Sandhole Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 25 minutes ago, Ruston said: Cheers, Chris! Whilst I'm on a roll with wagons. I've had this 20-ton coke hopper on my bench for months. It might need a bit of tweaking to the weathering yet, but I thought I may as well give it a run now that it's got some couplings. Is it the kit or the Hornby wagon, Dave? Chris. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 13 minutes ago, Sandhole said: Is it the kit or the Hornby wagon, Dave? Chris. They're both Hornby. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Ruston Posted November 1, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 1, 2021 Having a play with the trainset at the moment. 15 3 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 Nice set of photo's Dave, always good to see some pics 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 I'm thinking of making some changes. The workshop building for the haulage yard serves well as a view blocker for the line going through the backscene to the scrapyard, but the siding into it doesn't really add much to the operational interest. I'm considering using the area for the cutting of condemned wagons and the loading of their remains into outgoing trains. As things are, cond wagons get shunted to the far scrapyard siding and it's a very short shunt when one is removed by the hand of god. Having the cutting area here means the far siding will be used for storage and a much longer movement is needed to bring the wagons into this area. There's also the wagons that need to be shunted in for filling. It gives me the excuse to buy one of those Langley white metal and etched brass 22RB crane kits. 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 (edited) I haven't done anything about remodelling the haulage yard, but I have added another item of rolling stock to the roster. I liked the look of this Hornby CAR, with it's yellow panels and "air piped" branding on the ends, so I bought one to run with the VDAs. I've weathered it and have added air and vac pipes, plus Heljan screw link couplings. All I need now is an air-braked BR loco. Both of my BR shunters are vac only. I have a second hand Bachmann 350 stashed away, so that will get a repaint and renumber etc. Edited May 11, 2022 by Ruston 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 (edited) The 1976 RCTS brake van tour of yards and branches around Birmingham. Driver Eddie awaits "all those bloody trainspotters" being rounded up and getting aboard so he can give the train back to BR and go for a pint in The Garrison. He had been asked to run right up to the buffer stops but he told the organiser to go forth and multiply. Eddie never was very diplomatic. Edited May 11, 2022 by Ruston 15 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mol_PMB Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 27 minutes ago, Ruston said: The 1976 RCTS brake van tour of yards and branches around Birmingham. Driver Eddie awaits "all those bloody trainspotters" being rounded up and getting aboard so he can give the train back to BR and go for a pint in The Garrison. He had been asked to run right up to the buffer stops but he told the organiser to go forth and multiply. Eddie never was very diplomatic. Let’s hope a different driver is on duty when the Branch Line Society visit! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted January 4, 2022 Author Share Posted January 4, 2022 (edited) I have cleared the former haulage yard and have made a start on a building to block the view of the entry/exit to the scrapyard board. Buildings are the element of layout building that I am hopeless at. Ideally I wanted something to look Victorian, but even cutting apertures these Wills sheets is difficult enough, without cutting arches. Then there's making the window frames and all the rest. The result is a nondescript industrial building without windows and of indeterminate age. I'll have a tracked, or wheeled, crane to load the lumps of chopped up wagons into other wagons. Edited May 11, 2022 by Ruston 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mol_PMB Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 I always found those Wills sheets almost impossible to work with! A piercing saw and plenty of patience seemed to be the best bet. If you want the Victorian look, have you considered something from laser-cut MDF instead? Having said that, the nondescript modern building doesn't look out of place there, and seems to be coming together well. Good work! Mol 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted January 4, 2022 Author Share Posted January 4, 2022 17 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said: I always found those Wills sheets almost impossible to work with! A piercing saw and plenty of patience seemed to be the best bet. If you want the Victorian look, have you considered something from laser-cut MDF instead? Having said that, the nondescript modern building doesn't look out of place there, and seems to be coming together well. Good work! Mol I don't like laser-cut brickwork. It always seems just too perfect and uniform for the sort of old and rather ramshackle industrial buildings that I try to make. There's also the joins, where you can clearly see where the parts interlock. I don't suppose that's really any worse than the mismatched ends, and joint line, that you get with Wills sheets. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose? And cost, of course. The main problem is that I usually want something custom to fit a space, rather than making the space fit a specific building. In this case it needs to be a peculiar shape. I need to retain the depth from the backscene in order to be a viewblocker, but for the rest to be shallower to leave more ground area. This Gordon Edgar photo shows the place that inspired the building that I am attempting. It's a long time since I visited that place and it's long since flattened, but I remember that where the photographer would have stood to take that shot the end of the building would have been right next to him and there was a staircase coming down the side. I can't remember now if it was bricked in, or an open iron or steel structure, but you get the idea. https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/22534795859 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mol_PMB Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 That photo is a wonderful inspiration! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfaZagato Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 Do you have a circle cutter? Like one of the Olfa jobs? Might make cutting arches easier. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted January 4, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2022 With Wills sheets I find a hole saw in a pillar dtill the best way to do arched doors and windows, slow drill speed and the sheet firmly clamped obviously. Mike. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted January 4, 2022 Author Share Posted January 4, 2022 3 minutes ago, AlfaZagato said: Do you have a circle cutter? Like one of the Olfa jobs? Might make cutting arches easier. I have one. It would be hard work trying to cut the Wills sheets though. 2 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said: With Wills sheets I find a hole saw in a pillar dtill the best way to do arched doors and windows, slow drill speed and the sheet firmly clamped obviously. Mike. I don't possess a pillar drill, unfortunately. This is my own photo, taken at Vernon & Roberts yard. I stood on the stairs to take the photo. 9 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barclay Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 (edited) I find the consistency of the Wills sheets can vary enormously - some are quite pliable but others can be as brittle as glass, which makes cutting out really hard. The Wills moulded brick arches for windows are very useful as you can use them to cover up a slightly ragged edge. Edited December 8, 2022 by Barclay 11 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted January 5, 2022 Author Share Posted January 5, 2022 3 hours ago, Barclay said: The Wills moulded brick arches for windows are very useful as you can use them to cover up a slightly ragged edge. What window frames did you use for that building? I can't find any Wills frames as small as those with a curved top. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barclay Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 2 hours ago, Ruston said: What window frames did you use for that building? I can't find any Wills frames as small as those with a curved top. They were cut out from good quality card using a fresh Swann-Morton blade. The cross frames are a cheat, scored on the glazing with paint rubbed into the lines. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted January 5, 2022 Author Share Posted January 5, 2022 (edited) On 05/01/2022 at 14:59, Barclay said: They were cut out from good quality card using a fresh Swann-Morton blade. The cross frames are a cheat, scored on the glazing with paint rubbed into the lines. Thanks for that. I've done a little more work on the building. I added a thickening layer of brickwork to the top edge for no other reason than to make it look less plain. The fuel tank was previously in the yard anyway, so has simply been reused. In this position it would hide any windows anyway but I will put a long window behind it. I found some laser-cut plastic doors. I bought them a long time ago for an engine shed but they were far too large. I cut them down to fit here. The skylight on the flat roof is one of a bunch of these Ratio kits that I picked up at an exhibition for just a pound each. Unfortunately, because the doors open inward, I won't actually be able to keep a loco in the building. A skylight window frame will go in the wall, behind the fuel tank and at the same height as the RSJ in the doorway. I'll probably put one in the LH end wall, too. The part with the flat roof will need a couple of small windows. Tommorow evening is late opening at my local model shop and I'm hoping they have some Wills slate roofing sheets in stock. It's also fish and chips for tea from the drive-through chippy, near the model shop. Edited May 11, 2022 by Ruston 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barclay Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 A late opening model shop and a drive through chippy? Yorkshire must truly be God's own County. 1 2 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 14 hours ago, Barclay said: Yorkshire must truly be God's own County. I thought everyone knew that already. 2 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 (edited) Slight change of plan. By replacing the doors with a single sliding door I can fit a very small engine in the building. Now you see it... Now you don't. I made the door from scratch and fitted one of the Ratio skylight frames into it. It works, as in it slides. I have to devise some method of operating it hands-free. At the other side of the yard, I'm considering having a very rusty loco on blocks and without wheels, surrounded by scrap. This Hornby Peckett body is the chosen victim. It doesn't leave as much space as I would like for the crane, so that plan may be revised once I get a crane and can see how much space it takes up. Edited May 11, 2022 by Ruston 19 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortuga Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 Those cab steps are stronger than they look! 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 (edited) I'm thinking of what to do about the crane. Langley Models 22RB? Corgi Coles crane (tyred)? Perhaps, if I could find one anywhere! None on ebay or retail shops. As above but rail-mounted. Nonneminstre kit? Scotch Derrick? A lot of scratchbuilding but unusual and not often modelled. Would take up a lot of space with the legs. Unless they were ever set up to work within the 90 degrees rather than the 270 degrees that every picture I have seen is. I don't want to go to all the trouble of building one and setting it up like that, only for some smartarse to tell me how wrong it is. Photographic evidence required... Edited January 6, 2022 by Ruston 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mol_PMB Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 I need a Scotch Derrick too! Though on the current layout it would have to be in low relief. This one might be suitable for the current layout, though the jib is wrong for my prototype: https://modeltechstudios.com/oscalerailroadtracksidesteelstifflegderrick-crane.aspx I’ve only ever seen them set up to work in the 270 degrees. For my future layout plan I need a much bigger one. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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