The Diddington project

[wiggoforgold]

For me, this is the modelling close season - the time when other activities take over for the summer months. The fact that summer is currently a bit of a hit and miss affair doesn't necessarily mean more time for modelling; rather it makes me even more desperate to get out when I can.

Anyway, there have been some modelling activities going on, so I've taken a few photographs this morning. I hope they are a bit better than recent effort of mine, I've paid a bit more attention to camera settings.

First up is a picture of a class 24. It was the first diesel on Diddington, and the first I had owned for a number of years, so I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of this model. The body isn't quite right I know, and I've looked with interest at the cut and shut ones done by grafting Hornby ends on to the Bachman body shell, but I haven't plucked up the courage to have a go myself yet.

Second are a couple of pics of the class 105 DMU, class 31 and 08 in Diddington Station. Mine is a 1960's green one, so I think that makes it a Sulzer type 2, rather than a class 24. Second are a couple of pics of the class 105 DMU, class 31 and 08 in Diddington Station. The DMU and 08 are Bachmann, the class 31 is an Airfix body on a Hornby chassis. The weathering on the class 31 isn't OTT, it's done from a photograph, albeit probably of the experimental livery in a state of final deterioration, before March cracked and repainted it Green. The water crane by the loco release is to set the period of the layout. It's set in the mid 1960s. The line has been dieselised, but a lot of the infrastructure of the steam railway has remained, and will do so until the line is closed in the early 1970's. The water crane is a Mikes Models cast one. I know it's a Midland version, but I can't get a GE one, and I had the Midland one to hand.

Finally, a picture of the excursion train departing from Diddington, and meeting an EE type 3 arriving with a parcels train. The construction of both the class 31 and the class 37 are described in more detail in my blog. The class 37 needs the cab front widows redoing. I've got the parts, but haven't got round to fitting them yet. Maybe this winter will see a class 37 refurbishing session.

That's all for now. A bit more on my recent modelling activities will follow later.

[wiggoforgold]

A recent project on Diddington has been some refurbishment of Diddington Mill, The basic structure is or card, with Exactoscale brickwork. It was build by Dave Measey, who made the buildings for Lakebank, described in MRJ last year. I've added some bits and pieces over the year. The most recent change, and the subject of the refurbishment, is the chimney. The old chimney was a bit short, in that the top of the chimney was lower than the top floor windows, which meant that smoke from the chimney would be blown in the upper story windows - not the object of a chimney stack I felt! So it needed a taller chiney, and the recent Scalescenes kit prodded me into repalcing it. The new chiney is the Scalescenes chimney, fitted to the base of the old chimney. Its taller and slimmer, and has the bonus of adding some vertical interest to the layout.
I'm in the process of adding new down pipes from brass wire, to replace the original ones from Plastic rod, which have not withstood handling over the years. Years ago I made a dummy wagon turntable for the mill siding. I rather like the 3D printed ones I've seen, and that might be something for the future.
First here is an overall shot of the Mill. Those familiar with the area may recognize the Mills at St Ives and Godmanchester. It's not really an accurate model of either, but distills the features of both into a single model.

Here is the boiler house and chimney base. The roof of the boiller house, unlike the other roofs which are slate, is made from Wills corrugated sheets.

Next the loading platform. This was made from off cuts of Wills sheets, and the crates are from the wagon loads sprue.

The mill makes woollen goods, so here is a picture of D2201 (an 04 tram) shunting vans in to the loading bay.

Edited May 29, 2017 by wiggoforgold

[wiggoforgold]

I’ve been thinking for a while that the river at Diddington was in need of some refurbishment. Over the years that surface had acquired some scratches, where tools had been put down, and cats had walked on it. At some point (I don’t know when) a splash of bauxite coloured paint had appeared. I’ve described the method of making the river before in this thread, and in my blog. Essentially, it’s just multiple coats of varnish over painted ply. I think it last received some varnish about 4 years ago, before it’s appearance at the RM web members day in 2013. It was originally built about 20 years ago. The surface can be restored by further coats of varnish, and I am taking pictures of the work as I go along.

The first step was to remove the adjacent buildings, and removable items on the scenery. This meant removal of the boat house, which fits in a hole in the scenery, like most of the buildings on Diddington. This revealed the construction of the scenery surrounding the boat house, and following picture shows this. The foundation of the scenery is a piece of 4mm ply, which also forms the support for the river bed. The river bed itself is more 4mm ply, cut to form the front part of the slot for the boat house, including the water in the punt store at the end of the boat house. The other edges of the hold are formed from pieces of card, cut to make profiles for the land form. They are stuck in place using a hot glue gun. Behind the boat house is a row of cottages, built from a couple of Scalescenes kits. These need some additional work, which will be described in this thread later.

Once the area was cleared, I rubbed down the surface of the water using wet and dry paper, to remove any marks, and smooth out imperfections. I found that over the years the varnish layer has started to lift from the base in the area of the boathouse front. Iran dilute PVA into the gap, and left it over night with a sheet of glass and a weight on it to stick it back in place.

Once rubbed down, the surface was restored by more coats of varnish. I have found Hempel (formerly Blake’s) yacht varnish to be the best. It requires multiple coats, the more the better. I dilute the varnish about 50-50 with white spirit for the first coats, and reduce the amount of white spirit as I go on. Rather than being brushed on, it is wiped on with a folded kitchen towel which is cheaper than a varnish brush, and doesn’t need cleaning.

The next stage is to restore and upgrade the vegetation along the river bank, and then I am going to add a few indications of animal and human activity.

[46444]

Hi Alex,

 

Always good to see a post of Diddington especially the river area.

 

I always think this is some of the best modelled water you'll see on a layout. Good to see how you go about maintaining the water as well as the different views available with the boat house removed.

 

Any chance of a few shots of the J15 on a small pick up freight crossing the river?

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[wiggoforgold]

Right ho. Here's the J15 on a local freight leaving Diddington with some wagons from the coal yard and a couple of vans from the mill.

[46444]

Hi Alex,

 

Wow!  Lovely photos that capture the J15 in it's natural East Anglian setting nicely.

 

I do think you could do with a brace of J15's...Especially with good reductions to be add including 65475/65477 of 31A.

 

I've managed to detail/weather the 3 I have.  Here's one of them  31A's 65461 with sheet rail and sheet hanging off of it.  Hopefully it will get a chance stretch it's legs on Diddington eventually...

 

 

Keep the photos and posts coming and be good to see some more of the river renovations.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[wiggoforgold]

65461 will be welcome. A second j15 would be nice, but I am rather hankering after a couple more Brush type 2s, green with head codes and train heating boilers, one clean and one dirty

[stewartingram]

There are a couple of green 31's in the Covent Garden museum shop at the moment. They have a 20% off sale on, which I think brings them down to £114? I was tempted myself, as my staff discount would have brought them to the £100 mark.

 

Stewart

[BlackRat]

Hi Alex, haven't seen you for what seems like ages!

 

Layouts looking good! Like the new chimney.

 

Did you get around to doing the rest of the static grass........?

 

If not I'll do the rest when you're ready.

[wiggoforgold]

Hi Neil. Thank you for the offer. I shall take you up on that. Imminent vegetation activities are the production of waterside plants - reeds bulrushes and lilies for the river. Then there's some work behind the station, but when the new extension sees the light of day there will have to be a grassing fest....

[wiggoforgold]

Thanks Stewart. I've been offered an Airfix body, which is ideal, and I'd graft it on to a Hornby chassis, like with D5579 in my blog. I'm looking to source a Hornby chassis - one of the ones with chassis rot would do I think, as I don't need the bits that are falling off.

[Windjabbers]

 

Thanks for the update and the pictures of the J15 crossing the river, could be straight out of a JD Mann book.

 

This is a real favourite for me, you have captured the feel of the area really well.

[wiggoforgold]

With all the photo editing going on the other evening, I forgot to post this one. The erstwhile Jonty Chambers went looking for J15s, and set himself up on the embankment by the bridge. He had to park his car by the boathouse, and while it was there, I took a quick photo.

[Colin parks]

Hi wiggoforgold,

 

Just read through the entire thread and have to say I have enjoyed every post.  Great stuff, and such consistency in you modelling!

 

Colin

[wiggoforgold]

As a change from the usual Kettering-Cambridge trains at Diddington, here's something with an M&GN flavour for a change. The Ivatt 4mt is Bachmann, weathered with weathering powders and was my first attempt on a Bachmann model. The Gresley brake is from Ian Kirk, with MJT bogies. The bridge is scratchbuilt from my own plans, and plans for the pillbox were in an issue of Airfix magazine in about 1972.

 

A K1 leaves Diddington on a local freight, while a J15 waits in the head shunt. Jonty Chambers can be seen watching the trains from by the crossing keeper's hut. The K1 was converted from a Replica B1, the J15 is Hornby.

 

Finally, coming forward 10 years or so, heres a Brush type 2 crossing the bridge at Diddington with a train of mark 1's which is rather how I remember them.

There's various refurbishment works going on down by the river at the moment, and details of what I've done will follow soon. There are currently various items on the work bench awaiting placement.

[Colin parks]

Superb photos wiggoforgold!  (Especially like the effective modelling of the water.)

 

Colin

[wiggoforgold]

Thanks Colin. Ther's a bit more about how I did the water earlier in this thread and in my blog. It"s essentially lots of coats of varnish over a painted base, and can be periodically refurbished. It was originally laid down about 20 years ago. I've got an idea for doing ripples, so there might be a bit of experimentation later this year with the river on the"Middle Fen" section.

[chrisf]

Exquisite and evocative!  How I wish that I had known the viaducts on which those are based before they were demolished to make way for the A14 ...

 

Chris

[81A Oldoak]

I have just discovered this thread. Very impressive. 

[46444]

Great stuff as ever Alex.  Those photos certainly capture the area nicely.

 

Like the M&GN themed Ivatt 4MT shot.

[wiggoforgold]

D5579 awaits departure from Diddington in 1965, shortly before the experimental golden ochre livery was replaced with green. The loco carries the head code for the March-Cambridge loop line.

 

D2201 crosses the river at Diddington in 1966. Made redundant by the closure of the Wisbech and Upwell tramway. D2201 was tried out on the agricultural tramway at Diddington.

 

Diddington boathouse is a model of the one that stood at Hemingford Grey on the Great Ouse. After a 30 year wait, the model has finally acquired a balcony, built from styrene sheet and a length of Ratio GW station fencing.

 

The yard workers take a break between unloading wagons. Not a lot happens at Diddington, so it's a leisurely lunch..

[wiggoforgold]

Sorry about he upside down pictures. I tried posting direct from my phone and I haven't quite got the hang of it. Not sure what I did (or didn't do) there.

[mullie]

That took extra talent, the first photo was upside down and back to front!

 

 

 

 

[NHY 581]

I must say Jonty takes a nice photo or two.......

 

 

Rob.

[Windjabbers]

Always great to see pictures of this layout. Is the bridge based on one specify one or a composite of those over the Ouse between Huntingdon east and Godmanchester?

 

Best Wishes

David