Well I'm pleased to say that the last signal has been installed on the layout. Once again I used one of Jurassic Models socket and servo mounts to install the signal onto the baseboard and a GF controls module to control the movement of the signal arms. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-15869-signals-for-sherton-abbas-part-3-the-bouncing-arms/
There's a considerable amount of "gubbins" required underneath the baseboard to control the signal arms, but the use of the
While I was at the Telford O gauge guild show last year I spotted some rather nice horse drawn wagons. They were manufactured by a company called Parliamentary trains http://www.parlytrains.co.uk/page10.html who specialize in early LNWR stock, but also do horse drawn road vehicles. I bought examples of their "One horse wagonnette" and their "One horse Brougham" thinking they would look good positioned in the station forecourt at Sherton Abbas. As an aside to working on the main layout I decided
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
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
I thought the building was progressing along nicely, I still needed to sand down the quoins to get them flush with the brickwork, but that apart I was fairly happy with it. All was well until I decided to place a figure in front of the building, it was at that point when doubts started to set in!
The figure is 41mm tall, which works out at around 5' 11" in 7mm scale, a fairly decent height for a chap in the Edwardian period. He appears to be dwarfed by the doorway as can be seen in the pho
I've finally got round to finishing my cordon. Although it looked reasonably complete in the last entry, there was a surprising amount of fiddly detail still to fit. The pipe work certainly tested my patience on occasion, forming four similar shaped curved gas filler pipes was particularly challenging! In the end it all went well, despite some fairly dodgy looking white metal castings that needed a lot of cleaning up and shaping.
Finished wagon ready for paint The brass surface was then p
Now the Christmas festivities are long gone and life is settling back down into some kind of normality, I've managed to find some time to do a bit more work on the Cordon. With the cylinders, supports and decking completed the next step was to make a start on the chassis and underframe. The underframe and W irons are formed from one piece of brass sheet that has half etched lines to assist folding accurately
Underframe and W irons
The component was folded up and solder was used to str
I like to have a number of different projects on the go to ensure that once I've had enough of a particular aspect of modelling then there's always something else to get on with! I've found there's a limit to how much enjoyment can be had glueing static grass fibres to my layout, so decided a bit of soldering was in order! :-) Sherton Abbas station platform will be lit by representations of gas lamps, so a regular supply of gas would be needed to supply these. In the period that I'm modelling th
During the Cardiff model railway show back in October 2019, I treated myself to a couple of six wheel coaches from Dragon Models. http://www.taffvale.wales/page1.php Although I thoroughly enjoy building locomotives and wagons, I always find building coaches a bit of a slog and consequently haven't got many to use on Sherton Abbas My entire passenger stock comprises of three Slater's 4 wheel coaches, a solitary Slater's all 3rd bogie clerestory and an etched brass V2 passenger brake van. I'm
Well it's been a long time coming, but I've finally completed building another coach! I finished the V9 back in November, so this one's construction has hardly been at a lightning pace The build follows more or less exactly the same methods as the V9, but with the added faff of having to detail the interior of the compartments. I used seat mouldings from Slater's Plastikard and plan to add some scratch built picture frames and mirrors along with a few Edwardian passengers, once the painting h
I've wanted to model a Great Western Railway wagon bearing the cast number plates for some time now, but have always been put off by the lack of commercially available plates. While I was exhibiting Sherton Abbas at the Telford O gauge Guild show I met Graham Beare (Western Star) and Chris Brown (Chrisbr) who had been doing research into which wagons carried the cast plates. Chris also mentioned that he was in the process of drawing artwork with a view to getting some 7mm scale plates etched i
Built from a Slaters Plastikard kit, with the addition of some white metal milk churns. I can't remember who made the churns, but the Slaters kit went together beautifully! I really like non passenger brown vehicles, so I'm planning on building a number more for my GWR Edwardian branch line.
I'm still busy beavering away building points for the project, I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy it, but it's turned out to be very satisfying. Each one is taking about a week of model
Just a quick post to thank those who came to see the layout at Guildex in Telford last weekend. It was pleasure to meet everyone, Al and I enjoyed the event immensely It was a really well organised show, being able to drive the hire van right to the space allocated for the layout almost made setting up the boards a pleasure! So much easier on the knees than having to carry the boards across the exhibition hall
The layout behaved itself all weekend and it was good to be able to ope
The first post, in what will I hope be a record of progress made on my proposed layout Not sure how fast the progress will be, but I'm sure I'll have fun doing it!
This is one of a rake of coaches that I have built to represent a branch line train as running circa 1905. It was constructed from a Slaters Plastikard kit and is to 7mm scale. I added additional detail, including suitable period figures, mirrors and advertisements to the interior compartments. The model was sprayed using my Iwata airbrush with enamel paint and then lined using a Bob Moore pen. Best described as a labour of love, the lining took me ages, but despite a few choice words during it'
One of the loco's I have built for my proposed Edwardian GWR layout. Constructed using a Zero Zephers kit, with additional detail and running on Slaters wheels.
One of my favourite GWR loco's, I love the proportions of 0-4-2 tank engines, they just look "right" somehow! Built using a Malcolm Mitchell etched brass kit, with added detail. Running once again on Slaters wheels and incorporating sprung compensation. Painted using the faithful Iwata airbrush, before lining with Fox transfers.
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
Back in mid August I posted an entry in the blog about the construction of the GWR 2 plank wagon.
Well since those balmy days Autumn has hit with a vengeance in South Wales, we're back in full lockdown and it hasn't stopped raining! Still the upside of this is that there's not much else to do other than a bit of modelling
The model was more or less completed and ready for painting , but I struggled to find a prototype photograph of a 2 planker in my admittedly fairly sma
