Scalefour Forum

Hmm, that link doesn't seem to work for me. On the other hand I get on fine with this one.

Perrrfect - VMT! I have, of course, perused that thread many times (leading me to purchase several of Paul Bartlett's excellent photos) but I hadn't picked up on that detail previously. The odd thing is, I reckon I've just consigned something that might well do as that "distribution fitting&quo...

By some rather foolish mis-planning, I'm currently fighting my way through a Masokits vac braked chassis for one of three Airfix/Dapol Tank Wagon kits (the others are being finished as OO 'out of the bag' and EM 'finescaled a bit', so they don't concern us here). I'm actually quite enjoying getting ...

Just to make sure we are getting it all right - and to do the British Army justice, whether it deserves it or not - the School at Hythe actually adopted the title 'Small Arms' in 1929, and even when it was the School of Musketry, its badge was actually crossed rifles!

"The right tool for the job halves the time it takes" - not sure where I first heard that (possibly from my uncle, an ex-Halton Apprentice), but I reckon it seriously understates the case. Unorganised bodgers like me who regularly use a hammer as an englischer Schraubenzieher probably end ...

Thought my original idea that it was a North Sea oil rig offered more possibilities - think of all the weather problems they would have avoided if resupply had been by submarine railway ...

Could it be a remnant of the round wooden object shown in the autotrain photo (wagon t/t top, maybe?)? Did the track layout change at some point rendering one or more t/ts obsolete (would actually be unusual if it didn't ...)? BTW, to me the lateral alignment of the siding looks wrong for a bufferst...

No good on safari There was one a week or so ago but the latest update (installed here yesterday) may have dished it. Despite being a dedicated Apple user I only break into safari when I find something Firefox really can't do (much rarer these days than a few years ago) so can't provide the details...

There's really no need for that, Knuckles, there are ways around the Photobucket situation. I've just zipped through the entire thread and i don't think there are any photos I can't see (certainly no placeholders with the Photobucket ransom demand). Hint - look for an add-on to your browser ...

Have you seen this?

Jol Thanks for the 'encouragement', I might at least take another look at the actual etch - although, if Jeremy isn't too pissed of with us for hijacking his thread, I'd still be very interested should an updated supplement became available (I understand the 7mm version has been greatly 'improved')....

Like most products from that producer, "Ballast Bond" seems absurdly expensive. If you want to dry ballast (and I'm certainly tempted by the technique) cascamite from your local Jewsons, ground up finer if you think necessary, seems a lot more cost-effective.

Jol, I've an original Blacksmiths kit at the bottom of my stash. The reason it's there - just beneath some Keil Kraft road vehicle kits which I really must dig out and complete sometime soon - is that I've repeatedly read it is 'unbuildable'. I've also heard that if built it's impossible to get runn...

And the LNWR one?

' Interestingly, having got the crab working fine, it has been put to a one side for a bit too long. Strangely, I had it out on someone else's layout and it was very sticky going forwards but fine working backwards. What is really odd is that getting it home and it is fine again - I can't fathom it...

The 'contraption' by the entrance appears to be a 'stood up' sack barrow. The curved supporting struts are quite unlike the LMS standard (which was based on a LNWR design) but I'm guessing it was maybe a MR style?

Seems really silly to put an over-wide body on a 'narrow gauge' underframe, there must be a reason for it. I can't see that the injection moulding process should cause it, and with a dearth of pre-school modellers even in OO it surely can't be "little fingers need something chunky to get hold o...

Not 'inessential' at all. It's the miniature population (and all the 'odds & ends' of scenic detail) that brings any model to life. I think it is an excellent idea to have at least some of these ready as more basic construction proceeds - whether it is the Guard who is going to hang on to the ve...

Excellent photos which demonstrate just how slow exposures had to be to get the exceptional detail possible from monochrome emulsion on hard plates; even the speed of a slow freight moving diagonally across the shot has produced significant motion blur. Fascinating van at the fifth vehicle in the se...

I never mask 'raw' paint, always apply Klear first. Likewise always Klear over the tape before spraying the new colour. Combined with rubbing the tape edge down firmly with a cocktail stick that should make both runs and lifts things of the past.

Dead easy - no real layout is ever 'complete'!

Cotton has its own problems, particularly an insistence on maintaining unrealistic kinks that seem to defy 'scale' gravity. For working cranes I try to get as much weight as possible into the hook to stretch the rope (easier if it is attached to a moving pulley block, preferably two-reeve) but for t...

I'll see if I can find some foam locally and do some experiments. You may be in for a slight shock/disappointment, Gareth. It does seem that UK prices for foamboard are particularly attractive. I don't know what it's like Stateside, but ici sur le continent it costs three or four times (or more!) U...

Seems appropriate that I keep getting 'tracking error' - probably due to my 'foreign' ISP, but it does give the impression that one of the Guardians of the Internet is taking a bit of interest in content, for a change.

The problem with filling larger gaps is you tend to get a bulls-eye effect. Careful use of gravity (i.e. turning the model around as the KK dries) can alleviate this, but it's hard to entirely avoid the impact of surface tension and capillary effect making a form of lens. I suspect that's why Micros...