Paul Robertson

With rain stopping play in the garden I had an afternoon of painting and doing details. First job was putting some signs about having printed off my sign sheet (cutting out various signs for the models) (the portakabin signed up) Once I had done a few signs I switched over to painting the dock and bridge abutments concrete grey. (Dock greyed up) (abutments painted) Whilst letting the paint dry I made a start on the arches brickwork. (first brick bay started) At the end of the day I put everything back on the layout to see how it is looking. I'll try and do some more tomorrow Thanks for reading

Some times modelling can feel like a very slow process with very little to show for large amounts of time spent fiddling around. Then one day suddenly everything seems to come together to start looking as one might have hoped. The past few days have been a slow process of trying to get the road surface looking right and introducing road markings. Lots of wrong turns smudges and lessons learnt. Today has seen a bit more progress in the right direction. First job of the day was marking on the movement joints on the concrete bridge. There is a centre joint that goes through everything and then intermediate movement joints for the concrete walls (movement joints drawn on with a pen) This now needs to be weathered some more to tone it all down. Following this I decided to try out my next laser cut purchase which were handrails on the Linkspan and lifting gear machinery structure walkway (scale model scenery laser cut handrails) These easily came out of the main sprue and were stuck down either side of the Linkspan and around the walkway (masked up and ready for painting) Once glued down a small amount of steel blue was mixed up and the handrails painted. (handrails all painted up) I also distressed the station stucco with the 70 year old stucco showing the ravages of the salty sea air. Might have over done it a tad so will try and tone this down (lots of rust coming through the stucco) One failure was an attempt to create road transfer markings with the water transfer paper in my inkjet printer. I managed to make the sheet well enough in Microsoft publisher and set the 'white' decals to print in a very light grey and the other decals in yellow. They printed out OK but when I came to cut them out and lay them on the model their wasn't enough ink on the transfer to show up. Any ideas gratefully received or else I will have to buy some self adhesive details instead. (looked good on paper but the reality wasn't what I hoped.) Starting to come together now with the chevrons on the Linkspan and the handrails. Might try and concentrate on the station a bit more over the coming days and printing off some signage Thanks for reading

So today was trying to make the best of my clay road surfacing which hadn't come out as I wanted. Firstly I came out with the sandpaper to smooth the surface down as best as possible. There had also been some shrinkage down the sides of the road overnight as the clay completed dried out. (clay coming away from the kerb) In order to fill these gaps out came the balsa filler which did a good job of filling this ready for painting. My first attempt at painting was a watery Indian ink solution. It didn't really do the job looking more like concrete than tarmac. So out with the acrylics and a well watered down grey solution was used again. (the finished surface colour and starting to get some whitelining on) (refixed some spare gully grates after previous ones got trashed during laying of the clay) Where the Indian ink did work nicely was a gentle weathering of a couple of structures. I tried it on the Linkspan steel girders and on the railway station. (some nice staining along the sides) (first staining on the side of the station) Next will be the white lining and movement joints after the paint has all had a good chance to dry Thanks for reading

Another new experience today using DAS clay. Never used it before so took a few tips from some entries on the forums here as well as some YouTube instructional videos before setting off. I've seen lots of US railroading videos using woodlands scenic liquid plaster material to create roads in n gauge. Looked a bit messy and fiddly to me having to mix up the right amount mask off areas and make sure everything was dead level to prevent leakages. The effect of the plaster was effective as a surface so I thought I could try using DAS clay to give a similar smooth finish but without pouring lots of liquid gunk everywhere and probably ending up in a right mess! I started by cutting out some balsa wood strips that would act as my depth gauge for rolling out the clay. (strips of balsa cut out for rolling the clay out against) These strips were stuck down to the work surface with masking tape at the width of the road deck and the DAS clay rolled in between. Clay rolled out between balsa strips Having rolled out the clay I then marked out the positions of the ironmongery on the clay before removing the balsa and cutting out inserts to allow for the ironmongery. Getting the clay off the work surface was a little tricky but with my metal rule and craft knife I managed to prize it away. I placed PVA glue down first (a tip picked up on one of the forums) which was brushed into all the corners to bond the clay onto the ply base and help prevent cracking. (PVA applied to the bridge deck) Having laid the clay onto the deck my calculations for the ironmongery was out in a couple of places so I had to do a bit of chopping about with a craft knife. Next was a lot of smoothing with modelling clay tools to take off the rough edges around the ironmongery and smooth out finger marks and wrinkles in the clay. The end result was not quite what I had hoped. The ironmongery didn't appreciate lots of water being sloshed around it and some bits of the detail either came off or got gunked up with clay (note to self. Next time only put the ironmongery risers in first and then put the laser cut finishing touches in after the clay had gone down). The clay looks a little rough around the gullies and manholes (I'm thinking of maybe taking a few off and replacing them as I have spares) but considering it's a first attempt with this stuff it was a good learning process to go through. The upper linkspan didn't pose as many challenges as there was no ironmongery to worry about and that went on much better. I will now let it all fully dry before trying some watered down Indian ink on it to try and cover up the rough edges and give it that asphalt look. (the final product. The camera flatters the detail around the drains!) (the roughness a bit more obvious on a close up) (the Linkspan looks alot neater) And finally some shots insitu: (Linkspan) (View across the viaduct) One thing I do like is that the clay goes a weight and solidity to the models that you don't get from platicard, ply and balsa. Feels like I'm handling some miniature engineering when I pick it up! Once the Indian ink is done it will be white lining and then laser cut handrails on the Linkspan and around the machinery room walkway. Don't want people falling into the sea! Thanks for reading

Not aware about drains on the original admiralty pier prototype as all pics I've seen are of the much more interesting (for rail photographers) lower rail linkspan and the structure is a bit freelance but for mine there is an inferred camber as I'm putting gullies on both sides of the road. I'm also inferring a movement joint half way along the bridge with gullies either side to prevent water running across the joint. I'm not going to try and model the camber though as it would be less than a 1mm rise to the middle of the road and will just draw in my movement joint with a pen. There is only such much detail my eyesight can cope with applying!

Having completed the painting of the structure the next task would be to complete the roads. I won't be able to do the lower Linkspan until all the track is laid and this requires the ferry to be fixed down. However the upper linkspan and concrete viaduct road deck can be completed. Before I can put the road deck in (das clay) I bought some laser cut ironmongery from scalemodelscenery. (painted the sheet with a very watered down black paint a couple of times) The das clay will be quite thick (4mm) so I need to raise the gullies and manholes up to get to the right level. I cut out some 4mm balsa to the size of the ironmongery and stuck it down where I want them. (balsa stuck down) I don't want light coloured balsa showing through the gully grate so painted the tops black. (tops of balsa painted black) Whilst tiny the gully grates and manholes were relatively easy to remove from the sheet with a craft knife and then carefully stuck down to the balsa (gully grates located) (manholes positioned) (finished layout ready for surfacing) To give an idea of size here is a 1p piece for scale: (fiddly but hopefully worth it) The next job will be to roll out the das clay and cut inserts for the ironmongery. Thanks for reading

And so my baptism into the dark arts of scenery painting has continued on and off over the last few days. It has been focused on the Linkspan structure and trying to get the concrete to look like concrete and the steel bits to look like steel! Easier said than done when all I have is some cheap acrylics bought off the Internet and just need to keep on mixing and reapplying layers of paint until I'm finally happy. One thing I have learnt is that you can never have too much white paint as a basis for any colour. My original attempts to create greys of any hue came out far too dark to match any prototype so I had to cut back with the black, add lots more white and just a hint of other colours to give a correct tint. The first colour tried was for the steel structure of the bridges. (painting the steel) The old Dover admiralty pier had a light blue grey type paint so I experiment with the blue black and white I had until I landed on a hue I was satisfied with although it didn't strictly match prototype. Another issue I came across when mixing your own colours was running out of the mix half way through and then trying to make up another batch to try and match the last one. Next to impossible with my rough and ready mixing methods so just had to make up a bigger batch and paint it all again! (final coat applied to the steels) Having done this all the blue had to be carefully masked to allow me to paint a concrete colour where necessary. The first concrete colour was way to light and pink for my liking (I had added red and yellow to represent aggregate colours to the white with a dash of black). So a bit more black in the mix and another coat later I was pretty happy with the colour. The concrete colour was required for the upper viaduct bridge and the kerbs on the linkspan bridge sections. (bridges masked and concrete colour going on) With the concrete on the final colour to be painted on was on the upper linkspan bridge for the control cabin and the hydraulic steel ramp that lowers onto the vehicle deck. I wanted the control cabin to look like a 1980s grp kiosk you might find on a platform in BR days so a nice letter box red was chosen. The ramps seemed pretty grotty and grubby so dark grey was chosen. The Dover Linkspan ramps have box junctions painted onto them so I thought I'd follow suit. They are also made up of lots of individuals sections that all come down onto the deck to form the ramp so some black lining pen was used to mark that out. (final result with the dark blue meant to represent the rear door of the nord pas de calais raised for the ramp to rest on) And some final shots of it all in place Plenty more detailing to be done but the basic colour scheme is coming together now Thanks for reading

Having completed the ship painting and decals I concentrated my efforts on the first set of buildings I had constructed. The station would need several coats of white paint to cover the balsa and in between that I painted the portakabin and security kiosks. (first layers of white going on with the other buildings getting their first coats) (the portakabin and kiosks painted up) Five coats of white paint later and I was ready to paint the roof of the station. I mixed up some grey to give the feel of old felt flat roofing. The initial coat was a bit dark as I wanted it to look like it had been bleached in the sun for a few years and taken plenty of salty sea air. So out with the white paint and a much lighter ore splodgey mix (first coats of grey applied to the roof with the white masked off) Once I was happy with the asphalt colour I then painted the observation terrace a much lighter grey which will eventually represent paving slabs for bench seating. Whilst that was drying I used the fine line ink pens recently purchased to mark on the roofing felt lines to the upper roof (upper roof with roofing felt lined marked on and some white sun bleached markings) Next will be marking up the lower roofing felt lines and paving slabs then I'm planning on 'distressing' all the white paint with a watery Indian ink solution to weather it up heavily. After that I will be cutting out lots of windows and lining out fenestration. Another fiddly task but then again isn't everything in n gauge?!! Thanks for reading

Have completed the ferry painting I then wanted to try putting on the transfers. I had created the designs on Microsoft publisher having copied the ferry logo off a downloaded jpeg. Unfortunately the jpeg quality wasn't good enough quality just to scale it up so I redrew it using the block shape tools in the software and tries to get the colour as close to the original as possible. I had purchased some transfer paper off the Internet and printed off a sheet. (transfer paper printed off) The boat name seemed a bit big so scaled it down and reprinted on the same sheet (this stuff is expensive!). Having read the instruction sheet it recommended applying 3 coats of acrylic sealer on top to prevent the ink running. Another quick purchase later and sealer was purchased. (first application of sealer) This stuff is really smelly so having had many complaints from family members the next applications were applied outside. I trialed one of the oversize ship nes on a spare bit of ply to see how well they went on (trial transfer completed) Happy with this I decided to tackle the less visible side first as a trial run. I had made plenty of airfix kits in my youth so assumed this would be something similar. Indeed it was although due to the size of the transfers I needed to keep some of them in the water a minute and a half to fully wet the back and get the transfer to slide. First attempt for the logo failed as it stuck in the wrong place and my attempts to move it bent it out of shape. So used the other one which eventually did work. Cut out the lining and transfered them onto the model as well. Once the lines were on then on with the ship name. The result was the below (first side complete) Due to my mucking up the first transfer I had to reprint a sheet and then spray finish it all again. Very time consuming. Lessons had been learnt from the first side and the other transfers went on much easier. Using a big oven tin filled with water. to give enough room for some of the longer transfers. The final result was this (Nord pas de calais in Dock in its new livery) Pretty happy with the result. Deciding whether to weather it at the moment although looking at photos the ferries seem to be kept very clean when in service. I have some laser cut handrails on order now to finish off the rear the ship. Now in the process of applying my resin balsa coatings to the rest of the structures. (other structures getting a similar treatment) Thanks for reading

Managed to get the train ferry funnel completed with a single top coat of black. Will need to do a bit of touching up but basically it's done. I slid in the vehicle deck to get some shots. Just some signage, transfers, and some handrails to finish it off then on to other things Funnel masked and painted Masking removed after a few hours and the vehicle deck slid into position The rear of the ferry where all the tyres hit the deck from the linkspan And some shots fitted to the layout Just need to finish everything else now!!

So this week has been spent carrying on with the train ferry getting copious layers of paint on to try and get a decent finish. Having already applied the blue (4 coats) I then started with the white. This took 5 coats of paint to fully cover the ply, balsa, and blue paint over spill. The moment of truth came when removing the masking tape. Had all that resin prep been worth while and were there any bleeds of paint under the tape? Pleased to report it all went pretty well with only a few minor bleeds which were touched up with a bit of extra white and a steady hand. Next on the todo list was the funnels which had a big red stripe on them in the livery I'm following (this was applied between 1990 to 1996 whilst Nord pas de Calais was still carrying train freight.) After some more careful measuring and masking the first coat of red was applied. This was followed by 3 more to completely cover the white paint underneath. Whilst waiting for this to dry I made a start on the upper vehicle deck painting. Mixing a bit of white and black together the result was a bit too dark when compared to prototype. So a lot more white paint was added to lighten it. I didn't mix it thoroughly as I wanted that mix of lighter and dark greys that you get on the prototype (final coat of lighter greyish smudgy colour with the final coat of red going on) After waiting overnight for that all to dry the masking tape could come off. Again breath held for signs of bleeding. (again all came out nicely) Just the top of the funnel to do in black but the red was still feeling a bit tacky in places so I thought best to leave it for 24hrs to thoroughly dry as I didn't want to put masking on it and accidently rip some of it off. Whilst biding my time with the funnel I decided to give the lining and weathering of the vehicle deck a go. As can be seen in the prototype photo there are loads of tyre marks over yellow lines to denote parking bays with tying down points for the vehicles in rough weather along the lines. I had bought some acrylic pens off amazon to do road lining so thought this would be a good chance to try them out. I managed to get a cheap pack of a dozen coloured pens off amazon as I didn't feel like stumping up £10 for a woodland scenics pen. To be honest I was pretty pleased with the result. Lining is never desperately neat or consistent so the quality of the pen wasnt a particular problem! (lines marked out with lorry positioned to get spacing correct) Whilst I liked the mixed grey colour I had achieved I still wanted the tyre marks so out with my thinnest paint brush and watering down some black paint I just made lots of little watery black brush marks over my lining. I even replicated where the yard tractors were doing 'donuts' to pick up unaccompanied semi-trailers off the ferry. I made sure where the linkspan met the ferry there was a lot more tyre markings to replicate where the deck would take the most punishment. Once happy with that I then used the black paint pen to mark the holding down points on a grid along the yellow lines. (vehicle deck with tyre marks) (and now with holding down points) The next job will be to mask and paint the tops of the funnels black and then I will be onto printing my own waterbased transfers for the ship logos and side stripes. That may have to wait for the weekend! Thanks for reading

I'm concentrating on the ship first. Allowing myself to make mistakes on that and learn the art of prepping and painting then will get on to the other structures. Watch this space!

It's been a while since I last added an entry. Family life and slightly less photogenic progress has meant little visually discernable progress. The first item of note are the trestle legs that I have been building with my rather rough and ready carpentry skills (nearly completed trestle legs) They just need something at the base to stop them doing the splits when weight is applied. I have a bit of rope off cut that I think will do the job. The other main job being done was the sealing of plywood and balsa with resin and sanding down. Having applied one coat I trial painted the ferry and to be honest I could tell much difference to if I hadn't bothered to seal it! (rushing again!!). So out with the resin and sandpaper and three coats later I tried again. A better finish was obtained if a little grainy, but my overall lesson learnt was if you don't want a grainy ship don't build it from wood! (second coat applied) In terms of colour the train ferry in its first and second liveries used the old sealink blue which as far as I could work out was like BR blue. The acrylic paint I bought seemed a little light so I mixed in some black to try and tone it down. When applied this just dried far too dark so after that I used the blue paint as is. It's not a specialist colour matched paint but actually looks surprisingly accurate. Having completed 3 coats of blue I measured and masked up the sides ready for the white paint. (first coat of white paint on) To be honest its rather difficult to notice from the photo that I've applied any white at all! I guess it will take at least 3-4 coats to cover up the wood and blue overspill before the black and red on the funnel can be added. Other balsa / ply structures are also going through similar resin prep. Now I understand why plasticard is so popular! I live and learn. Thanks for reading

You might have seen sometime back that I had created a sign sheet with some billboards. To test the theory and the new range of acrylic paints that I had just got I thought I would knock up some billboards and give it a go at painting them. This was the sort of look I was going for which seem pretty standard with a timber close boarded base. So once again it was out with the balsa wood and marking and cutting (a base blank marked out with the dims of the posters I had created on the computer) I scored the timber work into the base of the balsa sheet and then cut out thin strips of balsa to represent the frame around the edge. (balsa framework fitted) Finally I cut some thicker balsa strips to stick to the back to represent the support structure. (balsa structure ready for painting) Once this was done it was out with the paint. I diluted the black with a bit of water as I wanted to ensure the scoring in the bottom part of the billboard stood out. Having painted them all black I then went round the boarder in white which some prototypes had. Having done that I then printed out the adverts. It took a few different attempts to get a good quality at such a small scale. (a penny for scale) I was getting impatient (always a bad thing in modelling) and just wanted to get the posters and Jc Decaux label on. Hence the painting was not quite as crisp as I might have got it. (view of both with penny for scale) (close up of first. The white paint actually looks a bit distressed due to my rushing it!) The other advert is my favourite chocolate brand. Hopefully tomorrow I can get round to completing the carpentry on the trestle legs. I will keep you posted Thanks for reading

I have one space left for a scratchbuilt building. I've always been fascinated by the harbour control centre at Folkstone. Call it ugly or misunderstood beauty this bit of brutalist architecture stood guard over the harbour for all the time I can remember in the last 70s 80s and 90s only recently succumbing to the demolition man with the wholes ale redevelopment of the harbour. (a brand new control tower) The control tower for Dover harbour looks like something from a second rate regional airport compared to the striking outlines of what Folkstone was given. With its radar rotating round it looks like the control room wants to either set sail itself or take off to France without getting its feet wet! (it seemed to sprout antenna over its life time) There was quite a boxy (=easy to build) office building underneath. Not sure I will have room to recreate all of it as I plan to sit it at the top of the cliffs over the tunnel mouth. But some representation I think will be possible. (rear shot showing covered parking area) (a rear detail) (and all boxed up just before demolition) It will be fun having a crack at this. I might need to build my cliffs first to see how much room I have to play with. Then out with the calculator and ruler to work out some rough scaled dimensions. Having now scratch built the station and Linkspan I feel more confident taking this on! If you have any memories of it or better still a dimensioned drawing I'd be grateful for your help Thanks for reading As an adjunct to this just found an article that explained the actual history of this building. It wasn't harbour control for the port but instead controlled the pilots in the Dover Strait area. https://www.flickr.com/photos/tesselate/sets/72157645569502707/with/14785308103/ article can be found here. But since I like the look of it I think I will repurpose it as Seahaven Harbour Control Tower instead.

Large chunks of modelling time over the weekend had been spent constructing some wooden trestle legs out of wood I had lying about. Those are still work in progress but very much needed to get the layout off the carpet and away from little fingers and accidental bumps. Tonight was my first model night of the week and so I first tried to make some gully grates out of balsa wood as I'm trying to cut down on the amount of money I'm shelling out. Unfortunately it wasn't a success so I need to go back to maybe something brass etched or another alternative. Anyway I then decided to have a bit more detailing on the station and doing a bit of filling with some balsa filler. (the filler I've been using and the model behind with extra shadow details between the windows that mirror the detailing on the lift shaft.) (additional detailing around doors and the first floor roof line) (finally, where it will sit on the railway with the arches beneath.) I have the hardboard ready to create the back scene and when this goes up I can create a walkway from the station towards the ferry to indicate how foot passengers from the station would get across. The station now needs a coat of balsa sealant before painting begins. I'm thinking a base white render feel with lots of staining and streaks. Windows will be put in after that. I'm thinking of penning window frames on clear plastic and have some fine ink pens on order. Thanks for reading

Having got the basic shell of a station building I wanted to give a bit of detail and shadow relief to the structure. (starting with the picture windows. In order to get the thin balsa strips to bend enough I had to cut against the grain to allow the grain to bend for me) Having got the window sills and frames I then turned my attention to the first floor roof which needed a bit of filling. I wanted a lift shaft at the end of the station to give a bit of height. Took some references from the clock tower at Surbiton. (with lift tower included) (the platform side. I'd put a secondary shadow strip around the platform canopy.) (a final view with the shadow detailing on the tower windows and canopy highlighting the design intent) I have some balsa sealant on order before I consider painting these to get a good finish. Many thanks for reading

Today was spent working on the station. I have been trying to create my art deco feel and have tried to create the feel with the canopy and windows. Started off completing the platform level walls (walls all in and balsa edging around canopy edge to neaten plywood) I also felt that the canopy needed some sort of support structure underneath so cut more thin balsa strips to represent cantilever concrete beams holding up the main canopy. A view of the underside with structural supports. Having done this I then created the second storey which is meant to represent a cafe for ferry passengers with a seating area on the canopy. (upper storey and window sills added) (and the other side showing the art deco style picture windows for the platform waiting room and first floor cafe with views out across the ferry terminal. I would quite happily sit there sipping a hot chocolate and watching the transport moving about) Thanks for reading

I'm onto the second to last scratchbuilt building for this layout. This is the station building itself which as mentioned previously I have wanted to build in the art deco style. Some examples I like are as follows: (Surbiton station) (DE la Warr Pavilion) Firstly I completed the platform to give me a base to build up from: (supports put in place behind the Peco edging) (Thin balsa sheet laid on top of the structure) I then started to construct the canopy out of 3mm ply and checked to get the height right. (initial trial of the platform canopy) (and from the other direction) I then started to cut out windows and walls from thin balsa for the waiting room and platform offices (platform wall stuck in place) Need to finish off the other walls and then there will be a second level with the canopy acting as a viewing platform for a restaurant/cafe for passengers awaiting their ferry. Thanks for reading

Various odd jobs around the layout today. The first was an attempt at painting the Dock which utterly failed. My paints were cheap rubbish which I could do anything with so will have to invest in some better quality paints and try again. So with a quick change in plan I set about giving some relief to the railway arches which will form the base of my station. (thin strips of balsa cut out to the arch shape and overlaid on the 5mm ply to give a bit of shadow and then a further strip of balsa to represent brick piers.) The idea is that these brick arches represent the original base of the 19th century railway station at Seahaven Eastern Docks which was subsequently knocked down and replaced by an art deco structure in the 1930's when the original train ferry Linkspan was constructed. Just need to get some n gauge brick paper to cover these. Having completed this the next thing to do was to start the process of building the platform edge. I used the Peco concrete edging as this is prototypical for the southern region. (platform edging in and a cargo wagon out to check clearances) Next will be building the station in an art deco style. I want it to feel a bit like the architect thought of a cruise liner when he designed it. Think de la warr pavilion mixed with Surbiton station Some further shots around the layout at close of play today (dockside) (View across from station) (aerial shot) Thanks for reading

Having constructed kiosks for traffic marshals there was a further one required for the upper linkspan where the control gear should be kept to operate the structure. These are usually small kiosks perched on the end of the Linkspan to give maximum visibility for the operator. Having looked at a few examples I didn't think my standard design used so far would be suitable. The kiosks I I could see on prototypes were more like rounded grp kiosks like those produced by glasdon without a roof overhang. (grp rounded edge design) To create this kind of look I needed it to be all balsa on the outside so I could sand down the edges. I did however provide a bit of styrene strip on the inside to give a bit of rigidity. (initial kiosk looking a bit boxy) Once constructed I sanded down all the edges to give that more rounded feel as well as trying to sand the corners of the windows a bit as well. (neater and more round looking after sanding. Also a comparison to the other kiosk design I made) Then came mounting onto the Linkspan bridge. My first location fouled the winding housing structure so moved along right to the end and built a little landing round the back which will require handrails when I get round to buying some. (initial location too close to upper structure. Managed to knock off legs of structure whilst testing location) (new location right on edge of Linkspan Bridge.) (final location of Linkspan control kiosk) (and a shot from the vehicle deck of the nord pas de calais) (finally a shot down the Linkspan showing both types of kiosk) Thinking about painting shortly might start on the Dock walls first as they aren't particularly visible so can hide all my mistakes! Thanks for reading

There were lots of large gaps in the ferry woodwork which needed filling. The chimney stacks consist of 3 pieces of 5mm ply stuck together which had been cut out with a jigsaw so not desperately accurate. Whilst balsa helped to cover over the crude edges there were a lot of visible gaps between balsa and ply. With not much time for modelling today (I had a big odd job 'to do' list) I decided that might be a good small job to fit in around chores. I had bought some balsa filler which seemed to offer what I was wanting and set about stuffing it in the cracks and crevices I could find. Initially trying to tool it in but eventually gave up and just use my fingers! (the resulting filled gaps roughly sanded. I need to get some finer sandpaper as what I had left a bit of a rough finish) I've also allowed the upper vehicle deck to slide in and out in order gain entry to the train deck below if there are any derailments. Having filled and sanded as much as I could I wanted to cover the last of the exposed screw heads on the ferry. I had used screws in order to provide a bit of rigidity to main joints but they need hiding from view. Luckily ferries have all sort of detritus stuck around them you can hide a multitude of modelling sins behind. I cut out some large grilles from balsa and stuck them over with a thicker bit of balsa underneath to bulk it out (grille and levelling piece stuck over the offending screw head) Once this was complete it was back to the layout to see how it looked (a neater and less gappy nord pas de Calais in dock again.) Currently pondering winding gear and how to show this without fouling the bridges which I still want to remove. That will be for another day Thanks for reading Paul

So a busy day of modelling today with the aim of getting the Linkspan winding house structurally complete. Firstly I assembled the leg structure cutting the tops and bottoms of theain structural supports to get them sitting at an angle as per prototype. (leg structure coming on ready to be attached to main support structure made yesterday.) Having created the legs a quick check was made to ensure the legs lined up with the 'concrete' pile caps. (initial trial location to check they all match up) Having done that it was time to make the roof. My first time making a hipped roof and lots of scrapping and shaving required to get the fit correct. Once relatively happy with it lots of styrene was used to cover up the gaps around edges! It's amazing what a little styrene will do! Some thin balsa was stuck on the roof to indicate machine access doors should they need replacing and then a personnel door. Finally a walkway was created again with thin balsa with a kick rail as well. (completed winding house with removable roof for later addition of lighting) Below are some shots of the winding house in its proposed location. Just some handrails, winding gear, control kiosk and some stairs up the structure to put in but that can be for another day. I'm pretty pleased with the overall structure. Nothing stuck down yet as I want to paint it all first. Thanks for reading Paul

Starting the Linkspan winding machine house building tonight. This will take more than an evening to complete. My styrene I beam arrived today so could get on with it. Firstly I started with the housing base structure which will eventually stand on legs above the Linkspan bridges. (first stage - styrene beam structure) Once I had finished with this I started on the housing itself made from Wills corrugated plastic sheet. (progress on the upper housing) Next will be a removable roof. I'd like to fixing Led lighting to the Linkspan structure and the housing will be a good place to hide wiring but will need access every now and again. Following the roof I will construct a walkway around the outside of the housing out of thin balsa. Something for the weekend. (where the structure will sit or be it on angled stilts once the winding house is complete) That's it for today - thanks for reading Paul

Researching the structures I'm wanting to build is always an enjoyable part of the hobby for me. Unfortunately if you are trying to build something that has been demolished you are left to scouring the internet for photos, the odd scaled drawing, and perhaps a book on the subject if you are lucky. One online article that has proved a mine of visual information and reference in planning for this project has been http://www.doverferryphotosforums.co.uk/ and an article on the Admiralty Pier Train Ferry linkspan by Nigel Thornton (http://www.doverferryphotosforums.co.uk/admiralty-pier-train-ferry-berth/). I'd forgotten the link which I had come across a couple of years ago when planning the layout but after a quick internet search have just found it again. And not a moment too soon as I attempt to scratch build the linkspan winding house that sits above the bridges. The images show just what an incredible bit of civil engineering this structure was, and what a shame it saw only 8 years service before being demolished and its remains dumped in the old exchange sidings before being cut up for scrap. It would be interesting to know whether the investment actually had time to pay for itself in revenue from freight traffic! (Probably not). Not even sure whether train ferry traffic was profitable at all. Does anyone know? There are some nice images of the Nord-pas-de-Calais actually tied up to the dockside which is useful reference. Most photos linked to the train ferry that I can find on the internet unsurprisingly concentrate on the locomotives and rolling stock coming on and off the linkspan with the structure very much a background object (such as the header image to this entry). In an age of 35mm Kodacolor film when each shot was potentially costly (not only in film but processing as well) you chose your shoots carefully. These days with 32 gigs in a standard digital camera we can 'click' away to our hearts content! Its not surprising with the train ferry operating in an age before digital cameras that those taking pictures around here (primarily train enthusiasts) would concentrate their hard earned negatives on the railway rather than ship! Another useful reference was the scale drawing of the Nord-pas-de-Calais. In my day job I use AutoCAD so was able to take this image, import it and scale it to the correct length (based on the Wikipedia entry for the ship) and then trace its outline. This then formed the template I drew out on plywood for the rear of the ferry on the layout. some additional photos of the ferry I managed to find also assisted (Whilst not in dock this is still a useful reference image of the deck arrangement of the ferry that's helping me to detail all the paraphernalia you would find on the Nord-pas-de-Calais. It also help me get the chimney widths better arranged (although mine aren't completely accurate due to scale width limitations). I also really like the vehicle deck surfacing detail here with the tie down points, yellow linings and tyre marks I assume from the ports own yard tractor units taking off unaccompanied semi-trailers. I bought a Kato n-gauge yard tractor from Osborns Models a couple of years ago and it might work nicely as a little cameo on the layout parked up ready to collect semi-trailers off the ferry. (N gauge Kato yard tractor - Might need some Sealink branding to make it fit in) That's all for now - Thanks for reading Paul