Hawk

Thanks a lot for the kind works! Even if i gave up on the idea of mirrors on this diorama, I have a future project were I will try to use mirrors. It is an interior scene in a very long building where the mineral wagons were emptied. The idea is to make an diagonal cut, and have an mirror at the end of the scene to increase the depth of the scene. I will have to make a mockup to find out how deep the modeled scene must be to work. It will sort of break the illusion if you suddenly see your own face at the bottom of the rabbit-hole! But I really should concentrate on finishing the diorama at hand!

There really isn`t a strict rult that you have to bring a model, but the models people bring along is a big part of the attraction. Would be great to see you there!

I think they most certainly they would welcome a modeller of your calibre! It is customary to bring a sample of your own work, usually people bring some rolling stock or a small diorama. Layouts are unusual, maybe because space is not unlimitied. If you concider bringing Obbekaer, I would contact them in advance. They have a homepage: http://wnj.se/ Not a lot of information in English, unfortunately. I am unsure about what email adress to use for contacting them, but I will see what I can find.

It´s been a while since your article appeared in MJ-Bladet, but I think your layout is one of the finest we published on our watch. Memory might be failing me, but I think it might have been you that introduced me to the Ribe Club.

Yep, I know about the Ribe Club. When I was one of the editors for the Norwegian magazine "MJ-bladet" (The Model Railway Gazette) I tried to get get them to write an article on their fine layout. Like the Skövde layout the ratio of trains vs. scenery is stongly in favour of the latter. As the late Krister Brandt used to say: Det ska inte va så mycket tåg at det stör! (It shouldn't be so many trains that it disturbs!)

In fact, my modelling is strongly influenced by several fine Scandinavian modellers. One of them, Erik Olsen, even made the wheels for the electric engine above! In fact, he developed a set of standards for 0m based on his own Proto:45 standards. Unfortunately, he is no longer modelling in finescale, but his webpage is still accessible. This is miniature enginering at its finest: http://www.modelbaneteknik.dk/model/index.htm I must also mention a couple of Swedish modelers and the society Smalspårsfrämjandet ( The society for the advancement of narrow gauge). The late Erik Walde was a central member of this society, and he developed standards for 0e gauge (Comparable to 0n30, it is 1/45 scale, 16,5mm gauge) and produced wheelsets, detail castings and etched kits for narrow gauge models with Swedish prototypes. Among his castings is a working "Norwegian" central coupling that I use on my own rolling stock. Tobias Ljung was sort of an "Wizard's Apprentice" to Walde, and he has built a lot of very nice 0e models from his own custom kits. Unfortunately, his website is no longer available. The concept of developing your own kits is a concept I learned from these gentlemen. "Smalspårsfrämjandet " publishes a society magazine called "Smalspårigt", but for me the meetings arranged by the society has been the biggest influence and inspiration. Last, but not least I have to mention the late Krister Brandt. Krister was the driving force in Skövde Modellsällskap that built the legendary Westergötland-Nerikes Järnvägar H0-scale layout. He was an excellent modeller with architectural models as his speciality. But he was also an great writer and communicator, and his book about WNJ is the only text on model building that I would classify as literature. He was the editor for a series of annual model railway compendiums that was published between 1990 and 1999. I think it is fair to say that without those compendiums, I would not have been a modeller today. It was through these books that I first learned about the work of Walde, Ljung, Brandt and several other Scandinavian modellers. The Skövde Society also hosts an annual modellers meet that is THE place to attend in Scandinavia if you are interested in fine modelling. The main attraction is the layout itself, but you also meet an awful lot of serious modellers. It is customary that all attendes brin along some of their own modelling. Unfortunately I have been able to attend only once, but I plan to go this year. Hopefully I will be able to bring along the workshop diorama. The meeting takes place on Saturday 15 june. As you are located fairly close, maybe I will see you there?

I should have put "Kit" inside the quotes, as it isn´t really a commercial kit. The bogies are made from my own etchings with some castings produced by Korea brass from my own handmade master. There are also some brass parts milled on a High-Z router. The 3D printed gears are printed on a friends Anycubic Photon Mono2 resin printer. Some of the parts are exclusively made for the cosmetic bogies for thisworkshop scene. Here is a photo of the engine:

Progress is not exactly overwhelming, but some work has been done on a pair of cosmetic bogies for the scene. I am struggling a bit to accept the "Multi media" kit og brass, steel and 3D printed resin parts...

I think all images should be reinstated now, let me know if there still are images missing.

Thanks, Kevin!

Well, just a couple of images to bump the thread. Have been working on details like machines, doors, tools etc. A lot of time was spent at the doors to be places in the back of the shop. I probably spent far too much time and effort on them, but i really enjoy making stuff in metal. And it was good practice, too. I need to practice my soldering for sure! The door is primed with Tamiya primer, an excellent primer that mercilessly brings out all flaws in your work! The lathe is an old US white metal kit by CHB models, I think better white metal castings have never been spun neither before or after these kits. Only gripe I have with them is that they are *very* delicate. That tailstock handwheel bugs me quite a lot... The anvil is an white metal casting with a wooden stand I now have been told is rather unprototypical. The lengths of sleepers should be standing on edges. So I maight make another one. Well, no dramatic progress, just a little update to convince myself that the project is still alive!

Sad news indeed. His exceptional work was a great inspiration. He deserves to be honored by a very heavy book dedictated to his work. Wild Swan, are you listening?

Title says it all. Paying postage to Norway no problem, willing to use regular Royal Mail at my own risk. Paypal is prefered payment option.

So what IS wrong with wood?

I’m looking for an Atlas H0 scale Alco S2 diesel engine in the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville livery. I know it is a long shot to look for a very rare American model on a British forum, but you never know…

Thanks again, Mikkel! The rafters was one of the features that made me want to build a model of the workshop, and it was the first thing I built for the project.

Thanks a lot for the kind words! I am especially happy that you like the house shaped opening. I argued back and forth with myself if it looked good or a bit contrived. One of the reasons for choosing the “house” was that I really wanted to show of the rafters I put so much work into. It is indeed a light source inside the box; a standard 600mmX600mm LED-panel is placed right under the roof of the box. The inside of the box is painted glossy white so that light is reflected into the workshop through the windows. There are also prototypical skylights in the roof of the building. I think that LED panels are an excellent source of light for dioramas and small layouts. They come in many sizes. 600X600 is the most common, but I have also seen 1200X600 , 1200X300, 600X300 and even some smaller one. Make sure that you find a panel with a good color index. And be sure to get the correct voltage for the panel! Some panels are 220V and can be plugged straight in. Others are for use with transformers. Don’t ask me how I found this out… The panel I ended up with is a 45W panel with a fairly good color index. Since the light is supposed to be daylight coming in through the windows, I chose a panel with a cold light. I was a bit concerned about heat buildup inside the box, but I left the lights on for a couple of days without any heat problems.

It’s starting to come together now. The “black box” that is so central to the concept is finally black!

Great story about the strikes! But think about what all the fun you can have if you team up with Andy Modelu! -Haavard

Thanks for the tip! I still have some holes to fill, so I will check out Plateway. Regarding silly prices on eBay, I was pleasantly surprised that I just won an auction for issue 1 with a bid for £ 5. And you don’t have to go to eBay to find rather optimistic sellers. Got a tip for a set of issues 1-30 for £ 472…

I am looking for the following issues of NG&IRM Review: 1-6 8-10 14 31 42-54 59 68 I have no fear of the postage cost for shipping them to Norway! Best regards, Haavard,

It’s a brilliant book. I have the first edition, but all the new photos, especially those in colour, made me buy the second edition as soon as it was available. Did not regret it! And the story of Royes life is an absolutely fascinating tale.

I will definitely look into it. There are few things more frustrating than finding and old forum thread with broken image links. Old forum threads are often a great resource, but not if the images are gone!

Thanks a lot, Mikkel! And let me return the compliment, I have found a lot of inspiration in your fine work. I am truly sorry for the non-showing images! Most of my images are hosted on a non-secure server, and nowadays browsers by default doesn’t accept unsecured content. I would love to move all my images to a secure server, but this would most likely break the links to literally thousands of images that I have included in forum posts during the last 18 years. You could of course argue that the links are already broken, but there are proven workarounds. I have to be certain that the situation will not be worsened by moving to a secure server.

Did some work on the box that houses the diorama. It looks rather ridiculous when the box is unpainted and the there are no lights inside the workshop, but at least there is some progress.