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It was gloomy yesterday so I turned the layout lights on and tried running a few trains in the dark. Daft, but oddly fun. Anyway, a few random pics of variable quality. The station in general, I need to lightproof the roof more next time it is off. This is a lucky pic. I cant really see the from of the station building so its just done by point the camera at the mirror on the end of the layout and hoping. The resultant image is then reversed in preview. Through a window. Atmospheric, a bit....

SOMERSET & DORSET RAILWAY in 7mm This months video from Bath Green Park shows a wide selection of freight and passenger movements that would have been seen in the late 50's and 60's up to closure. In particular I've been investigating milk movements north of Bath. We are all familiar with the milk tanker traffic from Bason Bridge, Wincanton and Bailey Gate that was run to Templecombe for rapid movement to London but I've recently been aware of tanker movements from Bailey Gate which I now understand was part of a circular run of milk traffic from Bailey Gate to Carmarthen and return either empty or with 'whey'. This features in this video. Sit back, turn up the volume and ENJOY

In an interesting diversion from the Trains, Planes and Armour - I've discovered a liking for ships.. Building HMCS Snowberry for a client, I got quite interested in the Flower Class and purchased the 2018 tooling of HMS Buttercup by Revell... The Kit... Certainly not as many sprues and a lot less flash. The hull went together very quickly, no need for clamps! Painting the Hull & Deck(s) I used Vallejo Model Air paints (as per Snowberry), the colour scheme is quite different though! After giving the hull a clear gloss coat (Tamiya X-22) the decals were applied. Time to clean, paint, assemble and fit a few parts (predominately the rear depth charge racks).. Time for brief Cameo from HMCS Snowberry, alongside her little sister After a few semi-gloss coats of clear on the hull, more parts were cleaned up, painted & fitted to the stern of Buttercup.. More to come, however till next time... TTFN Toboldlygo or James

A few more doors and windows fitted, the chimney stacks are in the process of being fitted and the canopy at the front has been made by cutting and splicing two kits parts together Stink pipes fitted but gutters and down pipes will have to wait for the roof to be finished. Also other thing like posters and various boxes still need fitting I am still putting off the canopy roofs which need quite a lot of kit bashing, they are not the easiest things to build anyway, let alone making them into a U shape

The platforms have been extended windows and doors being fitted, a small amount of extra work has been done on the roof. The canopy hs been in my thoughts, I have 3 from the station kits and one free standing one. It will be a U shape and will extend past the buildings, keeping them in the air is the next issue. Each station kit comes with one very substantial casting and the free standing kit has 6 much slender single posts, I may try buying spares from Ratio The other thing is a wall on the rear of the new platform, the goods shed rear wall will be part of it, certainly 6' above the platform surface, again the canopy height may dictate the height

Now I am happy that the turnout off the main road and slip are what I require I have printed off their plans and stick them on to a building board, next up will be cutting and fitting the timbers, hopefully Christmas will provide the time to build it

I have done some more on the roof, the sections are in place and before I get the filler out it needs to dry out first, think I have enough chimney stacks, but I guess they are in the wrong position I have carried on with the painting adding colour to the stones. Again the paint needs to harden then I will start to apply some weathering. The station forecourt roof was the last to be cut and fitted, again waiting for the solvent to harden before the filler comes out. I will fit the Ratio canopy which entails splicing two together. They are 28mm deep and I am thinking that's a bit too deep, I may trim then down a bit. I am also planning to have the doors open, so the floor will need modelling.

Made a start on the roof, thought I would first try using the parts in the kit, if this fails I will move on to tile or slate plasticard sheets The station forcourt elevation roof will be quite tricky to form with all the gables and roof lengths Also made a start on the painting, base coat of mid stone on the walls, sand around the doors, windows and corners, tomorrow will start picking out stones in differing shades

Just a few pictures of a model of the Launch Umbilical Tower in 1/400 scale I made a few years ago. The Saturn V is a Dragon model. This is my tribute to those magnificent people that worked to put a man on the moon before 1970. I still quite can't believe that there are still people who refuse to believe in this brilliant achievement. Especially given the plethora of scientific information available on the web nowadays. I'm really enjoying the event and there has been some great stuff on the TV showing a load of previously unseen footage of the event. A picture sourced from NASA showing the real Apollo 11 en route to Pad 39A. My take of the Launch Umbilical Tower as copied from the picture of the real thing behind. Outside shot in the garden. The plane going over was just a lucky coincidence as I took the shot. All the way from Cape Killarney! This is where I live in Southern Ireland. A night shot - the tower has been stuffed with a set of cheap LEDs run from a battery. The light shines out of small drilled holes in the tower. I was a young boy in 1969 and the Apollo moonshots dominated our lives. It was an exciting time to be alive during an era full of hope for the future. We were a lot less introspective back then and all of us thought we'd be living on the moon by now. What a wonderful achievement - the benefits of which we have been living off ever since.

I haven't posted in an age and, in fact, haven't even visited RMWeb for quite a while. What a great new format and I'm really interested in becoming a Gold Member - currently in negotiations with the financial controller about the monthly fee! The new layout, High Trees Junction, is nearly complete so here is a few initial test pics. This layout forms part of a roundy roundy scheme in my loft. My previous layout, Perry Barr Station, is on the opposite side. I just wanted to get my trains running for a change so have turned away from micro layout building for a while. After a previous country type layout some years ago, Cheslyn, I vowed never to go down the country route again. However, the thought of building a huge suburban theme really put me off after many hours of drawing up several schemes. It would just take too long to construct the required amount of buildings to populate it. To my surprise I enjoyed building this one. High Trees Junction is a simple enough scheme and soon became an essay in forced perspective. Having grown up in Birmingham, like most city folk, I fell in love with the English countryside. Whilst I am surrounded by natural beauty here in Ireland I do miss those English Church Spires. It always seemed to me that you could always spot two, even three, Spires from high vantage points in Britain so it seemed essential to include two in this layout. The signal box is Scalescenes and the signals are from Ratio. I really enjoyed making up these. I wanted to have a lead in curve although it is not based on a prototypical radius. I think the radius is generous enough to make it look convincing. The brambles are all made from rubberised horse hair and flock. There's always a Church Spire to be spotted somewhere in English countryside views. The small church is probably around 1/200 scale is merely a downloaded photograph that has been made up into a 3D model from card. The fabulous Lima 101 waits on signal from an imagined Branch connection to the main. The entire layout. All of the trees were handmade from seafoam and flock. It was a large task, but once a production line was set up it didn't take too long. I bought the seafoam from a Spanish modelling supplies company for a reasonable price and the flock from the UK. All the trees came in for around £150. The village scene. This hides the entrance point to the left. The church (approx N scale) is freelance from mounting card. The pub is Scalescenes and the house from Superquick. These two shots are from the same viewpoint at different angles. The illusion of distant hills is busted once viewed from above. That's it for now. More pictures at a later date.

A few more pictures of the junction in action. My track laying leaves much to be desired in some of the shots. This all looked perfect when first laid, but there are a few wobbles here and there that are more apparent in the close up shots. It all works and I've had no running problems and yet it shows just how much attention must be paid to laying perfect, level track during the construction of long line layouts. A Hornby Class 20 combo hauls a short engineering train through the junction and down the branch. A Lima Class 101 passes on the other line. This little loco is a superb runner for an old model and it has to represent Lima's finest hour with its flush glazed windows. The motor is original so the model hadn't been used much before I picked it up cheap on eBay. With a bit of weathering and detailing I think it has come up quite well. One of my favorites anyway. The superb Bachmann Class 25 hauling a short Freightliner. The factory weathering really makes this loco for me. A Lima HST set. It's a real pleasure to see this run around and around now. I gave it a new motor replacement during detailing and it goes like a rocket. It seems ironic that these older models have no problem running through Code 75 track and points. However, I did have to take down the flanges on the 'Pizza Cutter' wheels first.

Iv'e gone with LMS upper quadrant signals after taking Dave's advice. These should now match the BR period depicted. Instead of rushing these, I should have researched Semaphore signals properly - alas, that's how we learn! A class 31/4 waits on signal. A HST speeds past the junction on the main line. This is a much beloved Lima set and it's great to see it run around and around. An old, detailed Lima 50 pulls an old Hornby class 86. The 'Freightliner' flats are the old Hornby type. I think they look much better with a bit of custom weathering. Just for a comparison - a new Hornby 50 pulls a new Hornby Class 87. The difference in detailing is remarkable compared with the older varients. I've added a bit more flock detailing to the front of the brambles and also painted the distant forrest atop the rear hill a lighter shade of green. A few telegraph poles have also been added.