murrayec

Scrawker Mod;- 3mm mdf handle epoxied to both sides of the blade- doesn't hurt the fingers any-more. Eoin

Making the steps/ladder for the Martello Tower is a bit fiddly so I made a mdf jig to hold the styrene side strings in place while gluing the threads in. Done. Starting to paint the tower. After a number of coats of Humbrol 1 I washed it down with a dilute black wash and now hopefully the next step is a light translucent coat of very light grey to finish off?? Racers, steps, door and flagpole all painted and awaiting instillation. I gave up on the flat styrene racers featured above, with the stone scoring I decided to use .8mm piano wire for the racers which will be glued in after the stonework is painted. I also made up a flag pole from .8mm brass rod with a hoop and cleat from .4mm brass soldered on, the pole cap is a bit of styrene tube glued on. Eoin

@Noel I would recommend using epoxy glue for resin mouldings, the main structure done complete with epoxy, one could use Rocket 5-10 (it's stronger but does bloom if one uses to much) to assemble small parts and then apply epoxy to reinforce. Cyano does not suffer shock well and bits are liable to spring off.... The insides of these wagons would not have been painted so if thinking of painting a wood colour would be the one...... The doors were right down to the floor and the ramp closed up against them which locked them shut..... Eoin

@Midland Man yes pretty sad- I heard that the chap who built it- his family from the UK came visiting and asked could they call to the house to view the layout as it was their father's pride & joy, they were very disappointed when they saw the track in it's over-grown state. I will be building a 3.5" straight track in my garden to run the Northumbrian loco when complete, I may invite the now owners of the track to come and view it running and that may light a spark!! Eoin

@airfixfan you may have this already- Ernie Shepard's book 'Bulleid And The Turf Burner And Other Experiments With Irish Steam Traction' by KRB Publishing ISBN 0954203585. Eoin

@popeye here is a link to SSM's OO kit built sporting the 800 green;- Also a link to Ian Rathbone's recent paint job on a SSM GSR 800 OO kit of which I enquired with him the colour mix he used;- https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/152458-gsr-800-class/&do=findComment&comment=3942064 Eoin

Looking great David. Your point about the thinness of the smokebox;- I notice the front sand boxes in the prototype photo are higher off the splasher and butt up under the side curve of the smokebox, where the model has much lower boxes exposing more of the smokebox vertical side, making it look thinner! One could add an extension to raise the sand boxes and fill in the gap? When the front angle piece under the smokebox door that covers the front of the saddle goes in- this will beef things up a bit? Eoin

While waiting for that green bodywork to go off I got back to finishing the wheels and chassis. I made up a little jig for painting the wheel tyres satin black, two bits of mdf with M3 threaded inserts to bolt the wheels down loosely on a raised surface. Then rotated by finger while paint brush is applied from the other side. Chassis and wheels are now complete and given 2 coats of Alclad Klear Kote Semi-Matte. The insides of chassis frames were hand painted with red oxide. Chassis up and rolling, a bit premature put the best place to store the wheels and chassis to stop them getting scuffed sitting around! The GSR 800 green was never my favourite livery but it's now growing on me. Eoin

@Angus Talk to KMCE on that one, I'm sure he can give some info on it;- Eoin

My mates Pat & Steve have launched a new youtube channel which will be featuring some of The Fountainhead's not previously released experimental recordings from the early 80's ;- Eoin

Loco and tender bodies caught up paint-wise with the chassis parts today, after I added a few details to the loco- firebox top detail, steam dome detail and firebox washout bolts, all done with styrene and stuck on with Deluxe glue n glaze which I find the best glue to stick to paint Then touch up undercoat and two coats of GSR 800 green. Detail parts getting their final paint touch-ups, two small gauges will be turned from brass bar to mount on top of the backhead. And first coat of blue on the name and number plates. The name plates are going to be a bit fiddly as they are aluminium and will have to be highlight painted to give a brass look, whereas the number plates are brass and will be rubbed down on emery paper. I should have cut out new nameplates in brass!..... Next step is the black paint to the loco and tender bodies. Eoin

In my discussions with chaps that worked on the Castle Layout they sadly reported that 'dubious transactions' abounded in the later days of the layout's life........ Eoin

Launch should be on the go in about an hour;- Eoin

Yes, the compressor with a tank will come up to pressure in a minute or so, if no tank when switched on your ready to go. Adjust the output air to the airbrush down to around 2-3 psi or as required for type of airbrush and paint mix- you need to be activating the trigger on the airbrush when doing this as you will see mainly on a tank-less compressor there is a drop on the indicator so you set the pressure activating the airbrush. Mix your paint to the consistency of milk in a separate container and then decant to the airbrush cup, some paints are already mixed by the manufacture ready to go. Use kitchen towel to clean things but as it gets old and raggedy it starts to shed and those little bits will block the airbrush- change the towel frequently during a paint session. Play with the brush before yo go spraying a model, use sheets of paper to spray on and play with settings and paint mix. Clean the brush regular during use and when finished a session clean it out thoroughly with whatever thinners your using to paint with. Cellulose thinners is a good cleaner if stubborn paint will not move but do not leave rubber O rings or fibre washers in it for to long. Always clean the brush after use and refer to the instructions for details on taking it apart. ....and one on here might tell you to clean it with a sonic cleaner!! Do not do this if you value your airbrush- the needles on these can be forged parts which sonic cleaning will destroy, and anything screwed together can be rattled free and cause damage.... Regardless of type of paint do ware a mask (rated for gas) eye protection, and work in a well ventilated area. Eoin

Hi JB These guys do foam sheet for packing;- https://www.efoam.ie/foamsheets.php Eoin

I'm getting a 'de je vous' feeling looking at those photos! Lovely stuff Eoin

The first bits of colour going onto Maedb, this is the first coat of GSR 800 green, it looks a little dark as this is the first coat over the grey primer- chassis, wheels, break gear, and satin black going onto the detail bits. Loco & tender body filling is now complete and are a coat of undercoat behind...... Eoin

Congrats on finishing university, looking foreword to seeing more modelling on this thread..... Eoin

I got to see the satellites last night but did not have clear sky- there was a bit of an 'Isac' going on! the problem with living in our very high mountains! Eoin

As Galteemore says better scope for details, maybe use half cut trees as view blocks to the sides, also you could have the trees come out over the front of the baseboard and even wrap around over the edge of the side back-scene board? Looking good Eoin

Looking good George, wish your Da a happy birthday from me..... I hope your going boating and have the bottle of Guinn!! ....Murphys for the launch. Eoin

There is a 3.5 inch gauge track up the road from me, It's just lying there idle, over-grown with ivy and slowly deteriorating! I recently got in touch with the owner of the property to view the track and discuss using it. The guy that built it is long gone but some of his live steam locos are held by the local history group, they have had meetings at the track and steamed up one of the locos on a section of cleared track- no running though. Anyway my idea was to run a 3.5'' loco I have in the build mix and another possible repair, the meeting did not go two well- from the section I uncovered of ivy showed the track in reasonable condition but some sections needed total replacement and some of the concrete support structure suffered a tree fall and would have to be rebuilt! The option put to me was do do it all at my expense and to possibly supply an electrical loco and stock for their use, otherwise they wanted to leave the track as is ' as it looks very nice covered in ivy' Needless to say I backed away. Such a pity because in few more years the track will be beyond salvaging! This is the Northumbria Loco kit;- This 3.5'' Royal Scott was to be restored for a client and I was hoping the track could be used to test run it, but alas the restoration deal fell through! Eoin

Hi Go for a airbrush that takes a small cup and a paint jar, also go for a dual action airbrush- they are a lot more controllable of air and paint mix with one's trigger finger. There is a huge range out there and it all depends on how much you want to pay..... Here is a link to guys I have bought stuff from, the link is to bottom feed guns which take a jar;- https://www.air-craft.net/acatalog/Bottom-Feed-Airbrushes.html Eoin

Painting has been proceeding on the Bing;- After undercoating all the parts I spent a bit of time filling around the steam dome repair and that ding in the smokebox door. After that was etch primed in places then undercoated I started on the first top coat on all the bits. The wheels and chassis were given a first topcoat of matt black. The brown is looking a bit red at the moment due to the grey undercoat, next coat of brown should do the trick! Eoin

Well there is no Australian section so decided to post this here;- This is a Eureka Models with DCC sound of an Australian AD60 in the workshop for some repairs. It's a nicely detailed model and has a bit of factory weathering but has been badly handled...... Valve gear on the front unit is missing, sanding boxes missing, handrails badly re-fitted, a few bits on the buffer beams bank n front are missing and it doesn't run! The plan is to replace the missing gear using the surviving gear as patterns for cutting the new stuff, the remaining sand boxes will be removed to make moulds for plastic casting up replacements and then we'll have a go at getting it running. First step was the valve gear, the existing gear for patterns were removed and scanned to set up a drawing to CNC cut replacements from .3mm nickel silver. This is the result- needing a clean up, laminate soldering and fitting. Those holes in the rod ends are .2mm! Eoin