RedRich

One thing I should have added is that I will be using DCC to operate the layout so I will use brass lace makers pins 25 or 28mm. I will file down the heads to fit under the bottom of the bullhead rail, solder them to the rail every 24th sleeper and push them through a pre drilled hole in the sleeper and through the baseboard. The droppers for the bus can then be soldered to the protruding lace makers pin. A chair cut in half can be used cosmetically to hide the soldered pin. In theory it should work so fingers crossed. Rich,

It looks like a side feed airbrush Dave, which can be very useful at times. An all round nice piece of kit. I assume that they are the nozzles in the six containers above the airbrush. Rich,

Richie I have the compressor 7 years and it has never given me any trouble. Plug it in, turn it on, fill up the tank, set the air pressure connect the hose to the moisture trap and away you go. I get hours of airbrushing time from a full tank and you don't have any noise. A nice summers day outside is the right time for airbrushing. I know some people have fume extraction kit but I don't have the luxury of that at the moment. If I am using enamels during the less hospitable months I spray in my brothers garage and use a mask so as not to breathe in any harmful fumes. I also leave the garage door open a slight bit. He lets me leave the models in a room to dry for a couple of days and I come back and gloss varnish them if they need decals. I leave the gloss varnish dry for a few days apply the decals and give them a coat of satin or matt varnish depending on what type of finish I want. I seem to find myself using acrylic paints a lot more now so I will incorporate a small fume extraction kit (just to be on the safe side) into the build of my new railway shed and workshop. Rich,

Dave I got mine from http://www.bearair.com in the USA the model # is Richpen Apollo 113C. It's a beauty to work with and comes with a very fine needle. I think you can get them in the UK as well. Rich,

Brian I will keep my eyes and ears open and if I hear of a kit for sale I will let you know. A big to you for wanting to have a crack at building a kit. Rich,

Brian is cash the biggest stumbling block for you in regards to having an 071, or is the challenge of building a kit more important to you. If it is the later then you are probably looking at anything between €90 and €100 for the complete unmaid kit and a suitable donor chassis, and there is also the question of what era you want to model as that will dictate the type of kit you want IE,IR, CIE. If it is the former, then Seamus Graham is offering a savings club for the 071's and it may be a good idea to contact Seamus and work something out. My fellow Mod and entrepreneur Dave (WrennEire) Bracken may be able to assist you in locating a kit, so why not drop him a pm. HTH, Rich,

I wish I had the time mate and the space. I am hoping to get the man shed started soon and once that is finished (hopefully before the winter) I will start building the track. When I design the template for the layout I will print it and piece it together and lay it out on the baseboards. That way you can begin to lay the sleepers in situ. I thread all the chairs onto the rail and bond them to the sleepers as I go along as this way it gives the track a more prototypical flow. A lot of people are happy to use copper clad sleepers and flat bottom rail and I will use that system myself for the off scenic areas. Planning and executing a 21mm layout takes a lot of time and patience to get it right, but that is one side of the layout build that I love. I am waiting on a jig for filing the C & D type vees and crossings as they are in short supply at the moment. I also need to get some axles, wheels, and bogie subframes as well some some axles and wheels for converting the locos, the 201's should be interesting. I should have some free time in a few weeks and I will be building some plain track and a B8 point for testing locos and rolling stock and I will take pics and post them as I am building it. I know that a lot of people say that they are just happy to watch trains go by and the OP has mentioned that also. The thing is, is that you can still do that with 21mm track. My own preference is to have the track look the correct gauge. Different people use dcc sound as a way of getting closer to the prototype and I think that the final outlay for sound chipping loco's is far more expensive than converting rolling stock to the correct gauge, mind you I might add sound to some locos in the future as I do find it does add a different aspect to a layout. The most important thing for me in railway modelling is that it must keep you interested, focused, and it must never get boring. Building my own track fulfills all those needs for me. I think that the track gauge is a little less obvious if you are modelling BR and there are some great UK layouts that use 16.5 track and they are fabulous layouts, Widnes Vineyard is one example. Anyone can begin to start building and laying 21mm track with all the bits and pieces that are available from the trade. If you don't fancy filing switch blades or building common crossings, all these are available to buy from C&L Finescale. I think that time and space as John Mayne has suggested in another thread are the main limitations for most people modelling the correct gauge. There are some lovely little stations on the network like Carrick On Suir, Thomastown, Muine Bheag, Cashel, to name but a few that could fit into the spaces that the majority of us would have available for building a layout to 21mm. Thomastown was one station that I considered as a possibility as a layout set in the early to mid naughties. You could have MK111, MK11, Cravens, a s**tload of freight including Beet trains, as they were re-routed over that line after the Cahir Viaduct collapsed. I also thought that the beautiful viaduct on the Waterford side of the station would have made a stunning addition to the layout, but Clonmel won me over as I just love the Station building and I feel it is one of the finest pieces of Architecture in the country. I have the vision and when time and space are available I will have the fun. Rich,

Keep at it and in a few weeks when you get your mojo working you will fly through it. I exclusively use chairs from P4 Track Co as they produce all the special chairs for point work that C&L don't. Once you start getting the soldering right you can cut the chairs in half and fit them cosmetically to the sleepers. I use Templot myself and although it can be difficult at first to get your head around it once the light switch goes on you will be fine. I gave up using ply and rivet construction a few years ago and now I exclusively use P4 Track Co chairs bonded to the wooden sleepers with butanone and they are solid once bonded. It might be a good idea to stain the sleepers before you start building the track as it is harder to do it when the rail and chairs are there. There is no doubt that once you see the converted rolling stock running on 21mm track it just looks right. It also makes you up your game concerning the scenic side of things and the architecture. I think you are doing great work and I can't wait to see more, excellent . Rich,

Dave Richie has given you some good advice in his reply. I use a compressor with a 2.5 liter air reservoir tank it's better if you are going to be doing a high volume of airbrushing and you don't want the noise of a smaller compressor buzzing beside you when you are working. I have fitted mine with a moisture trap so it catches any moisture or water before it reaches the airbrush. I use a badger 200 airbrush for spraying locos, coaches, wagons, scenery etc and a Richpen Apollo gravity feed double action airbrush for finer work such as weathering and fine lines. Some people are happy with the results of using a cheap airbrush and I have had a few people over to my house for a demo and once they have used the gravity feed double action brush they are converted. A chap that I know who airbrushes fuel tanks on motor bikes recommended the Richpen to me and I love it. Spares are readily available from Europe, Asia, and the USA. I have a few cups that I use for the badger and I would never use the glass jar that I have in the photo below as it's easier to change over the cups when you are changing color. Rich,

Fran Dapol were supposed to be releasing a Freightliner HXA wagon, well at least they announced that they were. If they produce the type with the SCT Ber 24.5 bogie they might release the bogies as a spare and that would be one less change to make. They look great BTW and well done Retailers for bringing another fine model of the current scene to the market . Rich, Rich,

I wonder did Steve ever get around to building that 21mm layout Jim, as it looked promising. Rich,

John I think it's fair to say that you are the Daddy of 21mm on this forum. I had no idea that P4 Track Co produced axles in 28mm to order, I will have to investigate further. Their pin point axles are a work of art and their wheels are steel which is a bonus as I am using steel bullhead and flat bottom rail from the same company. Thanks for the northyard link John it looks very interesting. Rich,

Are we talking about something along the lines of the bogies that Bill Bedford produces Des, where it is a sprung bogie as opposed to a compensated bogie as produced by MJT. Something designed and produced definitively for MM Cravens and MK11's would be a God send. Rich,

Apologies for not mentioning them in my post Des. I have seen them in operation and they produce flawless running. Rich,

What a bass player Fran, I have some of his solo work, I was only listening to Take me to God the other day. I was watching P.I.L. live the other night on Sky Arts from last year I think. Much better seeing John in his natural environment instead of advertising butter. Rich,

Just checked them out mate I love it. Everyone has a talent but it also takes hard work, dedication, trial and error to get to that level and you have to put in the hours to keep raising the bar. You set yourself a very high standard Anto and you deserve all the plaudits you get for your work . Rich,

Anto take a few shots of the models out in natural daylight and you will really have people looking twice to see if it is real or a model. Rich,

Also picked up Pil's new album last week, still have to have a proper listen though. Fran did Jah Wobble ever return to the line up after the earlier years. Rich,

The obsessive part comes into play when the track just doesn't look right, and you keep trying until you think it is. Then you decide to model the point rodding pulley's and stools for the rodding. You know what I mean Des, because you won't leave the lathe until the master is 100% right, or the cad for that matter. Rich,

Don't forget the Anatov. Rich,

Pink Floyd The Wall Live, Track, Run Like Hell. Rich,

That's really fine work Eamonn and I mean that most sincerely. It's a great advert for how good Des's kit really is, I love it . Rich,

Delighted you sorted the problem Stephen. How many great inventions and plans first saw the light of day over a cup of Rosie. The Cobalts are my preferred option for operating points and signals when I get building on the layout. I downloaded the manual and had a good read (90 + pages) and they really are amazing. Rich,

I love it Anto great work . It's a fantastic model out of the box and definitely one of Bachmanns best. Rich,

Hi Luc, if you are going to model 21mm you have 2 choices, do you want to work to S4 standards where the wheels and track are an exact scale, or a less severe standard of 21mm akin to Em gauge where you can use more tolerable wheels with a more generous flange thickness. I would recommend compensating all wagons, coaches, and steam locomotives. Diesel locos don't need to be compensated but that doesn't mean that some modellers have not done it. Carriage Compensation Units CCU's are available from Dart Castings under the MJT range and they can also be used for bogie wagon stock as well as coaches as they come in different wheelbases. 2 and 3 axle vehicles would require etched W irons or inside bearings. You will need 28mm pin point axles for the wider gauge, Keen Maygib and Alan Gibson produce wheels that would suit all vehicles. Branclines produce wheelsets with 28mm pin point axles. The Scalefour Stores seem to be out of stock on Alan Gibson 28mm pin point axles at the moment. Ultrascale will provide wheels and 28mm pin point axles on request but there would be a waiting period for these. Track and Back to back gauges can be purchased from the Scalefour stores and you have to be a member to use this service. I have measured sleepers on the area of the network that I am modelling and they tend to measure 8ft 6 inch's to 8ft 8 inch's on wooden sleepers. Concrete sleepers can be bought from C&L Finescale and Peco produce some concrete panels also. Peco produce packs of pandrol clips for flat bottom rail but they are a bit overscale. I am using P4 Track Co concrete sleeper panels stretched for the correct gauge as they are manufactured for 18.83mm modellers. The P4 Track Co and C&L Finescale produce all the materials you would need for building track except correct gauges for 21mm. If you want to avail of track and rail filing jigs as well as all the other gauges you would need to join the Scalefour Society. Please feel free Luc to ask any questions as there are a few of us that are modelling 21mm and we will always be glad to answer any questions. Rich,