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A 7mm extract of a china clay dries...

Entries in this blog

My other ‘other half’...

Morning all,   A quick further update to report that I completed the ply fascia to the second Lack shelf this weekend.   Same process as last time and when the boards were aligned together the two middle ends meet up quite nicely with only a mil or two difference in the top cantilevered fascia. Once its all painted in my standard grey paint finish hopefully it will look the part.   The other good news is despite it being a bit of a 7mm beast in the Matcham household I have found a way to s

bcnPete

bcnPete

Too small and dry...

Evening all,   I have decided to set up a blog of my 7mm efforts mainly as I prefer the blog format to the layout threads...too much scrolling backwards to find stuff!   This project was started back in BCN when I was having a 2mmFS lowpoint and I confess there is something nice about jumping between the two different scales. Rather than repeat, I will do a short summary intro here but if anyone would like to read in more detail the thread can be found here:   http://www.rmweb.co.uk/commun

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bcnPete

The dries the limit...Part II

Evening all - time for a quick update. Work has been progressing on a number of fronts namely the dries buildings and the rolling stock. Firstly I have been gradually applying water based paints to both the buildings following the grey primer coat. These are being built up and then weathering powders are applied on top. I am working on them ‘offsite’ in a foamboard enclosure to prevent them falling over as before and breaking all the gutters off    The first building (the shallowe

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50/50...no need to phone a friend...

Evening all,   Small update as I managed to get all the fascia cut at work over a couple of evenings - did a dry assembly and needed to cut a few more bits again.   This morning I decided to take the plunge and apply PVA to the 3mm ply pieces with the aim of completing one Lack board today. 50% done and am happy so far - the cross bracing is my usual approach for my recent layouts using 50mm outriggers at the rear to strengthen the cantilever - now the PVA has dried it is all pretty rigid no

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bcnPete

New kid in town…

Evening all,   Hopefully a productive modelling bank holiday has been had this weekend.   Just a quick update to share that my Heljan class 37 arrived last week and it’s been well worth the wait  Whilst in reality the loco would never been seen at Wenford it will only make an appearance at home or maybe the last 15 minutes at a show - Rule No.1    A big thanks to Lee Edmondson of Lee’s locos who not only managed to source the 37 late last year (when everywhere else

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bcnPete in General

A Brake from tradition...

Evening all and hope you had a good Easter,   My 2mmFS mojo seems to have dried up at the moment so the good thing about having a 7mm layout means I can switch focus  I also have this week off work so I hope to do some more on this layout.   This entry concerns one of the pieces of rolling stock acquired some years ago as part of the fleet - A Slaters 7mm BR Brake Van. I haven’t made any kits for some years and it seemed a good project to begin this weekend, ahead of the week

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bcnPete

a shed load of work...

Evening all,   This warm weather normally puts me off modelling but the 7mm mojo is raging at present   This morning I had another two hour window or so which allowed me to complete the fascia mock up and also the dries buildings at the rear to give more of an idea on the overall look of the layout. I also took the chance to correct the end of one of the sheds as I noticed from some of the photos googled it had some more relief and set back.   These will have much more detail when modell

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bcnPete

Blinded by the (single) light...

Evening peeps,   A small update on progress. Been busy at work with deadlines but have managed a few work sessions on Wenford to keep mojo going.   First up, and not my strong point was tidying the wiring up. This involved completey redoing the wire in tube turnouts with new wires and plastic sheathing and locating the switch permanently as part of the support structure. This has helped cure the intermittent shorts I was getting when testing. I also bought some self adhesive cable ties from

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bcnPete

we spray to grey...

Evening all,   Good lockdown progress has been made on the dries since the last update the end of April - a few hours at the weekends chipping away has certainly accelerated where I thought the layout would be at this stage.   Aside from adding gutters and drain pipes to the first building, I wanted to make a start on the second one and get them both to the same status. Using the same build as previously a foam board base was formed onto which various plastic sheets have been ap

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bcnPete

The dries the limit...

Evening all, There has been little progress on Wenford since the last post but Rich Brummitt of this parish popped around yesterday afternoon for some matters 2mmFS...so it seemed a good chance to set the layout up and push the dark side of the senior scale...   The layout also has a potential show invite for Wycrail 2021. It was 2022 and I thought yep, 3 years is possible...then I was told they have a slot for 2021...so I thought, why not...nothing like a deadline to focus the mi

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bcnPete

Lights, power, mirror and paint...

Evening all,   Aside from the BV kit posted earlier this week, I mentioned I was hoping to do further works on the layout having taken the 4 days off work. Am happy to report some good progress has been made.   First up was acquiring a Digikeijs DR500 which James at DCC Automation had suggested to me last year as I was worried about continually plugging and unplugging the wires on the Uhlenbrock Daisy between layouts. One of the great things about this bit of kit is that it h

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bcnPete

Getting the full support of the board(s)

Afternoon all,   Well I have to confess that since that 37 arrived much time has been spent running it rather than modelling  however just having this week off work (a ‘use it or lose it’ kinda thing) I decided to work on something I have been pondering for some time now.   The layout was originally planned as a toe dipper into the senior scale…something to set up on the DRT and shuffle a few wagons about…the planning was all based around an 08 and the lengths of wagons used

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Wenford debut - Uckfield MRC show

Afternoon all,   Been quiet here of late as I tried to get Wenford Dries ready for it’s debut at the (always) excellent Uckfield MRC 2 day show.   Detail had been added including handrails to some of the bays (yep they were pretty twisted bits of metal sagging in places) signage to the doors (not a typo, that is what the sign said for Lorries 🙄) moss to roofs, some shunters ( huge thanks to Mark B 46444) for painting these Modelu figures, the additional shed lean to and final

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Track and inset track samples...

Evening all,   Following on from my last entry, I wanted to undertake some tests on the inset track and ballasting for the layout. The only ballasted section will essentially be the track along the front whilst most of the area depicted had a concrete type apron. As mentioned before I have had a few disasters on my 2mmFS layouts with both of these so thought a few tests would be a good start rather than wade in.   I assembled a 60ft length of C+L plain track on a 5mm foam boa

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bcnPete

Ballast and clay...

Morning all,   After an intense 3 months of work, including readjustment to WFH I was happy to have pre booked a week off after Easter to have a break and of course, profit from some modelling given current restrictions.    Following the last post with the apron, the next job before tackling the dries was to undertake the ballasting. This was using some black ash ballast from Green Scene following the tests I did and posted last year. No point to dwell too much on the ballasting

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bcnPete

On with the apron...

Afternoon all,   Here’s an update on progress since November.   Unfortunately I didn’t feel like modelling for a while as I lost my Mum just before Christmas and small trains seemed irrelevant  Following Christmas I wanted to start the year positive and my Mum always liked when I worked on the hobby so I decided to get cracking again. I realised that there was less than 6 months to the 2mmFS Diamond Jubilee in June and work deadlines are intense until Easter so it was unlikel

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bcnPete

Light on...Light off...

Happy Christmas all,   A quick update on the Brake Van kit started previously. Prior to painting I wanted to explore installing a working tail lamp. After various searches I found one by ModelYard and after a few helpful email exchanges with Rob, he sent me a kit and a wiring diagram. The intention was to power the lamp from the track using wipers on the wheels fashioned from a kit previously bought at a show.   The lamp was set up and various wires fed through to the undersi

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bcnPete in General

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