David Holman

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!

Scenic work on hold at the moment, for the simple reason that I have run out of materials! Woodlands ground foam is readily available, but less so static grass fibres so am hoping there will be some at the Reading 0 gauge trade show on Saturday week. For those of you not aware of this event, it is truly an Aladdin's cave of everything the modeller could need , a positive bottomless pit of 'wants'. Spending 50 grand or more [assuming you had the funds] would easily be possible. Go for RTR and professionally built stuff and 7 figures is perfectly possible. More important though is the wonderful range of smaller traders plying their wares & it is the one place where you can generally find everything under one roof. Just hope somebody has some fibres! Anyway, to get back to the variety theme, found myself staring at a collection of figures [whitemetal] that I had been putting off painting, so decided to make a start. Soon realised why I procrastinated, as really don't get excited by figure painting. Perfectly capable of making a reasonable effort, but just doesn't float my boat. So, have been trying to do the little and often in the hope of getting the job done. Mixed in a South Eastern Finecast Austin 7 as well. Lovely little kit, but again, the amount of faffing about to produce a tiny model is along the lines of the number of tools needed to wire a 3 pin plug [about 47 in my case]. Yet I will happily punch rivets and find tiling roofs curiously satisfying. So easy to see why RTR is popular and why ready painted figures are expensive...

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.

Though sort of retired, I still do a lot of consultancy work in schools and after a decent spell of quality modelling, spare time is suddenly at a premium again. Typical, when things were going rather well... However, as mentioned before, one can have too much of a good thing and driving around from one place to another can give a bit of thinking time. Also, while I can't speak for everyone else, one of the great attractions of this hobby is the variety it affords & must admit I'm starting to get a bit weary of scenic work, having done little else for the last few weeks. I'm also running out of materials! It is surprising how much fibre, crumb, glue, lacquer etc one gets through, so with no time to buy more, there is another reason why scenics will slow down over the next few weeks. However, in hoping to get the majority of the green stuff done soon, thoughts turn to what next? Certainly need another loco before the layout makes its debut, but am tempted by doing Railcar B first. At the very least will develop some plans and building notes - another technique I use for 'exorcising' ideas sometimes. Drawing layout plans is another, though not in the Iain Rice class [few are], must have drawn many times more than I could ever build & find this a good antidote to starting a new project, before the current one is finished. Why am I wittering on with this, when I could be modelling? Good question!

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.

Likewise a big fan of the Chagford fireman. He has the ability to make believe what he describes is achievable by everyone. Amusing too. His layout design books are some of my all time favourites - Finescale in Small Spaces and Light Railwsys especially. My own absolute essentials are: The Art of Weathering by Martyn Welch, essential for getting colour right and applicable to the whole layout, not just stock. Landscape Modelling by Barry Norman, the instigator of modern scenic techniques Both tree books by Gordon Gravett ,plus his new book on grass, roads and mud. Builds perfectly on the above and the best 25 quid you can spend this year. If you can get them, John Ahern's books on buildings and locos from the 1950s cover all the basics and are still very useful today, while Geoff Holts two books on loco building and David Jenkinson's one carriages make these challenging topics very achievable.

One very impressive piece of work. Really interesting to see how it developed too! VERY well done.

Thanks for the merging BosKonay, am guessing I stick to the same thread in future. A bit slow, but I get there in the end. Bit of a butterfly mind too... Re the grass, Barl, 'tis incredibly easy if you possess one of the wonderful static grass machines. Whether the cheap, tea strainer one [Freezinghall Models], or of the more expensive type, they are the poodles' privates for scenic work. Mine cost me £75, but has been worth every penny. Also use the Noch puffer bottles too, which are great for tight spaces. My local model club invested in one & is be loaned out. Nice idea if you don't want to splash out yourself.