Snofi Posted July 25, 2015 Author Share Posted July 25, 2015 Not much to report here. Been spending most of my spare time focussing on software, building platform and furniture - will post some shots at some stage. This little fella turned up yesterday after coming up at around half usual price on ebay - I'm afraid I have rather fallen out with the retailer who commissioned them. Around last december, during a lull in life, I spent a few days typing in "BR Class xx" into wikipedia and I must admit that this was the first time I had come across the 14 (and 17' but that was my bad experience...) and I just thought wow, what a characterful little guy that is, gotta have one. Was delighted to find it in RTR form and have been trying to get hold of one for ages. Original idea was that I could remove or cover the blue circle logo and return it to all over green but having stared at it for quite some time last night I'm trying to avoid this irressistable urge to paint it black. Red lining is also lurking in there... Regions, eras, hah! A presto Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 Shh, don't tell anyone, but I'm starting to get quite pleased with this :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted July 30, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 30, 2015 Shh, don't tell anyone, but I'm starting to get quite pleased with this :-) And so you should, it's looking really great. The slightly overgrown yard is excellent. Al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted August 2, 2015 Author Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thanks for the likes and comments - real compliment coming from you Al having watched your catalogue of excellent work develop over time! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Agree with Al, when I deal with the end of my branch line I may be looking for an effect like that! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Sasquatch Posted August 8, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 8, 2015 This has been an interesting read. It's looking good so far . Sign me up! Just one question Snofi, what did you use for the base boards! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted August 11, 2015 Author Share Posted August 11, 2015 Thanks for the likes and comments - much appreciated! Been a quiet week on the modelling front although the life front has been rather hectic. Presently recovering from 4 nights of 50th birthday stuff starting with too much to eat and drink on Friday followed by pretty much the same on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Feeling a tad washed out this evening... For the boards I went with 9mm ply for this version - used 12mm on the first. The underframe is softwood. This is designed to sit on a wall and so length isn't so constrained by the need for it to move anywhere other than upstairs to its final location once I complete my side of the bargain, decorate the spare room and have a new floor laid - house is about 170 years old and it's the last room where what were probably, based on the state of them, the original boards are left. So I went for 2x6' and 1x4'. This is the first of the 6 foot ones and, given I'm already committed to extending it by 3", it was probably the best choice. Underframe is a series of roughly 1' squares. Again, this was a "i don't really know what i'm doing" choice so I could decide where to put the bracing after I had laid the points. I know that that isn't the way most do it, but it sort of suits my approach to life :-) The only decemt drinking hole within a reasonable distance from here is the Buffer Stops in Rawtenstall and Saturdays, errr, swift half with friends before being whisked off to Manchester coincided with appearances from the ELR Crab, the City of Wells and, that most characterful of wheeled portakabins, the Class 14. More yesterday as the wife had organised a days exploration based on the KWVR. Good day, though a tad expensive as her parents had provided a hugely generous bag of birthday pennies, most of which was spent in the Haworth shop on some new toys that I don't really need but, given the price of the 3F, would have been rude to ignore... Now to weather the platform. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Sasquatch Posted August 11, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 11, 2015 9mm ply is great for base boards! I used OFB (or is that OSB) once which was a mistake. From experience I have found that only one type of material should be used for the track bed throughout the entire layout. This is because of the moisture content. If the layout dries out or takes on moisture as in the temperature variations experienced in lofts for instance, all the boards should react the same! Hence my one extension made from the OFB is now thicker than the two adjoining ply boards and the trains come off or get jammed!! Sounds like you're having far too much fun over there BTW! Regards Shaun. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted August 25, 2015 Author Share Posted August 25, 2015 Second time lucky - deleted the text as well as the pictures which appear upside down here despite seeming fine on this ipad thingamajig. If they don't work this time I'll wander off and indulge in some restorative :-)Thanks for likes and comments. Progress seems glacial as I admire the speed some folk can move forward at but i have managed to do some stuff. Extended this board by the 3" necessary so that the objects that keep sneaking into the house, despite my conviction to never Buy any long locos, can run round without having to be drawn right up to the buffers whilst the wheels at the other end only just clear the points. Treated myself to some lanarkshire models buffer stops too. Lovely kits that even I couldn't ruin. I'm really kicking myself for having a sole set of the peco things well and truly fixed in place. As you can probably guess, I'm going to have to bite that bullet at some point in time...Have been stymied doing "big" stuff by a lack of 7mm stone plastikard. I need to get the lower section of the retaining walls in place before fixing the platform down just in case it shifts and ###### the clearances. Patience is a new skill that I'm slowly acquiring...Built some of a station building. My short squat fingers keep letting me down with the canopy struts but I'm determined and keep trying everynight until each of the 4 cats has taken enough of a kicking and the neighbours have summoned the foul language police. I will have a canopy with struts - well three - but I might be here sometime :-)Just tried pictures again and wonky again so will upload them as a separate post once I've edited them on a proper computer... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted August 26, 2015 Author Share Posted August 26, 2015 And finally, after much faffing, a few pictures from the ipad. Hopefully worth the wait... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 Eek, last update some 6 weeks ago! I can assure y'all that, other than two weeks wandering around and between Riga, Warsaw and Krakow I have been continuing to annoy the wife by making a mess do stuff on the layout. One quick pic, if nothing else then to show signs of life ;-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAL 'O THE WYND Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Have to say you've certainly got an eye for colour - those few scenes look very accomplished. Forgive me responding to this earlier remark by Stu, but - for me - he's hit the nail on the head regarding how successful you WILL be - an eye for colour. This is THE most important factor for me. There are many excellent layouts ruined by vivid colours - the modeller does not have that eye. So, you'll be good! EDIT: L8r I jumped in with that one but don't regret it. Very little of my track is painted but I'm aiming for similar to yours, particularly in the yard, which must be overgrown. Some of the folk who I'm lucky enough to have following me, will know that my favourite word is, "squalor." Squalid, that is how I want my layout to look.: North Tyne Industrial squalor... Tony. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davefrk Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 The railway is really coming on Snofi, like the stonework too, must get on with mine but making bufferstops for people gets in the way.... Hey ho. All the best, Dave Franks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 Many thanks for the comments Tony and Dave - also thanks Dave for the message - I'm on it, the evidence can be seen in one picture :-) Am really enjoying working on this end of this board. Having ripped up the last 3rd of the platform surface - it had been quietly annoying me for weeks - i've started to get a lot happier with it and the rest of the scenery which is slowly coming together. The following shots are meant to offer a flavour though please try to ignore the cattle dock fencing I bought a "ready made" ratio kit for pennies from a popular auction site and will redo this - eventually.... The trees are too samey too. Bought a batch of 20 for about 20p each from China just to see what they were like - and because I had had one too many. I've now ordered some different sizes... I am worried that I have bought some cows! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted October 20, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 20, 2015 Your cows need weathering You really do have an eye for colouring, everything looks great. (not so sure about the trees - too green) Al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Your cows need weathering You really do have an eye for colouring, everything looks great. (not so sure about the trees - too green) Al. Thanks Al. Have been trying to work out which flock to dip their backsides in before weathering... :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted October 22, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 22, 2015 A nice mucky brown, I reckon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 A view from the 4 legged dock across to where the 2 legged stock enter the station. I'm pleased with this, it's my first ever kit bash and, once everything gets fixed, is what I originally envisaged. Well, almost. i'm guessing that one day I will remake it from scratch, but let's be fair, I've only been doing this a year :-) Edit: just i case it isn't obvious the back wall is neither heightened or in its proper place - it's simply propped vaguely in place. need to finish the paint on it too :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted October 25, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 25, 2015 That's a cracking footbridge, love the colours again. You, like Adrian on Westerham, seem to have the ability to add something new, and yet make it look as if it's been there for years, it all blends in so well. Well done, Al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 Thanks Al, that really is some compliment and thanks to everyone else for the ratings, much appreciated! Over the past few evenings I've been slowly building the platform "furniture". Last night, whilst trying to break my habit of watching paint dry with a pint in hand, I decided to take a whole bunch of photos from different angles to see how this board was developing as a composition - and also to start to make a record of views from the two sides (the ones with the retaining walls) which will be against the wall when it moves upstairs - this will probably be around January time as I need to get its new home re-floored and decorated and am just starting to look into self-storage facilities - our house is rather full and taking one room completely out of service will lead to a bigger displacement of stuff than we can comfortably squeeze into the other rooms. My original intent was to simply study them, looking at overall composition and checking for bits that I've perhaps missed or which could do with tidying up - yes there are some very large sections which are incomplete or not fixed but hey... In general they all showed much work still to be done in order to create a whole, but there are 2 which I think are possibly worth sharing for very different reasons. The first is a simple view of the majority of the board looking toward the goods yard/station throat. This shows a dilemma that I am sure that all of you experienced modellers will have faced from time to time and that is how do we get what we want into the space that we have available and what compromises we have to make. The obvious shortcoming is in the loop where it all just looks, from this angle, far too short. When I first drew this up in Scarm the total length, capable of accommodating up to 6 57' coaches and a medium sized loco, with a slightly longer head shunt, would have added another 3' to the loop wiping out any chance of any kind of run beyond the junction that will sit on the second scenic board. My eventual choice was to reduce this to a 3 57' coach (8 or 9 wagons) capability with the loco coming to rest very close to or even on (depending on size) the crossover it will use to run round trains - my intention is 2 coach or 2 car DMU for all services so they won't look overly cramped. It was a compromise, it will look wrong to some, but in terms of giving me what I want operationally and scenically it pushes all my buttons - well, that is except for the little one that sits on my left shoulder and keeps screaming "rip it up and start again". Besides, RMWeb has shown me lots of similar compromises and if it's good enough for the good folk here then it's good enough for me ;-) The second shows the benefit of a camera when reviewing what you have been doing. Yeah, yeah, grannies, eggs and all that kinda stuff but maybe the observation might help someone who, like me, is new to this stuff. The image is of the junction between loop and goods yard. Most nights I look at it, smile and say getting there, however this photo shows I need to get the micro paintbrushes out (not to mention the eyesight enhancement tools - how can folk work in N ;-)) Enough warbling, here are the pics. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAL 'O THE WYND Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Thanks Al, that really is some compliment and thanks to everyone else for the ratings, much appreciated! Over the past few evenings I've been slowly building the platform "furniture". Last night, whilst trying to break my habit of watching paint dry with a pint in hand, I decided to take a whole bunch of photos from different angles to see how this board was developing as a composition - Enough warbling, here are the pics. Aye, eye! Tony. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 Thanks Tony ;-) I really should stop by my own thread more often - I tend to read RMWEB by starting with the first topic with unread entries and then clicking on "next unread topic". There are few that I've marked as do not read at any time - usually those where modelling related content is sparsely littered amongst the many pages of "mates jolly banter" and seeming fixation with foodstuffs - I've nothing against such blogs, they're just not for me! Having been deemed, by dint of creating it, to have read my own it rarely comes up! :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAL 'O THE WYND Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Thanks Tony ;-) I really should stop by my own thread more often - I tend to read RMWEB by starting with the first topic with unread entries and then clicking on "next unread topic". There are few that I've marked as do not read at any time - usually those where modelling related content is sparsely littered amongst the many pages of "mates jolly banter" and seeming fixation with foodstuffs - I've nothing against such blogs, they're just not for me! Having been deemed, by dint of creating it, to have read my own it rarely comes up! :-) I'm afraid mine has been 100% banter! - But I do intend to change that. I prefer modelling photos and vids from everyone else, so why should I be any different. Many people use the site for its proper purpose, quite rightly, too. Talking of vids, I enjoyed doing it. It gave my watch-the-trains-go-by layout some identity. So, *Spotter's spots* - along with relevant modelling - is the shape of the future. You're doing very well, and much quicker than I am in the areas that matter. Tony. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 "I'm afraid mine has been 100% banter! " I'm afraid mine has been 100% banter! You're doing very well, and much quicker than I am in the areas that matter. Ah, but the difference with your thread, and many others, is that the banter runs at a low level - there are some threads which seem to have 20+ updates a day with very little if anything to do with modelling. As I say, all well and good, it suits some folk but I'm just not going to read them and so the system skips them for me. You know one of the things I'm learning, and it ain't easy, is to take my time and plan things properly. The first version of this got to about this stage in 3 months and it was a horror show. This one, despite being virtually exactly the same has taken up some 8 or 9 months to date and I'm improving in terms of patience and planning - to be fair to myself a lot of it is learning some of the basic things that others have picked up over years. RMWeb has helped massively in this respect, but even so I have made and continue to make some pretty basic mistakes. The wife has been very understanding in giving up the dining room. Her reasoning, so she keeps telling me, is that it will improve my DIY skills and I will be able to do more stuff round the house better. She is of course totally wrong, but it's all great fun and when something does work it really does feel like an achievement and well worth the effort, when it doesn't work it's simply another lesson learned ;-) Looking forward to more video's Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snofi Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 Progress feels slow, but fun. Two quick pics which I took the other day to help me to focus on different views and which show more warts than anything else. The first is a view from front to back, the second a view along from the wagon seen in the first. You'll notice the lack of platform surface where I ripped it up at this end of the board and have yet to replace or fix down - yes that should be a ramp down the front of the water tower. The wonky, unfitted lamp hut. Finally, the incomplete and simply "propped" retaining wall. The wagon itself is a K's kit I bought on a popular auction site for not many of your english pounds. Having said that it had obviously increased in value from the 7/5 price tag on the box. The second photo shows errant cows (really need to get round to the fencing on the cattle dock), evidence of tourists from Galifrey and a whole raft of goods that I've been slowly painting and putting on the platform to dry. Oh, and, ahem, don't mention the loading gauge. But, despite all the rubbishiness and incompleteness it does show that like the best of dinner parties we now have canopies the building of which has taken quite some time... :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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