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
Evening all
My birthday present to myself this year was the Home Edition of Coreldraw. It is quite simple to use and as promised last time I've managed to put together the plans and elevations for Cheddar Station. The building scales out at just over 2ft long. At the moment I've allowed for the building to continue below ground level, but I may well end up removing this.
My plan is to use a MDF carcass for the buildings with overlays for the Bath stone quoins, door and window surrounds. These
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
Along with a few others, the end of the year seems like a good time to take stock of modelling progress over the previous 12 months.
I set out this year to make progress with Cheddar, having previously been distracted by other projects and any excuse to avoid the wiring.
Well I think it's safe to say 2018 was a year of ups and downs on a personal front. However, from a modelling point of view I've achieved what I wanted to; wiring was finished in March and track testing even resulted in some
This week I have been mostly planting apple trees and making GWR line side fencing. The fencing is made from Evergreen 1.5mm square strip, cut into 20mm lengths to represent the 5ft posts. I worked out some time ago that if you cut this with a pair of Xuron track shears, you are left with one flush and one pointed end either side of the cut. Perfect for forming the top of the post with a few strokes of a file. Some of the post bases are then drilled 0.5mm and brass wire inserted to act as a pin.
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
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
Please to report the goods shed is nearing completion. A few bits to fettle and awaiting ridge tile tops from Scale Link, but it's nearly there. Goods shed detailing will be limited to a crane and a few loads on the platform. Just need to paint them up.
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
With the second board now wired and working, I've been building Five Ways bridge this week. I'm now sold on the 'Green World Stuff' embossed ABS sheet for the correct stone type and I've been trying to faithfully recreate the prototype bridge, which still stands today. I've had to make a couple of guesstimates in respect of dimensions but otherwise it's a close enough representation to my eyes anyway. I dragged an assorted collection of stock to gauge clearances (and to have another play!). With
Funny how I always seem to spend Christmas and the New Year period playing with Templot and track plans.
It's 2 years almost to the day since I first posted a plan of Cheddar on my other blog here, which I've been thinking about doing for some time now.
Whilst I've been building Clevedon, I've been tinkering with the ideas on and off and have been playing with various incarnations of the layout plan. I decided that if I was going to build Cheddar, it would have to be pretty much a dead scal
Evening all after a summer recess and the always wonderful Wells exhibition, the modelling season is well and truly back with us and I'm looking forward to the annual pilgrimage to Scaleforum next weekend. After one or two distractions (more of that later) and by way of a release from the travails with my Lima 55xx, I've returned to the track building on Cheddar. The good news is I'm on the last board now and fiddle yard notwithstanding, have built the (hopefully) final turnout. You can see prog
After a couple of weeks of distractions and other modelling projects, I've managed to set up the layout in the garage where I can get 6 of the 8 boards erected at any one time. Today was all about making a set of supports for the panel and connecting boards together. Pleased to report that everything towards Wells is now working, after one or two wires had to be swapped round (caused by the change in colour code scheme I mentioned in an earlier post). There'll no doubt be a few bits of track to
I've had a bit of success with my quest for Mendip Stone. I've found a Spanish supplier that does, what I think anyway, is a reasonable representation of Mendip Limestone. http://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/textured-sheets/155-abs-plasticard-smooth-rock-wall-sheet-a4.html I'd ordered some previously and finally got round to having a play with it, once I realised that the present incarnation of the 45xx chassis wasn't going anywhere (literally). More of that later. So rather than cut the chassis i
Coming thick and fast now, helped by the thinning out of track as I approach the Wells end of the layout. This latest board has taken very little time to wire up and (whisper it quietly) that should be all of them now done. I've just one board to check as it was done some time ago and I can't remember what state it had got to. I've certainly changed the colour coding for the wiring since I wired it up! I daresay there'll be the odd plug to wire up as well but that shouldn't take too long. Hopefu
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
Two updates in as many weeks?
As I mentioned in the last update, I'm infilling the baseboard tops with 15mm model foam acquired from Panel Systems. For the two embankment boards the foam is cut to fit between the ply stiffeners. For the 'flat' boards it will sit on top alongside the ply track bed. It's glued on with 'No More Nails' - actually the local Proper Job version 'Instant Nails' at £1 per tube.
Lots of photos that probably explain things a bit better. I'm using off cuts to make up the
After a break for a relaxing holiday away, I've turned this week to the first board at the Axbridge end. I'd mistakenly put the stone loading siding up adjacent to the wing walls of the over bridge so this was corrected and the groundwork adjusted to suit. Then I've tried playing about with the location of Fiveways Farm. Presently I'm looking at a forced perspective type arrangement to disguise the fact that it really isn't wide enough to fit properly. Still pondering that one. Then I've dug out
Evening all
Another update and surprise surprise I'm still building track.
Moving on to the sidings on the up side (South side) of the station. There were three sidings on this side along with the permanent way hut. I picked up a book at Warley a couple of weeks ago called 'Quarry Faces', the story of Mendip Stone Quarrying. There's a rather nifty photograph on p252 of the loading bank complete with Dodge tipper lorry. something to acquire from Road Transport Images I feel.
Anyhow, the siding
The goods shed has been finished and duly plonked on the layout. It's removable as it spans a base board joint. The internal platform is stuck down because it doesn't.
most of the area around this will be subject to some terraforming, either subtle ground levelling, goods dock or a barrow crossing.
Quite pleased with how this has turned out so now onto the station!
First of all, happy new year to everyone! Hope you had a good festive break. As we start 2018 I thought I'd do a brief review of progress on Cheddar. I spent the year wiring the s8dding thing. Seriously, that's it. Oh and doing battle with the lever frame, which is connected to yet more wiring in the panel. And I hate wiring. This may be why I was so easily side tracked building an engine for Clevedon and the PDSWJR brake van and embryonic cameo layout to match, and building a few wagons, and so
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
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
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
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
