Fen Hilton Sidings

[Loxborough]

Thanks guys for the kind comments.

 

In answer to your question, Chris, the sheets are either Slaters or SE finecast, but not Wills. I do not get on at all well with Wills sheets, mainly because they are so small that you either end up having to botch over joints, or you end up with tremendous wastage. I also prefer the thinner sheets as they can be bent round corners (with some scriibng and the judicious use of a solvent) whereas the Wills sheets have to be mitred, which I find very difficult to get properly right.

 

Anyway, progress; I have been working on the fruit and veg merchant's office, which is now pretty much there;

 

 

 

Onwards and upwards, though even with the later deadline this is clearly not going to be anywhere like finished in time...

[Loxborough]

Got a little fencing done over the weekend, and got on with the growing but stull modest wagon fleet.

 

I have also started on the main event, as far as structures are concerned, the agri merchants.

 

Couple of shots;

 

 

 

 

Happy modelling all,

 

George

[Jaggzuk]

Got a little fencing done over the weekend, and got on with the growing but stull modest wagon fleet.

 

I have also started on the main event, as far as structures are concerned, the agri merchants.

 

 

Hi George, the fencing looks really good, and very well weathered too. What materials did you use to create the fence?

 

Paul

[Dave777]

Very nice. I like the way the entrance leads the viewer 'into' the layout. I confess I missed this layout in the sea of entries so first time I've seen it today. Nice weathering all round.

[Loxborough]

Thanks for the complements, guys.

 

So, the challenge is over, and I have long withdrawn, but I am going to go on positing progress. Will these threads eventually be transferred to the layouts forum?

 

Anyway, in response to Paul's question, the fence is the Ratio wooden fencing; very well presented stuff that goes together a treat and needs almost no trimming with a knife before being set up.

 

And some progress; the main event (the agri merchants) is coming together slowly. Windows all cut (which became tedious after a while) and a first coat of paint on the brickwork (applied, rather well I thought, by my 5 year old daughter who, much to her mother's disgust, is becoming fascinated by 'daddy's little houses'!). Second coat will go on tonight, once she is in bed!

 

 

And a quick interior shot to show the construction; window brickwork turned around the corners to allow recessing of the window itself, foamboard stuck to the back to give strength and then a few structural members to discourage warping.

 

 

Feel like I am getting past the tedious bit of this structure into the interesting work (though I am not much looking forward to all those roof tiles...)

 

George

[Will Vale]

Thanks for the interior pictures! I've been admiring your buildings in this thread and it's great to see the dirty washing and figure out how it's done. Are the blocks around the window openings styrene or foam card, and if the latter, what did you use to glue them in place?

 

Cheers,

 

Will

 

 

[Loxborough]

Will,

 

Thanks for the comment; I think a forum like this is as much about sharing ideas as anything else so it seems really important to show the how as well as the what.

 

In response to your questions, the little blocks around the windows are styrene; the lintel and sill a little thicker than the bits that hold the returns in place so that the back edge is a plane, because the window itself gets stuck against that. Not very well explained but anyone who is interested in modeling to that level of detail should be able to work it out for themselves!

 

Anyway, I have pushed on a bit with the windows, and here is what the North side (the back, facing on to the branch line) looks like;

 

 

 

Feel like this building is beginning to get somewhere now, though I still have an awful lot to do on it. Think I will do a little roofing on the North side before I plunge into window painting and fitting again...

 

Looking forward to the judging (though Fen Hilton, being about 10% complete, is thoroughly withdrawn)! Congrats to those who did better than me.

 

G

[Loxborough]

Hello All,

 

Andy has just, in his usual efficient and helpful way, movedthis from the 2010 Challenge forum (where its incompleteness was causing me great embarassement), so now I feel like I am playing with the big boys, although the removal of the time pressure is nice!

 

Anyway, I have got somewhere recently, and the agricultural merchant's building it taking shape, though there is still a great deal of detailing to do.

 

Firstly, on our very wobbly indeed dining table;

 

 

and then a couple of shots in situ;

 

 

 

Plan to push on with the detailing in the evenings this week...

 

George

[Loxborough]

Well, there has been some progress...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little bits of tidying up to do around the building, but I have spent enough time detailing it now and need to get on with something else....

 

Anybody who happens to have stumbled across my question thread in the UK prototype forum will know that my next project will be a small grain silo. Don't hold you breath, though; I will not be able to start modelling until after I have been to Europe for Christmas (to pick up materials). In the meantime I hope to get on with soem scenery etc detailing. Don't expect any updates until well into Jan, though....

 

So....

 

Happy Christams all.

 

George

[Loxborough]

When I originally conceived this layout the idea was to have something that could be viewed from both sides, so no backscenes. I planned, however, to photoshop backscenes on as appropriate.

 

First go; (I know there are no mountains in GER territory, but this was the only vaguely appropriate shot available in my computer. The shot is actually of the Jura and is taken from my home in France; we see EWS locos going past on their way to and from Geneva in 2010, so why not an LNER pick up goods in '48?

 

OK, OK, getting my coat...

 

 

Guess who's not been doing his job this afternoon....

 

George

[Kris]

You've made some fantastic progress on this over the past month or so.

[Loxborough]

So, a little detailing and general filling in round the edges, and the agri merchants' yard is beginning to get where I want it to be...

 

 

 

And finally, a person...

 

Mr Morton looks round the back yard and wonders what he has to do to stop people using it as a dumping ground...

 

 

Next up is the bulk grain store, which I have started but is not yet photo ready.

 

G

[Kris]

That is fitting in very nicely.

[Loxborough]

Well, all change at Fen Hilton.

 

My contract in Burundi has come to and end and I must away home to France for the rest of the spring (before heading out to South Sudan, probably, for a two year spell starting in July, provided they can avoid the long predicted war on July 11th..)

 

Transport costs between Burundi and France are huge, so what I always knew was going to happen has happened; I have bust up the layout, slipping all those long hours of work into bin bags and giving the boards to the gardener, who will doubtless use them to reinforce his not very stable house.

 

Final shots;

 

The café, which I knocked up last weekend (while my wife puzzled how I could build something, knowing I was goin to break it up in a few days);

 

 

The track at the back of the café, going round what was going to be the veg garden;

 

 

And the crossing from the veg merchants to the (never completed) grain silo;

 

 

And now I am going to be self indulgent and repost a couple of my favorites;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall it has been great fun, which is what this is all about, and I feel that I have learnt a lot. Principally that the next layout needs to be arranged such that it stays at home but I can get on with bits of it while away.

 

The next layout....

 

Something big, based on Hunstanton, will post when the ideas have firmed up.

 

Thanks to all for your support and kind comments, and happy modelling,

 

Yours,

 

George

[keefr2]

That's heartbreaking, such excellent modelling ending up in the bin....

 

I've been watching this thread since the start, but haven't posted as I'd nothing useful to add! But it's included some of the nicest modelling I've seen on the forum!

 

Good luck with the move & the next layout.

 

Keef

[Lord-Claud-Hamilton]

Geeze....I would have considered buying the layout to stop it being broken up like that!

 

Still.......Sunny Hunny sounds excellent!

[Scale7JB]

I'm very sorry or your loss... !

 

 

JB.

[Loxborough]

Guys,

 

Kind comments, as ever, but plesae don't overdo the sympathy; I started this knowing what was going to happen at the end. Shipping costs would be too much, and the thing would almost certainly have got beaten up in the move..

 

So, onwards and upwards...

 

G

[Will Vale]

You've certainly got a splendid set of photographs from it. I don't think I'd have been able to do the building knowing that it was all likely to get binned at the end, but I'm glad you did, I really enjoyed seeing it.

 

Hunstanton sounds good, I have some vague but happy childhood memories of the beach.

 

Will

 

 

[Arpster]

It seems sad that you'll be losing such lovely buildings. Are they not detachable so you could at least squeeze a couple of them in your suitcase?

 

Good luck with the move,

 

Arp

[Scale7JB]

How about some Scale7 for the next project ?

 

JB.

[7APT7]

Hi there

 

Love all your Building work, the final out come is great, bet that as taken some hour to acheive...

 

Keep the photos coming...

 

Regards

Jamie

[YorkshireFreedomFighter]

I thought I'd best check out your layout link seeing as you've been kind enough to offer words of advice to me on mine. I'm really impressed by the quality of your building construction and the track plan is a clever one to make efficient use of the available space whilst not cramping the layout with yard upon yard of track. You're right about the effect of natural light on it too because the shots you took outside looked superb! Quite a few cameos in there too like the old NE goods van and the agri merchants back yard. With detailing like this I'm really looking forward to seeing what you can do in a larger space with Hunstanton.