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Servicing a 45mm gauge USA Trains point
We've been fitting rail clamps to the garden railway and after rounding the curve at one end, reached the first station point. The mechanism had seized so the chance was taken to remove it and give...
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The big baseboard cut
Time for a job that I've been putting off. Cutting the excess baseboard away. On the left hand side of Selly Oak, there should be a massive factory. It's not there now, I can't find much in the way of...
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Railcar build, canals and dirty diesels in BRM
I've wanted to build the Sentinel railcar from the old Nu-Cast range for over 30 years, and I've finally managed it. The kit was reintroduced a couple of years ago by Branchlines and South Eastern...
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It's back! Virtual Show II is this weekend
It's time for our second Virtual Model Railway Exhibition - I've been hard at work interviewing people and editing videos for the show. Last time, we brought you masses of interesting content, and the...
View ArticleSaturday Film Club: Minecraft Big Boy
I don't really understand Minecraft. It's a sort of virtual Lego. If I was a kid, I suspect I'd be madly into it like many others. Anyway, you don't have to understand it to enjoy this video of a...
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Douglas signal box
This is the signal box at Douglas station in 1993. It's not there now. That's because it was moved several feet forward when the station was remodelled and the carriage sheds behind the box replaced...
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Casting walls for the garden railway
It's always been the plan for our garden railway to surround the track with low walls. These will neaten the edges, keep plants back a bit and stop the ballast running everywhere. The trouble, low...
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Installing the walls
Once cast, the walls "just" needed to be bedded into cement alongside the line. Our track is laid on a bed of breeze blocks so there is enough spare either side of the track to cement too for much of...
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Building more plastic walls
A little sequence of photos showing the construction of the final big bits of the Selly Oak walls. All the work is carried out with 2mm thick own brand plastic from Eileen's Emporium - I think it's...
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Fancy a portable, large-scale layout? This and more in December's Garden Rail
It's interesting the variety of layouts we get to feature in Garden Rail. This month I've chosen a portable model that despite it's small size - 10ft by 3ft 6 - still looks good and allows live steam...
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Rare!
Thanks to Hugh Freeman for this unexpected addition to my Beatties collection. An unopened packet of track pins, complete with price ticket!I don't know how old these are, but the same item from...
View ArticleSaturday Film Club: A flying car
A flying car! A proper, working flying car! Finally, we get something 21st Century at last. OK, so it's probably not that practical, but the engineering of those wings when they fold away is just...
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Virtual shows aren't so different from real ones
I spent last Sunday afternoon posting the features into the timeline of our latest Virtual Model Railway exhibition. The process of putting on a virtual show isn't that different to that of a real...
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Brace yourself!
The Selly Oak viaduct is the biggest structure I've built in many years, and my normal methods need a bit of adaption. With the sides stuck to the plywood track bed using Deluxe Materials...
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Going grey
Lots of arches mean lots of paint. Since these are grey bricks, I'm starting with a spray of Humbrol 27 Sea Grey. Too much of that looks a bit monotonous so all the brick surfaces are dabbed with 67...
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Paint your arches
Underneath the arches, we have some lock-ups and these also need paint. Boringly conventional, the woodwork starts with Revell Number 9 - Anthracite Grey - for both front and back. The the doors are...
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A quick wash of dog poo brown
Weathering the viaduct means I need some brown. Chris Nevard uses a lot of emulsion paint when he works and while I've dabbled with it in the past, I've not really used it in anger on anything...
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A quick fireman
With a BRM TV filming session lined up, I had an idea for one piece that would need a painted figure. 7mm scale people work better on camera and a quick dig in my stash found a S&D Models Fireman...
View ArticleSaturday Film Club: A double-headed train on the Isle of Man
Finding a box of mini DVDs recorded on our old video camera, I rashly promised to produce a film for the recent Virtual Exhibition.Trawling through the footage, this piece leapt out - an unusual train...
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I took a trip to evil Tom's second hand stall of doom
New to the Virtual Show this time is the second hand stall run by the Model Railway Club. They always put on a monster at Ally Pally, but with this off for the time being, it has moved online so you...
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