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
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
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
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.
Evening all
Just a bit of a progress report on Cheddar.
All 8 boards are now built and I'm getting ready to start building the track.
The last two boards are a little different as they will have the embankment and overbridge on Station Road on the Wells end of the station.
I've just about finalised the final layout plan and have started to mark up the various features. Next step will be printing the entire plan at full size and laying out on the boards.
Each board is a 6mm frame aroun
Sorry...
It's been a long time since I've posted anything on this blog, but plans have developing and the game is most definitely afoot.
Clevedon's now out and about on the circuit which means it's time to start building the next one. Well there's no point in hanging around is there?
So what's happened since the last post? Well, the track plan has been tweaked and twiddled so that all in all, the layout plus fiddle yards is no more than 32ft a ruling dimension stipulated by an exhibition m
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
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
With the work on the 43xx almost done and some unexpected time at home, I've been working on the layout again. Since the last entry, I've painted the previous landscaping along what will be the back of the layout. This week I've removed and turned round the 3 boards nearest Axbridge so I can make the landscape formers and apply paper mâché as previously. I've also added the retaining wall on the down side which supported the stone siding, along with the loading point itself. Both walls are from
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
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 the distractions of the Triang bogie brake, I've found time to return to the scenics of board 4. I've mocked up the market gardeners cottage based on the limited information I have. I think it's a little too large at the moment but I'll ponder that one. The rest is a repeat of previous boards; basic ground cover is static grass applied through a Flockit, additional cover is postiche and scatter, trees are Woodlands scenics armatures and more postiche, fencing is EZ line, strawberry patches
Another month another update!
As I've had some time off I've been playing with the Palight sheets I bought and I have to say I'm really impressed with this stuff.
It's a foamed pvc sheet, denser than foam board and no skin as such, the material being the same consistency all the way through. It cuts with a scalpel, can be sanded, scribes really nicely and can be glued with Loctite 401.
I've used an artists scraper board blade ( no idea what the technical term is) much the same way I scribe D
So it's been an interesting week. Having ballasted the first three boards for Cheddar following the same procedure; using Klear as a wetting agent then applying diluted PVA, I wasn't really happy with the outcome. A chat with the Attwood Aggregates people and Gordon Gravett at the Minehead show last Saturday confirmed that the ballast indeed was too dark for the Dulcote Stone it was supposed to be representing. I purchased a couple more bags and and when I got home made an unpleasant discovery.
Afternoon all
It's been a few weeks so I thought I'd put an update on here.
Progress has slowed, due to other pressures, shows etc, but in between I have been soldiering away mainly with the overbridge at the Wells end. This has caused a bit of head scratching since the underside of the turnout needs to be accessible should it ever need adjusting/fixing etc.
Therefore I've build the bridge on a ply base that can be lifted off the layout and separated into two sections. Originally I chose to h
Well it's been a few weeks since my last confession, so I thought I'd post an update.
It's quite useful seeing where I was at the beginning of March because to me progress is glacial. When I look back at the last entry I can see that I've done more than I realise!
Board 8 (the one at the Wells end of the layout) has seen the contours formed with a mixture of foam board and one strike light weight filler from my local diy emporium (Proper Job - other retail outlets are available) which can be a
I'm presently trying to remember how to make track. It's coming back to me slowly.
Ply sleepers stained with Indian ink and C&L chairs. All works so far.
Layout is also coming on. Boards 1 & 2 now have topography.
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
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
I can never quite believe how long it is between blogs. Doesn't seem like 5 minutes since I posted the last one. Mind you I suppose it isn't 5 minutes is it?
I must say thanks to the gent who sought me out at Wells last weekend and kindly gave me a load of photos of Cheddar goods shed taken in the 1970's. Must have been just after the branch finally closed in 1969, by then nothing more than a long siding operated from Wells. I didn't get your name but the photos have wealth of information, espe
Evening all
Time for an update, even if it's not all that interesting.
Modelling does slow down in the summer. Must be all those long sunny evenings (looks out window at rain and damp seagulls flying backwards in the wind)...
Inbetween the golf and the odd walk or two, I've found a little time to make a bit of progress on Cheddar.
We're on to board 5 which is where things start to get interesting track wise. This is bar far the 'busiest' board, as the tracks fan out into the up and down sidi
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.
Work has moved this month onto the 4th board, which has seen the half chairs added, rails painted, ballast applied (correct type first time this time), rodding stool bases stuck on and one of the line side fences posts planted. How to sum up in one sentence what actually took a few weeks to achieve! The rail half-chairs take ages. Painting another couple of days. I spent considerable time laying and tamping the ballast this time. The effect is much better. Pity it's taken until now to perfect.
Now that work is virtually complete on the first two boards (barring the buildings), I've put the first one to one side and begun work on the third one. Although I can erect 6 boards at a time in the garage, they're spanning other layouts and junk meaning they're too high to work on without standing on some form of platform or stool. And one day I'll fall off! Instead I have an area off to the side where I can work on a couple of boards comfortably. Anyhoo, the third board contains the lime dust
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
