Better late than never! It's been over a week since the last update mainly because the amount of work done and worth showing has been a bit short this time, Jobs to complete this first section of Morfa Bach now coming close to the end.
At the Morfa Tunnel end some more vegetation has been added, and the fixed distant for the next section has been installed.
The fixed distant was built up from a mix of MSE and Ratio parts.
More rock scree has been laid at he rear of the siding and also in t
Time for the weekly update!
Things are starting to turn green on Morfa Bach.
Some trees and grass tufts have been added to the tunnel end of the layout.
The plate layer's hut has been scratch built from Plasticard and fixed in position.
To the right of the hut can be seen the next batch of scree to be painted, I haven't mentioned what I am using for the scree, so for those interested it is budgie grit from the pet shop and crushed red slate from the front garden.
It just needs p
Time for the weekly update....
This week it's ROCK & ROLL!
First the ROCK..
The spoil heap next to the tunnel portal has been made, glued, stuck down and painted. Some Mininatur grass clumps have been added.
The remaining area has now received it's base of hanging basket liner.
On the other (Viewing)side I've added some vegetation growing in the crack between the rock, just to break it up a bit. It's a pity that this view will not be seen by the viewing public but here
Another quick but significant update.
Finally I have got all the base scenic features in place. I have just finished the hillside around the tunnel mouth. Significant meaning that there will be (hopefully) no more polystyrene balls floating round SWMBO's kitchen!
The whole lot being given a few coats of "Gloop of a different colour"! This time matt black emulsion being mixed with white filler to give me that grey granite/slate colour.
A fair bit of this will be covered with t
Another week has flown by and it's time for the weekly update on Morfa Bach.
Progress on the scenery at the bridge end of the layout, Hanging basket liner covers the east bank of the river and some rocks and scree have been fixed to the west bank area.A small boat salvaged from an old layout has found a new home too!
At the tunnel end.
A start has been made on adding some rocks and scree up the slope to track level. The tunnel is fixed in place and the new retaining wall made an
Time for the weekly update...
Mud,Mud glorious Mud! Nothing quite like it for.... Making basic scenery!
Using a recipe found on another forum I mixed a dollop of "Gloop"
That's Water, PVA, Polyfilla and cheap household emulsion in this case Wickes "Grizzly" a dark matt brown colour, It was a bit light when mixed up so I darkened it down with some matt black (Wickes Liquorice") to end up with something near what I wanted.
This "Gloop" was then applied by brush to the river b
As promised a weekly update on this project.
All the track is now laid wired up and tested. Rails and sleepers have been painted and a start made on ballasting the track.
The stone retaining wall is finished and painted. and the entrance to Morfa Bach Tunnel is in place.
The area below the wall is still under construction.
The sky back scene here is purely arbitrary as very little of it will be seen once the hill side, trees and undergrowth has been fixed in place.
Meanwhile, ba
A couple of enjoyable afternoons were spent over the festive season building up this Dapol kit that has been in my top draw for months.
The original door hinges being totally wrong were removed with a sharp knife and replaced by bits of micro strip, Some nice whitemetal buffers from Nairnshire modelling supplies have replaced the plastic kit supplied items.
Screw link couplings and some brake rods have been fitted the vacuum pipes are part of the Dapol kit.
The vent
More Woood butchering!
Unlike quite a few of my fellow modellers I do not have the luxury of a large workshop or heated garage, being limited to an 8ftx6ft shed, although heated and plenty of power points it definitely lacks much in the room to swing a cat round department! (No cats were hurt in trying to prove this theory!)
So, consequently I have to wait for suitable days to work outside in the fresh air. Today was exceptionally mild for early January so out comes the saw bench and w
This locomotive is amongst some of the oldest models I own.
It's a Bachmann GWR/BR Manor class synonymous with the Cambrian section of BR Western region.
I was looking round for some quick fix modelling jobs to do over the Chrismas/New year period so decided to do a bit of an upgrade on this....
I had already done some work to it 11 years ago when I bought it new, It's already had new name and number plates and a few other jobs done but, just look at that chimney!
Absolutely terr
I haven't updated this blog for a couple of weeks because I didn't have much to show until now.
I've been doing some work on the small halt for the layout the result of which can be seen below.
The halt is based on the one that existed at Gogarth Halt, the first stop for a train heading north bound up the Cambrian coast line after leaving Dovey Junction.
The platform is just long enough to accommodate one coach as per the prototytpe.
The shelter is also based on the same l
It's been a week or two since I published any progress on my latest winter project Morfa Bach.
I was looking through my books on the Cambrian and Great Western lines in Wales and discovered that "Morfa" translated into English is "Salt Marsh" and "Bach" is Baby or small, so it transpires that the model will both be small and include a coastal section of salt marsh.
Anyway, I digress and should be telling you about the layout's progress (or lack of it) so here we go...
I have ju
Progress on Morfa Bach has been slow to stop just lately, I have realised that the original plan (not drawn to scale) was going to turn out a little bit too cramped, so, I am having a rethink on the buildings.
The track plan is not going to change though in fact I am toying with the idea of introducing a narrow gauge (009) line to exchange with the standard gauge siding. (Nothing definite about that yet so it may or may not happen.)
The bridge keepers cottage will be staying as will the sho
A quick update.
A little progress with the Morfa Bach project.
The west side bridge abutment and river bank are under construction.
Top right of the picture is the "hole in the sky" leading to the West fiddle yard. The bridge keepers cottage is in it's approximate position on top of the west bank,
The bridge has had it's hand rails painted and the short length of lead in track has been laid.
I'm using C&L Finescale track and the next job is to butcher some more plywood for the e
A little more progress! (and a bit it is!)
I spent4 hours yesterday afternoon making and fitting the bridge handrails from 2mm brass square hollow section and 30thou brass wire.
Next job is painting the handrails, note that I have managed to tone down the blue cast seen in my previous entry.
In the background is the basic Wills kit I am using for the bridge keepers cottage.
More as and when
Cheers!
Frank
Some progress,not a lot, but some progress!
I have almost completed the bridge, it still needs some more colour dry brushing as I'm not satisfied with the grey, It seems to have a blueish cast to it, so more work is needed here. Handrails need making and fitting.
The main purpose of this entry though is to show where it goes on the layout.
Over on the right hand side!
I had to get the bridge built and the track laid on it because that sets the datum for the height of the rest of the
Now that I have committed to building my new Micro layout "Morfa Bach" and the baseboard frame is built I have now turned my attention to some "Wood Butchery" in miniature!
One of the features I wanted to include on this new layout is a Cambrian wood trestle bridge.
So, with inclement weather preventing wood butchering outside I have started wood butchery on the kitchen table!
I have made three trestles and started work on the deck. Here's a quick look at progress to date.
After a couple of weeks thinking and doodling with bits of paper I have come up with this..........
It is liable to change again of course, but you get the general idea.
I was too late for the 2011 challenge but still need a new photographic diorama, though I think I will end up turning this into a layout in it's own right.
The proposed project will be about 4ft x 1 ft and will have the provision for a fiddle yard at both ends.
The scale is 4mm/ft 00 gauge. the track will b
Being the clumsy person that I am, i was getting a bit fed up of catching and damaging the ground disc signals on Pen Y Bont every time I cleaned the track.
After replacing the Ratio plastic ones several times I was getting a bit tired of buying and making up new ones. So when I came across some white metal ones made by Detail Matters.I jumped in and bought a pair.
They come ready painted so that was another fiddly job saved. However, they were still vulnerable to accidental damage.
A week or so ago I read Chris Nevard's Blog entry where he had made some nice non working lighting columns for his Brewhouse Quay layout.
I was so impressed (and commented so at the time) that I knew then I just had to have some like that for Pen Y Bont.
Now the hard bit!
I wanted mine to be working lights, so I spent some time thinking about how to do it and came up with this idea.
Brass is one of my favourite choices for modelling material. It is stronger than plastic, light, and eas
Greetings again from the Dukes kitchen table!
This weeks project has just come off the bench.
Last year SWMBO got me this BR standard 3 2-6-2T unweathered of course.
I really wanted the green one but, as it was a supprise gift from SWMBO I had no choice in the matter! (No change there then!)
Anyway the loco as it came is built as a southern region job and of course I wanted a western region job.
So, out with the tool box, remove the two unwanted lamp irons from the smokebox door an
One of the last few outstanding kits to be put together on my bench is this Parkside ex L.N.E.R. wood bodied van.
For extra detail and robustness I have used some parts from one of the excellent etches supplied by Dave Cleal of Mainly Trains.
Here's the underframe showing some of these excellent etched bits.
And another shot of the van complete (apart from axle box covers) ready for painting.
Finally here's the finished job complete with Modelmaster transfers, slight
One or two of you have asked for more details of the engine shed I built last year ready for the new extension to my layout Pen Y Bont.
Rather than include the details in my layout thread I'll post the construction details here.
The design of the shed is based on the one that once stood at Aberaeron.
I have had to shorten the building quite considerably though due to limited space of the layout.
Here's the construction stages.
The building was built entirely of Pasticard with the
Preamble
Since I rewired my layout I have provided for two controllers to be used.
Once the extension is built the fiddle yard will be up to 8ft away from the main operating position. To make operations easier I have introduced "cab control" where a train leaving the fiddle yard is under the control of the "main" operators controller.
A train travelling to the fiddle yard will be under the control of the fiddle yard operators hand held controller.
switching from one controller to the other
I bought this Dapol (ex Airfix) kit whilst on holiday last year, Finally got around to building it.
Built as Dapol intended apart from the couplings here it is painted and weathered.
Almost 12 months has passed since I built the Dapol Lomac kit.
I have been thinking (ouch!) about some sort of load for it
Dapol make a JCB kit which is one option I had but I baulked at the price for what it is.
In the end I picked up this Fordson tractor for a couple of quid at an expo and u
