TheQ

Oh Horning Boat show is on on the 30th April 2022 10:00-16:00 free to attend . http://horningboatshow.com/ I'll be on car park duty at the sailing club (exhibitors only in that one). The Sailing club is doing 20-30 minute sailing trips out on our boats £5 per adult free for accompanied children. (we need the money to pay for the insurance etc) Our Tea Bar is also open with cakes!! sit on the river frontage and watch what's going on..

Afternoon All, still nothing done on the garden railway, but with just 114 working days to go it's getting closer. The N gauge exhibition railway, has been proceeding slowly I'm working on the last sub board. The sea with pier and ferry.. The Sea and pier can be lifted out so I can do the sea Bed.. the white sand was setting that day so I worked on the wooden part of the pier instead. And Blue Moon is afloat, I've now competed in 6 races.. and so from rebuilding it's now on to development AKA fettling.. This weekend I'm moving the seat back to get the fore and aft balance better. This unfortunately means lots of controls have to be moved... A picture Below of her at rest with a tatty old set of sails bought for £50, for the development period. when I've sorted that out then a new set £1000 ish will be bought... And a video of our sailing area.. The clubhouse is on the left of the play arrow.. Blue moon when moored up will be in the pens this side of the river. But on the video? 3 minutes in we are aground with the rescue boat in attendance. The rest of the fleet are off up river somewhere I've got to learn where all the muddy shallows have moved to in the river!!

Afternoon.. The boat lift went well and it's been residing on the trailer for several weeks now.. It seems a long way down when you're on top.. The hull paint was a disaster for some reason it never set, so I've had to strip the lot, and have repainted with top quality paints, I reckon the paint bill will be about £250.. Just the top coat to go on now.. Waiting for good weather.. I've just moved my wood lathe into the workshop, i need to make a couple of sheaves for the boat, as it's a very old mast, the original parts aren't available anymore.. I'm likely to be being Chairman Q again, this time not sailing but from Apr 2024 I'm in the frame for our MRC.. Not sure how that happened.. I think they noticed this was about to happen... 196 working days to my intended retirement date, though I might extend that a few days to make it a Christmas present to myself, saying that I'm now working 4 days a week. However still working the 37.5 hours, So that's 20% less days at work or About 158 working days left.. Each year I put up a Model Railway Show information list , on a local Norfolk Broads website.., Normally by now there would be a dozen or more on the list .. So far... 4. At least 3 of the regulars are permanently gone.. So I hope you all have a happy Burns Night, our sailing clubs was cancelled, I miss that... I'll have to make do with Haggis and Whisky at home..

Well, it's some time since I posted on here.. So here goes.. It looks like there will be no chance of the garden railway being built till after I retire.. and the commencement time for that, is about now next year..😁 So most weekends I've been working on the sailing boat. The steering gear was a bit of a bar steward, it took several attempts to get it right. It's not yet finished as it needs tweeking, but it does work. The Jib club has been built over the last few weekends.. How's this for a piece of recycling?.. It's made from the hand rail of a delicatessen counter in Tesco's The marquee covers were taken down before the recent gales and the poles last weekend. This weekend is the big one.. Lifting the boat onto the trailer.. There's no or little wind forecast, which is good because she'll be hanging on the hoist for some time with the weight just landing on the trailer, as I fit the steadying arms.. Once this is done, then the mast goes on temporarily so I can lead ropes from it and do the basic setting up.. After that there's the seat to varnish, which I can take out and do in the workshop. Then the anti fouling needs doing.. Oh Joy, first mark up the hull to the waterline, then sand the hull below that with with 300 grit paper, then paint it with VC17M. That's a Teflon copper mix paint, which has the advantage is it's very thin, you can repaint over it any time.. and for British temperatures it sets in a hour @ 5 C!! I got boosted last weekend and finally at last my parents during the week,, The home visit booster programme has been a complete cockup, every one passing on responsibility. Even getting booked in myself was difficult, the online system was offering Sheffield, Kings Lynn or Ipswich The closest of any of those was 65 miles away!!! The N gauge Show railway "Tiree" has been proceeding slowly and the last sub board is under construction. This is a scenic board with a sea scene, including a ferry. This board is 14 inches deep and 4 ft long.. Tonight at the MRC I'm hooking it on and making the supports for it... If I get further than that, it's doing the rocky edges that will hide the board joins. Our annual big MRC show is now dead... The Hall we used has been taken out of use, and as yet we haven't found one suitable that we can afford to hire.. So hopefully we're hoping to have a couple of small shows using village halls, though our favoured one is in use at the moment for booster jabs..

Two tablets on wifi, main computer wired to router, and that's it. We could quite easily do without it.. SWMBO mostly uses hers for Art tutorials, Me for sailing or boat design research. it would be go back to buying more books and videos if we didn't have it. Not really a problem..

Well Mojo (I said MoJo Not Bojo), has wandered off and disappeared absolutely nothing done on indoor or outdoor model railways for a couple of months. Instead I've Built a keel for the sailing boat, Someone else wanted to be in the picture. That keel weighs 188KG that bottom bulge is 150KG of lead.. I've started started building a vast amount of shelving. The old library (spare bedroom) will become SWMBO's craft room, The living room will become the library, the front room will eventually become the living room. Bojo (I said Bojo not Mojo) has said that outdoor sports can start March 29th, my sailing clubs normal opening for the summer event?...March 28th It looks like the MRC can start in a limited way on May 17th I hope Mojo (I said MoJo Not Bojo) has returned by then. On 5/6th Jun is the 3 Rivers Race so it looks like that can go ahead, and regatta week 31st July-5th August looks fairly certain.. So my target for getting that keel united to the boat and launched is 31st July.. I'm currently butchering the flatbed that sits on the trailer, to fit the new boat layout, ear defenders, gloves, goggles, face mask, overalls.. angle grinder cutting away.. The boat weighs 244KG, the Keel 188kg, so that leaves me 318KG maximum for the unbraked trailer including the new smaller flatbed and props for the boat.. I hope this weekend to weight the trailer the new flatbed and the other bits to see where I am with it all.. If I've got it wrong and have to convert it to a braked trailer, that'll cost around 500 Modelling tokens.. To do on boat, fit keel and rudder, fit steering gear, finish hatch covers.. and fit various jammers for ropes.

The same applies to sailing on the Norfolk Broads, motorboats have to stick to the 4 /5 /6 mph limits but sailing boats do not.. That makes it difficult driving a rescue boat as you can't break the limit until they need rescuing.. But they are busy sailing away from you and you can't keep up! They may not have to obey the limit on Bicycles but I do in the land rover... You can of course, on a bicycle be prosecuted for riding Furiously... Any local council can pass a bylaw with speed limits for bicycles, which I've seen done on a road, that is access only for those that live on it, but is mostly used by wandering tourists who think it's a big foot path.. (10mph for cars or bikes). The Dirty looks I get driving my land rover down it...

The N gauge railway seems to go nowhere for ages , then take a sudden spurt forwards.. For instance I spent several modelling sessions making hundreds of fence posts from 0.6mm Square wire, equivalent to plain 4 inch square wooden posts and painting them brown. Then another hundred more from 1mm square wire with the bent top and painting them grey to imitate concrete secure fencing posts.. I reckon in all there will be over 2000 fence posts to be made and installed.. So nothing seemed to happen for ages, then last Friday night I was fence post planting and then gluing mesh onto the concrete posts and suddenly it appears to have made a big leap forward. The winter sailing club got one big event away with the Tri-icicle race, normally a race of about 4 hours covering 20 miles on the rivers. However the club was supposed ti hold the Yeoman nationals this this Sunday and that got cancelled due to high winds, it was rescheduled for next week But.... Pictures of the race and other events... https://www.facebook.com/SnowflakesSailingClub I have to visit the layout at the MRC one day this week and retrieve the "wooden " posts and a section of layout so I can continue for the next month at home..

Still nothing happening on the garden railway, except I have to redesign the Area. The future plans for the garden have had a bit of a place revolution. it means the run will be slightly shorter, but I have a bigger area to use. As yet I haven't even started placing pen to paper on designing that.. The MRC restarted last Friday, in six person bubbles, I got my requested Friday evening, there are now six person groups Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and my Friday is not yet a full group. That's not all the members So I guess some are still not coming out to play yet.. Any way I've started moving the parts of the above layout I'm working on back to the club. It's lucky our club has it's own premises Meanwhile as part of the revolution I've moved and rebuilt the BBQ area, which is at the mobile home.. It's now conveniently outside the door of the model railway shed and backing onto what is the area allocated for the garden railway. As for the boat I've stripped the deck and stern and given three coats of varnish to the decks and 4 to the stern. The stern now has to be sign written with her name Blue Moon, under that is القمر الأزرق, which Blue Moon in Arabic since I built her originally in Saudi, And below that 1260A which is her newly allocated Registration Number for the broads.. Then there will be another couple of coats of varnish. Registration Number? yep if it floats on the broads it has to be registered, taxed and insured, although I don't have to pay till she's launched, it will be around sixty quid for next year. Even if it's a inflatable canoe they'll have 35 off of you... The Sailing club restarted about a month ago, only 30 allowed on the island at a time, sailing only on Black horse broad, others who arrive from their own moorings, can join in there. So since I'm not sailing but working on the boat, I've stayed away so more can sail...

At our club open day last year. Boards 1 to 4 on their trolleys, you can see the bare corner board on the right, with an inherited sub board branchline station resting on top. Further to the right and back is trolley 3, which now has the previous branchline station and radar on it now..

Boards 1and 2 with viaduct

The road down to the harbour, a war memorial will go on the top at the back.

The branch line station being worked on

Let's see if I can get a few pictures of the N gauge future exhibition railway on show.. The latest project a Type 84 radar.. A corner board.

Another year has passed and another year of no progress on the garden railway. The N gauge exhibition railway has progressed so I might show a few pictures later.. I was furloughed for 9 weeks but am now back at work trying to catch up with the backlog. My Sailing compatriot came off his motorcycle last August into the front of a tractor, fractured skull, right wrist, pelvis, and thigh. Neither his nor the tractors fault, but the local council failing to fix a pot hole they knew about. He was actually out with a ROSPA group so he wasn't doing anything stupid. He was in hospital for about 3 months but then released, while still unable to walk unaided, he was due to go back into hospital for an operation on his thigh, but corona virus put paid to that. So we have had no sailing for over a year now.. and unlikely for 3 months after the next operation, whenever that will be.. During furlough I've been making a new keel for my sailing boat, the lead melting for ballast should complete this weekend all 150KG of it. then it will be on to varnishing the decks while we still have some good weather. The boat being in a small marquee in the garden. Also refurbishing the garage into part workshop, first job was stripping off the ivy off the corrugated asbestos roof.. That took many hours. I then discovered it had been built with second hand sheets some 50 years ago. So I spent a considerable time up there with pieces of flashing tape recovering all the old holes whose sealant had failed.. There are still a couple of leaks but that's being blown up between sheets.. A workbench has been built and that's got the lead melting equipment on it and the keel, the fun will be getting the keel off onto a trolley to transport 50 ft to the boat.... Sailing of course was Lockdowned off this year. You can now go out with your "bubble" on board, day time only, no overnight stays, but there is no racing, the club house is shut and no public toilets... Most clubs have now cancelled for the summer Season, the 60th 3 Rivers Race was cancelled till next year. My club has cancelled till each virtual committee meeting, every month. Our Annual regatta should start First of August that's our next big one, if anything changes.. The 3 RR couldn't be rescheduled this year as it's a carefully chosen date, after the latest easter,, not on a bank Holiday, before the start of the fishing season, before hoards of Hireboats would normally take to the water, but as near Mid summers day as possible for maximum light.. Also cancelled is my MRC open day in May, and our Show in October, I was very much against cancelling the show when we still had 5 months before the event, but I was out voted. I still think there's a chance by then, it could have been held..