David Holman

Though I have no knowledge of vaping, suspect there are opportunities in making a system usable for model railways. However, the impact of this on an exhibition doesn't bear thinking about!

Well worth the effort, while the weather sounds like a typical British summer! The latter not quite true. Since it rained on St Swithen's Day, it's been pretty warm and dry in my corner of Blighty.

So, to a new project - and hopefully something simpler! On my list is Donegal Trailer No3, which will be running with recently converted CVR Railcar 10. Bought one of the Alphagraphix card kits for this a while ago & as ever, it makes a useful starting point for a scratch build. Began by making an outline drawing & then had a think about how to produce a chassis. I've still got a couple of Branchlines etched brass CVR wagon chassis kits & decided I could make one of these up & then slice it into three parts to create the 9' wheel base of the trailer. As per my other CVR wagons, I use Slater's top hat wagon bearings, drilled out to take axles made from 2mm brass wire, with 14mm wheels. The body is being built on a 2mm plasticard base with a 1mm inner frame on to which 0.5mm acrylic glazing is added for the windows, then 0.5mm plasticard outside that for the lower sides, creating the tumblehome in the process. After all the frustrations of the Barclay tank chassis, it was nice to get something new going in fairly quick time.

Well, I don't often give up, but the Barclay 4-6-0T's chassis is beyond redemption and the only option is to make another one. After a couple of days away from it, I went back and made a list. Some things were redeemable, but not all.The former included: cutting back the bolt holding the boiler to the firebox to give the motor sufficient clearance Straightening the crank pins Strengthening the keeper plate Taking inspiration from Tullygrainy and others, I made myself a wheel quartering jig Despite all the above [and the fact that it somehow worked before], I think I've 'over fettled it', to the point where there are too many issues with clearances, so its got to go. Am going to use horn blocks on the new chassis, though still trying to decide whether to just use outside frames, rather than inner ones with dummy outers. Also need to think about fitting better mountings for the underhung dummy springs, so they can be removed to allow attention to the wheels and motion. Probably need to make new cranks too... All the above means new stuff needs ordering, so the loco will go on the shelf for a while while I have a go at something else. When you build pretty much everything for a layout, there's always plenty of options, but for now have simply tidied up the workbench, so I can make a new start once I've decided. Meanwhile copies of the photos Andrew Burnham took at the Chatham Show for Railway Modeller arrived this week, so have been putting the finishing touches to an article on Northport Quay. Probably not until next year, but it is alway nice to know you are having something published - and you get paid too! While writing the article, cheered myself up by looking back at the one I did for Arigna Town in the April 2015 Modeller & Andrew's photos for that really came out well. The new ones are good too. Nothing that hasn't been seen on this forum - the layout isn't that big after all - but good to see that the mixture of cool and warm white LEDs I use give nice, muted colours. Can't post them here - Andrew uses a 25 megapixel camera so each file is way too big.

Looks like a lot of fun.

Though not CIE, but partly in the Republic, all of the Sligo Leitrim locos only had names, not numbers.

It all sounds VERY expensive! A million euros goes nowhere these days (though I wouldn't say no if someone offered me) and big projects seem to go into the hundreds, if not more. Then comes the question of whether or not such an investment, be it government or private, would ever recoup the cost? In these uncertain times, what are the chances of it being completed? Look at the HS2 debacle this side of the water. Love to see it happen, but suspect cost will ensure it doesn't.

Proper civil engineering!

Am wondering if the simple fact that I stick to one manufacturer for paint is why I haven't had many problems? Fairly sure Halfords is all acrylic. Do use Humbrol enamel for weathering, but am increasingly disappointed with the range and quality. Several of the co!ours advocated by Martyn Welch in his seminal Art of Weathering are no longer available and keep hoping that a revised edition might come out with some alternatives. That said, the cost of changing from Humbrol to say Tamiya would quickly add up!

Strange isn't it, these things sent to bite us? Very much tempting providence, my own go to hasn't got such issues. Halfords red or grey primer, with either their matt black or gloss top coat. Going over sharp edges with both qun blue and permanent market pen before priming help reduce future issues of brass shining through. I rarely use varnish for transfers either... If I get over spray or orange peel effect, then a bit of work with T-Cut soon cures the problem - and being naturally impatient, I only leave 24 hours between coats. Asking for trouble? Probably, but it has served me well enough for 60 odd loco kits and scratchbuilds. I have p!entry of my own issues (working on the theory that the final coat of paint covers a multitude of sins) and it seems very unfair that someone so skilful, organised and methodical should be plagued by paint. Nil bastardo carborundum Alan - or something like that!

There are photos of J26 at Sligo and if you go back to pre grouping days, the MGW, WL&W, GSW and SLNC all had a hand I railways there

The Weald and Down Museum in Sussex is home to all sorts of restored timber frames buildings that have been rescued from all over the South-East. Well worth a visit if you are in the area. It is also home to The Repair Shop TV programme, which I find a constant source of inspiration.

Woodlands Scenics ballast is good. Made from crushed coconut shells and comes in a variety of grades and colours. As already said, go for finer grades. If only 1mm in size, that still works out at three inch/75mm lumps. Plenty big enough in 4mm scale, methinks.

Nice. Very nice indeed. Keep having to remind myself these models are 4mm scale.

Thanks Alan. You may well be right!

Nearly six weeks since I last reported on model making & while have not been entirely idle, it has mostly been getting NPQ ready for Chatham, plus a week's holiday on the stunning island of Corsica - fabulous scenery, lovely weather, amazing railway and challenging, often scary roads. Anyway, the photo below shows things have not entirely been going well in the workshop. I could share some of the adjectives used over the last couple of days, but none are appropriate for polite society. It all revolves around the Swilly Barclay tank. While it looks ok, running is not all it should be, partly because I used a High Level coreless motor, which really doesn't like my Gaugemaster Hand held controller [feedback type]. In addition, the chassis isn't happy on some of the points on Fintonagh. This is because I made the frame spacers the same width as my Clogher stock, but the Barclay's six wheel frame needs more side play. So, replace the motor with an open frame type and then remove the frame spacers one at a time [to ensure the frames stayed properly aligned] and reduce their width by 1.5mm. Simple enough? Well, no... Narrowing the chassis seems to have worked ok - everything still lines up, but having made a bit of a Horlicks with the Gibson driving wheels first time round, decided I'd replace them, along with the motor. I'd ordered a set of outside cranks with the wheels, but being 4mm scale, they are far too small, so decided to use the brass ones I'd made originally. This required a bit of work, as they were drilled for 2mm holes to go over Slater's wagon axles, but so far, so good with them going over full width 1/8th inch steel axles. Troubles really arose as I started to fit the cranks as the 12ba crankpin nuts didn't want to go back on their bolts, so I had to replace most of them, along with several nuts which disappeared into the ether. How Tullygrainy manages with 14ba ones I've no idea... Eventually got the chassis rolling again, only to find that the new motor is not only bigger, but sits at a 45 degree angle, requiring bits taken out of the chassis so that the body will sit properly. The latter is still tight, so more work needed there. That's as far as I've got, because for some reason, the cranks now foul the ends of the slide bars [didn't before!] and the conrods seem tight too. I don't give up easily, but am seriously thinking I might need to build a completely new chassis. A couple of other bits of work came from the need to fettle NPQ's track a bit more. Chatham showed there was still a bit of a ridge at the baseboard join - on the loop side - so rail was remove and new pieces fitted. Fingers crossed, stock now runs better over this section. The headshunt point has been eased a bit more, to keep the 0-6-4Ts happy, while the entry point to the loop needed the outer blade filing as Fermanagh's bogie was derailing for some reason. It was certainly very hot while setting up on the Friday, so it may be this was behind the problems. Off line lie in a darken room and seek solace with some falling down water.

Barely a straight line anywhere. Lovely!

They can be a bit scary, Mike. I eventually got round it by having separate loco and train cassettes. The loco ones, being short, are easy to pick up and move to the other end. The longer train cassettes then only need sliding around, or lifting within the confines of the train table.

Many thanks Paul. Am getting there with the AJs - for me, the issue is not the geometry of the hooks (the dimensions and angles don't need to be absolutely precise), however the height of the coupling hook does need to be consistent, as well as being level and straight. Even being slightly out of alignment causes problems, so stock boxes that protect the hooks are crucial. I think AJs are easier to work with in 7mm scale, because you can use a central mounting point, instead two at opposite ends.The Hope your new project is going well.

NPQ did ok, especially after I levelled the baseboards! The new fiddle yard works well and is only half the weight of the previous one. However, hadn't noticed that the main support beams weren't level, so the layout was effectively on a gradient of about 1 in 60. Most trains were fine, but the D16, F6 and Small Tanks spun their drivers going up hill. Ok once levelled and am now getting on top of the AJs. Next outing is Aldershot on October 19th. Visiting Sligo stock always welcome!

Looking at comments on RMweb, it seems to have been well received. There were a few glitches, notably catering, that need to be better next time, but as a show, it went well and planning is already under way for next year. Enormous credit to James, the Chatham Club's exhibition manager and his army of helpers. There were well over 100 stands and the effort required to provide power to all of these was epic as the Covered Slip has only a limited number of standard three pin sockets, so hats off to the team of Sparkies. As somebody who was there at the first Chatham Show in the Dockyard in 1987, it is interesting to reflect on changes in our hobby since then. A key feature of the original format was the high number of specialist traders who attended - something rarely seen these days. New and second hand 'box shifters' as they were known, were deliberately kept to a minimum - mainly to avoid duplication. It didn't seem fair to be charging traders to attend and compete to sell the same stuff. These days, the number of specialist traders willing to attend shows in person is much reduced, making it harder to seek out suppliers of materials and accessories, especially if you are a kit or scratchbuilder. On the other hand, the proliferation of ready to run models means you can have more traders of new models, because there is so much more variety on offer and few traders can afford to stock everything. Likewise the second hand trade. Back in the day, second hand meant old and often poor quality. Now, such has been the improvement in ready to run models, even something a few years old can still be well worth having, both in terms of appearance and running quality. With prices of brand new models being so high, folk are keener than ever to seek out bargains, while as modellers shuffle off to work the big train set in the sky, their collections mean there is really good stuff available for very low prices. This year, invited layouts were mainly sourced locally, to keep down costs. Next year, the net will be widened to bring in exhibits from further afield, while hopefully exhibitors previously reluctant to attend, because the Covered Slip previously had issues with an uneven, dirty floor and sometimes leaky roof, will be reassured things are much improved. Indeed, that was a key reason why the Club stopped using the Dockyard 12 years ago. This year though, it was great to be back, so hopefully a much loved annual event has returned.

That really is very nice indeed. Lovely work and great photos too.

Far more than an architectural model, the building has real life to it.

Great to see some serious cool work at the end of a stiflingly hot day!

Don't know if this has been mentioned before, but there is an interesting idea in MRJ about making your own, white, transfers. Computer printers do not work in white ink, so over the years, have found myself resorting to white gel pens and Indian ink/dipping pens for lettering on Donegal, Swilly, Sligo Leitrim and so on. However, there is a way of making your own transfers - you need to make the space around the letters the colour of the wagon body, but leave the letters themselves clear. Before applying the transfers, you paint the bit where the white lettering will go white, so this shows through the clear lettering on your transfers. Not sure if it is worth doing for the fairly simple lettering used on much Irish stock, but might be worth a try with more complex lettering or fonts. There again, if you can still get hold of the old Letraset dry transfers, these work very well too.