Highlandman

That's a fantastic bit of work for your first signal. Like you I was really daunted when it came to build my first signals but, after plucking up the courage, I've now built several for my layout, including working ground signals. If you haven't all ready, may I suggest you look at two excellent topics regarding signal building. One is by Steve Hewitt, who help build the signals for LIverpool Lime Street and others. The other, in 7mm, is by John FItness. Both are full of tips, ideas and guides to building. These two gentlemen helped me get started building my own signals by following their topics and gentle encouragement. Keep up the great work, I look forward to seeing further progress. All the best Andy

Many thanks for the information and link to David's site. I will definitely look that up, as I will the suppliers on Ebay. If you could persuade David to give us Palight 'virgins' a tutorial I'm sure there would be hundreds of grateful students on here. I am amazed at the rate you and Allan turn out these beautiful models. Below is one of mine which, so far, has taken around 4 months of on and off work to get it to state I am happy with. All made from plasticard and card slates and coloured with watercolour pencils. This will be a chandlers warehouse and workshop. The one below is a harbour master/customs house building I am currently working on Many thanks Andy

Hi Iain That is an incredible bit of modelling. The stonework is exquisit. Can I ask what thickness of foamex do you use and how do you glue it together? I gather you can not use normal solvents like MEK or Plasticweld. It's a material I would consider using to get some of the finishes I woudl like if I knew how to use it. All the best Andy

Also, I have just found this historic building report online. Produced in April 2009, for a Mr. E Wilson, it tells about the history of Kingsbridge Station building and what it was made of. There are also some very interesting photo's of the inside and covered platform. Something I had not seen before while looking for details for my Salcombe Harbour branch. Hope you find it interesting. http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-891-1/dissemination/pdf/martinwa1-56759_1.pdf

I did wonder how you were going to do the valancing, as that was peculiar to the Kingsbridge, Abbotsbury and one other branch I forget. The designer was William Clarke. I can not find anything like it on the market and I am considering having it etched or laser cut.

Used to have a nice litttle museum in telling the story of the atmospheric railway. Also had a small section of scale atmospheric rail powered by a vacuum cleaner. Shame it disappeared. I think it's an empty shell at the moment, but don't quote me on that.

I have used the Peco buffers as I couldn't afford the cost of the Lanarkshire Models or Mikes Models ones at the time. I also cut off the lamp and it didn't leave much of a scar and was easliy cleaned up. Unfortunately the 'slippery' nylon based plastic these are made from makes it difficult to glue them together, even with superglue. So I assembled them as per the instructions and when it came to fix them to the rails I drilled through the sides and rail on all four corners with a 0.45mm bit, fed through a small lace pin and soldered to the inside of the rail. This held them in place. I adapted the buffers by putting on some stretcher rods from brass wire and all was then sprayed with Halfords Acid etch primer, with the hope that that would help a paint finish to stick. Hope this is of some help.

The "Engine Shed" looks amazing and you must be very pleased with the results. Barrow Road is going to look great in that environment. You have one very jealous admirer. Keep up the great work.

Funnily enough, on the same website, it says,

Another cracking signal model. The detail you get on 7mm signals is amazing. Is it easier to work in 7mm compared to 4mm or is it just as hard because you feel you have to add more detail to the model?

I love the photoshopped sky in your last post, especially for your first attempt. Coloured pencils can have a useful place in modelling. From buildings to weathering stock and back scenes. The beauty fo of colouring buildings with them is that provided you have not finally sealed the colour you can wash it of off and start again. Probably not so on a card model but definitely so on plasticard. The warehouse above was coloured with pencils after a bottom coat of cream enamel was painted on for mortar, and it was washed at least twice before I was happy with the result. After which I sealed it by spraying on a pencil and pastel sealer available from most good art shops. The layout is looking super so keep up the great work. [edited for grammatical errors]

As I sit here, in front of my monitor, with dribble slowly trickling down the right hand side of my mouth, you are making this middle aged old man very jealous. But darn you Mr Westerner, darn you. With my layout Salcombe Harbour I had supposed that the line had been extended to Salcombe from Kingbridge and that it also joined the line from Plymouth via Yealmpton. I could have even 'plagerised' your history of the line coming in from Dartmouth and created more traffic for Salcombe. But look what you've done. You have created such a good rendition of Kingsbridge Regis that there is no way they would have extended the line. Now I am going to have to rip up my layout, bin it, and start again. But on a more serious note, this is going to be a great layout and I can't wait to see how it progresses. I wait with baited breath for future instalments. Fantastic modelling.

I wish I could get there, but with an MRI in the morning and a 4 1/2 hr drive its just not possible. Just that little bit to far from me. May be a little nearer to home at some time, like NEC. Hope you have a great day.

THe stonework on the bridges look remarkably like the stone on Gordon S' s Eastwood Town.

Your picture tutorials are a great way to show how you build your signals. Very clear, concise and easy to follow. The only thing I lack is the ability to turn a post socket to make sure posts sit square to the base. I do have one question though, can you tell me who supplies the GWR lampman staging fret that you showed in an earlier post as it is just the thing I need to try and complete my route indicator. It's always a pleasure to follow your informative thread.

A man has had enough of city life and all that it entails so he decides to move to the country and buy a farm. After several trips to view some properties he eventually comes across I farm he thinks he will like. Advertised as "Award winning farm situated in the beautiful South Hams of Devon. 200 acres of mixed crops and prized animals. Urgent sale needed." So the guy quickly travels down to Devon and visits the farm as it sound ideal. The old farmer takes him on a tour of the farm and its surrounding land. "These are my prize dairy cows" said the old guy, "You'll get plenty of thick cream and fresh milk from them" "Here are my show winning laying chickens, they'll give you enough fresh eggs to sell every day and have some for yourself" The city gent thinks this is great, everything seems to be just as he wanted. The last stop was the old guys prize winning porkers which he was extremely proud of. "These pigs have won just about every prize in the country including the National Championship." "That's fantastic" said the city gent, "but I can't help noticing that the pig over in the corner has a wooden leg" The farmer replied "That's easy son, when you've got champion pigs this good, you don't eat them all at once."

This is a fantastic model of Devon railways. The backscene is amazing and shows up the stock crossing the viaduct superbly, and Kingsbridge stock at that. Keep up the great work. If i can make my attempt half as good as yours I'll be very pleased.

That's amazing and the rocks look so real.

Another picture from the Bert Cheese 80's Southern thread, with a l ittle tilt shift added for effect. Original: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/544-southern-region-photos-1980s/?p=1764607

Thanks Steve for that info. I am trying to bid on a set of pliers, (1x standard and 1x thin nose). But thanks to your fantastic tips and encouragement I have managed to get 2/3 of the way through building the bracket I need. I don't think I could have got this far without your topic and easy explanations on how it's done. Any critique would be welcome. Please ignore the soldering as it comes nowhere near your standard. One question regarding the operating rods. Would you prefer to use brass or nickel silver wire and which one do you find easier to squash flat? All the best Andy

Many thanks Steve for your reply, and following your guidelines I have managed eliminate some of the sloppiness in the operating rods. Still a little way to go and I'm learning all the time. I have tried to fix the wires into the cranks using very small washers and a blob of solder a la fixing coupling rods, not very successfully I might add. I hope you don't mind me asking more questions, but in a previous post of yours you mentioned Maun parallel pliers for crimping the ends of the wires to stop them from coming out of the holes. You said they had a great mechanical advantage so squeezing the wires was no problem. Does this depend on the size of the pliers as I have seen a 5 1/2inch pair for sale on eBay that I am considering bidding for. If these are a reliable way of fixing wire to cranks with little slop it seems to be the only way to go. All the best Andy M

As always Steve your work is exquisit, especially the last build with the calling on arms. I'm in the process of building a WR bracket signal and have reached the time to add the operating cranks and rods. No matter how I try I always seem to have excessive movement in the run. How do you go about keeping the movement nice and tight with no slop in it? Is it a magic art or am I missing something really simple? I hope your few days away in the caravan went okay and you didn't cop all that weather coming down from Scotland. All the best Andy

Paddy goes for a job interview at the local building site and a part of the interview involves a simple test. The foreman draws three oaks on a piece of paper and ask Paddy how many trees can he see. "Dats easy" says Paddy, "it's nine." The fore looks shocked and ask Paddy how does he make it nine. "Tree + tree + tree = nine" replies Paddy "Okay",say the foreman. "Let's suppose the trees are on this site they've all got a bit of mud on them. How many trees can you see now?" "Dats easy again." said Paddy. "Der's ninety-nine trees now" "What the!!!!!!" exclaimed the foreman. "How did you come to that answer?" and Paddy tells him " Dirty tree + dirty tree + dirty tree = ninety-nine sir." By now the foreman is getting a little exasperated and gives Pady one last chance. "Right, suppose a dog walked through our site right now and decided to go to the toilet on the trees. How many trees can you see now?" Paddy thinks long and hard, and stares at the picture scratching his head. After about five minutes he shouts out, "Oi've got it, it's one hundred" "How the hell did you get one hundred trees Paddy", shouts the foreman looking down at his simple drawing. "Well sir," say Paddy, " it's quite simple really" "Dirty tree and a turd + dirty tree and a turd + dirty tree and a turd = one hundred"