Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

[Andrew P]

THIS IS NOT GOOD Rob,

 

Now I'm thinking of ripping out my Branch and Yard to add more (REALISTIC) scenery.

 

Just wonderful Rob.  

[NHY 581]

24 minutes ago, Nick C said:

I agree. Half my problem is that I've not quite worked out what my priorities are yet! I keep getting tempted to dabble in EM, but I'm not sure my scenic modelling skills would then do the trackwork justice...

 

 

I think whilst it's important to push ourselves, trying too many new things at once , can be a bad thing.  

 

For example,  if you're happy to work in 00 then get the track down and working before moving onto the scenery. That way, safe in the knowledge that you're familiar with the track and comfortable with it all, you can then try new stuff. 

 

Inevitably mistakes are made but if each stage goes wrong it can be disheartening. 

 

Perhaps having mastered the scenics on the new layout, the next one is the one to try different gauges and standards. 

 

Failing that, you could try a few really basic layouts, aggravated dioramas if you will, to build up skills in different areas. 

 

That's essentially what I have done, learning as I go............and making mistakes along the way. 

 

 

Rob

 

 

Edited October 17, 2021 by NHY 581
World peace

[MrWolf]

I agree with your thoughts there. Even if your main interest is in creating the scene as a whole, the most important first step is to make sure that it all works properly. I have had to do (and learn) quite a bit to ensure that the trains will run smoothly and reliably. Even a small diorama with one siding needs to work.

 

Once that is achieved, it feels like a much more worthwhile task to spend hours building the rest of the layout.

 

It's certainly pushed things along with this layout. 

 

I'd compare that with the number of shiny shiny £16000 classic bikes that I have had to sort out that are a pig to start then smoke and clatter as soon as they get warm. 

 

Going back (briefly I hope!) to the OO EM P4  thingy, I do intend, in the fullness of time to at least replace the chassis under the herd of Dean Goods locos, if only to ensure their longevity. I think that I got my first one when I was about 14 and even out of the box it ran like a washing machine full of nails.  (Not much has changed, bar the price it would seem, ) That said, 35 years on, they run much better on the current layout with its bridged point rails and multiple power feeds.

 

One thing that I will say, is don't use secondhand points in the scenic area. It's not worth the potential aggro and the savings, judging by what is being asked for secondhand points, wouldn't buy you a pint of beer.

 

That was one reason why I junked a previous layout.

 

 

Boiled peas

Edited October 17, 2021 by MrWolf

[Donw]

Back in the 60s as a schoolboy I realised you could actual take modelling seriously then I got seduced by beer bikes and birds. Coming back to modelling some years later most commecial stuff wasn't that good you really needed to change wheels to get a consistent standard and handbuilt track was way better than commecial so I went for EM  mid 70s  later I went smaller most N was pretty rubbishy so I tried 2mm  which was ok until I decided I missed the three links I had used in 4mm and got seduced by 7mm which seemed to run much better. I did consider S7 but stuck with normal 0 gauge so I could run on other peoples layouts.

These days the standard of commercial 00 is much higher the same for N gauge and you can actually get good RTR 0 now at more sensible prices so the need to go to other gauges is less .   I do think that handbuilt trackwork is worth the effort but not if you dont enjoy making it.  We do this for fun. 

 

Don

[MrWolf]

Exactly. We do this for fun. The part that I find fun is recreating a miniature slice of the landscape with the railway centre stage. But as I stated in the previous post, it has to work properly. At least by relying on proprietary track and locomotives, I avoid a lot of potential reliability issues from my lack of practice building such items. That way I'm not setting myself too big a task and missing the target.

 

[Alister_G]

3 hours ago, Regularity said:

It doesn’t.

Restraint is the key here. Those tussocks might be enough to trip up an unwary walker, but wouldn’t even have to 0.5mm high on the model to be big enough for that. A few bits of ground foam, covered with more static grass, or just a few areas with some longer static grass, might be all you need.

 

As Simon says, you don't have to go wild. Here's an embankment I did with Woodland Scenics 2mm fibres:

 

 

Which did look a bit tennis court, so I added a scatter of good old-fashioned flockage, this stuff:

 

 

Which resulted in this:

 

 

A much better looking result.

 

Al.

[Regularity]

14 hours ago, Nick C said:

I agree. Half my problem is that I've not quite worked out what my priorities are yet! I keep getting tempted to dabble in EM, but I'm not sure my scenic modelling skills would then do the trackwork justice...

It’s a lot easier to replace the scenics than the track, so what’s the problem?

If baseboards or track need replacing, then generally speaking, I think the layout should be scrapped (although I do know modellers who didn’t heed this advice: they wished they had, though) but everything else can be removed and replaced.

[MrWolf]

14 hours ago, Alister_G said:

 

As Simon says, you don't have to go wild. Here's an embankment I did with Woodland Scenics 2mm fibres:

 

 

Which did look a bit tennis court, so I added a scatter of good old-fashioned flockage, this stuff:

 

 

Which resulted in this:

 

 

A much better looking result.

 

Al.

 

Thanks Al, that really looks convincing. I do have some of that in the box of doom, watch this space!

[Alister_G]

55 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

Thanks Al, that really looks convincing. I do have some of that in the box of doom, watch this space!

 

Try doing it dry, first, then when you've finished shoving it around, seal it with hairspray or fixing doodah.

 

Al.

[Nick Gough]

On 13/10/2021 at 21:46, MrWolf said:

Of course it helps if the balcony and steps are attached to the aforementioned signal box. A job I have always found tedious since the days when the only plastic kit was the Airfix Midland Railway one.

 

 

It's a lot easier if you install the steps INSIDE your signal box:

[MrWolf]

That's impressive, I particularly like the way you have tackled the multiple levels around the locking room.

Perhaps I will model the old MSWJR route in wartime next. ARP signal boxes look much easier to make.

 

 

Image: The pillbox study group.

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by MrWolf
Replaced picture

[MrWolf]

I've been very short of modelling time recently, but I did manage to dip into the box of doom and dig out a Slater's Midland Railway 8 Ton box van. It virtually fell together, only a little filing and perhaps filling needed, though I will have to source some wheels. A lot of secondhand kits tend to have been raided for their wheels, unless they're those useless plastic jobs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by MrWolf
Picture no load!

[MrWolf]

Can't help thinking that I should post something gratuitous and irrelevant, largely because we've been ragging Mr Sheep Von Bloke with such things!

[Alister_G]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

Can't help thinking that I should post something gratuitous and irrelevant, largely because we've been ragging Mr Sheep Von Bloke with such things!

 

There is little information available on the carrying capacity of swallows, either African or European. But given the weight disparities involved, we can safely assume that even a team of swallows, utilizing some sort of makeshift litter devised of creeper vines woven together, would still be incapable of transporting a coconut over even short distances.

 

Al.

[MrWolf]

We may be forced to say "Ni" at you!

[Alister_G]

I have...

 

A Shrubbery!

 

 

 

Al.

[Regularity]

12 minutes ago, Alister_G said:

There is little information available on the carrying capacity of swallows, either African or European. But given the weight disparities involved, we can safely assume that even a team of swallows, utilizing some sort of makeshift litter devised of creeper vines woven together, would still be incapable of transporting a coconut over even short distances.

How are they going to perform the weaving?

[MrWolf]

I suppose it's my own fault talking about what influenced our railway interests. By the time I was eight or so, I had an above adult average reading age. There was literally nothing left in the junior school library for me to read. So I started digging around everywhere for books that took my interest. Because I already had an ancient Tri-ang Lord of the isles set, this book warped my fwagile wittle mind... (Sorry, South Park still makes me laugh.

 

 

Image: Abe books

 

 

So thanks partly to @NHY 581s reminiscences about The model railway men series of books, I just spent short of a fiver on eBay buying a replacement for a long lost book.

Edited August 23, 2022 by MrWolf

[MrWolf]

12 minutes ago, Alister_G said:

I have...

 

A Shrubbery!

 

 

 

Al.

 

Will it have a nice little fence around it?

 

[MrWolf]

8 minutes ago, Regularity said:

How are they going to perform the weaving?

 

I usually do it with queueing traffic and a motorbike.

[MrWolf]

Perhaps I spoke too soon about the Midland van almost falling together. Despite the body being dead square in all three planes, the roof didn't want to behave. A little bit of careful scraping and filing got it to sit okay once clamped.

Elastic bands and plenty of solvent are shades of plastic aeroplane kits! 

 

Still, it's a little bit more done at the model railway project. I'm going to hang fire with batch building the cattle wagons for now.

I might even do them as a separate article called The Joy Of MEX or something...

 

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by MrWolf
Replaced picture

[MrWolf]

Further to my earlier posting on The Sheep Chronicles, here is the translation appropriate to this thread:

 

 

 

That's all for tonight, I'll post some actual model making tomorrow, unless I find that I have been lightly stabbed during the night...

 

[St Enodoc]

Saw these and thought of you:

 

https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/72115/15805-Noch-Little-Red-Riding-Hood-and-Big-Bad-Wolf-Figure-Set

[MrWolf]

9 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Saw these and thought of you:

 

https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/72115/15805-Noch-Little-Red-Riding-Hood-and-Big-Bad-Wolf-Figure-Set

 

That is just bizarre....

 

Although we have seen far, far worse model railway accessories.

 

I suppose that if I built some Grimm's fairy tale Black Forest Deutsch Reichsbahn layout around those, the Stukas would have a more appropriate home too...

 

[Nick C]

12 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Will it have a nice little fence around it?

 

With a second one slightly higher, so that you get a nice two-level effect with a little path running down the middle...