With a new batch of etchings arriving I have updated the Emporium with some new products as well as some old favorites that have been out of stock for a long time. There are a number of other developments that should be added shortly. We have some new numberplate options available ex-stock. Stock items are…
In which your intrepid correspondent continues his wrestle to reconcile 150 year old draughtsmanship with rusty iron and sepia tone prints… The last week has been rather bleak weather-wise, so being tied to the PC has not been an unattractive option. A number of fellow F aficionados have contributed photo collections and drawings, and I…
As keen students of this blog will know, the idea of an F kit gestated for longer than the proverbial elephant. Having rashly displayed the newborn idea in a more public forum, I now find myself with the task of raising this problem child. One of the many issues besetting this unfortunate infant is a…
Every product reaches the point where I feel the urge to produce my definitive build, whereupon I move on to other things. Thus it was, and here it is, for the gig. I was rather taken by a photo on the web of a bright yellow gig. This may not be very typical of a…
One of the long term projects here at chez Finescale has been an F class locomotive. In fact, considerable progress has been made on this from time to time, but it has yet to float up to the top of the ‘to do’ list. Recent chatter on Facebook and elsewhere has prompted me to reassess…
The last vehicular distraction was self-inflicted, but this one came by email from Mark Andrews asking if a gig kit was a possibility. The answer to which is absolutely, and here are the first images. The original gig (see here: https://nzfinescale.com/cart-before-the-horse/ ) was drawn by Mark based on a gig in the Fielding museum. That drawing was…
Time for a practical post with some tips on soldering up etchings and castings. This is a slightly different exercise than electrical soldering, and the comments here will not be appropriate to rewiring the house. I’ve always rather liked the idea of 4 stages of learning: Unconscious incompetence Conscious incompetence Conscious competence Unconscious competence It…
I’m not sure why that title sprang to mind other than this article is written about a Ruby on Tuesday – and the Rolling Stones song of that name is, apparently, Rolling Stone magazine’s 310th greatest song of all time. Just saying. In case you wondered. Maybe a little bit? In an earlier missive (read…
One of the great things about insomnia is the amount of thinking you can get done. Here’s the outcome of pondering how to achieve fitting the DCC chip into the W bunker in a tidy way that would still allow maintenance. The problems are: There is not a lot of room The Loksound chip comes…
Motivation is an untamed horse. There’s no knowing entirely where it comes from or what it’s going to do next. The drivers behind this little project where many, but certainly not aligned with any modelling big picture of mine. After all, there are no roads at Rewanui, so a car is somewhat surplus to my…
The observant regular visitor may have noted some glitches in the way the Emporium displayed over the last few weeks. Fixing this has been a bit of a distraction, but it’s finally sorted. I should now have time for more interesting things that will be appearing here shortly. Lawrence
The W kit has filled the blog for quite a while. The first batch of kits have been shipped and I fondly imagine a tribe of happy modellers out there building them. Of course, the reason I did the kit in the first place was that I want models of 192 and 238 for Rewanui,…
