Looking forward

(Should have done this a couple of weeks ago but...)

While dining with the Hamblyns last weekend Drew asked me what my modeling plans for the year were. This started the old brain ticking over in the shower of a morning (its my thinking spot). So what did I want to achieve in 12 months. A running Ka? Get the layout up and running?

" Is there a larger collection of unfinished projects?"

Looking at the workbench suggested a more immediate problem. A tally tonight reveals that I have 44 wagons in various stages of completion. Of those I am probably happy with the running qualities of 2 of them (the ones with Kato bogies). The rest are either Peco underframes, Trackgang or are still waiting for the undergubbins. They either don't run that smoothly or have details that are incorrect for the prototype. On top of all this, the English wheels that I use (they have spokes and are pretty) have axles that are too long to give prototype distances between solebars if pin point bearings are to be used (which I think is the way to go in this scale). So, what to do about it? The seem to be 2 options. the first is to join the British 2mm association, and use all their goodies. The problem is that their finescale wheelsets probably will not work with coarser scale track that I need to run the NMRA wheelsets on the various diesel mechanisms that I use. The other is to investigate wheels to NMRA standards made on shore by local firms.

The same goes for trackwork. I've basically committed myself to a mental institution/ hand laying track so theres a set of skills that I need to acquire, though I think its mostly (like anything else) a matter of confidence.

So, aims for the year.
-Hand lay track on the layout.
-Better undergubbins for wagons.

( Oh, and work towards a running Ka, but thats a long shot)