CoombeTown

Cheers Rob, Hopefully I'll make one or two, not sure how much I'll be in the country this year. Will be good to have a catch up if I do though. Dom

Happy New Year All! Over the Christmas break I did manage some modelling time, taking the station building to my parents' to work on. Some progress looking through the window/door: Further progress was made yesterday, but photos to come once a bit more has occurred. For 2024, I thought I'd set a core goals list, it'll be a short one as life's up in the air but it focuses the mind somewhat. So in no particular order, I hope in 2024: Finish the station building incl. Interior, Lighting & External Signage. Finish forming the landscape along the headshunt. Install the last two ground signals & rest of the point rodding. Finish ballasting the layout. Complete the scenery along the front of the layout & in the immediate vicinity of the station. Finish the signal box. Depending on how things fall, hopefully the CAD for the Station Master's House will also be completed so I can order all the windows to be 3D printed for that. Hopefully, completing that list sets me up for a reasonably complete layout in early 2025, a mere 6 years into a 4 year project... Dom

And one final post to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I am unable to do the wizzy editing on my phone, but thought I would do a brief comparison of the start and end of the year. There have been times this year when progress has felt glacial at best, which has only been pressed on by the support shown in this thread. So thank you all, for driving what has infact been a year of great progress for Coombe Town. I'm hoping 2024 will be another step towards the exhibition standard layout I aspire to! Dom

Probably the last bit of progress for this side of Christmas. I painted up the barrier, mainly to see how the detail came up, which I am thrilled by!

A bit more progress, with the first order of 3D printing having arrived for the station building. The quality of the prints is great so glad to have found a decent reasonable cost supplier in the UK. This is a representation of the barriers seen in GWR booking halls. I managed to get the coils and shelling to work in CAD, which has come up very well. The full set of parts, 2 internal doors, 2 fireplaces, the barrier + a double sided pint of the rear door so the detail is visible both ways.

Merry Christmas Rob! Thanks for all the encouragement and conversation through the year, hopefully catch up soon. Dom

So the new toy did not arrive, stuck in the ether of Royal Mail... but I couldn't resist having a little play. First 4157 arriving with a short mixed train. And then ready to depart again. Later in the evening, 1668 can be found shunting goods wagons, still having issues with this engine and its pick-ups, it needs far to frequent taps to get going. Which could be to do with the hill down into the yard.

After a month, the trees have arrived. They went straight into position on the layout. The two pines mark the start and end of what will eventually be a run of 5. The apple trees mark the end of the Station Master's front garden, to brake-up the otherwise flat run of station drive and gravel. Following the discussions on Aston, I'm happy that the pines dominate enough but not too much for the scene. The overall station view now. And the view up the headshunt. I've also got a large Beech to put in the corner tonight, and a new toy arriving hopefully today.

A bit more progress on Sunday, with all the wall structures now cut. Testing the sight lines the view in the booking hall & office, as well as the station Master's office is very open, as desired. I'll have to do some CAD to get double-sided interior doors 3d printed along with the Booking Office desk and the ticket hatch. Although the later is reasonably simple it gives the flexibility to paint it separately from the rest of the wall.

So the point rodding is now Weathered and glued in, really starting to look the part now. And a quiet day today has allowed major progress on the station building. 3 walls now cut, with 2 clad, another nearly there. I couldn't resist posing it in position to get a feel for the space.

Not as much progress as I expected over the weekend, but the core of the front and back walls are now cut. A slight detour this morning saw the base for the next rodding run cut, stools glued down and the initial rodding formed. This has in turn allowed me to glue the cranks at the signal box exit into their final position and complete some more ballasting. Seen here with the rodding runs posed in position before I paint/weather and glue into position

Well, the modelling mojo has truly struck! Between building work in the flat, and a delay in trees arriving from MBR, I can't actually add anymore greenery to the layout. However, I've pulled out the 3D prints delivered a couple of years ago, and made the CAD drawings. So tonight I cut the first plastic on the station building! The aim now will be to see how far I can get by the New Year, but still have a fully detailed booking hall and office that will be visible through the open front door & windows. So the challenge is on!

I totally agree, I've been clamouring for decent sunshine Stock retools for years. The Bachmann/Mainline tooling is alright, but it doesn't cover the various Diagrams well enough for me.

So I couldn't resist a little posed entry, now for the trees to arrive so I can get rid of that white embankment behind! I've also decided given the impression that has been made here. The fence on the far side of the station will be pushed back to give some more station flower bed space.

Day 2: The grass is greener... Static grass down, with some paler dealer patches in the shade towards the rear. And some miniNatur flowers for good measure. With the buildings back in position, the scene starts to appear.

That is a shame indeed, hopefully Modelu can pick up the mantle...

I think I've ordered them from out of stock before, they're a pretty quick turnaround even on print to order.

Hi Andy, They're from an outfit called ASIS 3d, a bit overscale but give a better impression than brass to my eye

Day one progress. Sculptamold painted around the station buildings, the embankment at the rear to be done later. Earth powder added to the flowerbed area, and a dark grey wash over the platform paving to tie it all together.

A bit more progress on Saturday night with the sculptamold down around the retaining wall. I've got the next couple of days off work, so hopefully time for some progress in this area. There's a rough idea in my head...

Turns out rebuilding the sinkhole required no profanity at all. The task now completed, the retaining wall is now permanently stuck into position. I've also made a plasticard base for the lock-up to sit into, this should give a less sightly gap and provide something for me to sculptamold up to this evening. I'm hoping the MBR order arrives early this week so I can make significant progress on the entire area on my annual leave, hopefully at least some flowers will go in and add some colour...

Indeed I find it does help keep some motivation up, although it has led to an almost finished scene at one end of the layout and literally just track on a baseboard at the other... It also gives time to restock the profanity bank, which is not a bad thing in our hobby

Thanks Graham, with any luck I'll get the ground sorted at the weekend then it can go in permanently. In an attempt to keep some motivation, a spot of ballast went in dry this morning. I need to do the stools for the other side before it's glued but it does look better. I've also ordered a few tress from a certain Polish outfit over lunch to plan the pines and a couple of other scenic elements. Hopefully, this will give the other end of the layout a bit of a better feel.

1 step forwards and two steps back this weekend. The new z21 Start controller arrived, and it's great to finally have access to all the sounds. However, 1470 has randomly started shorting on as soon as it's placed on the layout... as my preferred shunting loco, this is driving me nuts! I've also glued into position the lower half of the signal box, which led to a minor disaster. The filler I used to build up the land to the side ate through the foam, creating a rather large cavern... a bit frustrated tonight so having a bit of break from the layout so gather my thoughts.

A little step forwards, the cranks coming from the signal box are complete, awaiting painting. I need to do the first section of the other side before I can glue it down but it's progress. A mate has also owned up to having access to a Silhouette Cutter so this weekend's task is to draw up the main structural walls of the station building for him to cut. Then I can use that as a template for the cladding to get that building off the ground!