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Just a quick reminder that Osney Town will be appearing 'for one day' only at the SWAG meeting at Taunton on Sunday. Rob

Just a quick thanks for the comments so far, all very valid and thought provoking. Andy's comments are very relevant and follow my own thought process but brings me no nearer to a decision 😉 regards Rob

Over the years I have made most of the buildings on my various layouts from scratch but, as mentioned in an earlier post, I was greatly taken by an engine shed kit from Intentio. As the shed would play a central role in the new diorama I decided that the kit would probably be better than my own efforts, so to cut a long story short the kit has arrived accompanied by a couple of lamp huts and some assorted windows and doors. I must say this is my first foray into laser cut kits and I am extremely impressed with what has arrived and hopefully I can do justice to the kit with its construction and painting. The kit does raise an issue with the diorama itself. Included as part of the kit is an inspection pit for inside the shed. The kit is based on Shipton on Stour which did not have an external pit but I was intending to construct one outside as well, as was the case with Wallingford where the idea for this layout came from. However, the pit is larger than I anticipated and will not fit between the cross members on the base board so will have to be reduced in length, even if used as proposed in the shed. Now my question is do I bother with the pit in the shed which actually will hardly be seen from the viewing angle and just use a cut down version outside or do I bite the bullet and construct two pits which would probably be more accurate in terms of the real thing, but one of which would be largely unseen. Decisions decisions. I think I am likely to give some thought to this and test various alternatives before anything is actually cut, especially as I need to ensure everything is ready with Osney Town which is scheduled to appear at the SWAG meeting in Taunton on the 28th. Any ideas and comments, especially regarding the need for two pits, or one and if so which, inside or outside, are wecome. Rob

My last post suggested that two feature trees on the backscene might be modelled in winter mode. So, how did that work out, well I am quite pleased with the result, but as yet nothing is fixed down, which means there is still time to make alterations if I change my mind. Apologies for the poor angle of the second photo, taken in haste late at night! and the greenery on the first is again just there to test the overall picture. Rob

A quick update on progress so far with the new Osney diorama. I have been concentrating on the backscene and now have the main elements in place, although not actually fixed down yet. There is still a lot of detailing to do, including work on the trees. I am intending to models these in winter mode. I can see them in my head but whether the execution will match the image is another matter. You may wonder why there has been no work carried out on the track yet. This is down to the fact that I am waiting for an inspection pit kit and until it arrives I can't cut out a slot in the board or safely fix any of the backscene in case it gets damaged when I attack the baseboard! That's it for the moment apart from the attached photos, regards Rob.

Following on from my last post I have made a start by building the industrial units for the backscene. In the end I opted for foamboard for the main structures. They now need painting and the addition of small details such as guttering and down pipes. In the course of construction I made a couple of adjustments to the overall scene, the first was the 'bit' of station building which was designed to screen the access points to the fiddle yard, which I decided was too long and obscured to much of the picture, so a couple of inches removed, easily done on a card mock-up and why I find it so useful to test the 'picture' before building. The second was a slight re-positioning of the water column which was too central and also, I think, awkwardly placed for locos to take on coal and water at the same time. I'm pleased with the build so far and anxious to get on but am held up slightly waiting for delivery of an online order. I was advised there would be a delay so no complaints, but I just want to get on 😁, Rob

It's about a week since I finished the mock-ups for the latest diorama and I have been doing my usual thing of leaving everything alone and having a long look at it every day and I must say that I am still very happy with the overall concept. I have attached my 'universal' fiddle yard to it to check that that will work, if needed. so everything is good to go. I have ordered a few things online, which unfortunately will be a little delayed on delivery but there is plenty I can do in the meantime. I just need to decide on the construction method for the new buildings, in the past I used ply sheeting over a pine strip frame but then moved to foamboard for the last two builds which worked well but for some reason I am being pulled back to ply construction! As this is only a diorama the buildings are going to be the key to bringing it all together so I need to get it right but in all honesty I don't really think it matters what framing I use, I just need to make a decision 😁 Rob

Hi Steve, many thanks for your comments. You say that you are laid up in bed , hopefully this is not too serious and you will be up and about soon. When I logged in just now I couldn't believe the number of notifications showing, you have certainly been busy. It is difficult to know how to respond to your kind words, other than to say thank you. We are all in this hobby for our own enjoyment but it is always good to hear that your work is appreciated by others and when I started this thread, many years ago now, I never thought that it would still be going so many years later and would be followed by other modelers for so long. There have been many ups and downs along the way but I still get great pleasure out of my modelling, so, as they say, onward and upward. kind regards Rob

Hi All, I thought it might be useful to show you what a 3ft diorama looks like in O gauge. I have spent a bit of time on the board and put a quick coat of paint on the frame to get rid of the bare wood which was distracting from the board itself. I have also added an LED strip light so that any work I do will be under the lighting that will be on when operating. I have also used mounting card to get the curved backscene. This is a fairly neutral light blue and I think looks ok under the lighting. So I will leave that as it is. The frame looks rather dark but this is only in contrast with the lit area. I have also made a mock-up of some other buildings and these together with some bits and pieces I made earlier give a pretty good indication of how the model might look. Although it is very small I am quite excited by the whole concept and am looking forward to the coming build. For now a few close ups of the diorama:

Hi Andy, thanks for your interest and that suggestion. My preferred backscene is a painted one, just a plain 'sky' colour, and that is what concerned me most. Would the mounting card absorb the paint and warp. From Martyn's experience and my own tests it does look as though my concerns were unfounded, which doesn't really explain why I had a problem on an earlier build. The difference then was the photographic backscene which I hadn't used before so perhaps it was the vinyl on that which caused the problem. Perhaps I should have used photomount or something similar as you suggest rather than the pva glue. Whatever it was I'm now thinking that I will either paint the card with a simple wash or find a card that has a neutral colour ,as Martyn has done and shown so well on the photos he attached. Decisions, decisions, I must be a sad case as I really enjoy this planning stage 😁 Reading this back tells me that I seem to have made a decision to go for a curved backscene using card rather than using buildings to disguise the corners! So one decision made. regards Rob

Many thanks for that information Martyn, it was just what I hoped to hear and my own trial seems to suggest I was probably worrying about nothing. Anyway I think it has pointed the way forward and towards curved corners, really my preferred option! regards Rob

Thanks for that idea, I might try that. I was thinking perhaps of a matt varnish but the sample I did earlier, just painting on the card and gluing it to the board seems to be drying ok, so it's possible that I'm seeing problems that don't exist. Not an unusual situation 😁

Hi Martyn, I have been thinking again about the use of mounting card as I have some pieces to hand and I can get quite a tight curve which won't take up too much space. My concern remains as to whether the card can take paint and glue without it soaking in and causing lifting of the card. When you have used it, do you paint on it, if so with what type of paint, and do you seal the card with anything before and after gluing it to the wood backscene? Your help and advice would be appreciated, in the meantime I have prepared a small test piece using wood glue and emulsion paint, so hopefully that will work ok. regards Rob

Thanks to everyone for their ideas on curved backscenes. I thought I had made up my mind as to how to proceed but now I'm not so sure 😀

Hi Martyn, I used mounting card on New Osney, of short lived fame, and discovered that it had come away from the backboard when I dismantled the layout. The problem, I think was that I had glued a photographic back scene to it and the glue from that had soaked into the card and into the glue on the mounting card, result a mess! Should have sealed the card but the experience did put me off somewhat. Rob