any metal work touches the wheels. The brackets are hung on the top cross rods and were soldered in place. Nickel silver wire is then pushed through the lower holes and the pull rods then go on each side. I only fitted the inner pull rods, as the wheels need to come off again for painting. It was at this point that I discovered that the inner pull rods foul my newly installed pick ups, so they need re-positioning. The outer pull rods are just a push fit at the moment, so I'll need to think of a way to make them removable for maintenance. Fingers crossed, the chassis is now ready for the paint shop and it will be good to get this done so I can at last leave it assembled. No matter how many locos I build, it always seems I end up taking off and replacing the wheels more times than necessary! Pictures show the various stages, starting with a better shot of the cab interior and finishing with the disassembled chassis.

More faffing around today. Have been unhappy with the cab, as especially on one side, it didn't look straight, even though a square suggested otherwise. Took a gamble and unsoldered the roof, so I could make some adjustments to the side sheet - managing to do it all without any details coming loose. The cab roof will stay off for now, as it makes painting far easier. Has enabled me to add some more piping, plus the cab floor (thin ply). This is slightly higher than it should be, in order to clear the gear wheel. Two plasticard seats have gone in too.d

Always good to place/run locos and stock on a new layout. Gives an idea of how things will look later on

Normally, Christmas and New Year is a productive modelling time for me - a more than useful distraction from what's on TV. However, we were away from home a fair bit, so it's taken until this week to properly get started again. I'm developing a bit of a love/hate relationship with this kit, for it is certainly challenging my skills and there have been several 'one step forward, two back' stages. The latest was the Horlicks I made with filling some of the gaps - somehow putting on far too much, which then led to way more filing, sanding and scraping than I needed. Adding the fine details has been 'interesting', shall we say. For example, I can't remember building a loco kit with so many handrails! The are four on each side of the cab, plus the two along the boiler, plus another on the smokebox [the latter pending as I don't have any short knobs], so eleven in all. Add in another pipe down the left side of the boiler, plus sanding rods either side and it all adds up to quite a collection. My RSU has been very useful for much of this detailing work. I tin each component & then can hold it in place with the probe while operating the RSU with its foot switch. Another area where the RSU has helped is the cab 'backhead'. This is an area where a few castings would have been helpful, though at least the etches included things like firebox door, shelf and regulator handle. The 'Steaming Through Three Centuries' book has a nice colour picture on the top half of the cab, taken when the roof was removed for the film 'The Great Train Robbery'. Hence could work out a few pipe runs [copper wire], gauges and the like. The water gauges were made from square section brass rod, turned & filed in a drill, while the two main pressure gauges are sliced from some solid brass lamp tops I found in the spares box. A couple of other controls were made in the same way. I tend to go for a general impression rather than absolute accuracy. Even in 7mm scale, a cab interior is still a pretty small space and once the crew are in place, you can't actually see very much. You can see I've also added most of the other main fittings. Chimney dome and safety valve casings are all glued in place with 5 minute epoxy, which I find ideal to make small adjustments while it is setting. More work needed on the base of the chimney though. You might also be able to see the coupling hook and vacuum pipe - the latter interesting in the it goes behind the buffer beam, where there is an open space in front of the cylinder chest. The loco body is not too far off the paint shop. Indeed, there is always a bit of a dilemma as to when to put on the first primer/witness coat. However, I'll probably wait until the chassis is also ready & probably the tender too, so I can spray everything at once. Finishing the chassis may well be interesting too - the brake rodding actually sandwiches the wheels, so care will be needed to avoid short circuits. Finally [for now], there a couple of pictures with my other J15 - a standard [narrow?] gauge Great Eastern Railway 0-6-0, I built several years ago, from a Connoisseur Kit. One of the nicest I've done in terms of ease of building & it even included some dummy inside motion. Though very different, the two classes of loco were similar in size & power and likewise in overall usefulness as the proverbial 'maids of all work'.

Nice, very nice indeed!

Sorry to disturb the slumbers Tony, but such things are easily fixed. Looking at the photo, the slope appears to be 45 degrees or so. I'm certainly no engineer, but have a feeling that anything steeper would be in danger of collapsing on itself, which is why retaining walls are used. There's some nice thick foliage on that embankment, so longer static fibres, topped with scenic matting and scatter will replicate nicely.

Just a thought, Tony. Some of the embankment sides look rather vertical. Don't know the area at all, but grassy slopes would rarely be more than 45degrees in the real world and even a 30 degree slope is actually 1 in 2 so steep! There again modelling allows us to go steeper without much detriment to how things look, though near vertical faces would either be rock faces or require retaining walls.

Agreed! Can't see from the photos ( and maybe it doesn't work as well in 4mm as 7mm), but a trick I learned from Gordon Gravett's is to file a 'flat' on each tyre where it touches the ground. Imitates the real thing and just helps the model sit better, giving it a bit of mass.

Certainly is Ken - and now I have my GSR locos book, I can follow the background to your growing fleet too. A fine collection, so keep the posts coming.

At Warley, bought " Locomotives of the GSR", by Jeremy Clements and Michael McMahon. Actually, the wife gave me the money for it as a Christmas present. Hence, only really got my hands on it yesterday, but well worth the wait. What a fantastic, encyclopaedic tome!

C&L do both, I believe.

As sleeper lengths are the same either side of the sea, then C&L plastic sleepers, as above, would be fine, while Marcway of Sheffield do copper clad sleeper strip in most scales, the latter ideal for flat-bottomed, lightweight track as per Arigna Town.

Spent much of the last week faffing about. It all stemmed from the last sentence of my previous post - joining footplate to frames, where it quickly became clear I'd made a right old Horlicks of the bodywork. In the end, I had to dismantle much of it because the body simply wasn't sitting squarely and with the frames being quite flimsy, they distorted when the two were bolted together. Add in the fact that the buffer beam was 2mm higher one side that the other and it really wasn't good... So, first of all strengthened the frames by adding in 4mm brass rods at each end, then added a front to the ash pan. Course, the brass rods lined up exactly with the captive nuts on the footplate, so the former had to be drilled out to take the 6BA fixing nuts. Next had to unsolder the cab/boiler/smokebox and start again - which of course meant the footplate was extremely flimsy, as I'd cut out all the strengthening pieces! All in all, a bit of a b****r and as you can imagine, that wasn't all that was said. Anyway, it did [eventually] get done, but then had to be followed by a substantial clean up as excess solder had got all over the footplate and firebox. Since then, I've managed to add the details to the smokebox doors, though the latter's diameter was about 2mm too small in diameter, so had to make a new one by scribing round the original on some brass sheet and then cutting & filing to shape. The kit only provides etches of the strapping, so the other details had to be source/fabricated myself. The two knobs/handles in the centre are heads from dress making pins, while the top and bottom handles are coach ones. The actual hinges were made up from brass bar and wire - the RSU coming in very handy here. Today, added the splashers inside the cab, plus the etched details provided for the backhead. Fair bit missing though, including gauge glasses, piping, gauges and the like, so will have to see what the spares box contains. Also had a look at the boiler mountings. The dome looks ok, but the chimney that was in the box [turned mild steel] is way too tall, so have shorted it at the base, meaning the latter now needs building up as it is now too narrow. Not sure whether I'll need to get a new one & am regretting not doing so at the Reading Trade Show. The safety valves were made up from two different spares - a whitemetal base and cast brass valves. All these items can be seen sitting, unfixed on the boiler in a couple of the pictures. Given that Christmas TV is [as usual] looking pretty uninspiring, I may well take the opportunity to fill in all the holes from my enforced rebuilding - there are quite a few [!], so some filing and sanding is now needed.

Sounds like the makings of a plan, Colin. One that could make a very impressive model and a pleasant change from the norm we see too often in magazines these days. Suggest lots of planning, sketches etc to further visualise the concept and maybe a 'model of the model' as Gordon suggests. Your book of his is the one I meant. Will look forward to hearing how you get on.

Fear not Tony, no model railway was ever built without (quite a lot of) mess. And scenery is the messiest of all! However, you are right in that there comes a point when there is no alternative but to have a grand tidy up before starting something else. You may well fine that tool/paint rush you've missed the last few days.

What is it about a single photo that stirs the juices? Not sure, bit certainly agree. HC Casserley's shot of a train about to leave Burtonport has spawned many a sketch plan, but sadly, do not have the room to do it justice, especially in 7mm scale. And there's the rub, ten feet is a reasonable space in 4mm scale (I presume), though immediately sets the ideal train length to no more than 40 inches - based on the Iain Rice rule that a train needs to be able to travel three times its own length on the scenic section. Any longer and it won't look right. Still 40" is not bad in 4mm scale, though this assumes your 10' doesn't include any fiddle yards or storage sidings. Ideally, a continuous run, methinks. My own memory of driving the Barnesmore Gap a few years ago, was of a very wild place, with little, if any habitation. Would think that open framed baseboards, to give land above and below the track, would work best. Likewise, fairly deep boards too, with a high backscene and fully enclosed fascia, pelmets etc. Two books spring to mind. Rice's latest, ' Cameo Layouts' and Gordon Gravett's book on Scenics. The first to get inspiration for overall presentation, the second to create superlative ground cover. There's not going to be much in the way of complex track, bit with scenics and presentation done well, it could make a stunning layout.

Thanks everyone, much appreciated! Especially like John's idea for joining firebox and boiler - far more elegant (and obvious) than my rather botched effort. Likewise Eoin's suggestion for fixing firebox to cab. Unfortunately, fear I may have to solder it all up as a solid unit that end, unless I can think of a way of filling in all the gaps and still make the unit removable. Both methods are now stored away for next time! Also good to know the boiler/firebox was indeed flush, Paul. I have a cast white metal blackhead that may get used instead of the etched bits supplied. Just depends on how it fits between the splashers. Still a long way to go though, for there is a wealth of fine detail to add, plus am still undecided whether it is worth fitting inside working valve gear. At the very least will add dummy motion, just depends on how much is visible once boiler/footplate and frames are attached.

Know what you mean, a single picture is often all it takes to get the creative juices flowing!

Trouble at t' mill I still like the 101 kit, a lot, but no matter how well things are drawn or how good the instructions, there is always at least one part of a kit that causes furrowed brows and a few new constructions of Anglo-Saxon. And thus it has been today, so any advice welcome - Mayner, Andy, Paul, especially! It is those lines in the instructions you love to hate. In this case 'the shape of the firebox may need adjusting to fit the spectacle plate; after join the firebox and boiler'. Hmmm... Firstly, no mention that the boiler is a piece of rolled brass, that has not been joined. This not a problem, as soft iron florists' wire holds everything in place while you solder up the seam - been there, got that T-shirt. Better to use a higher temperature solder too - in my case 240 degree as opposed to the 145 I use for most things. However 'joining the boiler to the firebox? Is is supposed to overlap? Is it a flush fit? And if the latter, why wasn't a single, rolled piece provided instead? My ability to put things together back to front is well known [to me at least], but it still didn't stop me doing a dry run with the firebox the wrong way round. Eventually, realised [I hope] that the half circle bit goes inside the cab, resting on the two lugs on the spectacle plate [see photos]. Checking drawing and photos, my impression is that the firebox should be flush [not overlapping] with the boiler, so I added three strips of brass to the firebox to help align the two. Again, can only hope I'm right. Fairly confident here, as otherwise, when the boiler is lined up with the smokebox, it slopes downwards towards the front, so clearly wrong. Even so, to get the boiler to sit level with the smokebox, I've had to file a bit of the spectacle plate, in order to raise the height of the opening which takes the firebox. This way, I can [just] get it to sit level, though there are a few gaps that will need filling. This leads to my other conundrum. The smokebox is fitted to the footplate by a captive nut & bolt - ideal in terms of having the smokebox/boiler/firebox assembly removable for painting. The problem is how to bolt the firebox into the cab? Any ideas welcome here, though I fear I may have to solder the who thing solid as I can't at the moment think how I will otherwise fill the gaps the kit [or more likely my bodging] have created. It is still a good kit though, one that is proving both interesting and [mostly] very enjoyable to work with. The basic shape is coming on nicely and [fingers crossed] the body sits well in the chassis with the motor gearbox pretty well hidden.

Thanks Paul, not everyone enjoys the Irish scene, but praise from those that do is doubly welcome. No invites further north yet, but suspect that as soon as it goes north of the M25 there will be. Arigna Town has just one more show, a local one in Kent that I accepted ages ago, at the end of January. After that, it is being 'retired' for a while, as I can ill afford to have two exhibition layouts on the go. However, plans are afoot to adapt it eventually, including back dating the scene to include both Shannon, the 101 and various other things I fancy - mainly with a bit more colour, so early 1900s is the plan, but still stuff to do on Fintonagh first.