Hi All.

What is that saying about best laid plans.......!

In the run up to RMweb Live! and Ropley's first public appearance, I had hoped to increase the frequency of these blog entries to show some of the work being done to get the layout ready. It was always going to be exhibited as a work in progress, but events have somewhat overtaken the layout of late.

Sadly, last weekend we lost Dad after a 3 1/2 year battle with Myelofibrosis and latterly Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Obviously this hasn't left an awful amount of time for modelling in the past few weeks, but since then it has been a handy distraction and some progress has been made in one area I have being saying I will start for over a year now!

So, behold, the first fiddle yard board for Ropley!

Operating in line with the keep it simple approach to things, it is a fairly simple arrangement, with a traverser running on some drawer runners sourced from the web. I had the ply cut to the required dimensions by the local timber yard, which saved no end of time and trouble! A couple of coats of matt black paint later and we have something that Lockheed would be proud of!

All that remains now is to lay the 5 roads of easitrac and make up the alignment system, which will be nothing more elaborate than some brass section and tube. Operation of the traverser will be manual, as I don't believe it to be large enough to warrant some fancy all signing all dancing electrical operating method.

So, one down, one to go, and a whole 5 weeks in which to do it.......easy..................!

Tom.