One of the few good things about a wet Bank Holiday weekend, is the opportunity to get some modelling done! I've long been a fan of William Clarke's buildings, I think they have great proportions and just cry out to be modelled. Paul Karau's combined edition of "Great Western Branch Line Termini" contains a good drawing of Abbotsbury in 2mm scale so I used that as a starting point. I enlarged the plan using a photocopier to the required 7mm scale, I find it much easier to measure directly off
During the Newport show I had an interesting conversation with Ian Pope of Lightmoor Press who was exhibiting his collection of private owner wagons. I'm explained that I was interested in building some coal wagons for Sherton Abbas and would like them to depict coal merchants that were trading in the Somerset/Dorset area circa 1905. He recommended a book on the topic http://lightmoor.co.uk/books/private-owner-wagons-of-somerset/L9877 and said that he would do some research for me. True to his w
I think we can safely say that now we are in September the Summer is over and thoughts can once again return to modelling. My last blog entry was back in April, so an update is definitely due! I rarely do much modelling over the summer months, preferring to spend time on outdoor pursuits. The beast below is a major distraction from finishing the layout, but great fun all the same!:-)
Thunderbirds are go!
Despite the distractions provided by the joy of motorcycling, some progress has bee
It's been a long time coming, but after a lot of procrastination I've finally started laying the track for my branchline project. I bought some rubberised cork sheet from the C&L stand at the Bristol O gauge show back in January to use as a trackbed foundation, so the first step was to get that laid in the correct position on the baseboards. I cut the track plan into sections, so that I could use the pieces as a template to dictate where the cork had to go. I started by positioning the mainl
Before I could begin painting the signal box a number of detail components needed to be constructed. The gutter down pipes included in the kit were of course designed to fit a ground level type box so were no longer long enough to reach ground level. The pipes were extended by inserting sections of suitable diameter plastic rod between the moulded down pipe fittings included in the kit and then attached to the building using liquid poly. A name plate was made using 2mm Slaters Plastikard letteri
Now that the backscene is more or less complete I thought I'd position the flower beds onto the platform surface. Obviously tools are required when a bit of gardening is in the offing, fortunately in my bits box i had the following etch from Severn Models :-)
Severn Models etch
Once assembled using 188 solder paste I had the necessary equipment to enable a start to be made on the gardening project!
Finished tools
Before the beds were fixed in position I installed some fencing a
To complete the signalling on my layout I need something to control the exit of traffic from the exchange siding across the double slip. One route leads out onto the main and the other onto a short head shunt, so two arms would be required. I could have employed another twin arm siding signal similar to the one that controls the exit of the loop, but liked the idea of a ground signal to add a bit of variety. As my layout is set in Edwardian times it predates ground signals using discs to indicat
The grass work and hedgerows on the layout are nearing completion, but trees have so far been conspicuous by their absence! In between other projects on the layout I've been collecting materials to help with a bit of forestation :-) Although I've made a few 4mm trees in the past, I've never attempted something in 7mm scale and was initially a bit intimidated by the size of a scale tree. A hundred foot elm was a fairly common sight before Dutch Elm disease struck in the 1970s, so would not have b
I wanted to include a cattle dock and loading bay on the layout's back siding and decided to use the Skytrex kit as a starting point. The kit comprises of a resin base which has some nicely moulded brickwork embossed on the surface, along with a number of white metal castings. The posts and rails have to be individually measured and then cut to length, which unfortunately I found a fairly tedious process. Quite why the kit can't be designed with parts that are the right length is beyond me! If I
I’ve finally completed painting my pair of six wheel coaches which have been languishing on the work bench for far too long! Readers of this blog will know that coaches are definitely my nemesis, they always seem to take me forever to complete and these two have been no different! I’m taking Sherton to the York exhibition at the end of the month and that provided the enthusiasm to get them finished🙂
Diag V8 Passenger Brake Van
Diag U14 Is
The Stygian gloom that descends upon Sherton Abbas platform at nightfall has been a concern for sometime now. Complaints from passengers about the complete absence of platform lamps has been on the increase as nights are drawing in and Winter approaches. Rumours of "Ne'er-do-wells" lurking in the darkness abound, which although completely unfounded have proved unsettling for passengers of the fairer sex. The Sherton Abbas Chronicle has been stoking this discontent and shouts of "Something must b
I outlined the construction of one Parliamentary models wagonettes in a previous blog entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-18072-horse-drawn-wagon/ but have only recently got round to painting a horse to pull it. There then followed an enjoyable bit of research into how horses and carts were connected together. Equine harnesses, traces and reins are a lot more complex than I first thought, thank goodness railways didn’t employ anything similar to connect their wa
While looking around the internet I came across this picture of the restored gates at Tetbury station https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Restored_station_approach_road_gates_of_Tetbury_G.W.railway_station._-_geograph.org.uk_-_1527592.jpg and thought something similar might make a nice addition to Sherton Abbas station forecourt. I find cutting plastic card into perfectly parallel strips fairly tricky, so bought some assorted sized pre-cut strips at the Bristol O gauge show.
Evergreen st
During the Christmas break I managed to sneak the odd hour here and there to do a bit more work on the layout's landscaping. Progress is slow, but I'm pleased with the results so far. I've also painted the back scene boards with a few coats of white acrylic paint as a base colour before I make a start on the sky. There are a number of bits and pieces that I need for the layout, so I've been making a shopping list for the Bristol show next weekend:-) I think the Bristol show is probably my fa
As a bit of relief from pictures of grass and hedges, I thought I'd include a few pictures of actual trains!
I've also added a few images into my gallery http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/3811-train-spotting-at-sherton-abbas-september-1905/ which I hope people will like!
Best wishes
Dave
I've standardised on Slaters wheels for all my stock, I'm sure there are better ones out there, but Slaters are easily available, come in most sizes and have a consistent profile. I have heard that some people have found them to be prone to rusting and oxidation, I must be lucky as I've had no problems so far! I like to blacken my wheels chemically and find that I get a better finish by polishing the wheels before I apply the blackening solution. Carrs Metal Black for steel was applied using a c
Great Western Railway 18' 6" Diag W1 Cattle Trucks Built using Slater's Plastikard 7mm kits.
Great Western Railway Small cattle Truck Diag W3 Constructed from a Pow Sides models etched brass kit
I've recently spent some time laying the platform edging strips that were discussed in a previous blog entry. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-17632-diamond-embossed-edging-stones-platform-paraphernalia/
In order to make it easier to lay the tiles along my curved platform edge, I cut each edging strip into three pieces each approximately 50mm long. These sections were glued to the platform surface using rapid set epoxy resin. Although using epoxy resin may seem a b
As a bit of light relief from the rigours of ballasting which I'm glad to say I've almost finished, I decided to make a start on the retaining wall at the front of the layout. The retaining wall supports the earthworks that the exchange siding runs along and will eventually have water modelled running below it. The first decision was to decide what type of material such a retaining wall would most likely be made from. Initially I thought that a wall constructed from old sleepers might be possibl
I mentioned in my last blog entry that I thought a vegetable garden might add some interest to the foreground of the layout. I started by forming the soil texture using textured ceiling paint which was then painted an earth brown/grey colour using acrylics.
Earth texture
The plants were made from postiche hair covered in Greenscene ground foam and "leaves" from Polak. a framework was made for the runner beans using 0.6mm diameter plastic rod, painted to look like canes.
Plants
The boiler/firebox and smokebox sub assemblies had been temporarily fitted together with a brass screw to check their alignment. The footplate was also nearly complete apart from the front splashers, which can't be fitted until the boiler/smokebox have been fitted to the footplate.
Boiler/Firebox/Smokebox assembly and Footplate
The boiler assembly was checked for fit on the footplate, fortunately very little adjustment was needed to get the boiler to sit in the corect position. Once I
In between my plasticard dabblings I've made a start on my 7mm Dean Goods. I quite like having a couple of different projects on the go, when I've had enough of one, I can often muster up the enthusiasm to have a go at something else! As I enjoyed building the Martin Finney 2500 gallon tender kit, I decided to use a loco kit from the same manufacturer. The kit comprises of a number of Brass and Nickel Silver etched brass sheets, along with some very nice Brass and White Metal castings.
O.K. So here it is, my first 7mm point! Constructed using C & L plastic 2 bolt chairs, Nickel Silver rail and a Timbertracks B6 sleeper base. I also used a pre-soldered crossing vee and machined switchblades from the same supplier. The cost involved in buying pre made vees and switches is money well spent in my opinion, saving a lot of time laboriously filing and shaping lengths of rail. The machining seems very accurate and I found the switch rails sat really flush against the stock rail wi
I'm sure you all gathered from my last post that I was not entirely happy with my station building project. Although I'm happy to accept that the main building doors would have been an imposing 8' 6" tall, setting the right impression to the Victorian passenger, Im not so convinced about the Porters store room / Gents Toilet situation. Buffalo's information about Camerton's, (another William Clarke building) doors being 6' 6" for the store and 6' 9" for the toilet sounds far more likely in my
