Bluemonkey presents.... Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Brilliant thread Castle, thank you for sharing. Fantastic modelling and interesting story telling. Also thank you for the notes for various products and suppliers, a gold mine of help and reference. 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium figworthy Posted December 22, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 22, 2019 7 hours ago, Castle said: Now, Who Would Live in a House Like This? Hi All, Mr Hedgehog Definition: A tragedy was discovered in the inspection pit under No. 31 a couple of years back. A poor hedgehog had chosen this spot to breath his last, to shuffle off his mortal coil, to join the choir invisible, to cease to be. He had been there a while too so was not what you might call ‘factory fresh’. We were lighting up No. 31. What better way to honour this brave creature, this denizen of the night, this citizen of nature, than to send it out in a blaze of glory in the firebox? No digging a hole, no emptying the bins. No more smell. Top job we thought. Well... If Mr Hedgehog wasn’t smelling that great in his pre-toasted form then with the heat of the firebox, the smell took on a whole new dimension. It was utterly and fundamentally indescribable but I will try because I feel this cautionary tale deserves to be told. The tasting (sniffing?) notes would go something like this: Burnt hair and rot with a fungusy, almost incinerated blue cheesy top note. Hints of death. In the cab. The enclosed cab. Where we were working. 0/10. Would not do again. Do not recommend. It’s Grand Designs - 1948 style! Here are some of the painted objects before fitting. Many a moment spent swearing, er, I mean enjoying our wonderful hobby painting this lot... So - a grand tour of the premises! This is Mr Bill’s office. The stove has a fire flicker LED in it for maximum effect. The scuttle is full in order to replenish it should it go out. The kettle awaits its next turn of duty on the top of the cabinet. His briefcase is on the chair next to the door and the clock ticks off the hours. The pictures are top left, No. 31 climbing Fawley Hill, bottom left. Nos. 4472 & 4079 together in the 1970s and bottom right, Sir and Lady McAlpine. The desk has a range of documents on its red leather top, including timetables, wagon labels and the like. The green deep buttoned chair is well loved and pushed aside as if the boss has stepped out for a minute... The other end has the bench seat from the coach, the supplied office chair and a map of William Street Yard with the Fawley Fliers (note original spelling) logo board, as attached to 81M - William Street Shed in the heats of the competition. The workshop end is a little more sparsely populated. There are only two small windows a side so this is more than enough. There are a couple things f lamps in for a quick repair to get them back into service. The spanners on the wall should be a darker metallic colour I know but they catch the light like this and in the tiny window the contents is a bit more about effect than substance. A vacuum hose has had the ends fitted to it and is ready to go on the crippled wagon with a few brake components ordered in from Swindon to get a vehicle back in traffic. The oil drum was put in as a bit of a filler and really is just a shape in the corner of the window when all is said and done. I wouldn’t want to have to lift that full into the coach body frankly... So, here is the plan view. I didn’t do anything in the toilet area as I’m not into modelling that sort of thing... Does anyone still laugh at the ‘bloke on the loo’ type figures anyway? All you will see is a glow through the obscured glass anyway. So there is a whole bunch of work that few show visitors will ever see! Do have a look next time we are at a show. Tell me if you think it was worth it! We just have to plant the building now and we are sorted for structures for the first show at least. We do have to do the bridge over the entrance and I would like to do a bike rack based on the one at Didcot too but that’s a little way down the line from here. Pun, of course, intended. I’ll get my coat... All the best, Castle Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of William Street Yard! Not sure whether to give you a "Sympathetic" for your dealings with the Hedgehog (RIP) or a "Craftsmanship" for the modelling. Adrian 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share Posted December 23, 2019 Hi All, Thanks for all the likes and comments people - much appreciated as always. I’ll have a bit of free time tomorrow so I will try and upload another episode of William Street Yard before the beginning of festivities. I’m glad I’m of some small service No. 46 - I post here just because I enjoy sharing what we do! Adrian - that probably should be G.I.P. (Grill In Peace) or B.I.P. (Bake In Peace). Although, having thought about it, R.I.P. could mean Roast In Peace. I’ll get my coat... I still however cannot strongly encourage this to NOT be a thing that you do for the love of all that is nasal. All the best, Castle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted December 24, 2019 Author Share Posted December 24, 2019 A Little Light Entertainment? Hi All, Ernie Definition: No, not the guy that drove the fastest milk cart in the West (now I’m showing my age...) but one of the two resident Planet shunting locos at Fawley. Named after a much admired and missed volunteer Ernie Dove. It has a weird habit of sounding like it’s going to stall the moment you go to move off but never does. Never fails to make you THINK it’s going to keel over though! The other one is as yet un-named but I suggested Attenborough as it is painted blue. Get it? After much consideration and weighing up all the pros and cons, it was decided to place the coach body here. This was because: It gave interest to the last bit of the baseboard. The boss would be able to look out of his office and see all the goings on. It meant we didn’t have to fill the holes in the baseboard left by the previous placement of the water crane. No drilling of extra holes to put the wiring through. Lazy or what? You can also see that Harry has made a start on fitting the buffers, starting with the short leg ones in the ‘loco bay’. Using the short ones, we could get an LMS Duchess or A 9F in and water it. (We tried it!) so we should be able to get most other stuff in barring an LMS / LNER Garrett. I think we can live with that... While buffers commenced, I got on with the wiring for the coach body. In the interest of keeping it simple, the legs of the LEDs were used as the structure and simply painted black to disguise them. The positioning was determined by the positions of the partitions in the model. The large wrap of insulation tape looks a bit like a bodge but it traps the wire in the hole in the toilet compartment of the model. No need to glue it in so if it goes wrong, I stand a chance of getting it out again. Fire flicker LED - naturally. Here it is installed and ready to plant. First test is good! The area at the end of the lean-to creates a lovely space for a cameo scene and there is JUST enough space to put in the limited clutter needed to ‘sell’ this building. I was really pleased with this view! The buffers and track bottom right look weird. Must be an effect of the digital camera because it isn’t weird in person... A bit of weathering to even it all out when finishing will no doubt help. Buffers up the other end of the yard continue to go in. The design of the yard was based VERY vaguely on Moreton Cutting near Didcot. In order to fit it on however, the two areas of the yard were flipped over on themselves so that instead of a fan of sidings with two head shunts, it took on this arrowhead shape. Just for fun and intentional operational difficult (and to fit them in!), the last two sidings were reversed again on a third head shunt, creating the front yard. This is where we tend to keep the P-Way stock, this adding another dimension to operations. The two P-Way sidings are nearest the camera, then the middle yard head shunt, then the three-way point that forms the crossover between the middle and back yards and the start of the reception, departure and sidings of the back yard. Very compressed and technically no need for two locos to shunt it given its size but it keeps things moving when on show. The ash paths in between the ballast is also beginning to be seen here. The hard work Harry did in getting the original ballast straight really pays dividends now. Some more of the retaining wall and scenery going in too. With the ash paths down around here too, the details begin to be added. I know the roof of the coach isn’t sat down correctly, the light is escaping but this is because I hadn’t completely sealed it before we had thoroughly tested it. I would hate to have to rip my hard work to bits. Miss Trees and Alan still has a bit of work to do here on the greenery at the back here too. Then Harry’s Dean Goods (which seems to act as a test vehicle for the layout!), was brought out to pose on the layout. All this, with Miss Trees’ marvellous backdrop makes a massive difference in the way the layout looks. You might say that the difference is night... ...and day! The jacks were originally on 81M - William Street Shed and are Modelu items scanned from the originals at Didcot. It’s very weird to use models of something that was scanned off a tool you actually use! 3 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted December 24, 2019 Author Share Posted December 24, 2019 At this point, a short photo session occurred. There are the potential for some very nice angles here for show visitors to take pictures of. The roof here is also loose for testing purposes but also because I have a small cameo scene in mind for here that needs a figure inside the building. I’m going to leave the crack of light under the door. I’d like to say it’s a clever, intentional detail but it’s serendipity at work I’m afraid! The Dean Goods is obviously on a rail tour here. The coach is used to test all the clearances, just like it would be on a regular layout. The grind stone and track maintenance tools are all from the sadly departed Coopercraft range. Here is the Dean Goods, lurking in the rear yard. Shame that coupling is all twisted up! The same view from a different angle. It is amazing how the moods of the photos change with the angle they are taken at. We must try to preserve this quality at shows. Last two, then I’ll go away! The bothy and the store from one end... ...and the other. That’s enough for now! We are really pleased as to how far this has come from its baptism of fire and I hope that you agree that it has been worth the effort. The big thing the scene is missing now is life. Figures and so on. I hate painting figures... On that bombshell (!), it only leaves me to offer, on behalf of myself and all the Fawley Flyers, a very happy Christmas to you all and we hope you all have a very peaceful and prosperous new year. All the best, Castle Tune in next decade for the next exciting installment of William Street Yard! 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted December 25, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 25, 2019 Hi, I have just caught up with this thread, some great modelling and storytelling. I have a suggestion for the rooves, could you make a rectangular frame that is stuck to the roof that is a snug fit inside the walls, this would allow you to remove the roof without damaging anything should the need arise and if not properly seated stop the light from escaping. Merry Christmas, 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgman Posted December 25, 2019 Share Posted December 25, 2019 Nice work C, What better visitor than a Dean Goods ! Merry Festives to you. G 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted December 26, 2019 Author Share Posted December 26, 2019 Hi BGM & SS, Thanks guys! Really appreciated. I hoped the tales of preservation and modelling through the Flyerspeak Dictionary was going down well! The Oxford Dean Goods scrubs up well doesn’t it BGM? I know it’s not 100% but it’s a great runner, looks the part from a distance once weathered and is at a very reasonable price point too. The tales of daring(?) modelling do will continue in the new year. Great point on the roofs SS - worth considering in the future. Thanks mate! All the best, Castle PS: A quick look at ‘Santa’s Sleigh’ below for your entertainment and edification! The poor engine wasn’t very well here however. It had tinselitus. I’ll fetch my coat - again... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgman Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 4 hours ago, Castle said: The Oxford Dean Goods scrubs up well doesn’t it BGM? Even nicer in 7mm (when its eventually finished ! ) Just the odd few bits and I'm done, only a year gone by !!! Please keep posting. G 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted December 26, 2019 Author Share Posted December 26, 2019 (edited) Hi BGM, Now that is VERY nice indeed - lovely job. I seem to remember you recording the build somewhere - stick a link in the thread if I'm right please! The Dean Goods needs its moment in the preservation spotlight. It really deserves better than its current position in Steam. Still, who knows for the future? All the best, Castle PS: There is still quite a bit to even just catch up with the current state of play with William Street Yard - let alone the future - posting will continue for a while yet! Edited December 26, 2019 by Castle 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schooner Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 (edited) What a find this is! Not sure how I'd missed this wonderful layout and thread till now. Thank you Castle, it's as entertaining as it is inspirational and informative - a real treat in this period of sodden days and long darks All the best to you and Flyers all for the coming year, can't wait to see what you get up to! Schooner Edited December 27, 2019 by Schooner Spejjing 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted December 27, 2019 Author Share Posted December 27, 2019 Hi Schooner, Thanks mate! That’s very kind of you to say so. There will be shenanigans aplenty in the new decade so stay tuned... All the best, Castle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted January 4, 2020 Author Share Posted January 4, 2020 Paintwork and Homework Hi All, Blue Hooty B******ds (BHBs) Definition: Peacock. Especially during mating season when they get territorial. Just when you don’t need it, just when all is quiet. Just when they know they are going to make you jump... AaaaaaahhhhhAAAAAAAAHHHHHaaaaaaahhhh! They also seem to need to attempt to get locked into a building. You do NOT want a BHB locked into a building. That is the road to a frankly evil mess. The best BHB incident however was during the filming of GMRC Season 1, when a clearly very urban member of the film crew, because of the interruption to filming their noise was causing, asked if the could be “moved to another field”. Oh dear. They had to be taken aside and have it explained to them that they were birds, thusly that they were equipped with wings and that, as a result, that BHBs really went where they liked... Well, we had a think, and decided that the colour for the layout would have to be freight grey. It turns out that the B&Q range of mix it while you wait paints has a colour that is pretty darn close. We went with a satin finish. Gloss would detract from the layout and matt would be a dirt magnet! No, I don’t get Harry to bow when I take pictures. Bit of a weird shot of him here... You can see the wooden cushion mount along the top of the back scene awaiting its comfortable cushion adding. Working on the layout like this even without the cushion, it’s pretty good. The grey offers a really nice counterpoint to the black and the polished metal. I think we made the right choice. We did paint both the fiddle yard and the layout but for some reason I only got pictures of the latter. Thankfully, we were able to paint on the Saturday and Sunday was a running day so we got them both done in a weekend. So - to the homework... I started to paint up the various detail bits that are going to be around the layout. I was worried that we would need a TON of this stuff but looking at photos of shunting yards, obviously they kept the walkways fairly clear - the shunters don’t want to trip up on stuff if you think about it! Wooden barrels and rabbits are 3D prints from eBay. The barrow is an etched kit from Severn Models. The rest, lamps, brake block stack, shunter’s poles and lamps are Modelu items - again scanned from originals at Didcot! The front of the layout had been up for debate for a while. We didn’t know quite what to do with it but we knew we wanted a feel of looking into the railway from outside - a sort of spotter’s eye view if you will. In the end, Alan came up with a fab idea of a slight embankment with a fence and a series of steps leading to a fence. He did a grand job of doing the steps and then handed the plank over to me for paint and fencing. Various types were tried and nothing that was available really fitted. Then, out of desperation I ordered the GWR spear-top fencing from Ratio. The spear tops are horrible but the rest is pretty good so, being a pragmatist, I cut the spears off! Wartime scrap drive perhaps? The result was a cheap but good looking fence all the way along the front of the layout. There are several sets of steps down to the yard and the fence, being non-railway in looks now hints at this not always being a railway property. Perhaps it was once Part of a grand estate’s garden? Who knows - but it’s now a shunting yard and that’s cool! To the strains of ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ I will leave you for this time. I’ll get my coat... All the best, Castle Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of William Street Yard! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Mikkel Posted January 5, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 5, 2020 11 hours ago, Castle said: AaaaaaahhhhhAAAAAAAAHHHHHaaaaaaahhhh! Whatever glue you boys are using, can I have some? 11 hours ago, Castle said: The result was a cheap but good looking fence all the way along the front of the layout. That's very interesting to me as I have recently ordered a Ratio spearpoint fence to see if it could be used at the front of my new layout! The quality sounds worrying though. I have an old Scalelink etch, which is nice but quite fragile for a position at the front. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 Hi Mikkel, 11 hours ago, Mikkel said: Whatever glue you boys are using, can I have some? Deluxe Materials old chap... 11 hours ago, Mikkel said: That's very interesting to me as I have recently ordered a Ratio spearpoint fence to see if it could be used at the front of my new layout! The quality sounds worrying though. I have an old Scalelink etch, which is nice but quite fragile for a position at the front. One of the reasons for using this stuff was that it was easily obtained if replacement was required. As you say, its a bit vulnerable at the front of the layout. We have fitted it and it looks pretty good in situ. All the best, Castle 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemonkey presents.... Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 Wow how long is that fence! There's some other serious products available at Fawley, lol. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgman Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 3 hours ago, Castle said: Deluxe Materials old chap... NOT to be sniffed at eh ! G 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 3 hours ago, No46 said: Wow how long is that fence! There's some other serious products available at Fawley, lol. Hi 46, Its about 6 - 7 feet long. Long enough! All the best, Castle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 Everybody knows they love MASHED POTATO! Hi All, SMASH! Definition: Derived, of course, from the big green, gamma radiation infused one’s catchphrase of HULK SMASH! If something isn’t going well one simply has to say your name and then the word SMASH to fully articulate the finer points of ones ire and displeasure in a succinct manner that all Flyers can understand. Can also be used if you do actually break something too. Example of uses: Flyer 1: “I say [insert name here], you appear to be at deadlock with your current task.” Flyer 2: “Grrrrrrrrrrr - [insert same name here] SMASH!” Flyer 1: “Watch out [insert name here] - that brand new expensive model is right on the edge of the table, you are going to knock it - never mind, too late...” Flyer 2: “Ooooooops - [insert same name here] SMASH!” Well, lots of the work this time round was chasing a few issues with wiring and the like which is singularly un-photogenic. A few shots to be getting on with of the details painted up last time. Firstly, the office / workshop area is now done except for figures. I don’t like painting figures... I couldn’t resist a look through the windows into Mr Bill’s office. I’m quite pleased with this! It does need the figure of Sir outside though. I really don’t like painting figures. The both area has a few tools laid out ready for the superb 3D printed P-Way personnel, loco crews and shunters that we have from Modelu. Did I mention I REALLY don’t like painting figures? Painting animals isn’t much better... Bunnies on the loose! Finally, the consumers of the aforementioned mashed Potatoes! Leigh, one of our members has a thing about badgers being on his layouts. I painted up a batch of Dart Castings badgers a while back and they seem to have migrated (I’m not sure badgers do that you know...) onto William Street Yard. Miss Trees even did a set for them. Leigh doesn’t need encouragement like that. Well, this was a brief update so let’s look at what we have left to do. The layout will need a lighting rig. Captain Phil has experience in this department so he has become volunteered in this area. There is a few areas of greenery for Miss Trees to finish off, including what is being referred to as the centre piece tree that goes at the back in the middle. The ply needs some nice edging strip round it to tidy it up. The signage and displays need sorting. I have a plan here... A general tidy and trial of the layout. Figures. Did I mention that I don’t like painting figures? All the best, Castle Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of William Street Yard! STOP PRESS:The completed William Street Yard will be on display at Didcot Railway Centre over the weekend of 15th & 16th February for the 'Delivering The Goods' Event alongside a whole host of other exciting events and demonstrations. We hope you can come along and enjoy the fun! For more information please click the link here: https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/product.php/55/delivering-the-goods 7 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 (edited) Making Good(s)? Hi All Drop Squirrel Definition: A new species, discovered by yours truly. It may, of course, be related to that fiendish Australian creature - the Drop Bear. I will have to leave science to answer these important questions in the fullness of time. Picture the scene. There I was, opening up the lower museum floor so we could get to work on the layout. We always open up one of the big shutter doors to make it easier to get the layout and our things into the space. Absentmindedly, thinking about the day’s work, I get hold of the chains, ready to crank the door up and over. They give out a slight metallic click as I prepare to pull on them... Unbeknownst to me, a little grey furry assassin is lurking in my midst. There is a rustle, a clatter of claws on metal and then it’s in free-flight. The deadly Drop Squirrel is in attack mode! I barely get out of its part ninja, part skydive style assault. It has miscalculated however and I’m too fast today (this is NEVER the case, so I’m quite pleased to report this bit!). It has nowhere to go but where gravity takes it. It lands on the floor with a really loud furry flop / slap sort of a noise. For a moment, it lays there, stunned, looking for all the world like an absurd squirrel version of those Victorian tiger skin rugs. Is it dead? I should, of course, know better... Before I can get to it, this small ball of arboreal malevolence jumps to its feet, looks behind itself at me as if to shake it’s metaphorical fist and say “Next time Sasquatch, next time!” And then dashes off towards the engine shed. Ready make further plans and to strike another day. Look to the skies and be wary my friends... The question of adding value for show visitors to the layout is a knotty one. Some of the things you see done are a little tacky (saints preserve us all from the flashing welder LED), other people just run a railway. Rule one is obviously in effect, we would like a little bit of audience interaction with our model. First amongst this is the pictures. On the original Fawley Junction, there were a number of photographs of the GWR AND BR(W) freight operations dating back to the broad gauge era. These scans were kindly given to us by my friends in the Great Western Trust - the Museum wing of the Great Western Society for use with the layout and I figured it would be a shame to not use them. The fact was however, that we didn’t have anything like the space required to show them all again. I didn’t like having to choose between the fantastic images so an idea formed. A digital photo frame is the obvious answer and the fact that eBay can now supply them at silly cheap means that it’s almost rude not to buy one! The whole 6mm thick ply end panel was replaced by a 6mm thick laser cut acrylic section. This was actually more expensive than the photo frame! A series of holes were cut into it to allow the frame to be mounted in it, a frame to retain it on the rear and the bolts and screws required to mount it all. A screw in retaining piece was fitted on the front, as was the layouts name. This is done in the style of the GWR cast signal box / ground frame signs. The usual (and entirely appropriate in most cases) station style sign want right for a good yard. The pictures are all on a tiny USB drive and the frame also has the ability to play music too. I don’t know quite why this is a thing but I have a use for it. More of this later. Note Harry in stealth mode here... To keep the theme going, the artwork I already had for the ‘don’t go in the signal box’ sign was altered to discourage finger related assistance from members of the public. The edges of the ply were tidied up with a suitably sized black plastic ‘L’ section. This was cut to size and then glued in place with 5 minute epoxy. The blue tape simply held it all in place while the glue dried. A tidy up in the fiddle yard to make it a bit more user friendly was initiated too. The bulldog clips used to link the cassettes together were given a home and then a TV wall bracket was added. The Fawley Museum Society has a DVD that was produced a few years ago and it is a wonderful record of the railway. It was therefore deemed a good idea to display this at shows. The bracket is shown here in its transport position - the trains going around Devil’s Curve would have a bit of an issue with it where it is... a simple second block was fitted to keep it off the track. The space immediately to the right is where the controller caddy lives and to the left is where the DVD playing equipment goes. The white plastic trunking tidied away the wire for the fiddle yard camera and we can also see a test confection of the lighting rig. Exciting times! Edited January 19, 2020 by Castle 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 (edited) Miss Trees is hard at work doing the centre tree display. This will be a large tree that forms the ‘middle’ high point of the layout’s composition. The end wall is also in place too! The addition of some greenery here will help blend the transition from 2D to 3D. Here indeed is Miss Trees hard at work - this time on the new front embankment... ...and Alan sorting the ash pathways leading to it. A couple of cheeky snaps to finish with. Firstly, looking through the entrance to the layout from the fiddle yard. And finally, the office and loco servicing area at the far end. It’s all coming together now! At this point, is wasn't long before that first show, so it was all hands to the pump! All the best, Castle Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of William Street Yard! Remember: The completed William Street Yard will be on display at Didcot Railway Centre over the weekend of 15th & 16th February for the 'Delivering The Goods' Event alongside a whole host of other exciting events and demonstrations. We hope you can come along and enjoy the fun! For more information please click the link here: https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/product.php/55/delivering-the-goods Edited January 19, 2020 by Castle 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
drduncan Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 How did you make that fantastic sign? DrDuncan 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 (edited) Hi Dr Duncan, I have access to a laser cutter at work and out of hours I get to feed it a few bits of my own acrylic or plywood. The 'don't touch' one is engraved and then painted all over with white acrylic primer. It is then polished, leaving only the paint in the recesses. The other one is simply assembled from bits of black and white acrylic. All the best, Castle Edited January 19, 2020 by Castle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castle Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 He Talks To (and Paints) The Animals... Hi All, Surprise Cow Definition: Thankfully, this is not a species related to the Drop Squirrel (see eponymous previous entry). Can you imagine the mess that would make?! We have a soundscape file that runs on the layout. It took a while to track down a file that was right. All the ‘relaxing sounds of nature’ type things I could find had a babbling brook, watery sort of theme. There isn’t a watercourse of any kind on William Street Yard (and they invoke the need to use the facilities on the older members of the Flyer troop!) so these were inappropriate. Then, after chatting with Graham Muz of this parish at the Milton Keynes show, he put us on to Paul at Big Train Sound. (great products and customer service by the way! https://bigtrainsound.co.uk/ Usual disclaimer). He had the perfect sound file. It’s entitled ‘A Rural Spring Morning’ and its great! There are no vehicle noises to date or place it. It features birdsong, the wind rustling the trees, and a range of noises emanating from the sort of fauna you would expect to hear. No need for constant trips to he bathroom. Wonderful Right near the end is this single cow moo. It’s not out of place, it’s not wrong but it is a little louder than the rest of the animal sounds and quite sudden if you aren’t ready for it. The gentle rustle of the wind. The twittered conversation of the birds. And then... SURPRISE COW! It is funny to watch the unwary jump... Firstly, an update from Captain Phil - the conduit is rapidly forming a sort of layout sized hoop. The thought was to retain the industrial sort of theme by using electrical conduit. We are also luck that not only does Captain Phil have lots of experience working with this stuff, but he also has all the tools to manipulate it too... So, given that we have a bit of countryside , one of the things we don’t mind seeing is a range of wildlife. It has fallen to yours truly to ensure that they are all in the correct livery. A plethora of Dart Castings finest British beasties was ordered and a selection made from that. I know they are a little over scale in places but this is something that people like to discover on layouts so if they are a little more visible then so be it. Like human figures, action poses look strange to me so the sort of at rest thing is how we roll. Left to right: Grey and Red Squirrels: at the time the layout is set, the Reds were giving way to the Greys so the numbers here reflect that. Pigeons: Possibly, more accurately, collared doves. Weasels: They aren’t pine martins - they are stoatally different. The differences are weaselly seen in fact. I’ll get my coat... Hares: like rabbits, only more so. Then we have: Fox: whether he uses the prefix Mr or is indeed fantastic could only be determined by Mr Dhal. Pheasants: A Male and two females. Buzzards: Today, these would be Red Kites but they were still extinct in the UK at the time the layout is set. Sparrow: Male and female Robin: Male Hedgehogs: Snuffly. All our layouts get a model of Sir William so he was next under the paintbrush. Then we need to seal up the bothy next to the grounded IRON MINK so I did the driver with tea mug figure. Both of these figures are from Modelu of course. Then a little Easter egg - FLUFFY! His reputation at Fawley has already been described but it was decided to immortalise him in white metal form. Harry ordered the animals and saw Alpaca he pushed purchase straight away. He will be well hidden from the general public but we will know he is there. Waiting to strike... A few pictures of progress. Here we are looking across the fence into the yard. The spotter’s view? You can see Sir William in the distance. We had a guest pannier and some MICAs turn up so they had their picture taken. The MICAs were some of those used on the 81M William Street Shed layout in the heats of GMRC Series 1. You can see my driver in the bothy enjoying his brew. I want to make the driver part of a small vignette with his fireman outside looking in as if to say hurry up! I have more figures to paint before then however. Lucky me! So we have a few animals to let loose, the last few figures to paint and then the displays and lighting rig to fit. Then we were golden for our first show! This was last year's Beaconsfield show in July. How did we do? Did the layout have an utter electronic meltdown? Was there enough tea & bacon sandwiches? Keep reading to find out! All the best, Castle Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of William Street Yard! Remember: The completed William Street Yard will be on display at Didcot Railway Centre over the weekend of 15th & 16th February for the 'Delivering The Goods' Event alongside a whole host of other exciting events and demonstrations. We hope you can come along and enjoy the fun! For more information please click the link here: https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/product.php/55/delivering-the-goods 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Mikkel Posted January 27, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 27, 2020 You'll have David Attenborough round soon. I like your attention to the status of particular species during the layout period (red/grey squirrels, kites/buzzards). I must point out, though, that alpacas and giant robins were usually only seen late at night in the vicinity of pubs. In the midst of all the madness I'm also enjoying the layout photos, this one in particular. Keep 'em coming please. 7 hours ago, Castle said: 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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