pirouets

So the last couple of weeks have seen a second set of white cottages coming together and I think it completes the space at that end of Norton Rd nicely. The plan is to have grass or flower beds in front of each cottage. In the bottom right of the picture you can see the garden at the back of some other cottages have been growing sunflowers. In other news, my thanks to Graham108 who offered up a Gaugemaster hand held unit for free. This is now installed and I have swapped from the Hornby HM6000 Bluetooth controller as I just prefer the size of this than holding a mobile phone. Also I can operate the controller without looking at it which makes things far easier.

But aren't you glad it was. Didn't see the 1st half of France - England but wondering how people are not being carried off given the hits i've seen in the last 20 mins. I may be supporting England but this French side look like they really want this.

So 3 months ago my wife ordered me a gas storage holder kit but it has never turned up. I have emailed and rung the firm numerous times. At one point they did say they were making it, but since then I have heard nothing despite my best attempts so I am going to try and get a refund via Paypal which the supplier used. It wasn't via my paypal account so my wife will need to phone up to lodge the complaint. The space it was going in is shown below I went to the Basingstoke show and got an idea off Sundown Lane for a building like this. Its a bit different to the other buildings. My thinking is reverse of what is seen below without a loading platform so an HGV can reverse up.

Good to meet you today and look forward to seeing the layout in action next week.

And the 2nd part is for a game about 5 letter words why does it have a 6 letter name?

Words don't have to be long to not be understood and for that i blame Wordle

They did. Oh well. My fault for looking at the score about 55 mins in when it was still close.

Don't take this the wrong way but hoping i will be happier than you tomorrow. In truth i am just hoping they hold on to the top 6 but dreaming they win every game and sneak in to 3rd. (Other results going the right way obviously) A Leicester v Irish final would be quite acceptable to me.

34 years of work and i still have not figured out what i want to do for a living.

PM sent.

Have you thought about also getting the QR code put on each layout somewhere? Think this is a great idea and will happily use it on Sunday.

I've been reading through the 50's recently and I do remember some articles talking about the challenge of getting timber. I think they were in the earlier part of the 50's. I had a flick back but could not find an example. My memory is in one article it talks about one of the base boards being on an old door. In Dec 59 the statement "Nowadays we have a wide choice of sheet materials" definitly implies the challenge has gone by then. Have to say thouroughly enjoying looking back and realising how easy we have it. The other key theme seems to be how many layouts were systems to operate which is triggering bad thoughts about other ways I could use the space in the shed, even though the current layout is no where near finished.

Found a set of ferns at Scale Model Scenary and have plonked the 1st few on to the layout. One of those things that will be hard to pick out unless you look closely but I know its there. Will probably need another pack if I create some decent clumps.

So overcame my fear and applied the dirt wash to the station. and withthe windows in quite happy with it so far. I need to figure out how to either kit out the interior or dull it down as being made from white card its quite visible. The new fence is also in and far happier with that compared to the old one. I've started placing the overgrowth back behind the fence and I do like this shot. I'm going to have to work out how to do field depth in the photo's though. Taking this picture got me thinking about how to make the station signs and where to place them.

Who needs a day out. I'm sitting here watching dcc125's video's and looks like it was a good show. Really should get a beer whilst i watch. As well as Blair Atholl being mightily impressive, Montague Fields stood out with the level of detail across the harbour Andy, is this your attempt at introducing Wordle to the site?

The way France are playing I suspect Engalnd will be doing a lot of watching in a couple of weeks time. At least my beloved Londin Irish are keeoing going - to early to dream of a top 6 finish????

Maybe not quite as elegant Nearhomers solution above. I used to model in N with very similar dimensions to what you are looking at with the fixed against the shed wall and had a drop in backscene. The post below shows it without the backscene but scroll up and you cans see it in place. I added some simple batterns at the edge of the fiddle yard that meant it slotted against the scenary and could then lift out 1 piece or all of it as required. If my memory is correct I had mirror tiles on the wall to enable me to see things when the backscene was in place.

Holy crap that was windy. I found the boards on the back side of the shed had moved about 3/4s of an inch away from the frame of the shed. shows how much the shed mush have been twisting. This could happen since I created a lifting flap rather than having a solid piece across the doorway. I got very confused at first when the lifting flap would not close. Progress over the last few weeks has been steady. Over at Dinfield the shops are starting to be filled out using the packs from Tiny signs along with making a set of counters to go in the building society which you can see place in front at the moment. There is a bit of trimming require to get that to fit. Over at Norton Rd the signal box has finally got its name plate. The new station building is coming on. In fact I have had the guts to apply the dust wash since taking this so its no longer as pristine. And the new platform surface is down. Its simply grey paint stippled on and tried to make it a bit patchy rather than a consistent grey. The platform sides are from Scale Model Scenery and just need to fill in the ballast edge now to the platform. Much happier with how this looks now. In the distance behind the signal I have also started on a new pub building but its just a card shell at the moment.

Old card platform gone. I was think that the new one would be all card but I have lost of pieces of MDF in the shed from some shelves I made ages ago. I made some 16mm thick strips to form the base that I can then cover with card. So the first picture is simply it all weighted down. You can see from below the framework that has been built up. I am wondering whether to expand the base back to the right hand side of the station building so the car park is at the same level. To the left I will build up a small slope that is covered with bushes. I need to see what I have in the way of brick papers as the platform side at Lapford is pretty dirty. I've also managed to put the first couple of coats of white on the station building which seals up all the edges nicely and covers a couple of lines on the template i used.

So far so good with the new building. Next job is to build up the base coats of white before then weathering it down. I can also have a good think about how to bed this in to the new platform base when I make that so any ground join is minimised.

One of the aims of this layout is to improve and learn new skills and so the station building at Norton Rd won't get completed. I've always liked Lapford station and have decided to create a new building based on that. It will be a representation of rather than a scale low relief version so yesterday time was spent with powerpoint to create a template. One of the challenges was how to cut down as far as possible on card waste and whilst not perfect I got it down to about 60% of a sheet of A3 card. Now before I get stuck in to putting it together I need to work out how to paint it. My first attempt on this test piece was coat in white acrylic and then stipple on a dirt colour but it didn't really work. Whilst the white does cover the square card joins the rest is just to messy. I then remembered I has some washes I could try and I think the back comes out far better. I am going to make a few more test pieces 1st to keep working on the method before I start on the building. I also think the platforms will be rebuilt with a tarmac surface rather than paving slabs. This will also help me with one of the puzzles I had not solved on how to model the narrow space behind the platform to the right of the building.

I currently waiting for a kit to be delivered to fill in the main gap at Dinfield. Unfortunately its been a month since it was ordered and despite emails heard nothing back. I did phone on Friday and got told the office was closed but they will contact me on Monday. Fingers crossed. The kit is for the last big gap on the layout. In the mean time I have bought a new car. My Uncle and Aunt have moved near by as their daughter also lives fairly close to me and I went over to see them last week. My Uncle has a good collection of model cars but missing from that is a Reliant Scimitar which he had many years ago. I thought was a really cool car and the 3 litre engine growled nicely. So I looked up to see if I could find one and ended up buying one for the layout as well as one to give to him next week. I've also finished putting together the Petite Properties shop. A nice model and gives me lots of ideas in the future for detail to add to buildings. 3 jobs left to attempt on this are - Make the top half of the building look at though it has a fresh grey coat of pebble dash - Paint the shop front - Add roof tiling I also found that I did have another pack of roof tiles hiding alongside one of the speakers so been able to crack on with the roof of the station but I am now definitely out of tiles so need to order another pack.

Welcome and a question - Does Sir plan to post a full thread on his layout as it looks rather splendid.

No modelling today but I had a crack at taking a few close up shots. Given I talked about detailing in my previous post I guess I better fix the fence as had not realised till I saw the 1st 2 images that there is a twist in the fence. Also, I think the river needs some form of wild life so will be on the look out for ducks, swans or geese.

I like this having time off malarkey. I got a better static grass applicator back in September but not got round to using it yet so started with a small area around one of the sidings at the end of the platform. Before I get to carried away I need to have a good look at the run down station thread to get a good idea of how much weed and grass to apply. I was also thinking I need something that can apply a very thin seam of glue so I can have grass popping out of the cobblestone.