treggyman Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Hi Thanks for the info. I've now looked at the Wagon Works site & your link to Peterborough North & found the info most useful. I have used Kadee's on fixed rakes of coaches with specific loco's hauling them but found that at exhibitions where there is any undulation caused by unlevel floors as well as the problem of differing heights of NEM couplers the stock can uncouple mainly at board joints or where inclines are encountered. Although my track laying may be also a cause these couplings seem to be a great solution to the problem so I will probably give them a try.... Thanks again for the heads up.... Cheers Bill 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted September 8, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted September 8, 2020 1 hour ago, treggyman said: Hi Thanks for the info. I've now looked at the Wagon Works site & your link to Peterborough North & found the info most useful. I have used Kadee's on fixed rakes of coaches with specific loco's hauling them but found that at exhibitions where there is any undulation caused by unlevel floors as well as the problem of differing heights of NEM couplers the stock can uncouple mainly at board joints or where inclines are encountered. Although my track laying may be also a cause these couplings seem to be a great solution to the problem so I will probably give them a try.... Thanks again for the heads up.... Cheers Bill Just to be clear, there is no automatic uncoupling facility but that is no problem for my use. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
treggyman Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Hi Yes I realised that.... The website isn't specific but reading the posts on the Peterborough North thread make it quite clear..... For fixed rakes they sound ideal....Indeed I've ordered some to try.... But for shunting definitely a NO NO.... Thanks however for the post to clarify.... Cheers Bill 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chamby Posted September 8, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 8, 2020 Just happened to be passing Burngullow this afternoon and took some pics, hope they are of interest. Burngullow looking West. Branch line sadly with rusty-topped rails. Burngullow looking East. The dries. These and the silo's still standing. Bridge 288. 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted September 9, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted September 9, 2020 9 hours ago, Chamby said: Just happened to be passing Burngullow this afternoon and took some pics, hope they are of interest. Burngullow looking West. Branch line sadly with rusty-topped rails. Thanks for those Phil. I understand the Treviscoe plant is now mothballed. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted September 17, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted September 17, 2020 (edited) An especially good day today for two reasons. Firstly a trip to the eye doctor confirmed that my treatment for a wet macular problem involving injections into the eye (sounds much worse than it is) has been successful and remaining so. Very clever folk these eye specialists. Secondly, another batch of Hunt ‘Elite’ couplings has arrived, so a few points on the latter. As well as the previously used ‘close’ type this batch included a pack of the ‘clip type’ for some older stock, a few ‘ultra close’ for use on my milk tanks and stepped ones for some of the Bachmann coaches. With the latter I learned that the dot on the coupler is intended to be upwards, not down as I had done - this does not matter unless you need the stepped ones of course. Occasionally a few strokes of a needle file are needed to remove flash and so on but no matter, we are modellers after all. The watchword here is patience. The only place I cannot use them is on Hornby Collett stock as the coupling pocket is very close to the bogie and is fouled by the tails on the coupling. No matter for me as I can use the James bars here. Another useful place is shown in the photo. As a reminder of a Scottish holiday back in 1989 a Scotrail 37 is seen at Burngullow now and again. The Hunt coupling is fitted as intended and sits nicely between the two outer halves of the snowplough. The plough is the Heljan class 47 version mounted to the body. There is still room for all of the pipe work - mine are wire for strength - but not a screw coupling. This arrangement manages the 30” radius curves in the fiddle yard. RESULT I’d say. A celebration pint of Cambrian Gold from Stonehouse Brewery in Oswestry is in order tonight! Edited September 17, 2020 by TrevorP1 10 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted October 9, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 9, 2020 Lots of roundtuit jobs done lately all useful but little visible progress on the railway. Things that I can remember(!) include making cassettes, static grassing, finally getting two more Siphons on the move, retrieving the last Grange from the cripple siding and making it work, plus fitting a 'Brassmasters Modified Hall modifying kit'. The kit involves fitting a number of etched brass components in the area of the front footplating to make it more like the real thing. I'd already been through the chassis mod when I used a donor under my County but I confess to being relieved when the butchery of the front footplating was complete and the Brassmasters parts fitted! The kit is well thought out and braver souls that I can take it further. However, I decided to I quit while I was ahead... When finally refitting the body it first appeared as though it were riding high at the front. Amid my curses at the thought of dismantling and filing more off ( I HATE doing jobs twice) I checked the running plate for level - it was. Investigation revealed the cylinders were too low, easily solved with a couple of packing washers. (I must check to see if the County has the same problem.) Cruel close up below. The front coupling has since been fitted. Although the kit provides scale examples, I kept the overscale lamp brackets as I feared butchering the smokebox door. More conscientious folk will also deal with the moulded smokebox door handle but even with more 'lockdown' approaching I can find other more pressing jobs! 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted October 28, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 28, 2020 Progress continues on roundtuit work. All of the various Siphons I've picked up on EBay have been made mobile with decent bogies and Hunt couplings. Lots of paintwork jobs needing the outdoor use of rattle cans have also been done before winter makes such things impossible. I've also been working on the cassette system as shown in the photos below. The wood for the cassettes was purchased at the same time as that for the rest of the railway. They are long enough to comfortably hold four coaches held in place by blocks of foam - Kernow MRC packaging material! Originally I cut ply ends but the foam is much more secure. The trolley might seem a bit of an extravagance but it cost about the same as 2 Bachmann Mk1s and helps provide safe, convenient storage for an alarming* number of coaches and wagons. The whole lot normally lives under the layout. *I say alarming because I've just had to work out the insurance valuation and I scared myself! 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted November 1, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 1, 2020 Before I look at point rodding, telegraph poles, signals and other vulnerable things for me to destroy, I've begun to consider more work the scenic side of the layout. At the moment, I'm thinking more about things on the far side of the running line but my thoughts did turn to the farm track in front of the main embankment. This lead to the fact that the small bridge needs to be finished before I put a road over it and thus the steam ought to be done, plus the vegetation around it... The stream is my little nod to the famous white river and so how to do this? I've never done a normal river, let alone a white one. For better or worse I've used Woodland scenics Realistic Water. It doesn't simulate 'flow' but I'm telling myself this is a choked up tributary. After studying a Peter Gray photo I coloured the Realistic Water with Tamiya acrylics - 4 parts white, 2 parts deck tan and 1 part German grey. Apparently the 'water' is vulnerable to attracting dust and debris so I've used scraps of Noch grass mat nearby and will mask it off well when I finish the other areas. Denser foliage is Woodland Scenics ground foams plus bag of something whose origin I have no idea! The banks of the stream still need tidying and of course, as is the way of things, the road still hasn't been done... I had a news email from WWS this week about their new 'scratch aid' buildings. Some of these are very close to the little terrace behind the weigh bridge hut, right down to the size I 'guesstimated' for my placeholder. A couple of mods and they look just the job to save a lot of tedious cutting. An order will be off to them soon. WWS scratch aid buildings. 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post TrevorP1 Posted November 3, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 3, 2020 So far when running trains I've used a sequence based on 'snapshot' of a Saturday morning. Today I changed over to an afternoon sequence I've devised but before doing so Richard Riley and Peter Gray arrived at Burngullow Lane to record the scene. First to pass was Active with the up Falmouth. Followed by County of Cornwall and Roundhill Grange on the St Ives. D6321 waits to nip out behind them for Par. Then, possibly due a distortion in the time/space continuum caused by radiation from old mine workings near Combe, they travelled back 10 years to see Princess Charlotte pass with the 11:10 Penzance - Wolverhampton. These photos were taken on the phone. Looking at the originals on the computer next to the ones now on the website those on the web look much more saturated - and to me unnatural. I've done nothing - honest! It must be that radiation... 20 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post TrevorP1 Posted November 16, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted November 16, 2020 I'm afraid the modelling mojo went for a burton last week when we had to take our Jack Russell on the awful 'last journey to the vet'. She was almost 16 and I'd had her from a pup. Old age was taking it's toll though and a few days ago she went downhill fast. Possibly a stroke we think. She could be the very devil with other dogs that didn't meet with her approval but at the first sight of a child would roll over on her back for her tummy to be tickled. We still have our scruffy Shih-zhu thank goodness. He's lost his partner in crime of course and is now spoiled like mad. When I have ventured out to the railway I've been working on the farm road surface. It's my own concoction of County Donegal beach sand (!), finely sifted fines from china clay waste, talcum powder and sifted Cornish soil. A right concoction but it matches photos I've taken in the area and the talc makes it smell nice... Another development is the use of the KMRC Cornish Cottage. Originally I'd planned to build something but this fitted the bill and it's nicely robust for something at the front of the layout. Curtains, internal walls etc to be done obviously. Owing to the events of last week, I haven't really run the afternoon sequence yet but my down Cornish Riviera is the 1963 version complete with a 'thousand'. I'm not sure if they got as far as Cornwall at this time but this one had been a 'Cabinet Queen' for about 8 years so it's about time it ran! Finally, the sharp eyed will notice I got brave and weathered the china clay fleet. 10 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianusa Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 Know how you must feel about your old pet but at that age she did very well. Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted November 17, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 17, 2020 8 hours ago, brianusa said: Know how you must feel about your old pet but at that age she did very well. Brian. Thank you Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhysb Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 Trevor, Im on my 3rd Jack Russell so know your pain. Takes time but we are left with great memories. The layout is starting to look very "cornwall!" well done 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted November 17, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 17, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, Rhysb said: Trevor, Im on my 3rd Jack Russell so know your pain. Takes time but we are left with great memories. Bridget was my second, totally different in character to the first but both rewarding to have in my life. To some people they have a bad reputation but if you put the effort in and give them the support they need, they are wonderful loyal, characterful and friendly dogs. Both of them melted many hearts. 8 hours ago, Rhysb said: The layout is starting to look very "cornwall!" well done I take that as supreme compliment. Thank you. Edited November 17, 2020 by TrevorP1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted November 19, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2020 A little while back I think I suggested I was going to try a WWS half relief cottage for the terrace on the up side of the line. The other day I happened to be looking at the Petite Properties website and noticed this half relief kit. It looked even more ideal and it duly arrived on the doormat. Although the roof needed modifying from hipped to gable it certainly was an ideal starting point, being almost the exact size I'd guesstimated. It sits on a base to which will be added the front porches and flower (or weed!) beds. Next job is to make said porches which I think is going to take much longer than the rest of the building put together! Although the means to make the chimneys and pots are in the kit, I'm going to delve into the scrap box for the chimneys themselves and I've ordered some pots and guttering from Modelu. 13 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chamby Posted November 19, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2020 4 hours ago, TrevorP1 said: A little while back I think I suggested I was going to try a WWS half relief cottage for the terrace on the up side of the line. The other day I happened to be looking at the Petite Properties website and noticed this half relief kit. It looked even more ideal and it duly arrived on the doormat. Although the roof needed modifying from hipped to gable it certainly was an ideal starting point, being almost the exact size I'd guesstimated. It sits on a base to which will be added the front porches and flower (or weed!) beds. Next job is to make said porches which I think is going to take much longer than the rest of the building put together! Although the means to make the chimneys and pots are in the kit, I'm going to delve into the scrap box for the chimneys themselves and I've ordered some pots and guttering from Modelu. All you need now is some manky mundic blockwork and they be a proper job. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted November 19, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 19, 2020 6 hours ago, TrevorP1 said: A little while back I think I suggested I was going to try a WWS half relief cottage for the terrace on the up side of the line. The other day I happened to be looking at the Petite Properties website and noticed this half relief kit. It looked even more ideal and it duly arrived on the doormat. Although the roof needed modifying from hipped to gable it certainly was an ideal starting point, being almost the exact size I'd guesstimated. It sits on a base to which will be added the front porches and flower (or weed!) beds. Next job is to make said porches which I think is going to take much longer than the rest of the building put together! Although the means to make the chimneys and pots are in the kit, I'm going to delve into the scrap box for the chimneys themselves and I've ordered some pots and guttering from Modelu. That looks rather nice, Trevor. Another one (or two) might appear in"our" part of mid-Cornwall. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted November 23, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 23, 2020 A bit more work on the cottages. Porches. lintels and so on. Not identical to the ones at Burngullow but my version is not a replica of the real place. I’ll leave it for now until the gutters and chimneys arrive from Modelu (they are on ‘back order’). I already have some York Modelmaking slates which I will use. As to replicating the grotty rendering, I’m still scratching my head! Thoughts are stirring about how to make a start on the linhay.... 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted November 23, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 23, 2020 8 hours ago, TrevorP1 said: As to replicating the grotty rendering, I’m still scratching my head! How about wet-and-dry paper, with a thinnish wash of rendering colour so that some of the underlying grey shows through? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted November 23, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 23, 2020 44 minutes ago, St Enodoc said: How about wet-and-dry paper, with a thinnish wash of rendering colour so that some of the underlying grey shows through? I was hoping to find something that I could paint on, maybe paint with talc dusted on... Tamiya do some very fine texture paint I think, although it’s not cheap. Whatever, it needs to be very fine. I’ve wondered about grey aerosol sprayed from a distance so that it’s like a semi-dry dust when it ‘lands’... A bit like the lump of old chipboard I put things on to spray. In the old photos I’ve seen the porches seem to have rendering that is coming off. I’ve made them from Wills sheets, so I need to be able to do that. The lintels are also just visible through the rendering. Experimentation called for I think. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chamby Posted November 24, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 24, 2020 9 hours ago, TrevorP1 said: I was hoping to find something that I could paint on, maybe paint with talc dusted on... Tamiya do some very fine texture paint I think, although it’s not cheap. Whatever, it needs to be very fine. I’ve wondered about grey aerosol sprayed from a distance so that it’s like a semi-dry dust when it ‘lands’... A bit like the lump of old chipboard I put things on to spray. In the old photos I’ve seen the porches seem to have rendering that is coming off. I’ve made them from Wills sheets, so I need to be able to do that. The lintels are also just visible through the rendering. Experimentation called for I think. It depends what colour rendering you are after. I have achieved a nice effect by stippling thick white paint on Swiss buildings in the past. But if you are looking to replicate the unpainted render common in Cornwall, I would probably start by using a similar technique with a beige/grey colour and then sprinkling on some dry sand whilst the paint is still wet, or dunking the freshly painted surface in a tray of sand, in an attempt to replicate the pebble-dash effect. Natural beach sand would probably work better than builders sand, because of the more varied colouring. Masking tape could be used in places where you want missing render, and over the lintels, removing it before the paint dries. I haven’t tried it myself, but that’s probably where I would start. Enjoy the experimenting! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted November 24, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 24, 2020 8 hours ago, Chamby said: It depends what colour rendering you are after. I have achieved a nice effect by stippling thick white paint on Swiss buildings in the past. But if you are looking to replicate the unpainted render common in Cornwall, I would probably start by using a similar technique with a beige/grey colour and then sprinkling on some dry sand whilst the paint is still wet, or dunking the freshly painted surface in a tray of sand, in an attempt to replicate the pebble-dash effect. Natural beach sand would probably work better than builders sand, because of the more varied colouring. Masking tape could be used in places where you want missing render, and over the lintels, removing it before the paint dries. I haven’t tried it myself, but that’s probably where I would start. Enjoy the experimenting! I tried out the talc and Phil’s beach sand ideas today. Beach sand won hands down! The talc came out far too white but it might do for the inside of the clay dry though! The sand I have came from a beach in County Donegal nearly 20 years ago (don’t ask!) so it was about time I found a use for it. As a second test I used it with some grey paint for the back path of ‘KMRC Cottages’ . It doesn’t look far off compared to the famous ‘bus photo’. Weirdly it looks finer in real life than it does in the photo. It’s hard to tell but in some photos it looks like the front porches of the cottages might have had rendering applied but it didn’t stay put. I might try using Maskol to replicate this. Using the sand idea I’ll have to wait till the guttering and down pipes are on before I render it - carefully! 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoker Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 This is a topic that makes me wish I'd taken photos of the Cornish cottage models I'd built over the years rather than just giving them away to people! There's two types of cement renders common in Cornwall, one is spray render which produces a very textured finish, the other is a flat render that's been applied with a trowel. The row of houses at Burngullow have a flat render, which is just a mixture of sand, cement, and water, so your "texture" in 4mm scale would be builders sand shrunk 76 times! That'd be so fine that in 4mm scale (about 13 microns) it'd be basically invisible. If you want a point of reference, that'd be the equivalent of 1500 grit sandpaper. To create an illusion of texture, judicious application of weathering is the best way to go. Solid colours don't work for concrete because they just look like paint, so you have to break up the surface by creating a blotchiness of subtle tone variations. Best way I've found to do this is to start with a dark base tone, and then use sponges to apply a medium and then light tone over it. Dull "blend" with a mist coat from an airbrush, and then conservatively stipple lighter and darker speckles to represent the typical fungus/lichen that likes to grow on cement. Once you've got a fairly convincing appearance, you can go back with a slightly lighter shade, and drybrush in a downward motion below any protrusion that may have occluded rain, such as immediately below windowsills and fascia boards. Then go back with a slightly darker shade, and drybrush anything that may've gotten excess exposure to moisture, such as the upper surface of windowsills, behind downspouts and the foot of the wall where rain tends to splash back. 2 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TrevorP1 Posted November 30, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 30, 2020 Don't you just love it when... The gutters and so on for the cottages arrived from Modelu the other day, so this morning I had a good look. Lovely little bits and pieces - except for the outlets that I forgot to order! I want to get the gutters on before I go near it with paint - my head is still whirling with all the advice - it's a good job I have some wagon kits and lamps to get on with... 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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