Scalefour Forum

Warners/BRM are holding a vitual exhibition this week end - https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/155920-world-of-railways-virtual-exhibition-45-july-2020/ . It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there are 3+ hours of layout videos plus demos and various other things and might well b...

In the P4 world we do like to over-complicate matters where possible, not always with the desired results (I speak for myself there of course). You've bought a kit with bogies which the designer presumably thought would be suitable and you've no reason as things stand to doubt that. Why not just bui...

Do your kits not include bogies?

DT

There are times when it seems a real shame to have to paint a loco because it looks so good as it is. This is one of them.

DT

My Winsor & Newton Galleria varnish arrived to day, matt and satin. £8.20 for a 250ml bottle, so it doesn't break the bank. It's water based and quite thick and anecdotal evidence alswhere on the web suggests that for airbrushing it can successfully be thinned with tap water, distilled water, ac...

Thanks Allan. We'll have a chat about it at our next meeting later this month.

David

Isn't it because Rust Oleum market it under their own name? see: Rust Oleum Crystal Clear Matt. Rustoleum have been marketing that for years. It's not the same product as Dullcote and perhaps more suited to DIY tasks. Besides which they say that they're going to continue with Testors Dullcote, but ...

Testors Dullcote has, I believe, had its "new" EU formula for at least five years, probably more, and since then supplies have sometimes been intermittent and there have been rumours of Testors' demise. However, it now appears that there may be some truth in these rumours, at least as far ...

Indeed yes. As an experiment I gave an old Tri-Ang (remember them?) tender a coat of Testors Dullcote this morning and it now accepts pigments very happily. Quite a lot of my stuff is satin varnished, however, and I don't know how it'll work with that. Another trial methinks.

DT

Do you spray (rattle can?) a Matt varnish on R-T-R stuff before applying powders/pigments? I don't know, Steve - I haven't yet applied any to RTR stuff but from what I've read a coat of matt varnish should do the trick. The pigments don't like a smooth gloss finsh as their microscopic particles hav...

I am confused. I've looked on Abteilung502's site and they don't do powders. They do effects and weathering sets, but these appear to be oils, although it hints they are of a 'different' composition. Sorry, my misdescription. Technically they're not powders, they're pigments - see https://abteilung...

Just as an addition to this, I've at last bitten the bullet and started weathering some of my freight stock. The biggest revelation has been the use of weathering powders which I hadn't tried before. I hadn't realised, for example, just how well they stick, and the subtleties of shading that can be ...

Our group is now having regular Zoom meetings every fortnight. They last for about 80 minutes and all six of our group members particpate. To any other groups who may be missing the interaction of group meetings I would urge you to give Zoom meetings a go; It needs one person to register with Zoom, ...

That looks like a beautifully built kit.

DT

If you have a metal drawbar between loco and tender, could that be causing any problems?

DT

My understanding is that, whereas you can paint enamels over acrylics, the converse (acrylic on top of enamel) is not possible. I've just tried googling that. It's a minefield and I've come away more confused than when I started. General view is that it should be OK, but watch out for nasty solvent...

Some lovely work there. That coach is really stunning.

DT

Certainly can:
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index ... d-example/

DT

Allan and Nigel, thanks. I had been wondering about cleaning the airbrush, particularly in view of the stories I've read about acrylics drying quickly and clogging everything up. I note that Nigel just uses water - is that sufficient, and if so, why on earth do people buy the really very expensive a...

In the past I have always used enamel paints with my airbrush.. It's not just that I've heard many awful stories about acrylics clogging airbrushes, it's mainly that I've always used enamels and have seen no reason to change. If it ain't broke..... However, I've acquired some Lifecolor paints, a wea...

I've always, rather hopefully, used my fingers first to get the nut started. That sometimes works, sometimes not. In the latter case, a small set of flat nosed pliers works, not first time, not second time, but probably a few goes after that. I usually secure the nut with a very small amount of weak...

David T.'s traverser has two great virtues that reduce the need for precision parts. First, any tendency for the table to crab is taken out by the operator's eyes and wrists (highly refined: 100,000's of generations of development!), not by the mechanism. Second, the fine alignment of table with ex...

I don't know why there's all this suggestion that drawer runners = slop. I recently built a 7-road 110cm long traverser using a whole lot of spare timber and a couple of heavy-duty 24" drawer runners that I bought from Amazon. In fact, they were perhaps a little longer than I needed. I did make...

misspentyouth62 wrote:any thoughts on whether replacement D11/D13 motor brushes can be sourced or whether a re-motoring would be necessary?

There are plenty of carbon brushes for a variety of motors on ebay - search model railway motor brushes. Whether any of these will fit the Anchorage range I don't know.

DT

It was fairly successful - with the big caveat that I have yet to try it on a locomotive build. There is also a big practical problem that I need to think through as well - a case of chicken and egg, so to speak. In a sign that the last couple of years saw a fall off in the attention I paid to my o...