Popular Post Mike Posted May 10, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted May 10, 2020 During the lock down in my case now 2 months due to my wife being in the most at risk group I have started yet another (my 12th) Black Country themed layout. So far I have built all the point work 4 left and i right hand and started on the buildings. The canal-side factories are based on the structures of my Wallows layout so some of you might recognize them whilst the foundry is a flight of fancy. The buildings are 2mm lite-ply with embossed plasticard overlays although the foundry office is from plasticard. The Canal-side factories will hide the fiddle yard with the foundry hiding the exit. My baseboards are on order and as soon as I can I will order the track from Marcway. Note non of the roofs are fitted only resting in place as they need finishing. 23 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted May 11, 2020 Share Posted May 11, 2020 Great start @Mike. Really like the look of those buildings Just wondering what the plan looks like. Have you got a copy you can share? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 Thanks Marc, the plan is the same as my Wallows layout https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/115955-the-wallows/ the fiddle yard will just be two roads with isolated head shunts. Hope this helps. cheers stay safe 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mike Posted May 14, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 14, 2020 Getting this ready to add to the Foundry office. 26 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
4wDH Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Mike I have followed quite a lot of your builds, but what impresses me is your buildings and the attention to detail. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold simonmcp Posted May 14, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 14, 2020 1 hour ago, Mike said: Getting this ready to add to the Foundry office. Stunning modelling, I always lusted after one of those drawing boards but they were equivalent to tens of thousands in today's money. Now I can do much more accurate but slower work on my iMac. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted May 15, 2020 Author Share Posted May 15, 2020 For those that may remember my Reely Grate micro and the Fulminator. The guy is checking the drawings of parts for the MkVIII which once cast will be shipped to Reely Grate for final assembly then after rigorous testing being approved by the Ministry of Defence .All very hush hush : Oops! I’ve said too much already Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted May 25, 2020 Author Share Posted May 25, 2020 More bodging on the office, pattern shop and tempering shop. I should have connected the office lights before taking a photo and tidied the working area. 11 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted May 25, 2020 Author Share Posted May 25, 2020 Let there be light and behold there was light and the work area is still a mess. 11 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spotlc Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 Hats Off! This is really wonderful, modelmaking, Mike, out of the very top drawer! And for my sins, I still have the Allbright Spacemaster draughting machine in the workshop, although it's more for ornament than use these days! Cheers, Mike 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 6, 2020 Author Share Posted June 6, 2020 (edited) When I chose the name of my new layout build Harts Hill, it was suggested by local historian and author Ned Williams that it would have to include the cinema. Immediately I pictured an art deco style structure with a name such as The Danilo or Odeon, but it turns out the Limelight Cinema once in Harts Hill but now rebuilt at the Black Country Museum is not much more than a barn. Now me being me I have tweaked and slightly modified my take on it so that it will fit into the location. I hope that I have managed the essence of the building which still needs finishing. I have also almost finished the main foundry structure The poster/name board in the background includes Buster Keaton in the General and a small version is on the outside wall of the cinema. Edited April 4, 2022 by Mike missing photos 12 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Sweet pea Posted June 6, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6, 2020 Really nice modelling on the office and pattern shop. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 (edited) Have built the first 3 of 4 boards and started laying track . Board 4 will be the fiddle yard. Boards 1-3 are 900x600 board 4 will be 1200x600. Progress so far: photo 1 is boards 1&2 photo 2 is boards 2&3 the reason they are set up on the garden table is I have not yet built the legs. The wagon was used for testing the joints as the layout has been built as a portable. Edited April 4, 2022 by Mike missing photos 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 The design allows the layout to be split into two inglenooks. Boards 1&2 and 3&4, 3&4 being the easiest option but the hardest to operate. All good fun should I wish not to have the whole layout set up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 Hi Jim, thanks for your kind comments. Hope you are keeping safe and still modelling. cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 29, 2020 Author Share Posted June 29, 2020 Harts Hill latest progress: Elec trickery is now completed on all 4 boards and it worked first time with no under the breath mutterings. Well pleased, Okay I know it is only 5 live frog points and standard DC wiring but it’s tidy and working. I will post a video when I can set the whole layout up on the trestles, well 2 folding trestle tables, quick relatively inexpensive strong and easy to store. It has meant not having to build any baseboard legs as I have done in the past. Hey Ho, there is of course a downside in as much that I still have my New Level Mill layout taking space in the man cave. On the plus side It doesn’t need to be ready for any shows this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted June 30, 2020 Share Posted June 30, 2020 Looking great @Mike - really really like the cameo of the draughtsman in his office - nice As ever, great work on the buildings - can't see much "bodging" at all. Hmm, "Much Bodging" - a potential layout name? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted July 6, 2020 Author Share Posted July 6, 2020 Raw video footage of Harts Hill my under construction 0 gauge layout. Just to show it works. Unfinished buildings plonked on just for effect. 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Keith Addenbrooke Posted July 13, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 13, 2020 Thank you for sharing the video - I was trying to work out why the engine looked so small: in the end it finally dawned on me that I’m too used to seeing elevated shots of 4mm scale trains running on ‘narrow gauge’ / OO Gauge 16.5mm track! Always good to see your layouts progressing, thank you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 (edited) Harts Hill update. Positioning a couple of buildings just to check everything fits. The roadway will be surfaced with Chincilla sand/grit leaving the inset sets exposed to give it well worn appearance. The Cock Inn will have a wall and gates. The goods shed etc are not yet set in place. note not able to get photos to load correctly. Edited April 4, 2022 by Mike missing photos 9 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mike Posted August 17, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) Just creating the scene on board 1 . Figures, gate and posts just placed for effect. Edited April 4, 2022 by Mike 15 1 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastworld Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 (edited) This reminds me of the Black Country Museum, if you don't mind the comparison. Stu Edited August 18, 2020 by eastworld 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MAP66 Posted August 18, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 18, 2020 Superb detailing Mike, loving the ghost signage and the tin bath hanging on the wall of the Cock Inn. Reagrds Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 Hi mike, how are you doing? Hope you & the memsahib are still ok during this time. Any more progress on the layout? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 Hi Jordan, after what had become a very frustrating time, with 7 hospital appointments cancelled I had lost all interest in the layout. Harts Hill is now in the loft and will be gathering dust for a while. I have started a much smaller model (0N-30) Hookton and the Lipp Vale. This is a small fishing village on the Dorset coast with a narrow gauge railway. In my usual style I have created the story first before commening the modelling. Baseboard 4ft x 3ft has been built mainly from recycling New Level Mill and I have constructed the 2 lefthand turnouts for the inglenook. The name Hookton and the Lipp have been lifted from Halequin the first book of the Grail series by Benard Cornwell. History. Hookton is a small village on the South Coast of England in the County of Dorset. The Lipp is a stream that is almost a river which enters the sea across a shingle beach creating a hook shaped shingle bar from which the village gets its name. During the Great Plague of 1665, Hookton could have easily become one of what we now call Plague Villages, just grass covered mounds where once there was life, but Hookton was lucky and refused to die. There were limited opportunities for the folk of Hookton, you were either a fisherman, worked in the salt pits or if you were lucky worked on the Lords Estate. (*The Gasquet family came just after the Norman invasion of 1066 and where granted lands by William of which Hookton was part of). After the Hurricane and storm surge of 1824, when the sea roared over the hook destroying several small boats, the need for a safe harbour became a priority, although in typical Hookton fashion it was a long time coming. Hookton has, and I am sure that most will express surprise, a railway albeit a narrow gauge one. Started in 1875 and completed in 1877 by Sir Thomas Gasquet* who financed and promoted the line to put Hookton on the map and of course to turn a profit. The line follows the Lipp stream along its shallow valley, so construction was relatively easy with no major obstacles to overcome other than the need for a bridge over the Lipp. From the harbour, a small collection of inshore boats fish for mackerel, crab, lobster, and shellfish and all is right with the world. Now in a better place mentally. Mike 2 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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