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Update - Some more progress since restarting the layout again... Firstly, the backscene has had a first coat of blue paint. I am going to keep it simple and use the same technique as my diorama by adding some foliage at the base and then a screen of trees in front of it along the length of the layout. It needs some sanding and smoothing where the joins are but I have run out of the paint so will redo next month. Perhaps some clouds added after but overall its a plain blue sky painted using Wilko 'cloudless' tester pot. Note to self: Buy 5 more pots when next in UK. Secondly, the front fascia has had the located screws removed, filled and first coat of the grey paint. I need to revisit this, sand and smooth off but I like this colour for fascias now in preference to black as I think it looks quite smart...sophisticated even Thirdly, I have tweaked the turnout. The operating switch has been located and this will be hidden by some foliage and trees accessed by a finger through the hole in the backscene. Rather than rebuild the turnout completely (for the third time ) I set about removing the frog area and made new ones. After refitting and tweaking, the 25 and a 47 seem to rumble through it quite nicely. Some of the wagons cough a little but I think they need some weight added as the etch chassis is very light even with a Parkwood body on. The next phase will be to spray the track in grey primer, redo the small sliding traverser in the dries area to release locos, add the sculptamold to the ground contours and then have another crack at the infill trackwork area I attach the sketch done previously that demonstrates with a small cassette it may be possible to run this board on its own and change the eras of the stock to represent clay hoods through to PCA's etc. I have included a few pics of some surprisingly lengthy visitors to Moorswater...and happily the ferrywagons can squeeze around the tight curves at Moorswater...need to rewheel that 66 pretty sharpish too. Some pics... Front on view...its smartened the layout up a little... And 3/4 view...what's that 'non BR Blue alien' doing in the dries... Original sketch showing the ideas for it to be a stand alone board... Farish 66 on Dapol Ferry wagons... Hoping to get some nice low level shots through the trees once the scenics are underway again... EDIT: Apologies for the scraggy scenery in a couple of the shots above...this will all get covered when the 'cake skimming' sculptamold team arrive soon...

Yet again my day saw little activity on my part, something to do with get up unusually late and punctuated by a visit to homebase and Halfords. However the van SC630 progresses. The planks for the other two doors were fitted, a time consuming job. Then, while one pair fitted, the other doors would not due to a mistake on my part, the changeable nature of wood, a miscalculation of about a mm and the fact the door frame was ever so slightly askew Oops. Anyway after some gentle persuasion (dont worry no hammer involved!) the doors now fit and do not give any visual impact of my butchery! Oh the forgiving nature of wood! Dreadnoughts If i asked you what you thought of when i said dreadnoughts, views would differ. Some of a mindset would think of the massive battleships of the WW1 era, others of a greater mindset would go to the Great westerns massive 70ft express coaches. Other would look at me blankly! However mine and others who have an interest in the met would go the Met railways 'Main line stock' often known as dreadnoughts due to their massive bulk, comparitively to previous stock. However they are only 51ft long which in coach terms are tiddlers. (it also means they are just over 4.5ft long in 5 inch gauge and a perfect fit for an Erde 142 car trailer!) What follows is entirely to my dads credit, which he probably hasn't received enough of in this blog! Recent activity has focused on the bogies, a completed example being shown below Hes building his last two coaches to complete the 5 coach set, and they are now reaching assemly point. the bogies are now complete, save wheels on one which he is waiting on. The frames are just receiving final details such as vacum cylinders and battery boxes as well as dynamos and footboards. Bodys are made from frames of marine ply (available from all good hardware stores) and Birch ply, routed to form windows and panelling (not available at all good hardware stores) Bogies are aluminium plate and angle milled to the correct profile to resemble Fox pattern 7ft bogies (they may well be familiar to southern railway modellers as well) Axle boxes are our own casting, rapid protoyped from drawings from pictures of surviving vehicles. The preserved examples on the Keighley and worth are on different pattern bogies, having been swapped when the originals cracked. the boxes are based ona surviving pair on a 1905 underground trailer car at acton LT museum depot. Springs are made from one layer of spring steel and several more of packing crate banding steel which is ideal for wagon and coach springs. Someone asked about wheels last post, these are CNC machined steel by a contractor who does favourable rates for 'hobbyists'. Before anyone asks yes there are seats but no the doors dont open. you wont beleive the amount of people who ask. Hooks are laser cut but severely cleaned up, then safety chains as fitted to all Met passenger rated stock were made up. It severely annoyed him to find four laser cut safety chain hooks just after he had hand filed four and got them cleaned up! Ah well, such is life! So like i said, little credit where its due, my dads taught me the vast majority of what i know and his work is far better than mine! Hopefully few projects time I'll give him a run for his money, but he'll have moved on to greater things, so hey. Hope you enjoy. will try and get a video uploaded for next time, few pics of acton depot show. Wagon progress will slow again as i need to get on a cnc router for my roof arches. Hope you enjoy, any questions, please ask Cheers, Mark

In response to comments on my last blog, here is a B&W quickie showing progress on the rake to date. Two coaches are yet to be detailed and are sitting on 'bare' bogies. The last two are sitting in the cupboard! I intend to leave all the roofs to be painted at one go. Must get that embankment finished off, not to mention most of the low lvel part of the layout!

After the 'great lift' it was time to start fixing some of the balustrades, refuges and pavilions back onto the viaduct deck. Here are some shots from today of the two boards that we will be showing, about 40% of the total. Lengths of 7mm wide stripwood were temporarily glued with Copydex along the edge of the deck to allow the balustrades to be set at the right distance in from the edge; a simple jig was then used to set them in the right place with respect to the refuge outriggers. The refuges were then added after the alignment strip was removed. The end balustrades and pavilions are just Copydexed for the time being because the pavilions may need to be removed for final painting. The buttresses supporting the pavilions have also been extended outwards from their original too shallow construction. Quite a bit needs to be done in the next three weeks on further detailing and scenics - we should then be back to near where we were at Scaleforum but in a more finalised condition.

Since completing the most recent row of cottages for Callow Lane, I've been plodding on with the Townstreet goods shed kit. These are plaster-cast kits, where the plaster takes enamel paints beautifully to create realistic stone or brickwork effects. I've always liked the idea of their kits, and built a water tower for Bleakhouse Road several years ago. The goods shed always felt 'LMS/Midland' to me, so I bought a kit at Ally Pally some years ago now, and started it fairly soon afterwards, but didn't get round to really tackling it until recently. I have replaced one or two parts of the kit, where I felt that the plaster-casting process could be improved upon with alternative materials (although it must be admitted that this is one of their earlier kits and they have improved even on this over the years). In particular, I didn't like the plaster valencing over the road entrance, so that was replaced with a plasticard equivilent. The doors were also plaster, and whilst they aren't too bad, there was no hinge detail and in any case I thought that plasticard ones might look a bit better, so I made some replacements. The kit did not provide any doors to the roadway entrance, which I felt would have been the case, so I made some up and glued these inside, with just the edges showing from the outside, as they are modelled in the open position. This also meant that the interior 'runner' detail above these doors had to be modelled. I also scratchbuilt a wooden loading platform (I did buy their interior detailing kit, but decided against using it, as the whole thing was already very heavy!), and provided some interior detailing, including a crane and various bits and pieces. The main feature that has been replaced, however, was the main shed roof, where I wasn't happy with the overly-irregular roof slates, so I built a card replacement and glued Scalescenes slate strips on it (taken from their terraced cottages kit). I perhaps ought to have replaced the slates on the road entrance canopy, with the benefit of hindsight, but these aren't too bad and I have more weathering to do on these, to match them to the main roof (I haven't yet glued the main roof on). Finally, I've fitted a couple of grain of wheat bulbs up in the roof to provide some interior illumination. Only one will be used at a time, the second one is a premanently wired-in spare.

Good afternoon everyone, Just thought I would update on the progress of this model I have now primed and painted the etched brass buffers, snowploughs and added the buffer beam detailing. I have also added the number transfers and just need to add the Johnsons Klear which, hopefully, will hide the decal slide film. Having not used this product before, I am a bit green on this one. Is it best to leave the transfers 24 hours before applying the Klear with a paint brush? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Here are a selection of photos of the model before i start attacking it with the dirty paint brush!!! All comments greatly appreciated. Best regards, Jeremy

Circuit Design As described in "A Test Track in N - 4: electrics" I started with an emf-sensing feedback design by Jonathan Scott (www.scottpages.net/UniversalTrainController.html second circuit from top). It was intended that the controller would be powered from AC, DC or battery to enable my N test track to be used 'anytime anywhere'. Construction I made a few small changes to Mr Scott's original circuit: C3 to 3uF to reduce inertia on a small layout add 1000uF reservoir/smoothing capacitor across the supply rails (I'm never happy running op-amps from raw unsmoothed DC even if they will work that way) use a 3-pole direction switch with the 3rd pole switching a red LED to warn of reverse before the knob is turned. Having gathered all the parts together, the big question was, "Will it all fit in there?". As this is only a small, one-off circuit, I decided against making a printed circuit board. So a piece of copper SRBP stripboard (aka Veroboard) was cut to fit in one of the slots helpfully provided by the box manufacturer. Then components were placed around the op-amp IC according to the circuit diagram - a few wire links were required to hop between strips. Everything fitted except for the bridge rectifier which was bolted to the box base. Very careful measurement was necessary to ensure that no components would foul the speed and direction controls mounted on the lid of the box. Then it was a case of cabling the various bits together: rectifier to board, board to switch, speed control and LEDs, switch to output. All wiring was checked twice before proceeding... Testing A 12v battery was connected, quick voltmeter check on the output, place a loco on my test plank, and... movement! But only a crawl, even with the knob up to maximum. Luckily I have access to an oscilloscope - this revealed several interesting things that I probably should have realised before testing: the output waveform never achieves better than a 50:50 mark:space ratio hardly any back-emf in the 'off' pulses the op-amp peak output is ~1.2v less than the supply rail (data sheet confirms it!) voltage drops occur across the bridge rectifier (1.4v), D3 and Q1 (1.3v) Together, this meant the loco only ever received 8v peak and 4v average - no wonder it moved slowly! So I tried a 15v power pack instead of the battery. Things improved - top speed was faster, with great 'creep' control too, but it just didn't feel right. A trawl on t'internet revealed feedback controllers tend not to to work that well with many small motors such as those used in some N gauge locos. Indeed, some tend to get very hot and in a few cases burning out. This wasn't looking good... In a flash of inspiration, I tried a 00 loco on my test plank (it has two tracks). Wonder of wonders - it ran great! Superb creep control, smooth acceleration, reasonable top speed. So this box works after all. Curious, I checked waveforms with the 'scope - sharp 12v pulses, plenty of back-emf in between, and generally 'alive'. Conclusion So yes, a result, but not quite as intended. After considerable pondering, I've decided to keep this controller box for other uses, but make a simpler no-frills DC one for my N test track. Reasoning is two-fold: 1) it doesn't meet my original requirements for multiple power sources (12v battery in particular), and 2) it works really well with 00 locos so it'd be a shame to waste it. The next exciting instalment - part 2 - will cover the simpler DC Controller. Postscript In case it may be helpful to someone, here's what a typical waveform looks like (it varies with loco - I guess every motor is different): Having done further tests, some 'DCC Ready' locos perform less well, with jerkiness at low speed and flickery headlights. But my old Lima pancake motors seem to perform quite well, though sounding raspy. Interesting!

Here's a brief illustrated write-up on my recent experiences with modified and detailed HO figures for Farthing. My normal source of figures is to backdate OO whitemetal figures from Monty's and other ranges (see this separate blog entry). But this can be time consuming, and for pre-grouping modellers the options are limited. Like others before me I have therefore been attracted to the large German HO ranges, and especially Preiser who have a small series of figures from the Victorian and Edwardian period. Some of these can be seen on the Preiser website. The big issue is size. The photo above shows medium-sized figures from Preiser and two UK ranges. In this case, the height difference is not particularly noticeable. As an aside, the different OO ranges also seem to differ in average size, with Monty's often being slightly larger (and I suspect thereby more correct) than eg Langley. In other cases, however, the size difference is quite noticeable. As this photo illustrates, it's not just the height difference, but just as often the difference in "bulk" that gives the game away. So in my view, HO figures often cannot be mixed indiscriminately with OO figures, and often need to be used on their own or in carefully selected places on the layout. One place where I find them particularly suitable is in cramped loco cabs, where their small size is a distinct advantage. There are other examples of that in this earlier blog entry. The large number of figures and poses in the German ranges means that there is good scope for light modification. Even if a particular type of figure isn't available, there is usually always one that has a similar stance and which can be modified with a little tweaking. This driver was originally a portly civilian frozen in mid-stride. The Preiser figures are fairly well detailed compared to some of the UK whitemetal ranges, although it does differ from figure to figure. Further detailing doesn't hurt though, and beards are great period markers. Here I've added a beard using plastic putty from Model Color, applied with a wet needle to ensure it goes on without clumping. Funky Victorians! Victorian beards are a whole study in themselves, it seems. These gentlemen sport different styles of plastic putty beards, based on the illustrations that I found on the internet. The Preiser figures are rather brightly coloured as they come, so I tone down or repaint them. There are, of course, lots of figure painting techniques available on the internet, but some are a bit out of my league, and some just don't seem to work for 4mm scale. So I usually go for something simple and indicative. In my view, faces are a particularly criticial area, and a model with a well-sculpted face (such as this one) makes a big difference in terms of realism.Painting eyes etc is particularly tricky in this scale, so if a face is well-moulded, I often simply give it a blackened wash and let it settle in the right places, touching up lightly with skin colour afterwards. The difference when toned down/repainted is usually very significant!

All those close-ups of Code 100 track in my past couple of entries made me want to push ahead with the C+L track for "The depot". So here's a little interlude to the "All in a day's work" story, showing what I've been up to with the track inside the depot. Timbertracks panels stuck down, sleepers shortened to appropriate length, and webbing removed (see the earlier dicussion in this entry). Next time I'll just lay some individual timbers! The track is inside a goods depot, so I wanted that look where the timbers are almost embedded in the ground. Using the plastic filling knife in the photo, I "dragged" Polyfilla at a 45 degree angle across the timbers, until it was level with the timber tops. When the Polyfilla dries up it contracts a little, leaving the timbers just proud of the ground. A slight "shoulder" is left on some timbers, which I scraped away with a scalpel. The result was more or less what I was after: Timbers slightly proud of the ground. But they are looking a bit thirsty! The Polyfilla residue on the timbers was cleaned off with a wet cloth (you'll notice the high-tech approaches here!) ... ...and the timbers were given a bit of thinned matt varnish to restore some of their colour. I should've done this before laying the timbers, which would also have prevented the original wood stain from seeping into the Polyfilla. I managed to cover this by rubbing dry Polyfilla powder into it. After giving the ground a light wash of grey and cork, I laid the track. The chairs were threaded on to the rail first, and then stuck down with Butanone. I was worried if the latter would give a strong bond, since the timbers had been exposed to quite a lot at this point! So far I am satisifed, but time will tell. It seems there are as many experiences with Butanone as there are modellers! Hey dude, want some good dust? A heady mix of white baby talc (sic) and Carr's light grey weathering powder. Rock and roll! This was brushed across the track to blend things together and tone down colours. C+L etched fishplates, shortened to simulate the GWR type. I bet you can't see the gap in the rails. See how good a joiner I am? ;-) That's it then. I do wonder if the timbers are a bit too light, but things will look darker once the depot is placed around them.

I finished the second row of Howard Scenics cottage fronts the other day, and finally took some photos out doors today while the sun was out (well, mostly): Here is what they look like from the back, posed on the layout:

My N Scale PRAs arrived today! I have given the one in the foreground a dusting of primer so I can better see the detail; I have also mounted it upon the Peco chassis I am using, which although isn't technically correct is getting used because I have lots knocking about. The one in the background is as they arrived from Shapeways. The steps, handrails and ladders arrived warped (as normal) so I did my usual trick of dropping them in near boiling water out the kettle and they, as if by magic, return to the correct shape. I can only assume they have some sort of material "memory". Next steps will be carefully smoothing, followed by painting, decals and weathering. Kindest Regards, Jack

Whilst finishing off Barrow Hill I inevitably started thinking about what next - I guess we're all guilty of that during builds? Then, whilst browsing on RMweb one day, I came across Geoff Forster's blog of his layout 'Penhydd' - this, in my humble opinion, has to be one of the most perfect models I've ever seen. It has everything - a station, three goods sidings, roads, lots of perfect greenery and potential for lots of expansion. It offers loads of operational fun and makes for a great photo setting. I was thinking of moving up the fine scale ladder and experimenting with automatic coupling anyway so thought a small GWR branch terminus would be the way to go. Geoff kindly allowed me to copy the track plan simply because it couldn't be improved upon. Code 75 track and points have been used. It's worthwhile noting that a move up to this finer profile track will prove a little difficult if you're used to the robust Code 100 like I was. It doesn't like any undulations in the base board and I spent a lot of time fiddling about with cardboard wedges to get it all level. There are six isolated sections - each of the tracks roughly split into three at the points - and standard Peco point motors to control the points. The sections are controlled by simple switches at the end of the baseboard and the points by a homemade stud probe. The wiring under the board ain't in the least bit pretty to look at, but it all works fine. I've used Spratt and Winkle couplings on all the stock. I got a starter pack from MSE who offered a superbly quick service (3 days to arrive here in Ireland from the original order request). Like everything fiddly there was a lot of apprehension about mounting them - the lower method was used and is highly advisable if you're a novice like me. There was a few mistakes and the chains were really awkward to make and put together, but the first one went on without too much bother. When tested over the supplied magnets I was both surprised and delighted that it worked brilliantly first time. The magnets have been sunk into the base board and glued in place. Mikkel (The Farthing Layouts) has written a superb article on how to mount and use these couplings to their full effect which can be found on this link http://www.gwr.org.uk/procouplings.html . I was careful about following both Mikkel and Geoff's advice about not painting the couplings so ordered a bottle of Brass Black from Eileens Emporium - another superb service (arrival time from order was also 3 days). It's worthwhile noting about how it is important to get the track perfectly level if you want to use S&W couplings - if it ain't then you'll get no end of problems with the stock uncoupling where it's not supposed to. A close up of the superb Bachmann Pannier Tank. I also have a Hornby GWR Pannier from the Rail Road range which is a great little runner, but once you've purchased the Bachmann one there's no looking back. The following is a link to a video I've made of the Pannier in action. I'm toying with Cheslyn Hay as a name for it. This is a real place in Staffordshire and was the home of Rosemary Brick and Tile where I worked as a maintenance man in the 1980's. It did have a rail link which had long been abandoned when I was there, but I'd like to eventually expand the layout so it could incorporate a small add on of a brick works. Suggestions, comments are most welcome. Mike

Hi all Dont know what happened with the last post, some images wont display and others are in wrong places so oh well! The problem so much of the time is that visual progress is slow so i wont always have something to show for hours work. So going back a little, theres this, proving it is still model railways! Every year the london transport museum depot at acton holds two open days, the first of the year being themed on London transport in miniature. For a few years we have attended with the rolling stock in increasing amounts, and after a poor organisation last year, we were tucked in a corner and few people came to look. So we got very bored and realised there wasnt anything to hold peoples interest in our stand. We had a static stand and people came looked and went away again. So with the advent of the radio control system in the loco a cunning plan was hatched. Table top running in 5 inch gauge. we hadnt seen it done anywhere else so we thought, How Hard Can It Be? A call was put to a friend of ours and ten metres of track were obtained to complement the existing 8 metres we already had. A complete 25ft radius Rh point was purchased for £235 (very reasonable condsidering they usually go for over £300, and a kit for a custom 0 gauge one will cost you about £50 from C+L) as well as a reverse curveand we had enough track for two sidings and headshunt on a 13.5 metre stand. So there we were, we turned up at the depot on the friday with the track in the trailer, and with the help of a good friend, gathered together the tables and set up two sidings with a 3-4 metre headshunt. The spare track formed a display area for the London transport pannier tank of our friends and one of the coaches. With our 8 wagons and 4 more from our friend, we shunted the sidings all weekends, exciting the children and captivating the adults alike! Our fiend bought his identical electric loco but due to electrical faults this wasnt running, just sat in the sidings with oil lights flickering. So running 5 inch on table top? Great fun, but lots of work on the set up. Its amazing what fun you can have with just two sidings and eight wagons, especially with limited space! makes for interesting shunting, reordering wagons. And it attracts people and keeps them interested. we had some people who came back again and again, asked questions and some people even stayed for up to half an hour just watching the engine transferring wagons from one siding to the other. Unfortunately i doubt they'd allow us to run live steam so electric locos only! Finally a short video. I'm sorry for the appalling quality, taken ona camera phone but its shows what tricks we could get upto. people were fascinated by the radio control, and were perplexed when we would drive from the balcony that overhung the aisle we were on, and they couldnt see adriver as it ran on its own. People became convinced it was computer controlled! I'll leave you to digest that and remind anyone with an LT or Metropolitan railway models, the depot are looking for stands for next years show with a strong Met Railway theme, what with it being the 150th anniversary of the opening of the first public underground railway next year. Hopefully more wagon progress next time. I have all next week off as well so who knows what'll come. Cheers Mark

Flippin' eck Tom this is shaping up to be some model. I'd been wondering whether this section of Ropley yard would make a good micro/mini layout and this proves it. Although you're making me wonder whether abandoning N gauge was such a smart move... Keep up the good work! Ian

It's the old carpet underlay technique but it still needs a lot of work doing on it. It definately looks better in black and white! John

With a lot of flange squeal IIRC I always particularly recall seeing one of the BIG yellow things waiting in the loop in the yard at Liskeard very early one misty morning, and trust me, that one was very yellow indeed - It seemed as if the sun had dropped out of the sky!

Good to see this back "in the works" - must have been my recent trip to the area that restarted things eh ? If Fowey had a 3 dongle signal I may even have been on site for you....ah well maybe Ill be back there in a couple of weeks !

Until a few years ago, I wasn't really much of a diesel buff. Pretty much preferred kettles to diesels, to be honest. After all, the S&D was a steam-only line when it was open and before that, my interests were more for the Great Western in the 1930s. However, all the diesel releases of recent (and not quite so recent) years haven't been in vain and have begun to make a bit of an impression. So much so, in fact, that Callow Lane will be my first layout to have a 100% diesel sequence, when the time comes (although the plan is to alternate the late 1960s/early (pre-TOPS) 1970s sequence with the still-favoured early 1960s mostly steam sequence. Callow Lane is a freight-only yard set in south Gloucestershire, to the north-east of the city of Bristol, just a couple of miles from the former Midland Railway marshalling yard at Westerleigh, so in a 'proper' incarnation it should feature mostly W.R. diesel hydraulic types, such as Hymeks, D63XXs, 'Teddy Bears' etc, together perhaps with an 08 and may be a Brush Type 4. However, these days I just can't leave the space-time continuum around Callow Lane alone, and a whole parade of unlikely and frankly naughty deployments of various improbable diesel types is beginning to emerge. I had a play with a few of them earlier. I'm convinced that this version of history is as valid as any other.... although I haven't been able to find much supporting photographic evidence from local photographers of the day... To start off with, things are relatively normal and as you might expect. Here's a typical W.R. diesel hydraulic at work in this former M.R. goods yard, an innocuous Class 22 runs light under the road bridge: A Hymek arrives with some 16t minerals - nothing to alarm the historians here... But what's this?! - a 'Sulzer' Class 25 has turned up from Westerleigh Yard with a solitary oil tanker in tow. Probably worked down with a 'go anywhere, any time' Saltley crew on it... And if that wasn't enough, another Saltley crew has brought this Class 20 in with a local tripper. This is normally an 08 duty.....I don't think the Bath Road crew that usually work this turn sign Class 20s, and surely the Saltley men don't know the road to Callow Lane as well?! And... just when you thought that was stretching it a bit (and I haven't told you about the Class 15 yet either, have I? ), this loco turns up to collect that Fina tank wagon! My friend at work tells me he saw a Class 27 on a Christmas parcels at Temple Meads around 1967 or 1968, so that was excuse enough to get one of these at a bargain price at my local model shop's sale about 12 months ago... You will have noticed that I've managed to keep the tablet catcher recess well hidden in these views...... And finally, don't worry about the railbus... ..it isn't staying. No, that's right, it's 1967, and now that the Eastern Region has decided they don't want them anymore, so rather than scrapping them, a couple have been sent to Somerset to try to bolster traffic levels on the 4' 1½" Somerset & Dorset system on the Somerset Levels... Just had a thought, I may have to extend the layout this year... I don't think the full length Blue Pullman will fit!...

A 4MT hauled service departs Ropley heading for Alton. Hi All. Well, not a huge amount of progress to report just recently for various reasons, but mostly work related as usual! The backscene has had its first coat of white applied, and a template has been made for the top of the embankment, although I really need to get back to the real location to work out the exact lay of the land behind the tree line along with the exact location of the footbridge. You may remember a few entries back I was experimenting with tree construction, and I've had the opportunity to test the first tree completed on the layout to see how it fits in. I'm quite pleased with the result and so more trees are now on the production line, the first of which can be seen partially completed below. The first tree of the embankment line test fitted, with another under construction I've also finally made a start on the ash pit outside the wheeldrop shed. This is the last section of trackwork remaining to be completed and it was about time I made a start on it. Now the top surface is done, the walls and floor will be completed next, although these will be painted first because there isn't much room for a brush inbetween the lines! The line has been laid using the same chairs as the points, and looking at photos of the real thing the spacing is larger than standard line, so this has been recreated here. The ash pit is taking shape in the foreground, the last trackwork to be built on the scenic section! So, thats the latest progress since the last entry. Alexandra Palace should see a few bits aquired to allow more scenic work, assuming I don't get distracted by certain new releases instead! Finally, a short video showing a few comings and goings at Ropley [media=''] [/media] Cheers all, Tom

A simple track plan like this needs only basic wiring: track power feeds on each side of the box connector across the hinge join jumpers to isolated rails jumpers to the toe of sidings. But all wiring is on view when the case is open, so a neat job is called for. Wires were routed under sleepers and soldered to outer edges of rails - with hindsight I should have used something smaller than the standard 2.3mm bit on my X25 iron, and perhaps attached certain wires before fixing track in position. The connector is a 4-way PCB plug/socket with just two pins used; always useful to have spare ways! The longest wire runs are enclosed with U-channel polystyrene strip stuck with double-sided tape. And so to testing. The amazing thing was - it all worked first time! Only powered from a 12v battery with a series 50 ohm resistor, but locos trundled round without de-railing or stopping. Woo! For loco control, it's intended to fix in one corner a box of home-brew electronic gubbins, so that either a battery or a small mains adaptor ('wall-wart') can be plugged in for instant running "any time, any where". So now I'm building an analogue controller more-or-less to a circuit by Jonathan Scott (second circuit from top) using copper stripboard, LEDs, control knob and a polarity switch enclosed in a 80 x 60mm plastic box. So all we need now is to finish that and get it working...

After much blood sweat and tears the Hornby body and Malcolm Mitchell chassis have finally come together. Once she has received her new identity, Totnes Castle will be very lightly weathered. I think the Malvern Hills make a very suitable backdrop!

Although I was fairly happy with the colour and painted landscape on the original winter backscene, as shown here, I eventually decided that I couldn't live with those prominent joins in the sky. Not only that, but I couldn't see an effective means of disguising them that wouldn't draw attention to itself. So - after much procrastination - I decided to redo the whole backscene before proceeding further. This wasn't as simple as it looked, as I had already begun to build up foreground and background scenery, meaning that the new backscene would have to be carefully cut and measured to fit around the existing contours. However I was sure that if I didn't do it now, it would come back to haunt me down the line. I'd bought a large (8x4) roll of transparent PVC sheeting for use on the fascia of the American layout. After some experience with cutting and painting this material, I convinced myself that it would make a good basis for the backscene. Measurements were taken using rulers, tapes and paper templates, and after a certain amount of trial and error I had two pieces of PVC that fit over the existing material - making for one join, rather than two, and this time positioned where it would be much easier to work with. I glued the PVC backscene directly into place over the old, and then began applying multiple layers of matt white acrylic. The PVC doesn't take paint brilliantly but after 3 - 4 coats it looks OK and gains a pleasing texture similar to canvas. I then brushed on a final layer of white, but this time blended it with very pale yellow/orange while it was still drying, using broad brushstrokes to soften the transition. Once that was dry, I repeated the original landscaping background, only this time using greys rather than blacks for the distant treelines. Finally, I used a kitchen scourer to apply some suggestion of foreground tree and bush cover. Work is still on-going with the foreground scenery, but I've not been able to resist the temptation to start adding snow. Although I still have some more bushes and foliage to add, I can always drift some more snow onto them later. I must thank Model Rail for the excellent S&D special, which has really given me the necessary kick to get on with this. Now that the Spring and Winter modules are near completion, I can begin thinking about the main Summer/Autumn scene.

I posted a similar thread on RMweb3 showing the current 'state of play' and it is just as easy to start agin here on v4. So here we have a completed tender and a motorised chassis with cylinders fitted. the kit is from David Andrews and I really like David's kits - they fit together well, the instructions are good and so is the quality of the etches and castings, white metal and lost wax. The wheels are from JPL, ready turned and rim insulated on one side allowing me to use the 'American' principle (as on the Q1) the gearbox and motor are from Ron Chaplin. The photograph was taken at one of the North Wales & West Cheshire running sessions about twelve months ago! I will paint the chassis next as everything is now on that needs painting, complete the valvegear, then make a start on the body. Exciting times ahead regards Mike