David Holman

I agree Mick. Saw their stand at St Albans and booked them for Chatham this year. The range of etches they produce, right down to exquisite sets of workshop tools, cry out for a model to be built around them.

A gem of a picture JB. You didn't get the right hand side of the cab by any chance...???

Thanks Eoin, will see what I can find

Precision paints do a decent sleeper grime enamel pot, though as with all such things, it is really important to try and model a specific location, because not all track is the same colour. Areas where locos stand will have oily deposits [try Humbrol Metalcoate Gunmetal and Precision Tarmac], while the entry to a station platform is likely to have lots of brake dust deposits [like rust, so try weathering powders to simulate. Likewise ballast, it is rarely uniform and even when well maintained is unlikely to be look representative if only a single colour is used. Study the prototype and do not be afraid to mix colours to get the effect you want. Also, check the size of the granules too. On the modern scene, ballads is formed of quite large pieces, but for earlier times I find going down a scale works well - so try 2mm ballast for 4mm scale & 4mm scale for 7mm etc. In N gauge, sand can be better. Woodlands stuff looks best to my eye, though tis all in the beholder I guess.

At the St Albans show in January, there was a chap showing progress on his Lartigue layout. Unlike the French layout [which just goes round in a scenic circle], this will be part of one of the terminus stations, complete with turntable points and so one. A frames for the track were very nicely etched and the whole thing looked very promising. He brought a L&B wagon to compare with my Sligo ones & it was surprising how big the former were. No loco to show yet, but it is a bold project that deserves to do well.

Saturn V rocket out of nuclear submarine school of design, methinks...

Splendid. Early diesels seem to have much more character, especially as models, though doesn't excuse what they got rid of!

Have certainly been tempted by the idea of a C for a possible 'dieselised' presentation of Arigna Town. Silver or green maybe, with perhaps a G and a 121 for company. An info on how the loco was built - drawing, chassis, etc would be welcome.

Very tasty indeed - the 4-4-0s that is. That Turfburner was an ugly so and so!

Decided the other day, that I'd make a formal start on my new project by doing something nice and simple, like an open wagon. The subject is the Clogher Valley Railway and Branchlines do a nice wagon chassis of the prototype, while in E M Patterson's book there is a very fine picture of a CVR 5 ton open wagon from 1937. The reason for doing an open, is that [at first sight], it is a simple open box. Three planks to scribe and just five pieces of plastikard to cut out and weld together. Well, how wrong can you be! The photo in Patterson's book [probably 4x larger than the actual model would be] showed a wealth of detail. Numerous large bolts hold the iron corner plates to the wooden sides and these looked too big to represent by using my GW Models riveting tool. So, 56 cubes cut from 20thou square strip used instead and put in individually. Then there was the iron strips fixed to the top edge of each side. Common on all open wagons, but rarely modelled it seems & probably little point in 4mm scale. However, in 7mm, I reckoned they were worth adding, especially as they are held down with 14 iron clips. Three pieces for each of these, so another 42 parts to cut, this time from 20x15 strip. Strapping, hinges and catches added umpteen more pieces of microstrip & then there are 8 cleats on sides and ends to wind the rope used to hold down tarpaulins when used. One bit of plastikard and two bits of bent 0.5mm wire for each of these. In all estimate there are close to 200 separate pieces in this one wagon body! Am thinking how I might do a master for sides and ends so I can resin cast future versions. However, none of it was over complicated - just a bit tedious at times, so might still build each one separately. One option will be to drill the strapping and use 1mm wire for the bolts, so these can then be seen on the inside of an empty wagon [or two]. Thankfully, this project is not going to require masses of rolling stock - probably a dozen or so wagons, a couple of coaches, two locos, the railcar & the tractor/unit. Hence tempting to try and do it to the highest possible [for me] standard with a much detail as I can find. Not sure if the lettering I've done [by hand with a white gel pen], is good enough, so may have to invest in some custom transfers. That's the plan anyway, with regular reminders to myself that it is not a race!

Have tried all sorts over the years, Harry, but these days stick mainly to wire scrapers. 0.5mm nickel silver or phosphor bronze, depending on what is available. Where possible, use small pieces of copper clad strip [4 or 7mm scale sleeper strip], stuck to the frames with 5 min epoxy, then solder the pick up wires to that. If I can, I arrange the wire pick ups to bear on the back of the wheels - either horizontally or vertically. On both the Sligo small tanks, the pick ups drop down vertically behind the driving wheels. On the J26, there is space to hide the pickups horizontally, so they bear on the back of the top of rear face or the tread of the wheels. Hopefully the photos show this. Overall, have found this method better than plunger pickups. Though these are neat and tidy, I find the springs can be too strong and end up acting as a brake. Goes without saying that the more pick ups the better and cleanliness comes well before godliness - track, wheels and pickups, to enable best quality running.

Thanks for the help chaps. Being in 7mm scale for the last 20 years, it is easy to miss what is available elsewhere. The Branchlines chassis are compensated, so only need pin point axles at one end, while the coaches have inside bearings. Am thinking the railcar and unit (Clogher Valley) can be done in the same way as my Sligo Railcar B. The 0-4-2T instructions suggest Slaters wheels, so a small stock of 2mm rod seems the likely answer.

On a slightly different track, I am starting a new 3' narrow gauge project which will be 21mm gauge in 7mm scale. Branchlines do a nice wagon chassis, but am a little concerned with the idea of 26mm pin point axles as this leaves little meat on the ends for 21mm gauge. Where do you get 28mm axles from please?

Another idea is to put in small flat headed screws in line with the rails. Each side of the baseboard joint and solder the rails to these. After, you can cut bits of sleeper to hide the screws. Have used this on numerous exhibition layouts without any problems.

Have been hinting for a while that I am keen to get into a new 7mm scale narrow gauge project. The theme is Clogher Valley, which I would hope you folk over the water are well versed with. That said, the line closed in 1942, so anyone with first hand experience of it will be well into their 70s by now... Why CVR? Well, there are a few photos around, albeit black and white, plus [like the SLNCR], there is a good book on the subject [EM Patterson], while kits are available for a fair amount of the locos and rolling stock. So, the maroon coloured box contains a range of goodies that will hopefully keep me occupied over the next few months. Hence, we have a Ragstone Models kit of a Sharp Stewart 0-4-2T, a Branchlines kit of one of the third class coaches [they do one of the first class coach too, plus a wagon chassis], while my old friend Alphagraphix does card kits of both Railcar 1 and its tractor unit cousin, which will form the starting points for scratch built models of these in due course. They will all be done to the correct 21mm gauge [of course!] & I have in mind a small working diorama to begin with, which will cover a wayside station [with a couple of short sidings, plus a hint of roadside tramway and street scene at either end. Hopefully, it will be operable as a through line for exhibition purposes. That will be some time ahead of course, so don't hold your breath! Pictures show the various bits I've assembled thus far.

Good for you, am sure you will get much more satisfaction from making something yourself than just opening a box - even though many boxes have very nice contents these days! Will look forward to seeing the model progress

The basic rule for good visual effect is that a train needs to have a run of three times its own length to look sensible. So, if a 10' straight is what you have, then max train length should be 30". Platform widths were a minimum of 6' in the real world, with 12' preferable.

Sounds good to me, Andy. Will have my diary at AP, so we can make plans!

Cheers Harry, do come and say hello. There are many people on your side of the water I am very much looking forward to meeting.

Yes it does! What is more, I learned how to do them from the master of scenics, Mr G himself. Gordon has been a valued friend for many years and his books on scenics and modelling are well worth getting hold of. Many thanks for your kind thoughts, but if you see Pempoul, you will know it really is at another level.

There are ten shows booked for this year, so will again try to record what transpires. St Albans went pretty well two weeks ago, with those lovely photos from Tony Wright. These have generated an invite to do an article for British Railway Modelling. Since then invite to Manchester in December has been accepted, but Eurospoor in Holland will have to wait for another year, as it is just before Cultra. Pontefract was a good weekend, though a long way to drive on my own - particularly coming home last night after a full day's operating. Will have to take an extra night for long distance shows in future, methinks. Pontefract Club helped out with an operator on Saturday, while 'Mike84C' came over on Sunday. An ex railwayman, he proved to be both an excellent operator and very good company, so many thanks Mick! As shown elsewhere, the layout got the 'Best in Show' award & a very fine trophy it is too. Sadly, had to leave it with the Club, but do have a small plaque now on the layout. Overall, things went fairly well, though I broke the golden rule of 'if it works, don't fix it'. Small tank Fermanagh has always had a wobbly driving wheel. Ran ok, but felt I ought to address the problem. At first, couldn't get the wheel nut off, but eventually ground out a slot and used a screwdriver. The solution was a new axle. So, once fitted, cleaned the wheels and boxed up the loco for the show. On the Saturday, it barely ran. No time to look at it until the evening, but soon found a pickup wasn't touching & on Sunday it ran well with the new SLNCR coaches & parcels van. Same thing with the railcar. Fitted a retaining nut on the draw bar for its trailer, but it fouled the boarding on the points, so had to go! Fine after... Had checked all the back to backs on the wagons, but limited clearances on the cattle wagons caused rubbing on the back of the axle boxes & Hazlewood slipped to a standstill with them. BtoBs narrowed a bit, though haulage remains a bit marginal, so will have to do some more testing. Other minor issues included Lark losing its front coupling and Sir Henry buffer locking with brake van 5 on the mixed train. Sod's Law [or should it be Murphy's?] says than no matter how much you test and practice at home, gremlins will catch you out in front of the public and I'm afraid that I have a thing about operation being as near to perfect as possible for folk who are paying good money to visit. Anyway, things did indeed go pretty well on the Sunday & it can often be the case that the second day of a show is better - something to do with the layout settling into a new atmosphere I think. Hope it doesn't apply to Cultra... The only problem with Sunday was packing up to go home. Or more to the point, the exit from the hall was via a quagmire and it was raining. Still, everything now back in my workshop & the layout seems ok, while the car has been washed & vacuumed clean too. Next show is St Neots, actually at the Wood Green Animal Centre near Huntingdon, followed by Alexandra Palace the weekend after. Just as well I don't work much these days!

It was indeed a good show at Pontefract & Mike proved to be an excellent operator and very good company. Much to my surprise and delight, the layout was awarded 'best in show'. Given the judging was done by the Pontefract club members [rather than the general public], I feel even more honoured, as it is bit like a 'player's player' award in sport. That and the fact that other winners include none other than the wonderful Pempoule, by Gordon & Maggie Gravett - still probably one of the finest layouts around today.

Thanks JB. Coaches won a shield at last night's club competition, though Sir Henry was beaten by a 7mm Gresley P2 2-8-2. A case of a big green'un always beating a weathered little 'un methinks...

Arigna Town's fiddle yard has 7 roads, which equals two railcars and six trains. The latest addition now means it is full, as not only do we have Sir Henry, but a couple of coaches for him to pull. These are SLNCR 6 wheel saloon brake number 4 and bogie number 10. The latter is the infamous 'day coach', so called because it did not have any electric lighting. Both coaches are scratch built in plastikard and microstrip. The 6 wheeler runs on a Tyrconnel etched brass chassis, while number 10 runs on cut down Slater's bogies. They are finished in very faded, peeling paint, as per the photograph in the Tom Ferris' second volume of Irish Railways in Colour. Indeed, several different shades of Humbrol brown were used, as the colours fade & peel more the higher up the sides you go. The peeling effect is done by first painting a base coat in 'weathered wood' [Humbrol natural wood + grey], then [when dry] Maskol is dabbed on in appropriate places. When this is dry, the top coats were put on. Finally, when this is dry, you use tweezers to pick at the Maskol & the peeling paint effect appears. Not my idea, but well documented in the painting' bible 'The Art of Weathering' by Martyn Welch - probably one of the most important modelling books every written. Sir Henry is shown with the train, though at St Albans last week, he/it gravitated to the mixed train, where more shunting is involved. Hence, Fermanagh will probably take over this train in future. Meanwhile, the repairs on G2 2-4-0 are complete. The squashed cab was flattened with blunt nosed pliers, while the smokebox & chimney were re-attached & a bit of filler used to cover the dent. These only took a few minutes, though the painting required a lot longer. Bare brass needed masking off so primer could be resprayed, then the top coat was 'stippled' on. This does your brush no good at all, but is a useful technique for applying weathering & done carefully is almost as good as spraying. The only problem now is that not only is the fiddle yard full, but there is little room left in the car for any more stock boxes. So, a change of direction will be required at some point. I could certainly 'go diesel', so a C and G are not out of the question [provided I can get some drawings], plus there is a narrow gauge project now waiting in the wings. Will keep you posted.

My advice would be 'don't do it'! At least, not if you are planning any scenic work. On the other hand, if you are simply planning something 'train set' like, then as the others have said, HO stock will run on 00 track, because the gauge is 16.5mm for both. The history behind 00/HO, is that HO = 'half 0'. in other words 1:87 instead of 7mm scale, which is 1:43... In the good old, bad old days, 00 was created because British outline locos, being smaller than European and American counterparts, were too small to fit in the then new small mechanisms. The result of course is that Brtish 00 stock has forever since run on track that is 4'1" gauge, instead of 4'8.5 - which means that Irish 00 stuff running on 16.5/00 track has a gauge which is over a foot/30cm narrower than the prototype. On the same principle, N gauge[9mm] track is only 4'6, while TT [3mm scale] track at 12mm gauge is only 4'. All this means folk have developed P4 [18.87mm] track for 'proper' 4mm scale or EM [18.2mm] as a reasonable compromise, though with wheel standards similar to 00 fine scale. As that were not confusing enough, in the '50s & '60s there was 'Trix Twin', which aimed to be a compromise & is therefore [i think] at 3.7mm/ft. Anyone still awake now has permission to run out of the room screaming.