pirouets

Progress with the houses. These are Scalescenes T008a low relief houses but I have reduced them in size by around 8%. Having lived in terraced houses in the past these are still coming out at 13ft wide each whereas the 1st terraced I lived in was around 12ft across the front. Doing that also meant I only trimmed a few mm off the left hand house as it hits the edge of the scene. To help mock up how the housing will the run down the main back scene I have cut up a cereal packet. The house on the street will be around 15cm including the yard, so once that is ready I will start trimming the cereal packet further to represent the slope. Not sure whether I will have low relief fronts accessed by a path or will it be a pair terraced houses side on representing another road. probably a while before I get to working that out. The other question though is does that brick retaining wall to the left of the bridge need supporting pillars as most retaining wall images I have seen do have a slope or extra support in the brick structure. The only place I can think of with vertical walls is on the approaches to Birmingham New Street.

Another day, and another branch of a tree consumed in the name of a model railway. Basic wall structure in place at the front. Apart from putting the walls in the cutting time to move on to the houses so I can get the pavements laid out.

Goldie - Is dance music tickets a new feature of the subscription?

Amazing how much modelling mojo I get back when I get a blank canvas to play with. I really need to see if I can keep this going when it comes to the little details. Anyway, what we have below is the framework of the bridge for the end of the layout. You can see the idea of houses or shops either side of the bridge. The buildings at the left and right edges will need to be trimmed to fit the space so their is a 1 meter path running down the side of the buildings either side of the bridge. The gap behind the bridge is deliberate to allow the shops to fit so I will need to think about how to fill that in even though unless I take a picture straight down it will never be seem. Thinking for the lower left side of the bridge is it will be a brick retaining wall given where the end of the siding is.

Just ripped up one part of my layout and re-laid with this idea in mind so hope you don't mind a bit of plagiarism (outright idea theft) but the bridge and houses make a good way to avoid continuing membership of the flat board society.

Found a couple of pics on my phone, one of which I am putting up for no other reason that I quite like it. First up though been adding a drain and a fire hydrant sign. Picture is way to cruel on the roof of this kit and I do wonder whether to rip it off and replace with Scale Model Scenery tiles. At some point the building will be fixed in place. And found on the phone and thought I quite like that. Think their should be a dog somewhere in the grass though having a good sniff about so time to go looking for that.

So have track down and now to figure out precisely which idea's i am going to steal from other layouts First up at this end of the layout I have 2 ideas - A set of terraced houses with fence by the line. They would be house fronts rather than the backs seen here. Place of theft - Albion Yard by Paul Marshall-Potter - A set of shops and bridge over the line and then a set of terraced houses running down the line - The bridge and terraced houses idea stolen from Callow Lan by Captain Kernow On the left it will most likely be a siding for concrete wagons, possible with a wood merchants against the backscene Next up, we go back to Albion Yard and the end to the right of the tracks would have a couple of terraced houses along with the gated entrance to the yard. As you can see the otherside will be the station building. The hole in the backscene will be filled in. Third up I have 3 ideas I could plagiarise - A simple low level factory at the edge of the line as per Callow lane. This would make it a 2 platform station - Some low relief units as seen at the back of Albion Yard - A really low relief factory with a platform & unloading shed, as seen at the back of drabford. This would make it a single platform station so the platform will have fencing at the back of it Finally there are any number of layouts with a yard siding like this, but it was Albion Yard that gave me the idea rather than having a parcels bay as seen on Drabford. I do wonder if I need to move the siding closer to the baseboard edge though plus there is the odd kink in the track to fix.

Hmm, I think I could recover from this if needed 🤪

Nuts, we have a leak. The building and platform shown below sit exactly in the middle of the length of the shed and water has got in and run down the seam of the join for the roof and dripped. Need to get up and have a look and if its like the previous leak it will be around one of the clout nails so shouldn't be an issue to fix. However it does mean I need to address how to fix. I know I have idea's of possibly changing the layout and this has given me a 3rd idea - How about just change the Dinfield scene?I've always liked Albion Yard by Paul Marshall-Potter (@PMP on here). That would then mean I have a pure freight only scene and possible the ability to add another fiddle yard track if I compress to around 13 inches wide. (Albion yard is 21 inches wide) The main changes are the loss of a siding that sits by some industrial units at the back of the layout and no run round for the pair of sidings at the front of the board but I think it would still given plenty of scope for operation as well as buildings to create. Back of layout Front of layout

I don't have a cement wagon yet but got the presflo's out. I think given the layout is set in the early 80's maybe these should be PCA wagons but that's a question for another day.

How about Lawrence Hill in Bristol. Its 900 ft roughly between the railway bridge crossing the line and the street at the station end. Been mulling this over as that length would fit in a 12*6 shed nicely if put on a curve with the question being how much of the yard could I include. The yard in the late 70s and 80s seemed fairly busy. This seems to be a useful site as well - http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/Lawrence_Hill

So bit more detailing whilst thinking about the future. I'd been watching a couple of Everard Junction videos and took the hint that I need some weeds on my sidings. I've also been trawling through the quaint goods yard thread and came across this picture which has a couple of presflo's in a siding that can be unloaded direct to vehicle which got me thinking I could do that in the scene above. My presflo's are away at the moment but will dig them out. Just need to find the right cement lorry to be collecting for the nearby building site. Photo originally posted up by Monty Burns

BAND-MAID - Been tried as a playlist for the gym this morning and will be staying in Spotify for that purpose.

What about the coffee that comes with the mini pudding after the meal ☕🥧 Only reason I go to the pub quiz most weeks.

Probably one of those questions for late in the evening after a tipple or two. Think my answer would be the same as yours. Tomorrow morning will be interesting as have downloaded a Band-Maid playlist for when I go to the gym. Now I have to ask though, how often does Mrs M catch you sneaking a 2nd sweet?

Clive, as a long time observer of this thread I have always wondered If you had to choose between music and toy trains, which one wins?

So one of my problems is I get to about 80% on a layout and am naff at the little details. Whilst the Norton Rd part of the layout doesn't need a huge amount more doing I am struggling to work out the detail of Dinfield round the factories. I have no instant plans to get the demolition team in, but maybe July time next year. I'm an IT contractor and my current role is likely to finish then so might take a short break before getting another contract which would give me 4 to 8 weeks where I could crack on with making the changes. I've also been plowing though various back issues I have access to and 2 idea's are stuck in my head. The first takes its inspiration from Rhosnewydd Junction by Ken Gibbons. Its in Railway Modeller (Mar 2004) and would give me a more mail line feel and I can picture going back to pre-tops with Warships, Westerns and Hymeks. It then has a modular area where I can make different scenes, whether be Minories, a freight only industrial yard or any other idea I come up with. The 2nd idea is to have part of station with a branch off. That would climb round the shed outside the layout and sit about 6 to 7 inches above the fiddle yard. The scenic boards would be 18 inches wide with 2 to 3 inches allowed outside that for the climb to the high level station. It would also be possible for this to be a junction on the mainline and have it as a double track junction and then go single line off scene until it gets to the high level station. Anyway, we shall see. At the moment the workbench has a spitfire kit in the way which I really should try and finish.

Having a nice stroll back from dropping a car off for MOT and service and watched a woman pull out straight in to the bus coming from her left as she turned out on to the road. Road to her right was clear and no one hurt, but how do you not see a purple double decker bus. i know buses round our was are notorious for their speed (not sure i have ever been on one that went above 20 when i used them to commute) so i can only think a simple case of not paying attention by the car driver

Its been a while since I posted. Not sure why but been browsing the site without logging in. However its not a lack of mojo and various things have been happening over the last 6 months 1st up we have the lift out flap. As it previously was a board fixed in place it was far from perfect. However the simple addition of the bolt means it now sits flat quite happily so I have also added and wired in the other storage road with the good news that my Class 08 will go over the joins, which means every loco will. Just need to find a better 6 way connector. Next up is my 1st attempts at weathering. I have a set of MIG Oilbrusher paints having seen these used on the McKinley railway videos so following that. These are old cheap lima CCTs that that were the 1st attempt The other is a couple of ebay Gulf wagons. for which I give myself 5/10 for a 1st attempt. I used the Paul Bartlett wagon website as reference if my memory is correct. I need to learn to be more subtle with the dark colours Station building is finished. This is not fixed in place yet as I am still toying with the idea of lighting all buildings and having working street lights. You can also see i haven't had the guts to try weathering one of the Bachmann oil wagons #totalchicken Gardening has been a theme this summer. In the real garden I've dug new flower beds since the fencing went in and shifted about 3/4 of a tonne of stones. In the shed work has been much lighter, just a bit more taxing on the eyes. Cruel close up of the back wall but a view you won't see from the front of the layout Finally for now, over at Dinfield the shops have been coming on. The benches on the station are from Scale Model Scenery and a great little kit. Cruel picture below of the paving slabs but quite happy with the fact the little people can do their washing.

Such a simple thing. Wish i had thought of that when i started my layout but will remember for the future.

So there are times I do look at modelling in card and paper and think there is the odd glitch that creeps in, plus you are limited to the paper you can wrap the card in. Having started on a couple of Airfix kits I thought I would try plasticard for the 1st time. At the moment I am simply just copying something from an article I found on the web so the frame is card still with the brickwork layer UHU'd on top. I haven't quite got the edges matching but for a 1st effort its OK. I need to have a think about painting options but there is a fair amount to do before I get to that such as paint the flat roof. Not sure if this will go on the layout but one of my aims with this layout is to try new techniques out.

Sunday - Gotta love London Irish this year as there never seem to know if they are beaten. and as a result are now the Premiership record holders for the number of draws in a season. For the rest of you it must be so predictable with just win or lose 😀 Tuesday update - Just watched the highlights - What an absolute piece of burglary right down to the penalty try as the last moment of the game. Deserves another smiley - 😀

Poxy Tesco bags get everywhere. Actually turns out to be a useful trick to cover the wire feeds to the track. Lots left on the sheet i have including coke cans and crisp packets. Whilst I am happy for Dinfield to be a mess, will have Norton Rd some what tidier with more of a smattering of litter, but that's for another day.

So following on from the post after Ally Pally about the type of building that could fill the last empty spot on Dinfield, may I present...... Still lots to do but I am prepared to go out on a limb and say "By Jove, I think he's got it". If that is in fact the case it does mean the only remaining build is the station building for Norton Rd which means its time to start figuring out the detailing of the layout. Often this has been the point I tear things up and start again, but not this time.

I forgot I had a more complete picture of the cottages with the roof completed and chimney stacks on. The tiles are from Scale Model Scenery. The other thing I am playing around with is options for station signs. Lapford actually had them on lamp posts but I quite like this set-up. What I do need to find is a decent lamp model for the platforms as my thinking is each bench will be located by or under the lamp. Whether they will be working is also a question as that does mean drilling holes through the platform.