Some update pics for the new Southern layout as promised. I've set this around the early 70's period - still want to use the Hornby 2 HAL and realise this was retired in 1971. I'm also a bit confused about using the Blue/Grey 411 CEP for this period as I've always laboured under the assumption that no DMU or EMU received this livery until the mid 80's and ran in complete Blue up until this time. However, I've seen a couple of pics (one on Mike Morant's site) dated around 1969 and 1971 that cl
I really love photographing my layouts and my ultimate aim is to make the locos and settings as realistic as its possible in 00 Gauge. Getting as much as possible in focus has always been a bug bear of mine. The relationship between F-Stop, shutter speed and ISO is complex to understand and I should imagine professional photographers spend a long time to master it. I haven't quite managed this and have always found that the higher the F-Stop then the yellower the image simply because the more
Some initial pictures of my latest scheme. Like most of us modelling fanatics I haven't been idle during the lockdown period! These are strange times indeed and I have no doubt that many of us have worried about income and job security so, with the exception of purchasing a second hand Hornby Q1, I have managed to construct the layout with materials and track I had to hand. Folgate Street is a fictitious slice of third rail London and is an old scheme that has been revamped for the purpose.
Gosh, it’s been well over a year since my last post. But it has been a crappy time and life has thrown my wife and I some right old spanners to contend with.
The worst of it was when my dear old Mom passed away in mid November after an 18 month long battle with Bladder Cancer. Thankfully she was in a care home for the last 6 months so she was extremely well looked after and had little pain to put up with in the end. Marvellous places.
Whilst all this went on modelling took a back se
I was reading 1984 a few weeks ago when I came across a blog entry by Scots Region called Victory Road - http://www.rmweb.co...._fromsearch__1. A fictitious layout of a station from the novel. This really got the modeling juices flowing and I began the usual postulating when we get an idea into our heads. I had a half completed station throat model that I'd never been happy with and started to put two and two together. I PM'd Scots Region who kindly allowed me to proceed with his original
Finished!!
Had a play about with the stock today, but had a few problems. The usual suspects - dirty track and wheels, bad connections etc. This is the frustrating aspect of 4mm scale - especially when you've double checked the circuits and cleaned everything about a 100 times!
A few pics below - more tomorrow if I'm allowed - we're supposed to be going up some hill or other for a walk. Know what I'd rather be doing!!
Managed to capture the streak through the smoke with the inte
It's an age since I posted anything, but that don't mean that I haven't done anything. So here goes with the latest model. It's a four by three foot micro that has been connected up to three continuous loops so that I ran run trains to my heart's content - a real train set at long last. There's also a small shunting yard at the front for various departmental wagons and freight - depending what mood I'm in. The shunting yard is all operated by Spratt & Winkle - I just use a hand held magnet u
The latest project. I've been off and on with this layout over the last couple of years. So I decided to buckle down and get on with it. The roof is still under construction and I'm very much at the McGuyvering stage. There's always a lot of niggles to sort. This is a quarter of a station scheme with a mirror at the rear to double the length. The whole layout is a mere 6.5 foot long.
This is an original Hornby Margate version of a Duchess which has been fettled wit
The arch infills and girder bridge are now completed.
There are no station names in 1984, only Newspeak abbreviations. The station is known only as INTSEC 3/19 (Intersection of Main Line 3 and tube station 19) - you can make your own mind up as to which North London Station it represents!
Winston stands alone on the platform and watches a B set pull in amid the smoke and steam - I must get around to giving him a pair of eyes!
I figured that seeing how Orwell wrote this i
Just a few pictures of a model of the Launch Umbilical Tower in 1/400 scale I made a few years ago. The Saturn V is a Dragon model. This is my tribute to those magnificent people that worked to put a man on the moon before 1970. I still quite can't believe that there are still people who refuse to believe in this brilliant achievement. Especially given the plethora of scientific information available on the web nowadays. I'm really enjoying the event and there has been some great stuff on t
A little project to celebrate the 50th Anniversary. I always loved the red flash double arrow logo and wish BR had adopted it for the whole of the corporate era.
There's certainly a lot of life left in these old Lima models. I spent a lot of time trying to match the colour BR had first used - turquoise blue - and eventually found this colour. It's not a perfect match and seeing how I'm limited to using spray cans (I haven't yet plucked up the courage to go buy an air brush) it was
In response to fellow RMweb members who were interested in how I made the overall wire roof the following is an article that was scheduled to appear in a future edition of FRMR. The baseboard for the model had been completed by the end of December and the roof structure by the end of January. It was around this time I emailed some pictures to the late Bob Barlow, who in response asked me to write a short article about its construction. By the time this was sent the poor man was probably starting
State of play thus far with 'The Works' - new wire roof fitted before covering. The roof is designed so that it can be removed for track cleaning and loco placing. I've tried hard with this one to get everything straight and square.
I'm trying to achieve something like the roof at Loughborough Works. This photo is from The Railway Magazine (Nov 2012 souvenir issue) - it show the works in the late 80's building the Class 60. It's a former wagon works, but loco erecting shops and wagon
The latest pics of progress. The roof is complete and a backscene of joined, white mounting card has been erected. Just a small section of some platform buildings and a LCut footbridge to install. I also need to get a printout of the real citadel building seen to the rear of the station - this will be pasted to card and placed in the correct position on the backscene.
The above looks a bit like a painting in a way. There is no photoshop trickery here -
I haven't been resting on my laurels since my last layout and have been ferreting away as usual. So, and having grown up in Perry Barr, I thought it was high time to have a go at a model of the station there. I've had to rely on a couple of pics by Steve Jones along with my memory of the place. I didn't fancy using any of the available catenary so had a go at making my own out of wire. The are not perfect but look credible especially with Colin Graig's superb pewter insulators.
A c
More pictures. Note Steve Jones's fabulous shot of the station in 1978 with a Class 312 bound for Walsall. I am currently working on a Southern Pride Class 304 - this seems to be the only available WCML EMU kit available at the moment. Work is slow and I am awaiting parts that did not arrive with the kit - such is life, eh?
Fabulous shot taken by Steve Jones in 1978.
Class 86 'Planet' in early Executive livery pulls an eight coach train - made up of 7 Lima MK3s and 1 Bachmann MK1 full
Believe it or not, but this plastic Lobster has a direct connection with the real place. Along with the station there was four shops sharing the blue brick building on the overbridge. There was a clothes shop to the left, the station (a simple entrance with small ticket office), a shoe shop (if I remember right), a newsagent and a chip shop. The 'chippie' was called the 'Shell Bar' and had a small eating area that was festooned with fishing nets and lobster baskets etc. Plastic fish and Lobsters
Winston Smith arrived this morning courtesy of Gaugemaster. I've trawled the net looking for a suitable figure, but could only find one from the Preiser Mechanics set. Although you can tell that H0 figures are slightly underscale for 4mm, Preiser still have the best range of rendered figures. They are so well painted and detailed that I personally can't resist them.
Winston looks lost under the claustrophobic concrete roof. I've also bought some East German guards (which have yet
Some months ago I came across a fantastic website - www.britishsteelbilston.com - about the Bilston Steel works in Wolverhampton, West Midlands. This has been put together by Mr Andrew Simpson who worked there and is well worth a visit - there are some fantastic photos including a section on the Work's locomotives. In fact, I contacted Andrew and he put me in touch with a Mr Roger Deans, a chief fitter at Bilston, who has provided me with information and a lot of stories about his time there.
A few more pictures of the junction in action. My track laying leaves much to be desired in some of the shots. This all looked perfect when first laid, but there are a few wobbles here and there that are more apparent in the close up shots. It all works and I've had no running problems and yet it shows just how much attention must be paid to laying perfect, level track during the construction of long line layouts.
A Hornby Class 20 combo hauls a short engineering train throu
I haven't posted in an age and, in fact, haven't even visited RMWeb for quite a while. What a great new format and I'm really interested in becoming a Gold Member - currently in negotiations with the financial controller about the monthly fee!
The new layout, High Trees Junction, is nearly complete so here is a few initial test pics. This layout forms part of a roundy roundy scheme in my loft. My previous layout, Perry Barr Station, is on the opposite side. I just wanted to get
The history of our railways is what really interests me. Its organic nature, one that has seen it evolve from private ownership to state and back to the half and half measure the system is subject to today, is a fascinating subject to study. The fact that Great Britain gave birth to the railway and, in doing so, has consequently had to make to do and mend with a very old system is testament to the pragmatic nature and engineering skill of the British. After all, who’d have thought it possible
The Express Models welding unit has finally gone in and, apart from eagerly awaiting some goodies from Ehattons, the layout is more or less complete.
The building could be slotted into a larger layout if need be but that's for another time. At the moment I'm having a bit of fun modifying a SuperQuick Ash Plant for a small shed scene.
The roof covering is complete. Just waiting for some lights to arrive in the post now. There's still a load to do - the gable roof caps and the top capping over the ridge spines (which are channels for the wires for the lights etc). Then it's on to the interior overhead cranes and elevated offices along the back gable end wall. After that it's the locos and all the rest of the stuff needed to complete a realistic works setting.
This is the effect I'm after - a shot of
At last the Southern Pride Class 304 has been finished. The layout would have been incomplete without it, but building it has tried my patience and I'd think twice before having a go as such a large kit again. The instructions were clear and the kit itself is very well made, but you really need prior experience and I rather think I jumped into the deep end with this.
The lead driving vehicle was the last car built and it has turned out much neater than the driving brake car (see below)
