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Ankh Morpork Light Railway


bridgiesimon
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Rather than cover the join you could have a one piece, liftoff, section of the River Ankh.  Absolutely prototypical I would say.  Just found the thread - where have I been for the past few years!!  In a retreat in the Ramtops with the Listening Monks perhaps?

 

Since early lockdown I've been re-reading all the books in order.  I used to get the latest paperback every Christmas from Mrs 5050, sadly that's no longer the case.  However, I find that every time I re-read one I pickup some little nuance in the dialogue or text that I've not noticed the significance of before.  And some of the phrases really stick - 'more self centred than a gyroscope' - is my current favourite.

 

I could use that to describe several people I am acquainted with........................:diablo_mini:

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totally agree with you, I also listen to the books with Audible while working etc. amazing writer wasn't he!

 

“Ankh-Morpork! Pearl of cities! This is not a completely accurate description, of course — it was not round and shiny — but even its worst enemies would agree that if you had to liken Ankh-Morpork to anything, then it might as well be a piece of rubbish covered with the diseased secretions of a dying mollusc.”
― Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic

 

I do hope I can do his vision justice!

 

Best wishes

Simon

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5 hours ago, bridgiesimon said:

 

I do hope I can do his vision justice!

Oh you are so far :) 

It’s rather scary that it’s 33 years since I discovered them and read the first four books in a week! They say you should never meet your heroes but I had the pleasure of going to a talk in the mid 90’s and an hour long chat with him afterwards as he signed a friends full set, he was as entertaining, passionate and interesting in person as you could imagine. Once he discovered I’d read about George Caley he was away and we had our own private second talk and it was even better than the first one about Discworld. I also saw him every now and then about town in Salisbury though never more than to say hello in passing. 
I’ve read them several times and they never fail to bring a wry smile at the observations of people. 
I’ve thought many times about trying to model it, especially since Raising Steam, but struggled to focus on one aspect that could capture the feel. You’re doing a great job but I do think you’ll need a bucket of suitably fragrant material underneath to capture the full essence ;) 

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yeah, long time ago ain't it!

 

Never got the opportunity to meet in person, gutted to find out a few years ago he switched on the Christmas lights in Burnham on Sea, just down the road from me! I was sat at home totally unaware what was going on - aaargh!!!

 

Anyway, next building on the way now, this one it tall to help disguise the central board and backscene join so will be removable. 

 

Lots more still to do but you get the idea so far I hope - 

 

20200822_114121_resized.jpg.47c3609eaf830c8d35a456fa1d61d2bd.jpg

 

A little more work also needed on the backscene with a slot system to be installed to align the backscenes better and then I need to sort a backscene image - Am thinking that a dirty stormy cloudy sky would work well, opinions?

 

This sort of thing - 

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/stormy-panorama-gretchen-friedrich.html

 

Best wishes and stay safe

Simon

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1 hour ago, bridgiesimon said:

Am thinking that a dirty stormy cloudy sky would work well, opinions?

With a Marsh Dragon poking it's head out of the clouds.  Modelling the pools of Octrarine sunlight that gather at dusk might be something best left to the imagination; I recommend shrooms (I don't really recommend shrooms).  Similarly the pools of darkness left behind at dawn...

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Did you know that Games Workshop once produced a book of building templates for their figure ranges, very similar in style to your buildings. Some of the non-domestic buildings might work as railway structures with some adjustment. I think my copy was tracked down as a free download a couple of years ago. 

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if you find the link again, I would love that, cannot find anything now though. Could just be me not searching with the right words.

 

By the way, I think I have found the (almost) ideal backscene for the layout - 

 

https://www.art-printers.com/product-list/overcast-sky

 

the only issue is that these are 15 inches high and my backscene is 20 inches from the board up to the top. I am going to spend time looking to see if that 5 inches is easy to hide along the bottom, pretty sure it will be fine along the buildings, just need to check a couple of areas before I order some!

 

 

Best wishes

Simon

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10 hours ago, bridgiesimon said:

 

By the way, I think I have found the (almost) ideal backscene for the layout - 

 

https://www.art-printers.com/product-list/overcast-sky

 

the only issue is that these are 15 inches high and my backscene is 20 inches from the board up to the top. I am going to spend time looking to see if that 5 inches is easy to hide along the bottom, pretty sure it will be fine along the buildings, just need to check a couple of areas before I order some!

 

 

Best wishes

Simon

 

I believe art-printers will print them taller for you if you ask (see their page "custom back scenes").

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Hi John, 

Either "Guards! Guards!" or "Colour of Magic." Then try to stay in the time-line which is available on Wikipedia or any of the fan sites.

 

I hope you enjoy the ride. They're a pain to find second hand as they sell ad soon as they come in. 

 

Alan 

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defo Colour of Magic, it is the first of the series and leads on into The Light Fantastic. These 2 books were made into a comedy/drama for television a few years ago with David Jason playing Rincewind the Wizard - well worth finding!

 

this is the sequenced reading list - 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld#/media/File:Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_(cropped).jpg

 

yep, very complicated! to be honest, I read them in order that they were published, the variety of characters etc works really well.

 

Best wishes and enjoy, I am very envious that you are reading these for the first time!!

 

Simon

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If you'll forgive me, as this isn't meant to be the LSpace Web, I would avoid the Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic  as first reads. They are from when pTerry was still finding his way, and are no-where near as good as later work, IMHO, I would go for Guards, Guards! or Wyrd Sisters to get into the Watch or Witch series', and catch up with others later.

 

Al.

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On 31/08/2020 at 09:20, hayfield said:

Sorry about what may seem a stupid question, but I have never read any of Terry Pratchet's books. Which one is it best to start with please

 

On 31/08/2020 at 12:25, Buhar said:

Hi John, 

Either "Guards! Guards!" or "Colour of Magic." Then try to stay in the time-line which is available on Wikipedia or any of the fan sites.

 

I hope you enjoy the ride. They're a pain to find second hand as they sell ad soon as they come in. 

 

Alan 

 

I also haven't read these books, but would now like to.

I came across this website, which appears to have most of the series for free download:

https://archive.org/details/TheNewDiscworldCompanion

 

On my PC this link opened "Colour of Magic" in a kind of reader view. Scroll down a bit and there's a list of books in the series. Scroll down a bit further and there's a list of download options. There are several format options including EPub, Kindle, PDF, Txt etc.

 

I've just tried downloading the EPub edition of "Colour of Magic" to my IPad and seems to be ok.

Worth a try if you don't mind reading from a screen - I usually prefer a real paper book and if I get engrossed in the series I'll probably end up buying them if I can get them.

 

Sadly, "Raising Steam" (book 40) and "The Shepherd's Crown" (book 41) don't appear to be listed - only goes as far as book 39 plus some extras.

 

@bridgiesimon: Simon, apologies for putting this post in your layout thread but it is kind of on-topic :). Loving your layout, superb workmanship.

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  • 1 month later...

Absolutely superb modelling.  Just as I imagined the city.  

Is there room for Lady Sybils' Swamp Dragons? - would make a great animation.

 

When you come to do the river,  I have four out of date Robinsons blackcurrant jellies and an old jar of Branston pickle that I  would be happy to donate to the project for the 'water'

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2 hours ago, bridgiesimon said:

 

I do agree that swamp dragons must be included somewhere, not sure where yet though.

 

Fab work as always. How about a swamp dragon transport van? Something like a roofless Iron Mink with individual cages for the little beasties (roofless and iron so any explosions get channelled upwards).

 

Or would it be something like a modern nuclear flask wagon, with "Swamp Dragonnes in Transyt" written on the side  

 

Or would rail travel just be too stressful for them? 

 

Best wishes

 

Cam

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..or a Swap Dragon Transport Van with a hole on the roof and the Dragon "ducked" under each bridge / tunnel!

 

I'm sure they are still available on ebay!

 

 

Kev.

;) 

 

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