Garden Railway Forum forum

Bloody good that.

That looks good Allu, as you say it makes up nicely. I'm a bit surprised that you intend to leave it outside permanently, especially with your winters, so will be interested to see how it weathers. Yes, the kit was cheap though as i bought it in Japan, so not a heavy loss if it disintegrates. On the other hand, my "outside" is not so harsh as it is my glazed balcony.

That looks good Allu, as you say it makes up nicely. I'm a bit surprised that you intend to leave it outside permanently, especially with your winters, so will be interested to see how it weathers.

Now finished and placed into position to serve hungry customers. I used the paint and stains which came with the kit. Overall a good kit and a bit different one to build. I bashed it a bit and scrathbuild the food serving desk. As it will sit always outside and it is made of delicate materials (fibreboard, carton, paper) I gave it a heavy coating of polyurethane varnish overall.

They look good. Good find.

I like working headlamps, but the required changes of position when running light engine, stopping freight etc. make wiring difficult. Sockets are too big, wear out or collect dirt. On the internet I found some LED modules of 11mm diameter and about 15mm length. Thingiverse had BR style headlamps and internals to fit wired LEDS. These STL files were adapted to suit the battery powered LED module. LED modules are a nice push fit inside the lamp housing. The Light does not shine through the housing. The LED Modules were less than 5 € for 30 units including batteries.

Just a suggestion - re removable bridge. The bride over Warringine creek on my layout has been in situ since 2007, is timber constructed and is simply removed by sliding back 4 standard brass track joiners and lifting out. the positive lining up is achieved by the steel pins and holes in angles bolted to the post and bridge, as shown (excuse the cobwebs!) and has never failed to line up. The plates at each end the bridge sits on. The pins slightly tapered to assist engagement. Grant.

Brunel does some good buildings, and your work came out nicely.

So my question is does anyone know of a UK stockist for clamps to enable bridges to be lifted and then clamped back into place? In the USA and Aust., Accucraft have rail clamps for their Code 250 rail, as do Sunset Valley for their Code 250 rail. I'm in Aust., so I've no idea if either brand is distributed in the UK, or if they would fit the rail Peco use in their G45 track. Graeme

I've been searching through old posts on this topic and there are some excellent solutions for removable and lifting bridges. There are lots of people using removable bridge clamps, mention of "hillmans" (which after further searching seem to have disappeared due to the supplier ceasing trading) So my question is does anyone know of a UK stockist for clamps to enable bridges to be lifted and then clamped back into place? For info I am using Peco G45 track on my layout.

The loco is gorgeous, I like the cab. I have just completed one, but looks very plain compared to yours! I might try your idea of the plasticard outer layer. I spent a great deal of time applying filler primer and sanding repeating over several weeks. It did look very smooth in primer but after applying the colour you can still make out imperfections in certain light! I would have added a picture from Flickr but I don't know how!! Hi Paul I would definitely recommend the styrene method. It saves a LOT of time and brings a much better final finish. I just glue one side and clamp it. Some time later I glue the other side, make the bend and clamp again. It only works for reasonable bends though, otherwise the styrene breaks. I wouldn't go any smaller than the bend on the bunkers. Your Lilibet looks great though! I do slightly regret squaring off the smokebox; although prototypical for the locos I was basing it on, it did make it look less Manning Wardle like.