Broithe

A bit late, but I've only just become aware of this - http://www.limerickchamber.ie/networking-evening/ - any extra uses for the railways have to be welcomed.

Many of the "old boys" wouldn't use these modern track rubbers, because of the debris, and would only ever clean their track with a simple block of wood. Get it properly clean once, and then keep it clean with a gentle solvent pad, little and often - that seems to be good advice. Just running trains regularly helps, too - and gives you an excuse to play with it.......

Meths is a great solvent - kind, yet effective. It's widely available - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barrettine-Methylated-Spirit-500ml/dp/B002ATI4VG - the reviews in the Amazon offer, at the bottom of the page are some of the best on the internet. Obviously, I do not recommend that you drink it.....

I feel so vindicated.....

That's the one - I knew it had an 'a' in it....

Somebody did build a really nice one a while back - possibly on the old site - can anybody remember who it was? I wonder if it was Geoergeconna...?

Lovely.....

I've been called worse.

Some years ago, I was catching a train at midnight and there was a chap there who had clearly been at it since way back in the days of steam. He had notebooks, cameras, etc, and a clear idea of what was about to pass through the six-platform station, positioning himself exactly in the best place for each one. On one occasion, he went right down to one end of the platform I was waiting on and a ballast train trundled through at about 5mph a few minutes later. He walked slowly along side it, talking into what I presumed to be a mobile phone, but as he passed me it became clear that it was a dictaphone and he was dictating the wagon numbers into it, in order to write them down properly later on....

Women will often profess to be unaware of the attractions of model railways, until it's explained to them that it's essentially the same thing as doll's houses....

Looking at it again, I wonder if that's actually a Chinese high-speed train?

Electrofrog look and function better, but are a little more work to install, initially.

Henry Grosman is in Long Island, New York, but the picture with the buildings in looks like an ICE in Germany, perhaps.

You're not safe anywhere.... I must go down to the sea again, To the lonely sea and the sky, I left my vest and pants there. I wonder if they're dry?

Well, since you ask.... http://www.henrygrosman.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75:dazzle-trains&catid=39:graphics&Itemid=56

A most welcome return.

The Germans, in WW1, also covered at least three aircraft with transparent Cellon cellulose sheeting, instead of the standard doped linen. The idea being to make them less visible - but the shiny surface didn't help, nor did the tendency to degrade in sunlight and to go brittle in the cold at altitude, so this early attempt at stealth aircraft was abandoned. Here's a Cellon-covered Fokker E1.

Other things were tried too, Hans Kirschstein even painted his Fokkers with stripes that were slightly off-line, the idea was to induce an opponent to aim slightly to one side when attempting a deflection shot.

Some of them fade a little in direct sunlight, but that's often not a bad thing. Otherwise, barring accidents, they seem to last for ever.

The idea was that it was difficult to be sure if you had got the images overlapping exactly in the rangefinder, so shells could be fired at the wrong range, falling short or long. In WW2, ships often had false bows and sterns painted on for the same reason, one quick way of gauging the distance was to see how 'wide' the ship looked in the rangefinder, by making the ship look shorter, a quick guess made it appear further away than it really was, and the shells would pass harmlessly over to a point further away. They even painted bow waves on. The false bow wave also made aiming a torpedo more difficult as the ship looked like it was sailing faster.

If you go for a slope of around 1/40 max, then sweep it with about a foot of hardboard, you should have no problem.

The first three do turn up here and there (and eBay, etc) now and then. The last two should still be in stock in the Irish dealers, at least. Search for Scenecraft Irish and stuff might appear.

Judge for yourself..

Bachmann have produced five buildings, I think. Station. Engine shed. Signal cabin. and two 'specials'.. Carlow Station. The Auld House pub.