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Chris Nevard's Blog

A blog by Chris Nevard in RMweb Blogs

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About this blog

Welcome to my RM web BLOG, it's used like most to highlight recently modelling projects and photographs. The postings here tend to mirror my independent BLOG at http://nevardmedia.blogspot.co.uk/

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Salute to the glass-half-empty brigade

Train nuts aren't known for having the most positive outlook on life, here are a few comments I've picked up over recent times, many on internet forums sadly. Of course this is only the tip of the iceberg, but I'm sure you can add some real corkers (don't be too rude though, this is not my website).... Didn't buy that mag because it was plastic bagged Hope they do it in N gauge soon Why do I have to pay for it? There's nothing in it for me Photography, these days it's all Photo

December 1, 2011

26

Another dose of the pedants

nevard_110101_catcott_IMG_1728_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr. It's Wycrail this weekend, so Catcott Burtle has been set up for the last week or two sufficiently high off the ground to hopefully avoid the various scenic details being chomped on again by the cat who has a taste for white metal, brass and plastic card. The happy snappy above is of Catcott, the ficticious (maybe more 'faction') scenario depicting a mixed train off the Bridgwater Branch which regularly featured suc

November 2, 2011

25

What Ever Happened to the Commentator?

I always find it amusing that model railway exhibitions are at sports centres â€“ the type of people that â€˜do sportâ€™ are generally the complete opposite to railway enthusiasts. I suppose the advantage is that the exhibition organisers do not need to invest in too many signs or arrows announcing its presence (ideally painted onto an old stripped baseboard top with splodgy white lettering on lumpy SR green) pointing to the show. They simply rely on the plastic bag toting unfashionable non-spor

July 14, 2011

23

The Armchair & Pedant Now Open for Shandy and Rover 400 Drivers.

111116_polbrock_IMG_1930_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr. The Armchair & Pedant is now in place to hide the right hand exit to the fiddle yard on Polbrock. Of course it still needs a proper sign, but my printer inks have dried up, so until I waste yet more time on cleaning the printer heads and taking out a mortgage to replace the inks it won't be happening for a bit unless I get a print done in the local Boots or Happysnappy next time I'm down in town. The sign on the right han

November 17, 2011

21

3 hours work with glue, hammer, saw, blood, less fingers etc....

110927_cornish-interlude_IMG_1336_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr. 3 hours work with glue, hammer, saw, blood, less fingers, and we have a baseboard in a box. This is probably the average time most armchair modellers sit online before lunch pontificating about flanges, why they've lost interest in the hobby, why they don't have enough time to actually do anything, why 66134 has not been released in S gauge, why aren't model railway magazines free and how much Photoshop does that Mr

September 27, 2011

21

Moonlight Express

nevard_111120_warely_IMG_1980_MOON_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr. Under a crisp full moon, 44560 passes Kimble North Signalbox with the late service. Captured at The Warley Show last weekend; the sodium light is unsuitable for serious photography, so rather than battle with the mixed sodium and daylight, a little Photoshoppery was used which primarily involved removing the ceiling of the NEC and replacing it with a Mediterranean sky. I also decided to de-saturate and colourize m

November 24, 2011

19

New Sign for the Pedant & Armchair

111205_polbrock_IMG_2125_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr. The Pedant &Armchair is now fully open and is complete with appropriate signage on the front. The nearby railway also has warnings to warn of its presence, but of the course the clientele would never dream of wandering onto the line because they almost certainly read government health and safety guides before going to bed. They are also unlikely to be drunk, 'mother' would never allow it. I just need to think of a suitab

December 4, 2011

18

Catcott Burtle - Now with Working Gates

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSb3kSeeFdc In preparation for the weekend show in Guildford at the Astolat Model Railway Circle Exhibition, I've finally managed to bodge up some working crossing gates and a working signal. I won't go into too much detail for the mechanical brigade will probably shudder at my Heath Robinson approach using brass rod and code 75 bullhead rail; you'll just have to imagine - but if you come along to the show at the weekend I'll let you look under my drape an

January 13, 2011

17

Brewery Project Approved by the Cat!

As a brief diversion from my Mendip Colliery project, and because I have a spare freshly made 4ft x 2ft baseboard kicking about as well as a keen magazine editor hungry for stuff like this, I've decided to do a quickie in the form of a brewery based around the excellent Bachmann Scenecraft Oak Hill Brewery buildings. Interestingly enough, the Oakhill Brewery did really exist, and in the early part of the 20th century was served by a 2ft 6 inch gauge railway from the standard gauge S

December 6, 2010

14

Bachmann SDJR 7F Test Runs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alp5njFTJZs The new Bachmann S&DJR 7F 2-8-0 performing some test runs on Catcott Burtle. Any jerkyness seen will be the YouTube processing and compression. In real life I'm very impressed by the smooth running qualities - sadly not seen here on YouTube. For my original review and some nice stills, follow this LINK.

January 4, 2011

14

Video of miniature chain shunting

Chain shunting a wagon at Brewhouse Quay onto the wagon turntable, the turntable then rotates and the wagon is pulled clear. A wagon with more drag would probably produce a better effect - something else to add to the pile of things to be done. In real life shunting like this would be done with rope with chain only on the the very ends, but sadly law of physics give fine thread too much memory to be practical for such a small model. Sorry, I have no idea how to embed a clip...

September 20, 2011

13

Having a little doodle

cornish interlude 01_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr. I like doodling and thinking of ideas for small layouts, small layouts appealing to me because they can cater for all the different type of railways I like. I don't think I could ever commit to just one big project, I'd probably get bored halfway through. Here we have a back of an envelope plan for a 3x1 foot (excluding fiddle yards) micro depicting a fictitious halt and crossing on the Wenford Bridge branch line. The forthcomin

September 26, 2011

13

Midnight Oil/Brewhouse Quay Plan

I suffered from a little insomnia last night, so between midnight around and 2 am I worked on my rough brewery trackplan pencil sketch to produce the below using a little Photoshop to tidy up some of the rougher bits. I've tried to avoid that computer look - preferring that 'back of an envelope/organic' style as seen in magazines like the excellent French model railway magazine Voie Libre and the wonderful illustrations of Paul Lunn. I'm in a lucky position to have been asked to come u

December 15, 2010

13

My Palette

nevard_110406_BQ_colours_IMG_9599_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia. I frequently get asked what colours I use. The trick I think is to avoid anything too bright and certainly don't use manufactured 'railway colours', they're always too bright and lurid. Here are the colours used on Brewhouse Quay and Catcott Burtle - they're all Humbrol or Revell matt enamel. I tend to dry brush them onto a grey/brown undercoat (Halfords aerosol primers). You'll notice I also use enamel rat

April 24, 2011

12

Penguins & Pillboxes

111119_polbrock_IMG_1960-web, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr. Mr & Mrs Penguin ponder on whether they should go in to The Pedant & Armchair public house next to the halt at Polbrock. Deep down in the mystical country of Kernow all sorts of strange creatures are know to exist, everything from druids and dragons through to the well known but elusive Beast of Bodmin Moor. The Pedant & Armchair public house was known to attract all sorts of strange creatures, many with thic

November 18, 2011

12

Steady progress and a name at last!

I've had a rather busy week out snapping other people's model railways and taking care of the airwaves for a minority satellite TV sports channel. I have however shoe-horned a little time to carry on with the 'Cornish Project' which now has a name in the form of 'Polbrock' which is one of the places the Bodmin to Wadebridge line passed through. I'm not going to be too specific on the history, that way I'll hopefully avoid being nobbled by all the 'model railway experts' who've never even pinned

October 25, 2011

12

Rural Backwater and a People's 'Grasmaster'

111109_polbrock_IMG_1809_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr. Hopefully a little scene a tad like that from the excellent Railway Bylines? Here we picture an EWS class 08 trundling through Polbrock with coal for the nearby china clay works. Passenger trains haven't stopped here since 1967, and despite lack of use the ex-GWR corrugated iron 'Pagoda' looks in fine form considering its age. It would also appear to be in Southern Region colours, a result of frequent regional boundary changes.

November 9, 2011

12

Brewhouse Quay: 5 Months On

For want of a BLOG post, rather than dwell on pretty photos and blarney, this one is about the journey so far, for Brewhouse Quay has to be one of the quickest layouts I've been able to get together. There is quite a bit more to do, but I think that layout at a push has reached the stage where I'd be happy to take it to a show. That however won't be until September at Model Rail Live in Barrow Hill Roundhouse. Any spare time over the next few weeks will be taken up tweaking Combwich for RAIL

May 3, 2011

11

Beer, Cake & Toy Trains

Operator's cake, this hospitality rapidly becoming the trademark of Wycrail, with the cakes becoming more luxurious year on year! ï»¿ï»¿ ï»¿ï»¿Wycrail is always a shining jewel in the toy chuff chuff calendar, it being a wray of virtual sunshine the weekend after the clocks change plunging us into dismal, miserable darkness for 5 months. I gather it's to do with farmers in the very north of the British Isles, though why they cannot just set their clocks an hour later than everybody else

November 6, 2011

11

The Old Days!

8404_smrs_expo_019, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr. Earlier today I decided to upload a few 35mm negative scans of toy chuffers taken between 1981 and 1984. Many of them were taken down the long gone Southampton Model Railway Society clubrooms at Sholing Railway Station which housed Newhampton, a huge OO gauge out and back and duck under Southampton Terminus inspired layout. I remember that the standard of modelling at the time was generally a cut above the norm, with the miniature portrayal

April 14, 2012

10

Trio or Medley?

Here we have a 'trio' (gosh, that's so very BBC Masterchef) of wagons posed on the brewery. Of course I could have used 'medley' instead but that sounds more like a microwave meal. Ok, to the point, I have a huge collection of second hand wagons that I'm slowly refurbishing. I acquired them about 10 years ago, but they probably date back to the 1970's and 1980's. Most of them I can identify, but these defy me, so I'm turning to you the as ever informed reader. Wagon 1 (click to

April 23, 2011

10

My Workbench for March 2011

My workbench depends on what I'm doing, so it tends to be set up all over the place depending on current circumstance. Here is the mobile workbench as seen right now at the beginning of the month of March. Click on the image to reveal a bigger view and to be able to read the rather hastily added pointers of what is where.

March 3, 2011

10

Digital Photography with 1960's Tech.

Click on the photo above for a 1024 sized version. This snap shows a typical Highbridge Branch train as seen in the last 2 years of the line's existence; a single Hawksworth Brake Compo and a ex-Southern Railway bogie-van for perishables (fun things like cider and cheese). You can see some rather nice prototype photos of such trains here. Note the narrow gauge trucks in the background used for transporting peat from the nearby moor. I hope to get that aspect operational before the next show

February 6, 2011

10

Bachmann's Super S&DJR 7F 2-8-0

Bigger view? Click on the photos above and below for a bigger version! B) Bachmann's much anticipated SDJR 7F 2-8-0 has finally arrived at Nevard Towers from Hattons in Liverpool, and what a beauty she is too. I'll refrain from commenting in detail too much, because there are many merry souls who get out even less than me who'll no doubt keep the forums bulging over the next couple of months with stuff about the loco that you cannot see. To me Bachmann have captured the look of this ic

December 23, 2010

10

Quickie Brewery Progress

Today a bit of work turning flat earth into a proper baseboard ideal for show presentation. Bendy MDF is great stuff from B&Q and ideal for curvy backscenes.There is still some fascia work and panelling to add of course. The trackplan has come together, it being fed from behind and between the two key brewery buildings. Off stage there will be a sector plate which will feed 3 hidden staging siding behind the backscene. Neither of the 2 exit points will be visible from the norma

December 9, 2010

10

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