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- Today
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It's very rare that we get anything other than Sparrows, Dunnocks and Blackbirds in our garden at home and while I enjoy trying to take photos of them it's also nice to be able to photograph something different. At our caravan we regularly see Great Tits, Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Goldfinches and Chaffinches along with the more typical urban garden birds and so in an effort to get photos of them we began putting out food to tempt them closer. It wasn't anything grand as you'll notice in the photos, just a tray formed out of aluminium foil secured to the decking handrail with some cotton thread. In it we placed some live mealworms that we'd purchased online and it wasn't long before we had our first visit from a Blue Tit. Still learning, I had my camera set up on a tripod inside the caravan shooting through a double-glazed window so the photos were never going to be of high quality but I'd rarely seen a Blue Tit close up before and certainly never taken a photo of one so any type of result would be an achievement. In addition it was dull and rainy, hardly the type of conditions for great photos but the following three images were typical of the many I took on that occasion. I don't really want to add too many photos as I would like to get to the point where I add only the most recently taken ones but I think it's part of the story to describe how my interest started and grew and how hopefully my efforts improved along the way so I'll try to keep it as brief as possible.
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Modelling Tor Corona Ro ,Ro vessel in 87 scale
aussietmrail replied to aussietmrail's topic in Members Workbench
At long last the shelter cover to the raised deck side is complete, it was a difficult build indeed , glad to see it finished can move onto the anchor recess and front bow finishing that off on both side. I am not a 100 percent happy, but have to do, as I said this build is a learning curve for the next model, pics 1,2,,3 and 5 showing how I built front the raised deck to the shelter cover in, pic 4 with the shelter cover off, a waiting the winches be a while , last pic once I have finished the bow section be moving onto the main and upper deck stair cases each side, will strengthen the bulkhead.. The bow will look heaps better once all the card joins are filled in and fill where needed, more work on the ship tonight. Tony from down under -
The final track is down on the car port corner module, the big changes is in the last two pics, I have added on another block using all 20 blocks to make sure there is enough room to fit 28 passenger cars and two locos of the Indian Pacific to keep the main lone open to run another train, be on my toes then keeping an eye on the second train. In the second pic where the main changes are, the curved deck that will join the corner module will have double track, be awesome with a couple of friends over running trains as well Looking at cutting back on bus wire, using the rails as bus wire soldering to each track join mainly the bridge has double track , still will have to link the bridge to the main control panel being only 15 feet from the bridge, being a passing loop.It not just running bus wire under the bridge it is running the bus wire back to the panel through all that way, trouble with big layouts. On the other corner module and station modules I have plugs and wire won't need them can be used on other blocks, some bus wire changes will save some money, I am still working on the approach module, four blocks to do, once finished will work on the module that will connect to the main panel. Want that wiring out the way so I can move onto the last stage of the layout and home. Tony from very cold and windy down under keeping on moving ahead.
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Hi Thomas, sorry wrong name my friends name is Tony, just chatting to him, you are going great guns wont be long now, always other stuff to do while waiting for stuff to arrive, looking forward to seeing your bridge finished. I am still working in the module bus wiring, taking forever, once finished will get stuck into setting up the smaller sections. Tony from very cold down under very windy staying in doors today.
- Yesterday
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Here's another couple of my earlier attempts taking photos at home with birds perched on the garden fence and my neighbours conifer hedge as the background. I like to try make the bird a part of a photograph rather than it being the main part all the time.
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The next photo wasn't anything special but marked the fledging of some Pied Wagtails that have nested beneath the solar panels of our roof for the past 3 years. I took a whole series of these as each youngster went on its way. Likewise, the following isn't a quality photo but it's one of those moments that you either catch or you don't and so it's better just to grab the shot when you can. Here one of the parent Pied Wagtails feeds a newly fledged youngster.
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I know very little about birds and until recently I believed we had a garden full of simple sparrows as that's just about all I ever noticed. If they were brown and in the garden then they had to be sparrows. I started sitting just inside the patio doors with the camera on a tripod and taking photos of the sparrows that landed along the garden fence. The garden next door has a conifer hedge and I found that when it was not in focus it made a great background for the sparrow photos. Like I said, if they were brown they were sparrows and it wasn't until I became aware of the shape of the beak that I discovered this one wasn't a sparrow at all but was in fact a Dunnock. I think the background is great on this one and the bird itself is really sharp and clear. It's just a really nice photo in my opinion - one that makes you feel good about it.
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That's great Roddy. I had a young Blackbird in the kitchen a few weeks back and a startled Tree Sparrow in our caravan not long ago but I've never been that close to a bird of prey. You're both very lucky!
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The shed is now blessed with two working LED striplights and I can't believe it's taken me this long to install something that's so necessary for working out there. I've never been able to work in the shed with the door closed before because it's just so dark when you shut out the light and the winter's nights have always been a no go. I have no excuse anymore. The sidings extension in the terminus area is taking longer than anticipated but that's mainly through having the problem with my knee, but I have moved forward a little more and installed another point and a section of headshunt. The point outside the shed and the one leading to the headshunt will be wired as a pair that throw together. All that's left to do is install the point on the exterior of the shed, widen the entrance hole to allow the additional track through, and join up the track with the point visible in the above photo. Once the trackwork is complete I will divert my attention to the backscene and then the ballasting. I had taken it for granted that the method of working for the OTA log wagons into the terminus sidings would be that they would run round in the platform before drawing out and reversing into the sidings. Well yesterday I moved the OTA's across from Shieling Bridge and discovered that there's only just sufficient room between the points for the 12 wagons - and I mean just! Not to worry, I've experienced situations like that for real so it's nothing to be concerned about.
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So, as I'm still waiting for the delivery of more HPL plates, I ballasted more sections and built a retaining wall against the ivy.
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Nice photos Mick. I must try to upload a photo taken the other day. I was in my armchair and something flashed by my shoulder and there was a crash at the front window. An unexpected visitor had come at high speed through the open back door, not realising that the view in front was in fact glass. I then found myself holding a stunned Sparrowhawk. My wife couldn't even get the lens cap off my camera, so the resulting photo is not as good as it should be. I am priviledged to have seen it fly off at the speed of sound when I let it go. Sorry that I am such a scruff.
- Last week
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Early Morning Mick, wow 37, of those 37 class, locos, I had a 55 class, 37's are a nicer loco, will have to get a couple down the track, like a 66 class first, good to see British are still building double cab diesel locos, over here they have done away with them and couple up double header locos or more depending on the length of the train. Can't wait to see what you have planed on your bridge wait to you see my bridge I have planed to span 14 feet, double deck road rail, that will be a a good photo shooting area for the layout, that the ship I am modelling will sit when finished, it is getting there, nearly completed between the shelter cover and raised deck. In contact with the real ship's captain and he has being a great help in pics and drawing, I need more to get her right, will be the focal point of the layout if that is the right word and plan to model s Ro, Ro port . I am stuck on the module wiring at the moment, will finish doing the feeder wires today, and more onto connecting the main panel to the layout this week, a question the electrical place sold me the wrong wire, it is thicker to the rest of the main bus line, is that ok, I am using thinner wire closest to the panel on mainly the terminus track into the station and approach, module. How is the last weeks of summer cooling down, here it is very windy and cool wind, we are heading for a dry spring, the fire fighters are bracing for a bad fire season . Tony from windy down under.
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The Robin was spending a lot of time round our caravan and I took lots of uninspiring photo's of it until one morning it happened to perch on top of a low shrub that had been pruned over winter and was just starting to sprout new growth. The little Robin looked straight towards me while I rattled off multiple shots not knowing exactly what I'd taken until I later viewed them. I was delighted to find this amusing shot among them. Perhaps more through luck than judgement but you have to be there and do something to get them I suppose. I'm not sure what he's shouting but maybe he was just fed up of me following him around with the camera all the time! This was the type of image that I wanted to capture.
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I began experimenting with the different camera settings and manual focus rather than automatic, trying to focus on the birds eye. It was also becoming clear that you needed to take many photographs in the hope of getting just the one you really wanted. Back to our Robin again only this time it was a little sharper due to the use of a tripod. Lots of distractions around the subject but they were mainly thrown out of focus. It's a nice photo of a Robin but it doesn't say a great deal so we're back to taking many photos in order to get just the one that's something different.
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Robin's were to play a major part in my introduction to photographing birds as you'll discover and a couple of weeks later I happened to witness the following scene with an adult Robin feeding a youngster. This was just one of several images taken at the same time but it was disappointing to discover that the images were not as sharp and clear as I had hoped they would be. It felt like an opportunity lost.
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I'm not a photographer by any means but I do enjoy taking photographs and over the last couple of years or so, as a special interest, I've been trying to capture photographs of garden birds. Now that's all well and good but what do you do with them once you've taken them? I now have hundreds of digital images of common garden birds stored on my hard drive and so I thought I'd start a topic here in order that I can display just a few of them. I'll add photos as attachments so that they don't appear in the forum Gallery and everyone can then choose whether or not they wish to view them. I'm going to begin by posting the photo that began my interest. It's nothing special at all, just a young Robin perched on a branch outside our caravan kitchen window. The above is a cropped section from a larger image and the actual subject was perhaps 12-15 feet away so even at full focal length as here it just shows that you're going to need to be quite close in order to capture decent photos. I didn't really understand how to take better photos but I soon had a desire to improve, to take photographs that were sharper and clearer. I experimented using teleconverters to get closer and began tweaking the camera's settings to obtain sharper images but I'm a slow learner so it's taken me some time to make any real progress.
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I've been a bit crazy with class 37s Tony and currently have 32 of them! I'm not going to be building this time, there's a replacement bridge en route which should be with me before I even start dismantling the old one. I thought it would be worth the effort in order to create a suitable area for taking photographs. We'll see if it was a good decision when everything's back in order. Well after a break for a few days I've made a small amount of progress today but I've been hindered with a very painful left knee. I thought it had eased last week but a short six mile walk in the Dales on Thursday has got it playing up again. I've managed to fix a light above Shieling Bridge station and would have had one above Cattle Leys terminus too had it not been broken when I opened it. I've never had lighting inside the shed before so this is a big step forward. The broken one is on its way back and a replacement on its way to me so hopefully we'll be fully illuminated soon. I've also managed to lay one point in the new terminus sidings and have got another one soldered up ready to install which will leave just the one on the outside of the shed. The outside one will entail widening the baseboard slightly to accommodate an extra track and building a cover to keep the rain out. Nothing special required just so long as it's watertight. I've got point motors and autofrog modules so it shouldn't be too long before the terminus sidings are in operation.
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The King returns Earlier this week Julian reappeared with his ever more-detailed King William IV and some new coaches. Fortunately lineside photographers were on hand to capture the proceedings. In the first two pictures, Wills is hauling the Birmingham to London standby Blue Pullman set of coaches on a day when the diesel unit was unavailable. This gives a slightly better view of the train's makeup, consisting of chocolate and cream open Firsts sandwiched between Pullmans: The last photo shows King William IV hauling "The Inter City" which ran throughout the 1950s between Wolverhampton Low Level, Birmingham Snow Hill and Paddington. Some nice detailing visible on the loco.
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Finely back after sorting out the issue with the laptop just because of an update from Microsoft, shut off the USB ports, my wife found the problem, thought we had to have a new bother board, couldn't back up everything, up had to pick out the best pics and send them in an email to the other computer, took all day, was waste of time when my wife found the issue, anyway the pics need to backed up, Hi Mick, I had a look at the insert other media, need to upload from URL, so does that mean upload to the gallery first., will try that next post I have found more fun with DC just by wiring in a DPWT side switch, pic 005 where the how in the module is is the switch is switching off the track after the first loco and the lead loco can drive off onto another block,. The red loco I swapped with the orange and gray loco, pic 006 continues on with half of he Indian Pacific straight through the cross over onto the right side of the island platform , the rest of the train get back in onto the left had side, can't wait to do that. Pic 008 with the two locos right back to the module join I am changing to double finishing on the first curved section, so the whole Indian Pacific can fit on not holding up the main line. At the front of the pic where the cross over is b two more points so other passenger trains can get onto other platforms and freight trains get past. Back into finishing of the track for the new block , the new block be block 20, using up all the rotary switches, plan to use, block 19 as a reverse loop, wiring in a switch . Tony from nice down under keeping on moving ahead.
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Just found out how to do quote,, was off line for a couple of days no USB ports, busy backing everything up was waste of time wife found the problem port was switched from the Microsoft update, be ware of you next up date. We have them over here, the station I go to has them before the station, will take some pics next time I go on the train, like your 37 class locos, how many do you own, my favorite Australian is the NR class like the in the post a few post back of my module. Be sad to see the Trundles bridge go, what type of bridge will you be building, we can't get that roofing felt over here, those blocks we can. Morning over here drops to minus .07 this morning, get this we are having 30 degrees today, cool change coming in the weekend , westerly winds are cold . Going to be a long summer again, no rain , half of QLD and northern NSW are in drought the worsted in year, farmers are in trouble . Tony from down under
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Early morning Tony, pure awesome, you are going great guns, looks like you will be running before me, the German 103 Electric sure looks stunning indeed especially with those coaches, the windows on our trains are not as wide as yours . I am looking forward to see what you have planned for the scenery around that bridge, have had a set back for a couple of days lap top trouble, had an update from Microsoft and knocked out the USB ports, though we had to put in a new mother board. After ringing ASUS they wanted my wife to do a factory reset, wife wasn't keen and still wouldn't of worked, she decided to a search on the hardware , found the problem the USB port was switched off, bingo every thing working, today back to the layout track work have changed track to fit the Indian Pacific and not hold up the main line. Tony from cool down under, not much of winter left.
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Really nice, your tracks in the mountains. Since I'm a bit jealous that my garden is just so flat ... 😃
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I fully appreciate your reticence to order a Z21 without seeing it but to be honest there is not much to see apart from a very neat black box. There is also a separate power transformer and the wi-fi router. The main user interface is whatever mobile phone or tablet which you have to hand. Control can be remarkably fine. Altering the angle of your finger or thumb on the throttle can make a very slight difference to the speed. Android users seem to have had more problems than Apple users (iPhone, iPad etc.) because there are many different variations of the former. Mike, I do agree with Mark that you should approach Gaugemaster to have the round knob controls repaired. They do have an excellent lifetime repair guarantee for their analog products but they may wish to promote a good reputation for servicing the digital range which they market. I suspect that they were reluctant to offer the same guarantee on the digital range until they gained some experience of what might go wrong and what the potential liability might be. Mike, you mentioned the sniffer port in your posting on Tuesday. Just to avoid anyone being disappointed, this is only fitted to the full price black Z21 system and is not included in the white z21 controls supplied with some Roco/Fleischmann starter sets and which are sometimes available separately from split sets. There is no separate programming track output on those either.
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Coal trains on the Central Wales Line We've had quite a few visitors to the DGR recently given all the fine weather, so there's a bit of catching up to be done with the photographs. For starters, here is a selection of coal train pictures taken at various locations on the Central Wales line. A Black 5 trundles along Bamboo Curtain Straight: 9F on Foxdale Bank, a rare sight on the Central Wales route: Black 5 rounds Sycamore Curve: 8F on Foxdale Bank: Black 5 on Foxdale Bank:
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