Obbekaer & Ribe Skibbroen - P87

[Allegheny1600]

Hi Geraint,

Phil has advised me that he has secured a replacement for you! It will be something quite different of course but hopefully, just as entertaining.

I'm sure I speak on behalf of not just the MMRS but all of us, wishing your wife a full and fast recovery.

Wishing you and her, all the very best,

John.

[Middlepeak]

Thank you John. That's a great relief. I look forward to seeing reports and photos of the show, and hopefully Obbekaer can be there at some time in the future.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

Geraint

[Middlepeak]

I guess we've all been to exhibitions and other events such as Scaleforum and Expo EM over the years and marvelled at the skills of those who present demonstrations on different parts of the hobby. I've tried it myself, and it's one thing to have a particular modelling skill, but it's an entirely different matter to be able to communicate it in a captivating way to the audience. Very often there's only a short amount of time for you to get a particular point across, either because the visitor is not sure that they want to get involved in a conversation, or because there's a queue of folks ready to talk and the poor person in the visitor's seat feels pressured to move on.

 

I therefore wanted to recount a very positive experience at this year's Scaleforum. Yes, I know that was over two months ago, but to be honest this relatively short 15 minute conversation inspired me so much that I've spent all this time thinking about it and have only just put my thoughts into some sort of order. So here goes!

 

One of my acquisitions last year was Paul Bambrick's book on creating a backscene for your layout. I was aware of his excellent work on that 7mm masterpiece Bucks Hill through his articles in MRJ, and hopefully the book would give me some pointers towards a half-decent backscene for the Skibbroen project. I say hopefully, because my only effort to date, on Obbekaer, had been something of an afterthought, and done with little panache or artistic flair, but it seemed to help create the illusion I was after. At the back of my mind though was the need to portray a convincing rendition of Ribe Cathedral and the intervening roofscape on a painted backscene.

 

I must admit that early attempts to read the book, whilst totally captivating, were somewhat frustrating, but the more I read it, the more I believed that there was something in the concept of a 3D backscene. However, would my project be suitable?

 

Having spotted that Paul would be a demonstrator at Scaleforum, I sent him a tentative mail with some background to the project and a couple of pictures. This received an encouraging reply, and an offer to discuss further at the event, so off I went to Aylesbury with a file of photos and plans and an embarrassingly long list of questions, some of which felt extremely naive!

 

So then came the 15 minute chat that changed my outlook on the project quite radically. In that short space of time, Paul persuaded me that it would be quite feasible to model the whole of the roofscape behind the front row of buildings in diminishing scale and with compressed dimensions front to back to create an illusion of space in a short distance. And to top it all, the 1200 year old cathedral could be built as the final layer in front of the backscene - almost flat, but with just about enough relief to make it convincing.

 

Of course, this couldn't all be done on the initial size of baseboard that I had designed, but you will recall that for other reasons I had already committed myself to building parts of the layout on various jigsaw pieces that could eventually be brought together on a subframe. This would allow much of the compressed 3D backscene to be on separate jigsaw pieces, and the final size and shape of the subframe determined later.

 

Probably the soundest piece of advice offered by Paul was to start things off with a 'model of a model', to check that the right kind of illusion was being created from different viewing angles. So over the coming months, any work on trackwork and full scale buildings will hopefully be paralleled by work on the small scale model, and some impression of the final size of the layout will result. Of course, I seem to have committed myself to a lot more work here, and because of that the completion date for this project is receding even further into the distance, but my view is that I will only have one stab at this, so it had better be convincing, and a 3D backscene will help to create the best effect.

 

A couple of bits of 'evidence' are attached - the first shows the sort of view that I hope to create for an average sized viewer standing in front of the layout. The impact of the cathedral and the roofscape is obvious, and some of the layers to the illusion are identified. I still have to create the right angle of photo to get the scene right, and calculations have been done to translate viewing heights and distances for the model to the full-size equivalent. Conclusion - find someone in Ribe with a drone-mounted camera who can fly it accurately over the grass in the foreground!

 

The plan shows the initial layout plan superimposed on a 1960s map of the street layout, which shows just how much of a roofscape has to be compressed into a short distance. Without the diminishing scale and compression, the layout back to the cathedral would be around 2.5 metres deep!

 

Well that's my major news. A wonderfully inspiring piece of consultancy, enthusiastically and freely given, which in my view is what exhibition demonstrations should be about.

 

I just wonder now whether I can live up to Paul's expectations!!!

Layout on street plan.pdf

[Re6/6]

Sounds very interesting what you have planned Geraint. I do like the idea of 'scaled' 3D buildings/scenics as part of the backscene. We are considering using some of these techniques for the 'rural views' on Balcombe.

 

The problem that l have is with the effect on the viewer as they move along/around the layout. Bucks Hill is just a superb layout with top drawer scenics but as one moved along unless the scene was viewed head-on, the effect was lost. Perhaps l'm being too picky and should use my imagination a bit more when viewing! Anyway, looking forward to seeing your end result.

Edited December 10, 2017 by Re6/6

[Middlepeak]

John,

 

I sympathise totally with your caution over this. One of the problems I have, despite having a viewing length only a fraction of that on Balcome (2.8m in total), is that there are two different points along that length where the illusion has to make sense - from roughly the centre of the layout, and from the left hand end where the view is along the main street, over the level crossing, with the cathedral at the end. I'm still not sure that either view will look 100% right, but the trick is probably to compromise slightly on both, rather than have one right and the other wrong.

 

Hope that makes sense. As I said before, the theory will be proved or disproved by the model of a model, before any wood is cut!

 

Regards,

 

Geraint

[Middlepeak]

Time for a short update in advance of our next exhibition appearance - at the Solent MRG's Eurotrack show on 24-25 February. For family reasons, it's been nearly 18 months since the layout was last brought out of storage, so we completed a thorough test of layout and stock yesterday, and I'm pleased to report that everything went well.

 

As usual, I've managed to finish a few new items in time for the show. Pictures are attached.

 

First off is a foreign visitor, in the form of a Carro F covered wagon all the way from Italy. I'm told that these wagons were often to be seen in Denmark, carrying new potatoes and other spring vegetables from the 'deep south'. The model is a kit from Italeri, which has had my normal suspension parts added, along with new brass solebars and steps. I tried to follow some photos of a well weathered wagon that had undergone a degree of partial repainting over the years. The airbrush was used to good effect, along with several yards of masking tape as the various layers of colour were built up. Overall, I'm quite pleased with its final appearance.

 

The second wagon is a long time favourite that has been sitting in the cupboard for many years, and I've finally got round to making a proper job of it. The subject really took my fancy - an ice cream wagon for the Premier Is company in Esbjerg. They owned a small fleet of wagons of different origins, which were presumably used to ferry the product around to their various retail outlets across the country. When I found a photo of one of their shops in Ribe, I just had to have the model. It's originally a Roco product, but in essence they have just taken a standard German van and applied the livery. In order to produce a more accurate model of this particular vehicle, I had to strip the chassis down, remove the brake gear in favour of 'one side only' brake gear and add the body end steps and handrails that are such a feature of the prototype. The photo I have of the wagon shows it in a somewhat dilapidated state in 1960, so the weathering (using acrylics) is done to suit.

 

Thirdly, we have a new Litra CU 4-wheel coach for the mail train. This is a Hobbytrade product, with the passenger compartment next to the toilet converted into a guard's office, to make it into a 'togforervogn'. It's also had a complete repaint inside and some weight added, before weathering.

 

The last item is a total indulgence. On our Danish visit with the layout in 2014, I bought an Epoke Modelle kit for a Bedford O series lorry, of which there were numerous examples in Denmark in the 50s and 60s. It's a nice little kit, but it needed some additional work on the chassis and a completely new tipper body in plasticard, based on the 7mm version modelled by Roy Link in a past issue of MRJ. The livery of the vehicle is entirely fictional, but is my little tribute to a very dear friend of some 25 years who died last October. For those in need of a translation, 'Landbrugsmaskiner' is farm machinery, and we're now looking for a suitable piece of equipment for it to deliver from the yard at Obbekaer.

 

So that's progress to date - more on the Skibbroen project once the show's over, but in the mean time we look forward to seeing some of you at Eurotrack. Please drop by to say hello.

 

Geraint

[Re6/6]

Lovely stuff Geraint!

[nanniag]

Hello Geraint.

 

First of all all my compliments For the Great models and lovely pictures.

 

Which kind of "normal suspension parts" have you added to the Italeri F van?

Have you used some commercial parts or etching made by yourself?

 

I've done my one etching for the same purpose: an F van in P87 from tTM kit (equal to Italeri), but I'm curious to understand what have you done (if it is possible).

 

Best regards

Antonio

[Middlepeak]

Hi Antonio,

 

I think our ideas are very similar. I have used an etched w-iron in 0.25mm brass. The basic unit folds up in the same way as yours, and there is a separate bearing carrier that runs between the wheel and the inside of the w-iron.

 

This system is used widely by P4 and EM modellers, and the design follows closely the ideas in that system. The bearing carriers can take either a pinpoint bearing or a parallel bearing. The pinpoint bearing requires a new 2mm diameter axle with a length of 22.7mm over pinpoints. However, I have found these difficult to produce with any accuracy, and better results have been obtained with the parallel bearings. The main axle is 1.0mm in diameter and the wheels are mounted on muffs made from brass tube which has an internal diameter of 1.0mm and an external diameter of 2.00mm. The wheels can then be threaded onto the main axle as it is pushed through the bearings and the back to back measurement (15.5mm) set with a gauge.

 

There is a steel wire spring that runs along the inside of the bearing carrier. I use a small piece of 1mm x 1mm Tsection brass soldered to the centre of the bearing carrier at the bottom, with a small notch cut into it to carry the spring wire. A combination of that and the fold-over tabs on the w-iron unit are sufficient to retain the bearing carrier and to allow a 1mm deflection of the spring. The important thing is to calibrate the notches on all four bearing carriers so the the wagon sits level, but once that's done you get a very smooth ride. This wagon has around 70g of weight inside the body to maintain the correct ride height and keep the wagon on the track.

 

The system is much more simple than it is to describe! I hope that the attached pictures help you to understand how it works.

 

Best wishes,

 

Geraint

 

[nanniag]

Hi Geraint.

 

Thank you very much for your kind reply. I understood how your w irons works. Yes, the idea is quite the same. Honestly I think that your one is the best cause there are the pin point that are the optimum for a smooth running.

 

Thanks again and best regards.

Antonio

[bécasse]

I guess we've all been to exhibitions and other events such as Scaleforum and Expo EM over the years and marvelled at the skills of those who present demonstrations on different parts of the hobby. I've tried it myself, and it's one thing to have a particular modelling skill, but it's an entirely different matter to be able to communicate it in a captivating way to the audience. Very often there's only a short amount of time for you to get a particular point across, either because the visitor is not sure that they want to get involved in a conversation, or because there's a queue of folks ready to talk and the poor person in the visitor's seat feels pressured to move on.

 

I therefore wanted to recount a very positive experience at this year's Scaleforum. Yes, I know that was over two months ago, but to be honest this relatively short 15 minute conversation inspired me so much that I've spent all this time thinking about it and have only just put my thoughts into some sort of order. So here goes!

 

One of my acquisitions last year was Paul Bambrick's book on creating a backscene for your layout. I was aware of his excellent work on that 7mm masterpiece Bucks Hill through his articles in MRJ, and hopefully the book would give me some pointers towards a half-decent backscene for the Skibbroen project. I say hopefully, because my only effort to date, on Obbekaer, had been something of an afterthought, and done with little panache or artistic flair, but it seemed to help create the illusion I was after. At the back of my mind though was the need to portray a convincing rendition of Ribe Cathedral and the intervening roofscape on a painted backscene.

 

I must admit that early attempts to read the book, whilst totally captivating, were somewhat frustrating, but the more I read it, the more I believed that there was something in the concept of a 3D backscene. However, would my project be suitable?

 

Having spotted that Paul would be a demonstrator at Scaleforum, I sent him a tentative mail with some background to the project and a couple of pictures. This received an encouraging reply, and an offer to discuss further at the event, so off I went to Aylesbury with a file of photos and plans and an embarrassingly long list of questions, some of which felt extremely naive!

 

So then came the 15 minute chat that changed my outlook on the project quite radically. In that short space of time, Paul persuaded me that it would be quite feasible to model the whole of the roofscape behind the front row of buildings in diminishing scale and with compressed dimensions front to back to create an illusion of space in a short distance. And to top it all, the 1200 year old cathedral could be built as the final layer in front of the backscene - almost flat, but with just about enough relief to make it convincing.

 

Of course, this couldn't all be done on the initial size of baseboard that I had designed, but you will recall that for other reasons I had already committed myself to building parts of the layout on various jigsaw pieces that could eventually be brought together on a subframe. This would allow much of the compressed 3D backscene to be on separate jigsaw pieces, and the final size and shape of the subframe determined later.

 

Probably the soundest piece of advice offered by Paul was to start things off with a 'model of a model', to check that the right kind of illusion was being created from different viewing angles. So over the coming months, any work on trackwork and full scale buildings will hopefully be paralleled by work on the small scale model, and some impression of the final size of the layout will result. Of course, I seem to have committed myself to a lot more work here, and because of that the completion date for this project is receding even further into the distance, but my view is that I will only have one stab at this, so it had better be convincing, and a 3D backscene will help to create the best effect.

 

A couple of bits of 'evidence' are attached - the first shows the sort of view that I hope to create for an average sized viewer standing in front of the layout. The impact of the cathedral and the roofscape is obvious, and some of the layers to the illusion are identified. I still have to create the right angle of photo to get the scene right, and calculations have been done to translate viewing heights and distances for the model to the full-size equivalent. Conclusion - find someone in Ribe with a drone-mounted camera who can fly it accurately over the grass in the foreground!

 

The plan shows the initial layout plan superimposed on a 1960s map of the street layout, which shows just how much of a roofscape has to be compressed into a short distance. Without the diminishing scale and compression, the layout back to the cathedral would be around 2.5 metres deep!

 

Well that's my major news. A wonderfully inspiring piece of consultancy, enthusiastically and freely given, which in my view is what exhibition demonstrations should be about.

 

I just wonder now whether I can live up to Paul's expectations!!!

 

I remember puffing my way to the top of that cathedral tower 45 years ago almost to the day! I remember thinking then that the Skibbroen just cried out to be the basis for a model railway, a fascinating place with mirrors outside almost every cottage window so that the occupants could look along the street without getting up.

[Middlepeak]

Hello All,

 

A short series of posts coming up to explain progress on the RGVJ since my last offering in March. I say progress, but inevitably this has been a mix of productive effort and less productive thought, which I suppose is inevitable. At least those thoughts have been predominantly about how to do things, and the basic commitment to press on with the project is still there.

 

So first off, some of that productive effort. A new building for the station is nearing completion, namely the pakhus (goods shed). Located at the end of the platform, and with loading doors facing both the railway and the adjoining street, this model is based on the shed at Lund station on the Horsens Vestbaner. However, given that the smaller private railways such as this often tended to have a basic style of architecture running through all their construction, the design of the model has been 'tweaked' to mirror some of the architectural features of the other two buildings at the station.

 

This actually started around 15 years ago with the purchase of a small building for the ticket office, actually a resin kit from Dutch firm Artitec. German in origin, and I think intended as a crossing keeper's hut, I thought it would be very suitable for the Skibbroen office, and once constructed I mounted it on a small display base along with two running in boards carrying the station name. It stayed that way for the best part of 10 years, at which point I judged that it needed a smaller toilet block alongside. This was designed using the CAD package, and following my then adopted practice of a plasticard shell and attached strips of Evergreen strip to represent the brick courses. The style of plinths, quoins, doors, windows and roof was copied from the ticket office and the two looked well together, as the attached photos show.

 

The pakhus therefore follows the same principles, although it is much the largest building of the three. The photos show the early stages of the basic structure and its current state with all brickwork, roof and rainwater goods added. The railings caused some concern, until my good friend Alex Duckworth suggested that I explore some of the model boat suppliers for suitable turned posts. A quick internet search turned up several possible examples from Cornwall Model Boats, which have been turned down a little and fitted with brass wire rails - thank you Alex!

 

Next stage will be to apply a quick coat of Humbrol no.1 primer, which I use for the mortar colour, and then the arduous process of painting the brickwork in acrylics. The doors will be painted separately and the windows will have to wait until the next lot of etching that I need.

 

More pictures when it's finished, but another fairly major project progressing well.

 

Next post will follow shortly.

 

Geraint

[Re6/6]

Lovely work there Geraint.  

[Middlepeak]

Part 2 of this short series of posts.

 

Although the initial jigsaw pieces for the trackwork sections of Ribe Skibbroen have been completed for some time, I've made no real progress with getting any track down. As a result, I've had nowhere to run anything, as Obbekaer is too big to be permanently erected anywhere in the house. With no further exhibition appearances confirmed (we were due to appear at Larkrail in July, but sadly this has been cancelled), I desperately need somewhere to be able to run a train up and down - for the sheer therapeutic value if nothing else!

 

I've therefore taken the first step towards track laying. I mentioned before that I planned to try another idea for quieter running, having experienced a fair amount of 'drumming' through the Obbekaer baseboards over time. Whilst this isn't a problem at exhibitions, it's a real distraction at home. I've therefore come up with the idea of going back to cork underlay, as opposed to the foam used previously, but this time to go for a really thick layer (15mm) in the hope that most of the sound will be lost within the thickness of the cork. I'll also be using a more rubberised adhesive to stick the cork down, again to avoid the solidity and noise transmission that's inherent with PVA.

 

There's an ulterior motive for the choice of 15mm. This is the depth of the turntable pit, so the pit base is the top of the plywood and I don't have to bother with a separate base. I pondered for a while how I might transfer the detailed track plan to the cork, bearing in mind that the baseboards already have holes cut for turnout operating units and uncoupling magnets, which require some precision in location. Then I hit on the idea of getting the track templates laser etched onto the surface of the cork.

 

44 minutes of fun and frolic on the Fen End Pit laser cutter on Monday afternoon (thanks David) has produced an accurately marked out sheet of cork. I stopped short at using the laser cutter to cut out the individual pieces, as getting through a 15mm thickness would involve time, excessive debris and lots of smell of burnt cork!

 

Photo of the etched sheet is attached. Next stage is to wield a sharp Stanley knife to good effect and start to stick things to the jigsaw, before sorting out the sleepering. Hopefully the first train will run in a couple of months!

 

Just returning to the subject of Obbekaer for a moment, it's been rather disappointing that the layout has generated so little interest from exhibition invitations. I can't really explain this, but in the absence of any feasible future home for permanent erection, it will continue to live in its storage crates until something materialises. Sadly we don't have the room here for the 'big shed' that would be required to erect both layouts together. Skibbroen will be a very long term project, so Obbekaer will continue to be available for shows as long as people want it!

 

More on Skibbroen in the final post of this mini-series.

 

Regards,

 

Geraint

[PaulRhB]

I've therefore taken the first step towards track laying. I mentioned before that I planned to try another idea for quieter running, having experienced a fair amount of 'drumming' through the Obbekaer baseboards over time. Whilst this isn't a problem at exhibitions, it's a real distraction at home. I've therefore come up with the idea of going back to cork underlay, as opposed to the foam used previously, but this time to go for a really thick layer (15mm) in the hope that most of the sound will be lost within the thickness of the cork. I'll also be using a more rubberised adhesive to stick the cork down, again to avoid the solidity and noise transmission that's inherent with PVA.

 

Now that's a really well thought out solution and marking the track itself into the cork too.

 

 

Just returning to the subject of Obbekaer for a moment, it's been rather disappointing that the layout has generated so little interest from exhibition invitations. I can't really explain this, but in the absence of any feasible future home for permanent erection, it will continue to live in its storage crates until something materialises.

 

The curse of 'foreign' layouts? Unfortunately it's finding show organisers who are interested in foreign, or them having scouts who suggest them I guess. I seemed to get invites in batches followed by long periods of nothing and currently my fairly common style OO has far more interest than the HOm of which there are no others like it on the circuit that I've seen.

Anyway we are enjoying it on here and seeing it at shows

[Middlepeak]

Hello All,

 

Firstly, thanks to Paul for his understanding and kind comments. I know what you're saying, but it's still a bit galling when you try your best to provide something a bit different for the exhibition circuit and the response doesn't come, especially after the considerable effort that you've put into it.

 

Anyway, to the last of these three posts.

 

You will recall that after Scaleforum last year, I was raving about the advice and support I had received from Paul Bambrick on the subject of 3D backdrops. As a result of that, I resolved to search out some more evidence material that would help me to model the roofscape behind the front row of Skibbroen buildings, which are all being modelled at "layout scale". At the time I made a flippant remark about finding someone with a drone, who could take photographs at the right elevation above ground level.

 

Well, purely by accident, I have found such a person! Whilst in Denmark for one of our regular visits over Easter, I chanced upon a website I hadn't seen before at www.ribe.nu. This seems to be a local repository for all sorts of articles about Ribe, whether up to date news or historical facts, and there are regular contributors to this site, one of which is Jens Jorgensen, who owns one of the camera shops in the town, a stone's throw away from Skibbroen. One of his postings included a couple of films taken from a drone flying over parts of the town. I'm not sure as to whether the Danish regulations about flight over properties are as stringent as ours, but there is one particular film of a flight over Skibbroen, which can be found at http://ribe.nu/?p=15747

 

The first 15 seconds or so give you a panned sequence along the length of the quayside, after which the drone slowly rises to a higher elevation. During this latter sequence, I was able to do a number of different screen dumps at various elevations and print them out as photos. I then set up the model buildings on the workbench with the camera located at the appropriate distance and elevation for normal viewing and the proposed layout height. Again, these photos were printed off and the two sets juxtapositioned to determine which of the drone video screen dumps was the best fit with the model.

 

Attached is the photo of the model houses and the chosen screen dump, which gives you a good idea of how the roofscape needs to be presented on the model. The next stage is to build a 'model of a model' to assess how the various layers of the 3D backscene will be built up. A big step forward, but still a long way to go!

 

If you have the time, do have a look at the film using the link above, and I hope you'll be as inspired of the subject as I was initially.

 

Regards,

 

Geraint

[swisspeat]

Nice drone footage!

 

Shades of Snape Maltings there.

 

What are those two industrial complexes?

 

Looking forward to seeing your model boats too!

 

Regards,

 

Peter

[Phil Copleston]

Just returning to the subject of Obbekaer for a moment, it's been rather disappointing that the layout has generated so little interest from exhibition invitations. I can't really explain this, but in the absence of any feasible future home for permanent erection, it will continue to live in its storage crates until something materialises. Sadly we don't have the room here for the 'big shed' that would be required to erect both layouts together. Skibbroen will be a very long term project, so Obbekaer will continue to be available for shows as long as people want it!

 

 

Geraint,

 

I can hardly believe this! For me, Obbekaer is one of the most impressive and delightful layouts on the British exhibition circuit, irrespective of whether one is interested in Danish prototypes or HO scale. The quality of prototype observation and modelling execution are outstanding - rolling stock, buildings, landscape and operation. I have been particularly impressed by your quality of workmanship, even down to the thoughtful perspex sides to the fiddleyard cassets.

 

Anyway, I do hope to see this lovely layout out at an exhibition again soon. It deserves a wider audience and is certainly worthy of a in-depth write-up in MRJ, in my biased opinion!

[Middlepeak]

Peter,

 

Glad you enjoyed the drone footage. The main factory there is a former iron foundry, which now makes (amongst other things) central heating radiators.

 

Already started on the boats - a herring boat and a tjalk, both from Artitec. I know the latter is Dutch, but it's actually quite reminiscent of the local 'everten' that has been restored and is permanently moored down by the quayside.

 

Geraint

Edited June 9, 2018 by Middlepeak

[Middlepeak]

Phil,

 

Good to hear from you.

 

I know there is an appreciative audience out there, as we have met them at some of the shows we have done - Railex, Scaleforum, Rail Wells, Uckfield and Wycrail immediately come to mind. However for a lot of people, if they don't recognise what it is, they're not interested, so presumably a lot of exhibition managers reflect this in their choice of layouts.

 

I've never chased invitations before, because I think it's a bit pretentious, but maybe I need to this time. The fact that I have had to withdraw from a couple of shows because of my wife's serious illness might not have helped, but there are still a couple of major shows where tentative invites have yet to be confirmed for 2019, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

As for MRJ, excellent as it is, the magazine doesn't have a track record on foreign topics - I think 2 layouts and one constructional article in 260+ issues. I suppose the trick these days is to get friendly with a guest editor! Having done the full layout description for Continental Modeller and had good coverage from the press in Holland, Denmark and Norway, I would need a new angle to explore for a fresh article.

 

Thanks for your encouraging comments though. They are much appreciated, and I hope to catch up with you again soon.

 

Geraint

[Middlepeak]

Further to Peter's post of a couple of days ago, I thought I would attach a couple of pictures of the two boats that have already been completed for the harbour at Ribe Skibbroen. Both are Artitec kits, largely resin but with a few home produced additions in brass. Rigging in both cases is EZ-line.

 

First off is a tjalk, which is possibly a little bit 'off patch' in Denmark, but there is potential to convert this to the local variant of flat-bottom hulled vessel, an 'evert'. 

 

The second is more typical of Denmark, a small herring boat, finished off in the typical light blue colour scheme of many of the West Jutland boats, this one based at Hvide Sande just up the coast.

 

Both of these were completed some years ago, and they will probably be in the dry dock for some time yet, until there is a proper quayside at Skibbroen to moor them against!

[swisspeat]

Geraint,

 

That is a couple of gorgeous looking boats! They are a great advert for Artitec products.

 

I find EZ Line is good too for rigging and telegraph wires. Nice elasticity and choice of colours.

 

I remember your article about this project in CM and have kept it.

 

Looking forward to seeing more updates in print in the future.

 

Kind regards,

 

Peter

[barrowroad]

Further to Peter's post of a couple of days ago, I thought I would attach a couple of pictures of the two boats that have already been completed for the harbour at Ribe Skibbroen. Both are Artitec kits, largely resin but with a few home produced additions in brass. Rigging in both cases is EZ-line.

 

First off is a tjalk, which is possibly a little bit 'off patch' in Denmark, but there is potential to convert this to the local variant of flat-bottom hulled vessel, an 'evert'. 

 

The second is more typical of Denmark, a small herring boat, finished off in the typical light blue colour scheme of many of the West Jutland boats, this one based at Hvide Sande just up the coast.

 

Both of these were completed some years ago, and they will probably be in the dry dock for some time yet, until there is a proper quayside at Skibbroen to moor them against!

Very nice Geraint I particularly like the Tjalk. They are really lovely models - I've built one for myself.

Robin

[Middlepeak]

Time for another somewhat overdue update on progress at Skibbroen.

 

The main activity has been to finish off the two initial jigsaw pieces that carry the main track layout for the station. The basic structures were laser cut some time ago and have now been finished off with a coat of Danish Oil (what else!) as a preservative. The cork sub base for the track has also been cut out and stuck down with Copydex adhesive, so with the two boards joined, it's possible to get a better impression of the extent of the station and the benefits of having the track templates laser etched onto the surface of the cork.

 

The first picture shows the two boards mounted temporarily on a pair of Screwfix adjustable trestles - a bit precarious at this stage, but ultimately, once the underframe is constructed, the structure will be much more rigid. I am however very happy with the structural integrity of the individual jigsaw pieces. They are very light and do not twist in any way.

 

The second picture shows a close-up of the east end of the station, where some additional profiling with balsa wood has been necessary in order to raise the main line on a 1 in 45 gradient from the station throat up to the level crossing. This has involved a lot of headscratching and calculation, not because it's a difficult task in itself, but because I wanted to get the levels right in relation to the water level in the harbour. The road over the level crossing also goes across a bridge over the river, and in order to give the correct headroom, the track has to rise. The road at the back also has a gradient at this point, complicated slightly by the need to service the end loading dock on the rear siding. Hopefully I've got it right!

 

The third picture shows the opposite end of the station, where the turntable pit has now been completed (apart from weathering) and the surrounds built up. This shows the value of the 15mm thick cork, as the pit is just screwed down to the baseboard top and the track base built up around it.

 

No excuses now - the next job is to start track laying! However, there are still one or two rolling stock projects to complete before Obbekaer's next exhibition outing in 2019, and I have also convinced myself that a small P4 layout will be installed in the workshop to give me somewhere to 'play trains' - something I've never had at home before. Look out for a separate thread on that project elsewhere, but with some similar ideas on construction!

 

Regards,

 

Geraint

 

[Middlepeak]

My, it's been some time hasn't it! Not a huge amount to report here, with work on both layouts somewhat hampered by continuing difficulties with my wife's health, which are not going to go away. 

 

The RGVJ directors have been assessing the rolling stock situation again, and progress is being made on the construction of the B&W boxcab diesel which has featured on these pages before. An order for further body parts is shortly to be placed with those excellent people at PPD, and some further progress is hoped for over the coming months. A rash purchase of a motorised inspection trolley from a railway in Austria will see the directors travelling the line in a bit more style shortly, with the vehicle currently in the paint shops. Pictures will be posted on completion. Next year will hopefully see more work on a couple of steam locos to complete the roster.

 

In the very short term though, Obbekær will be hitting the road for an appearance at the Portsmouth show on Saturday. We hope to see some of you there.