Lancaster Green Ayre - The Barn Owls have returned.

[jamie92208]

No railway modelling to report as much more of the modelling room has been boxed up/packed/thrown out etc. It's only just over two months till we move.  So I have made a start on the cardboard battleship to stop me going cold turkey.   Over the past week I have managed to make a start.   I browsed one or two fora  and one very good piece of advice was to make a modelling board surfaced with 3mm plastic. The ide is that the model is stuck onto the board to keep it straight and level. PVA doesn't penetrate the plastic so when it's finished you just crack it off with a spatula.   

 

I duly cut a piece of plastic and a piece of 6mm ply and glued them together. 3' by 6".   Then left them to dry but they warped.   When I took them to the club they went straight again.  It must be acting like a bimetallic strip going from warm house to cold clubroom.   Therefore two pieces of 2 by 1 were screwed to the underside.

 

Construction then started and over the past few days the base has been laid together with various strengthening tubes that will support the decks.   Tonight these were all glued on and I started on the frames. 10 sets done so far.

This shows progress tonight with the building board.

And a close up of the frames at the stern.

I'm impressed with the kit and it will get more interesting as I start to add the pre coloured parts to the substructure that I'm now building.   I did wonder about starting a separate thread but couldn't be bothered.  Hopefully I'll be able to show some layout pictures in just over a week when we get to France for a short break.   I must remember to take some locos with me.

 

Jamie

[edward66]

It probably has a style name that has escaped me.   Apparently the main feature of interest in Skerton bridge is that there is no gradient across the bridge itself. 

 

Jamie

I believe it was the world's first flat decked bridge, built towards the end of the 18th century it still carries weights far in excess of traffic weights back then and has had very little maintenance over the years, Southern end has a tee junction and Mr Harrison even built matching houses facing the bridge to complete the picture.

[jamie92208]

I believe it was the world's first flat decked bridge, built towards the end of the 18th century it still carries weights far in excess of traffic weights back then and has had very little maintenance over the years, Southern end has a tee junction and Mr Harrison even built matching houses facing the bridge to complete the picture.

 

Thanks for that.  At the moment, and for the next few months it's actually carrying two way traffic again as the modern concrete deck on Greyhound Bridge is under repair. Greyhound Bridge itself is being repainted for the first time in many years.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Still no chance of getting any work done on the layout but the model of Derfflinger has come on a bit.

 

 

No they are not four large funnels but the model has been in the garage for a few days du to the dining room table being used for other rather strange purposes such as eating meals.   In the time the hull came loose from the plastic so needed gluing down again.   

 

Whilst it was drying I fitted the remaining frames and cut out the first part of the deck but it still needs some work before it's fitted.

 

I've also made major progress in clearing the modelling room and have actually swept more than half the floor.  However I still haven't discovered the entrance to the black hole.

 

Jamie

 

 

[Crantock]

Ah the joys of scratchbuilding ships.  Somewhere in store I have the remnants of a personal navy at around 1:600.  The evolution was interesting and the first pre-teen stab was a class of 12 frigates held together by sellotape created in 1 day.  The next batch of 4 took 1 day, later 1 a day then 1 in a weekend.....  The second ship built was an amateur stab at HMS Dreadnought and I remember estimating the parts at some 100+ and realising there was more going on than an airfix kit.  The largest card creation was a giant freelance aircraft carrier "South Georgia" (guess the date) but then I moved to plasticard and frameworks similar to the above supporting flowing 10 thou plasticard sides.  

 

I do remember from the card era that balsa cement burnt beautifully and a well doped and balsa'd ship could be torched very quickly.  

 

Then the plasticard coal wagon adventure started........

 

Green Ayre looked good last time I saw it. 

[Mike Storey]

Ah the joys of scratchbuilding ships.  Somewhere in store I have the remnants of a personal navy at around 1:600.  The evolution was interesting and the first pre-teen stab was a class of 12 frigates held together by sellotape created in 1 day.  The next batch of 4 took 1 day, later 1 a day then 1 in a weekend.....  The second ship built was an amateur stab at HMS Dreadnought and I remember estimating the parts at some 100+ and realising there was more going on than an airfix kit.  The largest card creation was a giant freelance aircraft carrier "South Georgia" (guess the date) but then I moved to plasticard and frameworks similar to the above supporting flowing 10 thou plasticard sides.  

 

I do remember from the card era that balsa cement burnt beautifully and a well doped and balsa'd ship could be torched very quickly.  

 

Then the plasticard coal wagon adventure started........

 

Green Ayre looked good last time I saw it. 

 

Needs a little bit of TLC right now......

 

Hurry up Jamie!!! France is Britain's loss.

[jamie92208]

Needs a little bit of TLC right now......

 

Hurry up Jamie!!! France is Britain's loss.

 

We'll be there Tuesday afternoon all being well.   I might be allowed a little bit of time off by the boss.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Today has been a good day with a visit to the York show.   I had a good day chatting to many friends and acquaintances .I had a good natter with the team on Euxton Junction about overhead and pantographs, followed by a chat with Mike Edge about pantograph springs to get the tension right.   Tony Wright gave me advice about building valve gear and then I made a momentous decision.

 

I've been thinking for some time which type of autocoupler to use on the wagons that need to be shunted.  I have been dithering between Dinghams and Spratt and Winkle.  I went and had a talk with Andrew at Wizard and discovered that he's made a subtle alteration to Spratt and Winkles so that if you wish you can mount them under the buffer beam and don't need to notch the beam.   I thus purchased the necessary etches and mounting plates for a supply of  S & W's.  These will be fitted to all the wagons that will make up the trip freights and also to some passenger stock and locos together with the horse boxes so that they can be shunted off trains and into the horse dock at the end of the down platform.   More work for me to do in France.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Bon Apres Midi de La Charente Maritime. We are over here for a fortnight and after several days of quite hard work getting things sorted I was finally allowed to go over to the man cavern and play with the layout. I spent an hour getting all the electrics connected up. I did discover that I was missing a kettle lead to fire up the Castle Branch fiddle yard panel. As this also controls all the switchgear to handover between the moan line, Castle Branch and shed, I couldn't do any fancy stuff but a suitable plug is on the shopping list for tomorrow. I did however remember to bring some locos with me and played in the loco yard for a while.

 

 

Then after a cup of coffee it was time to try and fit some of the balustrades to Skerton Bridge.

 

The first aperture was cut out and this was the result.

 

I was happy with that and did the rest of the west side.

Then it was on to the east side.

 

You'll note that one overhangs the end a bit so it will have to be shortened.

Then try the bridge in place.

 

 

I think they look OK but need setting in and some filler around them then the plasticard needs adding for the stonework to be scribed.

 

Not a bad afternoons work.

 

Jsmie

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[lezz01]

Looking good Jamie.

Nice to see the Kirtley getting a run as well.

Regards Lez.Z.

[jamie92208]

Looking good Jamie.

Nice to see the Kirtley getting a run as well.

Regards Lez.Z.

Thanks Lez. There were actually 2 on the layout, my black one 2716 and that one that came to me via Dave Tanner. I would love to know it's provenance as it's very well made and is actually chipped for DCC. Technically it's in the wrong livery for the layout but I haven't the heart to cover up that beautiful paint job.

 

Jamie

[Compound2632]

The back cover of the latest Midland Railway Society Journal will be just the thing to have to hand when your new neighbours call round! In fact here it is but unfortunately reproduced too small for the blurb to be legible. 

 

Perhaps you'll need a gallery - some more examples:

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by Compound2632
Images re-inserted

[jamie92208]

The back cover of the latest Midland Railway Society Journal will be just the thing to have to hand when your new neighbours call round! In fact here it is but unfortunately reproduced too small for the blurb to be legible. 

 

Perhaps you'll need a gallery - some more examples:

 

Midland Railway de l'Angleterre.jpgLe Pic du Derbyshire.jpg

Thanks for that I'll have to try and get an enlargement put up on the display board at the end of the layout.

 

Jamie

[Mike Storey]

Looking very promising Jamie. I was worried that it might not work on French electricity......

[Dava]

Fantastique, merveilleux....!

[gr.king]

 this also controls all the switchgear to handover between the moan line, Castle Branch and shed,

 

Jsmie

 

You've evidently been speaking to gendarme Crabtree a little too much,

[jamie92208]

You've evidently been speaking to gendarme Crabtree a little too much,

More like fat finger syndrome or whatever that is in French.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Well I have returned from the cavern. This morning I got more wires connected and then put two trains on the mainline. This afternoon various ladies had gathered for a seated burlesque class, two of the other husbands were sent out as they were not allowed to watch and came up to the barn to play trains. Patrick didn't want to drive but Claude, a retired fighter and bomber pilot had great fun driving locos round the shed yard. I even managed to drive the Spinner up and down the Castle Branch. I was supposed to be getting the Kirtley off shed but hey ho it was nice to see something moving for the first time since November.

There is quite a bit of work to be done to repair minor damage suffered in transit, nothing major though. There appears to be a dry joint on a section of the down main so that is my next job.

 

Jamie

[Compound2632]

Have you got an original-condition Johnson compound? That ought to appeal to the sophisticated tastes of French would-be engine drivers!

[jamie92208]

Have you got an original-condition Johnson compound? That ought to appeal to the sophisticated tastes of French would-be engine drivers!

 

No  unfortunately as the layout is set in 1923 but the two snow ploughs are built on the remains of two water cart tenders from the originals.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

I have had chance to do some things in the man cavern this week.    One job was to look through two loco kits that I bought on Ebay and via the GoG.  These are for a 2P and a 4F.   I thought I better check them out and now have  a list of detail parts that I need.  As the nearest model shop is about 100 miles from where we are going to be living I thought I better stock up.at the GoG show at Donny which is a week before we depart.   I now have a list of various bits.

 

I've also been tidying the shed up and erecting boltless racking units.   These have helped me get a lot of boxes and crates a lot neater than they were and there is space for others to arrive in June.    The other  job has been putting up ladder racking for bookshelves.  The first set are above my modelling desk for all my reference books.   The next set are round the back of the layout for various railway books.   All jobs that need to be done.   I've got the ladders and fittings but the actual shelves are still in Yorkshire.   

 

Not a lot else to report at the moment.

 

Jamie

[TerryD1471]

Bon Apres Midi de La Charente Maritime. We are over here for a fortnight and after several days of quite hard work getting things sorted I was finally allowed to go over to the man cavern and play with the layout. I spent an hour getting all the electrics connected up. I did discover that I was missing a kettle lead to fire up the Castle Branch fiddle yard panel. As this also controls all the switchgear to handover between the moan line, Castle Branch and shed, I couldn't do any fancy stuff but a suitable plug is on the shopping list for tomorrow. I did however remember to bring some locos with me and played in the loco yard for a while.

 

P4083242.JPG

 

Then after a cup of coffee it was time to try and fit some of the balustrades to Skerton Bridge.

 

The first aperture was cut out and this was the result.

P4083239.JPG

 

I was happy with that and did the rest of the west side.

P4083240.JPG

Then it was on to the east side.

P4083241.JPG

You'll note that one overhangs the end a bit so it will have to be shortened.

Then try the bridge in place.

P4083243.JPG

I think they look OK but need setting in and some filler around them then the plasticard needs adding for the stonework to be scribed.

 

Not a bad afternoons work.

 

Jsmie

Couldn't help noticing the rather fine car in the background. I have one just the same (colour) and have had for the last 16 years. Pity Rover went bust!

Apart from that, the layout seems to be coming on a treat and I follow your thread with interest.

[jamie92208]

Couldn't help noticing the rather fine car in the background. I have one just the same (colour) and have had for the last 16 years. Pity Rover went bust!

Apart from that, the layout seems to be coming on a treat and I follow your thread with interest.

 

Thanks Terry.  Yes the Rover sort of came free with the shed.   It needs a new head gasket but is otherwise fine.   I actually got it through it's French MOT last year but then the gasket failed completely. It's in a good state inside but it doesn't fit in with our plans.   Basically if anyone makes me a sensible offer for it they can have it.   Get in touch if you are interested.

 

Jamie

[Compound2632]

Encore plus pour mieux expliquer le chemin de fer du Midland aux amateurs de chemins de fer français.

[jamie92208]

Encore plus pour mieux expliquer le chemin de fer du Midland aux amateurs de chemins de fer français.

 

Merci Beaucoup. It will be very useful when I get there later this week.   Also I acquired a just started Slaters Kit for another compound at Doncaster last Saturday and now need to do the necessary research to decide which one to make it into.   I've already got Holbeck's 1004. I hope that I can access all my reference books soon as they are in transit.

 

Jamie