Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

[NHY 581]

6 hours ago, Alister_G said:

I was listening on the news today about Covid and government plans to accelerate 2nd jabs for the over-50s, and it took a while for it to sink in that includes me!

 

Inside, I think I'm about 30.

 

Al

 

 

Indeed, Al. I feel exactly the same way though, mentally , I am yet to attain the dizzy heights of 30.........

 

When I no longer giggle at farts I know it will be time to call it a day......

 

 

Rob. 

[Alister_G]

6 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

 I know it will be time to call it a day......

 

I always thought to myself that when I started getting mail from Saga Holidays and Sun Life Over-50s Plan that would be it, the end of my youth. But, here I am at 57 and so far they haven't caught me   sssssshh!  

 

Al.

[NHY 581]

I added my chum to the Saga mailing list when he turned 50. He still gets all sorts through. 

 

Now and again he also gets brochures delivered for elasticated waist trousers and velcro slippers. Not sure how that came about...........

 

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by NHY 581

[Alister_G]

Just now, NHY 581 said:

I added my chum to the Saga mailing list when he turned 50. He still gets all sorts through. 

 

Now and again he also gets brochures delivered for elasticated waist trousers and velcro slippers. 

 

 

 

Ooh that was evil.

 

Al.

[NHY 581]

Just now, Alister_G said:

 

Ooh that was evil.

 

Al.

 

[MrWolf]

Those life insurance adverts are annoying with their emotional blackmail / seeds of doubt angle:

 

"If you die, ever thought what will become of your loved ones?"

 

I told the memsahib not to expect some big payout. Actually, I said: "You're young, pretty and well educated, you'll find someone else."

[MrWolf]

Several of my friends and I thought that it would be a hilarious wheeze to sign each other up for internet dating.

 

We discovered several things.

 

The girls on the adverts are never on the site. I mean, seriously, look at them, they've only been single for roughly a day and a half since they were about fourteen.

 

No matter how many times you click "unsubscribe" the only way that these vultures will leave you alone is if you change your email address.

[MrWolf]

Back to the other most important thing in the world and I find that the platform surface bodgery has worked! It now needs paint, a little ground wood ash and patience to make it look right. The foundation is there, which is the main thing! 

 

 

I will be making certain that you could ride a 4mm scale bicycle along the platform without ending up with certain parts of one's anatomy for earrings...

 

[MrWolf]

A point has just arrived in the post.

 

Shall we offer odds on whether it is pre broken or whether I make a horse's ar5e of it?

 

 

 

Not a brilliant photo I'm afraid, but here's a cruel close up of signal box progress.

 

 

Still a lot to add and many edges to tidy. I've decided to make the roof detachable for future lighting.

[Worsdell forever]

Best way I've found to get a smoothish chinchilla dust surface is to sand it down, when its fully dry I rub it down with one of those foam sanding blocks, using the finer side if it has a fine and coarse side. 

[Graham T]

I think the signal box is looking very good.  Afraid I'm not prepared to offer odds on the point...

[Tortuga]

What radius points are you using @MrWolf? I’ve got a couple of Peco Code 100 Medium Radius Insufrog RH points going spare - one owner from new in the 90’s (me) and if I remember, they only got laid but not ballasted. I’ve had a quick check and they both look OK - though they could do with a bit of a clean.

 

Yours if you want ‘em.

[MrWolf]

Thank you, @Tortuga that's a very generous offer. Unfortunately I have used the long radius points to try and keep the sense of space on the long thin layout. 

 

I had one medium radius point for the engine shed siding which I got talked out of somewhere around page two.

 

I have used them for the fans of sidings in the fiddle yard though.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by MrWolf
SNAFU

[MrWolf]

Remember my grumblings about telegraph poles? 

Well, you can either grumble about it, or you can do something about it.

Realistically, I only need about ten. Even then I am putting them at about half the distance apart they would have been. It's one of those odd things that doesn't work visually when scaled down - rather like scale 100' tall trees.

 

 

Here's a little forest of modified Airfix Dapol items. I chopped the top two transoms off, did away with the lower two and solvent welded the top back on, preserving the two spare transom notches. The idea being (vaguely!) that the Great Western would have re-signalled the branch using salvaged items, thus saving the odd shilling.

 

 

The plastic bases are handy to jam the pole into for painting. The single transom pole I have made for the goods yard has taken on a decided lean. I think that I will leave it that way, it reminds me of a photo I once saw, Ellesmere I think?

 

I then went a bit mad and drilled through 0.5mm to open up each of the solid moulded climbing pegs before scraping off the moulding lines. It should be a triangular hole, but there's a limit!

I then made the little galvanized steel caps often fitted to stop the top of the pole rotting away.

These were cut from 0.010" X  0.080" styrene strip, 4mm long and folded in half.

 

[MrWolf]

It probably looks black with my dodgy photography, but this is a 50/50 mix of Humbrol 33 matt black and 186 matt chestnut brown. Don't add thinner and paint in the direction of the wood grain.

 

 

 

I know that I have a bit of a scatter gun approach to layout building, but it's a case of - what can I do while I'm waiting for the paint / glue / filler to dry?

[MrWolf]

For the weathering fans, I saw this shed and thought of you...

 

 

 

[Gedward]

17 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

For the weathering fans, I saw this shed and thought of you...

 

That's very tempting. We might see that around Bovey Tor one day.

[MrWolf]

It's an interesting size, about 7'6" square. It has that look of being in the greener part of England anywhere down the strip of land from the south lakes past the Welsh borders and into Devon and Cornwall.

[Mikkel]

The discussion sure moves fast in this thread. In the space of a few pages it has covered eyedroppers, mechanical horses, walking football, flushed out Chinchillas, the station at El Alamein, life insurance adverts, Peco points, signal boxes and a rusty old shed. Never a dull moment 

 

 I still haven't found out if there is a difference between the stuff labelled Chinchilla "sand" and that called "dust". All I can get here is labelled "sand". An interweb search has not made me much wiser, except someone saying that it is now coarser than it used to be, because the really fine stuff got in their eyes (the Chinchillas', not the owners'!).

[MrWolf]

It's quite possible that it has been rebranded as "sand" rather than the more ominous sounding "dust" 

Rather in the spirit of removing nasty chemicals such as benzene, butane, xylene, ethanol and toluene from everyday items then dumping it into "greener" unleaded petrol to water it down as it were?

 

You're right though, the thread has been playing metaphorical hopscotch, so I have been trying to reintroduce some modelling. Hopefully it won't interfere with the flow of conversation! 

[NHY 581]

It can be tricky keeping things 'on track ' so to speak. I know this. 

 

Just out of interest, Rob, in terms of the buildings thus far, how many are we up to? 

 

Given my usual small trainsets, I tend to keep the number of buildings quite small so as not to overcrowd the plot and give an impression of space, when in reality there is not a great deal. 

 

That said, the distressed tin shed is one such building that could be added in to any scenario without too much impact.  

 

Have to say, the colouring is a good yardstick for all things rusty/ peely/ mouldy/corrody....most useful. 

 

 

Rob. 

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by NHY 581

[MrWolf]

The visible bit of the layout is 3600mm long by 600mm wide, extending to 750mm in the station area (I struggled with that and owe a large thank you to Kevin @KNP for sharing his layout plan.)

In order of appearance and the first five are view blockers on the right hand backscene:

 

Domestic garage

Commercial garage *1

Garden shed

Van body

Crossing keepers house *2

Signal box

Lamp hut

Privy

Bicycle / parcel shed

Station building *3

Weighbridge office

Timber merchants hut

Goods shed

Van body

Cattle dock disinfectant store

Water tank (loco)

 

* The only "large" buildings, respective footprint:

 

*1.  115mm X 103mm

*2.  130mm X 60mm

*3.   172mm X 60mm

 

The goods shed is 90 X 55 (standard Wills') and the signal box (after much valuable advice.) 56 X 52.

 

I would like to have gone mad and added some of the village, but, the nearest building to the station site in real life 1938 would be this one...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which would definitely be overpowering.

 

I think that all the buildings are included in this picture:

 

 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2022 by MrWolf
I appear to be disnumerate. What a beastly nuisance.

[MrWolf]

Elsewhere, the telegraph poles with the "recently creosoted look" have dried the right colour. 

 

 

Thanks to @Worsdell foreverfor his advice on improving chinchilla dust / sand? I have attacked the surface with a piece of well worn 80 grit Emery cloth I had lying around and the results are plain to see. I will be using the same technique in the goods yard and around the signal box to show well trodden areas.

 

 

There's less junk on my bench and more details in the signal box...

 

 

That's it for now, the 23rd King's Own Light Weatherers are heading back to the front line.

[MrWolf]

 

Sun's out, surf's up! So we have taken the bikes out in a further attempt to defy Cack, Lord God of Chaos and Mayhem. Or to make it rain for a month. Though I have seen several brand new Harley Davidsons so I suspect that the long range (4 weeks plus) forecast is peachy.

 

Not before finishing up the telegraph poles.

First I dry brushed them in the direction of the grain with 53 Gunmetal for that silvery bleached effect. Then a dabbed coat of satin 85 coal black for the tar that oozes out of the bottom three feet or so.

I picked out the pegs and cap in 01 grey and the insulators in 121 light stone. 

On reflection I could have done a better job of tidying up the mould marks but overall they look the part.

 

I think it pays not to be sniffy about some of the old stagers. We'd miss them when they're gone.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2022 by MrWolf
Picture no attach!

[Rowsley17D]

I think I'd better have a look at my own telegraph poles again, thanks.