September and October Forth and Clyde Area Group Meetings

For all those folks who have been clicking on to the blog over the past few weeks agog for news of the September FCAG meeting, your agogness can now be ameliorated.

First; the good news - the September meeting managed to attract record numbers. Unfortunately, this is also the bad news, as it was a new record for low attendance; only 2 stalwarts rattling around in the meeting room with Alistair and Stuart being those responsible for keeping the flag flying, albeit somewhat limply.

Alisdair managed to get his MERG DCC kit finally put together and satisfying all meter tests. He has not yet managed to test it in real life, but we all have perfect confidence that all will be well. (Don't we?) Nae pictures as electronic gubbins can't be captured on the glass plates the Photographer uses.

Stuart had been following the more traditional route to modelling, by using pencil and paper (remember them?) to draw up the buildings to be inserted into his forced perspective 3D backscene for his Copy Pit line layout.

Having thus disposed of the goings-on at ESME in September, we bring the story bang up to date with hot press on the October shennanigans.

Billed as a Locomotive Workshop, it was slightly disappointing in numbers with only 8 attendees and, what's more, only 3 of these chaps (for all were such) were actually working on locos. Heigh-ho. Having said that, one attendee had fallen foul of a disease picked up in foreign parts (Beckingham) and as he had been slated to give a lift to another, that was two down on known loco folks. 

However, there was plenty active modelling going on at Almondell, First all, of those who were actually working on locos, Chris had returned after a few months yo-ho-hoing on the high seas of St Mary's Loch to pick up on his Nigel Hunt radial tank. 

He was puzzling over the radial axle and trying to remember where he had got to before he donned his bell-bottoms and spliced the mainbrace. However, failing to follow the usual practice of ignoring the instructions, he had the gall to look them up on his computer without even appearing shamefaced. No wonder the bits he had put together already, looked nice and neat. Cheating, that is!

John had brought along his cast whitemetal J39 tender which he is going to support on the Association tender chassis. This is his first 2mm loco, so while he was pondering how he is going to fix the two together, some fiendish chap suggested throwing away the cast tender frame sides and replacing them with the cosmetic frames from the kit supplemented with the LNER Group Standard axleboxes from the Shop. 

Nothing better for the morale than having the suggestion that you throw away parts of what you have already done...

Meanwhile, Alisdair (note the spelling) was proudly showing off what he had done at Beckingham the previous weekend with finescaling a Farish BR 2-6-4T using the Association Fairhurst 2-6-4T conversion from the Shop. He was whining away about having to do his own thing with the trailing bogie, as the Farish bogie design for the Standard tank had changed from that for the Fairhurst. His cries of "It's no fair, so it's not!" were drowned out by the laughter of the others.

Life's tough, laddie!

Despite the noise across the table was putting him off, Alistair (note the spelling) was manfully working away on a Highland Railway carriage body kindly supplied by 3DMan. 

Despite the racket, he was shaping little bits of clear plastic to provide the glazing.

Across in another corner, Alastair (check the spelling) was busy designing the track for his nascent Queensferry layout by means of a magic contraption which showed nice pictures on the picture box thingy sticking up from the typewriter bit.

Apparently, the plan is to print the template out then build the turnout on top of the print. This scribe's suggestion that he just build it on top of the picture bit were treated with disdain, for some reason.

Mountains were being moved by Stuart on the next table along where he was constructing part of his forced perspective 3D backscene.

Made from layers of building insulation foam, Stuart is endeavouring to show the hills in the background to his fine model viaduct by compressing the horizontal dimensions whilst reducing scale with the road on this bit being modelled at 1mm to the foot.

Jim was knocking together a Caley (what else could it be?) pig iron wagon made from his own etch. 

Dumb buffers, very short wheelbase. Probably not something to be hung on the back of his Dunalastair (check the spelling).

Yer man Simon is having a surge of enthusiasm again for his Glenfinnan layout after wasting months on home improvements. Nae sense of priorities, that man. Having met with difficulties in putting in the operating gubbins for the pointwork at the east end of the station when it is in-situ on the layout, he has made the bold decision to build a new version off-layout, then fit in all the gubbins, before installing it. So turnout construction was his task.

Interlaced sleeper turnouts in the 1950s. Good to see BR were continuing fine old NBR customs. 

And that's the waffle for this month, folks. Next meeting will be on Saturday 14th November.