allan downes Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Well Sweven, looks like we're the only action on the forum tonight ! But I have tiled and textured Fairford goods shed roof - three hours including cutting them out and now I'm gonna whup the computer at chess while it all dries out ! Right, king pawn to.... Cheers mate. Allan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 We are in the throes of 1:1 re-modelling in the kitchen at home so 1:76 modelling progress has been sparse. I wasn't happy with the existing yard surface (looking at more old photographs, which are of course black and white, I decided my first attempt was too white) so I did find a few minutes to go for a lighter grey finish. I can just make out a paved path from the road down to the station building in the background of older photographs so that will be the next addition. Here is a quick snap of the new surface before I brush up the excess scatter (Woodlands fine light grey). Edited to use a photograph with better lighting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 its a nice colour...might it benefit from some of your excellent weathering? And a spot of grass....they did not have chemicals in those day to keep it weed free OMG....when did i turn into a prototypical...rivet counter!!!!!! Lovely coloured figures btw, I think we have discussed the man and his culpa before but he is good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 HI Jaz, yes I agree about the weathering and grass - it is all too uniform at the moment. Looks like it was laid yesterday... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve143 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Sweden, sorry not got the info & pictures of the cattle dock. Will do as soon as I can. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 I hate MY spellchecker too Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted August 6, 2014 Author Share Posted August 6, 2014 Finally a small piece of progress to show. The kitchen is still half completed so my modelling space is full of boxes making access difficult. However I have prepared the track bed past the station, laid some underlay and some track. I was going to use cork but decided that the cork I had was too thick for the platform height so I have gone with some solid foam draw liner that I had, with the shoulder cut at 45 degrees using a framing mat cutter. As the platform edge is curved I then found some plastic strip of the appropriate thickness to use as a spacer for track alignment. Hopefully I found my widest vehicles (the running boards on guards vans seem to often catch platforms) - the shavings are some fine adjustments to the platform edge. The track is C&L flexible (OO) with added cosmetic fishplates and droppers soldered to each length. I gave it a dusting of colour before putting it down, but the next task before ballasting will be to weather and paint those fishplates etc. The fishplates are attached to only one of the rails, leaving a gap for expansion. This is before final alignment. The white plastic is the temporary spacer. Aligning to the platform edge before getting out the glue. Some rolling tests after everything has been glued down. So far so good. Electrical tests tonight if I have time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Looks really nice....will you be able to cut into the grass for an odd bit of scenery? The station looks good in or out of focus.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Thanks Jaz, Yes I have the signal pulley/posts to install along the grass edge and there is a standard Midland semaphore signal opposite the signal box location. Once I get my work desk back I need to sit down and make that. I didn't get much further last night, just a few minutes before dinner dry brushing some dark rust onto the rails. Off to a rugby match tonight so it will be Saturday before I get to try out the electrics and run my first train through the station. Looking at those photographs again I think the grass is now a little too spring-green (the first layer I had was more a summer grass), so I think I will add some dryer patches of grass to it. Cheers John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 I think the grass colour looks good, the type you get when you had a bit of rain and some good sun. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Clarke 1980 Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 this is just getting better and better its amazing its just as id imagen it when the line ran there my dad remembers it and said its just like it was amazing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted August 11, 2014 Author Share Posted August 11, 2014 Thanks Phil, I appreciate the support! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted August 11, 2014 Author Share Posted August 11, 2014 I think the grass colour looks good, the type you get when you had a bit of rain and some good sun. Thanks Jaz, that got me thinking about the grass and examining the photographs again. I expect in the Midland and early LMS days when there were more staff at the station that the grass was kept quite short. There aren't enough early photographs to be statistically meaningful but it is certainly shorter in the Midland photographs than it is in BR days. I suppose there were regulations, particularly in summer about line-side fires and the length of dry grass? Does anyone know? Cheers John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted August 11, 2014 Author Share Posted August 11, 2014 And a quick and dirty view of the first electrical test. A very shiny Bachmann 3F and an old controller with no speed adjustment! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
freebs Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 It's off like a rocket! I think it works… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Hi Freebs, ain't seen you around lately, where ya bin bro ?! Cheers. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
freebs Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Hi Allan It's nice to be missed I've been on Holiday to the lovely island of Mallorca (not the trashy southern end, but the beautiful northern end) and then I've not been doing much modelling really - but I have been doing a bit of repair work to the cottage that got trashed by one of my cats - did you see it? http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/75832-farnley-burton-cottage-retrieval/?p=1535105 And last night I spent a while in the garage levelling up my wonky layout so I could fix my new viaduct in place - photos to follow on the layout thread soon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 The kitchen renovation is almost complete and I can finally get back into my study to do some modelling. I have spent the last few evenings ballasting the track in front of the station - a frustrating exercise. I have ballasted Peco/Hornby track in the past (using the traditional method of putting ballast down, wetting and adding diluted PVA) on the boys' layouts and didn't find it too hard. But with this C&L track and fine Woodland Scenic ballast I have found it particularly difficult due to the low sleeper height and possibly the finer ballast. I really wanted the level to be below the top of the sleepers, which I have achieved more or less, but I found it very difficult to keep the ballast off the sleepers next to the chairs and now have to manually clean up each one. I think next time I will try the method of painting neat PVA into each space. Here is a general view of the fresh ballast - hopefully I can (re) paint the sleepers and chairs and weather it over the weekend. As you can see there are still some holes to patch up and I need to tidy up the cess. In retrospect I am also not happy with the C&L webbing visible between the sleepers, as you can see in this closeup. On the next section of track I would be tempted to remove it prior to laying the track. Cheers John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Tanks for haring your difficulties....one to be aware of Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted August 29, 2014 Author Share Posted August 29, 2014 Your typing seems to have picked up an accent there Jaz :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SGTBILKO Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 Oirish? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 A little more progress in the weekend. The ballast has received some light weathering and I have started painting the posts/pulleys for the signal wires (MSE). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 Mrs Periwinkle is quite fascinated by the (Gresham & Craven?) brake coupling on the rear of the tender as there doesn't appear to be a matching pipe on the fruit van to make a connection. Fruit traffic from the Evesham area was a large part of the traffic through the station. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Blandford1969 Posted September 2, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 2, 2014 not sure if you have seen, however a nice image has appeared on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/14921656319/ the model is coming along really nicely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweven Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 Thanks for that link, it is a wonderfully atmospheric photograph. Last night I started work on the starter signal adjacent to the signal box. I will add construction photographs as I go. Cheers John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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