Scalefour Forum

A couple of my modelling friends (whose blog you can find here - https://otcm.wordpress.com/) are in the process of putting together entries into a competition to build cameo layouts being orchestrated by the publishers Titfield Thunderbolt. To be fair to Oly, his entry is largely complete as long a...

Mark, Fine looking vehicles (in both senses of the word). :thumb What would the braking system have been, manual, air or vacuum? Cheers, David A manual scotch brake actuating on one side to one wheel only. Scotch brakes are simple levers, whereby the action of the brake lever is transmitted to a sh...

Don’t worry – this is not announcement of being turned to the dark side of modelling “Green With Rivets” (aka the GWR)! Instead it is a reference to a week’s trip to the extreme west of Cornwall to support my wife who was appearing in a musical that was running for a week at the Minack Theatre – htt...

CDGFife wrote:Don't mention the booths Mark.....

As if....................

But you know what modification you need to do...............

Jeremy Good wrote:I suspect mainly because he's fed up of hearing about all my ideas and wants me to get on with something (thanks, Mark)

Dave, I share your pain....................



Regrettably, I also have to share your solution - lots of paint stripper.

If there weren't enough excuses to go to Scaleforum already, here is another........ I am pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of volume 3 of my father's series on railway cranes. This will be available from mid September on the 23/24 September and will be formally launched at Scaleforum ...

I get stuck on this phrase "the consistency of skimmed milk". The other way to approach this question is to remember what it is you are seeking to achieve. When air-brushing you are seeking (normally, sometimes a more textured finish is what is being looked for) that the paint droplets be...

Thanks to John and Noel. The book that John points us too is definitely helpful and will be bookmarked for future use. I have a couple of other Scottish vernacular architecture books which I will share details of when I get home over the weekend. The asbestos slates shown on page 107 (scan)/162(book...

Noel, I did them in a relatively welsh slate colour so whilst there is a bit of blue in them, it is not as blue as the picture suggests. The asbestos slates that we see are extensively faded, so I did not think the creamy grey we now see them to be a fair reflection of the colour (because I am model...

Progress with the Pharmacy building has continued and the roof is now nearing completion. I preferred using sheet metal (in this case nickle silver) for roofs as I find it is the easiest was to then include gutters. In this case, I designed the roof as a simple fold up etch and subsequently the gutt...

My apologies for not posting on this for some time; despite not only not having given up modelling but also not having given up blogging. So if you want to see what I have been upto, by all means to my external blog at http://www.highlandmiscellany.com. It is a fair time since I built my last buildi...

Well done Tim

I suspect like me; you won't bother with any other technique going forward.

[ Can I ask you one more question? How do you open out the axel boxes when using BB sprung W irons to allow the waisted bearings to move up and down freely. Tim Sorry Tim, I have not been near a computer for a bit; so I see others have got in here first. Actually I use a cylinder burr cutter in a p...

Hi Tim, I wrote up how I did this - essentially using the same method that Bill describes - in my external blog. You can find this here: https://highlandmiscellany.com/2018/02/20/sliding-axles/ and you can see that they really do work (around a 4 foot curve) here: https://highlandmiscellany.com/2018...

David, I also found problems with the switches of Exactoscale turnouts. To be fair to them, I actually think it is how we build them the gauge tends to push the switchblades apart slightly, giving a false feeling that when the solvent goes off they are correctly gauged. Exactoscale's gauges have a +...

It's really great to make this connection. I presume that Peter is your father? Yes that is correct. What you see is a product of quite a few different contributors and over a fair number of years. The civils works are largely mine (the viaduct is a shared effort but I did paint all the stones whic...

Very pleased to see some life beginning to be breathed back into Killiecrankie. There is a fair amount of my handiwork in there (including the picture!).

Sorry, I misunderstood Steve. As I understand it C&L have bought the rights to the Exactoscale wagon/coach wheels and even have a stock (perhaps all of the stock) of them. However, poor Phil is swamped with his new business and is struggling to keep up with his website ordering let alone answeri...

Yes............. The metal axle in an Exactoscale axle is 1mm with a pin point end. See my fairly recent blog post on it here: https://highlandmiscellany.com/2018/02/20/sliding-axles/ It is actually really easy to do and if you look at the follow up post you will see it even works on the fairly rigo...

See you Thursday night Gordon.

I am sure we can find some respectable ale over the weekend................

I bought one of these during one of Maplin's sales (about £45 I think). I wouldn't be without it; it never ceases to amaze me how much crud you find at the bottom of it after a clean!

http://cpc.farnell.com/james-products/u ... dp/SA02613

45609 wrote:No rest for the wicked.

You must have been very wicked!!

And I do remember them going around Portchullin; and the 8F. I seem to remember the fixed chassis black 5 could not master my rather crap trackwork!!

Looks good Robin; the passenger train is a tad short though so I think Morgan needs to get busy!!

Great to see it on this forum too, please do continue!

Jeremy Good wrote:I now have a new complete train for the passenger service at Wheal Elizabeth.

Prototypically without any passengers!!

I suspect some people in the compartment around the cover to the drive shaft would help mask it.