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
With York show over for another year for me time to reflect on what I saw and learned probably more importantly. The show in my mind was a very good one and had some really nice layouts I would have like to be there longer but started the day a bit late so have to be content with 4 hours of viewing and shopping although the last 10mins of the show at Squires stand was a bit tense. I think my favourite layout was the Greek one as its buildings and structures had to be seen, it was like being ther
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.
.. a month goes by and nothing been achieved! well work and life has been busy so not had much time for modelling.. although have been to a couple of shows Railex being the best. I got to see Missy's little Nn3 Shunter and chatted to her near the end of the show, came away with some ideas and then the 2011 Challenge pops up! hmmmm even more distraction(s)
I am also going on a mad dash to the 2mm Expo oop north on Saturday with 8 hours on the train and around 4 hours at the show, but looking
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
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
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
Ok so after some Templotting at the weekend I tested out the size of the plan and am quite suprised how bit it is and thats without the 3way so I am going to have to go some giggling to get this into a more managable size as there needs to be space for the fiddleyards/cassettes! but I think it is a workable plan and like the flowing curves allowed by hand built track. And finally a side on view of a Tank loco and 2 (ahem) Southern coaches!
Ok so nearly 18 months have gone by since my last post and you may be say what now or you may not be! So what is new in Backofanenvelopeland for a start off I have made a new years resolution to actually achieve something this year or throw it all in and start basket weaving or something. In reviewing my responsibility landscape I have come the the conclusion that I need to have a number of interests to keep me going and so when the muse wains I can flick to something else. So those areas are l
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
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
So back from a bit of an epic journey north to the 2mm Expo hosted by the Keighley Club (thanks for that) , via a rather long winded journey starting at 6:38am not helped by having been out for one too many sherberts the night before and not getting to bed till 3am. But the journey went well with a range of transports to an from the venue. Have to say the Keighley Club space is great, lots of it! and looks out over the KWVR
I now see didn't take as many pictures as I thought I had and
To keep the momentum going as things at work are rather irksome and sucking up way to much time from modelling I recieved my 1911 map of Leyburn. It shows the station plan almost fully but misses a bit off the eastern approach which is a bit annoying.. but it does show some interesting features that I wasn't aware of before, one being the long headshunts at both ends of the station. I think a trip to the records office at Northallerton is needed or a day out at NRM but it is a start and I can ge
Ok so slow news day and as I am away from my workbench and not able to build stuff, knew I should have brought soldering stuff with me I have started reading my books and am starting to get into the research of my future 'big' layout. That being Leyburn Station on the NER Wensleydale Branch. Having picked up one CD in a collection of 3 of images of the branch line, some if not most are images in books I already have but the bonus of these pics are that they are high-ish resolution TIFF files an
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.
So today's effort was put into constructing point 4. I spent a little over one hour 40 minutes building and now as I know what I need and the order in which it goes I am speeding up a bit but still taking time to get things wrong I feel a lot more comfortable building things up now.
After a trip to BnQ today with a friend who has a car I got an off cut of thick MDF which I thought would make an excellent surface for point building but didnt reckon on the pritt stick gluing the template so t
So after some manic days at work feeling to tired to do anything I finally got to play a bit with Templot and have firstly done the non 3 way version but feel this is not as elegant as the 3 way one that I roughly tried out, so some more playing with is needed to make this fit the area unless I go for the 3way challenge. It all needs tidying up and the timbers shoving etc, but the starting point has been made. Comments on any possible improvements greatfully accepted.
I have which will be a
One of my many! backofanenvelope plans surfaced the other day whilst going through a old hard drive and thought that this would do for my first venture into 2FS layout building. It will be a test bed for many things and is going to be around four foot long-ish. Based on a NER fictional location named after a place I lived in many years ago it will have a simple track plan apart from a 3 way point at the eastern end of the yard. I am going to have a go at Temploting this later tonight if I get th
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
Well time drags in my modelling efforts at the moment and yet another month goes by, with things going on around me it is hard to concentrate on modelling, however I thought I would settle down to a little on this rainy Sunday afternoon and set myself the task of re-wheeling my GraFar Class 60 loco so that I have one 2mmFS loco to test out my soldered point-work.
This has proved to be a little frustrating once I had got the body off and split the chassis as you can see from the picture above
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
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.
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
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
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
