I came across JCL's splendid thread about Silhouette cutters (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79025-a-guide-to-using-the-silhouette-cameo-cutter/) at an appropriate interval for dropping heavy hints before Christmas, so now have a 'Silhouette Portrait' machine and loads of ideas for coaches and buildings
Having discovered all about Cleminson chassis in an earlier post on this blog, I want to build some six-wheel coaches, especially since they seem to be rarely modelled, pr
Whereas, in my previous posts in this series, most of the lining details were hand-drawn, when it comes to coats of arms, crests, and lettering, I think it is better to find some printed artwork to work from .... unless you are a real artist!
One useful source of illustrations is O.S.Nock's 'Pocket Encyclopaedia of British Steam Railways' although, since these are all paintings, the accuracy of some of the pictures has been disputed.
There are many specialised books covering the liveries
As a result of comments on earlier posts, I have added this supplement, to describe some variations in lining styles. The GWR used many different styles of lining at different periods, as I was reminded by 'N15class'. Many of these can be reproduced by slight variations of the methods I described in earlier posts.
Before 1881, however, the GWR sometimes used a technique called 'scarfed' lining, which is a variation on 'dropped shadows'. In the period 1864 - 1881, the lining comprised a 1” wi
In the first post in this series, I covered the basics of setting up Photoshop Elements (PSE) and a printer, to make water-slide transfers on ink-jet printable paper.
My first topic was 'Boiler Bands', which are made up from simple straight lines. Now it is necessary to consider the more general subject of lined panels, which raises the new problem of dealing with corners.
My 'cheat' way of making sure that the lining will be a good fit to the model is to scan the model itself. I lay the
A couple of members on the forums have indicated that they would like to know more details of how I create my own transfers for lining and lettering pre-grouping models.
I have already written a little in my earlier post "Cheats Lining & Lettering" and I must also admit that, because I model GWR prototypes, much of what is needed can actually be bought from the trade! I am one of those "scratch-builders" that likes to do things "because I can"
I use a Windows PC, together with Adobe
In a previous post: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1405/entry-12531-milk-churns-and-siphons/
I mentioned that I had tried painting a GWR wagon with Farrow & Ball 'Rectory Red' paint.
To re-cap, this colour is described by the manufacturer as Vermilion mixed with Lead Oxide, to make it cheaper. It seems to me that could be a plausible formula for the red used during the 19th century on GWR wagons.
Because it is difficult to compare colours accura
Most of my entries in this blog, so far, have related to locomotives and rolling stock. For most of us , these are the key elements of a model railway and involve a lot of scratch or kit building, since very few pre-grouping (and especially pre-WW1) models are available as RTR.
Now, I am starting to think about scenery aspects and have realised that there is something of a paradox when 'turning back the clock'. We tend to think of 'older' as meaning 'quainter' and more 'weathered' wh
It was only when I looked at the photograph of "City of Truro", which I took yesterday, that I noticed that the nameplate was missing! About half of my track is in tunnel, so there was an evens chance that it had dropped off in the tunnel. Fortunately, I have a 'search and rescue' procedure.
Some time ago, I became interested in the idea of shooting video from the footplates of my model locomotive. I found that there was a miniature video camera, popular with aircraft RC enthusisats,
Although popular with several European manufacturers, tender-drive has never been well-regarded in UK, possibly because of some rather poor implementations back in the 20th century. Nevertheless, it does have some advantages, when modelling prototypes from the 19th century. Locomotives of that period were generally quite small, with open cabs, and most passenger classes used single drivers until quite late in the century. These characteristics create two problems for the modeller: there is littl
I've been reading the thread started recently by Robin2 on "Why have moving trains on layouts?" - ( http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/78169-why-have-moving-trains-on-layouts/ )
There've been lots of interesting and thoughtful replies and it has made me think. On the one hand, I couldn't build an engine without wanting to make it work satisfactorily and, on the other, I don't run trains very much but do enjoy setting up various static scenes for photography. I do find
One of the things to remember when 'turning back the clock' is the former widespread use of horses, which continued up until WW2 and lingered even into the 1950s. I felt I needed to learn a bit more about how they were used, so that I could replace some of my more modern traffic with appropriate period vehicles. I found the book 'Great Western Horse Power' by Janet Russell, which proved to be a mine of information but seemed to concentrate on large depots and cities, whereas I was interested to
I am very grateful to member KH1, who alerted me to the 'Cleminson principle', in reply to my earlier blog entry about 'Milk Churns and Syphons'.
In another thread in the forums, http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/6484-cleminson-chassis-drawing/, I read that there was an article in 'The Engineer' of Feb 15th 1878, describing this system. Back volumes of The Engineer can be downloaded free from http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/The_Engineer_%28Bound_Volumes%29 , so I show an illustr
I have mentioned before that the attractions of the pre-grouping period include the elaborate and colourful liveries. These also, however, present a challenge to the modeller in achieving these effects on a small scale.
Many years ago, while recuperating from a bout of pneumonia, I built a rake of Ratio 4-wheelers. Looking at these now, I am somewhat amazed to see the patience with which I tackled their painting! 30 years later, natural 'weathering' has given them a 'used' appearance
I think I started looking at Pre-grouping railways because they offered an opportunity to build something different, in bright colours, with lots of polished brass, and with small locomotives and carriages that could operate in a small space. All attractive features for modellers!
Having got the 'bug', I wanted to find out more about how things were really done in the early days, when railways were at the cutting-edge of technology, so I've recently been doing quite a lot of reading.
I have mentioned before in this blog that my layout includes an 009 narrow-gauge section. Most of this section does not need changing in order to fit in with my revised 19th-century timeframe but, a long time ago (1980), I built a 'Centre Models' kit of a Leek & Manifold 2-6-4T, of which the prototypes appeared in 1904. Whilst not quite fitting my new era, it is a handsome locomotive that I had never got to run well, so I decided to re-build the chassis. A body kit is still available from Me
My small layout includes a building representing a creamery, so I have been considering the traffic needed to serve this facility. I remembered that I had an old K's plastic kit of a six-wheel low Siphon, which had been put on one side as it had no chance of negotiating my small-radius curves.
Looking at this model again (30 years after building it!), I think it is an attractive vehicle, representing the earlier low-roof Siphon, with only two doors each side. I intend to change the roof
I visited the Swindon Railway Festival yesterday (15th Sep). It's always good to study prototype fittings, such as the sand boxes on the Dean Goods. In model form, these often show a 'draw' from the casting process, so it was useful to be reminded of the shape and details of the original.
Dean Goods no.2516 - Sand Box
There was also a sizeable model railway exhibition and I got talking on the Broad Gauge Society stand. I mentioned that I had recently photogra
As I mentioned in my first entry in this blog, my layout started many years ago as a Hornby Dublo layout for my young son. The plan was taken directly from the Hornby Dublo Handbook of 2-Rail Track Formations (1st edition), as shown below, drawn using SCARM software
Original Track Plan (as built in 1979)
This track plan formed the basis for a small, simple layout, to which I added a narrow gauge section (009) at a higher level, for additional interest. The up
One aspect of modelling, which interests me, is the ability to compare the proportions of locomotives that are rarely photographed together.
Many years ago, I built a K's Milestones kit of the GWR Broad Gauge 'Rover' class locomotive, so I decided to photograph this model alongside my Tri-ang Dean single, to illustrate the profound differences between these types:
The Broad Gauge locomotive takes advantage of the width between the wheels to use a much
I've now built my second GWR 3-planker from a David Geen kit. This time, I made a floor from 10 thou brass sheet, which acted as a template to keep the body panels square. It certainly solved the problem of trying to align several lumps of white metal in my far-from-steady hands!
My method, when working with brass sheet, is to print a scale drawing of the part onto paper and then stick the paper to the brass using a glue-stick. For the wagon floor, I simply used a guillotine to cut o
Photographs can be very cruel! Looking at the photo of the handbrake ratchet in my previous entry, all I see is the huge tab, which I have not filed smoothly. It's invisible in practice but not on the photo! It's a real test, to subject modelling to this type of scrutiny.
My favourite weapons for removing those pips, as well as flash on white metal, are emery nail boards from the pharmacy. They're cheap and disposable, and don't get ruined by white metal, so saving my precious needle
NB There is a newer version of this post at :
In my OP in this Blog, I referred to the need for plenty of horses and the facilities to support them. As part of "Turning Back the Clock", I decided that an essential railway vehicle would be the Horse Box, so I chose to build the Wizard Models/51L etched brass kit of the GWR diagram N6 box.
I felt that the N6 was a suitable design for a beginner in etched-brass construction, as the prototypes, dating from 1890, were of a pa
This blog aims to follow the conversion of my existing layout to an earlier time-frame. I hope that others will find it of interest and helpful, if they are also considering the Pre-Grouping era.
By way of background: I built a small layout about 30 years ago for my then-young son. It was based on old Hornby-Dublo (2-rail) track and I added an 009 narrow-gauge section for additional interest. More recently, I had another look at this old layout and thought it would be suitable for ru
