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Iain C Robinson

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    http://iainrobinson.weebly.com/

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  • Location
    Vale of Ffestiniog, North Wales
  • Interests
    Architectural modelmaking, industrial railways, narrow gauge railways, exploring old mines.

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  1. I've just popped in on this thread to see what the boss was up to - and I see he's not been standing still...bloomin' brilliant stuff, guv. I particularly like the pre-distressed station...I imagine that must have been a commission for a branch of the Beeching family to remind them of their long lost forebear... well, it's really amazing modelling. I actually thought it was real when I first set eyes upon it. I see there's also some young guy in your living room, striking a pose with your strat- the lodger? Good to see the legendary model making skills are still on top form! cheers, Iain
  2. Thanks, Peter- as you probably know, I have a bit of a "thing" for Dorothea and I have often thought it would make a good narrow gauge model railway, the section from Gallt-y-Fedw and Pen-y-Bryn perhaps through past Plas Talysarn to the LNWR/ Nantlle rly sidings. OK if you like little Hunslets Motorising Prince and Corwen might pose difficulties... Your model of the Engine House is fab! cheers, Iain
  3. Hi Andy, I like your Kingsbridge structure, it captures the prototype nicely, and the stonework is excellent. I wish I had known about your project earlier, as I did an etch of Kingsbridge about a year ago and sent it to PPD for etching. I still have the artwork with the canopy valancing but it has a lot of other stuff on it (including 7mm William Clarke ironwork) that you wouldn't want. I can, however, find the artwork for you and you could alter it to just give you the valancing and then send it to PPD perhaps. Unfortunately I have just used the last of the brass etch on the goods shed canopy, or you could have had that...sorry! Cheers, Iain
  4. Hi Peter, I have often wondered about the place as I drive past it often while mooching in the Nantlle Quarries or researching and photographing abandoned houses on the South side of Dyffryn Nantlle. Looks very impressive! cheers, Iain
  5. I was talking earlier about finding suitable items for inside the goods shed- Hornby used to do some great crates and baskets, but for some reason have discontinued these. Mikkel, who has a thread on here and a great blog (http://www.farthinglayouts.org/ ) had a couple of masterclasses on making crates and stuff for Edwardian goods depots...but I wanted something quick and dirty, that wouldn't take me long as I can't charge that stuff to my customer. Mikkel had suggested "RustyStumps" castings, who do a neat set of accessories in resin including all kinds of crates. I sent away six days ago and they came today...I painted them in quiet moments between doing my tax return (!). They are not expensive and the guy's service is amazing...I have no connection obviously, but here are a couple of shots of the one that I bought. It looks fine next to a Knightwing crate, the scratch built ones and a couple of Hornby baskets. Unpainted painted In place! Sorry to bore you with this, like anything to do with railway modelling, once you start studying something it opens up a whole new world of detail cheers, Iain
  6. Lee wrote "so where are your blog updates then eh? Been nothing since a stroll down main street! ;)" I have quite a backlog of stuff to post, and I must get down to doing the updates- the same with "Treasure maps". Thanks for the nudge. That retaining wall looks rather nifty, and I agree that scribing bricks is a sure way to lose your mind- although I have the advantage in that I don't have any sanity to lose. Like you, I tend to use the Foamex for everything, I even packed up a customer's model in it this week and it arrived without a scratch. The foamex is so light and strong, I am very grateful to you for putting me in the right direction with it. Glad to see you are still busy with commercial work as well as the web work. cheers, Iain
  7. Hello old pal, I was just thinking that you were the one to talk about Foamex - as it was you that persuaded me to try it in the first place. Nice to see these models again, lovely stuff. What are you up to now...eh? cheers, Iain edited...for spelling again!
  8. Hi Andy, I like that! Very impressive work. I really like the slates, the detail and the light touch you have with the weathering. It all looks very realistic and will be an impressive feature on the layout. The stonework has come off very well, too...and the build is a nice sharp one with no dodgy angles. The Harbourmaster's looks very promising and I would like to see more of that when it progresses. cheers, Iain edited for spelling...as usual!
  9. Hi Andy, thanks! I generally use 3mm Foamex...I also use 5mm, but for general purpose work the 3mm is very useful. I use "Palight", but there are all sorts of different types out there and you can buy it from a couple of good suppliers on Ebay. I find the thinner Foamex is fine so long as you don't scribe it, because it will warp quite badly at that thickness. The shed is built mostly with 3mm Foamex, laminated with another sheet for the inside walls- it also gives the illusion of depth and is easier to cut than one big sheet of 5mm! I use Super Glue to stick it to itself and to Styrene, card, etc...some people use Evo-Stik impact but I have found joints to fail very badly with that glue. With Superglue it is permanent and you can use the slightly less instantaneous type so that you can position the components, rather than ruining something you've spent a day scribing! Yes, you are right, normal solvents like Mek don't touch it. Do have a go, it is very nice and clean to work with and scribes beautifully. I might suggest a tutorial by Master Modelmaker David Neat, who is a great exponent of Foamboard. https://davidneat.wordpress.com/materials/constructing/palight-foamed-pvc/ Hope this helps, cheers, Iain
  10. For me, the Cameo is a no-brainer, because I use it in some way for almost every job I do. But the software is awful, deeply unintuitive and downright impossible to accomplish anything more than a straightforward set of squares. I use Illustrator and port it to the Cameo with an add-on bit of software, but it doesn't get it right every time...better than the "Studio" software though. You can use Inkscape with it too, although I find that a bitch to use as well. The cameo does have it's limitations and sometimes mysterious things happen that have to be sorted within the machine's settings, but I still love it to bits. All the windows were done with it on the goods shed, from Canford card, spray mounted onto the glazing substrate. I tend to use a 65 degree blade for it's accuracy and buy them from Ebay at a fraction of the cameo ratchet blades which are very variable in quality as well as being much more expensive than the Chinese ones. If you are methodical and can learn empirically, then the Cameo will be a very rewarding tool. I am neither but I still wouldn't be without it. Hope that gives you some food for thought! cheers, Iain
  11. Whatever floats your boat, I say ... Anyway, here are some pics of something I have been working on in order to quell the proliferation of oil men on this thread...There is still a lot to do on it before it will be finished, so this is "in progress" The goods shed is based on Kingsbridge, but actually with every day that goes by, it becomes less "based on Kingsbridge". I somehow put the office chimney on the wrong side, not sure how I did that, but my long-suffering customer just wanted it left, he preferred it like that...phew! I have had fun with the interior, the customary joists etc from Evergreen section 252 square tube, built on a jig. The walls are scribed foamex, inside and out. Crane is a bit freelance but hopefully catches the spirit of a typical one. Packing cases are cut out on the Cameo cutter and then assembled. I have sent for some accessories from the US, recommended by the excellent Mikkel, made by www.rustystumps.com...they do some amazing castings and as well as cases I have ordered some workshop clutter for my loco works...will show on here when they arrive. Tomorrow I will be packing up a different model to send to a customer, it's a big one and will take all day to build the packing case for it. I sometimes use a dedicated company from Aberdeen who do nothing but move models and film sets but wow are they pricey...OK for oil jobs when cost is no object, but tomorrow it will be a local carrier, based on the fact that I know where he lives and will go round there if anything goes wrong Anyway, some pics! above: the interior with joists and crane. above: just a shot to show the effectiveness of the scribed stonework. Das? No thanks... More pics when it is finished! cheers, Iain
  12. OK, that's proper modelmaking. Lovely to see this...very fine work indeed! cheers, Iain
  13. Oh, Blimey! Respect is due then, I thought it was a kit bash! Very, very fine work indeed. Yes, you should start a blog for the layout, I am sure I'm not the only one to be intrigued. cheers, Iain
  14. The boat/ship is like one of those Lake Lucerne paddle steamers...very nice indeed. cheers, Iain
  15. Very atmospheric, I can almost smell the coal smoke lingering after the last train. cheers, Iain
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