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Rails, Tails and Blogging

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virtualNER

As I am away from home and not able to get hands on tools and wood thought I would do a bit of a virtual mock up and rough one at that. This is the western end board and the larger of the two. I am going to do a card mockup too as I am not sure where I will cut the ply to make the contours for the road under the bridge and the coal yard below the station. Much cheaper to make a mess on card and given my clumsiness probably for the best.   Having done research I am going to have a short bay pla

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backofanenvelope

Back from beyond

Well there's a shocker its almost a year since my last post here and there wasn't much to report then. Life moves slowly, very slowly on but move it does. After a break I have come back to tinkering in the workshop well I say workshop more like a space with bench that I managed to build out of pallet wood scavenged from a skip but ceiling is a bit restrictive, however better than nowt. Over the last year I have accumulated some tools that have helped but its not really until the weather started

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Grand day out

So after a pretty difficult year and a bit, life starts to move on and I can get back to some real modelling rather that virtual and non! Yesterday I headed out of t'Dales to the NEAG meeting. The object was to make a 2mmFS Mineral Wagon Kit in a day and given my rustiness I wasn't confident that I would achieve this target. The first thing that was apparent was that I was only needing minuscule amounts of solder to stick things together. Although I think I am pretty neat with my track building

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The hat trick

Ok, so all the points are done now (the last one nearest, another Y) and I need to start looking at laying it down on the board road bed. I need supplies so may not progress until after Warley at weekend.   However can be getting on with building design and since I no longer have access to Adobe Illustrator I managed to find a very acceptable alternative in iDraw for my Mac which is a 10th of the cost of AI and very much as good, obviously not as feature rich but excellent for my needs. So off

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backofanenvelope

You know when you have a problem when...

With 20mins to go to work you just have to fire up the soldering iron. So last night I started the 3rd and final point although I knew I was tired I just wanted to keep the momentum going. With only the stock rail added I realised that the end furthest from the heal (not sure of terminology) was out of line by about 2mm. Thinking that I would rectify this the following evening I left it to go to bed. However on getting up the urge to fix got too much and fired up the iron   All is well with t

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Point two.. it

Not had much time this weekend for modelling due to family visits and being struck down with a particularly harsh cold. However I did manage to nearly knock up the second point for Oakworth, this is a #8 and on a very slight negative curve. All in all I am happy with this effort although I still need to gap and check continuity. Anyway its late and more to follow tomorrow.  

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Permanent Way

After a couple of days of plans not going to plan, I managed to get the soldering iron out and start building the points for Oakworth. I have found enough sleepers now to complete all three on the main board. I need to work out the tie bar issue and where they sit between bracing bars on the underside. I have made sure there is plenty of space for point monitors.   The first one is pretty easy as it is straight however always slow to get the brain cells working about the process Might get it

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Oakworth - Tracks and Trains

After a jolly day out at Wycrail yesterday, highly recommended, I set about making some Easitrac for Oakworth. Now either I am doing it wrong or I am extremely slow both of which are probably true, it took me best part of the day to do 7 pieces. I had pondered laying cork underlay but failed to get some from the show so kind of kicking myself today I also need to find some pins for when I start putting down the rails. But things are now starting to move forward. I have a shopping list ready for

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backofanenvelope

Oakworth - Bygone days

Having a quiet moment at work lunch break, I set about mocking up the scene for Oakworth. I need to work on the scenery and buildings to make sure it fits in with the track plan. I have removed the station and moved the track towards the front of the layout to make more space for the terrace at the back but also to allow for the potential expansion to the east where the station building(s) would sit. I am raining in the urge to plan for that too   In the meantime I have started to look at Sca

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Oakworth Baseboard pt2

Having spent the day doing stuff, I managed to do 'bits' on Oakworth now caught on image, really need to light my pictures properly.. Sort of finished the basic board but need to brace the underneath and also work out thin ply for facing of the external bits. I have extended it over the original plan as I felt it was just too cramped and needed a bit more space to make it look more believable. The idea is to be looking down into the station with retaining walls all round and grimy terraces. Well

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Oakworth Baseboard pt1.1

Ok so not huge leaps forward given that I had an unexpected guest and a going to see Skyfall tonight I have got pretty much nothing done, did however get one of the ends on which will provide the support. Anyway its late but just wanted to show there is progress of sorts. although not that exciting. Hopefully more tomorrow.  

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Oakworth - Baseboard pt1

So this morning before rushing off to work checked the gluedness of the baseboard for the first section. I have found if I do it in steps it seems to be easier. I also have run out of glue sticks! Should have the basic structure sorted tonight. I have yet to think how I am going to incorporate the fiddle yard, but I think it might involve magnets and copper..   An finally the layout will now be formally know as Oakworth  

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backofanenvelope

In a galaxy far far away

Coming back to my blog and seeing that it is nearly a year since my last entry, which is quite shocking, I want to kickstart activities in my little corner of the world. Work and life events have gotten in the way this year and coming out of the fog has encouraged me to put glue to foamboard and ink to templot plans in an attempt to get restarted. The theme is still 2mmFS and a micro layout so nothing really has changed in the intervening months apart from the increasing mountain of foam board o

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Yer know what it is yet?

Well not as much progress as I had hoped for this evening as although I went to 4D Modelshop and got the necessary bits including solder paint for the wagon build I then couldn't find the bag of bits I brought from the AGM! So yet another box hunt tomorrow. So in order not to let the momentum fizzly out I set about making a test track out of foamcore. Although it is only around 2.5feet long I will adequately meet my goals of getting something running and testing out various ideas an techniques.

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Moving on

Well with over a month since my past ramblings I though it was about time to "do something" Now having settled into new flat finally only 6 weeks after moving in I cleared off the workbench commonly know as the kitchen table and got down to some modelling. For those of you reading my ramblings I have a confession to make, I have wandered from the path slightly but this is only in an effort to get modelling mojo back after a particularly busy patch at work. SO before you is the evidence of two sl

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not modelling related but..

Well as the title says.. not model related but a trip down the Rhine saw a selection of trains. It was a shame I didn't have more time as I was only there for the day and with fiends that wouldn't have appreciated being made to watch the trains go by. I was surprised at the frequency and diversity passing by, and I saw some SSB 482's ? Hmmmmm almost makes me think about doing some DB, N or Z! Anyway some pics.. This weekend I will finally be able to get stuff out of boxes and have a play. More t

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The Eagle has landed..

After a rather frantic time what with one thing and another I am now happily in charge of a new flat with all the benefits of open space and also a kitchen table that can be the home to modelling on the long winter nights. Having measured up a couple of spaces I have found a nook of 11ft for potential future layout extravaganza. Anyway suffice to say things are looking up at backofanenvelope towers.   Today I spent some happy hours at the 2SA AGM where I bumped into friends old and new. Nice p

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Trials and Tribulations

So although not completely model rail related, I have found somewhere to live which is good! Hopefully be able to set up a bit of a modelling bench now, although I suspect there will be a succession of people want to come and stay! The added bonus is there is a garden, for doing the dirty stuff outside and a little shed.. every man should have a shed I am going to have to keep things tidy so clever use of space will be the order of the day, but I am happy to finally be settling somewhere. More

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Day out in Warwickshire Part 2

Ok so dug a few more out for people to have a look at.. Hope there not too much of the same. I always go with the best intentions of trying to take interesting pics but end up taking 30 of the same scene to get what I think is right!   Batty Moor     Hedges Hill Cutting                 Parnhams         Rosneath    

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Day out in Warwickshire

Having gone through the 50 million shots that are no good I dug out a few of my day out at TINGS in Warwickshire. Bit of a trek back due to fender bender(s) but saw some really nice layouts and got some useful tips and info. Many pics have been taken on some of the layouts before and my skills behind the camera vary from ground shaking blurriness to bleached out flash infested snaps, some times I wish I know what I was doing and could get a half decent pic.. anyway here are my selections..   1

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Drop-ins

Finally done something productive after weeks of inactivity. I collected the last two remaining sets of drop-in wheels for my DBS Class 66 from the 2mill stand at the TINGS show after the appropriate interrogation. Bumped into fellow 2millers who were impulse buying Wandered around for the day looking at some really nice layouts, I seem to be gravitating to the smaller almost micro layouts. In fact the three best in show in my humble opinion were Hedges Hill Cutting, Rosneath, Wulstanton Road,

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Drip, drip sssssssssssssss....

In an attempt at keeping the ball rolling as motivational levels are rather low at the moment due to external factors beyond ones control I thought I would pose a picture and a question. So the pic above is pretty explanatory to the people that know and for the rest of us.. it is H3PO4 commonly know as Phosphoric Acid. I shhaaall mainly be using this for soldering and maybe the odd fizzy drink! Shocking to find out they use this in a famous brand of Cola for added zing. Some may remember the 70'

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Two plus one

Well its been a bit of a busy week what with having to find somewhere to live, meeting up with AG homies and dashing North for Railex NE. Ok so I went a little mad at the Dapol stand as you can see and I am not sure wait I am going to use the GC HST on but it looks great and the 86 also but the 67 is what I really wanted. It's a lovely model and now going to have to put in for a bulk load of drop-in wheels-sets and source some decent decoders for them.   What a great show Railex NE is and this

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Modelling of sorts

Ok so the weekend has rushed by and I had intentions of starting the J72 but the number of things needed in order to start gave me and opportunity to put off what I was going to do for another week! well I can get the bits, hopefully, at Railex NE next weekend and as its a bank holiday I can get a bit done maybe.....   Anyhoo on to the reason of this post and that is I have started using TurboCAD for try and make some RP models of some ideas that I have wanted to do for sometime. The learning

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Lost but not forgotten

Although there has been no progress since my last entry there has been progress of sorts. Having thought that my previous order for parts to start my Fencehouse J72 were lost in the post or order never arrived at shop3 headquarters arriving back at parents yesterday I was very pleasantly suprised to be handed 2 little packets one of which was the said parts! Hurrah!! Now there is no excuse to get started on my loco kit. However being on hols in the Dales far from kit and tools makes it a bit dif

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