Leaderboard

So far I have 2 engines partly built, both are Models & Leisure kits. The first which really only needs the chassis completing, and the body painting is the 517, the second which requires far more to get near completion is a Buffalo (Saddle Tank version). I have taken a couple of photos to show progress so far (the dome and safety valve are not attached to the 517, this will be done after painting is complete) :

I have several wagons and vans completed, photos below (all of the pictures were taken on what will eventually be the cattle dock siding). The vehicles display a variety of lettering that would be seen on GWR stock in the 1905 period, small "G.W.R" painted lettering, cast plates and the latest 1904 25" GW. The tarpaulins on the two Coopercraft Open wagons were home made, a thin sheet of A4 paper was turned black by covering it entirely using a thick black permanent marker, the lettering and numbering then applied in white drawing ink :

So far I had only completed one tree for the layout, a Scot's Pine. The trunk and branches were formed from steel cable (the type used in push-bike brake and gear cables), this was bent to the shape required (and bound together with fine wire). Once the trunk and branch shape were as required, the whole was covered in Isopon car body filler (the non-flexible type). Once this was dry, the bark texture was engraved in with a hack-saw blade, and painted (rather unfortunately, I sprayed the whole thing with Matt varnish, which for some reason has a slight sheen - a future repaint is required). The foliage was Woodlands Scenics foliage net, this was attached with Evo-stick impact adhesive (if I remember correctly - it was made over 10 years ago), a slightly darker green was applied to the netting with water colour paint. The end result is a tree that is about 30 cm tall. All being well it was all worth it 01-Jul-2011 (Edited original entry) I have included a further photo of a couple of Elm trees under construction, the more completed one has the remnants of Woodland Scenics foliage attached to the outer branches, but I was unhappy with the result feeling that a denser foliage will be required, so eventually I will be attaching clumps of rubberised horse hair to beef up the branches a bit before adding the foliage. The tree on the right hopefully illustrates the method of construction, several lengths of cable are placed around the diameter of a 5mm bolt (with it's head sawn off), these are then held in place by twisting some wire tightly around them and the bolt "core", once satisfied that there are enough lengths of cable, the whole is liberally covered with Araldite 5 minute epoxy, the trunk is then formed by further binding of the cables as I move up the tree, branches are formed by taking 1 or more of the individual cablesout to the side, and if necessary binding them and untwisting as necessary to produce finer and finer branches as the bough gets further from the trunk. Obviously as the branches are considered long enough they are chopped off with pliers or cutters. (Please be aware that using steel cable as I do that it is the very devil to cut, and being stiff and sharp easily scratches, or pokes little holes in your fingers ) When complete both trees will stand over a foot tall (75' to 85' scale feet in height)

Another bit of modelling required to fit the Caprotti gear to the loco drive Brit chassis. The rear motion bracket was really part of the whole weighshaft/reverser assembly so a new bracket was fabricated from plasticard as below The cast gear is just pushed into place at the moment - final positioning will be done once the cylinders are assembled. That front mounting bracket will need some mods too - I first thought that it lined up perfectly, but that might not be the case! Two options Add some plasticard to the rear faces of the cast bracket Lose the cast bracket and cut a slot in the chassis to take the Golden Arrow resin front bracket Again, I'll make that choice once the cylinders are in place ....

The board is 4" deep under the track, dropping to 2" for the quayside. The diagonal cross braces are 1" (I think - need to go and measure!) I was very pleasantly surprised with how much rigidity the cross bracing added, certainly in its original 5' 6" form the board went from being completely twistable to something where there was no discernable "flex" when lifted from one corner. Since cutting it in half I've added the end joining plates and side sheeting, 6mm and 3mm ply respectively. No track laid yet but with repeated assembly/disassembly in preparation it seems to be holding together so far.

Lovely Tom, the architecture will do much to set place, time, and atmosphere.