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Exhibition countdown


Kris

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Well the last month or so has seen less done on Avonwick than I wanted, Part of this has been down to me getting more work over Jan than before Christmas but mostly down to me being a lazy oaf.

 

What have I done?

 

Some of the spot lights that I put in before Christmas have been replaced with ones which have diffusers on them. This has significantly improved the shadows on the back scene, although these do still show. It's more a case of bright spots now rather than dark ones.

 

The woodwork has been painted to hide lots of stains and overspills. Black has been chosen.

 

The goods yard has started the progress of transformation to the railways permeant way depot. A couple of dogfish and a digger have been purchased to aid this.

 

Some extra stock has moved closer to completion but is now in a state that I can use it.

 

The Ixion Manor that turned up at Christmas has had it's wheels turned down and now runs on 2mm track. The motion has been blacken on this but the pick up's need a little tweaking to improve the running.

 

The display board has been printed but I have yet to secure this to the board I will use, I need to work out how to make sure that the board does not fall down and the exact position before doing this (well that's a job for this week then! )

 

I have built a support for the controller so that it sits over the fiddle yard.

 

A couple of trees that had been knocked down have had strengtheners added to their trunks and have been replanted. No more naughty trees.

 

A stock box has been built out of a box file, some kitchen scrubbers and bits of an old roll mat.

 

 

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Avonwick up without info board.

 

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Avonwick up with the Info board popped in place. Do I leave it here or put it at the other end?

 

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The stock box. It holds 14 coaches on the the layer that I have built plus a few wagons. The centre strips are removable only being held in place with pins. All other bots of foam are stuck in place, mmmmm the smell of Evo stick. There is a further layer of foam that sits on top of what can be seen.

 

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And now onto the stock. I now have 4 Toplights ready (2 still need their roofs glued on). Whilst I have another 3 of these nearly ready to go I decided to concentrate on these 4 so that I had something to run as a train. These don't have buffers as they are still out of stock but they will just have to wait for these. I was going to light these coaches but have not managed to get a satisfactory power transfer so have left this off. This means that the insides have compartments but no real details. A shame but it has an upside as these are very heavy coaches already. I have built a couple more wagons but have not taken a photo of these to put on here.

 

Avonwick will be at the Newbury Model railway exhibition next Saturday (12th of Feb) details can be found here. If your going to be there say hello.

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Hi Kris

 

Looks like you're just about ready for Newbury; I'm rather looking forward to see the 'new' Avonwick with the full circuit - saw it at the Expo last year before the layout discovered steroids ;). It'll be interesting to see how your Manor runs, I'm trying to persuade SWMBO that she needs one...

 

I'll be there with Mitziblue and Witney Euston, so we'll both be popping over during the day to have a good snoop, and it will be good to put a face to the name...

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Kris

 

The lighting certainly looks to be a lot more effective now.

 

For the display board, regardless of the position, I would chop off 6" or so off the bottom so that the top of it aligns with the top of the centre main board and apply black paint to the base of the stand - that way it will look more integrated as part of the layout presentation, rather than an after thought.

 

From the top two photos it doesn't look like the full roundy roundy - Am guessing the return side is hidden by the centre main board and the two legs visible in the background support the hidden side? If so, can the punters walk around it all or only along the main frontage?

 

The coaches look like they have turned out well.

 

PS - I wish I could find those boxfiles in Spain - the concept of a boxfile here in Spain is completely different to those and completely unusable for stock...or even layouts ;)

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That looks very good! I wish my eyesight was better so I could continue in N (or 2mm)!

 

I have some HOe stuff that came in a starter set, so once those boxes had been binned, I needed somewhere to store the stock.

 

I found that Maplins sell flight cases which you can customise to your requirements. Search for N50FU on their website and you'll find it.

 

I've now got all my unboxed HOe stuff in one, they take up only a fraction of the space, but never mind....

 

Cheers,

 

Friso

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Wow Kris that is looking really... er ... finished!! :O

:lol:

The difference the photo backscene makes is fantastic, it really adds realism and depth; and the Manor looks very realistic in thst setting from that distance, even if it is the wrong colour. :P

 

Regarding the notice board, I think which side it goes should depend on the layout of the show and where you are sited. It would be nice to see that first as you approach the layout.

 

The lighting looks good to me.

 

If I resided closer to Newbury I would pop over, but I will keep a lookout for if/when you are closer to Bedford.

As Steve says, it would be nice to put a face to the name!

 

Good luck with the show.

 

Chris

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Thanks for all the comments.

 

Steve, I'll look forward to seeing you there.

 

Pete. I agree about loping the bottom (or top) of the board, and as I type the paint is drying on the board. The whole thing was up. At Newbury I don't think that people will be able to access the rear. This is the least finished part so possibly a good thing! As for box files, how many can you fit in your hand luggage? laugh.gif

 

Nick - Farmer giles glue sniffing shocker could be the next blog title biggrin.gif

 

Chris - Bedford, hmmm I don't think that I will be heading that far with Avonwick, defiantly not for a one day job, too be fair Newbury is pushing it. The Idea of a movable display board is something that I had not considered, I shall have to think on that.

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I like the backscene and the manor and coaches look great. I would put the info board the fiddle yard side if you are operating from the inside. If you operate from out front you would probably stand that side. I wish I could get to Newbury to see it. Its the ferry that makes it awkward.

Don

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I was trying to work out if Newbury was still on next weekend. It seemed to have disappeared off the ukmodelshops web site list of events. I should be able to come see you.

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