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Arrow Paints - OO in two shoeboxes


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This is an inspirational little layout, it just goes to show how much can be done in such a small area.

The working crane is nice touch, thanks for the video really enjoyed it.

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Thank you @OhOh and @D2000! The "murky sky with silhouttes" might be perfect, and there's no harm in trying it. I'll see what I can do.

 

I though I'd add that this evening I added on two "wing walls", ready for a backscene.

Simply large pieces cut from a cereal box, they're fixed to the inside of the layout lid, so they fold flat against it and then the whole lid still folds down when the buildings are removed to pack the entire layout into one box. They also help make a "light box", and prevent stray light creating shadows on the layout. Finally, I've added a crude paper shade over the desk lamp to help soften the shadows.  The layout is now presented as follows:

490485202_11.Backscenestarted(1).JPG.22a67bd07c3ff2334b9cd82057783379.JPG

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Finally, during a quiet period, D2280 gets some TLC whilst Fred catches up on the news.

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This is one of the reasons I enjoy building model railways; the opportunity to craft photos like this to my liking. Whilst it's not quite what I had in mind before I built the box, it's absolutely perfect to me. All I need now is to learn how to weather the pristine rolling stock!

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I watched your latest video today...outstanding job. The working crane to load and unload adds a lot of operating value.

Learning to weather your stock is a fun process. Pick up a few cars on the cheap somewhere, look at the many tutorials out there and have a go before you move on to your more expensive stock. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

A month later, and I'm back again! This time, continuing with the theme of adding functions-on-a-budget, I've added lighting.

 

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I think every model railway benefits from realistic night lighting. Since I don't have access to a soldering iron here, I went with a simple solution: a string of 15 battery-powered warm-white Christmas lights. 6 of them are poked through holes crudely cut through the low-relief factory just under the canopy, so the actual LED and the messy hole isn't visible from most viewing angles. 3 are going to be installed along the right hand side somehow, and the remaining 6 are either unused or stuffed into the base of the water tower. I should probably try to put one or two lighting the sign, or the big windows of the main factory. The battery box sits in the void space beneath the layout, roughly under the water tower. This makes them easy to turn on and off whenever I please.

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At some point I might change the lights. This set, being from a cheap retailer over 5 years ago, has many dodgy connections resulting in an uncontrolled dimming and flickering of the whole set. Battery power also isn't very economical long-term, so I might look for USB-powered ones instead. And one of the unused lights still has the snowflake lens on it, since I can't pull it off. Luckily, its easy to change the set of lights whenever I want to - pull the old set out of the holes, and thread a new one in!

2080503824_12.Lights(6)25.jpg.920eea37ff07cd5318bd10ef559f8bf2.jpg

 

Overall, this has proved to be a quick and cheap way to add buckets of atmosphere to a tiny shoebox layout. Shame about that loose brake pipe!

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You have done a cracking job with this , full of atmosphere, cheap to build what's not to like. The water tower was a great transformation and view blocker, You will always spot something in your photos after taking them its annoying but then its good cos you can go back and correct it. 

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  • 1 month later...

@DMU Thanks! The Christmas lights idea isn't just mine; they're a fantastically cheap and simple source of light for micro layouts, and can really help to boost the atmosphere.

@Russ (mines a pint) Thank you! I wouldn't call the water tower a transformation, since I only bought it to use the tank section with a scratchbuilt building. And I've finally glued that pesky brake pipe in again, so hopefully it will stay put!

 

Now, here's a joke for you all: What do you get if you cross a BR 04 with an 07? Something like this...

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It clearly still needs painting, and I'll explain how I built it in a minute. But first... why?

 

I've been planning a new loco for a while, originally to make use of a spare Hornby 0-4-0 chassis. My options for bodywork were buy an R-T-R body from somewhere, buy a kit, or scratchbuild. R-T-R bodies aren't common and I can't produce details such as grilles and rivets with my preferred modelling medium of cardboard, so it has to be a kit.

The three I considered were the Knightwing freelance shunter, the Budget Model Railways freelance shunter, and the Dapol Drewry Shunter. The knightwing kit needs a motor bogie, the spare Hornby 0-4-0 chassis I'd use for the BMR kit didn't run as well as I hoped, and I didn't really fancy another 04 look-a-like. However, after taking a few carefully-angled photos, and mucking around a bit in Microsoft Paint, I came up with this beast...

ShunterBashing.png.e0858f909d80acce504384a5ff93c4a3.png

The idea became to buy and bash around the kit to resemble the above, whilst able to sit on the Bachmann chassis in the same way as the original body does. The kit's static chassis could then be built up to the same shape, so both bodies fit on both chassis and I effectively have two locos for the price of one.

 

Out of the bag, the kit looks very well designed, and should go together neatly. I have no idea if it does though, because I completely ignored the instructions!

In fact, the first thing to do was cut an enormous hole in the loco's baseplate, in order to fit over the ridiculous 15-year-old Bachmann motor block. I also knocked up a second cab end using the one in the kit as a template; the windows on the original rear end aren't in helpful places, so it was left unused.

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The four walls and the roof were then glued together, and dry tested over the motor block and baseplate, with the bonnet nose balanced on the rear to flesh it out a bit. The original 04 body is sitting on the static chassis from this kit. It's been assembled without any glue but is already stiff, and the jackshaft rods and pins are too wide to fit under the steps! I'll have to look into what I can do with that later.

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Next up, the kit's bonnet sides and roof were carefully cut in two, in line with one of the side hatches. The rear bonnet needed a nose; I didn't mind this being "blank" (as per the 07), so it was cut from another piece of card. Both bonnets and were assembled, and dry tested with the once again over the motor block.

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She's looking good! If over-exposed. That's the trouble with light grey plastic and poor lighting. Anyway, all 4 components were carefully glued together (but not to the chassis!), before adding the plethora of small details from the original kit - buffers, brake hoses, steps, the lot. The final model produced from this kit is noticeably different, yet not too far, from the one the designers envisaged.

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She's unique, cheap, much better than anything I could scratchbuild, and ready-to-run thanks to the Bachmann chassis. Perfect!

Still on the to-do list:

> Filling and filing, especially around the rear nose to get a more rounded, smooth finish similar to the front.

> Couplings. Unfortunately I needed to cut the enormous slot out of the buffer beams to allow the model to drop onto the chassis, so I could just bung the tension-locks back in. I still really want to try 3-links though, once I've found somewhere to buy 8 pairs of them from cheaply.

> Handrails. The moulded plastic tabs are undoubtedly the stumbling point of this kit, and I'll probably replace them with stiff wire at some point.

> More steps. How are the crew going to get into that cab at the moment?

> Painting. This will have to wait until I go home for Christmas. I'm currently thinking smart all-over black, with red buffer beams and wasp-stripe noses.

That's all for now, I'd better get back to lurking under my rock!

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  • 2 weeks later...

The prospect of an otherwise empty, wet weekend, and reading talk of Parkside van wagon kits in @luke the train spotter's thread, joined forces and sent me into town to see what the local model shop had to offer. The answer was a "vanwide" kit.

Some history, taken from the instruction sheet:

"This was the last design of the traditional British goods van. It had extra wide doors to cope with loads on pallets. Almost 2,000 were built in the early 1960's. By the 1970's a lot of merchandise traffic was being carried in air braked trains. To cater for this 550 of the original vanwides were rebuilt with air brakes, roller bearing axle boxes and an improved suspension as well as the smart Railfreight livery. The vanwides [now VEAs] were very useful in locations with tight curves such as docks and Government ammunition depots."

Since this kit represents one of the modified vehicles, it's about 10 years too late for my 60's-era layout; but the only real changes were beneath the floor, so I don't really mind even though the kit does faithfully reproduce all of those additional details. Onto the build.

2097274867_14.BuildingtheVanwidekit(1small).jpg.458bb80493da57cbb714c0394a5e20be.jpg

 

As usual, the kit is a joy to build, although I found reaming out the sockets for the bearings helped them press in tidily. I even managed to keep the frames vertical unlike last time I built a wagon kit. Important, as otherwise the wheels fall out!

Due to the distribution of parts on sprues there's quite a few brake components left over afterwards, possibly spares in case you lose some! Excellent to add to the yard clutter though.

Whilst in town I also picked up some more Ratio pallets, sacks & barrels to add to the scene, because you can never have enough.

692736040_14.FinishedVanwide(6small).jpg.b1816a80c7381f4d9bc9a1798d8bf145.jpg

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It looks like someone's found a new place to read their newspaper. I wonder if they ever actually do any work...

 

76397853_14.FinishedVanwide(3small).jpg.d480872867ee5c12de528b297610ca40.jpg

... Probably not. It's dark now, and he's still at it! 

 

Overall, it runs quite nicely, and looks excellent in photos - and it's not even painted yet! The plastic brown colour isn't quite right, but it's close enough that it will do until I can find some BR Bauxite paint. The headstock and door runners do need painting black though, which I'll do at the same time as the new loco body.

And that could happen this week now, I stumbled accross some Revell "Aqua Color" that should wash off my brushes with water, so we'll see how that looks soon!

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Ah, that's better!

Before painting, I'd rounded off the edges of the rear nose, to match the front. I notably haven't done the wasp stripes as I said I would; A. I cleverly didn't buy any yellow paint last weekend, and B. it was just easier to coat the whole thing in black! The Revell Aqua Color is very pleasant to use, dries quick enough I can hold the model a few minutes after application without covering my fingers in paint, and washes clean out of my brushes under the tap. 

Through ponderings over a BR class 07 at my local heritage line, I've learnt that whilst the long front bonnet houses the engine, the smaller rear bonnet contains either a diesel or hydraulic transmission, unlike the mechanical gearbox of the 03s and 04s. Therefore, perhaps this loco was an early experiment of adding a hydraulic transmission to a spare 04, before the 07 was developed... 

 

This weekend I also took the opportunity to rebuild the first wagon kit I built, an LMS plate/bolster wagon that I don't think has appeared on these pages yet. The floor (around which the whole model is constructed) was warped, resulting in a severe rock as it only 3 wheels touched the track! The solution was to submerge the floor in a mug of hot water for 15 minutes to soften it up, before promptly twisting it back to shape before it cooled again. I then reassembled the wagon, again paying close attention to getting the frames and wheels square. The wheels still have a tendency to fall out if the wagon is picked up and waved around, but it's otherwise pretty sturdy. Whilst I had the paints out I did the bufferbeams of both kit built wagons, and lightly brushed some black around the metal parts of the van to highlight the detail. Sone barrels also got a coat of red.

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The simply-painted loco looks right at home shuffling around the small industrial yard, and I'm not even finished with it yet. It certainly needs windows and couplings, and hopefully proper handrails too. 

I'm fully converted to kits now; they are cheaper, entertaining to huld and so much more satisfying to run than ready-to-run models, whilst offering similar levels of details and the option of customising things. Perfect! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wasps! Or wasp stripes, at least. I took the opportunity of a brief visit home last weekend to get some yellow on the noses; surprisingly, it went on fine straight over the black. I then added the black stripes over the top; on the radiator-grille end I was aided by the diagonal lines moulded into the part for exactly this purpose, but the rear end had to be a little free-form. It didn't go as well as I'd hoped, hence why it's carefully not shown in my photos! Rather than painting the handrails, I realised could just sand off the black paint to reveal the grey plastic underneath. It's subtle, but it helps to bring them out.

Finally, I had my first attempt at using waterslide transfers. Since this loco is rather freelance, I decided not to apply the BR logo and "D2277" or "D2300" numbers supplied with the Dapol kit; instead, I cut off the last two zeros, and now the little industrial loco is identified as D23.

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Whilst I was playing with waterslide transfers I decided to finally finish the Parkside ex-LNER 21T bolster wagon that's been kicking around for months. It's gained the bolsters and chains, a load of wooden planks (coffee stirrers, of course), and had the end panels painted and the numbers added.

I think the pair look just right trundling about the yard; it's funny how things look better when they're actually finished! Which reminds me, I should really get a proper backscene...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Plenty of things have been happening with this little layout, both these past evenings and over the Christmas Holidays. Let's take a tour.

 

1. Freight - A purchase of some Modelscene Parcels finally instigated a tidy-up of my freight collection - everything is now on a pallet, and most pallets have a string to allow the crane to move them. Not all pallets are modelled as full; one has just a few Ratio coal sacks on it, whilst the remaining sacks have been glued discreetly to pieces of paper, allowing the "loose stacks" to be moved as one block and posed against a wall or truck. Much easier than fiddling around with loose bags! That said, two are still loose in case I want to pose one somewhere. Also featured are the stacks of presumably paving slabs that came with the truck, and various other loose goods collected mainly from Modelscene and Ratio.

1137646998_17.Morefreight(1small).jpg.415f771e9dd72c16b9cd219e5e6343d4.jpg

 

2. Couplings - I've pinched a couple of tension-locks from a Hornby 4-wheel coach and bunged 'em under the Parkside Vanwide with the mounting blocks provided. I considered doing the same with the 21T Bolster, but they stuck out like a sore thumb and the thing is too long to be used when shunting anyway. This isn't the best photo of the en-couplinged van, but it does illustrate the stacks o' sacks mentioned above, and also just about visible is a Peco bicycle leaning against the office wall.

278208526_17.Morefreight(2small).jpg.f4e0a5d3bb384f32e650f310b76711d5.jpg

 

3. Loco D23 - Has had the wasp stripes repainted, and now it looks fantastic. I tried adding some "machine oil" to the plastic chassis to get it to roll under less pressure. For some unknown reason, said oil neatly dispersed itself to cover the entire chassis, making it all somewhat shiny whilst not really altering the rolling resistance at all! The loco still needs glazing, but otherwise is pretty complete.

1471971399_17.Morefreight(4small).jpg.a94cfffd6edbbd96621694309700f143.jpg

 

4. Loco 13601 - A new one for the layout, it's a slightly wobbly old Hornby 0-4-0 Caledonian pug. I think everyone must have one of these kicking around somewhere! I've taken an unusual decision to solder a pair of ~30cm wires directly to the motor, with a Hornby track connector at the other end. This (should) solve any running issues by taking dirty track and pickups straight out of the equation! This bizarre method will only work on this layout, where the loco is rarely fully on-scene when shunting. I'm also playing with the idea of making the surprisingly accurate, yet somewhat ubiquitous Caledonian Pug body look more like a GWR 1361 class. It's clearly not, especially since it's an axle short for a start, but I hope to at least make the cab a more pleasing shape than the Hornby model.

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One problem is I would want to repaint the model black once the extra bits are finalised, but looking online the livery of this body seems less common - I'm thinking of looking for a cheap, widely available body that I don't mind knocking about a bit.

However it's all pretty pointless now, since the "will only work on this layout" clause mentioned above makes the entire premise obsolete...

 

5. Layout Expansion - wait, what?
When I first started, I never planned to make this more than a 1-box layout, and as such the front siding is not positioned to line up with anything in particular. However, it is at precisely 11.25 degrees to the rear one, meaning if I replace some of the track with a Y-point...

1509657930_SBx3ArrowPaints.png.9f6b79bb7aedac29db3e636b1aab04f7.png

 

It clearly needs a lot of modification to (what will from now on be referred to as) Phase 1 - the front siding and hard standing will have to be completely ripped up and relayed to accommodate the Y-point, whilst still fitting around the crane module. I'm not sure the water tower has a place in the new layout either, which would be a shame; but it's physically in the way of the new track, and I'd rather not have such a bulky view block if the layout's doubling in scenic area.

 

The Plan:

1. Modify Phase 1 with y-point on front siding

2. Prepare Phase 2 box (already sourced, identical to Phase 1 box for tidyness!) for track - build up base, cut ends, match to Phase 1

3. Lay track

4. Arrange Phase 2 buildings around the track; likely blue brick & girder overbridge, a low-relief 2-storey northlight-type factory, and a drainage ditch or culvert under the track front-right (left of current water tower location) to give some height variance and different viewing angles, taking advantage of the 3.5cm depth below the track. Also possibly replace the water tower with a small site office/shed or other small building.

5. Apply ground cover

 

This is going to be different to previous builds I've shared here since I'll be building this in my free evenings and weekends whilst at Uni, rather than in a few weeks over a summer holiday. As I'm not at home I also don't have access to dad's collection of "serious" tools (hacksaw, drill, soldering iron etc), making step 3 the most challenging despite being only two words. Overall there's plenty to be doing, so I should better get started!

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8 hours ago, lazythread said:

Love your diesel shunter conversion. There were 10 similar Hudswell Clarke shunters, BR class D2/12. One survives, D2511 on the Keighley and Worth Valley railway.

 

Well there's a surprise! I never thought my freelance model would be that similar to something that actually ran on British metals. Thank you!

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Here we go, Arrow Paints Part 2.

 

First step: remove existing front siding. This was surprisingly easy to do, as the cereal box card surface layer simply delaminated, meaning the track came up with the ballast still attached, and left a nice clean surface behind with very little extra tidying effort required.

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In the mean time a parcel had arrived from Hattons, containing a new Gaugemaster controller and a couple of cheap points. I deliberately left the bulky old Bachmann controller at home on the main layout over Christmas, and I already love the lightweight, hand-sized Combi. The points also seem to be in good condition, so a nice find there.

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Next up, after a visit to the well-known hardware store Poundland, the original front siding could be hacksawed to length, joined to the y-point and the 'concrete' inlay trimmed to avoid the point blades. Then the track was PVA'd down to the base, and left under a stack of Terry Pratchett for a while. 

Whilst that set, the second box (which isn't in great condition, it has to be said) was prepared; ends and front cut to match Part 1, and corrugated card (the other benefit of parcels: free cardboard) laid down. This time the supports underneath run purely front-to-back rather than zig-zaging, so I can fit stock drawers beneath the layout - might as well make use of that space, and make the whole lot a bit more transportable. Here's the layout at close of play:

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Whilst I enjoyed the hemmed-in feel of the original layout, I'm already loving how much space I've got to watch trains properly shunt around now.

Currently, the second box is being subjected to the stack o' books whilst the various layers of card are glued up.

I'm not sure how to hide the join between boxes at the front; I've left as much original wall in as possible for now, and would like to keep something there so the lids can close securely. At the same time, I don't want to block the view of the crossover, as it's literally the centrepiece of the layout now. And next up, I need to buy a LH point and a length or two more track, and work out how I'm going to wire it all up without a soldering iron. 

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I'm sure the late great Sir Terry would absolutely approve of your use of his published works - mad as a hatter, he was. Lovely bloke, met him a couple of times before his Alzheimers started to really show. One of a kind, that man. He will be missed.

 

On a less saddening note, I'm excited to see how your expansion progresses :)

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These updates are pretty much weekly, it seems. I wonder if that's something to do with when I have time for playing trains...

Anyway, after this particular weekend, the layout looks like this:

1857404409_19.Trackglueing.JPG.045bb30f369b85a412ff435fe49c9308.JPG

 

So not much different! Only, now there's track under those books. Which earlier, looked more like this:

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It can be seen that I've been playing around with potential structures; at the box join, the old airfix crane boom will now form a vertical support for a pipe bridge I've yet to build from plastruct, with an office/shed building at the foot. This sits against what will become a low wall, the other side of which (in the new box) will be a culvert emerging from below the track. The new box will also feature a skytrex-inspired low-relief northlight factory building, and a skewed road bridge of some form.

 

As for the original box, it's seen the addition of a pair of hidden wires joining the two sidings, a point operating lever cobbled together from card and a paperclip, and the hard standing tidied up. The first two are incredibly sketchy; wires held to tracks with glue not solder, and a card slider barely reinforced that probably won't survive much abuse. But they work well for now, which is all they need to! The new concrete needs painting, but I'm actually quite happy with it being a different colour so I may just leave it for a while.

1958367490_19.Relaidhardstanding(1).JPG.0e0f8adea250e9040c35aa8190bd7499.JPG

 

This weeks projects include building that pipe bridge and making a start on the low relief factory and culvert. I should probably add a few more wires to the layout, too; it's possible to operate a loco on every piece of track, but only if all the points are set correctly. 

Nonetheless, it's already proved successful to me - I can keep the layout set up in a corner, and just pick up the controller and shunt a few wagons whenever I want to. The track plan also means that the loco moves amongst the wagons, rather than being stuck at one end always half off scene. Perfect!

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 19/01/2020 at 21:36, TechnicArrow said:

These updates are pretty much weekly, it seems.

 

Had to jynx it, didn't I? Anyway, here we are 3 weeks later. To be honest, progress on the boxes has been pretty slow, until an empty weekend gave me time to get everything sorted and tidied.

 

First, a mock-up of the culvert has been added; the front cut down, some trusty cereal box card cut and folded, and a glue stick to represent the pipe. I'm now thinking this is a bit oversized and could potentially fit a pedestrian underpass or a normal bridge over a stream, but it wouldn't make much sense with the factory behind.

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Now, that factory. I started by working out the rough dimensions of the Skytrex 2-storey northlight factory, and built off that. I decided to build in a similar style to the Scalescenes dairy; layers of card, with slots that can be left open to allow the building to be separated so the box lid can close. In a moment of questionable decisions I chose to put the windows on top of the 3-layer card sandwich (plain back, 4 "buttresses", front sheet with window openings), so they are just behind the brick. I drew the windowframes on with a sharpie to match the dairy, then cut and fixed the brickwork to the front.

1151589362_21.NorthlightFactorybuild(1).JPG.d0e8e6d9ba302a9b394c111e08176e4c.JPG

 

And then I stopped taking photos!

The buttresses were added over the card between the main wall panels, with an extra layer of card behind them to make them stand a little more proud than just the thickness of the brick sheet. A footing was added along the base of the wall at the same thickness as the buttresses, and window sills and arches were cut out of more cereal box card to hide the questionable brickwork.

Then the entire thing was repeated for the upper section, but this time with the the window frames drawn on after I'd fixed the brick facade. A thin band of brickwork was added to hide most of the joint between the 2 parts, vents were added to the apex of each roof, and a capping strip was fixed along the top.

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My plan is to buy some brick coloured and stoney-mortary-woody coloured paints, to cover the entire facade and disguise some of the exposed card edges.

 

The other major structure is the pipe bridge. This has been built out of Paststruct lengths. I started with the top and bottom "panels", one of which has an extra pair of struts beneath it to locate over the lattice pillar. These two panels were then joined using further struts:

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Then diagonals were slowly added, to create a truss.

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As a civil engineering student I recognise the lack of diagonals in the top and bottom panels means it is technically a mechanism and wouldn't survive any wind loading whatsoever, but I ran out of material and it looks fine as it is! All it needs are some pipes and a lick of paint.

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Finally, if you look carefully you can see D23 has got her windows at last. Such a small addition has made a surprising difference to the overall appearance of the loco, in person at least.

So it's a shame that the chassis it sits on has died! I've discovered it's completely dry inside; but being a Bachmann split-chassis Mazzak block monstrosity from 2003ish it's difficult to keep oiled, since the chassis is both the bearing the electrical path. And besides, the axles are all split, it produces a burning smell when given a good run, and it can't run with the jackshafts on because they're not on an axle and lock up the coupling rods. In short, I need to find a new 03/04 chassis (or a new loco!), which is a shame because for all it's faults it usually achieves some excellent slow speeds. Ah well. 

Next up should be the overbridge, followed by the office and culvert area.

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