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Marlott

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Weathering

Subdued Colours

I was pleased to get a comment from Mikkel on the subdued colours I had used on the engine shed. Despite not achieving his amazing standards I thought I would share how I do it. Subdued colours are something I am aiming for on the layout as I always like the layouts with subdued colours at shows. On the engine shed I used The Gimp to subdue the colour of the printed Scalescenes Red Brick, however on the other areas and all over the rest of the layout I use pastels. I have two sets that I rely on
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Platforms

The platforms use Peco platform edging with a cardboard top. The fact that this is a terminus means that the platforms meet at one end. To avoid joins in the surface, I cut all the platforms from a single sheet of cardboard using a template marked on tracing paper laid on the baseboard. The surface is airbrush painted with a Humbrol grey and then weathered using pastels.
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Other

Stirling Engine

A bit of a diversion. Here is a little video of a solar powered Stirling Engine that sits on the window ledge next to Marlott:    
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Other

Pub

I never got back to posting after Christmas. First a job change and now ...   So here is something I did earlier. Not my best modelling but I am curious to see who recognises it. If you do recognise it perhaps it looks a bit different.    
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Scenics

Tree

My inspiration for model railway trees dates back to the 1970s. We always believed that, no matter how good the track, stock, buildings and scenery were, model railways were always let down by the trees. There did not appear to be a good way to build a realistic tree. Then I saw Pendlebury by Bert Topping in a couple of magazines of the day. There is a picture of one of his trees here on rmweb. Page down through the post. As I remember it, his methods involved blitzing (using a blender) dyed, fr
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Signal Box

Signal Box

The signal box is made from the excellent Severn Valley Models etched brass kit. The kit is assembled using cyanoacrylate glue and goes together very well. I used Deluxe Materials Glue'n'Glaze to attach the window glazing. I struggled with one or two of the small parts, particularly in the stair case but that was more my one-eyed ham-fisted approach than the kit. Once complete it was primed and then painted with Precision Paints light stone and dark stone plus Humbrol for the walls, windows and
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Other

New Modelling Tool

My latest little investment is shown here. Despite appearances, it is not a phaser! It is a small vacuum cleaner for cleaning up the layout, amongst other things. For years I have struggled to clean the layout with a larger vacuum attachment. It works but it is easy to break something along the way. This is rechargeable via USB, quite small (it is sitting on n gauge track) so easy to manipulate, and works really well.    
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Cattle Dock

Weathering Cows Too

More on weathering cows. The cows were weathered using Modelmates Mud Brown weathering liquid. It is very easy to use. It is water soluble but dries like ink. To weather the cows I just painted it on and then let it down with a wet brush until I had the colouring I wanted. The cattle dock is weathered using the pastels method.  Perhaps I need more cows in there?
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Control

Point Control

Last year I was asked a question about how I intended to actuate the points. Unfortunately I missed that question and so have only just responded. Apologies to Jack Benson for that. Here is the explanation I promised. I am using stiff push/pull wires under the baseboard as shown here:     The other components in the design are choc-box connectors. The brass insides of the choc-box connectors are used as joiners for the wire to allow the system to be re-configurable (see 1). T
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Marlott

Baseboards

5mm ply was selected for the baseboards. If offers enough rigidity for a micro layout but is also very light. The small layout size means that a shallow edge frame suffices to provide the necessary rigidity. Having made these decisions the ply wood was bought. The images show the boards upside down showing how the edge frames are attached.   No scenic sections are planned to be lower than the track so the baseboard covers the entire area. The baseboard for the fiddle yard uses the same
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Lighting

Lighting

After a long hiatus I have finally got round to another post.   I often find that some of the layouts that stand out at shows are those that are well lit. I think it is particularly important in small cameo layouts. I am also struck by how much layouts of this type look similar in dimensions to home aquariums. Home aquariums always seem to be well lit. This set me thinking.   So I visited my local aquarium supplier with the dimensions of my layout noted. In addition to seeing
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Other

The Yard of God!

My 9 year old daughter has a new name for the fiddle yard. We have talked about the "hand of God" descending on our layouts for years. The fiddle yard is the natural home of the hand of god so it has now become known as "The Yard of God" in our house thanks to our daughter Eleanor!    
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Scenics

Cheating - a very similar but different photo

Here is an attempted wide angle focus stacked image to get good depth of focus close up. Unfortunately the wide angle does not focus so well at this range around the edges. My eyes are not what they were either so my judge of focus may be impaired, however I think it is all in better focus than any of the images that went in to it.       It is similar to the last photo I posted but is actually completely new.    
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Scenics

Laying Grass

Following up on Long Grass, here are some shots of the messy business of laying the grass. Looking back at my inspiration again:     I see a greener layer under the straw coloured grass.   With anything that is not stuck down removed, I marked out the boundaries of the grass lightly with a pencil, making clear the areas that should remain as path. I then started by laying a short green layer first painting the area to be grassed with PVA and then using the Flockit t
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Yard

New Roof for the Coal Office

I am working on a new roof for the coal office. I have succumbed to the point of view that says, "a viewer sees more of the rooves than anything else" so I have decided an upgrade is in order. The tiles are 2mm wide which makes them 12" to scale. I have tried to make some of them slightly uneven to make it look more natural by slipping some by 0.1, 0.2 or 0.3mm. This is the effect so far:      I still have the ridge tile, painting and a new sign to do.   If this wor
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Yard

Coal Merchants Office

My most recent project is not very ambitious: a coal merchants office for the yard. It is based very closely on the Scalescenes kit, however I modified the window to suit a prototype I found on the far right of a picture of Kings Heath Station, just because I liked it. I realised having completed the build that it is quite similar to a OO gauge kit given away by Metcalfe on the front of the Railway Modeller a couple of years ago. The brick work is just the Scalescenes original however I put the
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Diversion

A Diversion - Stamford Engine Shed

I came across a model I made some time ago just for interest when I did not have a layout: Stamford Engine Shed in N gauge based on the Prototype Kit:     I scanned in the original Prototype kit and then used The Gimp to replace all of the brick surfaces with a Scalescenes equivalent. The roof tiles were replaced using the same technique with a home made slate paper made from a photo of the roof of the school at the Beamish Museum. The water tank sides were drawn from scratch
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engine shed

Engine Shed Details

A quick run down on materials used for the engine shed.     Outside bricks: Scalescenes Red Brick TX01 with the colour dulled down using The Gimp Inside white washed bricks: Scalescenes Painted Brick TX05 Guttering: Ratio Guttering & Drainpipes Doors: Ratio Doors with the arched tops removed with a razor saw Roof: York Modelmaking Slates N-Tiles01 Windows: Scene-Setters Glazing Bars 3x4mm -  I got these at a show. They are not currently
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engine shed

Engine Shed

After a long hiatus for the summer progress has continued a little. The engine shed has been largely finished for some time but I put the internal white washed bricks in this week to finish the job. The engine shed will be adjacent to the coaling stage, to which I am adding coal now!    It is not modelled on a prototype. It is however in the GWR style with similarities to Tetbury without the water tower, or a shorter version of Wallingford.      A view looking insid
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Other

Pub: The Albion 86 Armley Road Leeds

The pub in my previous post is the former Albion at 86 Armley Road in Leeds. This is what it looks like now:     This is the Google Maps reference: https://www.google.com/maps/@53.7972561,-1.5723353,3a,75y,33.46h,97.05t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sR3k-CLrmyuA9zxl5DT2Eew!2e0!7i16384!8i8192   This is a Google Maps shot from a few years ago when it was still a pub:     I have only been to Leeds a couple of times and I have never been to the Albion.   
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Other

Billy Bookcase Fiddle Yard

If I can build a Billy Bookcase layout, then perhaps I can build a Billy Bookcase fiddle yard.   Adjoining the 80cm Billy Bookcase on which the layout lives is a 60cm Billy Bookcase. I do not think that the 60cm version is made anymore, however, I have one and it is the ideal place to locate the fiddle yard.    Although the layout itself will only accommodate short trains, I did not want the fiddle yard to be restrictive length. I therefore decided to build a traverser rather
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Track

Track Laying

The track is glued to the foam board cover on the baseboard using water proof wood working adhesive. Testing was completed bit by bit as the track laying continued.      
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Control

Control 2

In control I explained how the underside of the layout is wired. Now for the controllers and control panel.   I decided on two controllers. This is perhaps more than necessary for a layout of this size but I wanted two controllers to get optimum control of different loco types. I find that the older locos and some recent ones respond better to PWM feedback controllers. I used the now defunct ECM controllers on earlier layouts many years ago and found them to be highly effective. The mo
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