Anthony Ashley

Dear All. Sarah, my wife, became suspicious about the disappearing pegs which seemed to be vanishing from the peg bag. I decided it was time to buy my own. Finding the right peg however was a little more difficult as most have the clap section well back form the top of the peg. I found the right ones shown below and used all of them on a curved road section. Peg with clamp section on the end of the peg. Pegged road. I have a lot more road edging to complete. Most of the foot paths are now done with curbs added separately as shown above. The council will need to employ a road sweeper to get rid of the debris on the road. Regards, Anthony Ashley

HJ72, My apologies for mistaking your identity. The photo is the best I have seen of the Grand providing a wider view of the structure and its components. Thanks again as all of the combined info provided by contributions really helps with the modelling. My wife and I were due to visit Wales last year but we are now still planning. 5 B , Thanks for the feed back, you have reinforced my views. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, A couple of more photos side on. Without scatter With scatter. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Howard, Thanks for the great photo. It gives a great view of the whole building, including the roof forecourt and the grounds. I wonder what part of the area was the "garage in grounds". I presume it was at the back in what probably was the old stables. The photo below is of the area I am talking about, with a door starting half way up the wall to link to the road, which is gaining elevation on the outside of the building, most unusual!! I have experimented with adding blended turf scatter to the hedging material. I am interested in any comments on which version looks better. The first is without the scatter. The second is with scatter fixed to the hedge. Any comments on look of both are appreciated. I have also been cutting and painting foot paths. In the process of sticking them to the roads. I shall have to make or purchase some bench seating to replicate the seats in the foreground. Thanks again the photo is great. It has been a really busy month with Sarah my wife having a knee replacement. This has impacted seriously on time available for modelling so things have slowed down again. She is at least home now so no more hospital visits but I do need to spend time looking after her. Slow progress for the next month or so. Any comments on the hedging would be appreciated. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Howard, Thankyou for your efforts. If you have time to inquire at the Conwy archives that would be fantastic. Thanks again for the help, Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, I finally decided to conduct surgery on the layout. The area of Penmaenmawr near Pennant Hall on Beach road has a small hill on my layout which does not seen to exist. I decided I needed to finally lower the area so get better access to Pennant Hall. I took about 60 ml off the ridge line. Photos of the surgery are below. I have cut the paper mache and opened up the layout. I rrealised the working area was insufficient so widened the gap after cutting and removing the chicken wire Further expansion as the paper mache remaining was stiff and would create an edge line with new paper mache being laid. Covering up the gap. The area of Pennant hall is now relatively flat allowing the car park to be properly modelled. The beauty of using paper mache is its flexibility, the ease of cutting out errors and the cheap cost of fixing any errors. I have now cut many walls and am cutting different resin stone surfaces to fit. Regards, Anthony Ashley

To all Jam Connoisseurs. My wife Sarah has insisted that I put a photo of her favourite jam on RM Web!!!! Here it is. I have also been pouring the resin mould to create the wall stone sections. Photos of the operation are below. I also discovered that I missed a road and the houses in it. The road has now been cut and the house floor plans drawn and cut out. Just need to attach the road and do a plaster pour for this road and one other. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear Simon John Lezz Stephen and Joseph, Who would have thought using jam jars in Australia would promote so much discussion om jam!! In Australia Bonne Marmon produce the best jam I have found, Our old Cottees brand is now more like a jelly with miniscule flavourings elements and virtually no fruit, At least with Bonne Marmon you can see the fruit. I have inserted photographic evidence as to the existence of Bonne Marmon orange marmalade in the next photo. That on a slice of toast with an accompanying raspberry is my combination of choice for breakfast. (I now have a picture of jam in my layout photos!!!) The North Welsh weekly newspaper has further reported: "Extensive land back fill has been taking place at Penmaenmawr just below the Grand Hotel. Back fill operations have intruded onto the Chester/Holyhead main line at Penmaenmawr with the narrowing of Station Rd. This line will be closed until further notice. Aerial shots of the extensive ground work are included, including the debris covering the main line. Rail authorities need to prioritise clearance and the reopening of this line!!!! " I need to paper mache the new ground work and then get on with walls and foot path construction. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, "The Penmaenmawr authorities have decided that on inspection of the road surface between the Grand Hotel and the rail track, the width of the road is not up to design specifications. The plans for the road called for a 5.68 metre road but what was built was 7,2 metres. Accordingly road work has commenced to reduce the road width to plan diemensions. This part of Station Rd will be closed until further notice, WHY ARE WE NARROWING A ROAD 😟" This counsel notice was provided in the North Welsh weekly newspaper on 5 May 22. What really happened is that the view of this part of the road is overhung by trees so that an accurate measure of its dimensions is not possible using Google earth 2D. On walking around Penmenmawr using Goggle earth street view I noticed this section of Station raod was much narrower that the adjoining streets. Having glued down the relevant walls I ripped one up and relayed it, encouroaching onto the road surface in doing so. The narrower road provides more space between the road above leading to the Gran Hotel and instead of a cliff I can now fit a steep slpoe which is more accurate. Photos are below of road works, The use big cylinders in Penmaenmawr to stick down walls!!! Road has been narrowed by gluing to plaster surface, Width of the road side reduction is clear in this photo being the narrow strip on hte right. The other end of the relay Close up of the bowlng green under construction. I need to pour some more stone resin to provide a stone surface to the walls. Regards, Anthony Ashley

View looking to the south at the bowling green, The fantasy aircraft museum area with a few of the many planes Regards, Anthony ashley

Dear All, Roads have been all but completed with one small section to go. All building floor plans have been cut to size and walls are going in. I need to colour match the walls so a trip to the local hardware shop for sample pots. I shall take my compute with screen saves of the various walls and colour match using coloured swaths comparing the goggle earth street view of the wall. I need about 4 more colours. Photos below. Overview of Penmaenmar form the wetern end Grand Hotel area Bowling green and tennis court area More to follow. REgards, Anthony Ashley

Simon , Photos are below. There are 4 counter weights which are comprised of 4 buckets with lead weights in them. I am not sure how you could add more counter weights as there is one per corner of the lifting section. The section lifts to about 8 feet as shown by the photo with me under it. The slides are 4 fridge slides and the there is a locking bolt in each corner. Hope this is enough detail. We had a really hard time fitting it as we tried too install it vertically and tried about 4 times unsuccessful each time. We then tipped it on its side and tried to install like a drawer, and this worked first time. The lifting cable goes through the lifting section and is tied off to secure it. I have just about finished all the roads in Penmaenmawr so more photos to follow. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Simon, Thanks for the tip about youtube. I do have an old youtube blog on the layout but not used it for 7 years, I shall reactivate it to add the link to RM Web. I have a bit of catch up to video all of the development since I last posted to the site!! I n regard to our Brisbane weather we have fortunately moved on with mostly sunny days. Australia is such a big country that each state tends to be influenced by its own weather system. In the case of this rain system moved on from Qld Brisbane down the coast to New South Wales and eventually Sydney. By the time it got to Sydney it is no longer effecting Brisbane. Sydney and NSW is now sufferring massive floods after Brisbane. Anthony Ashley

Dear All. Photos of the Penmaenmawr side of the layout with the base completed, including roads up to the ply sections. The ply sections are interlocked and removable. Overview of the Penmaemawr side of the layout. Cut off housing area and granite facilities moved closer to Penmaenmawr due to space constraints. Grand Hotel area . The slope top the left of the floor plan will be a vegetable patch/gardening area, Bowling green with the green patch and the tennis courts with white paper Flat area for the aircraft museum. The white strips on the ply have yet to be placed and glued accurately. I need to finish lining the roads with white strips, paint the paper mache and do some work on the tennis court and bowling green, I have taken a video using the drone, edited it to less than a 10Mb file but can not down load it as it is in a MP4 format. I am not sure if the site supports video. Regards, Anthony ashley

Simon, I have never seen so much water over a 4 day period. It was unbelievable but lucky we live on top of a hill. Thanks for your comment. Bogie, I guess you will need to drain and replace the water in the pool. We were fortunate that our pool is well enclosed by walls and gets no run off into it. Out bio system was not so lucky with all of the tanks filling with water. Hope you do not have too much work to get back to normal, All the best. Have moved forward with the ply sections being cut and fitted (pieces are inter locked to ensure better fitting) and the remaining paper mache sections being well under way. More photos tomorrow. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All Brisbane has been hit by huge rain storms over the last week. Last Fri to Mon of this week we had 740 mls of rain in our suburb. This is 3/4 of a metre of rain in 4 days! My work shop shad suffered some minor flooding but no significant damages. The train shed got a little damp on some parts of the floor and a few cardboard boxes will need To be thrown out but no damage to the layout or equipment. I had to do some water redirection at the height of one rain storm. It was like I had gone for a swim. We lost power for a few days so layout work has ceased. I am waiting to cut the last piece of ply to finish the Aircraft museum area on the left of Penmaenmawr as you look at it. After that it is just stapling wire to the last section of Penmaenmawr to finish the base. I will be able to cut the ply tomorrow given the restoration of power this evening . We have a fauna part over the road from us, which has a lake. The lake drains over a wall, normally falling 30 feet to a creek. The creek rose by about 25 feet during the storm. The water completely covered the bridge with 15 feet concrete pylons. It has been an exciting week. Pictures of the park flooding are below. An avalanche of water over the wall. The water later came up another 10 steps, covering all of the bridge in the background. At the foot of the steps is normally a walking path to the river, which has breached its banks. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Lez and Simon, Your comments have inspired me to experiment beyond my capability in terms of drone flying. The drone I have is really amazing in its stability, however pilot error is a problem!! I tried the drone out in the shed yesterday with potentially disastrous results. I took off close to the centre of the shed as there is a take off button that automatically take off the drone to about a 4 foot height. It took off and got close to the ceiling but was OK. It creates a large amount of wind downward, which blew many sheets of my paper mache pile all over the shed. A minor inconvenience and nothing to worry about. I found the camera angle was horizontal, and so displayed the walls really well but did not really pick up the layout. I went to about 300ml height which improved the layout view. The drone control unit connects up to an I Phone and the drone relays the camera picture direct to your phone so you can see what the camera is viewing. You can also use the phone to directly record a video which could then go onto RM Web. I could not go lower as the drone will auto land at any lower height. I then had the brilliant idea of flying around to the end of the layout where I have all of the mountain scenery. The scenic divider and the mountain itself is very high and limits the space between the scenery and the ceiling. I navigated the drone slowly and carefully around the corner of the layout and got to the mountain end. I then tried to fly closer to the wall to get a better view but went to far and collided with the wall, crashing the drone to the ground with rotors still spinning. DISASTER!!!!!! I retrieved it, turned it all off and back on again. When I tried to take off 3 of the 4 rotors spun normally but the 4th would not move. Each rotor has a silver cover which rotates with the 4 propellers. The silver ring rotated most of the way around but was getting caught in one spot. Checking the ring it appeared now to be unevenly mounted on the plastic ring. I used some gentle force try to even up the ring mounted on the plastic support. After 15 minutes of "persuasion" it appeared to be moving more freely. The props were still OK. Another 15 minutes of manipulation and I thought I had evened out the ring to a consistent level gap with the plastic support. I tried another flight and all 4 rotors operated normally and I had flight again!! Relief as I had not permanently damaged the drone. I need to be more careful in the shed. Ross came over today to help so I did a test flight outside the shed to show him the drone. I then said I would very carefully try in the shed again. We talked about changing the camera angle. Ross looked at the drone pre flight and suggested trying a few new buttons that I was not sure of. We tested a few outside and low and behold one of them moves the camera to a lower angle. I tested that over the layout and it looks really good. I need to enhance my flying skills to and be very careful in the shed. Video or pictures will be posted once taken form the drone. I have worked out how I am going to complete the far end of Penmaenmawr after discussion with Ross. I shall use 4 ply section maximum size of about 1.2 metres by 900ml. The ply will have pine strips screwed underneath to lock into the vertical supports underneath the layout. This will secure each board into exactly the right place, given they are removable. One set will be the Aircraft museum, and the other the actual fields. The advantage of the ply is it is removable but also provides a good base for the remaining roads. We have attached more of the roads to the wire base. I need to create the elevated concrete areas around the grass bowling rink area before that piece of ply is fixed to the layout. The south side of the bowling area has steps which I shall create using a second strip of 3 ml ply. You can see the elevation change in the photo of the bowling green above. The walls around the actual grass area is brick work. Once I have finished the bowling rink area I can screw it to the layout and then finish attaching the wire to that ply piece. Paper mache is then the next step. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, I have what I think is exciting news. My son gave me a Christmas gift of a drone recently. It has a great camera mounted and connects to your mobile phone by which you can record videos. The stability of the drone in the air is very stable and precise. I should be able to take it off in my shed and then fly around the length of the layout with an aerial view. Given the dimensions of the layout are 39 ft by 16 ft this should be a reasonable view. I am powering up the drone end controller and will check it out this afternoon, with hopefully a video to post to RM web. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Ade, Thanks for your encouragement and positive comments. It has a relatively slow 8 years in constructing the layout but the pace has quickened in the last 2 months!! The areas of Penmaenmawr on which I have ben working have had easy access to the track sections underneath the scenic level, and so I have just been adding permanent scenic areas which do not require removal, As I move down to the other end of Penmaenmawr there is is more undertrack area necessitating access to track and point work underneath the scenic level. Accordingly I think for the last two Penmaenmawr sections I shall use 3ml ply sheets with supporting timber around the edges of the scenic sections as the base for this scenic area. I shall also use timber to create a horizontal and vertical cross screwed to the base of each ply section, which will lock each ply section into the vertical supports. This should mean the ply sections are very stable and should slot onto the vertical supports very easily, By having these sections all removable I can create the alternate scenic sections over these last two sections of Penmaenmawr, either the Aircraft museum with runway, or alternatively empty fields. Fortunately this end of Penmaenmawr is relatively flat so will not need to create any real elevation changes in the ply areas. I am hiding some points and track work in a tunnel and the removable sections will also allow me to access this track work. As you can see from my plan the area is relatively clear of any real features so lends itself to some creative development. I have been working on trying to position the road shown on the above picture. If I use ply for the base I only need to edge the road with the 3 ml strips of foam board. I am also adding the road edging to the areas that have been completed with wire and ply roads in place. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, I have been working on integrating the bowling green and tennis court area into the layout. They are only separated by a road and both need a flat area for the bowling green and actual tennis courts. The tea house in front of the tennis courts was at a lower level with a few steps leading up to the court. My vertical supports providing the elevation changes did not quite match the required elevations. I had to remove about 5 cm of the vertical former under the courts. Photos of the preparatory work are below. Bowling green with the tea house on the left. Close up of the tea house. View from the other side of the tennis courst. The tea house will sit on the triangle of ply. The roads will be 2 ml higher with my edging being added. This will make the road and tea house the same height. The pencil mark on the ply triangle is the shape of the front of the tea house. This shape needs to be cut to create space for the foot path. The raw ply edge showing behind the ply triangle is the ply I had to reduce in height by about 5 cm. The bowling rink is the shape of the white paper sitting on the ply to the right of the tea house area. I will frame it with 3ml ply as there is a narrow walkway around the rink. You can see the most recent paper mache which is still dring under the tea house ply triangle and to the right of Marine parade. I shall do another few layers of paper mache and then cut the ply shapes to create the steps and court area behind the tea house. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, Been working on the paper mache. Photos are below. Long view of the area being worked on. I have completed 4/7 of the Penmaemawr area with paper mache. The roads placement and construction takes most of the time and there are only a few left to do. Most of the area to the east of Penmaenmawr are fields (paddocks if speaking Australian). I am inserting the aircraft museum where the empty fields are. If I make them removable I could also duplicate the area with empty fields and sheet and alternate the two alternates. Either way the both of these options are relatively easy to build. Paradise road on the right and Brynmoor Terrace on the right in this photo. The grassed elevated area below Paradise road is visible The white floor plan for the Cresent Cinema is visible with the Grand Hotel floor plan in cardboard, Just one small section to paper mache that I missed below the hotel. View to the end of the layout. I need to attach a road between Brynmoor Terrace and Beach Road and then continue securing the chicken wire to the road sections and adding more paper mache. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, Here are a couple of photos showing the stepped wire base to the east of Paradise road. The paper emphasises the wall next to Paradise road a stepped area and then the car park. The area being worked on currently. This area with flat ply and wall behind is the Crescent cinema, knocked down in about 1968. I need to paint the new road sections. finish the wire between Beach road and Constitution Hill Rd and then paper mache. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Howard, Thanks so much for contacting the historical society and gaining further insight into the historical aspects of Penmaenmawr. I have been working on the new road sections by incorporating them and the chicken wire further to the east of Penmaenmawr. The dingle creek just sneaks in at the top of the layout, curving around before disappearing under Constitution Hill road. I manged to bend the chicken wire wire to form a 3 cm wide creek bed. The area between Paradise road and Constitution Hill road was difficult in terms of laying the wire. I followed your advice as the car park seems to have been around in 1960. The area immediately to the east of Paradise road drops very quickly in height with a very tall wall on its eastern side. I have incorporated a vertical drop in this area, increasing as it heads south. From the current google street view there is a mound some way up to the east of Paradise road at the foot of the Paradise Road wall, running parallel with the car park. This required about a 15ml rise in the wire frame work, then dropping the 15ml to the parking area. Thankfully the rest of the area is relatively flat, as working the chicken wire into complex shapes is hard work on the fingers!! The only item you have mentioned that I no info on is the Bowen's cafe. I have looked on line without any results. If the historical society has any pictures of this area I am very interested. If you are happy to ask them that would be great. Otherwise I could contact them myself. Please let me know if you are happy to continue the contact. Thanks again for the assistance it is really appreciated. I shall chicken wire up to Beach road before adding paper mache. I have drawn up the station road where it joins with Conwy Road. It is drawn but not cut. I have found a really good way of ensuring the roads are correctly angled. I put the computer with google earth on the computer screen flat on my workshop table aligning the railway line on screen and the edge of my work shop table. I use a metre ruler laid over the lap top screen aligned with the road being drawn. I can then draw that line with the correct road angle onto the ply wood and then transfer that line angle to the start point of the road and therefore drawing in the road on the correct angle. This has worked really well for the roads inserted in the last two days. I shall add some photos tomorrow, as it is 1200 at night and the shed is locked. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Howard, Thanks for the comments above. If you can find anyone who has knowledge and have a chat with them that would be great. From an artistic perspective greening the area would look nice and does not appear to be inconsistent w the best map that I have. I will use this approach if you are unable to uncover anything else. Thanks again for your help. I have cute another 2 road sections done a fair amount of paper mache and lined more roads. Photos are below. View across to the Grand Hotel.. The road in the fore ground will be gravel. The newspaper in the fore ground is temporary track cover Looking further along the layout. The roads are more clearly defined. The floor plan of the Grand Hotel. The major road to the left of the Grand Hotel area is Paradise Road. There is a significant down slope with a cultivated area to the left of the Grand Hotel as shown in the photo below. The area to the left of the Grand Hotel needs chicken wire and paper mache. Temporary ply board to stabilise the roads before attaching chicken wire with a stapler. The new road sections in ply going across the layout. The paper sections are from the left the large tenement block south east of the station and the floor plan of the bowling green. More chicken wire and paper mache!!! Regards, Anthony Ashley