Hi again, a few notes on progress. The cutting of the track bed shown on my last entry is now complete with all the edges having received a smooth edge courtesy of a 3mm rounding over bit in the router. I highly recommend this step as it has made the pieces comfortable and safe to handle. I did find using the Faller groove cutter a bit tedious as it kept overheating so I had to leave it to cool. Eventually the pin that goes through the blade broke - I've been onto Faller to see if I can get a spare part, if not its and expensive tool to go out of action in this way - I'll comment if Faller respond. (Note Faller came back to me and sent me a replacement free of charge - delighted!)

In the meantime I tried a couple of other methods to define the centre line of the track before removing the paper plan. Why sometimes do we miss the obvious? I had tried using a scalpel but found the cut was too fine - why I didn't think to move up to a stanley knife I don't know, anyway the fact is that the stanley knife worked a treat and all the remaining lines I wanted transferred to the ply were marked.

The paper plans are now removed and I have gone over all the marked lines with a pencil to make them easier to see. I finally added the last frame sections i.e. two front extension pieces shown below, they are simply bolted to the front of the lower and upper main frames. These allow a smoother transition in my line that crosses the viaduct.

So, I'm now ready to start installing the first track bed piece which is my underground return loop/storage siding shown here:

This is made from several parts of ply although the complete return loop section is one piece. I have tried to keep the joins away from changes in gradients where possible so that the transitions are as smooth as possible. 

I may have to leave this for a few days as I've really pushed on with the woodwork and fancy a break from it for now. I thought I'd take a look at the station building - I purchased the "Acklington" kit from Townstreet models some time ago and have been giving it some thought. As many have commented before the windows are a little on the thick side so I wanted to thin them down from the inside. I have found the castings to be very tough - try not to think plaster casting more stonecast type material. I want to illuminate all the buildings on my layout so have hollowed out even the solid buildings I have from Townstreet. 

At this point I'll update  this section - I mentioned in the first blog entry that I am a bit of a perfectionist, well this got the better of me here and I was just not happy with the detail of this building and the variations I found compared to the real Acklington. Don't get me wrong, the Townstreet models are very good and not sold as a replica of Acklington but I found the windows never quite looked right and modifying the building to look like the real Acklington station was difficult. Since this time I have also built some Metcalfe kits which again are excellent but all the time I was making compromises I was not happy with. Recently then I have decided to go the 3D printing route, I have upgraded my computer to handle SolidWorks at home and intend to purchase one of the large format resin printers towards the end of the year. Luckily for me having taught SolidWorks for about 15 years I have the knowledge to model whatever I need. Acklington Station is only a 5 minute drive from me and I will gather the information I need to build an accurate model - I'll cover this in a later blog entry.

I have assembled a Faller bridge kit which is sitting in primer awaiting some further painting and weathering - more on that later. I'm also giving some thought to the painting of some Noch walling, a viaduct and a castle that I have. The basic structure looks great but I need a sandstone finish to tie in with the local theme. I went with the viaduct as it bears an uncanny resemblance to Acklington Viaduct, the same low arch and basic stonework.

Here is a pic of the model, I actually have another two arches but they are seperate at the moment. I will be doing some work on the join under the arches before painting - the high density foam is easy to work with - had this not been available I had intended to model this in hard foam myself but will save this for the tunnel portals and further retaining walls which I will make. You can see the real Acklington viaduct here: https://www.bridgesonthetyne.co.uk/railviad.html

I think you will see the similarities. I hope to keep this build to a reasonable time scale (not including detailing) so if I can find a few helpful short cuts like this viaduct I am happy to take them. 

Until next time