railwayrod Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Hi Chaz. Yes you are quite right it should be an EE type I but I for one will always refer to this as a class 20! It is still early days in the life of "Ramchester" so I trust that you will forgive some of these reporting "errors". To receive any comments on the layout is a welcome surprise as it means that you are interested in it's development for which I thank you. railwayrod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Harrap Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I had a wonderful opportunity to have a play with trains on Ramchester the other day. What a treat. Ramchester has come on a long way since I first knew it in its bare baseboard days. Buildings have sprung up all over the place making operation much more meaningful and satisfactory and trundling six coach rakes of heavy Mk1's over the rather neatly laid station throat makes me wonder why I never did O scale. All set off beautifully by running through the superb Brooking scenery, I think this layout rates as one of the best I've had the privilege to know, well done Rod, Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
railwayrod Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Thanks Brian but I feel that I have a long way to go before Ramchester catches up to Quai 87 but your remarks are much appreciated. Work on the goods shed is still progressing but the shed creeps nearer to completion. Lately I have been working on a bungalow for the front left hand corner and this has taken up most of my modelling time. It has progressed to the point of needing the slates putting on the roof and a down spout for the rainwater disposal. I also plan to put a fancy decor work on the ridge just to make it different. Howard has nearly finished the Hotel Margarita and today he has taken a couple of photos of this so I expect that he will be posting them soon. Keep looking - the hotel really looks great. RailwayRod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSB Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 And here are a few pictures of the afore mentioned hotel! Still a few more details to add but we are nearly there. The main material used was card with a double thickness used for the walls. The rear view gives a general idea of the construction. Thanks for the kind comments, Brian (although you did do a bit of 7mm scale when you built Rod's ScaleSeven shunting plank a few years ago). Howard 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Very impressed with the back scene really does give an excellent depth to your fine layout will follow this with interest Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
railwayrod Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Glad you like the back scene. The base is a number of sheets of hardboard mounted on the walls of the shed and stretching from the baseboard surface to the ceiling. The corners were curved so as to avoid having a "square" effect in each corner. Most of the backscene is painted summer blue emulsion over two coats of white emulsion. Howard was responsible for the hills, hedges, etc and some of the buildings were printed on his computer and glued onto the painted backscene. The curved corners did give us some headaches when trying to blend in the foreground but Howard's skill seems to have done the trick for which I am so pleased. Hope you will enjoy following development of my layout and thanks for your comments and support. railway rod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltic17 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Just to pass the comment that Ramchester looks superb - I'm specifically a O guage blue diesel fan but really appreciate all model railways that just look right with great attention to detail - I love those sweeping curves - so realistic... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
railwayrod Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Hello Everyone. All the rain we have been having lately has a silver lining in that I have been able to spend more time in the shed (Platform 2). Howard has today completed AND installed the hotel which really looks great. He still has the ground work to do - i.e. paving slabs around the yard of the hotel and of course some detailing to install but I am very pleased with the result. I have almost completed the bungalow for the front corner of the layout but I may pass this on to Howard to finish if he is willing to do the final bit to turn it into an acceptable model. The bits that need to be completed are the trimming of the slates where they overhang the walls and touching up of the paintwork where I have missed bits. Once this is done it can be installed and the scenery around this area completed. While building the bungalow work on the goods shed has had to be suspended but now I feel that I can do the next bit which is the tedious business of sticking slates on the roof. I would like to record my sincere thanks to Howard for all his help with the layout. I am no good at painting or at colour but he has an eye for these and I think that he is doing a fantastic job. He has taken over all those jobs which my poor eyesight prevents me from doing and without him the layout would be nothing special. Thanks for all your kind comments which are very welcome and encouraging. railwayrod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
railwayrod Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 I am glad to say that the bungalow for the front left hand corner of the layout is now finished and is sitting in situ awaiting Howard's magic to "plant" it permanently. Today I have stuck on the first row of slates on the back side of the goods shed roof so this too has progressed a little bit further. The prospect of cutting and sticking "hundreds" more is a bit daunting but every row completed brings the finish line that much closer. Watch this space. railwayrod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CME and Bottlewasher Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Hi, All looking very nice. Looking forward to seeing more soon. ATVB CME Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSB Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 Hi All, The seaside end of the layout is slowly coming together. Here's a couple of pics I took this afternoon. Cheers, Howard 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Hi All, The seaside end of the layout is slowly coming together. Here's a couple of pics I took this afternoon. Cheers, Howard I really like the hotel - the white painted pebble-dash (?) is extremely convincing. Also pleased to see the wall between the hotel yard and the station. Hope you won't mind if I comment on your backscene.... The horizon line of the sea is always at eye level. Next time you are at the seaside try this - take a snap of someone about the same height as yourself with the sea in the background (the camera needs to be at your eye level and you are both standing on the same level). it doesn't matter whether you are on the beach or up a cliff or on a tall building the horizon will line up with your subject's eyes. Now you can't actually get this right because it depends on viewpoint (of course!) but the sea in the (very nice) picture of the hotel in the previous post is far too high. Think about a scale figure standing by the corner of the hotel - at what level would their eyes be? Of course if you stand alongside your layout and get what I believe is called a "helicopter view" your sea will be just right. Where does that leave us? Maybe the backscene needs to be adjustable up and down - with different settings for different viewpoints. If you are planning lots of photos with the camera at a natural scale person height I'd put the sea lower to suit. I'll shut up now (sorry - in a previous life I was an art-teacher.....) Chaz 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
daifly Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Thanks for identifying what looked 'wrong' and how to overcome/avoid in future! Cheers Dave 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted December 7, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 7, 2012 Looking very nice indeed Guys, the sea looks most inviting. Cheers, Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Thanks for identifying what looked 'wrong' and how to overcome/avoid in future! Cheers Dave I'm glad you saw my comments as constructive Dave. In fact with that hedgerow in the background it's quite possible that someone standing on your station's platform would not be able to see the sea in that direction. But that would be a shame - go for a compromise? Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSB Posted December 7, 2012 Author Share Posted December 7, 2012 Backscenes must always be a compromise on a fairly large layout like Ramchester as the various details will only look completely right from a position right in front of them. The layout is normally viewed standing so the sea-level is then near eye-level but when taking photographs buildings and rolling stock look most realistic when seen from near to scale eye-level so I make no apologies. In an ideal world there would be view-blockers to make sure a backscene was only ever seen from the ideal position! By the way, the walls on the hotel were finished with Green Scenes texture paint which is actually a bit coarse but looks OK at normal viewing distance. Howard 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSB Posted December 7, 2012 Author Share Posted December 7, 2012 (edited) Looking very nice indeed Guys, the sea looks most inviting. Cheers, Dave. Thanks, Dave. Your superb buildings, particularly on Bridport, provided a lot of the inspiration to have a go in the first place. Cheers Howard Edited December 8, 2012 by HSB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
railwayrod Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I certainly would not argue with an art teacher but as the layout owner I can only say that at normal operating height the back scene looks about right. The point about eye level is a tricky one as the height of the individual viewer will vary (unless I restrict visitors who are not of a specific height!) thus what looks correct to me may look "wrong" to someone who is shorter or taller than I am. The layout is still under development and the seaside end on the station is at an early stage so I hope that in time Howard and I can find a scenic solution to some of the problems highlighted in the above comments from Chaz. Please keep them coming as I would like "Ramchester" to be as convincing as possible. Howard has alluded to the use of view blockers and we have tried to use these to disguise the fact that our buildings are only half relief and I must say that he has done a great job of blocking out views which would otherwise show "cut off" buildings if looked at from a different viewpoint - maybe we can find a solution to the seaside end on the layout - but space is restricted so our options are limited. Watch this space! railwayrod 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I certainly would not argue with an art teacher but as the layout owner I can only say that at normal operating height the back scene looks about right. The point about eye level is a tricky one as the height of the individual viewer will vary (unless I restrict visitors who are not of a specific height!) thus what looks correct to me may look "wrong" to someone who is shorter or taller than I am. The layout is still under development and the seaside end on the station is at an early stage so I hope that in time Howard and I can find a scenic solution to some of the problems highlighted in the above comments from Chaz. Please keep them coming as I would like "Ramchester" to be as convincing as possible. Howard has alluded to the use of view blockers and we have tried to use these to disguise the fact that our buildings are only half relief and I must say that he has done a great job of blocking out views which would otherwise show "cut off" buildings if looked at from a different viewpoint - maybe we can find a solution to the seaside end on the layout - but space is restricted so our options are limited. Watch this space! railwayrod "The point about eye level is a tricky one as the height of the individual viewer will vary" Indeed it will, however the "get out of jail" card is that anyone looking at the layout is unlikely to bother overmuch about the perspective problems of the backscene, any more than they will worry about the baseboard edge at the front. It's in photographs that the problems are obvious - luckily as you can control the viewpoint with camera height you can get this looking spot on (just like you can make sure the baseboard edge is cropped out). Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alant Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I have experimented with backscenes on my layout in the past but could never seem to get a convincing viewpoint so chickened out and went for the plain blue/white option! Nice looking hotel by the way. Alan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 (edited) I have experimented with backscenes on my layout in the past but could never seem to get a convincing viewpoint so chickened out and went for the plain blue/white option! Alan. Which is a good way of avoiding perspective problems..... Trees (masses of 'em - with no trunks visible) , distant hills or mountains can also work. Chaz Edited December 10, 2012 by chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSB Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share Posted December 10, 2012 Of course my pics are to show the progress being made on the layout from various angles and not as part of an article on the finished layout! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
switcher 1 Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Of course my pics are to show the progress being made on the layout from various angles and not as part of an article on the finished layout! ......take with a pinch of salt..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Of course my pics are to show the progress being made on the layout from various angles and not as part of an article on the finished layout! Quite so! Keep up the good work. Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSB Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Especially for the more pedantic among us here is a doctored version of my last picture:- 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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