LBSC123

Does anyone know if any LBSC 6 wheelers made it into SR Green? As I understand it, they only sent LBSC 4 wheelers over to the Island (and ex LCDR coaches with the centre wheel removed). I think I remember reading that some were possibly used for Lancing works trains(?), and a few LCDR 6 wheelers lasted into the 1930s on the mainland too. Seems like an odd decision to do 6 wheelers not 4 wheelers, imho. I’ll stick with Hatton's for now...

Looks good. A Thames Barge can be obtained from: https://www.vintageminiaturemodels.co.uk/ As discussed on my own layout thread it makes a fairly nice model, albeit with some filling required. The rigging and masts requires a bit of lateral thinking as there isn’t much provided in the kit, I haven’t quite worked out how I’m going to undertake this yet...

Are you reliant on the blades for your frog polarity/electrical connectivity? If so definitely mask them. What are your using to paint them? My normal technique is to do them by hand with a brush, as it’s more controllable and enables colour differentiation between the rails and sleepers. Either way, I’d ‘go steady’ and if using an spray can go for a few light passes, followed by touching in the areas that had been masked by brush. Hope that helps

Hi @Schooner, it looks like the project is progressing well and I'm following with interest. To be honest, I can't help feeling the Goods depot building in your post above is a bit modern compared to the rest of the buildings, in both design and materials, and wonder if the corrugated depot you were planning to use would suit the scene better? Best, Will

Cracking progress as always, @TeakDB, I can scarcely keep up! The LBSC Box van looks a lot better for a replacement chassis. I shall watch with interest to see how you get on with the 5&9 Models. Inspiring stuff as always!

Lovely trees @chuffinghell, what was your technique for decorating them? Happy New Year!

Thanks @Ian Morgan for the advice Re-EZ line, I'll have to investigate it! @Schooner, thanks for the informative post and pictures of Thames Barges, they'll certainly get me started. Do you have any advice on which Ship Model forum's are best? The model itself is from: https://www.vintageminiaturemodels.co.uk/, it's a fairly nice kit to put together, although requiring some filling. I'm not really a huge fan of resin, although perhaps that comes from inexperience. The kit leaves a little bit to be desired in terms of the rigging, sails and masts, which is the area I've now got to, and am looking for the best way to proceed. All it came with was the tubing for the masts and templates. The picture below is from their website from a customer, and shows what is technically possible (although how I get there I am not too sure..!) Good idea @Northroader, that's this weekends cycle ride sorted! Thanks for the warning, the roof on my LBSC Van has long been lost in the mist of time, so if you could send the dimensions over for this that would be much appriciated @TeakDB Thanks for the tip off and exquisite photograph of the ship and rigging... It looks like I've got some research to do! Hope everyone has the best New Years possible given the circumstances.

Thanks both for the kind words, I did get a little further on with the layout during the first lockdown. Now it's sadly 100 miles away at my parents whilst I am in London for lockdown. I certainly haven't forgotten about it, and will be returning to the layout at some point in the future to build some more appropriate stock and detail the layout. I'll try and find some time to re-visit this thread with some photos of the layout as it stands. Best, Will

This looks just the ticket!

Apologies for the lack of updates over the festive period. I was having a well earned rest, unfortunately not with family this year due to being stuck in Tier 4. This enabled me to make some progress layout, namely and the rolling stock. I'll let the photos do the talking. I've built a Smallbrooks Road Van, LBSC Box Van and Open wagon, these were started some years ago and so as a result possibly had a few mistakes along the way, namely the handrails on the Road Van (I really need to get a smaller drill bit and a something to bend the handrails with, any ideas?). That said, I think they'll look OK when painted and weathered. I've also built up these two ex LNWR Ratio wagons these will represent ex IWR/IWC wagons, painted into SR livery. Finally, I've built up 3 Cambrian Models ex LBSC wagons, a staple of the line. These will all need painting and transfers in due course. I've also been working on a Thames Barge, which can be seen below. I'm not far off painting this, but need to do some work on the rigging. Any ideas on this greatly appreciated! More soon.

Keep up the good progress @TeakDB, I'll watch with interest to see how the LBSC box wagons come along. The Horse box looks rather nice too, it's on my list to tackle at some point too... Hope you had a good festive period. Will

Snatched a few hours to work on the layout yesterday, and added some Mod Podge ripples to the resin.

Thanks for the info @Nick C, in assembling the first one I did feel that the buffer assembly did let the rest of the kit down somewhat, particularly compared to the Ratio models which also have turned buffer heads, so this is useful to know. I'll see if I can source some suitable turned heads for the remaining kits.

Following the completion of the resin pour, I’ve been awaiting the arrival of a few parts to keep me ticking over during a Tier 4 Christmas. The next priority is to build up a collection of wagons so that I can do some shunting with a prototypical stock. Initially I estimate I need about 10 wagons for the bare bones of the shunting puzzle game I’ve got in mind but this is designed for further expansion as I build up a fleet of engineering wagons, and Shalfleet Harbour Railway internal user stock, further down the line. The first kit I made a start on was a Cambrian LBSC 5 plank. They really are rather lovely. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Thanks for all the help and support on the layout. I couldn’t have got to where it is without it! Here’s to a better 2021.

Apologies for the slight thread hijack, but what exactly did you build this lighting gantry out off? I'm considering replicating something similar on my Quay...

Thanks for the helpful explanation on this, I shall use the festive period to conduct a bit of research myself and have a bit of think about what looks best. I’m attracted to the LBSC ones purely because they look a bit more ‘light weight’ than ex LSWR ones, which would be more in keeping with the rest of the layout, I think. As an aside does anyone know where LSWR ones available from? Many thanks for the kind words @DLT. As is always the way, one learns a lot constructing a layout and there are a few areas I could and would do differently, that said I’m fairly happy with how it’s panning out at the moment. Maybe on the next layout I’ll finally reach perfection...

Yep, I think you're right about that being an ex LSWR one. I'll do some further research and see if I can collaborate this with other photos I've seen. Thanks!

Thanks @TeakDB, hopefully you're right but I'm far more adept with scenery than wagons, but hopefully nothing that a bit of practice won't sort out. I'm currently working on a Smallbrooks LBSC Van which I started a long time ago, I'm hopeful this will prove to be a useful test bed for future wagons further down the line. Thanks @Nick C for the kind words. I'm glad someone else has picked up on the buffer stops too, they are just the Peco bullhead affairs, I did look at some of the Lanarkshire Models ones at the point of building the layout, and tried comparing them to the (very limited) photographs of island buffer stops I could find, I wasn't 100% sure on what would be a suitable prototype and so opted for the Peco ones as an interim. They are on my list to replace eventually, once I settle on the appropriate type to replace them. This is the Lanarkshire LBSC one:

Keep up the good work @TeakDB, that lining looks particularly headache inducing!

Thanks all for the kind words about the resin pour! To answer @wainwright1’s question about depth, it’s only about 5mm deep at the most. I didn’t really plan to go down the whole ‘deep pour’ as I have previously mentioned I wanted to model the layout at low tide. I built in a lip about 5mm high at the front of the layout to contain the resin (with the benefit of hindsight I think this was a bit of a mistake, but hey ho). As a result you can’t really see any of the water depth. I’ll consider using some sort of Woodland Scenics water effects for the waves, but I quite like the subtlety of Mod Podge Gloss as per Luke Towan. Here’s a ‘on scene’ shot to show what sort of look I am going for.

Well, I'm pleased to report that my deposit for this flat is safe for now and the resin pour has been successfully completed. For this I used CFS Fast Cure Water Clear Epoxy Resin, because of the quantities I needed this was the cheapest option for the pour. Before doing the pour I repainted the seabed to touch up any knocks that had occurred during the previous stages of construction. Underneath, I used some DAS clay to fill any suspect areas to ensure the resin didn't leak out. Next I used masking tape and PVA to form a dam around the board to ensure the resin wouldn't leak out. Finally, I used a digital level to get the board sitting flat. With that done I was ready for the resin. I weighed the resin and hardener out and added a few drops of Vallejo 'Dark Sea Blue' to add a slight sea colour to this. After mixing for 5 minutes I poured this onto the sea bed as evenly as I could, using a cocktail stick to get the resin into any difficult to pour corners. I used a small gas powered soldering torch on the surface of the resin to remove any bubbles from the pour, and then covered it with greaseproof paper to keep dust off whilst it dried. I've had a preliminary look at it after 12 hours, and thinks it looks rather good! I'll leave it another 12 (possibly more) before I dare touch it though. There are a few imperfections here and there but the whole lot will be covered with Mod Podge gloss to make small ripple waves, which should hide this without a problem. Like with all things, by doing it you learn how to do it better the next time, that said, I'm happy with how this has panned out.

I've finally received all of the necessary supplies for the construction of the water and have undertaken a satisfactory test of resin using acrylic paint as a tint. Expect a more comprehensive update shortly on either the satisfactory completion of the pour or how I lost the deposit for this flat!

Apologies for the lack of updates for the last week, I’ve been taking a bit of time out following the flurry of activity over lockdown. This weekend I have made some progression on the Layout with the view to completing the resin pour before Christmas. There are a few outstanding jobs around the shoreline which needed to be completed before this could happen, so I set to work on these. The first was fitting ladders to the quayside, essential for enabling anyone to get off a boat and onto the quay. After much deliberation, I opted to use ECKON etched brass ladders (possibly designed for signals?). I cut these to length and carefully removed some of the rungs at the top of the ladder enabling the end to be bent over for handrails at the top in line with what appeared to be common practice at quaysides. These were painted a rust colour and glued into shape. Before the resin I’ll do further weathering of these. Next I used Woodland Scenics Coarse Turf to make a representation of seaweed. The tide line was done using Medium Green, scattered onto a line of PVA. The darker seaweed below this was Earth coloured, and mixed with PVA and black paint before being stuck down. These look suitably different and I’m fairly happy with the effect, I may wash some other colours over these and the rocks when I tie in the whole ‘sea bed’ before I do the resin pour. Finally, I have made a tentative start on a Thames Barge kit. This will look good, I think, although the rigging is going to be quite an undertaking! I’ve also been working on some half completed rolling stock kits I’ve had lying around from 10 years ago when I first tentatively stated plans to model Shalfleet Quay. These are a both resin affairs from Smallbrook studios, my 15 year old self didn’t have quite the patience I do now and so there not perfect, but with a little filler, painting and weathering will come up OK, I think. It will certainly be a good opportunity to hone my skills ahead of more rolling stock construction following the brilliant work of @TeakDB on ‘Brading’, although I’m not sure I have quite the same levels of patience or skill, so may be willing to accept further compromises on rolling stock as long as it looks right.

Hi Schooner, I’m not 100% sure why but I much prefer the new plan. Keep up the good work! best, Will

Thanks for the kind words, there’s still plenty of detailing work to do, but I don’t think it’s panning out too badly. I must confess I built the baseboards back at my parents, although there’s no reason I could built them in a flat (the fiddle yard will probably be built here), but yes, that’s come with its own challenges too!