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IanLister

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IanLister last won the day on November 17 2011

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    Seahouses, Northumberland

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  1. Hi It's a DG coupling. I use them on my layout and they're outstandingly good if set up accurately...delayed action uncoupling. Ian L
  2. Hi. First couple of fishing boats for Tweed South Bank finished.......
  3. Hi The stations on the branch I'm modelling had concrete slabs 18' square on most of the platform surface, with the occasional yorkstone paved area in the posh bits. I've modelled this with Advanced Lightweight Polyfilla; the paving is precast in sections about 300mm x 75mm, stuck down, sanded and scribed, whereas the concrete area is laid in place with a pallette knife, sanded smooth, scribed and painted. Various indentations, holes etc were left in place as the concrete is 80 yrs old.......a convenient excuse. I haven't finished weathering it yet but am posting the pics now in case it may be helpful. Ian
  4. Hi Polybear I buy the walnut strip from Jotika-ltd.com. Jotika are a manufacturer of model ship kits in the West Midlands. They sell walnut strip in packs of 10 x 1m lengths. I buy 1mm x 4mm for turnout timbers and 1mm x 3.5mm for regular sleepers. Costs around £3 a pack if I remember correctly. All cut to length using a small model maker's guillotine; my record is over 750 per minute, assisted by a bottle of decent beer! Best to order by phone as the 3.5mm is a special they use for deck planking in their kits but will sell if you ask for it. Delivery usually 2-3 days. They're very helpful. Hope this helps.... Ian
  5. Hi I use butanone to fix C and L chairs to walnut strip sleepers. I find it gives a stronger bond with the walnut than with ply, as the grain is more open and allows the plastic to soak in, as it were. I tried both and found the walnut to be far superior, less expensive and much more realistic looking. The pic below shows walnut sleepered track with just a light wash of black after laying: I've laid over 40 metres of track and 25 turnouts so far on my layout using this method and find it a very straightforward and satisfying process. Hope this helps Ian
  6. Hi David. The building shells are 3mm foamboard covered on the outside walls with a thin layer of Advanced Lightweight Polyfilla which is scribed when dry to represent the stonework. Roofs are plasticard with slates from selfadhesive matte photopaper, cut into strips using the Silhouette cutter, which is a lot easier than the knife/ruler method I used to use! Window and door frames etc are made using the Silhouette, as are the decorative awning valances. The paving slabs, coping stones, chimney stacks and much of the decorative stonework detail is made from the same filler as mentioned above, but cast in slabs 2mm and 3mm thick. It's very easy to cut, sand, file , paint etc; the area of paving on the station concourse is all one piece scribed and painted. The ironwork for the canopies was designed and cut using the Silhouette cameo. The 'under construction' timber waiting rooms/refreshment bar is made from plasticard; every bit of it was cut or scribed using the silhouette Cameo. The diagonal 3" planking was scribed on 30 thou using a shallow blade setting on the cutter; much easier than scribing it and far more accurate. Style is based on the waiting shed at Wooler and the verandahs on the other A and C stations.Not the easiest prototypes to copy, but it's right for the model. Hope this helps......... Ian
  7. Hi. I've taken the opportunity during the lockdown to build the station buildings for my ex-NER branch terminus set on the south bank of the Tweed estuary. The architectural style is that of the Alnwick and Cornhill branch, built in the 1880s by William Bell; my hypothetical branch was built at the same time. Buildings are now ready to place on the layout, which is 25 miles away in our workshop....but at least I'm now allowed to go there so they'll be planted this weekend. The buildings are completely scratchbuilt in 4mm scale.
  8. Hi Pete. Shame about the step backwards, but if it's not working for you taking steps forward gets you to a worse place still. If you decide to lay sleepers, then ballast, then thread rail, you might want to try my method: walnut sleepers laid and stained, which look better than ply or plastic ones and take the solvent better because of the more open grain; then chairs threaded onto rail and stuck down with solvent after ballasting. You can do turnouts the same way; by laying the crossing, then ballasting, then gauging everything from the crossing. I've built 12 so far, with a further 6 just needing blades, and about 80-90 ft of single track so far and am really pleased with the results. Ballasting and painting the easitrac on my 2mmFS layout proved much more difficult than the tracklaying itself. I've tried the above method in 2mmFS and it works, by the way. I can let you know the walnut strip supplier if you wish; it comes in 1m lengths and is 2mm x 1mm section. Good luck with whatever you try Ian
  9. That's all impressively neat and tidy, and a clever design exercise. If only I could say the same about mine...... Ian
  10. Hi Ian. Really enjoyed the video; you've created a really convincing and believable scene. It must be a very satisfying layout to operate. Ian
  11. Thanks Pete. It does feel like I'm getting somewhere with this project. Ian
  12. Hi. Things are progressing steadily at Spittal. The summer and hot weather often results in a slowdown in activity for a lot of us; holidays, barbecues, family commitments and possibly a little heat-induced lethargy……..I’ve found the answer to the latter. Spittal is being built in a converted farm building with 3 foot thick stone walls, and though it’s south facing it stays wonderfully cool and comfortable even when outside is ridiculously hot; I’m not really a Mediterranean climate sort of person. So the weather can be used as a reason to go over to the workshop ‘because I need to cool down a bit’…………...how long before that excuse gets rumbled? The downside is that any kinks, doglegs, knackered bits in the trackwork can’t be blamed on climate change but are the results of my own somewhat hamfisted efforts! There’s been a steady sequence of visitors over the last few weeks. Firstly, Splinter and Screwit, the local carpentry firm, extended the layout by adding a further 2.4m baseboard, taking the length so far to 7.8 metres; I’m going to start a bus service to transport operators/helpers etc around the place. This allows the trackplan to extend as far as the start of the terminus platforms and the spread of sidings into the goods yard: Two tracks on the left are platform 1 and the release road/carriage siding, next are the bay platform and a release road which also serves the goods arrival road to the right of it. The right hand tracks fan out into the goods yard, with a branch leading off and down to Spittal Point and the fish quay starting at the goods yard entrance. Once the clouds of sawdust and bad language had cleared, next to visit were the PW gang and tracklaying engineers. The trackwork on the previous board is now nearly finished; just the long carriage siding and the coal drop siding to go, but the latter will have to wait until the coal yard is in place, which won’t be until the wiring underneath is completed……….complicated I know, but I’m trying to avoid crawling about underneath with a soldering iron as much as possible, for a lot of very valid health- and wellbeing-related reasons……… The trackwork now flows onto the new baseboard; 3 more turnouts are in place and just need blades to complete them. Once that’s done I’ll have a small runround loop and access to the headshunt and coalyard sidings, so work on the layout will be frequently delayed by passing trains/testing/playing/wasting time. While all this was going on, the signalling department were busily working on the breakfast bar at home, surprisingly. The end result was my first homemade signal; something I have been looking forward to with some concern and trepidation but amazingly it works: Construction involves a 3mm square length of walnut strip filed to a taper in the vice; easier than it sounds due to the nature of the wood. The rest is made of various bits from MSE and a couple of homemade parts. Just 11 more to build…..fortunately there are no 48 arm signal gantries, although the linkages for the 3 junction signals may prove a little testing. After all this mayhem, peace and tranquility descended on the layout in the form of the local electrical contractors, Tangle and Testitt Ltd, who have been brought in to try and save the world/sort out the muddle/connect things up. I’m actually very lucky to have the assistance and advice in this area of a leading exponent of all things electrical and DCC, without whose knowledge everything would be taking me a lot longer as I’d have to keep the instructions in one hand while doing various 2 handed and 3 handed jobs with the other one…..not easy, especially when the flowing of electrical current is as mysterious to me as the flowing of the River Styx of Greek mythology (you cross it to enter the underworld, apparently). So with lots of help, the track is all connected up to the DCC bus and it works. A twin 12v DC bus provides power for uncouplers, which also work, and Megapoints servo boards and relays for frog switching, which, amazingly, also work. Lots of little flashing lights and faint clicking and whirring noises accompany what can only be described as smooth and seamless operation; the signal pulls off in 2 stages, and bounces splendidly on returning to danger. Remarkable, really, and it bodes well for future operation. So my control panel now has 1 of 12 signal levers earning its keep, along with 3 of the 11 rather nice retro look rotary switches. I even did a small amount of it myself……….. On a practical note, the servos, controllers and wiring are largely on top rather than underneath, for ease of access from the back of the layout. It’s an advantage of building a layout set on a sloping river bank; there’s a retaining wall (the sort I used to sit on to watch the trains, and fall off occasionally) along virtually the whole length of the back of the station area which will hide it all, and access will be via cutouts in the backscene. You may notice in the photos my rather overcomplicated design of combined servo mount and wire-in-tube link terminal, and you may also notice the mk2 version operating the signal, which is much simpler: servo mounted snugly in a hole cut in the 9mm ply baseboard top and secured with silicone glue, so removable if necessary...this leaves the moving bit at exactly the right height and is much quicker and easier to do while being more secure. A loop in the springy operating wire copes with excess movement, and is easier than attaching the omega loops. The final visit, on July 1st, was by a group of about 20 visitors from the North East and Borders area group of the EMGS. We had a barbecue in the courtyard outside the workshop, and several of them brought stuff to run on the layout. It was really rather inspiring to see the bit I’ve done so far populated and busy with a variety of visiting locos and rolling stock; onwards and upwards as they say. Hopefully, anyway……..good weather, good food and good company. And now, for those of you who have just scrolled through the above because you just want to look at the pictures, let’s pop back to 1960: An almost brand new class 2 diesel on running-in duty is waiting for clearance to head off up the hill towards the ECML and the junction just south of the Royal Border Bridge. It’s heading for Kelso and St Boswells on the Waverley route. The leading coach still awaits its new maroon paintwork. Just behind and on the next track across waits a goods departure for the Alnwick and Cornhill branch behind a far-too-new looking K1. The reason for the delay is a delayed Edinburgh-Kings Cross express on the ECML blocking access to the junction; it’s apparently just leaving Berwick heading south, so the route should be clear in about 5 minutes. Both types of servo mount visible above, and in the last pic you can see the inconspicuous DG couplings, which work well and don’t look too intrusive; on a layout which will extend to 1.8m in widthe in some places (for scenic reasons) hand-powered uncoupling is not possible, I’m afraid. The goods stock is kitbuilt and weathered; the coaches and locos have been gauge-converted and fitted with Dgs, but I haven’t had time to weather them yet. In the pipeline: a goods brakevan, an RT Models chassis to convert my DJM J94, bought when I was intending to model in 00FS, more signalling and the rest of the trackwork on the new baseboard; and then, just for a change……….another baseboard which will take the track to the end of the station. Thanks for visiting Spittal; sorry if it’s been a bit busy. Ian
  13. Hi Ian That's looking good. If you decide to revisit wiring your posts try EZ line; it's available in the UK. It's an elastic polymer thread which comes on a reel and the elasticity deals with the sag issue and makes it very easy to put in place. The finer grade would work well in 2mmFS. It's an American product but available in the UK. I've used it for lineside wire and post fencing and also for fishing boat rigging on my 2mm layout. Ian
  14. Hi. How do I get rid of a dead blog? Ian Lister
  15. Hi Self-adhesive photo paper with an appropriately sized grid printed on is easy to align. I use two rows from the grid for each visible row, with the individual slates cut halfway through (one row). The uncut row makes for easy alignment as each row overlaps, and there's a printed line to work to. The photo paper is 110gsm, which looks about the right thickness, and is a dream to paint. Hope this makes sense; it's easier to do than to describe! Ian
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