Physicsman

In the previous post Jam suggested I was a crazy man re. all the walling. He is, of course, by my own admission, correct. Especially as all the walling within the confines of the layout (about 20k stones, or 10 metres) has been completely re-done in the "new" style, as those of you - desiring a "padded cell fun fest" - who regularly look on here will know! Ok, well I think the video below illustrates the walling fetish better than words. The "old" (middle of 2021) style walling that remained is along the backscene boards - about 6 metres of it. All the rest is replacement. And some coping stones and paint wash still needs adding in. Anyway, hope you find this ditty of interest.

Chip, Ade, Jonathan.... Many thanks for the comments. I started work on the second tunnel portal yesterday (the fascia at the front) and wanted to double check the clearances. It's about 6 months (!!!!!) since I ran a loco, and I grabbed a few wagons and off we went. Then it occurred to me that it might be worth a few quick vids, in addition to the thousands of "snaps" I've taken - hence the result. Bit of fun and informative for me as well. Hope to make progress with the portal today and get that tunnel area tidied up by the end of the weekend. Pics will follow....

No locos, just views of the deep cutting, viaduct - including the arches seen from the gill - and the underbridge to the tunnel. I hope this lot will keep you happy for a few days. At least it's something to look at other than photos!! Jeff.

Since that worked, here's another: I'm only "pratting around" with these for my own amusement, but they show a bit more than photos, so I may as well put them on here. The loco and wagons were just convenient. At least it gives an idea about the viaduct, gill etc. Maybe some steamers later in the year.

Not sure if this will work:

"Pig" is a law unto himself..... The great static grass gun, followed by the vacuum cleaner, was threatening animal misery. The cows on the bridge were quick to respond and leg it, but not pig" So to save him the ultimate roller coaster ride, up the vacuum pipe, the farmer had one last word accompanied by his trusty sheepdog.... "Get down, Shep" (some of you will be old enough to know where that comes from) Then the "hand of god" descended and plucked the pink skin to safety. Awkward, ungrateful little sod. All he had to say to me, for saving his pork, was "oink you very much" Pig and Sheep will return - soon.

Part way through work on the other end of the tunnel, so an intermediate picture update. Walling, grassing and portal fascia work is still in progress. And there's a rock face being cast for the left side of the portal. More in a few days when things have progressed a bit!

Rob, WHERE was that? Impressive. Surely not your back garden?!

Simon, I agree that learning by experience is always the best way. But my point was that making up completely fictitious layouts often leads to problems. If you don't mind dealing with problems, fine, but there are plenty of varied prototypes, for all the different rail companies to keep anyone going for a lifetime. How is your cat doing, btw? Hopefully still fit and healthy.

As you'll have noticed, the prototype provided the "stencil" for the whole project: detailed portal fascia, adjacent rock faces, buttressed rock wall, retaining walls.... No real imagination required, just a few dozen hours of careful modelling. Now I have to do a scaled-down repeat on the other end of the tunnel!

Yes, the sow is called Pig and is part of the duo "Pig and Sheep". They appeared in several posts on GH, starting around June of last year. Since the photos have disappeared I'll have to persuade them to play the starring role in an upcoming post. Sheep is currently lounging in a mineral wagon somewhere.... Daft, aren't we??!!

I probably won't put another update on here until the end of the week as I'm going to be busy with time-intensive jobs like gate building, walling, grassing and starting on the other end of the tunnel. So here are 4 pics from today. I've ballasted the top of the bridge (needs weathering now), added an extra bit of height above the tunnel (to the flock stage), re-done the road (filler now, instead of cork) and painted it. A fairly quiet day....

Andy, John, thanks for your comments. Timely comment from Andy as he often uses a piece of wood to clean his track, rather than a rubber. I can get my hand into most of the tunnel but a length of ply will be on hand for any awkward bits! Some slight modifications today, pics maybe tomorrow.

I strongly believe that if the prototype has stood the test of time then it's probably as "right" as it's likely to be, in its particular situation. So WHY, WHY, WHY make up something that is likely to be a contrived Bog's todger of a mess? Yes, people are free to make their own choices, but they then shouldn't expect others to try and dig them out of a mess when they inevitably get into one. My first attempt on KL proves that - only an idiot would have bodged the turnout "arrangement" I invented!! And Steve, as for DAS....just about to open pack 30 on this layout. I'm out of 2.5mm grass, low on PVA, no more DAS after the next pack. Things are getting desperate!

Just 3 pics showing May 24-27 as a lot of the time was taken watching the grass grow and the glue dry. Retaining walls were built using scale 4' x 1' (ish) stone blocks, with a capping. I did try to build these in a more random way, but it looked pretty awful and was binned. The grass in these pics is a mix of 2.5mm (green/beige/brown) and 4/6mm (green/beige). More needs adding at this stage. The fence at the top....Oh, dear. This is likely to be removed. Those following the thread will have read my comment about working at full-stretch. I always build my fences in situ - having cut the posts and drilled-out the holes. I tried to do this, but just couldn't get any angle to work with. So I built a 40cm fence (poles are 4cm apart) at the workbench and TRIED to fit it into place. Poles fitted ok, but the wires - looked a real bl**dy mess! So that idea was scrapped. In the end I opted for dereliction with poles in place, in random directions with no wires. Not sure it works. I've also had an email this evening. from a modeller whose views I completely respect, about the area above the tunnel itself. This may mean further changes and the poles will go. Maybe to be replaced by a couple of lines of snow boards, as at Dent? More pics later this evening or tomorrow - though they may be delayed by a few changes.

OK, you forced me onto the fourth post of the evening. Not sure how many this is going to take! So, to May 22/23.... Rock walls onto bases and hillside modified/extended. The portal fascia is still removable at this stage as it needs finishing/mortaring/painting. There's a retaining rock wall buttress at upper left of the tunnel - visible on the 1986 image, so that was manufactured and fitted in: A base coat of WS earth/green blend flock applied to bring the hillside to life.... Portal fascia removed and mortared with a PVA/DAS "goo", allowed to dry and given an initial couple of acrylic paint washes: Phew, that was 5 days ago. I'll sort out batch 5 and maybe stick some more on here later this evening. And David, I had no choice of tunnel position, but your comment is spot on. You can't see through the tunnel from either side, so it could be very long indeed - instead of around 80cm!!

The portal supports are just that - they hold the portal in place. Almost impossible to build the portal fascias directly onto the supports, so 2 fascias were cut from 4mm ply and my favourite material.....DAS, of course....used to make/cut stones to shape for fitting. As illustrated below. May 20/21. The previous post showed some pics of the prototype. It's flanked at the front by rock walls - another rather nice image below. Rock faces were made from WS moulds and painted, ready for use. A couple of ply bases were fitted to the front of the portal, ready to take the rocks, when ready. More later. If anyone is actually looking at this stuff! If not, no more later.

Cheers Rob. You ain't seen nothing yet (are you old enough to remember Bachman Turner Overdrive?) Part 3 around 7pm, after my tea!!

2 "portal supporters" were built and fitted into position (May 19): A shell of modroc was then fitted into place joining the two supports and plastered over: Some of the cows were clearly so surprised at the changes in their surroundings that they keeled over! A class 24 stands ready to check the clearances through the portals. A mark 1 coach was later used to do the same thing for a longer wheelbase vehicle.... More later....

I spent 3 weeks building the underbridge and was working at building the stone walling to tie everything together. However, when I looked at the "bridge end" (cow overbridge/station underbridge) of the layout I decided something had to change. Gill Head is, effectively, 2 separate layouts comprising the station-goods area and the viaduct-cutting section. So from the viewpoint of the station, and from the cow bridge, it makes sense to separate the two and a tunnel provides the means to do this. The first 2 pics show the view from these 2 viewpoints: a The next 2 pics show a very rough idea for the tunnel area with 2 portals: On the KL2 layout, I used a tunnel fascia - made from plastikard - based on the Blea Moor south portal on the S&C. 3 pics attached, part of the references I used for what followed: More later....

I spent another 6 hours working on the "project" area today and at the end you'd be forgiven for thinking I'd done nothing. All driven by paint and glue drying/setting times. I'll put some pics up tomorrow evening, whatever point I get to. One thing I won't do is rush anything. I've seen enough cr@p on the Forum recently that is precisely the result of doing 3 week's job in a day. If you like that sort of thing.......

Mmn. But you just made a comment.... So, is this the 10 or 30 minute argument?.... There'll be something to look at, nothing great, and at least there'll be no gaps in walls or structurally unsound buildings....

"This is the BBC News....." " we interrupt our normal schedule with the earth-shattering news that, due to leaves and snow on the line at Kirkby Luneside, supplies of DAS, PVA and mod-roc have been unable to reach the far-flung outpost at Gill Head.... We understand that Jeff is in a precipitous state, shedding tears and shaking nerves as he munches on his last packet of digestive biscuits, awaiting re-supply. The BBC has been unable to establish direct contact as the snow has put paid to broadband and landline links..... Estimates suggest it will be next Wednesday before news and layout updates will be forthcoming.... We will keep you updated with developments. " Only joking. There'll be a photo of my pet Bunker spider, tomorrow, if nothing else! 🙃 Nowhere near finished, so "que sera".

Downhill? I thought the whole point was to make things go UPHILL. Memories of Monty Python with reverse time footage of collapsing chimneys and trains entering tunnels.... Twas me that started it. No vested interest, of course. Bit different from talking about the erection of rail structures. Oops....

Very nice, authentic looking image, Jonathan. Realistic modelling, indeed. I suggest you post the images you put up yesterday on your thread - the view along the station concourse. Jeff.