Little Muddle

[Fishplate]

3 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

I'm not sure if it was Pempoul - but it's a fine layout, so any excuse to post some pictures of it...

 

Yes, thank you @The White Rabbit it was. Just found my pictures from 2015. The picture you've shown is the building in the foreground of the first one below.

 

The buildings right up against the backscene have vertical roofs but they appear to slope away from you.  The effect is hidden by the frame on the layout and a strategically placed tree. Hopefully you can see what I mean in the two pictures below. The depth of the left hand building by the tree is very small.   

 

 

 

 

The same has been done with the 'Credit Agricole Mutuel' building in the picture below.  Unfortunately my side view of that came out too badly to post on here.

 

Anyway, my brain did explode at the time . . . . . . 

 

 

[MrWolf]

We need a WOW button. I remember seeing this in one of the monthlies and thinking that I must try harder!!!

[Oldddudders]

8 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 I remember seeing this in one of the monthlies and thinking that I must try harder!!!

To be fair to all, this layout is in 1:50 scale, which gives a slight easement on detailing. 

[Nick C]

4 hours ago, John Besley said:

On a similar theme someone built a Dutch layout with forced perspective... I meant to pick up the mag but when I went back 24hours later it had gone.... basically it consisted of a railway bridge across a river between high houses but the trick was it looked far deeper than it really was.

 

It almost looked like something made by a Dutch painter from 1700's

 

4 hours ago, KNP said:

Trouble with forced perspective you have view it from almost one position to get the right impact.

I think I remember seeing that, possibly at Warley? If it's the one I remember, it was only about 2ft wide, and framed like a painting, so you could only view it from the correct position. 

[KNP]

I don't know about you but I always have this fear that I will do the buffer beam numbers different to what is needed.

The number is laid out on the bench before I start so I don't pick up the wrong one and work in sequence from the buffer headstock as this is a fixed point.

 

Crew have arrived, just waiting for the number plate.

 

 

Edited March 29 by KNP

[Fishplate]

13 hours ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Glad to see John B taking up my line of thinking in terms of running his layout in multiple eras. 

You do have to be careful of what you are doing though, otherwise you will be accused of playing toy trains if you get one small thing out of era!

 

I promise to be very, very careful by just quoting Rule 1 on my SECR to BR(S) layout then. . . . 

[Tilley]

On 12/03/2017 at 19:08, KNP said:

Well after much nudging and prodding I have decided to add Little Muddle to this forum.

 

The layout was started as a permanent one in our forth bedroom back in Jan 2009 as an 'L' shaped layout around two walls and then in July 2013 the next section was added to give a 'U' shape.

How do I know the dates well I sensibly wrote the starting dates on the framework as I knew I would never remember them in the future.

 

The layout in based somewhere around the Bristol area and was to depict a railway running through a prototypical English countryside with trees and fields aplenty.

 

Most of the current pictures where taken on either on Air Pad 2 or an I-phone 5s as I was using them as a modelling aid. I find a picture highlights problems or issues far better than the naked eye can as the camera narrow downs the viewpoint.

 

Though I have posted over 70 pictures on the modelling galleries some will be used again here but I propose to take even more new pictures in the future which I will post here.

 

The main aim of this layout was to model the countryside with a railway passing through it and not the otherway round.

To support this I have modelled over 320 trees to date, with more planned, of which only one of them is ready-made

I have over 1200 pictures so I won't be short of a few in the short term and some might be of interest anyway showing the timeline of this layout.

There have been many changes and tweaks to this layout over the years as I have better ideas, new techniques and pure changes of mind........do we ever finish our layouts? 

 

Here are the first batch of pictures of Little Muddle

Wonderful name, stunning layout - thanks for sharing.

[KNP]

'Whatcha looking at Dan'

 

 

 

'Whatcha talking about chaps?'

 

 

 

They said nuffing!!

 

 

 

Edited March 29 by KNP

[Stubby47]

12 minutes ago, KNP said:

 

 

'Whatcha talking about chaps?'

 

 

They said nuffing!!

 

 

 

 

"...so then Dolly goes on and on about her Bridge game, every single card played, every bid and counter bid called. Even what was said when they stopped for tea.  It's driving me demented, really it is..."

[Donw]

On 04/07/2021 at 20:17, Oldddudders said:

To be fair to all, this layout is in 1:50 scale, which gives a slight easement on detailing. 

 

or look at some of the stuff on the 2mm section and feel worse. I work in 0 and dabble in 2mm. I thought  less detail to do in 2mm then I started seeing other peoples work. Like Missy fitting a padlock on the door of a 2mm shed.

Don

[Ponthir28]

Love the photos of the country side without the railway. It makes the whole layout look much bigger than than it really is. Very inspiring.

[Gedward]

2 hours ago, KNP said:

'Whatcha looking at Dan'

 

"You talkin' to me?"

[St Enodoc]

22 minutes ago, Gedward said:

 

"You talkin' to me?"

"...or chewin' a brick?"

[bgman]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

"...or chewin' a brick?"

 

Tried that......Didn't work for me ! 

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by bgman

[KNP]

New etched plates arrived in today’s post from Modelmaster for 5531 and have now been fitted.

 

 

Also in the same post was the NCU transfers from Railtec, now that was impressive as I only ordered them Sunday morning…..

 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by KNP

[Stubby47]

I'd never really considered where the GWRland LM was set, but assuming 5531 would not stray far from her home shed, it puts LM in West Devon or even Cornwall.

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Stubby47
Idiotic use of wrong wordage

[KNP]

13 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

I'd never really considered when the GWRland LM was set, but assuming 5531 would not stray far from her home shed, it puts LM in West Devon or even Cornwall.

 

Perhaps it’s having a day out seeing the countryside!!!!

 

[MrWolf]

Those wagons are looking really good now Kevin, I was initially feeling guilty that the transfers were behaving on the batch of wagons I have just done. Until number five suffered from some kind of reverse Midas touch that is....

 

Only my 2 cents worth, but I don't think that it matters where the real locomotives were based, Little Muddle being an ethereal branch of the Great Western.

 

[Stubby47]

Oh, I quite agree, I've just been trying to source suitable Laira based diesel locos for Trelothen (Steam ones are based at Truro) and thought I'd look up 5531.

[MrWolf]

I do like the way that people can find the right locos and stock for a chosen location, even if the line or station is entirely fictitious, it makes for a convincing picture.

LM pulls it off (IMHO) by way of having the right type of motive power and stock for the branch and junction that it represents.

Didn't Laira depot locos have a lizard motif painted on the cabs at one time? Excuse my lack of diesel knowledge!

[KNP]

32 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

I do like the way that people can find the right locos and stock for a chosen location, even if the line or station is entirely fictitious, it makes for a convincing picture.

LM pulls it off (IMHO) by way of having the right type of motive power and stock for the branch and junction that it represents.

Didn't Laira depot locos have a lizard motif painted on the cabs at one time? Excuse my lack of diesel knowledge!

 

Thanks

I might have the right loco's but not necessarily for the right year........

 

as was pointed out in the early days - still got a few to sort though the railcar being the most obvious now. 

[MrWolf]

I have a problem with the railcars.

 

I just like them.

 

They are typical branch line faire  for the Welsh border counties though.

 

Even Shipston on Stour saw them in 1952 on rail tours.

[KNP]

I brought it when first released by Dapol I paid little attention of the badging at the time, I just wanted one, now I'm a lot wiser it sort of looks wrong as I know it is a 1942 version.

 

 

 

My plan is to apply the shirt button roundel but I will need to remove the lamp brackets, two steps and then make good to the paintwork which I expect might be more than just a small area.

Its just one of those jobs that gets put off as other projects come along but it will be done one day.

I did think as a stop gap measure was to do the side doors with the roundels and remove the writing, badge on either end and leave at that for the short term.

 

You never know, typing this might prompt me into action!!

 

Edited March 29 by KNP

[MrWolf]

This is a not very good photo of mine, it's packed away at the moment. It's in its earliest form with the streamlined skirts intact and the GWR roundel. My other half bought it for me after finding out on the sly which was the "right" one - which also happens to be the one she thinks looks the most stylish. An important consideration. 

 

[Ponthir28]

Just a little time travel.