David Holman

Fabulous photos of the Swilly. What an extraordinary railway it was.

As others has said, full of atmosphere. Hard to define and far from easy to create. Colours look right, and no more than we would expect , also calling for great care and observation. Plenty of simple operation, which likewise adds to the atmosphere. Certainly works for me.

Opening the Pizza box Building the MGWR 'Wolf Dog' threw up an unforeseen problem in that, though its wheelbase fits my South Eastern Finecast turntable, the loco's buffers foul the back scene. The short term solution was to fit extension rails to the turntable, but at a scale two feet long, they looked ridiculous and of course were prototypically impossible. The options were: live with it - tried it for a while but it just looks wrong invest in a Metalsmith turntable kit - all brass, but very expensive and would still need adapting to fit the space scratch build - having built and adapted several turntables, I'm still not confident about making them work, not least because whenever I read articles on the subject, it is not long before my eyes glaze over! Anyway, salvation duly arrived in a 12" pizza box from Kitwood Hill Models. They produce a range of turntable kits made from laser cut plywood, with lathe turned deck wheels, a powerful, slow running motor easily aligned by eye and a host of very clever features to aid construction - all for £75, about twice the cost of an unmotorised SE Finecast kit, but a third of a Metalsmith one. The only real problem with Kitwood Hill is that they seem to like to accumulate enough orders before embarking on production, so a bit of patience is required when ordering, but after that things become very good indeed. Put simply, the kit is a joy to build. Everything fits and I have found myself in constant admiration of the planning and thinking that has gone into it. The well is three separate ply discs, which you assemble with contact adhesive; pretty much everything else is held together with cyano. A very clever jig enables you to solder the bridge track rail to copper clad sleepers: it is two circles of ply, the outer one leaving a small gap, so you can sandwich the rail, gradually moving round to deal with one sleeper at a time. Though my 11.5" version is really aimed at the American Sn3 market, the cross beams on the deck scale out at 8'6 in 7mm scale, while the girders themselves are almost exactly 5'3 apart. Cosmetic overlays enable the girders to look like they are metal, once painted, while there is provision for the well walls to be anything you like, from timber to stone or concrete. A copper clad disc is used, along with some very robust [6amp rated] plunger pick ups to take power to the track. There is no gap in the copper clad - instructions say to us a DPDT switch instead to change polarity when the deck is reversed, something I am more than happy with. The motor unit comes ready assembled with a nice set of 40:1 gears. It sits below the turntable well [under the baseboard] and the idea is to power it from the loco [track] controller, via another DPDT switch, something I have already done with a Peco N gauge turntable on Fintonagh. The deck itself simply slots on to a housing on the copper clad disc in the well & so is readily removable, unlike my SE Finecast one, which relies on captive bolts. The motor is only rated at 3 volts constant [but will take up to six apparently] and have successfully used two AA, 1.5v batteries to turn my heaviest engine without any problems. As I've said, it really is all very clever and beautifully thought out and only took me about six hours to assemble thus far. However, the challenge is now to remove the old turntable and increase the diameter of the hole in the baseboard by about two inches, so wish me luck! After that, a bit of cosmetic work will be needed to make the turntable look more Irish, but the important thing is that, like a loco kit, once you have a working chassis, the rest is just about making it look nice - well that's the plan, anyway.

Thanks folks! As well as the obvious prettiness of the prototype,, the fact that the livery is almost BR lined black adds to the attraction. Apparantly, we are most attracted to what we saw in our youth, so (college girls aside), that should put me in the green diesel era, but lined passenger black and Brunswick green likewise do it for me. However, the number plate background should be red, so along with both my Sligo Small Tanks, where the letters should be red, some work with a fine paint brush is called for.

Ye gods, but it is hot! Not exactly modelling weather... Had a week in Northumberland, which the weather did its best to spoil, but in the end it was ok. Beamish museum is rather splendid and though the trams wren't running, the early double decker buses were, as was their replica Puffing Billy. Meanwhile a boat trip around the Farne Islands added a few ticks to my annual bird watching list. Sort of feathered train spotting I guess! Once we got back home, it was a case of trying to finish the F6. Probably went at it too hard with the rest of the transfers as ended up with a migraine, so very much lesson to self to take it easy on these intense bits of work. However, it is done, along with a bit of gentle weathering and coal in the bunker.

Do like this section. In 7mm scale a chap called Giles Flavell builds radio controlled lorries and cranes which can actually load, unload and move stuff around. Were that blue unloader (a rather nice model already) actually be able to do the business, then that really would be the mutt 's you know whats

Remarkable work all round. Shows how producing models commercially goes way beyond the model itself (as if that wasn't complicated enough), while the idea of some items like the wheels going from UK to NZ, then back to Ireland illustrates the planning and organisation involved.

As with all small bits, guess the moral is don't sneeze!

Used Templot for my 21mm, 7mm scale points, but only standard LH/RH formations. Likewise, takes about an hour to make one, plus copperclad sleepers make adjustments fairly easy. Not sure it would be the same for printed sleepers, though I know nothing about either process or tolerances...

Guessed at Post Office and Google translate confirms! Wonderful lanuage.

Excellent website John and with carefully chosen products too, deserves to do well.

On my Arigna Town layout, I got told off for having Freisian cows, as they weren't seen in the 1950s. Guess by dieselisation they would be alright?

August 's Railway Modeller sees a multi page article on Ballyshannon, Alan Gee's latest 4mm scale creation of the Donegal. And very good it is too.

Know what you mean. Don't use mine anything as much as I should...

Am wondering if a resistance soldering unit (RSU) would help with the hand rails, brake gear and other fiddly stuff? Not readily available, or cheap for that matter, but the foot operated switch does give you that third hand for delicate work. You do have to be careful with the settings though - too high and small parts get vaporised! Been there, t-shirt, etc...

Mmm, that is very much the theme of Martyn's book. Weathering is a subtle process and on the wrong setting, he likens an air brush to a muck spreader and not pretty! The best 'quick fix' I have found is through weathering powders, but getting them to stay where they are put is not straightforward. Martyn advocates Humbrol enamels. The trouble with that is some tinlets are not available since Hornby took over and it would be interesting to see a reprint as the book has been out over 20 years now. VERY much still worth having though!

That's a wow then! Excellent work. Also worth adding that there is nothing wrong with mixing media. As well as acrylics, I also use crayons, felt pens and drawing pens.

Missed these posts, but the simple answer is to get your hands on The Art of Weathering by Martyn Welch (Wild Swan). It is the definitive book on the subject and has never been bettered. Does locos, wagons, coaches, track and buildings. Although he makes use of that Spawn of Satan, the airbrush, quite a lot, he also just uses paint brushes. The techniques used are certainly no quick fix, but done carefully, results can be extremely satisfying. Probably my most 'go to' book!

Photographic backscene are ok, but you are right, JB - the same ones crop up all over the place. As Galteemore says, it is not that difficult to paint your own, while photos can be too sharp and distract from the layout itself. Sometimes, all you need is sky, especially if the on layout scenery is rising towards the backscene. Nothing fancy ended here either. Currently, outside my window, it is a very pale grey, pretty much all over and certainly not difficult to reproduce. Indeed, translating Galteemore's photo of the brooding mountains into a layout backscene, only the top half would need to be painted. Three or four outlines and a few shades of blue/grey. Don't make the backscene too dark though, or you'll need some very bespoke lighting and that is a completely different ball game.

While the liquid sunshine means Ireland's pastures can be very green in places, I like the subtlety thus far and the method of dry stone walling is very neat too. Indeed 'care and attention to detail' sums up the approach and it's working really well.

The latest challenge with the F6 is now the lining. Before starting that, the buffer beams have been painted red, the cab windows glazed, number plates have been properly fixed and the smokebox toned down with a greyer shade than the intense matt black of the rest of the loco. As mentioned previously, there seems no easy way of applying red and white GSWR red and white lining. Fox Transfers do a nice sheet for the boiler bands, but everything else has had to be cobbled together. Guess I should have got the bow pens out again, but I really don't feel I have the necessary skills. Yes, I know I should practice, but the process really doesn't inspire me. So, as you can hopefully see from the photos, the second sheet contains a range of curves and rounded corners in both red and white. Neither are ideal, as both are too wide, though not by much with the white ones. Hence carefully cut down the red rounded corners and then married these to straight pieces made by cutting off one of the white stripes. Once dry, a white stripe/curve was added on top, to get the appropriate effect. Fiddly, but reasonably effective as long as you don't look too close. See photos for how it developed. Have only done one side so far, but couldn't resist posing No 42 with its short train of six wheel coaches, alongside my 101 in the other platform, about to depart with a freight.

Really enjoying seeing how the 101 progresses, especially having done the same kit in 7mm scale. A whole different set of problems but, much as I don't enjoy doing them either, I can certainly appreciate how difficult they must be in 2mm. As for a K class, am ashamed to admit I had to look it up in the green bible before I realised it was a G2,. If you ever want to do an original K class in 7mm scale John, let me know.

That glass plate is a fabulous picture of a fine looking engine.

Exquisite. Am sure the 5p is getting bigger.