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2 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

 

Narrow Planet have done excellent etched signal box nameboards for us

 

Just like the real thing!

 

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How do you paint the white edge and lettering? Or do you just cope with brass colour?

Paul.

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I suppose one could copy the technique I use for smokebox numbeplates; paint the whole thing white, let if dry off, then paint the whole thing with a topcoat of black (or cream then brown for WR). Then gently wipe the second coat off the raised edge and letters, so that the white undercoat shows through, leaving a black background.

Edited by The Johnster
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Thank you All, the Narrow Planet etched nameplates look excellent. 

 

Couple more pictures

 

Cement wagons viewed from over the fence.  I cannot claim credit for weathering these, they were weathered by Adrian Butler of Lord & Butler (aka Dirty Boy).  When ever I visit the shop I am always impressed by the weathered locos and rolling stock,  inspired me to  have a go myself.   

 

Second photo is  the turntable road at the depot with a new fangled diesel refuelling plant on the right.  I think that in reality the refuelling plant should not be situated so close to the steam shed, but there may be a precedent somewhere, and of course I had limited space, so compromises were required.   I know that when diesel hydraulics first appeared on the Western region they were serviced/maintained alongside steam engines, which often caused problems.           

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I meant to add that the turntable is a Peco turntable powered by an old printer motor (direct drive) suspended under the turntable.  There are no other exit roads so it is simply used to turn locomotives.  I wired in some micro switches triggered by a cam shaft, so that power is cut when the turntable is aligned correctly.  These used to work very well, until I had to replace my original belt driven motor/mechanism because the belt kept slipping.  So having opted for the direct drive mentioned above,  of course now I cannot get the thing to align properly using the micro switches.  (The hours I have spent under the baseboard finely adjusting the cam, it became like a second home !).  Luckily my father in law built a speed controller for me, so I now simply slow the turntable and align it using the naked eye (which is still not infallible, but has proved more reliable than the micro switches.)    

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Couple of images of Platform 1 - Dewchurch station. 

 

Short goods train temporarily occupying the platform road.  Station pilot will couple to rear of train. and draw back into the headshunt before shunting into goods yard. 

 

Passengers waiting for next train (probably running late)

 

 

 

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Couple more photos.

 

The shed scene was taken a few years ago, fitter and cleaner are still there chatting today (must be a long conversation). The 4MT tank is no longer part of my loco stud.  The shed is Townstreet models.

 

Western Enterprise leaving Dewchurch with a parcels train. 

 

 

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Few  loco scenes.

 

King Henry 111 arrives at Dewchurch with The Cornishman.  Of course in my fantasy world this train changes motive power at Dewchurch on outward and return journeys.  I tend to operate Dewchurch in a similar way to Bath Green Park.  So I have passenger and freight services either terminating here, or changing motive power before continuing their journey.  I also have visiting cross country services - so gives me an excuse to run non Western Region motive power and rolling stock.  Best not to look too closely  at my flawed rationale for running some of these trains, all I can say is they generally comply with my late 1950s early 1960s time frame.   

 

Second photo - local auto-train arriving at Harewood Halt.

 

Third photo - Merchant Navy  - Clan Line waiting to depart with a train for the Southern region.  Engine worked the up train,  and following servicing at the MPD was rostered to work the return service to the Southern Region.  This is a TMC weathered model (rare for me to buy already weathered models, but could not resist this one). 

 

The Scale Model Scenery Signal Box nameplates turned up today - very impressive !      

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Thanks Jazzer.  I'm generally pleased with my efforts (most of the time), but amazing what taking photos of the layout can reveal.  Gliches which are not always visible from a couple of foot away.  I am still totally in awe at some of the superb layouts on this website.  I hope I am consistent with my approach to weathering in particular.  I have experimented over the past few years and now have a fairly standard process for weathering locos, rolling stock, people and buildings.   I do find it difficult to hold back and not over weather items.  I think you can get away with it with freight locos and wagons, maybe not quite so much with passenger locos and coaches.  Having said that the period I model was pretty grimy.

 

One example of possibly over heavy weathering is the Jinty in the photo below.  I could not stop myself and just kept adding grunge.

 

Other photo shows the superb Scale Model Scenery signal box nameplates newly installed.  Thanks to Steve and others who recommended these.  I have ordered more for Dewchurch signal box

               

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Edited by Gopher
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Couple of photos of Auto train - Hattons 14xx and Bachmann Auto trailers.

 

Train leaving Dewchurch station, an additonal trailer was added at Dewchurch .

 

Twenty minutes later it arrives at Harewood Halt.   

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Another view of Platform 1 Dewchurch station.

 

I enjoy painting figures, and am in the process of replacing some of the older (and cruder) white metal figures with newer 3D scanned figures.  I think the 3D scanned  figures have been a wonderful innovation.  The detail is excellent which of course makes them a pleasure to paint. 

 

A layout is never finished, and I always find plenty to do, upgrading scenery, buildings, rolling stock, and of course the inevitable fault fixing !        

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Another Shed scene - 8F arrived on shed.   Hornby model- weathered by me.  I add crew, coal and lamps to all my steam locos, and weather them to various degrees.   All steam and diesel locos have after market sound decoders fitted, from various suppliers.   I know not to everyone's taste- but the driveability of the latest decoders, and most of the sound projects are excellent.   Also upgrading the speakers can make a huge difference to the quality of the sound.     

 

Thanks to all for the comments and "likes".    

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I am a fan of the Road Transport Images (RTI) range of commercial vehicles.  Of course a wide range of suitable vehicles are now available from Oxford and other manufacturers. So there is no need to make kits anymore, unless you want a model of a specific vehicle, which is why I turned to  RTI.   

 

Here are a couple of examples of my efforts.

 

I find the biggest challenge in making these kits is glazing the cabs.  Some of the kits come with pre-formed glazing.   My efforts at glazing the windscreens are average and do not stand close scrutiny, but O.K when viewed from a few feet away.    

 

 

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Another view of King Henry 111 arriving at Dewchurch with The Cornishman.   There will be an engine and crew change here.   

 

Clun Castle sitting at the buffer stops on platform 1.  The engine worked a special into Dewchurch, and will shortly go on shed for servicing.  Chatting porters seem unaware that the Station Master is near by.  

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Thanks for the compliment Chuffinghell, and to others for the "likes".   My aim is to get consistency in the appearance of the various bits of the layout.  There are still bits I want to improve,  and I know it is not strictly proto-typical.  It is interesting to operate, and works pretty well most of the time.    

 

Here is yet another mixed freight -  9f unusually running tender first, in the countryside outside Harewood Halt.          

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This guy scares me, even though it was me who painted him !  Photo is a few years old, and looks like it was taken before my annual spring clean of the layout (looking at the dust on the platform).   He still sits on a bench at Dewchurch station intimidating fellow passengers (and photographers).  He is a Monty's model/Dart castings figure.       

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Thanks Chris, I really appreciate the feedback.  He reminds me a bit of one of my old teachers (some were a bit scary). Not sure any of them carried a gun (but you never know as some of them  saw active service in World War 2).   They certainly had the ability to fix you with a death stare, backed up with a threat of physical violence if you did not get back in line.     

 

You work on your station building for Warren branch is simply fantastic.  The detail is awesome.  I can normally make a decent job of a kit, but never ask me to scratch build anything !         

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