From this point in my blog I am updating quite a bit as many changes to the way I wanted to progress took place. At the begining of 2020 I had to sort out a medical issue that took most of the year including recovery, but that's all behind me now and thankfully no permanent damage.

 

Whilst recovering I had a go at building some Metcalfe kits to pass the time, my thoughts were to use these as tempoary buildings until I could scratch build something better. I took at lot of time over these kits and thoroughly enjoyed making them. The first cottage I made had a fully detaied interior but I quickly learnt that this was a bit of a waste of time as when the model was placed on the layout you simply could'nt see the inside. Later models relied on the use of a "picture" interior lit from behind - these were easier to build and actually looked better from a distance than the first cottage. Below are a few pictures to show the system I ended up using:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are my completed models, many of them are on bases so that they can be built into the landscape - with my open frame system the bases make life easier. Lights are less "urgent" in real life!

 

 

 

I used some cast metal chimneys from S&D Models and doubt I'll ever use anything else in the future as they are superb and easy to paint up for a realistic look. I also replaced the chimney base and brick surround as I was not happy with the exposed joints. The lighting is on a sequencer to imitate day to evening use. Garden uses tea leaves for soil and Busch flowers, the static grass here was applied with my old Noch applicator, interesting to see the difference with the signal box which uses the new one (see below).

 

Next came the castle, I chose just to model the main hall as I do not have room for any more and we have a lot of castles like this in Northumberland and with this kit I now have two castles on my layout. I decided to add internal lights and a flickering fire effect, that led to me fitting a smoke unit as I have had a Seuthe unit in a draw for years. It is removable should it ever need replacing. The chimney cover was made by scanning the Metcalfe stone work and using the print to cover a card model I made from 1.5mm art board. 

I have added bases to all my buildings in order to make it easier to drop them into the layout, ground work will be blended in later. Each board also has sockets underneath so that lighting and effects can be easily plugged in or disconnected as necessary. The Northumberland flag was made from an image that I mirrored and then curved to represent the waving motion, this was then fitted to the plastic mast made from scraps. The window frames and stone toppings are all spray painted and weathered to help with the individual touch and the doors are changed using a modified image from the internet. I do most of my graphic work in either CorelDraw or PowerPoint. Some windows have images behind them that light up whilst others have Woodland Scenics defuse film which works very well, far better than tracing paper or grease proof paper that I have also tried. If you ever consider buying this - it looks expensive - be aware you get an awful lot, I don't think I'll need any more to complete my layout. The drain pipe at the front is made again from scrap plastic.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally for now my signal box, I really did add a lot of bits to this including roof tiles and the laser cut barge boards from York Model Rail, I did have some 1/76th barge boards but these were too big so those used are actually the N gauge versions but I think they look fine. I find the laser cut items are not cheap by any means but I do have lots left for some other models and they provide excellent detail difficult to achieve in any other way. I hope to buy my own laser cutter next year, bench top versions are getting better all the time and having used them for about 20 years in teaching I miss having the access to one. 3D printing is also something I miss but again they seem to get updated about every 6 months, I was hoping to see safer materials becoming available as I am interested in the resin printers for the fine detail they can produce. 

Moving on I also installed a ratio signal box interior kit, internal lighting and a Gaugemaster gas lamp. The figures - there is also one in the box, are repainted/weathered Bachmann figures. The external handrail is made from 10mm brass model boat stanchions with some 0.7mm brass wire handrail. The paving on all models is homemade using a "Greenstuff World" pavement roller which I use directly onto thin Styrofoam and then paint and drybrush. The gravel at the front is some old N gauge ballast from Fleischmann I had in my box of a hundred unknown things! Static grass was applied with my newly upgraded Noch device - I had the very early one which was fine for N gauge 1 or 2mm grass (a previous continental line) but I found it struggled with 4mm and not good for 6mm. I am delighted with the version 3.0 Pro which I managed to get in a very good sale in the new year, the static is so strong that you can "pull" the grass about once it has landed just using the applicator head.

 

The interior walls are also lined with wood planking and a wooden floor as so much can be seen with the large windows, I even added a track diagram from part of my layout plan although I think only I know it is there.

 

 

 

 

 

I was going to add more on my DCC wiring here but I think this entry is long enough so I'll save it for next time. I'm going to get back into the garage to continue track laying and will make sure I have my camera on the go! 

Bye for now

 

UPDATE!

And a couple more of the kits built that year. The goods shed has individual roof tiles cut using a stamp cutter from greenstuff world - I was pleased with the end result but it took forever, I think I'll go back to laser cut tiles like I used on the signal box, at least they are in strips, (York Modelmaking). The lights over the doors are working and there are also internal lights in the main building and the office. I changed the doors to green to fit in a little better with my LNER colour scheme. I scanned the doors sheet and inserted it into CorelDraw, my favourite 2D software, where I was able to trace the doors, add the colour and a little more detail. I then printed these onto archive paper and wrapped the original doors.

 

 

   

 

The Station Masters House

Just having some fun with the scenery around this one, I found the figures in my local model railway shop, J & J Models in Morpeth, they are by Woodland Scenics A1936 Wash Day Figures Set. Although HO scale I added a OO figure as the mother so that they look like children of various ages. I changed some of the colours too. All of these models will be blended in when on the layout as I add some different grass colours etc. What's shown is just the base coat of static grass. The daffs and heather are from WWS, very pleased with those, the oak tree is from Hornby which I received as a gift.

 

  

 

 

 

 

Bye for now!