George Dent the Weatherman.

Found an excellent blog on weathering model rail layouts - track and rolling stock. He lists a whole variety of different weathering paints.

An example of a weathered truck. I note that the edges of his rails have been painted that dirty rust colour I'm looking for.









http://georgedentmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/testing-times-or-weathering-storm.html

 He seems to run courses on the subject - I'll have to read his blog in greater depth.


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Looking after my niece's twins today - always a pleasure.

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Last night's dinner:

Gammon steaks, pineapple slice, green beans and fried potatoes - washed down with tap water.

Forgot to take photograph.

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Some French pictures:

This looks like a cafe I would certainly visit.

Another of those corner buildings I might make a model of.

Joni Mitchell

Still wrestling with the matching up of my model rail tracks with a photograph I have of the inside of a French Parisian station. I mentioned yesterday the need to darken the edges of my rails to match those in the photograph.

Tossed and turned all night worrying about how to do this. Should I use a fine paint brush and just how painstaking an operation might that be as I tried to avoid getting paint on the inner flanges of the rail - that part of the rail being a conductor of electricity to the trains themselves.

Then I remembered that somewhere - perhaps in a youTube video - someone had used a magic marker to weather track. The tip of my black marker was too thick to reach the inset part of the rail edge which needs to be coloured.

The only finer pointed marker I had to hand was blue which is of course the wrong colour altogether. But, the tip could reach the section of the rail in question and quite easily colour it.

The blue will be easy to cover over.

I'll have a look on the internet for a dirty-rusty coloured fine tip marker and try that.








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Woody Allen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Loudon Wainwright III.

Thought about yesterday's visit to the cinema and the Woody Allen documentary.

It made me think just what a huge contribution the USA has made to intelligent culture.

Currently listening to Joni Mitchell's album, "Blue". But really any one of her early albums would have done.

There are a lot of singer-songwriters about today but I think they are wasting their time. Their melodies and lyrics are banal compared with the aforementioned American maestros.

Joni Mitchell is a particularly brilliant lyricist.

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Last night's dinner:

Roast chicken, mashed potato, pork stuffing and green beans washed down by ye good olde pint of milk.

TV Dinners

Experimented with hand painting the track sleepers using brownish emulsion paint bought in the form of little "testers".

Simply dipped a suitably sized brush in the paint and ran it between the rails and thus along the sleepers.

That was easy, quick and effective. Almost as quick as using spray paint and no need to wipe the metal rails clean afterwards; also, fewer hazardous side effects. And, cheaper.

I then sprinkled some buff coloured ballast over the tracks to see if that helped.

Although you can see from the photograph below that the painted sleepers are now a suitable degree lighter in colour than the unpainted ones beyond them, I'm not really satisfied with the result.

For comparison purposes, the treated track next to the photograph I'm using as a guide.

I think the sleepers are now a good colour and the ballast is the right colour too.

But, the actual rails in the photograph seem to have darker sides than my model rails. Not sure how I can tackle that without jeopardising the electrical contact provided by the flanges of the rails.

Obviously, I'll have to add simulated oil patches in places as well.

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Woody Allen:

Thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon at the cinema watching a documentary about the film-making and general career of Woody Allen. The cinema was packed, there really wasn't an empty seat.

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TV Dinners:

For the first time in many years had dinner last night watching TV - something I hate doing.

Forgot to take photograph of the spaghetti bolognaise but here is a diagram of the set up. I refuse to have a meal on a tray or on a small table in front of  an armchair so moved a proper table into position . Cricked neck - a miserable experience; but enjoyed the Olympic events that were being broadcast.

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At present listening to Alex Smoke:

"Don't see the point."

Spray painting the track.

Two cans of spray paint arrived through the post - I think they are both too light in colour for my purpose.

That purpose is too lighten the colour of the track sleepers so that they look like those in a photograph that I'm using as a guide.

The track before spraying and the photograph I'm using as a guide.

I only sprayed a few short sections because a) one needs to move in quickly with a paper towel to wipe clean the tops and inner flanges of the rails so as to ensure electrical conductivity and b) I wasn't wearing a mask of any kind and the intensity of the fumes caught me out.

After wiping the rails I tested the track out and indeed my little Jouef ran smoothly over the painted sections of track.

As you can see, the sleepers are now far too light in colour. I'll have to order a darker brown.

However, learnt from this practice exercise:

* The spray paint can actually be quite easily focused on the track and there doesn't seem to be a need for much in the way of protective screening.

* However, the room quickly fills with fumes and without a mask or kerchief the paint catches in one's throat. But, I discovered that the large window in the room can be easily opened and next time I'll remember to tie something about my mouth and nose.

* Paper towels successfully wipe the rails of unwanted paint, but next time I'll gather together many more sheets than I did today.

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Drum 'n' bass:

Read in the Telegraph last week that Peggy Seeger, the septuagenarian folk singer has recorded a new album of electronic dance music with someone called "Broadcaster". She was, if you'll forgive the pun, raving about the result. She made the point that these dance hall DJs take a melody and then build that up to something of symphonic proportions, in the same way that classical composers do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_rLjYll85Q

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Last night's meal:

A banana roll.

French Cigarettes

I was trying to remember all those brands of French cigarettes that were seen as glamorous when I was in my twenties. Seems there were only ever two brands: Gauloises and Gitanes - neither of which are manufactured in France today. Apparently, Marlboro is now the biggest selling brand there.

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Last night's dinner:

Duck livers

Steamed coley

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Bought a painting yesterday:

Planning a ceramic model.

Planning a ceramic building:

Considering the paper sketch of the Boulevard Haussmann:

There seem to be at least 5 levels of relief:

the facade of the building;
etched lines to indicate window frames (see A. below);
the black window shapes which will be recessed (see B. below);
the decorative stone work above some of the windows (see C. below) which I think I will cut out of a strip of clay and stick on to the facade. Maybe I'll be able to fashion a small 'punch' like a little pastry cutter to cut out multiple versions.
Details painted on with a specialised glaze pencil (see D. below).

Regarding the recessed windows, there are numerous methods for achieving that: shellac or other resist techniques - not sure they're effective in creating sharp corners (see earlier blogs); digging out with a cutter - will produce crisp corners but would be very time-consuming. Will have to think more about this.

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Personality Development:

Last year, when dining in a certain Norfolk restaurant, we were served at different times, by a couple of very young and nervous waiting staff - obviously novices. The girl was tiny and almost anorexic - her uniform was twenty times too large for her. The boy was also pretty slim and hardly said a word.

They were both on duty this year - and what a transformation. The girl - still teeny and anorexic looking - was now almost snooty and very much the female maitre d', very much the boss of the establishment. It was a very gratifying transformation to behold.

The boy was still slim and fairly short but was now sporting what I can only describe as a large emerald in one of his ear lobes and had turned himself into Kenneth Williams - camping it up all over the restaurant floor. Seemed happy as Larry (Grayson, that is). Again, a really impressive transformation.

I await my own transformation with interest.

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Last night's dinner:

Chicken liver pate

Black sea bream and samphire.

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Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and St Edmund, Hunstanton.

Visited this lovely little church this morning where as per usual the only other person present was a parishioner doing voluntary cleaning.

Side chapel.

Thy will be done .............................

Boulevard Haussmann: a paper model to prepare for the ceramic version.

This has been a very useful planning exercise.

* establishing which features of the building should be included and which omitted;
* how to portray certain features in a way that can be executed in clay;
* what sections will be in relief;
* of those sections in relief, are there some sections in the same degree of relief and which can feasibly be built up with the same stretch of clay.

That last point is ill-expressed. Basically, time is of the essence when working with clay because it can dry out. Also, one wants to simplify the structure of the piece to avoid "sticking" sections of clay onto others, for this can lead to air bubbles and thus catastrophic explosions in the kiln.

I think when the ceramic class starts I'll first make a small version of the building to explore these issues.

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An extract from St Faustina's Diary:

"My God, I am ready to accept Your will in every detail, whatever it may be. However You may direct me, I will bless You. Whatever You ask of me I will do with the help of  Your grace. Whatever Your holy will regarding me might be, I accept it with my whole heart and soul, taking no account of what my corrupt nature tells me."

Last night before falling asleep, I became convinced that this must be my philosophy of life for my remaining years, months or days.

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Last night's dinner:

Went very local:

Samphire and smoked salmon butter.

On the left, a rather small dressed crab.

The empty shell.