With all the running repairs completed for now, I couldn’t resist putting a few items of stock on the layout before putting it away for the time being.
I’ve a list of jobs to do before Wells, including finishing off stock items so I’ve filled my display case with items requiring attention, just to remind me. Some just need lamps, crews and coaling. Some need motors!
Next up will be the fiddle yards.
photos attached
The prairie is heavily reworked Lima with Comet chassis
With the layout up, I have been able to assess and make a series of repairs required after its prolonged period in storage. First up was to fix and rectify all of the point mechanisms and prove the wiring such that I could get trains to run from one end to the other and back into the up and down yards. There's still a lit of errant ballast to deal with but I'm happy with progress. Most of the turnout droppers' soldered joints had failed and it took a while to sort out.
I also fixed d
Major milestones this month.
For the first time since I started building Cheddar, some 11 years ago now, I’ve finally been able to put all of the 8 scenic boards up together. Cheddar is going to be making its exhibition debut at RailWells this August as a work in progress and with under 6 months to go I needed to take stock of just how much left there is to do before it gets there!
The layout has been in various unheated garages for the last few years and it’s almost 6 years sin
Gosh. Another year has arrived and the layout still isn’t finished!
This time of year is always busy with various family birthdays but I have managed to find time to get a bit of modelling done. It doesn’t help that my progress this time isn’t really progress, rather the correction of things I didn’t get right in the first, second or even third case. Ho hum…
The camping coach is all but finished, it just needs weathering down slightly and detailing added. Transfers were from Fox
As another year draws to a close, modelling output has slowed a bit due to various demands on precious modelling time. But with 1 Station Road complete for now, I've been concentrating on a couple of projects that have been lurking on the depths of the modelling bench for far too long. The first is a diagram E116 B set, the origins of which were a K's plastic kit, kindly donated by Tim Venton of Clutton fame.
I needed to do quite a bit of salvage work on the sides and the ends were a bit hi
Modelling time has been limited recently due to work, family weddings, uni open days and holidays. I did have a rather splendid weekend at Scaleforum, helping operate my old Wheal Elizabeth layout and it was great to see so many old friends again. Once I’d gotten over the urge to come back and start building another china clay layout thoughts returned to Cheddar.
Progress has been limited to the building of 1 Station Road.
I wanted to include this as part of the final board and
This month, I have been mostly gardening. In a scale style obviously.
And that's about it really.
Road surfaces are the usual Attwood Aggregates dust, greenery is static grass undercoat and postiche top coat, horsehair hedges and an assortment of sprinkles and flocks. It's funny how I'm down at the dregs of various containers as I hit the last board.
Another obligatory strawberry patch has appeared inside the railway fence (which is still to do).
Still lots to do but I alread
I've finally finished the station board and have swapped it out so that I can start on the last board, the one nearest Wells or board 8 if you want to be specific. It includes Station Road and its bridge. The last things on the station board were the coal bins on the down mileage sidings and fencing. I've still to do the station chimney pots but that will require a visit to the actual station to take some better photos as these will need to be 3D printed. The roof is going to be fixed down to cu
Afternoon peeps.
progress has slowed a bit and been limited to detailing of the station building.
The train shed has been adorned with signs, posters and timetables and after a couple of attempts, I’ve got some representative gas lighting installed and working. These came from eBay and are of Chinese origin. They just need painting and tweaking a bit.
The platform lamps are from Kytes Lights and are the best I could do to match the original GWR gas lamp columns and replacement hea
Realised I didn't get round to writing an update last month so but happy to report that the 7th board is progressing nicely.
I mentioned last time that this was going to be mainly scenic work and indeed it has. First though was the ballasting, which uses Atwood Aggregates Dulcote Stone. Then the point rodding using Modelu stools and 16 thou guitar strings.
Then I could start to build up the basic ground form which is made up of layers of extruded 5mm thick polystyrene she
Took advantage of a sunny day to swap the boards round on Cheddar at lunchtime. Board 5 comprising the goods shed and signal box is now sufficiently complete to allow it to be put away until the final assembly, when I can add details, signalling and a level of weathering to the entire layout in one hit.
Board 6 was moved up one and board 7 dropped into place. This last saw the light of day in 2016 and has survived surprisingly well given the track was originally laid in 2015. I alway
Happy New Year and all that to everyone. Hope 2023 is kind to everyone.
Now that we're halfway through January, I thought I'd update you with progress on Cheddar, which is entirely scenic at the moment.
The station master's house has been finished, painted and planted in the garden, which has been added without going overboard. The idea is for it to be in the background after all. I did spot the mistake of having the chimney on the gable end with the windows. Doh! Still it was correcte
So as 2022 draws to a close, I've been reflecting on what has been a pretty good year all in all. Cheddar has a place where it can be worked on when the mood takes me and whilst I don't have as much time as I did, I'm still managing to make progress.
I've done a couple of shows and really enjoyed exhibiting at Warley last month. Even better as Rapido have announced a range new E140 B set. That's saved me a job. I now have a surfeit of 7 airfix B set coaches I won't be needing! I have starte
Starting to find the time I need to make progress when I can. Since the last entry I've completed the first batch of platforms, fencing and made a start on the greenery on the up side of the station. Barrow crossings have been added too. Platform faces and barrow crossings are scribed Palight. which is a foamed pic sheet. Surfaces are generally stone dust from Atwood Aggregates, applied onto glue/paint and suitably sanded down afterwards. Fences and gates are the usual Ratio products. I'm workin
Wow. Nothing for 3 years then two in a fortnight. A bit like buses, but with less nutters. Or maybe not.
The goods yard at Cheddar is now sporting a 6 ton crane, courtesy of the Osborne Models kit. I struggled with it if I'm honest. The parts don't seem to be a totally accurate representation of the drawings I found in GWR Journal preview issue but I think it'll do for now until maybe a replacement turns up. Anyone got any ideas what colour they were painted?
In other new
Good evening.
Well it's been a while hasn't it?
I had a fantastic weekend at the Portishead WCPR show last weekend which has certainly given the modelling mojo a bit of a boost.
This has come at the right time too, because after some 9 months in the new gaff, I've finally got to the stage where I could actually fish some bits out of their various storage boxes and put a couple of boards up in what I hope will be the 'layout workshop'. This will be somewhere I can have the boards u
Well it's been a while since I posted anything on this thread, almost since the beginning of the first lock down in fact.
Whilst I have been concentrating on my Stonehouse St James covid layout in the intervening period, I did decide to complete the signal box for Cheddar. The box itself is a Saxby and Farmer Type 3 and as I noted last time, this was drawn up in Coreldraw and the parts cut by York Modelmaking. What followed was a fairly simple assembly of parts, correcting the various mistakes
Despite the covid-19 lockdown, modelling output has slowed this month. However, I have been slowly working on the station building and feel like the to-do list is getting shorter. Canopies have been fixed in place, the south side one is removable in case I can’t get it into its travelling case.
Rain water pipes have been added from the rather nice Modelu range and this weekend’s job has been to make the roof trussing. I made a cradle from foam so I could invert the roof and work on it separate
This month I have been mainly doing tiling.
With the footbridge finished, it was time to turn to the building range roofs. At 2 feet long, that's a shed load of tiles. Add the pattern of alternate square and round tiles and I wasn't left with much of a choice but to go with York Modelmaking 2mm tiles and take my time. After a few sessions, we finally got to the stage where it was coming together. The tiles were painted with a mixture of Vallejo and Lifecolor acrylics to match the main shed
Cor, this building lark goes on a bit doesn't it?
So, to bring things up to speed.
The roof has had a fair few sheets of double Roman ABS tile sheets added and the glazing added. This was a little tricky as the Rowmark framing wanted to warp all over the place. The glazing is a single layer of 1mm Prespex. Despite being saturated in Spraymount and heavily weighted down, some of the glazing bars wanted to lift up. The solution was to flood each pane with Johnson's Klear and reset. In a
Morning all. After an interesting couple of weeks, I've started working on the station building again and moved on to the roof. The parts were cut when I had the rest of the building done and I can now start to assemble the parts. The distinctive ends are layers of mdf, row mark and perspex, sandwiched together and set with spray mount. The top edge is then glued into the roof slab, the underside of which I had rendered to match the diagonal planking. The colour will need lightening a bit from t
After an enjoyable day at the EMGS AGM in Cardiff a couple of weeks ago, I felt suitably enthused about starting terraforming around the station building. It’s no where near finished yet but is at a state where I could form the socket it’s going to sit in. I’m using layers of 5mm craft foam (extruded polystyrene sheet) to work but the subtle changes I need. The slight compression I had to adopt in the yards makes things a little more interesting but nothing insurmountable. I’m really liking how
So this is where I’ve got to. The main building carcass is assembled and skinned with embossed ABS. All of the plinths are in where I’m sure of the ground levels, with a couple to complete where the ground falls away and the plinths deepen accordingly. Mindful that I’m taking a couple of boards to the EM Gauge Society AGM and skills day in Cardiff on Saturday, I’ve built a transport box which the building will live in once it’s finished. I’ve built the gents WC which was located in the north wes
And so the assembly begins. The main shed has been glued around the ring beam and the building annex supporting walls fixed in place. I’ll add the main building next, once I’ve glued the end walls in. The building ultimately rests on the baseboard so platforms still have to be built and the base of each wall has a thickening and string course of ashlar to add, hence the black plasticard strips in some of the photos.
Due to the pressures of a new job and other distractions, modelling activity over the summer has slowed somewhat. Now the nights are drawing in, I have turned to the project for Cheddar, namely the station building.
The component parts for this were cut by York Modelmaking from drawings I prepared on Coreldraw. Being over 2 feet long, it's going to be a big project but who's rushing?
The basis is an pdf carcass, with layers of Rowmark and perspex for the window, door and glazing, over
