David Holman

Splendid.

Thanks Eoin. Had forgotten about that. I have a copy and very good it is too.

Bought a couple of new toys at the Tonbridge show this weekend. The first is a silicon soldering mat that I got from the Squires stand. Works up to 500c and contains all manner of small compartments to stop stuff disappearing, plus a couple of magnetic areas as well. Already wondering how I ever got on without it, having soldered etched brass numbers to my 101's plates without any singing or nasty smells that emanate from the bit of 12mm ply I usually use. Also treated myself to a basic 'bow pen'. Having heard all sorts of stories about them [few good] over the years, I found time to have a chat with Chris Heacham, proprietor of Golden Arrow Models and very helpful he was too. First experiences decidedly poor, as you can see from my much abused industrial loco body. One of these days, I ought to make a new chassis for it, as it is a fair lookalike for several Irish industrials. Will need to soak off about 1mm of paint first though, as it has been a test bed for spray painting for a while now. Anyway, though neat Humbrol is the usual go to for lining with a bow pen, recently I've found myself less happy with what is in their tinlets. Used a brand new red and ivory to try the pen, but the paint is just took thick and despite various attempts to thin it, including lighter fuel, things have not gone well, as you can see. Enamel paint takes ages to dry, and would then need sanding back and respraying to deal with any mistakes - something I don't want to be doing once I start on the 101. Hence have been trying acrylic and my Model Colour 'Vallejo' squeezy bottles seem much better, with the advantage of mistakes able to be wiped off with a damp cloth too. The nozzle means you can put paint directly into the jaws of the pen, rather than having to dip & then wipe. The improvement in the second photo is considerable, methinks! Would welcome any comments/advice on the use of bow pens - I really am a complete beginner.

And Mary, Joseph, the donkey and all the angels.

Cassettes might be an answer. Arrange a single spur that leads to a space long and wide enough. Your cassettes could be just plain track on a narrow length of 12mm ply. How long depends on how confident you are, but you could have as many as you like and store them on a sliding shelf under the layout.

Fascinating. Thanks Warb. The latest edition of the Gauge 0 Gazette contains an article on laser cutting, which backs up what has been said already. However, a few things not mentioned include: The author uses a 35 watt CO2 laser, which is water cooled so in addition needs a tank of water and a pump to circulate it. You can buy one for about £2000, plus VAT, but derivatives can be found on Ebay for about £400, apparently The laser tube lasts about 1000 hours and costs £250 to replace Materials that work well with a laser cutter include cardboard, Perspex [acrylic sheet], but NOT styrene/plasticard. Mylar [polyester sheet] cuts well, but can be difficult to glue. MDF and plywood both work well, which is why there are a fair few commercial laser cut kits available now. However, as Warb says and very much along the same lines as 3D printing, first you need to know CAD, which takes time and effort to perfect. Clearly worth it, when you need the amount he is using! The alternatives include contacting the likes of York Model Rail, who produce a wide range of laser cut windows, doors etc and who will do custom jobs too. Schools and colleges may have laser cutting equipment that you might be able to access, while the author of the Guild article, Bob Gledhill has written a book on the subject. Laser Cutting and 3D Printing for Railway Modeller; published by Conwood Press ISBN 978 78500 226 7

With Arigna Town now retired from the exhibition circuit, it seemed appropriate to put some of the stock on display at home, rather than have it hidden away in boxes. Makes a nice reminder of what I've made over the last few years. Left to right, we have two SLNCR Small Tanks [both North Star, now Studio Scale kits], Timoleague & Courtmacsherry 0-4-2T Lark [Tyrconnel kit], SLNCR Large Tank, Sir Henry [scratchbuilt]. The second shelf has E/J26 0-6-0T [Tyrconnel], Richard Chown's Shannon, and MGW G2 2-4-0 [Tyrconnel] The third shelf has Deutz G class diesel [Worsley etches] and SLNCR Railcar B, with Railbus 2a [both scratchbuilt].

Laser cut? Be interesting to read more about how you do this, given that (whatever the method), windows are very time consuming and hard to get consistent. These look the business!

Thanks both of you, though even enlarged, things are still not clear. Hopefully JHB can enlighten me when he gets back!

Better still, use it to replicate whatever loco it came from? Fair bit of scratch building needed, methinks. Any takers????

Lovely stuff. There is so much we can learn here. Note to self: next time I build a coach, check out Eoin's clever jigs and other building aids!

So, where was I? Is it really four weeks since my last post on the 101? An exhibition, man flu [far worse than bubonic plague of course], household chores and the like - they all eat into modelling time! However, as might be gathered from other posts, work has progressed on the 101's tender and the model has now reached the stage where it is not far off the paint shop. The tender, like the loco, proved interesting, to say the least. Frames were straightforward, with 5mm brass rod used for spacers, drilled to take 8BA bolts to fix to the body. At first, this was easy too, the only awkward bit being forming the flares along the top edge. The etches contain a fair amount of detail, including the distinctive tool boxes, plus all the brake gear too. Here is where it started getting complicated, with pull rods both inside and outside the wheels. The real difficulties arose in trying to work out what the original, 1864 gallon, tenders were like on top and at the front. The instructions and photos are of the preserved version, while pictures in books rarely show more than three quarter views of the whole loco, so you are left having to guess what is going on elsewhere. The etches do not cover the tender top surfaces, while [to me at least], it was hard to make sense of the coal space. In the end, I fabricated both from thin brass sheet and it seems ok, while all photos show the tender top liberally covered with coal, so what is underneath hardly matters. Having bemoaned the number of handrails on the loco [eight around the cab alone], I then found there are a further four on the tender. The GSW certainly didn't want its crews falling off the footplate, it seems. As with the loco though, there are no castings in the kit, so I had to source things like springs, axle boxes, buffers etc. I managed to find some suitable spring/axlebox castings at the Reading trade show in December. A fair bit of fettling has been required - separating spring from 'box and filing the latter so they fit in the outside frames. The springs themselves then needed hangers so they can sit on the top edge of the footplate. The etches contain plenty of hangers, but they are flat, so I soldered short lengths of 1mm brass wire to each 'leg' and then rounded this all with a file. This has meant I could drill holes in the footplate surface to take each of the 12 legs. The springs themselves will be glued in place with 5 minute epoxy, probably after painting, because otherwise lining the tender will be difficult. Several things can't be finished until I've visited the Roxy stand at the Tonbridge show next Saturday. A couple of short handrail knobs for the smokebox, a set of etched numbers for the number plates and some sub-miniature plugs and sockets so I can add pick ups to the tender. Hopefully, everything will be ready for priming by then, though this phase can be quite fraught at times. Witness coats do have a habit of showing up unwanted blemishes that then need filling and priming again, while cleaning up always seems to find a few weak solder/glue joints that need doing again. Getting there though. Life is complicated - that's why it is fun. Allegedly...

Keep 'em coming, Warb. There is much to learn and enjoy here.

My 101 is nearing the paint shop stage and livery for the early 1900s is stated as " black, with vermilion lining, edged in white". So, my question is, does that mean a white line either side of the red one, or just one side? And if so, which side - top or bottom? It is very hard to tell from contemporary monochrome photos. Also, can I get away with a wider white line that has a red line down the middle, or were there spaces between the white and red? 7 mm scale remember, so such things are potentially more noticeable.

Fabulous. Now that really guilds the lily.

A few windows and doors needed too, methinks! Presumably, will be standard size and mass/custom made?

I did! Thanks Jonathan. Looked in the 101 loco section and forgot all about the tenders bit. Making progress and will post some pictures next week, but what I will say is that the 101s had a ridiculous number of handrails. 8 just around the cab with four more at the front of the tender.

Excellent! Proof, if needed, that printed card works just as well as embossed plastic for buildings. The layers of detail lift the flat surfaces and show what could be done with Metcalfe kits (many of attractive subjects) to cover the exposed corners. Always nice to see individual, scratch built models and this one is a beauty.

Many thanks, folks. Key info from Mayner that raves/extensions were not fitted in GSWR days, so a 'flat top' it will be - with a good layer of coal all over. Two cracking photos as well.

Well worth a detour if it is at a show in your area. Captures the atmosphere of the prototype beautifully, especially now the village street back scene is nearing completion. 21mm gauge too, which makes it all the better. Prototype modelling at its best! Courtmacsherry is also worthy of study as what must be close to the perfect branchlike setting - regardless of prototype/gauge/company. Sea wall in the foreground, quayside siding, village street as the back scene and the loco shed [or the school] are conveniently place to hide the hole in the sky to the fiddle yard. Why the track plan hasn't been copied much [indeed, at all?] is a real mystery.

For what it's worth, I bought a copy of Michael Bunch's Donegal Railway Diary, Part one, at the weekend. Must admit that, initially, I was very disappointed, because the quality of the photos is poor. Overall, I would say close to 50% are grainy, or simply out of focus, while another 25% are poorly composed. However, I'm now warming a little to the book, because if nothing else, it is a unique archive of hard to find views of the more obscure elements of the CDR. It also contains a wealth of generic details, such as platform clutter, piles of parcels, line side and track details, close ups of wagons and coaches, etc. It is just a shame that so many of the pictures are poorly composed/exposed/focussed. Sift through though and there are some real gems, while the price at 15 euros is pretty cheap for an A4 album of 148 pages.

Many thanks, these are a lot clearer than anything I have and should make sense of the instructions

Instructions on my TMD kit seem a little vague, while those for the front end, particularly the coal shovelling platform refer to the preserved example. Meanwhile, photos in Steaming Through Three Centuries show a fair bit of variety! Am hoping to built the tender as first made in 1902 (Coey loco). So... 1. Would it have had the raves, or would it have been low sided? 2. Presumably, there would have been a front coal sheet, at right angles to the sides, but was there a rear sheet as well? Photos seem to show coal piled full length of the tender top, including round the tank filler. So, a simple flat top to the tender, but with the usual chute down to the front of the tender? 3. Just how is the front coal chute arranged? Instructions suggest a 'coal chute cover ( that you have to make yourself), which will extend down to footplate level and the bottom of this cover is a lifting door.' Any idea what this looks like? As ever, any help much appreciated. Photo shows what is supplied on the etches, but nothing fixed in place yet.

Sows' ears being turned into silk purses. we

Sounds great, Phil. Keep us posted!