andyram Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 Hi Andy Hopefully Jeff passed on my message. I am finalising the floor plan this week so should be able to give you an answer by the weekend. If not this year then definitely next year. Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted October 26, 2015 Author Share Posted October 26, 2015 With half term now upon us I have managed to find a little bit of time to work on the layout extension. After a busy day ferrying the wife around various local garden centres, I escaped to the spare room to ballast the track. After the stress of the last few weeks at work it was a very welcome distraction. A combination of some Brickyard Models ballast and some finer grade stuff from Woodland Scenics was mixed together and then brushed into position. It was then damped with water before being treated with the time honoured mix of water, PVA glue and a drop of washing up liquid. This was left for a short time, before a spray of Woodland Scenics own glue was applied from an old air freshener bottle. The still drying ballast can be seen in the first two pictures. The track was then cleaned and a train was run to check for any ballast that would impede running. All seemed to be fine. The test train can be seen in the final picture. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Morning Andy, thanks for the invite to your Weston on Trent show on the 14th Nov, I'm looking forward to seeing your upgrades, the Bridge looks superb. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 Thanks Andy. I doubt very much the extension board will be finished by the Weston show. I am working hard to make it as presentable as possible. Hope to share more progress very soon. Looking forward to welcoming you as an exhibitor to the exhibition for the first time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 Another day and some more progress on the Skaleby West extension. After working hard during the afternoon to get ahead with my planning for the new school term, I found some time in the evening to do some more work on the layout. After allowing the ballast to dry for a day, I started to work on the landscape. The tunnel area was built up with polystyrene blocks taken from the inside of the Skaledale building boxes. The basic shape of the landscape was then formed using screwed up pieces of newspaper, glued down with PVA. The tunnel end is now starting to come together. More newspaper will need to be added before I cover the whole lot in the plaster bandage. Hopefully that can be done in the next couple of days. The latest progress can be seen in the picture below which shows my Heljan railbus exiting the tunnel. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clearwater Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Nice layout and I love seeing shots of development on stage by stage basis. Too many cut from plain baseboard to finished article with a "ta da" leaving you with little idea on how it was done! Also enjoyed link to resizing images - had no idea you could do that. Have been texting them to myself to get the mail programmes to do resizing for me or relying on iCloud to do the same! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 Many thanks for the kind comments. I do like to show the progress - warts and all. There are plenty of warts I am sure. Hopefully I can show further progress later this week. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 More progress today. After adding more screwed up pieces of newspaper to create the basic landscape shape, I started to cover with layers of plaster bandage. The embankment at the rear of the layout was covered, building up from ground on the left side of the board - to above tunnel height at the opposite end. I have also started to build up the top of the tunnel and the near side too. Progress has halted because I have run out of the plaster bandage - I will need to try and purchase some more at the Burton show this weekend. The following two photos show the progress from today. Compare the shot of the railbus with the photo in post #55. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 Less than a week to go before the layout's fifth exhibition outing, and its fourth at its spiritual Weston on Trent home. There is little chance of the extension being completed in time for the show, but I am trying to get some of the scenery completed. On Friday night the side board was cut to size and screwed in place to provide the scenic break between the tunnel and fiddle yard. The top of the tunnel was then built up with more newspaper. Today this has been covered with more layers of plaster bandage now my supplies have been replenished. This has allowed me to complete the plaster bandage treatment on the rest of the additional board. Once this was finished my wife and daughter were treated to a pub lunch whilst the plaster dried. This has since been painted with a liberal dose of brown poster paint to act as a base for the scatter material. The school paperwork now beckons whilst I await this to dry. Check out the two pictures below. Picture 1 shows the finished plaster bandage landscape. Picture 2 shows the layout post painting (the paint on the bridge has since been removed!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 Another update today. After the little one had gone to sleep I was back in the spare room and once more working on the layout. Lots of hanging basket liner now added to the rear of the layout, along the low embankment which rises up to become the top of the tunnel. The banks of the stream / river have had the same treatment. I have also dug out a Skaledale cottage from my collection to fill the space at the front of the layout. This can be viewed placed in position in these latest pictures. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 Another day, another update. I managed to sneak into the railway room to do some more scenic work on the extension board. With the "help" of my daughter I cut the photographic backscene to size and shape. This was then glued into place on the back board. As with the main board, a section of Noch hedgerow was then laid along the bottom of the picture to cover the join between the photograph and the top of the embankment. I have started to build up the textures of the embankment by adding static grass to the hanging basket liner. This was applied from the Noch puffer bottle. The latest progress can be seen in the photographs below. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted November 12, 2015 Author Share Posted November 12, 2015 After a day which has just got worse and worse I was rapidly losing my motivation for getting the layout ready for the show. I did drag myself into the railway room to work on the extension board. A few trees were planted and the final bits of hedging and hanging basket liner were added. I have trimmed down some of the long pieces. Now with one full day left until the show - I doubt there will be time to do much more. As a result the river will not be completed, there will be brown patches at the front of the layout and there will be plenty of detail left to add. But it will probably have to do. Right now I am not sure I care too much! For what it is worth - here are two shots of the latest progress. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 That's looking better Andy, I like the backdrop mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted November 12, 2015 Author Share Posted November 12, 2015 Thanks Andy. It looks ok from a distance. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted November 13, 2015 Author Share Posted November 13, 2015 A few minor additions to the layout tonight as final preparations are made ahead of tomorrow's Weston show. This includes the start of the war memorial graveyard which will form the top of the tunnel. No time to post photos today but hopefully I will snap some at Weston tomorrow. If anyone else takes any pictures please feel free to add them onto here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted November 15, 2015 Author Share Posted November 15, 2015 And so Skaleby West is now safely packed away in the railway room after its latest outing. Its latest outing at Weston was certainly an eventful one. The layout seemed to fit together perfectly at home, but once at school the extension board seemed to be half a centimetre higher than the main board. How did that happen? A temporary fix with a couple of books under the main board and things fitted together again. The run round loop and sidings were dead for the first half hour of the show, but afterwards all ran ok with only one regular stalling point at the station - finally attributed to a small piece of stray ballast! A couple of trees had shed their leaves on the way to the show and will need replacing whilst the beekeeper from the cottage vanished too (more on that at another time). In the end the layout attracted a few decent comments which was nice considering its unfinished state. Here are the only pictures taken at the show. My reliable Jinty is seen exiting the tunnel on the new board with a freight. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike Bellamy Posted November 16, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 16, 2015 A temporary fix with a couple of books under the main board and things fitted together again. So that's why you were raising money for the School Library Fund . . . . . . glad to see it was a great success. . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted November 16, 2015 Author Share Posted November 16, 2015 Thanks Mike. Sorry you couldn't escape the decorating to come to the show. The layout is now back in the spare room. The baseboard height issue remains - strange how things seemed ok during the build. Things are connected up in a temporary way again. Here are a couple more pictures taken following the show with the Terrier on a works train. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 This afternoon I managed to use the layout to test run one of my most recent purchases. I am sure the pairing of Hornby Collectors Club WD "Jinty" with the maroon suburban coaches is hardly prototypical but never mind. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted March 25, 2016 Author Share Posted March 25, 2016 Work on Skaleby West has been on hold of late as I concentrate on other projects. The layout is not due to attend a show this year as I am not planning to exhibit at the Weston on Trent show in November. However I have received a possible invite to another show early next year. If all goes to plan Skaleby West will have its first ever two day show outing. Looks like I will have to get the extension finished after all! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted May 15, 2016 Author Share Posted May 15, 2016 I have started to setup a Facebook page for all of my Skaleby layouts. The page is very much in the early stages. Any Facebook users may wish to check out Andrew's Skalebypage. A few pictures from layout's first two show outings have got things started, more will be added soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 I have started to setup a Facebook page for all of my Skaleby layouts. The page is very much in the early stages. Any Facebook users may wish to check out Andrew's Skalebypage. A few pictures from layout's first two show outings have got things started, more will be added soon. I'm not on Facebook Andy, (don't want the Ex to find me) but good luck with it, keep the pics coming on here as well though mate. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 I'm not on Facebook Andy, (don't want the Ex to find me) but good luck with it, keep the pics coming on here as well though mate. I will keep updating the blog on here Andy. The Facebook page was produced as an experiment so I know how to set up one for Sarah's handmade cards. The Facebook page will bring together all of my Skaleby layouts in one place. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted May 21, 2016 Author Share Posted May 21, 2016 Whilst Sarah is out helping at the local NCT sale I am looking after our poorly daughter. A perfect excuse for a running session. Here is the first train of the day. More shots later once they have been resized, although they are also available on the Facebook page. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted May 21, 2016 Author Share Posted May 21, 2016 Another picture from today. Standard 4 arrives with brake van ready to haul a works train. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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