It's been a few days since I last did any work on the model, not that I've been idle. I have been doing some more research with a trip to Bath Green Park Station to measure up and photograph the roof support columns. Thanks to the Taunton MRC with their Superb 'Bath Green Park' layout; seen recently at the Wigan show; I have a ready made source of white metal columns. A package arrived this morning from Colin alias Alan Gibson Mk2 complete with a Christmas card... a nice touch. I'll add a photo of them when they are cleaned up a bit.

A number of kind members of RMweb have also sent me some excellent photographs - particular thanks to Patrick - which have added to my knowledge of the buildings at Barrow Road. I will now have to make a minor alteration to the sand furnace chimney kit before assemble - still better to find out before!

This morning I decided to make a start on one of the laser cut buildings. I have choosen the sand dryer as it is compact and has a blank wall which is ideal for a test build. So what do we get. The kit consists of the following parts

The kit consists of a core structure of 2mm mdf with walls of the same material, which have the brick courses laser etched into the surface in English Bond formation. The window arches are cut in the same way. Overlays of 'Rowmark' hard plastic are then used to give the corbelling at roof level - 2 layers - a single string of bricks over the windows and a plinth at the base. Windows are cut in 08mm 'Rowmark' and this layer is laminated to the rear of the mdf.

So to the trial with one of the ends. First I needed to chamfer the top row of 'engineering' bricks on the base plinth.On the prototype these are at 45deg. The plastic is hard so cutting with a knife is not recommended. After some head scratching I used a steel cutting rule which has an edge conveniently shaped at 45deg. I attached the plinth to the rule with double sided tape and sanded it down to give the desired shape.

The laminated brickwork is then attached to the mdf using superglue being careful not to use too much. Each overlay is overlength at each end to enable it to be cut an sanded back to give a mitred edge.

Finally it is given a coat of grey primer.

That's it for now. The next test will be using some coloured crayons - Berol Charisma - on the brickwork. I have used these before for colouring a turntable pit on our group layout 'Brinkley' with pleasing results.