The Concept?

So now you've read the inspiration and learnt a little history. Logically I should share the concept before I get into the murky depths of random modelling blog posts!

I have an Ikea book shelf in my study. For a long time I've pondered about building a little diarama to sit on it - originally thinking OO and using it as a photo plank. I'm not quite sure what kicked off the interest in the MSC really, but this little foray in to P4 seemed to fit on the shelf top without having to worry about the physical size of my other P4 project (Rose Hill). The track plan is really simple and something I've had in mind for a while, combining one point with a sector plate and cassette/traverser.

Note the hidden sidings shown in the second plan (on the left of the scenic section) will not exist as the shed will feature a fully detailed interior

Complications

A little quandry comes from the fact that it fits perfectly within the realm of the 2010 Challenge!! It even has five new elements for me (P4, track construction, point construction, etched kit construction and aiming to finish something!). Whether or now I swap my entry will depend on progress on this and Rose Hill in the coming weeks.

A further complication is that with a little tweaking to the planned size the layout would fit within the S4 Society's Armchair challenge!

Future Expansion

One thing I am concious of at this stage is the opportunity for future expansion and with this in mind I'll be building the baseboards using decent alignment dowels - despite currently only planning a simple set of fiddleyards. Current thinking is that with a little more space I could model the exchange sidings with BR, off to the right of the plan (instead of the sector plate) and further again I could build a fiddleyard off the back left track and a further scenic expansion off the front left track, perhaps serving another refinery. Still following me? Good. I'm not crazy then! Questions, comments, support and more information always welcomed