Hroth Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Good news. You could always holiday in Manchester. I hear it's quite fragrant at this time of year. Today, its not even raining..... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 I may only be 26 but I've never been much of one for night-life. I'd rather be in a quiet pub with a friend or two and a half-pint of something actually drinkable than in a noisy, smelly, sweaty nightclub where I need to use sign language to be understood! Maybe I'm just prematurely old... I've been to the MoSI a few times but haven't managed to see their Planet running, which is a great shame. Does anyone know when they run her? I can't find anything on the website... ... and to think, I almost added the words "not that I believe I've ever been that young"! When I worked in Manchester, I lived in Alty, and a favourite quiet pub was the Swan with two Nicks at Little Bollington. Sadly though, I became a little over excited as a result of misreading your last post, asking myself feverishly "where can I be served beer in a 'two and a half-pint' measure?!?" 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 Haha with my alcohol tolerance, two and a half pints (of anything of a decent strength) would have me well past "relaxed" and possibly even "merry"... I've been a few times to the MoSI at weekends but never actually seen any locomotives in steam. The stationary engines were impressive though, if not quite on a par with the huge ones at the Kew Bridge Steam Museum! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Haha with my alcohol tolerance, two and a half pints (of anything of a decent strength) would have me well past "relaxed" and possibly even "merry"... I've been a few times to the MoSI at weekends but never actually seen any locomotives in steam. The stationary engines were impressive though, if not quite on a par with the huge ones at the Kew Bridge Steam Museum! I should plan a visit to MOSI - take Miss T - but should like to know what, if anything, I'm likely to see in steam. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 If you do decide to go, and fancy meeting up for a coffee and chat, let me know - I might be able to be convinced to come down if I know something will be in steam! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 If you do decide to go, and fancy meeting up for a coffee and chat, let me know - I might be able to be convinced to come down if I know something will be in steam! That would be excellent. I'll see if I can find out what might run and when. Sometime over the school summer holidays might be best. So far, three Parishioners have survived encounters with the Ginger Ninja, so I daresay you'll be fine, but when not in 'shy mode' she can be, well, sparky! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 I'm sure I'll be ok - I'm in Scotland, I have to deal with a surprising number of ginger ninjas, some of them (even the menfolk!) in skirt- I mean kilts... "D'ye ken why it's called a kilt? 'Cause I kilt the last man tae call it a skirt!"Other than a week in London (with a day trip to the Bluebell) with my partner, I should be about most of the summer. I'm sure if anyone else from the parish wished to join us on a visit, they'd be very welcome! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 (edited) I'm sure I'll be ok - I'm in Scotland, I have to deal with a surprising number of ginger ninjas, some of them (even the menfolk!) in skirt- I mean kilts... "D'ye ken why it's called a kilt? 'Cause I kilt the last man tae call it a skirt!" Other than a week in London (with a day trip to the Bluebell) with my partner, I should be about most of the summer. I'm sure if anyone else from the parish wished to join us on a visit, they'd be very welcome! Come to that there's an awful lot of railway interest in my neck of the woods, so, if you're tempted by Beamish or Tanfield, Shildon, North Road or any of the plethora of Co Durham sites, let me know. Mind you, I have no idea where your partner might be on the shared passion to outright hostility continuum for Significant Others of Railway Enthusiasts! Edited April 26, 2018 by Edwardian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 Hahaha I could do with another trip to Shildon at some point, and I do have rather a love for small tank engines so Tanfield could be nice Beamish is definitely somewhere I need to visit, for many reasons. My partner is supportive enough that they can handle me on a day out (the Bluebell trip is in exchange for a day at the British Museum going through the displays on their passion of Egyptology) though I am aware they are a little limited in mobility (they walk with two canes) so somewhere like Beamish may not be the easiest to navigate - I might have to go there by myself. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 Going back to the Linton layout (goodness, that hasn't been seen for, what, a dozen pages?) I've decided to tackle the problem of the retaining walls. There's going to be a lot of them!Of all the kits on the market for retaining walls, the one that appeals most in terms of dimensions and proportions is the Metcalfe card one. As lovely as the Metcalfe models look, they never seem to quite blend into a scene when mixed with embossed brick Plasticard or other materials, lacking that vital depth, and while overall the colouring is rather good, the individual bricks can be a bit... oddly coloured. I've also not had any success in weathering the card kits easily.I bought a Metcalfe retaining wall kit today to see what can be done with it.The shapes are very nice, but I'm not convinced by occasional olive-green or purple bricks. Add to that the fact that the pattern of differently-coloured bricks repeats in every arch, and the cost! (£13.50 for 2 feet of wall... not great given I'm likely to need about 15 or 16 kits to make up my requirements (of just plain retaining wall)... So!I've been doodling around in SketchUp again. The laser cutter at the Hacklab won't just do 1mm card. It will happily cut through up to 6mm MDF/Plywood. I'm currently playing around with designing a modular retaining wall kit that can be cut out of 2mm MDF. This should give me a bit more strength than the Metcalfe card (although, in fairness to them, I've never had a problem with their kits being easily damaged), while allowing me to engrave brickwork into the surface, and customise the dimensions slightly to ensure everything fits nicely.A quick play around with the 3D-modelled layout shows roughly what I'm hoping to end up with.I also picked up a Preiser figure set - 12132 "Family, Around 1900" just because it was there at the model shop. Somehow the children and mother remind me very much of the 1970 film Railway Children. Perhaps I should model two girls and a boy perched on the top of the retaining wall, watching the goings-on below... 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted April 28, 2018 Share Posted April 28, 2018 As you may guess, I tend to think concerns over the lack of relief on 4mm brickwork can be over stated, but it's a personal thing. It is a pity that your walls are to be brick - I assume brick is appropriate to the location - because I've been itching to have a go at these stone retaining walls: http://www.smartmodels.co.uk/misc02---carlisle-wall.html They are based on Carlisle Citadel (best station name suffix ever!) and come in tall, medium and low heights, and inclined. With ashlar stone, I doubt there is any point in even thinking about relief, as there would hardly be a discernable mortar course. Best of all, now there are laser-cut bases for the textures, which would seem to answer your requirements nicely: http://www.smartmodels.co.uk/laser-cut-bases.html 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 (edited) Unfortunately brick is to be the main colour palette for the layout. The local geology (at least as far as building materials go) seems to be largely mixed patches of flint and clay. I've seen the Smart Models Citadel retaining walls at the Glasgow show, and they do look very good. In my case, the main reasons I want the relief are for ease of painting (picking out individual bricks is far easier if they have clearly-defined edges!) and also because I like weathering with powders, and the grooves for the mortar courses take up the powder very nicely.I've seen some very nice printed-card kits, and they look great by themselves or amongst other card buildings, but to me they stick out like a sore thumb against plasticard buildings. At least with MDF, a few sprays of paint will bring the finish to much closer to that of painted plasticard. Edited April 28, 2018 by Skinnylinny 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted April 28, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 28, 2018 Make up one section, scribing the mortar lines yourself (or use a Cameo cutter or similar), take an RTV silicone mould, then produce repeat castings in plaster of some sort. Lots of effort just once. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 I was just going to use the laser cutter to cut a repeating set of parts. Slightly more effort than the casting approach, probably quicker though, and less heavy, which is a vaguely important requirement. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted April 28, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 28, 2018 Same sort of idea - make/design one section only, then repeat. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 I call this piece "How to make your laser cutter soil its britches". Medium: 2mm MDF. Certainly my laptop is starting to struggle with the file already... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted April 28, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 28, 2018 What about the arches and the headers? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 (edited) About to start on the arches, and the headers are (I think!) correct for flemish bond? Edited April 28, 2018 by Skinnylinny 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted April 28, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 28, 2018 I meant the rows of headers across the top of the arch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 Aha, yes, working on them now. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 I meant the rows of headers across the top of the arch. Better? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted April 28, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 28, 2018 Oh yes. Muchly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 28, 2018 Author Share Posted April 28, 2018 (edited) Work is continuing on the retaining walls, but an hour or two spent fiddling with the laser cutter has resulted in it returning to fully operational condition. This means that I was able to do a test cut of my D53 horsebox, and it seems to have come out OK. These horseboxes are definitely much more fiddly than the Stroudley coaches, having many very small, delicate parts which are rather fiddly to align. However, they can still look rather good if assembled with care, as can be seen here. (And yes, I realise I've put an extra window in where there ought to be a recessed panel - that will be corrected before I build any further! Edited April 28, 2018 by Skinnylinny 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted April 29, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 29, 2018 Looking good Linny!! You know where to send some if you want a test build by someone else!! :jester: Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 Same here! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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