EiM and Garden Rail - November 2017

A first for Engineering in Miniature this month - an article sourced from RMweb. When Gary posted photos of his MSWJR loco on the forum, I spotted it and cajoled him into giving me more details, it's a fascinating project.

There's also a fantastic Land Rover kit build that is within the grasp of anyone who is competent at DIY. Buy the pre-cut wood kit and there's little more than drilling and bolting required. The two guys who built the model on the page are somewhat over-qualified for the job but really enjoyed the work anyway, hopefully, the grandchildren who get to drive it will be just as happy!

Garden Rail has an unusual industrial line on the cover this month. Being a fan of odd-looking little locos, it was a natural when I spotted the photos. Staying with the unusual theme, there's a station based on the Taj Mahal, not something you'll find in most British magazines!

Finally, I've been doing some investigative journalism by getting hold of track used in the forthcoming Channel 4 series "The Biggest Little Railway in the World" and taking a look at what you need to traverse 73 miles of Scotland. Although the series isn't on air yet, hopefully, this will still be interesting. I just need to work out what to do with several metres of the stuff...

Off to the MMEE for the next 4 days

Out and about again - this time at the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition.

My plan is to be there for all 4 days, but not all of all 4 days. However, I have a list of people to see so I'm certainly going to be around quite a bit.  If you'd like to talk model engineering with me, either catch me as I lioter or drop me a line and I'll expend some of my tea budget on you. 

Warehouse Wednesday: Wooden shingles

We don't really do wooden shingles on the outside of buildings in the UK in anything like the quantity our US cousins do. Basically, living in a damp country and having discovered bricks, we decided that dead tree wasn't an ideal material for entire buildings. We have wooden buildings, but they are generally sheds full of lawnmowers and tins of old screws. 

I did find this example in the (normally) exceptionally damp world of Llanfair in Wales. On the sunny day of the year, it was interesting to see how the shingles had weathered. Like most wood, the turn silver-grey, but when near metal such as the guttering there is rust. Not bright red Humbrol rust, but a darker version. Arty types will see some purple in there but I just see brown because I am a philistine.

A little loco detailing

I've been messing around with a Phil Sharples laser-cut 16mm scale narrow gauge loco kit recently and the half-built model attracted a lot of attention at the weekend.

Price for the complete model - £35.

BUT, while built straight from the box, it looks OK, I felt it ripe for a detailing project so I've been adding bolts and rivet details on the underframe and building up the bonnet.

There's a way to go but I think this will make a nice couple of pages in a forthcoming issue of Garden Rail. I'm thinking it needs painting yellow...