Tricky

Thanks - that’s a super photo and really good colour too for 1939. I’m committed now with the shrubbery so it stays!! The other option might be to move the mill…?!

A simple job but somehow seems to have made quite a difference - I simply added the stone edge to the quay and began infilling the tracks with mountboard offcuts. To my eye it all now looks more ‘meant’ and unified. I hope you agree! A coat of varnish water helps too!

Inbetween other ‘stuff’ I have managed to add some more greenery around the mill/water area. Not entirely convinced but we shall see when the overall scene develops. I don’t think earth and shrubbery would have been allowed to bank up against the mill wall in this way. Any opinions?

I recently finished this little display diorama which will shortly be listed on eBay.

More arty shots from a little display diorama I’ve recently finished.

I have long fancied Barnoldswick as a possible layout. Complete with open cab with bunker screen….

Managing to keep things just about ticking along on Tewks - got a coat of varnish on the water and filled in behind the wall with celotex. This will enable me to add some overhanging vegetation over the wall which will help to blend it all in and make it look a bit more believable. I’ll then be able to fix the mill in place.

The dock wall is in, complete with an abundance of greenery and water-line slime. Next up a few coats of gloss varnish. Steady as she goes…

What scale is this please? I have been looking for Edwardian motor vehicles in 1:43.5. Super photo.

Lest anyone should fear I have already slipped in my resolve to maintain some sort of progress on Tewks, I have managed to put together the revised water’s edge which I’m very pleased with. The wood piles need bedding in. I made a section of wall from my laser scraps box which was nice to begin using them after they’ve been hanging around for a while! I shall paint the brick and weather it before fitting. After which, I can begin to add varnish water. As an aside, I also dug out all of my rolling stock (which only amounts to about 25 wagons) to go through them one by one and repair/refurbish/restore as needed.

My problem was that it wasn’t reliable and the batteries were too large. However, I am sure technology has moved on since then and indeed I don’t think I used the best there was even back then. It was also a pain having to keep recharging, although again, I’m sure technology has also improved there too. In summary, I wouldn’t let my experience cloud your judgement!

That’s very neat and puts mine to shame! I suppose I could replace joins with choc blocks? Any idea why the controller doesn’t come on?

Ah yes, I knew I’d seen it somewhere! Thanks @Compound2632!

Ah yes, I knew I’d seen it somewhere! Thanks @Compound2632!

Without wishing to hijack anything, would anyone happen to have dimensioned drawings of Midland wooden notice boards?

Modest progress today, not worth a photo but progress none the less! On a secondary note, does anyone have dimensioned drawings of Midland Railway wooden notice boards?

I then started the row of upright timbers and rail as seen in the photo of the mill, by chopping up a few lengths of square maple, sticking down to graph paper with double sided tape, adding the rail and resin bolts. A coat of primer last and it will be ready for painting tomorrow. The last job today was to cut another wedge-shaped bit of ply to fill in the gap between baseboards, as the track here is on a gradient.

Todays update. I’m on a roll! This area in front of the mill has always troubled me: I’ve never been too happy with either the composition or quality, so it had to go. I found this photo: Which has far better composition (as it’s real!), has the mill in the background and a bit of water. So I chopped out the existing and cleaned up the area. Then I cut a wedge-shaped piece of ply to build out the trackbed edge, glued on some spacers and then glued on the wedge.

Forgive me if I speak out of turn - wasn't there some debate if this is in fact Tewks? I seem to recall someone saying the stone archway didn't correspond somehow?

Thanks Tony - as I recall the original inspiration was yours!

Good to see you too Dave. It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend!

Don’t forget to use the voucher!

Not sure I'm up to speed on the competition?! I will be demo-ing again hoepfully next year if they will have me. It was great fun!

True to my word, I spent a bit of time in Tewks this morning - I just hope I can keep it up! So the first job was to check everything still works electrically, and surprisingly it wasn’t too bad. A couple of loose wires and possibly a dodgy tortoise but apart from that all sound. I gave the rail tops a good clean as well so it feels like it really is under way! One slightly odd thing - any ideas why the controller doesn’t work? Definitely power to the rails…?