Recent content by armyairforce

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  1. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    Back to the lamp and after some time in the curing cabinet, the varnish was dry enough to handle the reflector. This was glued into the lamp with silicone. The lamp was also dusted over with a satin varnish, before the makers plate was polished and also gloss varnished. The mounting bracket was...
  2. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    While not perfect, it was good enough and so was polished to a moderate shine. I then gave it a couple of clear coats of varnish and it was left to dry. A short length of the steel bar was cut to form a steadying support for the lamp and after much jigging up, it was welded in place.
  3. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    17th December 2025 Since the end of October, until mid December, I've been distracted by decorating the large open plan lounge/diner/breakfast bar room. You know it's going to be a long project when it involves Blue Circle cement to make repairs! Only two walls stripped, repaired and painted so...
  4. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    9th ~ 19th October 2025 After the lamp was dry, it was primed and left for the primer to harden. It was then given a brushed coat of smooth Hammerite, to get into all the awkward corners. Once that had time to cure, the whole lamp was given a rub over with fine wire wool, to matt of the surface...
  5. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    The original base appeared to have five small holes in a cross pattern. I don't know if these were for ventilation or draining of moisture, but wanting the lamp to be more weather proof, I didn't replicate these holes. Both the lamp and new base were tinned with solder first, then assembled and...
  6. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    Two additional small cut-outs were needed in the sides, to clear the hinge parts. This is because I needed to make the sides taller than the original, to hide rusted out parts of the main lamp body. Back to jig making next, with a hollow sanded into a block of MDF. The end of an old blunt...
  7. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    I grabbed a piece of concrete paving stone from the garden, to rest the brass on, while I annealed it and then left it to cool while I assembled my sheet metal folder. After the back and one end was folded, it was test fitted to the lamp to check on the size and other fold line positions...
  8. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    9th October 2025 Over the Moon with my achievements today. I hate metalworking, but managed to make and fit a good replacement for the rusted out bottom of my railway lamp. I began with a cardboard template, folded and trial fitted to the bottom of the lamp. This template was then taped down to...
  9. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    8th October 2025 The neoprene rubber arrived yesterday and the brass sheet came today, so I did a bit more tinkering with the lamp. Time for the new 'O' rings. After cutting and test fitting some card templates, I started cutting out the large rubber 'O' ring with a scalpel. This is the main...
  10. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    Further electrolysis showed the bottom of the lamp to be severely rusted through. Initially, before I'd started working on the lamp, I'd considered just repairing the base. Having seen how bad it was, I decided the whole base needed removing and replacing. I carefully cut through the...
  11. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    4th October 2025 Restoration work began on my railway lamp. All three glazing pieces had their snap-rings removed to allow the glass to be taken out. All three rubber seals are perished, being dry, cracking and very brittle. As a result, I've ordered a sheet of rubber to cut some new seals. The...
  12. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    I thought I'd wake this thread up again, following a recent purchase. I spotted this 1941 railway lamp on Ebay and thought it the perfect size as a warning lamp on my crossing gate. It is seen below on a temporary aluminium hook, over the top bar of the gate, with an LED torch inside. It looked...
  13. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    Where on that forum did you see it, as I'm not actually a member there!
  14. armyairforce

    East Coast Main Line Railway & Team Valley Rail Yard - 8th April 2025

    A morning out at the East coast main line, in the North East of England. The passenger main line runs along side a large good yard at one point, so it was a good location to catch some trains and do some photography. The video is a mix of stills and video of three locations in this area, all...
  15. armyairforce

    My Garden Railway Build - 1/1 Scale :-)

    It's been nine months since I last posted in this thread, so I thought I'd give you all an update via a video walkaround. We planted the railway embankment a year ago today. It looked rather bare at the time, with tiny plants and lots of soil. It has filled out quite nicely in the following...
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