F-UnitMad Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 (edited) Ok.... today the tulle arrived, and so did the mock barbed wire, so time to try the tulle. I shan't ask the question as the answer is even more screamingly obvious than the screamingly obvious, but I will post the comparison photos, and I think there will be a general concensus on which looks better.... So.... anyone wanna buy some sheets of aluminium mesh?? 🤣 Edited April 1 by F-UnitMad 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted January 18, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 18, 2021 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 49 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said: So.... anyone wanna buy some sheets of aluminium mesh?? Never mind that, what are you going to do with the rest of the wedding dress? 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 (edited) On 18/01/2021 at 22:25, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said: Never mind that, what are you going to do with the rest of the wedding dress? Well, duuhh!!! 🙄🤦♂️ Make more fencing of course!!! 🤣🤣😝 Edited April 1 by F-UnitMad 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 (edited) Anyway, who says it has to be a wedding dress? All those who form this mental image, please leave by the drain. Edited April 1 by F-UnitMad 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 PS, I look absolutely nothing like Hugh Laurie, whether he's in a dress or not. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 19, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 19, 2021 12 hours ago, F-UnitMad said: PS, I look absolutely nothing like Hugh Laurie, whether he's in a dress or not. Logically then, you look like Baldrick doing his slug-balancing act. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted January 19, 2021 Author Share Posted January 19, 2021 1 hour ago, Regularity said: Logically then, you look like Baldrick doing his slug-balancing act. Have you any idea how much practice that takes?? Almost as much time as it took to write that classic WW1 poem, "The German Guns". 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 19, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 19, 2021 2 hours ago, F-UnitMad said: Have you any idea how much practice that takes?? Almost as much time as it took to write that classic WW1 poem, "The German Guns". It’s not the words, it’s the timing of the delivery, and the necessary punctuation (commas, full-stops, line-breaks, empty lines) which is demanding. Just like good layout design, the use of space is vital.... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMO Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 23 hours ago, F-UnitMad said: Ok.... today the tulle arrived, and so did the mock barbed wire, so time to try the tulle. I shan't ask the question as the answer is even more screamingly obvious than the screamingly obvious, but I will post the comparison photos, and I think there will be a general concensus on which looks better.... So.... anyone wanna buy some sheets of aluminium mesh?? Well done Jordan! This photo is interesting to compare and consider the both kind of fences. About the barber wire, you can use the new Woodland Scenics one (but I don't know the quality). Another good possibility is to use a 1/35th scale from military models. I use the Verlinden product. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 (edited) Not a great deal has been happening on the layout recently, in terms of scenics. Tonight I have started on the rest of the chain-link fencing, using Slaters brass wire of 60thou for the posts, 40thou for the top wire & 20thou for the bottom wire tensioners. It would all make an expert on this sort of fencing weep, but with a lick of paint and the tulle glued on, will pass muster for me. The gates have all been painted and await the addition of tulle, but even in their basic form have been great fun for operating sessions. Edited December 17, 2022 by F-UnitMad 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted March 7, 2021 Author Share Posted March 7, 2021 (edited) Slooooow progress, but the fencing is getting there... Track ballasting shouldn't be too far away in this area, maybe when the weather's a bit warmer. Edited December 17, 2022 by F-UnitMad 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMO Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 Very nice result Jordan!!!! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted March 7, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 7, 2021 2 hours ago, F-UnitMad said: Slooooow progress, but the fencing is getting there... Track ballasting shouldn't be too far away in this area, maybe when the weather's a bit warmer. You add the fencing and suddenly it is so right why didn't I see the lack beforehand. Really worth the effort. Don 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 13 hours ago, Donw said: You add the fencing and suddenly it is so right why didn't I see the lack beforehand. Really worth the effort. Don Interesting comment. I suppose as the builder I have a picture in my mind of what I want the layout to look like, so when operating, the imagination 'fills in the gaps' so to speak. Seeing photos of someone else's incomplete layout it's not so easy to get an idea of what they intend, until it's in place! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted March 26, 2021 Author Share Posted March 26, 2021 (edited) A little detail change is afoot at Portway Center. A few pages back I described the fitting of a 'dis-used' Train Order Board, using a lower-quadrant kit. What I really really really, really wanted was the very distinctive upper-quadrant type. There's a 3D printed version on Shapeways, but whilst the item price was mildly on the "Gulp, swallow hard" scale, the shipping to UK blew off the top of the "HOW MUCH???!!!" scale!! However, a Ker-nigget in shining armour*, most aptly named on this very Forum, who is my & my lad's mate, and fortunately still train mad (unlike my lad ) has come galloping to the rescue, since he let it slip he has a 3D Printer. Deep joy!! And for a little Lockdown Project he has printed me some upper-quadrant TOBs. First fitting prior to painting looks like a great success:- I will very likely shorten the blades down for the proper "removed" effect, and fill in the lenses as appropriate. I'm very pleased indeed, as this was the effect I really wanted. I'm also very grateful, so step forward & take a bow @the black knight *Think Monty Python & the Holy Grail. Edited December 17, 2022 by F-UnitMad 9 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the black knight Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 just helping a fellow modeller. they are looking nice, actually helped me a quite abit, as im trying a new cad program. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted April 1, 2021 Author Share Posted April 1, 2021 (edited) New TOBs modified, painted & in place. Lenses were made with clear-glazing glue, painted with Tamiya acrylics. I realise now that strictly speaking, the Main & siding tracks should be the other way round; the main should be the closest to the Depot. However this would've meant that the main line was the tighter of the two curves, especially through the curved turnout to the south of the depot, and would also have curved more than the siding at the north end, too. I expect the management of Portway Terminal have a perfectly simple, logical and plausible explanation for the current arrangement - I just haven't made it up, yet. Elsewhere, at Shortside south spur, the chemicals warehouse is getting it's fencing.... sort of!! Edited December 17, 2022 by F-UnitMad 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted May 1, 2021 Author Share Posted May 1, 2021 On 01/04/2020 at 09:43, F-UnitMad said: Bad news everyone, I'm afraid. Despite all the months of planning, the years of hand-laying track, and the time taken to get my 'bad' track just 'right', this layout is to be dismantled. When SWMBO said that I might need to sell my trains to help us through the economic problems caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic, I think my reply "Over my dead body" might have been the wrong answer..... Currently looking at what I could do in 4ft x 1ft with my Atlas Plymouths. What a day...... Well it's been over a year since I pulled this little Jolly Jape on you all, and fear not - it has not come to pass for real, either. But my last comment, about Plymouths & 4ft x 1ft, has stuck with me, surfaced occaisionally on this Thread, and become an itch that needs to be scratched. So, welcome to Enderlin, MN. As per the real Enderlin, ND (ex-Soo Line, naturally) this little place has taken it's name from being the End of the Line for the Portway Terminal RR. It will depict the old depot, and the two spurs still in place by it, inspired by a photo in the June 2014 issue of Trains magazine, of a place called Lucinda, PA. which until 2010 still received shipments of lumber by rail for a local wood mill, on the Knox & Kane RR. Other inspiration was my tiny "Lyddlow Goods" UK O layout, regarded by some as a masterclass in layout minimalism - I hasten to point out that I didn't actually build it, though, just bought it from a now-ex member of RMweb. I tried hard to ignore this itch. For one thing my main layout is woefully incomplete with numerous "in progress" parts to it; a small diversion would detract from it even more. I didn't have a baseboard available either. And 4ft x 1ft is VERY small for American O scale with modern freight cars. Unfortunately for me, my lad replaced the desk in his room, the top of the old one (from Ikea) was rigid & lightweight, being of that sort of 'honeycomb bracing' style. A baseboard had just made itself available.... It measures 3ft 5+1/4" long, and 19+1/2" wide. A bigger area than 4ft x 1ft, but everything's bigger in the USA anyway, isn't it? Trackplan - as per Lyddlow - two spurs, one longer than the other, no points. So as at the real Lucinda, one spur to the side of the depot, for unloading a lumber car, the other in front, for Portway's 'heritage' trains - or caboose ride in plain English!! For the depot I was looking at some of those laser-cut type kits for a small flagstop sort of place, but apart from the cost plus shipping, they looked a bit too small & 'twee', like a caricature of a depot. I figured the end of the line would feature a bigger building, possibly with thoughts of further extention of the railroad in mind, which happened at Enderlin, ND, but will not be happening at my Enderlin, MN. So this depot is the Atlas Riverton kit. Not yet finished, of course!!! All the details like making a backscene, and a 'fiddlestick' are yet to be contemplated. Today the board got covered in self-adhesive 2mm cork sheet, as hopefully this will help grip the spikes when I unleash my rickety track on this layout - my 'specialté de maison', a.k.a. "Jordan track" A grade crossing will go at the left hand end rather than a bridge. The scenic break will be through trees, as it was on my old portable 'Portway Center' layout. Rough outlines of track & road drawn out on the cork... And there you have it - other Bad Influences on this project have been various members and their layouts on here - "Englefield" & "Washbourne" in particular - step forward Mr Northroader & accept the blame!!! As per my usual glacial pace of progress, don't hold your collective breath for updates - but at least the itch is beginning to be scratched!!!!! 7 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted May 1, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 1, 2021 You could cut the depot in half along the roofline, half-relief will create more scenic space or track length? I have 3 x this space for my shortline, 3 metres. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted May 1, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 1, 2021 There is no need for an excuse for another layout any modeller worth their salt will have things that just have to be built/purchased whether inappropriate locos, new micro layouts, items in yet another scale or anything else. I look forward to seing this especially the track. Don 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nortonville Phil Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 Enderlin? Don’t you mean Currie MN. You would need a turntable for that one though. My FIL comes from that area. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 3 hours ago, Nortonville Phil said: Enderlin? Don’t you mean Currie MN. You would need a turntable for that one though. My FIL comes from that area. Just had a look there on google maps - neat little place!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted May 2, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 2, 2021 I was surprised to see Google Maps called it a city we would call it a village. Don Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 Google Earth view of the real Lucinda, PA as it is now. The main tracks have been torn up but the depot building is still there along with the rear spur track. I don't have the space to run the spur behind the depot on my plank. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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