Whilst at the Crawley show yesterday I spotted these on the 'Masterpiece Models' stand (he used to trade as 'Falcon Figures').
He's developing a new range of figures suited for the Victorian/Edwardian period - and these are just a few of them!
In 4mm (sold individually) -
- no prices unfortunately...
In 7mm - sold as seen (!)
- 'Mother & Daughter Walking (£8)
- Woman Scolding Child' £7.00
All figures are cast in lead-free pewter.
'Masterpiece Models' can
Having resolved (in my own mind) the issues surrounding area 'X', I decided to build it as a 'sub-model' just to make sure. Not only did it have an interesingt roof, the floor-plan was unusual also -
As I was 'backdating' the model it meant I could lose the 'glasshouse' visible in the prototype image from earlier. However, this meant there had to be a certain amount of conjecture over placement of the upper-floor windows. The wall-lines were fortunately visible at the roof, so I foll
As mentioned in the previous entry, I was having a problem regarding the layout of the area at 'X'. A very useful visit to the Farnham Museum gave access to the 11934 25" - 1 mile O.S. map -
This showed that '7a' West Street - seen to the left of the yard entrance in this view -
actually had a trapezoid plan.
Another 'site visit' (just down the road!) showed that the roof has various elements - a flat roof serving a roof-light over the main shop, with a 'catslide roof' (on
Having attended a very interesting and inspirational '2mm Association' AGM, it's time to put that inspiration to work... Currently I'm working from a set of photographic images, using 'known dimensions' to create scales etc for construction of the 'concept model'. What I AM missing is a good aerial image - preferably from the 1947-49 RAF photo recce series (I'm off to the local museum today in hopes of rectifying this).
So here's the 'ground plan' marked out on 6mm foam-board. Orient
Oh no not another blog entry...
Actually it's been about six months - been busy with the '2012 comp' (2entries) project managing the house refurb (still ongoing) and having a pacemaker fitted (ticking along nicely!).
So why this entry? A couple of weeks ago, as a break from architectural modelling (see the comp) I went and looked at some REAL buildings as part of Farnham's 'Heritage Weekend'. Ther I made the aquaintance of a leading local architect, & the subject of modelling came
Whats all this about? Believe me I have never been to a horserace in my life (sheltered upbringing & all that!). HOWEVER, with the proposed chages to 'Upton Dene' scalewise I now have to justify the presence of rakes of 'main line' coaches appearing at Ambridge ('Raceday Specials' etc)! It will also be a good excuse to get on with the 'D&S' horseboxes my wife bought me for Xmas... Might even consider upgrading the route to a 'Blue' route to allow the odd 'Manor' or 'Hall' to run!
Ive spent the last few days mulling over track plans for 'Upton Dene' station. Bearing in mind I want a range of facilities usually found at a secondary main line station (goods shed, cattle dock, coalyard etc) and transfer sidings/mileage yard to serve the branch, plus the branch bay itsel., I was a little worried by the available (12' x 6' 6") space. The maximum radii were never going to be greater than 3', and I felt that everything would look too cramped. I even considered modelling just
Where were we? Ah yes, waiting for the timber delivery...
The track panels havn't made their appearance yet (but neither has the timber!) - the thought of hand rivetting about 1000 sleepers made me wonder what happened to the rivet-closing tool I'd bought many years ago at an 'ExpoEM'. Still cannot find it! However a really useful list on 'GWR.org.uk' in the links section has provided the e-mail of the person that used to make them. I'm hoping he still does!
So I had to find another
This 'weekly update' is somewhat delayed - mainly by the inability of the timber merchants to deliver the ply on time - however, the time was not wasted - more later...
The last update mentioned the 'tea trolley' fiddleyard, designed to be moved into and out of the operating well to allow access. This has been constructed from 9mm birch ply (good quality & worth the wait). The deck is 5' x 2' and has 3" 'lead-in' at each end - the cassette length will therefor be 4'-6''..
The
I thought I'd probably make weekly updates for the foreseable future - there's a lot of other stuff going on - trying to move the old house (now 'sold STC') into the new whilst still decorating the new house etc!
There has been some progress - the testbed track has been basically laid - just got to solder up the secondary rivets (those that are on plain track..) However, the rivet method has one advantage when constructing a 9' straight switch per GWR practice.. In real life the heel of
This should be subtitled ' Reality Strikes'!
Those following this blog (and the entry in the 'layouts' forum) will remember the initial concept was for a series of dioramas depicting a Great Western secondary main line and an associated branch - the branch would leave the main and gain hieght (effectively on a helix) - mostly unscenicked - reaching the terminus at Ambridge via an intermediate station & various lineside industries. The concept was designed round the layouts original home
Best treatment for stress....
Once upon a long time ago I owned an 'Emco Unimate' - one of the 'real ones'. Unfortunately, with the advent of children it had to go (feeding the family was deemed more important)!
With retirement in the offing and a little spare money around - meet the new toy -
Its a tad bigger than the old Unimate - but does have one thing in common -
I NEED TO LEARN HOW TO USE IT!
Back to the instruction book/DVDs (didn't have those in the '70s!)
I
Well, the last entry on this blog series was some seven months ago, and life since then has been a real roller-coaster. Since losing Zoe's dad, we have found out that, for tax purposes - and to protect her should he have had to enter full-time care - Jim had put the house in her name. Unfortunately this was only done some three years ago (when Zoe's mum passed away) so she was not going to be fully protected vis a vis inheritance tax. She had maintained all along that she did not wish to move
Well, the inspiration for this build finally reached his 'safe harbour' early Friday evening. Rest in peace, Jim - you will be sorely missed.
So little work (obviously) in the last few days - however, the error has now been fixed, and the tender sits on it's wheels properly for the first time.
Hopefully, now the pressure is off I'll take more time reading the instructions...
Raymond James (Jim) Trim
2 Jan 1923 - 27 May 2011
Master Mariner
'Finished With Engines'
It's been a while since the last post - been spending most of the time backward & forward to hospital, visiting the inspiration for this build. Without being overly dramatic, I don't think Jim will see the finished loco. An added bugbear was looking out of the bedroom window after a period of wind to see the shed-roof felt protecting the lawn! Fortunately it didn't rain before I got it fixed.
So, on with the build. It looked to be mainly a case of detailing parts - and the first to g
Well, a royal wedding and the father-in-law in hospital - but progress has been made...
Friday night I 'tweaked' (another technical term) the tender flare misusing a pair of engineers clamps, then assembled the rear bufferbeam (overaly & backing). Soldering that in place led to a certain amount of headscratching. The instructions state something like 'solder the rear bufferbeam in place leaving a slight overhang' Slight overhang? How 'slight' is 'slight? Eventually, using drawings a
Something of a mixed weekend... The inspiration for this build took up a fair proportion of our time - memory loss & not eating properly/taking medication is taking its toll... However, I managed another 4 1/2 hours on the build.
At this point the modeller switches away from the running gear to building the basic bodyshell. The tank former also carries the coal plate brackets and these are thin sticky-up bits! Whilst the basic folds make up a neat box, the front and inner front sides
After a couple of days sorting out problems with various family members I managed to get a few hours to myself today.
I spent some time pondering the chassis issue (whether to separate or not) and perusing the building instructions, with some regret I've decided it's not really practicable. There is so much pipework etc that encases the wheels that to resolve it would mean iether cutting through the undergear at strategic points (in which case it would probably be very vulnerable to damage)
As usual I start with the tender. This is the 3000 gal variant - and thanks to CraigW on ths site I now have a very nice image of the loco & tender. Coupled with the images & drawing in 'Russell' and kind contributions from other lists (GWRSG & GWR- E-list) I now have quite an amount of information! The one thouht that occurs to me is - when a loco went to Swindon for (say) a heavy overhaul - did she come out with the same tender? seems inconceivable that the tender would sit aro
No - not a jingoistic outpouring, but a model being built in tribute to a very nice man - a true 'Brit' and an ex-master mariner to boot. Not only is Jim my father-in-law - he's also my uncle. Before anyone gets a banjo out, Zoe my wife had the good fortune (her words) to be adopted by my aunt & uncle. The reason for building this kit (a Martin Finney 'Bulldg') is explained in the last section (to date) on the MSWJR 4-4-0 build.
So now an appeal - if anyone has any photo's or reference
(an explanation of the tite follows shortly)
Progress today has centred on completing the axle bearings and starting the brake rodding.
The axle bearings went together easily enough once the jig had been sorted out. The hornblock guides being held in place by hair-clips whilst being tack-soldered'. I quite forgot another tip picked up from these forums - using a redundant 'Biro' spring to hold them in place.. Next time!
Next it was on to the brake-rodding - with some assembly tak
After an enforced layoff ( three contracts for windows - very nice) and the loss of my mum-in-law (b....y awful) it's nice to be back in the workshop modelling for myself (gerrynick - if you;re reading this I've not forgotten Hellingly's windows!). During the break I received a set of LRM axle jigs, so the next phase is the setting-up of the suspension units.
First, build the coupling rods! These are in two parts, both of which are reasonable thickness, so when sweated together do take on
Having resolved the issue with the tender chassis (the front mounting needs to include the tender drawbar, associated bushes & washers etc) it was time to move on to the loco frames.
The first comment (& one which had been pointed out to me by MSWJR on these forums) is the flimsiness of 12 thou brass compared to its nickel-silver counterpart. That said, I thought I'd be able to cope - and I did, just about... The frames are held together by four spacers, all different sizes & f
