David Holman

Been working on the front edge of Fintonagh/Swillybegs, stripping off the foliage & beginning the change to a quayside. Much of the work involves the application of DAS modelling clay. A bit like doing a building, you first put down a layer of PVA, then press on pea sized balls of the clay, smoothing them out so there is an overall depth of about one millimetre. Once dry, this is then sanded level, after which comes the laborious process of scribing in all the setts and stonework. Sanding creates a lot of fine dust & this is not something you want to use your domestic vacuum clean on. For years, I've used cordless car vac, but the motor bearings were sounding extremely knackered, so was pleased to find a replacement in a basic Goblin hand held model. Mains powered, at just £25 from Asda it is less than half the price of rechargeable models and a lot more powerful. Even if it only lasts a couple of years, it will be worth it. Have also finally got round to finishing the first Schull & Skibbereen coach, which is shown below sitting by the mock up of the new tramway platform.

Heard on the news this morning about disruption caused by recent storm damage to Holyhead port. Closed till at least mid January, so something else to add to the litany of problems?

Amazing how a relatively simple looking loco can turn out so complex. So many different (and difficult) curves. Quite dainty too and coming on really well.

Several weeks with much ado about very little! Far too much faffing around with NPQ after Tolworth, but most of it has been fettled & I suspect I will just have to live with the foibles of the track work - that or put in an order to Marcway for two new Y points, but I really want to get on with something new. Testing NPQ threw up a fresh issue with the Deutz G class shunter which suddenly lost traction. Traced the problem to the Delrin gear train, where both spur gears had worked loose on the axles - probably a result of too much oil. Fixing it was a pain, requiring the chassis to be completely stripped down and cleaned before reassembly. Fingers crossed, it seems ok now. This morning, wasted a couple of hours trying to get the signal mechanism repaired, but looks like it will required a complete rebuild, for which I need to send off for some more piano wire for the wire in tube linkage. Still, need some more for my narrow gauge couplings, so all is not lost. After all that, NPQ is back on the top shelf with Fintonagh's baseboards on the main beams so I can get back to new stuff. Sod's Law struck again though when I discovered the turntable wasn't working. Similar problem to the Deutz, but this time the motor had worked loose from its housing. Turned out it was only glued in place, so with a bit of Evostick, it didn't take long to fix. Having considered Ramelton and several other options for the Donegalisation of Fintonagh, the name 'Swillybegs' is currently favourite, being a direct crib of Killybegs, but sited on Lough Swilly, somewhere in the Rathmelton area. Rather than mess around with the back scene, have decided to work on the front edge of the layout. By adding some more 6mm ply to the front framework, I can create a short section of quayside [similar to NPQ], while the front siding will be cut short and a tramway platform installed in its place. This will represent a line from Downies and Carrigart using my two CVR tank engines and coaches based on the Schull and Skibbereen.

Lovely stuff!

Hopefully, the shed is still healthy and as others have said, a quick set up to just run trains may prove to be just the tonic.

Makes sense to me. My 7mm scale G2 has a sprung front axle, which works ok, but occasionally needs tweaking as these wheels sometimes stop turning because of lack of downward pressure.

See that Tara Junction has just reached another milestone with 900 000 views. Didn't seem that long ago it was 800k and all this in 12 years!

All power to your elbows good sir!

Such a lovely scale. S is actually 1:64, so 5'3 works out as a rather splendid 63/64ths of an inch, which in metric is 25.003mm. I won't tell if you dont!

Brave man! Looks like a complete basket case to me, but if anyone has the skills, it's you.

Fab.

Try enlarging the photo. It is very much black and the only dirt appears to be water marks down the tank side. The A class is typically work stained. Am sure have seen other colour photos of locos with black buffer beams too.

Is this allowed? Lovely stuff - well done.

Amen to the above. Baseboard are your foundations and it is well worth ensuring they are strong. Once scenics and ballasting start going in, a fair bit of water ends up being introduced, so sealing the tops with primer will help stop water getting into the surfaces.

Just so evocative.

Been there and got a drawer full of T-shirts! My solutions not as elegant as this one though.

Remarkable new edition, even by Alan's high standards, including a fascinating article by the man himself on turf trains in 1945.

Tasty! A footplate like that is not easy.

Can't remember, but it was in the marquee, on the pea shingle. It rained and part of the roof leaked. Not our finest hour...

Fascinating stuff, as ever and what this Forum is so good at! Forgot about David Walker. Sat between him and Gordon Gravett at the St Albans show, many years ago - Andrew Burnham, editor of Continental Modeller was on the same dinner table and it was quite an evening. At the time, had no idea DW was into the Irish scene ( he was doing Midland in Gauge 1 I think), while my own interests were still very much Colonel Holman Fred Stephens, for some reason. Another opportunity missed, one that probably ranks alongside missing Adavoyle at the Chatham Show. Thank goodness we still have the pictures!

Don't have the article on the original Castle Rackrent with me at the moment, but 99% sure that Richard didn't build Galteemore. No doubt someone will soon tell us, but it would indeed be nice to know where it went and indeed see more pictures! Speaking of which, the Mail Goods consist featured a carriage truck with a pantechnicon wagon on board. Built something similar, so will post a photo once I've tracked it down.

Know what you mean, Alan. Built all the track on Fintonagh and it's been fine, but not my favourite occupation - mainly because I don't seem very good at it. Just way too many variables - sometimes it's not the track, it's the baseboards; other times it turns out to be the wheel back to backs. Feel sure your methodical approach would see you just fine. Other 'final frontiers' must be outside valve gear and indeed inside motion. Have both of them on my CV, but not sure that enables me to claim to be a real man as I stopped with just a single example in each case! Stop when you are winning, I think...

Very neat. Pick ups are a pain at times (along with brake gear), but loads more space in 7mm broad gauge. Have to keep reminding myself you work in 4mm...

After much tinkering, cursing and furrowed brows, there is a chance that the loop side of NPQ might now run properly - until the next show that is! As can be seen from the picture below, have also managed to disguise the baseboard join a bit better, though a check rail is still essential on the approach to the left hand point, otherwise the tight curve [should be six foot, but probably isn't] means stock wants to derail at this point. In an effort to stop stock uncoupling going in & out of the siding, have added check rails here too - not perfect, but getting there. Indeed I often wonder if it would have been better to work in S7, rather than just 7mm timescale, because the tighter clearances would probably make running better. However, whether I could build to such standards is another matter... During the trial and error of getting running better, a mysterious electrical problem manifested itself with voltage dropping to just 2.5 on the crossing vee. At first, I thought it was the internal switching in the Tortoise point motor. Though very robust and reliable, they can occasionally start to wear, so [invalidating the warranty], I took it apart and cleaned up the contacts. All to no avail though, as the problem turned out to be a half 'dry' soldering joint on he feed to the vee. Unfortunately, the Tortoise didn't go back together as planned, so have had to pinch one from the right hand point until I can order a new one. This point has been temporarily soldered shut, as shown below. One of these days, I'm going to get round to doing something new for a change!