A Holiday Observation and Other Things

Well, the sheep finally got tired of watching the trains go by and decided to have some lunch.

Train watching

Time for lunch

On our recent caravaning holiday to South Australia, it became obvious as we saw paddock after paddock, that 99% or more of the sheep were busy head down, grazing and I realised that I had to do something about it.

Once back home I fired up the computer and turned to my latest favourite modelling tool (as if you haven't noticed). I spent some time 'converting' a standing, head up sheep to a grazing one. It is just lucky that the sheep couldn't feel anything as I cut its head and neck off at the shoulders and swung it downwards. That was the easy part, I then had to fill in the gap caused and some hours later it was done.

Once the trial print sprue of 64 White Strong and Flexible sheep arrived from Shapeways I sprayed them with my dirty sheep colour, Tamiya XF57 Buff. This was followed up with Model Master Skin Tone - Tint Base for the face and the lower legs (below the knees as the wool doesn't grow there). At this stage I snipped the sheep from the sprue so that I could more easily paint their rear end with Model master Dark Tan (either observe or think about it). Now both Model Master paints were thinned with some acrylic solvent so that the colour would not be so strong and would flow and blend with the base colour. I make my acrylic solvent with about 70% methylated spirits and 30% window cleaner.

While the last two colours can be seen with the naked eye they haven't shown up in the above photo so perhaps I was being a little too subtle.

Anyway I am very happy with them and have ordered another sprue of 64 grazing sheep and they are now available from my Shapeways Signals Branch shop.

What about the heads up sheep? Well they will be going into the stock race yards when I build them as there is nothing to eat in the yards.

More Brass Signals

Since my last news about the brass signals I have been busy and now have 15 brass signals on my shop along with the appropriate White Strong and Flexible bases that the signals plug into.

I have listed them them here but please go to my shop to see them.

• 16 ft post signal with 1 Siding Arm and other detail parts
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• 18 ft post signal with 1 30 inch Arm and other detail parts
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• 18 ft post signal with 1 30 inch Arm + 1 Siding Arm and other detail parts
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• 23 ft post signal with 1 36 inch Arm and other detail parts
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• 23 ft post signal with 2 Siding Arms and other detail parts
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• 23 ft post signal with 3 Siding Arms and other detail parts
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• 27 ft post signal with 1 39 inch Arm and other detail parts
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• 27 ft post Distant signal with 1 Distant Arm and other detail parts 
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• 27 ft post Home and Distant signal with 1 Home and 1 Distant Arm and other detail parts
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• Left Hand Offset Bracket  signal with 1 36 inch Arm and other detail parts
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• Right Hand Offset Bracket  signal with 1 36 inch Arm and other detail parts
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• Left Hand Bracket  signal with 1 39 inch + 1 30 inch Arm and other detail parts
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• Right Hand Bracket  signal with 1 39 inch + 1 30 inch Arm and other detail parts
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• Inverted or Underslung Bracket  signal with 1 39 inch Arm and other detail parts
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• Scarborough Siding Bracket signal - no Siding arms.
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• Sprue or 4 Siding arms, 2 Calling On arms, 2 Shunt Ahead Arms and 2 Wrong Road Arms.

I have just ordered an Inverted Bracket in Brass for my layout as the train drivers will have a sighting problem under a road bridge at Cox's Gap if a normal starter signal is used. I also wanted to get an order in before this GST change started for online overseas orders on 1 July 2017. I don't know how Shapeways will handle this although they do apply VAT on British orders.

If ordering the bracket signals then be careful as the view that the Shapeways system has put up is from the rear so the left bracket looks like a right and vice versa. Read and go by the model name. I have tried to change this but all I can do is change the orientation of the view that you get on the next web page once you have clicked on it.

As may have been noticed, there is one 'odd ball' signal among the fifteen and that is a bracket signal that was in the sidings at Scarborough on the Illawarra line. This signal was done for a friend and has been made available on the 1 in 1000 chance that someone else would want/need it. The bracket is unusual as it has two dolly posts and no main post above the landing, one dolly post is in the usual position on the outer end of the landing and the other is in the middle of the landing, very strange.

I will be doing the small brackets that held the small centrally pivoted siding signals that were attached below the main signals and these will be in brass. There seems to have been three variations of the brackets, an early McKenzie and Holland somersault type, a cast iron one of the Byles type and a fabricated one. I will do all three and probably put multiples of brackets and arms of each type on a sprue of each type. These will be done with a peg that will allow them to be mounted on White Strong and Flexible (WSF), Frosted Ultra Detail (FUD) and Brass signal posts by drilling a hole in the post where required and glueing or soldering them in place. These will be operational but the operating rod will be bent in a 'Z' shape as there is no way that the actual mechanism could be workable, too small. If you aren't sure what I mean by a Z shape then turn it on its side (sort of).

Of course I still have to draw up some more steel post signals including bracket signals, does it never end?

It is lucky that I enjoy the creative process as another form of modelling.

Oh, yes, here is something I did for a friend, a funnel for a H Class 17 Class Post 1924 re-classification). Something else that will have only limited appeal.

I have made it available in Frosted Ultra Detail, Frosted Extreme Detail and Raw Brass, I suggest that the brass version although more expensive will be the one to go for as the top of the early funnels were polished brass.

Ok, that's all for now.