Paul Lindsay-Scott

Lovely lining Peter. I haven't ventured beyond pressfix and methfix lining yet (as per my O2 tank) but despite all the best efforts of the MicroSol range, I still end up with boggly boiler band lining! Cheers Paul

New dates for 2013

For a little light diversion, and before I got my head round modelling chalk cuttings, I decided to have a go painting some of the figures of people (and dogs!) I have been collecting for a while, from all different sources, to bring a bit more life to Brookford. Looking at some wargaming sites recently has made me realise my figure painting techniques stopped developing at about age ten! Recently, I did a bit of surfing which led me to various websites with some good "how to" descriptions and illustrations. The idea is that you start with the figure black, as in no light falling on it. You then think about where the light is coming from (usually above) and dry brush "light" onto the figure where it would fall, by dry brushing white onto the higher areas, downwards, so that when you look at the figure from above, there is a preponderance of white, and from below, a preponderance of black. When very dry, you apply thin washed of translucent colour, so that the shadows and highlights start to emerge, all in the appropriate colour. So you don't paint shadows on, they're already there, in the creases, in the folds, under the chin, between the fingers and so on. Anyway I'll try and show you what I mean. It's all about shadow, so here goes, with the black underneath everything else, and a start made on the flesh parts: Notice Jethro at the rear, painted using my previous technique - he can remain as he is for now as the "control". Here they are with a bit more work on the flesh and the white dry brush to help accentuate the features and the shadows. I hope this works! It took a while to get that hair off his nose with very fine tweezers! Bear in mind his face is about 3mm from chin to brow. Then I managed to get a first coat of colour wash on a few of the figures. I started on the facial expression on the guy in the middle, but it was bed time before I got to start on the other two. Lots more to do, all the touching in of over-painting etc etc, plus several more washes to get the shading and the reflected light better, but I think that the foundation of the black primer then the white dry brushing at the beginning may prove to be a satisfactory way to go. I had a go at a couple more figures - the tractor driver and the mother and child and this is how they ended up so far: I had started off adding colour to the white dry brushed areas: I'm not sure why he looks so glum! Then I added more colour wash over the new colour when it had dried, as well as most of the black shadow areas: The paint wasn’t dry when I took some of those - they are mostly matt finish. It took me about two hours to do those two. That’s these two pretty much finished. I think it looks like a paternity suit in the offing! Here are some more, using the same techniques: Just the crew of the O2 class 0-4-4T to do next. Cheers, Paul

I've started another blog about the grass, called, wait for it, "Brookford Grass".

In response to queries about the techniques used on Brookford to do the grass and so on, here is a brief description. I used a home made fly-swat/tea-strainer to start with. I have always been a great proponent of the home made tea strainer job, to the extent of boring people rigid (!) about it. This is mine: The loco warning label is because of experience of frying DCC decoders if a loco is on the layout anywhere when using an electrostatic grass machine. Don't ask. This produced results like this: All this grass was done with it, although I didn't have any of the longer fibres back then: I did think that painting on a second or third application of PVA glue would just flatten the first layer of grass, but after some experimentation I have found that it doesn’t. I assumed that covering the first application with more PVA would gum it all together and it would look awful. So I tried spray on 3M craft mount, which seems to be like thin spray-on Evo Stick type glue. It works well, but i found that gums up the fibres too much. So I tried another recommended way, using hair spray. That worked ok, didn't gum it up too much, but one brush with a passing hand, and half the fibres fell off. Which is ok if you’re a horse. Anyway, I was reading something somewhere which said that wetting the previously done area is what is important to maintain the effectiveness of the electrostatic bit - you need conductivity. So taking that logic a step further, after I had hoovered it, I tried brushing water over the whole area of grass that had dried (with a 2" domestic gloss brush) to moisten it, then went over with diluted PVA, about the consistency of milk, not as thick as single cream, on the basis that each fibre doesn't need a huge amount of "stick" to stay where it is. So that's where I've got to so far. Later I borrowed a Noch Grass Master 2 to do the extensive areas required for my narrow gauge extension. It has an eight foot long and six inch wide incline leading to the micro layout bit, all of which is set in grass Downland. So I was pleased to have the chance to use the GM and try it out. This shows another area - the incline up to the higher level baseboard where the cutting is - after the first application with the Noch GM. It would have taken a great deal longer with my trusty tea strainer! Here are some of the fibres I used, mostly MiniNatur and Noch. The top ones are 12mm long and are ideal for 7mm/ft. This is after a number of applications and added detailing. The flowers and so on are just various bits picked up from different ranges at model shops and exhibitions. I went and photographed the Hampshire Downs last summer to get an idea of texture and density of different plants etc. Lots on the internet too about what plants grow on chalk downland. The chalk in the cutting is chalk I picked up on the field trips. Here I am using a hair trimmer to make a path once it was all dry: I certainly found that I could get a greater density with the GM, using five different colour and length fibres all mixed in different proportions for each application. So I would say that you can achieve good results with a £5 homemade tea strainer, but for sheer volume and time saving for large areas, as well as the using the nozzle for very localised application the £120 Noch GM2 is very good indeed. (Usual disclaimers, and thank for the loan, mate!) But I didn't do the whole area on subsequent applications, I just did random patches, then I did even smaller areas, using the same technique but using the nozzle. And then I started adding "finger rolled" bits, having placed a blob of PVA where I wanted it. Letting it dry, and hoovering it, using a stiff brush in between each episode! So, the Noch GM is a great bit of kit, especially for large areas and long fibres, and is just the sort of thing clubs should buy for their members to use.

A new arrival at Brookford station from the works - an old favourite class of loco for me, which I first saw on the Isle of Wight on a boyhood trip with my brother around fifty years ago. Adams O2 arrives at Brookford station by P L S, on Flickr Adams O2 Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight by P L S, on Flickr I used to develop and print my own photos as a teenager, with heavy curtains in my bedroom and a Keep Out notice on my door. I obviously left this print in the fixer too long and failed to rinse is adequately, but it certainly looks old! Obviously it's a different loco, and fitted with Westinghouse pump and reservoir as well as enlarged coal bunker, but otherwise pretty much the same as its mainland cousins, as ran on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway. Like No 234, which found its way to Brookford after the latter line closed, having found glory starring in "Oh, Mr Porter!" and earlier, "The Wrecker". Adams O2 class arrives at Brookford by P L S, on Flickr Still a bit more work to do on the painting and weathering, plus a decision of whether to varnish over the weathering, which is all Caran D'Ache water soluble crayon drawn or washed on, to protect it or not. The danger is that of losing the variation in surface textures of the different areas. Against the danger of the weathering coming off with handling. Difficult. Adams O2 joins Hudswell Clarke at the coaling stage by P L S, on Flickr Earlier post, last week I think: New loco at Brookford by P L S, on Flickr New photographic backscenes and a contractors' two foot gauge line modelled in O14 have been two of the major changes to Brookford since I first posted here about the layout, in the text and pictures further down. Plus, of course, the arrival of a standard gauge tank engine in the form of an Adams O2 class 0-4-4T, as used on the prototype Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway, from which the imaginary Brookford draws much of its inspiration, along with the Mid Suffolk Light Railway. This loco was recently purchased in need of a little TLC, and 're-branding' from 1960s Isle of Wight British Railways to 1930s Brookford Southern Railway. It runs beautifully, the chassis built by Ian McGibbon with fixed driven front axle, sprung coupled axle and compensation beam to sprung bogie mounting, with micro plunger pickups on the driving wheels. A DCC LokSound decoder from SouthWestern Digital has been installed. Brookford Simplex at Beaconsfield by P L S, on Flickr The O14 Simplex also runs well, but I have left the narrow gauge to run on DC, as there is little room for adequate sound, and there seem few benefits in DCC on an end-to-end line with but one point and one loco in operation. Grass by P L S, on Flickr Experiments with grass and foliage have followed. Brookford platform by P L S, on Flickr The Earl of Brookford with his trusty Lab, use the station regularly, accompanied by the Countess and her maid, while the senior porter seems unfazed by the auspicious company. And as for the chauffeur, chauffeur by P L S, on Flickr Figure painting has been an enjoyable diversion. Brookford dog walk by P L S, on Flickr And building stock for the narrow gauge contractor's line has been a new departure. Brookford Hudswell Clarke by P L S, on Flickr Snapseed by P L S, on Flickr Brookford is due at Farnham District MRC O Gauge open day on Monday 6 May, at Chatham on 15/16 June and Cardiff on 19/20 October 2013. An article about the layout is also due in Model Rail magazine in the not too distant future. ORIGINAL POST FROM MARCH 2012: Sunrise at Brookford by P L S, on Flickr Hello. I have recently started to take my O gauge DCC layout Brookford to exhibitions, although there's a great deal more to do on the model. Brookford is an imaginary location on the Hampshire/Suffolk border, with leanings towards the ex-LSWR Southern Railway. It depicts an era from the late 1930s to the late 1950s, depending on what stock I feel like running. Shed yard by P L S, on Flickr BACKGROUND The Brookford & South Western Junction Railway was incorporated in 1901 and built in the first decade of the twentieth century under the Light Railways Act 1896, and was initially operated independently. One of the original directors involved in establishing the line had previous experience on other light railways including the Mid Suffolk Light Railway (the ‘Middy’), another on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway. Another founding director had close social and sporting connections with directors of other railway companies and had the knack of persuading them to offer stock and equipment for purchase at reasonable prices. It is rumoured that the presence of an autocoach originally built for the GWR on the stock list was the result of a sporting bet. The ex-GER Worsdell Y14 0-6-0, no 513, one of many that returned from service in France and Belgium during the Great War, was withdrawn in 1920 by the GER due to excessive damage. It was believed to have been scrapped, however in the mid 1920's the locomotive was seen at Brookford, in use on occasional Engineers duties on the line, its presence no doubt the result of another deal. It’s sister locos formed the J-15 LNER class which lasted into 1950’s on the Middy. Some say it was taken into BR stock as No 65454, but this is incorrect. The line's locomotive facilities, turntable and engineering depot are also at Brookford station, effectively the headquarters of the line. However, a one and three quarter mile siding did in fact originally continue past the goods shed to the site of a military training camp located on the Downs nearby. The line always failed to show a profit as many of the stations were sited miles from the communities they were meant to serve. The Southern Railway was reluctant to take the line on at the Grouping, and throughout the 1930's used every legal loophole to avoid doing so, during which time a limited service continued. Occasionally, however, special trains between Southampton and Victoria serving the Imperial Airways worldwide Clipper flying boat service were routed through Brookford, with Pullman cars for the wealthy passengers, in stark contrast to the ex-LBSC Stroudley six-wheelers the locals were used to on the line. From 1939 War Department traffic once more kept the line busy but ordinary traffic was suspended. Following the evacuation from Dunkirk, the army camp was used to receive thousands of troops brought from Dover and Folkestone over the Southern Railway in Operation Dynamo. One locomotive used on such duties was Adams T3 class 4-4-0 No 571 which runs on the layout, and was depicted fresh out of paintshops on the front cover of the October 2011 edition of the Railway Modeller magazine, running on Weydon Road, the Farnham and District MRC's exhibition layout. It’s looking a bit more weathered now. The records show that this loco was withdrawn in 1943 and subsequently cut up, but in fact it was taken into use on the Brookford line without ever changing it’s SR livery. No 571 on the turntable by P L S, on Flickr THE MODEL Brookford station buildings are based on those on the Middy, with the loco shed from Laxfield. The goods shed (originally a model built by Bill Hunt) is from Lambourne. The station also stables the line’s breakdown train, based loosely on the 15 ton Cowan Sheldon crane used by many lines from pre-grouping times onwards. An illustrated feature on the building of this model appeared in the July 2011 edition of the Railway Modeller magazine. Future projects include a weedkiller train, an Adams O2 0-4-4T loco plus a two foot gauge feeder line in O14, bringing aggregates to an exchange siding, hauled by various motive power, some of which was first used on the Western Front in the First World War. I'm still pondering on where to have the 2-foot gauge track installed - probably just lightly laid track panels as per the prototype. Cheers for now Paul Adams Radial tank No 3125 arrives with the local by P L S, on Flickr Thanks to Matthew Cousins for this photo of his loco visiting Brookford at a recent exhibition at Tonbridge.

Image by P L S, on Flickr The loco shed has had another go today - chimneys and doors are on. The chimneys were made from 60 thou plasticard, with lead flashing: The lead flashing has been painted, having had a look round local buildings to see how it weathers. And the whole thing has been weathered, especially the roof, which of course is the main part of the model to be seen. Image by P L S, on Flickr So it's off the the Railway Enthusiasts Club, Farnborough with it, to check on installation on the new 7mm layout, "Netherley". Cheers for now,

The O14 narrow gauge is now operating on Brookford - two foot gauge, currently running with a Simplex diesel (a Nigel Lawson etched brass kit with a cab added) and KBScale tippers. The KBScale Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0 well tank etched brass kit is now under construction, but may take a little time.

That's very kind. I must say it was a bit daunting to hack into the scenery to lay the narrow gauge track ! I used a Dremel with a cutting disk to cut through the modrock cleanly, but of course that covered everything with dust desppite the hoover nozzle nearby. So re-doing the scenic treatment around the new track was important so that it looked as though it had always been there. But I have found that the more times you add different textures and colours, and remove bits and add bits, the more natural variety you get, random just like in real life! Also the grass benefits from subsequent applications with spray glue or matt varnish as the adhesive.

Thank you. There are more pictures of the loco and the rest of the layout, including the previous loco shed that I built, in My Gallery Albums "Brookford" - there's a link on the right hand side. Plus there's a bit more blurb about Brookford in the other entries in this topic.

Image by P L S, on Flickr I've been building a loco shed for the new exhibition 7mm layout my local club is building. Since I am using the same techniques as I used to build the one for my layout Brookford, I thought I'd share what I'd learnt so far. The frame is built from square section obechi. I drilled and pinned the main joints for strength having glued them first with wood glue. Image by P L S, on Flickr I made the wooden cladding from beech veneer which I found on line. Two offcuts seven feet long, six inches wide of 0.6mm thick veneer cost £7, one pound a square foot. I cut 6mm strips and glued them on the frame, holding them in place while they dried with the stainless steel hair clips which are so useful for holding etched brass laminations together to solder them. Image by P L S, on Flickr That's some of the veneer in the background. Then I made the roof out of heavy card on a timber frame, with thin cards strips, overlapping, cut to represent the tiles. There is a good website listing the prototypical slate sizes used over the years with their names. These are wide Princess size. But my attempt at ridge tiles was not good enough, they're very uneven. Image by P L S, on Flickr The bit of frame across the entrance is a redundant strengthener to keep the whole thing square and secure during construction - the shed I built for Brookford got damaged a couple of times getting caught on things. So to replace the ridge tiles, I cut them off and made lead flashing in their place. I used old toothpaste tubes made of thin lead, cut into scale three foot squares. They nailed a three inch wooden pole along the ridge and then put lead flashing over it, overlapping each sheet. Image by P L S, on Flickr Image by P L S, on Flickr The result was an improvement when the resulting pieces of lead were glued on. Image by P L S, on Flickr So then it was out to the paint shops for a first coat for the woodwork - first white inside, then silvery-grey for the weathered planking, slate grey for the roof. Image by P L S, on Flickr The first weathering consisted of some soot inside. Image by P L S, on Flickr Then it was on to the patent model drying device till it's time for cooking to start! Image by P L S, on Flickr I'm pleased with it, but none of the techniques are complicated. Some of it's laborious because there are a lot of planks, windows and tiles etc, so it takes time, that's all. The reason I agreed to post stuff on here was to encourage people to try things out, making things themselves. Especially as it tends to cost less, and gives greater satisfaction. Windows next, using a CD case for clear plastic. Cut to size, with variations to allow for variations in the window openings - my micro-carpentry isn't all that accurate ! Image by P L S, on Flickr The window bars are just scored on - they will pick up weathering powders later and look ok. All the other ways I've tried look over scale, bodgy or are far too demanding. Windows are fixed after fitting and blacking the edges with a felt tip pen, using superglue applied with a point to save it going all over the 'glass'. Image by P L S, on Flickr Without any weathering yet, the result is ok. Image by P L S, on Flickr Next it's on to guttering and down pipes - just plastic strip and shapes. Image by P L S, on Flickr Yes, the window bars are too light in 7mm, but looking at photos of engine sheds, they don't often stand out. The three foot rule applies here - they don't look too good close up, but they do give a visual hint of something when viewed from normal viewing distance, and I think they look better than over-hefty ones. So often modelling is about giving an idea, a hint, of something rather than an exact miniaturisation of it. No doubt someone sells lovely etched brass window bars. If you do score the the CD plastic, don't be tempted to score the bars on a whole sheet of windows before snapping the window shapes out - not many snap on the right score-lines if you see what I mean. Hence the double-sided sticky tape to hold the ready cut-out windows while you score the bars. Then the only problem is getting the sticky off ! So the shed now has guttering etc. Image by P L S, on Flickr And I recycled a crew room bashed from an earlier plastic loco shed kit, built onto the end of the nineteenth century wooden loco shed when the GWR took over the line. Image by P L S, on Flickr The garden table is bent, by the way! Jethro isn't quite sure about the facilities yet. Image by P L S, on Flickr The design brief was for a shed that would take a Black Five (but not a Castle ! ) so it's 18" long. Just the doors with their hinges, plus the chimeys to do now, as well as interior detailing, lighting and overall weathering. The total cost so far is less than £10. By the way it's based loosely on Fairford loco shed but with the track in the centre, not offset. Fairford MPD 27.7.66 by kal.917, on Flickr Lovely picture! Thanks to kal.917. The shed I built for Brookford is based on that at Laxfield. Cheers for now, Paul