aberdare

Well it's been almost a year since my last post and you must all think that nothing has happened, but a few things have been and I have now decided to catch up with things. It might take a post or three to get it all uploaded as I sort through and resize photo files. So here goes. Scenic work has dominated most of my time and in particular trees, this was due to me having this one as a screensaver for a while and I thought to myself "Jim, that's really poor and just isn't right" so it had to go and it was all removed, more on that later. So it was back to the tree making. As I am going to show the progress made with 30+ trees it makes sense to show how they are made. I had always wanted an old Oak to sit in a prominent place on the layout so that you could peek through the almost bare branches at the layout beyond so I set about making one. First of all I made a wooden block to hold a screw, added solder to the top of the screw and then added wire, 32 cables of 42 strands each (1344 in total). This is how it looked at the start. It was then down to twisting into the sort of shape I required. One thing I wanted was for the tree to have a hollow starting to show so this was incorporated into the trunk. It was then time to start forming the 1344 branches - plus a few extra I wound in - into a tree shape, here's the first few And here is the finished article, count them if want. Then I started to cover it with tile grout, a quick spray with water and grout applied through a fine sieve, once dry this was fixed spraying with a thinned brownish varnish, this took several coats until I was happy to see the twists disappear. The now completed bark finish apart from a little colouring. A close up of the hollow Then the addition of finer twigs that will hold the leaves, this was poly fibre donated by the wife who was making a stuffed toy. This was then teased out very thinly as I don't like too many leaves on tree. To finish the tree I used my usual mix of coloured tea leaves and powder paint ground up with a mortar & pestle, but more of that in the next post whicch could be a bit picture heavy. Back in bit Jim

Oh. I know that picture so well and was hoping to create that very scene in the future so thanks for showing me a good way to make the lamp when I get that far, if you get to build what is in the picture I will certainly be copying your ideas. Thanks Mikkel, your a star. Jim

Hi Nick It's great to see that video filmed by Andy ( thanks Andy) of Much Murkle. As you no doubt remember I was intending to come and see it in operation on the Sunday, however circumstances meant I was unable to attend so it may just have to wait for another time, but I never know until the day whether I can attend or not. I've had quite a long absence from the forum but hope to be around for a while so will keep an eye open for another opportunity to visit you and Much Murkle. All the best Jim

Evening Chris I am following your experimentation with these quite keenly as I have some of those MJT fittings as well, I will get around to it one day as I have ten 6-wheel Siphons to build/modify so they go around some of the sharper curves on my branchline. I may get some of the Cleminson ones later from Brassmasters as I have been meaning to for quite some time, it just seems to be one of those jobs I haven't got around to yet. It as good to catch up earlier and I must make more effort to keep it that way. Keep up the good work Jim

I think the Wills dressed stone is the perfect match for the station Jeff, when I looked at the earlier picture from 2001 I thought how much it looked like plasticard sso I think it will be absolutely fine. As for the windows I think you like 'fiddly' things in much the same way I do, in my case it helps focus the mind away from other things despite the odd frustration when bits go astray. I'm glad to see you have never blocked the thread as it is one of my must read ones on my infrequent visits though I have time at the moment as we have planned to stay in for a few days whilst the weather is a bit wintry, mind you it was quite pleasant in the sunshine in the shed away from the wind this afternoon. Plenty of followers out here just some of us are quieter than others for whatever reason. Right, back to following the 'Lions cricket team' live stream whilst trying to complete this large specimen Oak I'm working on, I might even find time to post again soon. Oh! one last thing (off topic-sorry) for Jonathan, I will be at York on the Monday with Linda all being well. Jim

Hi Jeff I remember saying something like that many moons ago and I still think that way now though I have problems getting much done these days. Sadly Lindas health has been poor over the last year or so and I am unable to use anything solvent based products indoors any more, guess what I prefer to use as well, however I do manage to get into my shed now and again to get the odd thing done. Like the last couple of days I have managed to get out there with sunlight streaming through the open door and windows with protection from the breeze, it made it feel quite pleasant whilst working on the scenic side of things. Where you concentrate on grass, walls and sheep - looking fantastic by the way - I concentrate on grass, trees and cattle and have spent a few hours twisting wire and throwing homemade leaves over everything, as you say great fun. So progress for me is little and not often hence the lack of activity and posts. Getting more on topic I like what I see over the last few pages and those windows of yours look pretty good to me and I've made a few as you know, but three sheds! how many does a man need? Mind you I'm a fine one to talk as i have made quite a few of the same thing too just to see which is best. i also like some of your panoramic shots that show track disappearing into the distance giving that feeling of depth, that's something I am improving on my own work and will share later as most people who have seen my first few photos think they are real, afterall that is what we want to achieve isn't it, a realistic scene that is instantly recognisable. Right, that's all from me again for a while so keep up the great work Jeff, until next time all the best. Jim

Time for another update. Either I have had more time of late or I'm starting to work faster as things seemed to have moved on in the last few days compared to earlier on with the tiling, progress was slow to begin with followed by a break away with the wife and then I had other jobs to do, a bit like some real builders I guess. The tiling had barely started last time but was completed a couple of days ago and looked like this; At one time I was only managing a couple of rows a night if anything and I was beginning to think "maybe just maybe I should have used those Wills sheets and got it over with." But no I was determined to see it through after all I'm no Hare. another shot Now this one shows the small ridge over the office which was rubbish, it had to go, so it did. The problem was underneath so this was corrected and remade. The new ridge and also some Yellow Ochre was sprayed on followed by a dusting of black powder paint to give something close to how I want the finish. One of the next things on the list was Setts or Cobbles in the yard surrounding the building, so I had a look at what I had in stock, some Wills sheets but nowhere near enough. I then found some large flat polystyrene sheets about track high, perfect, could I make them look anywhere near right. Well there was only one way to find out. I measured out some markings 3 x 4mm apart across and down and cut lines with variations with an old blunt blade to get the gaps, as you would expect the knife likes to wander so I had to make some repairs. A knife slip a Paper towel patch A spot of paint and recut of the grooves Most of the sheet including repairs which are barely noticeable and it haas now had several sprays of shades of grey, no not 50 about 6, followed by a dusting of black powder paint. A lower angle shot catching todays sunlight A small dusting of yellow powder paint to see if I could imitate moss, not convinced by that so a black dusting will be done to cover it and I'll try something else. Of course with an airbrush full of grey it was the ideal time to spray over the slates and then give it a black dusting Not the best slate roof I've made but then again it was made when the elbows were really painful. that's my excuse anyway. I do think I can correct a few things on them though to improve the appearance. The gaps in the cobbles will also get a bit more filling now I know how they have come out. If I can't they will be partly screened by a couple of trees which stood in front of the factory, I think I may have a stab at making some Silver Birch later in the year when this is in place, if I get that far. Thanks for dropping in Jim

Hi Kevin What a great layout you have there. I also like the idea of a railway running through the countryside but I have a long way to go to catch up with your 320 trees as you can't put too many up too early, I take it the buildings are scratch built too. I look forward to seeing more of Little Muddle. Jim

On the subject of point rodding I bought the Wills pack when it first came out but it still sits unused out in the shed as I didn't think it was quite right, I am now looking at the Brassmasters stuff but with the ModelU stools (GWR style) threaded with wire as I saw on Great bears Marlingford & Begbrook layout. Like you I need to consider this soon or I'll have the ballast down before you know it, well maybe not at the speed I work at. Jim

I wish I'd had someone to nag me when I was seriously thinking about it, instead I had my old man accusing me of becoming one of them 'rivet counters' All looking good Jeff and I'm still quietly keeping an eye on things. Jim

Hi I've been keeping an eye on your progress so far and it looks as if you have the makings of a great little layout here, I will be particularly interested in seeing how the scenic side develops as that often makes or breaks these little branchline stations, the finer details always take time and that's one of the things I seem short of. I'm looking forward to your future updates. Jim

I shall be keeping an eye on progress Andy from here on. I like the look of the scenic end especially as it has a river section, I do like to see one in a layout as you know. Take your time though or else I won't be able to keep up. Jim

Hi Yannis With regard to the above part of you post I have cut brickwork on my portrait to fit around some stone windows, after cutting I gave it a rub with some fine emery and just cleaned it up before adding a bit of colour just to see how it looked, it's nowhere near finished yet but seems to look OK. This is in 1/76th scale. I hope that helps Jim

Here are some pictures I took last autumn of the trees to the front and rear of my house, as you can see they are quite large and close to each other. Hope they are of some use in positioning your trees. I do have loads of tree pictures as you can imagine. Jim

One of the problems I find is that we can sometimes have a tendency to space the trees at regular intervals whereas they often look better if there were more variation in that spacing, therefore I would probably move the middle one closer to the one nearer the station. If you remember I currently have two trees behind my station and they look better than the first did on its own, so again I think three is definitely better than one. I also agree with Mike about the thinning. Jim

Hi Andy This slipped under my radar didn't it, or maybe I need new glasses so I don;t miss new thread titles, but I think the truth is you build them so fast they've been and gone before I get a chance to read them. It looks as though it is going to be a good one for a lot of shunting about. Jim

Yes, I agree they are useful and I have a wide variety in my scenic boxes and have tried them for grasses, weeds, Thatch and anything else where I think they may be suitable, with reference to my current build the bristles of a yard broom for smaller rooves can be used. Jim

That is exactly how I do mine and I find it gives me a good depth too, I usually do a section or two at the end of a session in the shed and then leave it overnight.

Quote; Hi Jim, glad if it's of use. A shame that you won't be needing a stable block for Hemyock, I'd love to see you build one. Mikkel. you are a bad influence. I have spent a lot of the evening looking at old photographs and plans as there were some old barns/stables across the road from the cattle dock where the old cattle market took place. I have been thinking it could be a good place for horses for both the station and mill, after all modellers license could be applied in that the wagons were moved by horse power rather than manpower. Jim

Thank you for the compliments in your replies and for the ratings. I can't take full credit for it though as it has been done before and also by others, I have read of spaghetti and wire being used but the former was too large for me and the latter too expensive, I used this method to repair a few cracks that appeared in my plastic carriage shed roof a couple of years ago and is now my preferred method for large rooves. I also found the string ideal for gluing both to the card former and for the paper to stick to it, cheap too. The main advantage I found was that rather than having a series of flat sections followed by a rib I could create an angle from the base of the string where it is glued to the top of the next piece before pressing it around the string to the base and repeating, it seems to give the impression of the curve of a pantile, to me anyway. It's back to the slow progress of fitting the rest for me so in the words of Captain Oates "I may be sometime." Jim

Great article Mikkel, I have the same books as you to refer too so cannot really add anything to this fairly comprehensive post but it is good to see a lot of the relevant information together. Thanks for sharing the information in such a way it makes it easier for the rest of us, I don;t think I have a need for it to make a model but I have always been fascinated by the subject of horses as they were so important back in the early 1900s. Jim

After a long spell of inactivity (double tennis elbow) I have managed to get back into some modelling and managed to get some work done on the rooves of the buildings. The first was quite easy - the slates - as it was just a case of fitting strips of them across the roof until complete, the tiles however proved a little different. I thought it was quite a big area to cover with hand-made ones having done it before so looked at the plastic alternatives but I just didn't like the look of them, too big so overscale for my needs and either too uniform or repetitive, so it was back to making my own. As I had used paper for the slates it was only logical to use the same medium for the tiles. So time for a few photographs and explanations. This shows the cardboard formers that make up the roof shape with the slates complete on the mill and loading bay, some string can be seen on the factory roof which forms part of the tiles. The string being fixed around 3mm apart, there could be a few differences in gap size but hopefully will add to the character rather than look wrong. A closer look at the string that is going to form the ridge in the tiles, this is simply fixed with PVA and gives a firm grip to the card and more than adequate for my needs. The tiles being formed and glued over the string, each one needs to be held as the next is shaped and fixed beofre moving on again, a time consuming job but one that looks as if it will be worth the time and effort. A comparison of the homemade against the plastic ready made ones, what is noticeable is how much larger the latter are which was far too big to my eyes and given a tile around 18" x 12" in real life when I wanted 13.5 x 9.5, it also had the effect of making the building look smaller than it is because we look down on the roof once modelled. It's going to take a while to complete this and even then the building is still only just over half finished as I have the loading bay bases, doors and cobbled yard to do as well as an additional mill office, boiler and engine house, plenty to keep me occupied yet then. All the best Jim

I use sisal string a lot too for long grass as I prefer its shape rather than long static which in my fields of shorter grass looks too straight and spiky. I also have the twine but it is not as good and the wrong colour and I found it needed bleaching. Great out in the garden though. Jim

Jeff I can understand where you are coming from with that thought as I always feel the same, even when you think it's right a few days later you start to pick holes in what you have done, but that's what makes it so good. One thing I have done is to use my most realistic shots as a screen savers on my laptop and see what the reaction is from visitors, if someone says 'That's a lovely place where did you take that?' then I know I have cracked it, the look on their face when you tell them 'in the shed' is priceless. Just one final thing to bring a smile to you. I would be happy to have the last but one shot as a screen saver too, I'm sure I've tripped over those small rocks on one of my walks in years gone by. It's that good! Cheers for now Jim

Great work Chris. The coat of paint has made a great difference to the finish and you now have a rake of coaches to be proud of, superb. Now you have reminded me I still have mine to finish. Jim