I've finished painting and lining my Dean Goods, but it needs a final coat of satin varnish and some number plates before its ready for viewing on the blog. While I've been waiting for the various coats of paint to dry, I've made a start on building the baseboards for my proposed Edwardian, GWR, branch line terminus. As a reminder of what I'm trying to build, here's a picture of my 1/7th scale foam and cardboard mock up.
Mock up
The layout will fit along one wall of my workshop and com
Well it’s only taken 3 years, but the procrastination is over and I’ve finally finished my D14 brake 3rd! There are no real excuses as to why it’s taken so long, I could say other projects have taken precedence, or “life has got in the way”, but the reality is I just struggle with motivation when it comes to coaches! I find it it easy to get enthusiastic about building a new locomotive and freight wagons are reasonably quick to build, but coaches just seem to take me forever.
I’m pl
I've finally got round to finishing my D & S etched brass horsebox. Its been on the list of "things to do" since I last published pictures of the finished build back in June. It was primed using an aerosol can of Clostermann acid etch primer, before using an airbrush to spray the enamel top coat. Lettering and numbering were applied using HMRS transfers and the wagon was glazed using off cuts from a box of chocolates ("you spoil us ambassador!")
All in all, I'm pleased with
Well it’s been 3 days since the Uckfield show and my knees have finally recovered from standing for two days and grubbing around under baseboards during set up😀 The layout behaved it’s self and despite the fact that I can either talk to the public or operate the layout, but can’t do both at the same time everything went to plan!
I collected the hire van at 10.00am on the Friday morning and with the help of my pal and master fiddleyard operator Roger the van was loaded with the layout
No not Sherton Abbas, but me! After more than 30 years of teaching Dental students the delights of "Fixed and Removeable Prosthodontics", I’m now a gentleman of leisure😀 Now you would think that would result in a flurry of modelling activity, but I’m afraid Mrs Wenlock has other ideas. There appears to be a list of projects and jobs that have in her words “Just been waiting for you to have time to do them”, that she has been creating for the past couple of years! I’ve managed to finish constr
I usually take pictures of the layout using my iPad, but thought I'd have a go using a compact camera for a change. I've had a Panasonic Lumix https://www.panasonic.com/uk/support/discontinued-products/cameras-camcorders/dmc-tz60eb.html for a few years now, that I use on motorcycle trips and for general photography. Although generally happy with the results that I get from it, the smallest f stop that it will go down too is F8 and I thought this would cause problems with depth of field on mod
Since my last blog entry I've been beavering away fitting the Plaster of Paris paving sections onto the platform substructure. The fact that the platform is set on a gradual curve meant that the front edge of each section needed to be sanded carefully so that it would fit neatly against the edging stones. Once sanded the individual sections were fixed in position using PVA wood working glue which allowed for a bit of fine tuning of the sections position before the glue set.
Plaster tiles bei
The snows have melted and spring has definitely sprung at Sherton Abbas! I've thought for a while that although there are plenty of trees at either end of the layout, the centre is looks somewhat sparse.
Centre section of the layout
I made some more trees using wire armatures, artex powder, postiche and Greenscene scatters as outlined in a previous blog entry https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/17699-trees/
These w
Well its been a long time coming, but life is beginning to return to some kind of normality after the Covid 19 crisis! I've had my three jabs, caught the retched virus and recovered, so hopefully I'm full to the brim with antibodies I've really missed going to shows both as a spectator and as an exhibitor, so knowing that exhibitions are once again possible is very pleasing! I've definitely suffered a lack of modelling motivation over the last year, exhibition deadlines are great way of reki
I find it much easier to paint coach sides "in the flat" rather than when the coach is fully assembled. This is obviously impossible with etched brass kits, soldering painted sides would be a challenge, however with plastic kits it's not a problem. The Slater's sides come in two halves which have to be joined, fortunately the Guard's ducket helps hide any join line. I think it looks more realistic if coaches have a few windows open, so micro strip was used to represent the top of the dropligh
Well just under 5 years since I started this blog here we are with the 100th entry! :-) I've been conscious for a while that although the layout is adequately lit by my workshop lights, it could really do with its own dedicated lighting. The layout has got its first showing at the RMweb Members day in Taunton on the 30th of April http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/120694-swag-2017-lineup-details-catering-all-you-need-to-know/?hl=%2Bswag+%2B2017 so I thought I'd better get somethin
I've been meaning to fix my station building in position on the platform for a while now, unsightly gaps around the base of model buildings are one of my pet hates and spoil any illusion of reality in a modelled scene. William Clarke station buildings have quite large windows and these allow a lot of light into the waiting rooms which I'm sure was much appreciated by the passengers, but in my model just showed up the lack of interior detail! Something need to be done to resolve this before the b
I outlined the construction of the forecourt gates in a previous blog entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-18977-signs-gates/ , these have now been installed on the layout. 5 minute epoxy resin was used to fix the posts into position and then various scatters and fibres from the Green scene range were used to blend them into the landscape.
Forecourt gates in position on layout
I'd always planned that the exit of the private siding from the layout would be m
Well there's not been any progress on the signal front or much other modelling come to that! At the beginning of August on my way to work, a half asleep motorist pulled out of a side turning and knocked me of my motorcycle. He was very apologetic, a classic case of "I'm sorry I didn't see you mate!" I suppose I should be grateful that he was insured and has accepted liability, but the upshot is he's b#ggered my Summer! The bike's a right mess, but at least it can be repaired. I've been left w
I’m pleased to say that Sherton Abbas has returned unscathed from its outing to the Cardiff Model Railway show. Many thanks to chaps from the Cardiff EM gang who collected the layout in a van that they had hired and helped me install the layout at the show. Apart from the RMweb members day earlier in the year this was the layout’s first public showing. It was good to be able to set the layout up on the Friday evening, far less stressful than rushing about on the morning of the show! My friends A
The uncharacteristic sunny skies above Wales this Summer have meant little time has been spent modelling, motorcycling and other outdoor pursuits have taken precedence. I have however managed to finish the coal yard scene that I started in the previous blog entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-20890-coal/ back in the middle of May! As Stubby pointed out the ground around the coal heaps looked a bit too clean, so coal dust and artists pastels were used to blend the co
Autumn is here, the nights are drawing in and thoughts once again turn to modelling!:-) As I mentioned in a previous blog entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-20890-coal/ I've planned on building some private owner coal wagons for Sherton Abbas and now the layout is more or less complete the time has come to make a start. I wanted to represent wagons that would have been running in the Somerset / Dorset area circa 1905 and found the information contained in this book
I'm glad to say that laying the track work has almost been completed! The back siding still needs to have its other rail installed, but as I've run out of C&L's plastic chairs, it will have to wait. I've placed the station building and goods shed in roughly the position they'll be on the layout, in an attempt to help keep my enthusiasm going during wiring! I want the private siding to look as if it's been laid with less care than the G.W.R. track, so I've introduced a few direction changes a
Thanks to a timely intervention by Buffalo who pointed out my error in assuming that my track should be built from 60 foot panels http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-13638-track-laying-part-2/ , a slight rethink was nessessary! My project is set in 1905 and as 60 foot track panels didn't come into existance on the Great Western Railway until 1929, this length would be completely inappropriate for my layout. Thirty two foot rail sections first appeared on main lines in the
The air temperature in Sherton Abbas has been plummeting over the last few days. A winter like this hasn't been seen since the mid 1890's when the Queen was still on the throne. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_1894%E2%80%9395_in_the_United_Kingdom More snow has been forecast to fall this evening and reports are coming in of heavy drifting further North.
Despite this bone chilling weather, passengers are arriving at the station in the hope that trains are still running and t
At long last the time has come to make a start on the scenic side of my layout. The last time I built a layout was in the early 1990s and Barry Norman's excellent book on landscape modelling http://www.amazon.co.uk/Landscape-Modelling-Barry-Norman/dp/0906867444 was recommending the use of lint bandage to simulate grass. Hours of fun was had dying bandage green and then gently laying it on a bed of PVA glue, before ripping off the backing once it had all set. Although this technique worked well,
In my quest to add variety to the stock appearing at Sherton Abbas, I've treated myself to a couple of Midland wagon kits from Slater's Plastikard. https://www.slatersplastikard.com/linePage.php?code=7030 and https://www.slatersplastikard.com/linePage.php?code=7029
I built the kits in exactly the way that the instructions suggest, so rather than give a blow by blow account of the construction, here's a picture of the completed wagon
Midland 8 Ton 3 plank drop side wag
Before I can finalise the height of the backscene at the point where it curves around the front of the layout, I need to work out the contour of the landscape in this area. During the planning stage of the layout http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-9648-mock-up-completed/, I decided to have a twin arch road bridge that would act as a view blocker between the off stage area and the main layout. The height of this bridge will dictate the profile of the land around it, so be
I've spent the last weeks modelling time building my first 7mm point. It's being constructed using C & L components along with their timbertracks sleeper bases. I'm using 31.5mm gauges, supplied by Debs and really like appearance of the reduced flangeways on the point. Its not finished quite yet, but my test wagon seems to trundle through O.K. so, so far so good! I'll post some pics of the finished result when i get there.
Since its been over a week since I've posted anything, he
