Ferret90

Really looking forward to these, hopefully the wheels won’t be as wonky as the blue one...

37 minutes ago, Stabliofarmer said:

Well worth the time, very effective. I don't suppose you've any ideas for nettles? It's one thing I've never found in any blogs or websites, other than some photoetched brass ones that where a small fortune. 

You’ve completely stumped mE there James, I’ve looked at those etched ones before but like you say the prices are silly for the amount. May be some tissue paper leaves? But how far do you go, I was thinking that the fluff I’ve used just gives the impression of leaves but if you did nettles would you need tonnes of individual plants, or could you show them another way? If you see lots together I suppose you don’t see individual plants. Hmmmm It’s really got me thinking

1 hour ago, Stabliofarmer said:

That is just a whole other level Ted. Are they home made or a shop buy? 

They are homemade.. seafoam, static grass and soMe purple fluff, a bit time consuming though 

12 hours ago, fordmajor said:

 Is coppice acre no more? Looking forward to see this one develop .Outstanding.

No more, the more I looked at it, the more I found things that needing redoing until I ended up with a different one

thank you  

15 hours ago, Valley Axe Man said:

Stunning Ted... thought you'd gone quite for a bit since the last update.... certainly pulled that out of the hat... 

thank you paul I kept meaning to post a bit but got carried away 

21 hours ago, F8N said:

Gobsmacked!

Thank you Gary  

1 hour ago, Anderson Agri said:

Bloody hell thats fantastic! I hope you've got that on movable boards so you can show it that talent needs to be seen by the world! Cant wait to see what else you do

Thank you zac, no this is a permanent one haha, I’ll get round to it one day

19 hours ago, pete132 said:

Lovely looking dio!

Thank you Pete 

6 hours ago, Stabliofarmer said:

Ted, that's just out of this world! I've never seen greenery modelled so well on a model farm, and I'm questioning if I've even seen it better in the model railway world. The blend onto the existing layout is spot on too!

The 009 site is a great resource, lost many an hour in there.

6 hours ago, 844john said:

I'm with James on that Ted, it's outstanding, definitely some of the most realistic scenery I've seen!

5 hours ago, Paul Palmer said:

wow

5 hours ago, CX820Joe said:

+1  - amazing detail

4 hours ago, Tractorman810 said:

oh dam and blast ted, i thought i was getting there,and out comes this  very very impressive i must say, 

4 hours ago, The Tractor Twitcher said:

Wow, that is very impressive. Fantastic work!

3 hours ago, GPS said:

That's incredible work. Stunning realism.

2 hours ago, SPN said:

Wow

Thank you very much chaps, Very kind words  still getting to grips with the camera, It only wants to focus on small things and blurs the rest, I’ll master it one day. On to the yard next, just finished the barn at the end of the track and trying to fit buildings around to create a yard in the middle

This confirms it, people have gone mad...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-Hobbies-Case-Maxxum-5150-50000-Limited-Edition-Model-Tractor-1-32/143920017539?hash=item21824d3083:g:M4YAAOSwqo1gA0Gi

Stunning job as always John look forward to seeing some paint

On 11/23/2020 at 9:36 PM, SPN said:

I have that kit as well, so I'm going to be watching this build with interest.

I hadn't considered solder as I've had no problems with glue on my Scaledown kits

Looking forward to seeing how it comes together

Look forward to seeing your build, they are lovely kits, I think it just depends on the glue, I had some scaledown glue which seemed to be good, but I found myself glueing more than just the model, just didn’t get on with it. I think it would be handy on the little parts, not sure how easy they would be to solder

10 hours ago, Stabliofarmer said:

Some very interesting information Ted, very much looking forward too seeing the progress of the Engine, can't beat a good traction engine, although its got to be a McLaren or Fowler for me. The finescast kits certainly look like very good quality representations.

I rather like burrells myself, hoping to base it on one near me, well the colour scheme. Going for green and a bit of weathering. They seem to be fairly accurate just a lot of filing required haha

17 hours ago, 844john said:

Thanks for that Ted, a very useful insight into soldering. Like you, it's not something that I've done much of but I'd like to be more proficient at it, so i think a better iron seems to be the way to go. Certainly inspired me to give it a try, keep us updated on your progress

Yes I definitely think the iron is the key, I would like to re do some old scaledown builds I did with glue which are falling apart, not sure about contamination from the glue and the solder but I think that’s something to look at when I’m a bit better at it.hope to get some more done soon, just trying to lay out the kit and make sense of it 

I thought I would have a go at building my south eastern finecast allchin traction engine. I bought it not thinking of how I was to actually stick it all together.  There seem to be a lot of glues which are designed to stick white metal but after my past experiences with a scaledown fordson I decided to have a go at low melt soldering. I did a bit of research on model railway forums and found there seems to be a lot of mystery surrounding white metal soldering, many people saying how easy it was to end up with just a melted pool of metal, so hopefully this will inspire a few people to have a go.  
I have never really done any soldering before apart from the odd wire here and there so I decided to buy a decent temperature controlled iron instead of using my Lidl one. I went for an atten 938d 60w iron. The idea is the solder will melt at 70 degrees and the castings around 200 so the iron can be set between the two. The advantage of having a higher watt iron is that it will heat up in a few seconds and will have enough power to deliver the heat quickly without the tip cooling and having to be held on the metal longer, heating the casting up and melting everything. Most tips supplied with the iron are rounded which gives a small area of contact And not much heat transfer so I ordered a chisel tip as well.

as for the flux, I’m using Fry’s Powerflow paste instead of a liquid one. I watched a man on YouTube building a finecast kit who recommended it. This apparently makes it easier when holding things together and can be wiped off with a damp cloth. I am using Carr’s low melt 70 degree solder, which is not cheap but seems to work. 
Cleaning the castings seems to be the key, I cleaned them with water and then used some fine grade sand paper to remove the oxidation before soldering. Not sure if this is the best way to do it?  
I first had a go with some scrap white metal I had where I joined a little toolbox to a round spacer. I stuck them with the flux and got a bit of solder on the tip and it worked rather well. I had the iron set to 200 and couldn’t melt the metal but was a good temperature for the solder. I tried pulling it apart but is has properly stuck them together, much better than glue. To be honest it was quite simple and not as difficult as it is made out to be.after a bit of practice I decided to have a go on the kit. I stuck a small rod into the chimney and this is the result...I didn’t use much solder for this but it is really stuck , so much  more effective than glue. 
I think this is the way to go and would be really interested to hear weather anyone has done this before or any tips. In my eyes it is a complete game changer when it comes to scaledown models etc , would be good to inspire some of you to have a go, it’s rather satisfying 

i found these guides really helpful...

https://www.dccconcepts.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SOLDERING-part-3-2019.pdf
 

https://www.gaugeoguild.com/manual/01_5_1_soft Soldering.pdf

i will keep you posted on my progress, so far so good, looking forward to getting on with the kit once I have got my head Round the utterly baffling instructions

That is lovely! fancy one myself another thing on the list of builds! 

Stunning work mate, the foliage looks excellent, like the lights as well 

Ta-daaa...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303594692613

Tidy work John  

Bloody stunning Sean, the door latch! 

Same lorry different seller

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124201101291

This cattle lorry is back as well 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392811830940

Is was going to happen!!!