Leaderboard

Just a quick update to show the start of the painting. The body is just resting on the footplate. Most of the painting has now been done, and I have started to reassemble the whole thing. At the moment I am struggling with getting it to run. It was working fine before I did the painting, although the clearances were tight. Now the wheels and cranks want to catch on everything that is attached to the outer frames. When it is sorted I will be posting again. I am pleased with the way the main painting has gone. I did have to do a bit of sanding to the body, and give it a respray. I had a little trouble with very high humidity. I hope to get to the workshop tomorrow but it is a holiday here so SWMBO is off work. I expect there will be other things to do. I have also been thinking about how I use RMweb. and have decided that I will keep the blog, for the models I make for others and the ones that I sell. It will also have my other ramblings and odd workshop entries too. But my own stock and loco builds I will do on a work bench thread. This I feel will be easier for me as I flit about with my own stuff, and feel that it is a waste of a page on the blog, but would be an ideal thread posting. Well thats my idea anyway the thread will be started soon. Once I have sorted out a few pictures of things that are done, and or in the process of!!!

I've not had a lot of time for much modelling since late summer, but have finally got round to doing a few conversions etc. to P4. I've also built a couple of Ratio clay opens (non-hood fitted), as a kind of experiment to look at what kind of standards we want for the new DRAG layout project, although these will certainly see use on 'Callow Lane'. Here are a few photos. First up is D7042, which I bought second-hand a few years ago, and finally got round to converting a couple of weeks ago. It's had screw couplings and pipework fitted, plus the main front handrails at either end have had the two missing inner stanchions added. Weathering will follow at some stage... This Hymek is one of the 'BR blue' era locos, the layout will mainly operate in early 1960s mode, so here is D7042 with an unlikely bedfellow: Last night, I finally tested some newly-converted wagons on the layout, plus the two china clay wagons (although the two Presflos have appeared on my blog before). Apart from the two clay wagons, none of the other wagons have any compensation or springing at all... I find that provided the wagon concerned has a nice, square chassis and sufficient weight (the three opens all weigh 42g), then that is sufficient to avoid any derailments. One clay wagon is sprung, with Bill Bedford 'W' irons but solid (Lanarkshire) buffers, the other has internal rocker compensation, and sprung (Lanarkshire) buffers. The Class 20 (another one in the weathering queue) was used to haul and propel this rake at pretty high scale speeds through all the pointwork and curves. Fortunately this was accomplished without any derailments or other 'operating incidents'... These two Bachmann ex-LNER 'high bars' will acquire some of Dave Franks' buffers in due course: The buffer shanks on the china clay wagons scale down to 3mm, and with the overall buffer diameter not much more than that, the ever-helpful Mr Franks was not able to drill them out to that diameter. However, he did kindly suggest drilling them out for 2.5mm, which he duly did, and I think that the result, when fitted with sprung heads, isn't too bad: Next up for 'Callow Lane' is to produce a part-relief/part-'backscene' factory building, using the new Scalescenes 'northlight' loco shed kit as a basis...

The first edition of the warehouse of Roope & Voss is demolished. I have decided to make Northall part of Greater London. In one of the books of Ruth Rendell inspector Wexford is ‘recovering’ in Kenbourne Vale, Postal district W15. Northall will be Postal district W16. After this a wanted to give the premises of Roope & Voss a more London look. I found a nice description of a famous warehouse in Wapping High Street. I used this description to create a guide for the design of the definite version of Roope & Voss. Using the same basic design I started to build the warehouse. Creating stone surroundings was new for me. It also took a lot of time. After finishing the cottage I liked to give the doors of the ware house a more ‘derelict’ appearance. With a picture from internet and a bit of working with Office publisher I created this doors. Then I started with the card building of the ware house. I hope the picture below will give you a first impression of how the premises of Roope & Voss Wine and Spirit Merchants will look. I still have to do some windows before I can show you the final appearance. Also have to give some thoughts how to create a believable inside of the warehouse at the other side, were I have the open doors. Regards, Job

Well what a weird day! After a monumental effort from the staff during the afternoon the majority of the school is ready to receive their exhibits. It was a weird feeling setting up a model railway exhibition whilst dressed in pyjamas and dressing gown as part of a Children in Need fundraiser. Such is the varied life of a teacher! At least the fundraising film club in the afternoon allowed me some free time for setting up. The hall is ready, although we have had to reduce the tables for the refreshments to fit everything in. The hall must have shrunk!! A slight layout location ammendment was needed as well, but hopefully all will be well. To balance out the reduced tables we have added plenty of chairs in the corridors to give people places to sit. At present two layouts are partially set up, the show guides are printed and ready and the lunch passes are ready to be handed out. We have even remembered to put up signs for the toilets this year! Just the road signs to do. The Mickleover group are kindly lending us some of their signs for this year so hopefully they will be easier to see! And so, after a year of planning it is almost here! It has flown by. Once again the nerves are jangling. Have I got the plans right? Will everything fit in? Will all the exhibitors turn up? Will enough people come through the door? Only time will tell. If you are coming to the show I hope you enjoy it. Please remember, this is only our second show. We will probably still make mistakes. Please be patient with us. If you have any suggestions please tell us. The new road signs and pricing arrangements are based on feedback we received last year. If you enjoy the show please share your comments too. The positive verbal and written feedback we received last year was the reason this year's show went ahead! Also don't forget to come and say hi. I will be operating Skaleby West all day. As far as the layout is concerned it should be exhibited as a through station although the second fiddle yard is very rough. The loco roster will be finalised tonight (after a meal in the pub with my wife) Hope to see you there.

Well following some exchanges on the North London Railway topic I have decided to bite the bullet and (re) start my scratchbuild of a Class 1 tank loco. I managed to dig up some reference I sorted out in 2005. I also found the white-metal pattern parts which I made at that time, chimney, dome, safety valves and a smokebox door 'blank', which will need strapping and hinges attached to it, but is otherwise OK (it looks the wrong way round but this is a problem with scanning instead of getting off my rear and going for my camera!). I originally intended to use a Gibson chassis but found it was so badly adrift that it set me back for a while. Then I found both the Kenneth Leech 1940 drawings, and a photograph, on page 14 in The North London Railway - A Pictorial Record, which shows Bow Works Wheel Shop in 1898. On the back wall are the frame templates for both types of 4-4-0T. I scanned and enlarged that section, and using the known dimensions I was able to 'fill in the blanks' successfully and then reduce it to 4mm scale. There are some discrepancies between the Leech drawing and the other. Partly explained by No48 being an unrebuilt loco and the other being the later enlarged cab version. Though I am inclined to trust Leech more in the smokebox side-on dimensions when I compare these with Bow Works originals from the NRM. Anyway, I've started and I thought I might as well put the build out as a blog too, though I must warn that progress will be tempered by available time! I will also be remoulding my 4mm Vic/Ed Period NLR & LTSR Train Crews, Staff, etc. and I'll add these too. I've copied, cropped, flipped and spliced Leech's 1940s drawings to give me a working front and rear layout for the unrebuilt No 1 class. I decided to go for that as I'm not so keen on the slab-sided appearance of the rebuilds. More work of course........ In conjunction with the copious photographs I took of the works model of no. 60 at York I think I've got all I need to make a start. Ordered from Guilplates the numbers for 60 and 48, plus some destination boards; CAMDEN TOWN, CHALK FARM, POPLAR DOCK, BOW Jn., KILBURN and ALDERSBROOK

I know it's yet another project, But this is more of a start post for a project intended for the new year. 4573 is the only 4500 class I have seen on the cheddar branch, and will make a nice contrast to the usual 4575s. The original plan was using a churchward models kit, however when we moved house the in progress kit got crushed... So the plan is to use a Bachmann model, on the kits chassis. Having sourced a suitable body, the following work is needed - plate over the cab front porthole windows - new etched steps, (the model didn't come with them, so the plan is to use the ones from the kit (once I find them) - thinking about cutting a section out of the footplate for the gap between the frames, - touch up the paint - finish the cylinders for the chassis - and of course renumber

This blog was originally set up to document progress on my Midland Railway modelling, and layout Maxstoke. So after a brief excursion to GWR metals, and a rummage through the gloat box, the next loco has been started. This will be based on an etched (10 thou NS) originally produced by Nick Dearnally many years ago, under the name of Lodge Coachworks. The basic etch components are reasonably well defined, Those on my etch are marginally mis-aligned, and some of the etch fold lines were less defined that they should have been, but using these pieces will be a whole heap easier than scratch-building. There is a chassis, but one of the spring hangers has etched out, and I have yet to decide if I will use the main frames. This class of loco has outside frames, so clearances will be tight. I have therefore decided not to start with the chassis, as would be my normal process, but to make a start on the main footplate & body work, so I can check clearances as I progress. The main outside frames and footplate assembly was carefully folded to shape. I found that the artwork design over estimated the curved splasher length, so I have opted to cut these into three sections. There will be a joint in the footplate at the top of the curved section of each driving wheel, but this joint will be filled in and hopefully not be evident later. They can be seen clearly in the running plate view below. The cab sides have a simple pattern of rivets, that in modern etches would be half etched in. The designer in this case has half etched them from behind, a sharp scriber, is used to push the rivets out - the pictures explain the process far better than words. The cab sides and spectacle plate are then soldered up, keeping everything square. Half etched rivets on cab side. Punching out the rivets Half done All done, ready for assembly. The basic cab assembly is now test fitted in place, after carefully filling back the inside for the rear splashers to provide clearance, making sure that all sits centrally on the footplate. The boiler was first annealed to allow it to be rolled - a tricky job at the best of times, but I do find that the annealing helps. The spectacle plate has an etched line to show where the boiler should fit, This can be seen in the next picture. holding the parts in place shows that there is excess material below the fire box that will have to be trimmed back. I have temporarily tacked the boiler in place on the cab front to measure and file back as required. The boiler will be removed later during chassis assembly to cut away more material to provide clearances. This represents a full day's work, and is for me very fast progress. The next task is to look at chassis and gearing etc. But right now I'm going to have a quiet drink! Happy days Richard.

The subject of my first ever blog is more about learning as I go on this topic rather than profess to that which is already known. Intending to further prototypical operation on the Goathland layout I have set about building fish vans. Goathland, being on the Whitby to York line must have had fish traffic. There must also be some RMWeb brotherhood members with some knowledge of this subject, who I hope to fish out and interrogate. Progress so far has been sought from Peter Tatlows excellent volumes on LNER wagons. Construction of two diagram 143 vans from Parkside and a diagram 37 from scratch using products from Evergreen have been completed albeit the weathering. Plans are afoot to build a North Eastern Railway diagram F6 and LNER diagram 23 from scratch also, as I`m quite pleased with the 23' build. I have no evidence that any of these vans ever ran over the line making it a red Herring but the picture in An Illustrated History of LNER Wagons Vol4A just cried out to be modeled. Both the NER & LNER recognized the need to run fish traffic in passenger trains and this will be considered when running trains on the layout. Would the fish vans have been attached to local passenger services to coincide with the tidal landing of the local catch one wonders, and even more baffling is how would the empties have found their way back....... LNER diagram 37 from plastic card. LNER diagram 143. By mistake these vans received 3 coats of paint. Krylon red brown primer,LNER dull teak (because I neglected to label the jar) and Precision red oxide P67. Next time I`ll just stick with the primer as it is spot on! . The older build on the left (about the time parkside cast it on to the market) sports brushed Railmatch bauxite done in the days before airbrushing was an option, and shows the vivid difference to the Phoenix oxide. This matt paint holds weathering powder fast as can be seen on the LMS van, which also received LNER oxide. The grime covers even the worst sins. During a search conducted this afternoon I quite by chance came accross this photograph of Whitby yard. Having already received a reply from the website owner Mr D. Heys most kindly allowing me to reproduce it here, I waste no time. Getting back to all things fishy, there apears to be a small rake of fish vans in this fantastic shot. My eyesight not being as good as it was I`m going to stick my neck out and say that looks like a diagram 37 second from left. This is definately good enough evidence for me! At last this has been dug out to finish it , however I have moved the build here

Having made such a huge difference to the layout I thought it was about time I introduced my static grass devices. When I first saw static grass in action a couple of years ago I was really knocked out by it but not very happy about the price of the Noch applicator which was the only one available then. A little while later I got the larger of the two off Ebay for about £15. Having given it a a go I decided two things; 1)It was too big and 2) It was just an electric fly swat with a sieve attached! So £1.99 and a mini sieve stolen from my little girls cookery play set I had my ingredients. You do have to be a bit careful messing with such things as they can give you a nasty jolt if you touch the wrong bits but provided you have the battery out when you disassemble you shouldn't come to too much harm (unless you are a fly!). All I did was unscrew the handle, disconnect the two wires going to the grid then remove the grid. I seem to remember I had to remove a small amount of plastic but was easily able to mount the small sieve onto the handle and attach one of the wires. I then extended the other wire and ran it outside the handle and threaded the bare end through the eye of a large needle. And there you have it, a really handy static grass applicator for a couple of quid! I couldn't have done it without the grass though which on the whole I find too short for 7mm and rather too bright. I did manage to find some 6 and 10mm bags in muted colours from War World Scenics (awful name), again on Ebay that have done the trick for the rough, unkempt look I was after. Javis Autumn mix is good for the shorter bits but an extra couple of bags I got the other day are significantly lighter than the one I got two years ago. Am now sorting out the big fiddle yard so I can marry it up to the final board which will be the real challenge - the buildings!

Hello all, I've been plodding along with this doing a little bit at a time, the ballasting is all finished and now requires weathering with an airbrush. The scenery is almost complete to a basic level, the freight yard has had a concrete pad fitted (needs painting) and ballast pile, On the station side the platforms have had a coat of paint and some lamps fitted although i managed to knock half of them off when moving the layout, there is also a factory unit and some retaining walls in place, I'm not going to do anything with the town section above the station other than paint it a flat grey, i had considered doing it but i would end up spending a fair bit of money that i can't really recoup when its sold. Other than the outstanding scenic items to do i also need to install the point levers and connect them up, once that is done i will hopefully sell it on and gain some much needed space in the railway room. Cheers Graham.

In the archives of the Northall Gazette I found a nice description of the cottage and the warehouse behind it. And some pictures of this part of the layout. View from the dockside. Birdseye view Farnshawe Ltd. This picture is made before I did some more work on the roads. I also decided to create a ‘NO ENTRY’ sign for the alley. The background is also still the try-out. I had to find out first some more information about how to place this traffic sign. With the help from Jules ( see his Mayshill layout) and the internet I found the information I needed. When the road along the dock is finished I also will adjust the alley and the dock road. Hope this gives you an idea about the eastern part of Northall Dock. Regards, Job

This will be a brief(ish) update as I’ve been trying to spend what little time I’ve had available in actually modelling rather than reading or writing about it... and with a deadline this week time was rather short. However, I’ve drawn a halt now... for the time being and this will have to do. There’s lots and lots to do, but this was never intended to be at a final exhibitable stage, it was actually intended as a work in progress for our local show this Saturday... and that’s what it is. Fortunately, bits of it look ok. I’m reasonably pleased with the ballast although I’d prefer the hard-standing to be a little darker in colour now that the ballast is down. I can work on that at a later date. To carry on, I will add the refuel mechanisms to the hard-standing and I’ll add pipework to the de-fuel area alongside the shed. General detritus needs scattering and I’ll have to add some weeds too. The foreground needs some fencing and some better tarmac surface... the office will probably be moved off this board and replaced with a fuel tank... and then I’ll need to add some lighting poles.... but, as I said, it’ll do for now. It should look ok as a partial board – work in progress. To be honest, this has taken about 6 weeks... so I don’t think that’s too bad. Nothing like Jon N (Sandhills) standards... but a reasonable start. It will (the plan) get a board at each end... and one/some behind with main running lines (2 or 4) and some backscene. The (sky) blue board serves for now... although I managed to drop the resin office onto it today and chipped the paintwork in 5 places. That’s been touched up... but it’s no work of art. There’s a very rudimentary lighting rig that will sit behind to suspend a small tube to provide some overhead lighting; the lighting in the exhibition hall last year was a little orangey... and I’m in the same spot this year. Ballast is all Carrs. The main depot area is Ash ballast, which is as smooth as it seems to go. All laid as flat as possible and the larger areas tampered with a small piece of packing foam (once I worked out a better way to do it)... and set with Klear... this is ideal for me because it allows me to work a bit at a time. I just wish I could find a stockist somewhere as the old stuff is in short supply. I think the new stuff is ok too... just need to find some somewhere and give it a go. Ballast comparisons... ash on left 2mm grey on right Some blending with powders. No, I'm right handed - it's holding the camera. Blended ballast The ballast at the edges and on the rear (slightly raised) line is Carrs 2mm light grey, although I mixed some ash ballast in to provide some variety. There is a colour mis-match, but with some blending in with Carrs weathering powders the difference does tend to diminish... or so I fortunately found. The buffers are modified Peco. I removed all the additional bracing pieces, and assembled them at a slightly wider gauge... by drilling the holes in the front plate out a bit... fitting and filing the ends flush. Several prototype photos showed a bracing piece across the back... so I added this detail with 0.6mm wire – superb as it adds some strength too. I removed the bent-rail bottom ends of the vertical and added plasticard bracing pieces... of the approximate shape from photos... and added some archer rivets to the sheet. To be honest, these are a bit weak for what I needed... but they’re what I had, so they had to do. The finished item was fitted once some chairs had their uppers removed to allow the rail pieces of the buffers to sit nicely on the track. The whole thing was treated to Halfords red primer and then painted with Humbrol metalcoat which polished up nicely (where it needed to).... a white head stock (is that the name?) and lamp finished this off. Weathering was with a mix of brown and black (Sleeper grime and weathered black) daubed over and rubbed off.... and a thin mix allowed to seep into the crevices. A final partial buff gave this result... which will do for now until I can acquire something more finescale. The inspection pit sans shed The office is Bachmann Scenecraft with some light Tamiya pastel weathering (tried out) and the paving is of course Metcalfe. The intent was to have somewhere to sit NIMBUS... and I hope it’ll suffice for now. I hope it meets the punters wishes on Saturday. If you’re attending, please stop by and say “Hiâ€. A couple more shots to illustrate my work in progress... an overview or two and a close up with insufficient depth of field... I must download that software! Oh there's so much more to do and this evening it was diging the allotment! Oh, and my powercab will be connected... so if you want to hear a Deltic ... this I can manage (albeit within the limitiations of the scale) for now.... Jon

So here we are. Not sure about the paint finish or the photograpy- need to put proper safety valves on and do a bit of weathering, but the loco is substantially complete. Now all I have to do is finish the layout

Glenuig has been on the exhibition circuit, for over a year now, and I have bookings for 2014 and beyond. I an now looking at a follow up project, and have found myself with a big dilemma. First I have made my mind up on a few points in my plan. Some kind of 2mm standard Set on the West Highland, in the 1980's Well the latter sound familiar, but the 2mm?. This scale has impressed me in the way you can produce a model of a railway in its scenic setting, and it is the creative and scenic side of the hobby that interest my the most. So what track standard, I don't like the look of standard N gauge track, it just looks too chunky, so 2mm finescale looks like the one to go for. The job of making the track has become easier of late, with the introduction by the 2mm associations “Easytrackâ€, when this is carefully laid and ballasted, it looks the business. Now to the location I have a sketch of an imaginary halt, shack, which would by the next stop up the line from Glenuig. If I went ahead with this option, it would be small and a good tester in this new scale to me. But The one I really want to do, is Bridge of Orchy, this layout would be built on a 8' “doughnut†with the station loop taking up just under half of the viewing area. I would use DCC and sound on this one, the station is in a dip with steep banks out in ether direction. I would set the date at about 1985, so retaining the semaphore signalling, and will just allow me to use 374's, 370's, 27's 20's and the odd 26 and 25. So the big decision, do I just “go for it†and make a start on Bridge of Orchy, or start with the smaller, and see how I get on. Gary

Heard from Model Rail yesterday that the 2-8-2 will feature in the next issue! Can't wait now until next month, there's also going to be a superb pic of it taken by Chris N on Catcott Burtle too

HI all, well after a picture of my new 2mmFS layout was put up in the Taunton thread i thought i had better do a little entry on progress. The layout its self is a 4ft 6" dia circle and will have two main lines on the front and a four road fiddle at the back. The board folds up in the middle and this will provide proctection for the layout and i am toying with the idea to find some boxes that will sit on the rear half and these will hold the stock for the layout so it can be transported as one unit rather than having a few extra bits kicking around in the back of the car. The layout its self will be no where inperticular and i will try not to date the scenery in anyway and have the details like cars and stock etc to date it to a year(s) and also try and see if i can also have it so it the region can be moved around by having a building on there that can be changed to show the local building material. If that makes sense. THE PROGRESS. So far the boards have the templot plan V2 stuck down to the board and the sleeper strip is all down and now i am just awaiting the arrival of my custom jigs. I say custom as my original plan (kindly made by DaveC) was to have 1:8 points and the jigs (filing and crossing) where bought and i was all set to go but after prining the plan and joining it together the three tracks on the front was to much so a change was made and now the points range from 1:14, 1:13 and one lonely 1:11 and none of these are avalible off the shelf from the 2mm shop as a quick email sent off to a man in the know and i have some being made as i type. The crude photos below show the progress so far The track is going to be a mixture of flat bottom for the lines and bullhead for the points. Two reasons for this, one i had already bought the flat bottom and secondly i found out that there are no chairs in the easitrack system for flat bottom. As for how it turns out, i will just have to wait and see. Just before i finish i would like to say a big thank you for Captian K for having the layout as it is and also to the many people who should an intreast at Taunton. If any one took any pics of the layout could you please pm me with a copy of them please (if thats ok?? ) as i didnt take that many whilst there. If you have any questions or comments please let me know and i will do my best to answer them. cheers Simon