David Holman

They come as a stainless steel etch, Broithe. Ten pieces in all, they go together in pairs either side of the whitemetal tyre casting. The wheel centre is a brass turning that slots neatly into the middle. All very neat and accurate. the rest of the kit is whitemetal. Little if any flash and for 20 quid, good value. Not a quick build though as what to paint & when needs thinking about & the instructions are limited to general advice and a clear exploded diagram. Southeastern Finecast do an interesting range of vehicles, including larger scale stuff too. Worth looking up.

This little cameo has been a long time in the making and it never ceases to amaze me how long the little details can take.

The petrol pumps have had their 'heads' removed because I wasn't able to get the lettering right, though transfers may become available again one day I hear. The pumps are scratchbuilt in plasticard, though very similar in outline to the former Classic Commercials Kits. The hose is layout wire and the handles bits I found in the scrapbox. The Austin 7 is a Southeastern Finecast kit. Very nice, but time-consuming to build because of waiting for paint to dry between so many of the stages. The wire wheels are etched stainless steel and rather nice. A neat trick for those who haven't come across it before is to file/sand the bottom of the tyres so the model 'sits' in the way a real car would - ie depressing the tyres slightly. A 2 min job, but very effective. Added windscreen wiper and [local] number plates, but not much else needed. The Humber in the workshop is an old Dinky toy. Much battered from my childhood and [scarily] over 50 years old, I committed heresy by stripping the paint and removing the wheels. A quick respray, then raised on blocks over the inspection pit and Robert is your father's brother' as the saying goes. Various bits & pieces from the scrapbox complete the scene.

Figures [which are one of my least favourite jobs] come from a variety of sources. Omen and Phoenix are definitely the best, but in the larger scale you get some lovely little sculptures from other folk too, such as Dart Castings, ABS etc

A case of trying to practice what I preach over the last 2 weeks & am pleasantly surprised at how 'little and often' has resulted in some new cameos, with things coming together across the layout.

First up is the garage, though have put a few notes in Workbench on this.

Baseboard 3, next to the fiddle yard, has also seen work done around the cottage, with the signalman's wife now out doing the washing on her [Langley models] mangle. The new pig seems to have escaped - wonder how long it will be before she notices?

Haven't been able to much ground cover, as ran out of fibres, but thought it would be nice to view the station through foliage installed thus far, so we have pictures of the railbus and Small Tank arriving/departing.

I got my SLNCR large tank GA drawing from Manchester. Paid 20 quid for a CD instead and then did my own simplified drawing. Good way of getting to know the subject.

Am sure what ever you pay will be worth it. 21mm gauge and inside motion always deserves to succeed.

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Is Tolkien hobbit forming?

I'm pink, therefore I'm spam

Whither atrophy? Needed a dictionary for than one...

Only dead fish go with the flow

If you think you can or you think you can't - you are right. Henry Ford

If wishes were fishes, we'd all cast nets

Thanks jhb. Will have a look.

A further small conundrum is that the drawing by D Malone, above, has the driven bogie wheelbase as 8 ft 6 in, but the label says eight feet only. Am assuming the dimension in the drawing is correct, but await comments. In addition, my print of the drawing suggests the driven wheels are 3' diameter, though the note says 33"...

Given that it looks unlikely I can get 2'4" wheels for the rear bogie, may go with 3' drivers and 2'6" trailers. Let me know folks!

Also have the Prodigy and very easy it is to use too. Previously had a Lenz 90, which though it works well enough is not very intuitive to use. Always had to have the handbook available & [a bit like the German language] things are not always in the order you expect them. Easy to fry the master unit too. I know, I did it twice, though repairs are free.

Something very special brewing in the loft methinks, that loco shed is certainly a labour of love, but the whole thing has a very nice feel about it. Bodes well...

Fab picture - thank you!

Not easy & beautifully done!

That's the one I have - but many thanks anyway. Also just found a picture of B in its current rather distressed state and the front wheels certainly appear to be disc not spoked, though am sure I can get round that. Seats looked brown, but will await further info.

Just found a copy of Neil Sprinks 1980 history of SLNCR at this online site. Just Google Buffers books and you will get there. They have a very wide list and a dedicated Irish section. Quick to respond to requests too.

Am in the early stages of planning to do a model of SLNCR's Railcar B, for my Arigna Town layout.

I have the 4mm scale drawing [can re-scale to 7mm ok] and a range of pictures [colour too], but nothing that shows what type of wheels were used, so am hoping historians out there can help please.

One thing which already stands out is the different wheel sizes on front & rear bogies. AND, they are pretty small too! Indeed, if the drawing is correct, then the unpowered bogie wheels are just 2' 4" in diameter, but the smallest Slaters do is 2' 6"... The drawing suggests only 2' 9" for the driven bogie, again, very small. Slaters do at least have a set at this size, they are 9 spoke, but at the moment I have no idea if Railcar B's were spoked or plain, front or back either.

Certainly looks like it will be an interesting challenge, though I did build a 7mm model of one of the Wagon und Maschinbau 4 wheel railbuses for my BR layout a couple of years ago, so have some ideas about how to make the complex ends. Am expecting problems with the articulation though, not least because want to keep the cap between the trailer and the tractor as small as possible. Have the nice colour pic of one of the Donegal units, minus its trailer, which should help.

Interiors are always a pain too with railcars and DMUs in the larger scales - you have to include all the seats and inside panels because the prototypes were so well glazed. So if anyone knows what colour the seats, floor, inside panels etc were, that too would be much appreciated.

Pic of the W&M below...

And congrats in order for the birthday boy I hear! hope its been a good 'un.

Coming on nicely, 'twill be a thing of great beauty when finished, as was the prototype. 21mm gauge too - well done sir! One day I could be very tempted by a 7mm scale one

Rather curly too... Enough said...?

Sorry to disappoint, but no curries in our house - the tubs were bought new from a well know £ [euro?] chain. However, I do at least 50% of the cooking, so my guilt is not too bad on that front. Good to dream though! There is also a magnet on the fridge that says 'when I married Mr right, I didn't realise his middle name was 'always'. Any idea what that means?

This is my second attempt this evening as got halfway through an upload and the system froze me out, saying I was not logged in. Annoying that, given I had to be to be doing it in the first place. Not the first time it has happened either.

Anyway...

The pictures show:

My much loved Grasstech, without which I could not achieve many of the effects

The large range of materials I use. I very much prefer to mix colours as textures as I go along, so we have various scatter colours [mainly fine or medium 'crumb'; fibres from 2-6mm in length and postiche, the artists hair which is teased out for extra foliage

The sequence of layering ground cover:

1. Crumb onto PVA, then straight after, this is 'wetted' with further dilute PVA and fibres put on top

2. Leave overnight - you know it makes sense. Notice though, how even blended 'grass' appears quite plain until you add the weeds effect below. In earlier pictures further detail was added too - still to be done here.

3. Use either PVA smeared on with a finger, or more patches of spray lacquer to add fine crumb on top of the grass to make weeds

4. spray lacquer is used to fix postiche, which is then sprayed again and scatter lightly sprinkled on top

5. longer grass can be done the same way with the Grasstech

6. When adding flowers, always add the coloured crumb to green scatter first, for a more subtle effect.

7. ground texture is made from Woodlands fine ballast [again various colours] put through the coffee grinder and then sieved onto gloss paint. Talc, wood ash and fine grit useful too.

The sequence of pictures were taken yesterday and today. I is very pleasing to see how quickly things can progress at this stage, though preparation and final detailing inevitably take much longer. System still messing about though and am not sure if this will appear in the right order. Hope it still makes sense!

Worry not, Nelson - at least 50% of my modelling is done on a board, on my knees, in front of the tv. Best not to use enamel paints, solder, spray adhesives here though...

Full marks for observation Broithe! Smoke alarm disconnected whenever I do soldering, though that was a while ago, so thanks for the reminder.

Sadly the geography of the house means the stair well is between the workshop and the kitchen, meaning my wife has to walk round to deliver refreshments! Perhaps I could set up an intercom????

Not so much workbench, as workshop. Thought you might be interested in seeing the space I work in. Used to be the integral garage, complete with up & over door etc. However, several years ago, realising that the car no longer fitted into its 15'9 x 7'9 space, converted it to my workshop, by fitting double glazed doors, adding direct access door from the house, lots more sockets and an extension to the central heating system. As you can see, the layout fills one side and my workbench and storage the others.

Tidy it ain't!

Equally, in my defence, the scenic work means lots of stuff out much of the time & am getting to the stage when will be glad this phase is over for a bit. will be adding a tutorial on elements of scenic work shortly.

Beautiful - especially for 4mm scale. Nice weathering too.

Had the pleasure of helping Barry with Petherick many years ago at the Chatham show. He broke the mould with his 3' long, but 5' deep baseboards. They were seriously heavy though! Thankfully, he has refined his ideas since then.

Though not exactly in with this thread, while I am here, will mention Trevor Nunn's S gauge East Lynn, which was also completely fabulous and a joy to operate. Worth reading any articles by him too, though in a different league to most mortals. Anyone who can put inside working Joy valve gear in a 4-4-0 deserves the accolade in my book anyway.

Got my RM yesterday and very impressive their model is too. Would not look out of place in a museum.

To the above I would definitely add the following:

1. Start small - a branch line terminus or small through station can easily be incorporated into a later, larger layout.

2. The above will certainly cost you less and with the limited amount of Irish stuff available RTR, you will have a better chance of getting something that looks and runs well in a reasonable length of time.

3. Minimum 90cm radius curves will always look better than set track, right angle bends

4. From a visual and operational point of view, trains need to be able to run 3 times their own length on the scenic part of the layout, to look 'right'. No worries with 20x10 then, but build accordingly.

5. Checkout the Modelling Irish Railways book, some interesting ideas in there

6. Why not consider 21mm gauge, or at the very least, EM gauge and finer profile track. For all the practicalities of 16.5mm, nothing sets an Irish layout better than broad gauge - though if you are heavily committed re stock, then appreciate the issues.

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the purists - scale colour, indeed ANY colour, is a personal thing. Indeed, there is a less well known fact that blokes tend to lose the ability to match colour as they get older anyway, favouring the blue spectrum ahead of the yellow. Hence real implications for perception of shades of green. Women, on the other hand keep their colour perception into their dotage, which is another reason why they tend to dress better and moan at us when we don't!

The moral of the story might be to seek help from the fair sex, particularly where green is concerned. At least there are only 40 shades. Grey, it seems is even more complex.