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War Department First World War Narrow Gauge Layout O-16.5 WDLR

Entries in this blog

First try at resin casting.

On my to do list for quite some time has been loads for the wagons, which, with a very large number of bogie opens to sort out really shouldn't have been left until now! There are various loads to be considered, duck boards, A frames, wire, hay, ammo boxes, but I have started with shells. A bit of lateral thinking and a chat with another Dad at school who is a pretty serious shooter resulted in several bags of these;     Then some cling film in the wagon to stop them sticking and a bit of c
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12

BGM - 4

Finished the last bits of detailing so it was time for a bit of paint which was pretty easy as this kit splits into really useful sections. After a coat of grey primer, I started with the frames, a tin of Humbrol track dirt, an old stiff brush and plenty of talcum powder. Being rather taken by the results I carried on but swapped to some olive green. For someone who has been proudly spraying locos for quite some time going back to a brush was quite a shock for me but really pleased with the resu
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11

Time for an update I think

I know, it has been ages since I have given an update. Now, that is not because I have been idle - it is because I have been VERY idle!   I am probably being a bit harsh on myself there as I have been to plenty of exhibitions but as a civilian or helping out on other peoples layouts which has been great experience. I have scaled back outings for UTL drastically and at the moment there is only one booked being for the Mid Wales show in Welshpool, 24th October this year. Hopefully things
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10

Make or Break?

After a mammoth late night session last night (I promise to go to bed earlier tonight!), the roof was finished. It needed a few bits re staining this afternoon but was soon looking like this;     And then before I could get too attached to it;       Actually it took quite a long time carefully damage it as did not want to destroy it completely and then a few dabs of glue to secure some of the flapy bits. Still much work to do in getting the weathering and the brick colour right as
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9

Now for the hard bit!

Thanks again to everyone for all the kind comments on the last post - I particularly liked the 'stoke of genius' bit - not often that is applied to me! But now to the hard bit - keeping up enough interest to finish this bit off before moving on to the next thing. Although structurally complete (or should that be incomplete!), there is still a lot of work to do to get it to the standard I want - some best done before it is 'planted' and some after. The rather tedious and frustrating bit now is ge
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9

Photofest

Have finally got around to taking some decent pics of the layout so as they will make up for a thousand words I shall just let them do the talking!
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9

I Survived!

Well here I am, after my first (3 day!), exhibition and everything went perfectly and nothing at all went wrong - if you believe that you will believe anything! Of course things went wrong but in the best of British traditions we carried on and there was always something running but not necessarily what I had planed. To be absolutely truthful it didn't really matter what was running as it was not a model railway exhibition as such but a themed addition to a much larger and very impressive weeken
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9

Getting Carried Away - An R/C Austin 7

Having established that I can make something from scratch AND make it move with my Foden steam wagon I have taken the proof of concept approach a bit further - or in fact - much smaller!   Starting point for this was an anonymous 1/43 die cast Austin 7 model from China via Ebay in a hideous bright green of which a bath in Nitromors has thankfully left no trace at all. I rebuilt the chassis in bass tube to give a decent platform to work from and started with fitting roller bearings for
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8

Mystery items

This post is a slight aside to my normal activities - activities that, incidentally, are continueing but at a rather boring pace and am saving up progress for an entry that might actually be interesting!   Anyway, yesterday, I was fortunate to come across a couple of boxes of bits and pieces most of which I could identify and either put to good use or find homes for but these two items have stumped me and I wonder if anyone can identify them. The first is aluminium and has a small stamp which
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8

Best in Show!

Second show done. Was wondering, at 5 o'clock this morning as I got up and after spending pretty much all day yesterday packing the layout and cleaning track and wheels est. , if any of the punters paying their £3 to get into the show would appreciate it. Well, it looks like they did and I have a trophy to prove it! A huge amount of work and absolutely knackered now but worthwhile and what it is all about really.   Big Thank You to Andy for putting together a surprisingly extensive show and al
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8

Going Underground

Little Iz swears it was her idea - personally I am not quite so sure (she would probably have preferred Wombles living under there anyway!), but here we are with a little underground distraction.   Firstly a foamboard box split into three compartments     Then some paneling. Note that I quickly grew board of gluing each one so applied some double sided tape to the walls and stuck the coffee stirrer planks to that.     Then a bit of wood stain.     And some furniture from scraps
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8

Lights but little action!

I just know you have all been missing me but I am still here and unfortunately progressing at a pace that a snail would be proud of, which is very bad with that doomsday exhibition clock ticking. After a short but adventurous holiday and having to tackle misbehaving, cars, cats, cameras, children and even bats, I finally have something to report. The LED lighting is finally in place as is the fascia with the aid of much velcro. The white balance of the camera doesn't really do the lighting justi
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8

Another bit finished - well almost!

I seem to have been working on this little corner for ages - guess that is because I have. Am sure there are plenty of people who will vouch for this but that last 10% really does seem to take 90% of the time. As I am not renown for finishing things this is a completely new experience! Any way here are some pics of this little corner, one of which I have superimposed my inspirational picture.   and the next bit along     Here are some slightly more unusual views taken from angles that a
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7

A New Toy And Quite A Large One!

As we are coming rapidly to the time of year for giving I have entered completely into the spirit and have given myself a rather large pressie! Of course money isn't important and it is the thought that counts and I have put quite a lot of thought and effort into this and only a modest amount of money so I am very pleased!   I have known about these for quite some time and have been the grateful recipient of the product of Trevor's on a few occasions but the hunt for my own has finally been fr
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7

What a difference a backscene makes.

A quick trip to the slightly smaller than usual Telford show started the weekend off, unfortunately accompanied by an unusually moany little girl which did make it a pretty quick trip. Good thing though was that I didn't get the chance to spend much money! As it wasn't raining when I got back another start was made on fitting the backscene and wow, does it make a difference! It is not perfect yet as I shall explain but heaps better.   I have recycled the 2x1 from my mark1 legs which has been v
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7

Dejection.

I think the body language of the driver says it all;     You see, he has a brand new and rather smart looking Simplex;     But guess what? It doesn't work!   The problem is solely down to the pick ups, I just can't seem to get them right. Have been messing around with this for two days now and really have had enough. the recommended position is to have them on the inside of the frames working on the backs of the wheels. I have tried the Phospher bronze strip supplied, heftier P.B. ,
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7

My Big Building!

Thanks for all the amusing comments on the last post and am glad so many people enjoyed my Christmas dinner! Now, back to more ordinary stuff (beans on toast!), or my second building which has now become my BIG BUILDING!. I guess it was the same size when I started it but with the addition of end walls and the garden it has got an awful lot chunkier and pretty impressive really.       Here is one of the balcony of which I am really pleased. I just drew out an idea on a piece of card, stu
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7

Another building

Managed to get a lot more than i anticipated done today. Finished of the drawings;     Drawings! Blimey that is organised of me! But oh, if I had a laser cutter now! To do these I scanned a sheet of embossed plasticard and used as the background. Then, by drawing a grid of guide lines and snapping to these I got perfectly horizontal and vertical lines. used a couple more tricks - just drew one window then copied it and just drew one half of the building then copied it and flipped it horizo
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7

More House

Progress has been a bit slow. Big reason was my 8 year old had her first sleep over last night which gave my wife and I our first free time in well -8 years! My poor wife does put up with a lot but but spending this night modeling would have been a step too far! Roll on tonight and as predicted we have an over tired 8 year old who is making for an uncomfortable evening!   Anyway managed some more plastering and wall papering;     And a bit more on the outside but still not completely happ
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7

More house building

I learned several things today; 1) I really should have painted under the laths before fitting them. 2) Colron wood dye does melt foam board. And 3) Colron wood dye is really expensive! £10 in Home base and a mere £8 in B+Q and what is worse, I know I have a tine somewhere.   Anyway, spent the evening on the building.     Here it is with some more floors, window and door frames.     Here I am icing it with DAS rolled between cling film in a scene more akin to the Great British Bakeo
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7

Lovely weather for duckboards

Very dull and wet today so a perfect day for building duckboards - but how. Firstly, what out of? Plastic micro strip would be great but could turn out pretty expensive as each board needs 30cm of material. Brass no go for same reason. Card cheap but too bendy so it had to be wood really. Guess it is the obvious choice for something made of wood.   Now, how? I first thought about making up a jig but the chances of getting bits glued in would be very high and if had to wait for glue to dry each
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7

A thousand sandbags later....

I assure you I have better things to do than actually count the number of sandbags I have made in the last couple of days but it has to be around the 1000 mark. I have got pretty quick at making them now and thankfully this is probably all I will have to do now. The sandbag emplacement is a railway control post copied from a picture in the Davies book and is complete with lots of little details like the ammo boxes built into the sides and the plank for the flag man to stand on - all off which wi
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7

Barbed wire nightmare!

OK, so I probable was getting too confident! Have now hit a brick wall with my barbed wire (groan!). Having perfected my picket posts and even making them a lovely rusty colour I came to plant them. Of course the wire is not strong enough to just push them through the plaster scenery so pushed a small hole through with a drill. Problem - hole is so small and completely invisible bellow the static grass and brown paint! Admittedly I am trying to do this at silly O'clock and the light is not good.
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7

Something for nothing!

How often have you ever found a solution to a very real, sometimes costly but usually time consuming and uncomfortable problem and for no money! Well I did just that yesterday. My particular problem - dropping (and often loosing). bits on the floor. The solution - a clear out at my daughters school! In the skip were quite a number of strong plastic trays that I just couldn't resist. I was initially thinking seedlings for the garden or an extra cat poo tray when we go away (Yuk!), but one (and po
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7

Problem Solved - maybe!

Not a great deal of progress today as have been doing a bit of proper work for a change! Think I have come up with the solution for the hole though.   The CD box is 120mm and it just so happens that there is an adjustable hole drill that goes up to 120mm. It is worth a try but I am well aware that it will be at the maximum reach and may well make a hole that is not exactly round. Some scrap ply to start off with will be a good idea I think.   Anyway, one ordered for just over a fiver from Eb
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