RMweb Gold tractionman Posted February 3, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 3, 2012 Thanks Alan and Jamie for your positive comments - very much appreciated. The HSA hopper was weathered largely with Modelmates dyes, muddy brown and black (I think), dabbed with downstrokes using a damp cotton bud and then gone over with Tamiya weathering powders to get a more uneven weathered effect on the wagon sides. The end result is something that looks nice and scruffy. The Sealion YGH (lovely model - must get some more!) I weathered using Woodland Scenics "Earth Colours" Earth Undercoat (C1229) liquid pigment, slightly watered down. It seemed the right colour for the kinds of loads these hoppers carried I thought, and I applied the pigment really lightly, a bit at a time, and kept going til it looked about right, then added Tamiya powders on top, especially on the chassis. I then made up loads for both of the wagons using bits of card and sprinkled with ballast on top to finish off. I've just got good old DC locos Jamie, no DCC with sound alas. One day perhaps! cheers, Keith PS - still got to do those lamp ladders... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Really like this, the plan is very siilar to the 'plank' I have at the moment but I have got a bit stuck with it! This layout has given me a bit of inspiration, especially ike the pic of the 03, very atospheric. Look forward to seeing some more. Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 P.S I like the yard lights as well, can you tell me who makes them please? Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tractionman Posted February 7, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2012 Cheers Steve - thanks very much for your comments. I've enjoyed working on the layout over the past year and a bit, and the small area of the board really has helped me to focus on the details. It's also nice now to have a more or less completed project! The layout's recently had to vacate the dining-room table and is now in the loft for the time-being. My original intention for the layout was to have it as one module of a larger loft layout, but I think now I'll keep Spencer Park SP separate, as it is useful to have something portable to work on to satisfy the modelling urge. About the yard lamps - they're MSE yard lamps (LS002) obtained from Wizard Models (see http://www.wizardmodels.co.uk/) - they were very promptly delivered by mail, and though a bit fiddly to work with do look the part I think. Back in the Autumn I posted a request for advice on where to source appropriate lamps and I got a great response - if you want to see the suggestions, the original post is at: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/46083-yard-lamps-br-post-war-types-in-00 Other yard lamps were also suggested, and I may look into these next time, but I am happy with the MSE ones. Hope that helps, and good luck with your plank project - it'd be good to see it. cheers, Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodyfox Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Lovely work Keith. This, to me, sums up that old cliche that the smaller layouts get more attention to detail and actually end up better than the grand projects as a result. A great idea to 'cut your modelling teeth' on. Congrats! Regards Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Looks lovely in the natural light... I am glad you answered that, i was just about to ask where the yard lamps were from.....they are so typical of yard lamps of the period I have seen in the old OPC books. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tractionman Posted June 17, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 17, 2012 hi folks, I guess an up-date on Spencer Park SP is long overdue. I really value the very supportive comments made by everyone and am pleased the layout was seen through to (some sort of) 'completion'... Since Feb I have had to put the layout in the loft to clear the dining room table, and that meant dismantling it, on a temporary basis I hope! I have all the various parts and it will re-assemble quite easily, perhaps come the Autumn when the night draws in and I can recolonise the dining room table again. The storage of the layout is also in part a prompt to get me moving with my larger OO layout in the loft ("Westburnham"), which is progressing rather too slowly. Meanwhile I also got out some old 009 rolling stock and track in the last few months, so yet further distraction! But one day soon I'll get Spencer Park SP up and running again, perhaps with a few new features added too. Thanks for all your support folks. cheers, Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Downendian Posted June 17, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 17, 2012 Keith Excellent layout- captures the spirit of a small stabling point in th BR blue era. I think you have done an excellent job with the backscene, I have a similar set up with my MPD, and your retaining wall-gap-N scale backscene is an idea I'm going to shamefully pinch. Neil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phil Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Hi Keith Very interesting work on your plank and I am really pleased you are not one of the straight out the box" lind of modellers. One tiny issue I have is with your HSA, which wouldn't be seen in the same era as a class 24. HSAs for the conveyance of scrap metal, were converts from HEAs built as hoppers for carrying coal, but having their bottom doors welded up for scrap carrying. HEAs were around at the same time as class 24s and had the railfreight red upper bodywork. At least some of the HSAs did get repainted later in life, but to see one standing next to a Sealion / Seacow would only probably happen in a cripple siding - which yours could of course be. Not intended as a criticism at all. PS my parents use to go to a church in Spencer Ave in the 1960s so you can add me to the list !!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Hi Keith,I only just stumbled across this thread, while looking at something else....I just wanted to say, you've done a nice job hereIn a small space, you can often overfill the area,but I think you've squeezed a lot in, without it looking crowded..... I'm a big fan of small layouts - Like the way you can move them about the house,to work on them, or plonk them on the dining table..... without too many stern looks Anyhow, keep us posted on progress,and I hope it gets re-assembled OK after being stored... Marc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tractionman Posted July 7, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 7, 2013 hi Marc, Many thanks - Spencer Park is currently in the process of being backdated to the steam age, partly as I want somewhere for my LMS/LNER locos to pootle, but also to keep me modelling while I await time to push on with the loft layout. I have built and painted a Dapol engine shed and a Dapol water tower, and scratchbuilt a coal bunker. Some cobbles have been added and ash and coal on the ground. Having now done this I quite like the idea of using the scene for some late 60s and early 70s diesels - a run down steam stabling point but with machines of the new age! Some pics below. cheers, Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tractionman Posted April 10, 2016 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2016 Well it'll soon be time either to edit the thread title or start a new one to reflect the backdating... It's been a long time in gestation, but gradually I'm accumulating the bits and pieces to present a more LMS period look for Spencer Park, including the Bachmann stone station, a bargain £20, that looks to me very Midland, hints of Butterley. To fit the layout into my loft project the original 4' plank will be extended by a further 4 x 1 plank, not chipboard this time but ply with a light frame - it was going to be a 009 layout but I think it is better used to lengthen Spencer Park, adding a small station for a single line, with a goods siding. I have in mind the sort of branch that would have wended its way through the North Midlands in the 1920s-1930s, part industrial / part rural surroundings. There'll be a retaining wall along the whole length, like the original Spencer Park, and the two 4 foot planks will fit end to end as part of Westburnham (see http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/50227-westburnham-1970s-80s-1930s-40s-combo-loft-layout/)- the plan is for Spencer Park to slot into the loft layout (also due for a switched period and location - 1958-1962 BR(E)!), and to have two of the roundy-roundy tracks behind the retaining wall so it can form a separate 'main line', viewable from two sides (but not at the same time), one side Spencer Park for my inter-war LMS stock and the other side relatively timeless double track main line (so the BR Blue diesels can have a run, and anything else I fancy). At least that's the plan! And now I have worked out a way of accommodating Spencer Park in the grand plan I feel it's worthwhile doing the work on it, something that I have been pondering on for sometime, making no progress as a consequence! cheers, Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 Looks great Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tractionman Posted May 29, 2016 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 29, 2016 I acquired a copy of the excellent 'LMS Engine Sheds Vol Two, The Midland Railway', from a stall at this weekend's GWSR Cotswold Festival of Steam, bought for a bargain £15. The shed arrangement at Tewkesbury looks a little like what I am trying to do with Spencer Park, in back-dating the layout to LMS inter-war days. There was a small single road shed at Tewkesbury backing onto a larger building (a maltings) and a through line running alongside this, not too different to what I have for my plank - plus, the line at Tewkesbury with the shed was a branch through the town and on one side was lined by blind-backed houses, forming a continuous brick wall. So the plan for Tewkesbury by chance sort of fits what I have in mind, and in fact for the more discerning would offer Midland minded modellers a lovely prototype for a long linear layout. For those interested in the arrangement at Tewkesbury have a look at: http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18&lat=51.9951&lon=-2.1550&layers=168 all the best, Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tractionman Posted March 5, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 5, 2018 With the rather chilly weather of late and an upcoming house move, the loft layout I had planned is mothballed--so I am back to the plank... I had ideas of backdating from the 1970s but I seem to have returned there, not BR Blue though but NCB blue this time! The buildings and scenic items I had built for Spencer Park (see above!) are now serving industrial purposes, and a quick mock up last night looks plausible: I need to get my backscene sorted so I've ordered from Scale Model Scenery (http://www.scalemodelscenery.co.uk) the low-relief 1930s factory and the 1930s 'Factory Backscene Elements' to see what I can do. The Peco three-way point is proving a tad problematic, my DJM "Hurricane" takes exception to it in one direction, though the Oxford Janus seems to cope, even though both are 0-6-0s--my Hornby Sentinel is fine too. The locos all seem to cope with the Peco insulfrogs I used though if I was to do another one of these planks I'll go for the new Peco bullhead. Anyway, it's warmer downstairs and its nice to have a tinker with a layout on the dining room table again--while it lasts...! cheers, Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tractionman Posted March 6, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2018 some more pics of the plank now the sun has come out... excuse the plonked buildings etc, will get these fixed down when I sort that back-scene out... cheers, Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tractionman Posted October 31, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted October 31, 2018 Evening at Spencer Park. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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