February 2024 Forth and Clyde Area Group meeting

While the cat's away, the mice will play. The Association Chairman, who moonlights as our group organiser, had let it be known he'd miss our February meeting, being otherwise engaged in a pleasure-dome somewhere in the Highlanns of Skawlan.  He kindly sent us a list of do's and don'ts by e-mail instead. Nothing was said about diet however, so it was not long before some healthy snack options made their appearance, courtesy of Jim Watt. If they'd been brought out when the Chairman was around he'd have pulled rank and scoffed the lot, naturally, so this was a golden opportunity.

Jim had also brought along a treat of the nickel-silver variety to work on: his Caledonian 900 Class "Dunalistair III". The latest addition is the safety-valves.

Alastair W had been busy making designs with Solidworks and had printed a number of North British 16-ton mineral wagons.

The task of the day was to paint the buffers he'd printed. A squirt of black from a paint pen was applied using a sharpened matchstick.

One of the Chairman's edicts was to get a move on with a model of a Caledonian water crane in time for the forthcoming Glasgow show, where we plan to display "Mearns Shed" on our recruitment table as a conversation piece. Alastair had turned a scale drawing into a very nice print - here, the printing supports have been removed with the pips yet to be trimmed off with a sharp scalpel.

Chris had come intending to work on his Raithby 4F, but had inadvertently broken the pins off the mains plug of his soldering iron, thus he had to repair the damage first. 

The 4F itself was in better shape.

Stuart was working on installing the Magnorail roadway system on his layout. We are all intrigued to see how this turns out.

Graham had made small advances with the 3D printed brickwork for Mearns Shed, thanks to Martin Stewart who kindly shared his "recipe" for emphasized mortar courses to provide a better visual impression. The result is seen on the nearer of the two prints here; the other has the original, closer-to-scale courses which are practically invisible.

Simon was working on Foxhunter LNER fish van underframes from the Buchanan Kits etch.

The Chairman's instructions previously referred to were, basically, to extract the digit regarding the buildings and backscene for Mearns Shed. This led to a flurry of activity and discussion.

Alistair M took the chance to measure up the various items of scenery which will impinge on his backscene.

I had to skip the afternoon session so can't tell how most of these activities ended up! But at least they all started well. Normal service resumes next month, with the Chairman back to keep us in line.

The next time the FCAG comes together will be at Model Rail Scotland on 23-25 February at the Scottish Event Campus by the bonnie banks of the Clyde in Glasgow ... if you're visiting, do stop by the 2mm Scale Association at Stand B26 to say hello.