Leaderboard

As hinted at in part 4, the decals were going so well and then it came to the wings and silvering appeared everywhere! After several days work and a lot of X-20A Thinners, I got rid of most of it. And finally the wings were glued in place and that's the way she sat for the next 5 weeks till work resumed.. Yep the dark dirt wash is back.. Props assembled and front undercarriage installed. Sitting on her undercarriage (and she's no tail sitter) Wheels on On her wheels Airfix to the rescue Props painted, nearly there. Ready for her final reveal.. And an out of this world cameo.. The final reveal.. And then there was three.. That's all for now (finally James

So it's been over 6 months since an update on this big build, but now there's been some work on it. Some of these photo's have appeared on my thread.. With the Peco Bull-head track cut into lengths it was time to make up the base for the shed, I went for a magnetic attachment using 3mm rare earth magnets (I only needed ten sets). With the base plate made it was time for some surgery on the engine shed With this done, it was time to test fit the track & work out where to isolate the track, it was initially planned to be 3 section per track in the shed - however when I put some loco's in, it was very apparent that wouldn't work. After consulting with my Client (and his brother) the issue isolating sections was sorted and instead of three sections it was reduced to two per track in the shed. I had to cut the inspection pits out first prior to laying the track. Once the track was laid, wired up and cut, the inspection pits were added. I also altered the height of the shed entrances (more styrene). Next up was the fun part, cutting up strips of styrene strip and sheet to make up the floor. This was then painted a suitable colour. With the hard part done, I started painting the interior, modifying some Hornby Buffer beams to fit and gluing the roof frames in place (after they'd been painted). The base plate was also collected part way through this by my client (hence why it disappears part way through the photo's below lol). Now next up I should've been installing the lighting - however Amazon let me down on some parts, so in the meantime I got on building up the roof panels. So that's all for this build update. TTFN James

It's another shake and bake Armour kit from Tamiya and no it wasn't going to be green.. Box Art: Instruction's and chosen scheme (Winter Camo) - on the box, not in the instructions. What's in the box. The build, paint and weathering - she went together extremely quickly (no surprise there) The reveal photo's and the cameo of the next build (which by some quirk of fate, the first part of the blog entry is already up (oops). Till next time James

Evening all, Good lockdown progress has been made on the dries since the last update the end of April - a few hours at the weekends chipping away has certainly accelerated where I thought the layout would be at this stage. Aside from adding gutters and drain pipes to the first building, I wanted to make a start on the second one and get them both to the same status. Using the same build as previously a foam board base was formed onto which various plastic sheets have been applied. I moved a few holes so that the programming track remains hidden but have opened up two bays to give some depth. Again I have gone for construction ease on the roof, so no internal roof trusses have been modelled. For the roof I wanted to capture the slight randomness and not have everything perfect. To do this each of the panels have been cut and laid individually. Whilst it has taken more time I think it is worth it as it has given some slight relief which I can pick up on when I come to the painting and weathering. A slither of plastic sheet at the top of the sheet allows the slight sense of overlap on the sheets. The building was then sprayed grey to help flush out where more work is required and also give a base for the detail painting. At 2.2m long it’s quite some length of buildings! A few drain pipes need to be added to this building as well as glazing the two windows but aside from that it will be time to start adding paints. I think I will work these up off site and then bed them up before any final tweaking and weathering is added. As always, comments welcome and stay safe all, Thanks, Pete

I’d actually lost the fence ‘wire’, but found it as I cleared the desk at the weekend so finally ticked off another job. The fiddle yard was landscaped as you can see a large part through the bridge arches. Fence needs a coat of paint and the red oxide doesn’t take well to the girders and the coaling station was recommissioned as well. Thanks for looking.

In the last entry I dealt with the assembly of the Roxey Mouldings bogies. Having built and finished the pair, it's time to move onto the underframe. There's no set order here - you could just as easily build the body next - but I always feel I'm getting somewhere when I've got something that can be trundled down the track. The first job is to separate the main underframe etch from the sheet and remove the droplight window frames which are included as part of the same unit, which went into the two rectangular gaps you see here. Next, two folds have to be formed in either side. I've had a Hold and Fold tool for about 10 years and find that it makes this kind of job so much easier. This is the underside of the etch, with the half-etched lines in the inside of the intended fold. As you can see the coach is just about at the limit for the size of my Hold and Fold if the job is to be done in one step. For a longer fold, I start the bend, work along a bit, start it a bit more, hopefully ending up with something reasonably crisp. Note the very clever design of the bogie bolsters, which are ingeniously simple to set up. Moving om (below) I've completed most of the main work on the underframe. There's nothing worth dwelling over here, as it all just fits quite nicely. Footboards have been soldered along both sides using slot and tabs for location, and battery boxes, brake gear and trusses have been added. There's another battery box on the etch which I may need to add. Being just 3-sided boxes, it will probably be an idea to add a forth side using scrap etch or plastikard, althoigh I imagine it will all look all right once painted black and lost in the gloom. I make no claims for the neatness of my soldering; it is what it is but it gets the job done and evething looks fine under a coat of primer. Now onto the bogie mountings. As mentioned, the folded-up design is excellent. The only remaining job is to solder a nut onto the top of the bolster: This is achieved by first tinning the area where the nut is going to sit, then positioning the nut over the hole using a cocktail stick jammed through it. Reapply flux and solder with a hot iron and you should see the solder form a nice cusp around the base of the nut. Depending on the position of the nut relative to the hole in the floor, and any solder that may have wicked into the thread, you may find it difficult to put a bolt back through. Rather than force it (which usually only gets you into worse trouble) it's best to re-tap the nut. Taps and dies were a mystery to me until a few years ago, but I bought a small set from Maplins and then had a mate give me a tutorial. Here the tap is being gently eased into the blocked thread, using back and forth turns to allow it to bite into the brass and solder than clear the waste, before proceeding. My set was metric but I found an online chart with gave metric to imperial equivalents for various threads. As it happens, I've only ever used the one tap, but you never know when the others will come in handy. Tapping is very satisfying because the bolt will now go into the nut with no resistance. There are four more nuts to be tackled like this when we get to the coach body, but that's for next time. cheers!

I'm back once again, This update is mainly to bring you to speed with the build... With the cab, tool boxes, backhead (removable) and other controls fitted, the loco is starting to come alive!! Sadly I have reached the stage where I have in fact made a mistake with the back of the cab(which you cannot see). However, Nothing is ever permanent and brass is so forgiving as I have found out, that I will correct the back of the cab to get the back into the right place!! It's all about learning, but thinking now, having worked on the footplate you would have thought I would have noticed this mistake, must be the lack of actual footplate work I haven't done in the last 4 months!! Once the cab was built up, I quickly moved onto building the Smokebox, the non-riveted GER early LNER type, once completed the boiler is fitted with the boiler bands and the brass strip which splits the boiler and smokebox apart...Something to paint in brass once the kit is painted!!! This then moved to fitting the top of the tanks and preparing for the cab roof and foot steps. With those things completed, a test fit was in order, sadly this was the point where I had run out of 145 solder, the cab was completed and the footsteps put in. The only major parts I could do were the white metal castings and the start of clean up!! However, I had plenty of electrical solder, this meant I could get on with getting the motor moving the loco, firstly I began with putting the loco between the lid and bottom of the box to see where the tight spots are on the wheels. I did this by loose fitting some wires to the motor then testing it, following the problems being resolved I fitted all the wiring to the pickups. After running and filing for while the loco was prepared for operation with all the axles, bearing and connecting rods receiving oil, allowing me to put the J68 on the track and ran for the first time without assistance!! I must admit for a first brass kit I was very proud, further proof will come in the form of my You Tube video's of this running in the future!! As you can see the loco is starting to look rather nice, this is how the kit now looks, as of the today ( 12/07/2020) I was kindly given the decals I require from fellow club members, which are the correct type I require for the tank-sides!! More clean up is certainly required, but I am steadily getting though it all, I should have it finished by the next part in terms of the build then it will be one big clean up job before the etched primer goes on and of course PAINT!! Anyway thanks again, Tom

Hopefully I won't disappoint anyone if I reveal that I don't mean interior details. Rather, I've added the spectacle plates, beading and vertical handrails on the outside of the cab. For the spectacles I made use of the etch I made previously for the Banking Tank. I already had a spare copy from which I had "borrowed" some other part during construction, so I thought I would make use of this. On the Banking Tank, the spectacles were part of half-etched overlays for the cab front and back, so I had to cut these out and carefully file/sand around them. Here you see this operation done for the first of the front rings: And here are all four. A major factor in deciding to reuse this etch was to save having to make the vertical bars across the rear spectacles by hand. I then soldered them in place on the outside of the cab front and rear You see them in the next two photos. Although not perfect, I think the result is neater than I could manage by fabricating them. Next up, I tackled the beading around the cab windows. This was made with 0.3mm nickel silver wire soldered on the outside of the body (a little subterfuge that works perfectly well). I toyed with using 0.2mm wire but decided it looked too thin. The photo below shows my technique, which is to solder one side, then bend around the corner, then solder the next side, and so on. This is what it looks like when the whole side is complete. I file the ends to length after attaching the handrails. Here's the finished article. The handrails are made from the same 0.3mm wire, cut over length, soldered behind the beading wire, then filed down to height. I find this simple method of construction is surprisingly effective, and it is not obvious at all that the beading is made from wire. The holes I had carefully drilled in the footplate for these handrails turned out to be in slightly the wrong place (of course), so I just soldered the bottom ends on top of the footplate.

The tender has now acquired four sets of steps and all the springs and axleboxes and is beginning to look the part. Intermediate buffers and hoses still to do. Buffer heads will be fitted after painting. Dave.

If you managed to stay with the introduction to the layout, here are some photos of the overall work in progress currently underway. The "Town Tunnel" showing the Old Courthouse Square, which largely survived the blitz of March 1941 which destroyed the rest of the town. A mix of RTP buildings from Hornby, Bachmann and SD Mouldings together with a kit built American IHC "Colonial Courthouse" bought s/h off TatBay "Phoenix Square" rebuilt in the 1960s on land flattened by a heavy blitz in 1941. DHSS building and shopping parade with flats over. Mix of German Kibri, Vollmer and Faller 1960s kits, nominally HO but typical of 1960s German building kits, closer to TT. However, kept together, their underscale appearance is disguised. 1960s housing estate, a mix of Vau-Pe, Faller and Jouef-Lima kits. all nominally HO. The typical Chav's "estate boozer" in the foreground is a Vau-Pe/Pola Quick kit that has variously been a school or a post office, but to me looked like the typical 1960s estate boozer sadly now being knocked down or changed into convenience stores and in the process losing a lot of quite nice 1960s décor. The outdoor benches are 3d prints. The 9 storey block, "Euneda House" named after the Saxon princess who founded Wednesford, is a modified Faller kit, and the two smaller blocks, "Cylencyn Court" (pronounced Kullenkin although the local yam-yams always refer to it as "silenceincourt") and "Crowne Court" are Jouef-Lima kits. The one is without a back for now as I intend to use it to design an insert for the block so I can internally illuminate it, printed on the 3d printer New Civic Square and the amazing self levitating AC Electrics factory behind. On the left, Shaw Taylor House is home to Wednesford's House of Plod, and is a Kibri kitbash involving their 1970s "Postamt Badenweiler" as a reception/public area and their 1970s "Hochaus" with a 3d printed roof. The name sign is a 3d print, as is the large Staffs police emblem, which uses a badge bought off Tatbay for the emblem. Next door is the new Law Courts building, built in anticipation of the change from the assize courts to the new Crown Courts that Dr Beeching (yes, that Dr Beeching) headed up a commission advising on. Wednesford was never due to be a Tier 1 Crown Court but did become a Tier 2 court. It's a Vollmer "New Ulm" kit with a 3d printed planter and name, and a 3d printed entrance canopy. The "Brenda's Badge" royal coat of arms is something I bought off Tatbay for a few quid mounted on a suitably marble-esque offcut of plastic. All courts are Royal Palaces which is why they have the full lion and unicorn badge, as opposed to other Government buildings of the Crown Estate, such as post offices or DHSS offices which post war would have had the Royal "EIIR" cypher, or prior to that, the Cypher of George VI. The lower level station entrance. The station is split level, and when the station was rebuilt a new vehicular access was provided on the site of the old goods shed which was destroyed in 1941, as the upper level access was off a narrow road that was planned to become one-way and largely bus only. The station building is a combination of the Pola/Playcraft "Bletchley" BR station, a very nice, little known model of a BR London Midland "Mod-X" design station typical of the designs used on some Styal Line rebuilds, and similar in style to the buildings at Hemel Hempstead, Runcorn, Congleton and the like. The new public entrance on the left is a 3d print I designed to the same dimensions but with a raised "clerestory" and feature roof to give a bit more presence. The station nameboard is a 3d print, as is the water tower on the station and the stainless steel totem in the front which will be in the middle of a planted roundabout when I start the landscaping. On the left, the public entrance to the Wednesford Borough Council Civic Centre, a combination of two Vollmer 1970s station buildings and a Kibri 1970s office block. Market Street Conservation Area and the reason why Wednesford Tunnel couldn't be opened up to allow twin overhead line installation. A mix of RTP buildings from Hornby (the shop, and their "Merchant Bank" which will become the George Hotel), SD Mouldings plaster cast Tudor buildings, a Hornby "Bramble Cottage" his hidden behind the two plaster castings, and a low relief "Moriah-Carey" chapel in the corner fronts onto Nanny Goat Passage which runs off into the garden. I'll be paving the space with MDF cobblestone sheets to give a suitably Conservation Area look. The market stalls are of course Bachmann. Overview showing how the railway will be tucked behind the buildings. The amazing self levitating factory is of course destined to be sat on top of a retaining wall! It's a 3d printed ultra-low relief gable end which will house the AC Electrics Factory, which was rebuilt after it was destroyed in the 1941 blitz. Their phone number will resonate with fans of locos with coathangers on the roof - Wednesford 81-85-86. Next to AC electrics will be the flat roofed confectionery factory New Penrhyn Works, home of Aunty Edna's Minty Koffs. Any similarity with Uncle Joe's minty balls is purely intentional. the building next to the courthouse is the Central Library, and is a kit bought off the Chinese eBay looky-liky AliExpress. It was a right mare to put together and ended up a mix of original kit parts and 3d additions. The modern sculpture in the foreground is "Circular Arguments" by renowned jewellery artist Patricia Butcher, famous for her ear-rings. Fronting as it does the entrance to the Borough Council chamber and Courts complex, "Circular Arguments" seemed an apt title. In reality, a pair of 99p cheap Chinese ear-rings from Tatbay in a 3d printed planter with some clumping keeping the iece in place. Staircase and lift tower down from the upper level entrance of the station. Upper entrance is another Pola/Playcraft "Bletchley" station, unmodified apart from painting, whilst the staircase is a kit of parts 3d printed from my own design based on those at Tamworth, and the lift tower is likewise a 3d print. The stylish but useless roof is a roof from another, badly damaged Pola station I bought for spares off tatbay. Station St, congested with time travelling Midlands buses. The white cleaner's store on the left is a lift tower module I designed for a previous plan but which is now surplus, the public bogs are Bachmann, the "Citibank" is an American RTP building although there are identical European kit versions available from Faller-Hobby and MKD, in fact I used the Faller "Komputercentrum" kit as the base for the Val-U supermarket on Kings Oak. The horrible paper signs will be replaced by nice 3d printed versions when it will be rebranded the "AST bank". "AST" in our fictional scenario stands for Allied Savings Trust, but in reality Ast is also Welsh for "Bitch" and the "Bank of Bitch" is an in-joke with a friend. The bus shelters are 3d prints of the ubiquitous but so far never modelled Abacus cantilever bus shelter. It doesn't have glazing, so is fully accurate. The panel at the end will have bus top information, but helps to keep it propped up! St Florians Church and the ruins of St Florian's chapel, the only structure left standing after the firestorm which raged through the low town in 1941 as the incendiaries caught hold of the mix of Tudor, Georgian and Victorian mixed uses of workshops, offices, houses and shops. After the war it was decided to keep the old St Flo's ruins next to it's modern replacement. The ruined chapel is a Scottish ruined kirk made out of resin bought off eBay, the church is of course the Faller 1970s kit but with the Godlight roof replaced by something less cheesy and more British, the office block is a Vau-Pe kit and the shops are part of the Faller Hotel Stadt-Prag kit, The simple track plan. On the right a bi-di platform road and on the left, a single six car bay platform, with an island platform in between. To the right of the main platform track there will be a 25-35mm batten onto which will be placed a retaining wall, I'm thinking rather than a 3d print I'll buy plaster castings off an eBay site as I think it'll be broadly similar in cost. The building in the corner is "Wentec", Wednesford Technical College. It began life as a kitbashed Faller 1960s Hochhaus" kit which someone had turned into a low relief background building. The kit is seriously underscale for HO let alone OO, but I bought it on spec and after some modification, painting and adding 3d printed bits, looks passable as a background building and fills the corner nicely. The trendy fascia panels, a collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Art and Graphic Design are 3d prints. The congested Station Road.

This is the second part of a story based on a real incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. It draws on the transcripts of a court case at Old Bailey. The story is narrated by Dennis Watts, a slipper boy in the employment of the GWR. Part one is here. As I stood there, surrounded by thieves in a dark corner of the goods yard, I thought my last hour had come. Luckily the moon came out, which seemed to unsettle them, and so they let me go. The next morning I went to find Walmsley. He is with the GWR police. His job is to prevent theft in the goods depot. I told him what had happened. Walmsley has more muscle than brains, so he sent for help. So then Detective Benton arrived. He is with the GWR Detective Department at Paddington. That’s him on the left. Walmsley showed him the scene of the crime, and they found the remains of the stolen box. The silks it had contained were gone. The Detective was very meticulous. He kept searching, until he found what he was looking for: It was a torn piece of paper wrapping from the box. Then the detective demanded to see the suspects. I watched as they confronted Woods and Lawson, two of the thieves I had seen the night before. As the law enforcers came upon the villains, they found them carrying a sack. The detective demanded to see what was in it. The sack contained thirty-five yards of silk, sixty-six yards of grenadine and a piece of paper wrapping. The thieves were stubborn. They claimed innocence. They had not stolen the goods, they said. They found it lying on the ground. Someone must have dropped it, they said. But Detective Benton was shrewd. He produced the fragment of paper he had found by the stolen box, and placed it next to the wrapping from the sack. We all gathered around to see... The two pieces of wrapping were a perfect fit. It was damning evidence. Well dear reader, you may think that was that. But there is more to the world than meets the eye! Watch this space for the third and final episode, where all will be revealed. Part 3 is here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/17254-the-honourable-slipper-boy-part-3/

I’ve scratchbuilt some more buildings for Farthing. First up is this small goods shed, adapted from a prototype built by Eassie & Co. at Speech House Road station on the Severn & Wye. The contractors Eassie & Co. had an interesting history, nicely described in this PDF file by the GSIA. The prototype had a brick base, but I decided on a timber base and a few other detail changes to suit my tastes. The roof is detachable so I can detail the interior. The doors are modelled open so you can see what’s going on inside. I like the effect but it does add to the time and cost as you have to model the interior walls and framing too. One reason I chose this prototype was the potential for a nice view through the open doors across the tracks, in line with my preference for “see through” structures at the front of layouts. There’s also a view through the side door. The prototype had the door right up against one corner, probably to save space inside. It looked odd in model form though, so I moved it. If only the real world was so easy to change! Here’s another little building I’m working on. This is a lock-up/storage room based on a prototype at Long Marston. There was a very similar structure at Lustleigh. My version is some 25% larger than the prototype, in order to add a bit of mass. I normally use the Wills sheets for slate roofs, but on this lock-up I thought I’d try out the slate sheets from York Modelmaking. I have seen them used with very convincing results, not least on Iain Robinson’s wonderful creations (no longer on the web, sadly). Unfortunately I had forgotten how sensitive paper can be to glue stains and bending/fraying at the edges. Experienced card modellers would no doubt have made a better job of it! Here’s a direct comparison between the Wills sheets (left) and the York Modelmaking strips (right) before painting. I’m really not very happy with the roof, and may give it another try. Incidentally the prototype photo doesn’t seem to show any gutters or drainpipes, which puzzles me a bit. The buildings in place on the layout. The shed painted and showing the see-through effect. The lock-up on the workbench, ready to embed.

Question: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time "The Farthing layouts" are a series of OO micro-layouts that depict small sections of the same overall junction station. The period is Edwardian, although I occasionally have heretic out-of-period operating sessions. The layouts are operationally independent of each other, ie they are not connected or modular. In this way, I can explore my interest in larger stations in a very limited space. In other words, I'm eating an elephant one bite at a time! The station of Farthing is located on the GWR line between Newbury and Westbury, and serves as the junction for the fictional "North & South Railway" line from Swindon to Salisbury, now part of the GWR system. It is also the starting point of the local branch to Overbourne. Map showing Farthing and the old North & South Railway, now absorbed by the GWR

Fun Town - Monorail Part 2. In this, part 2 of the monorail tram design and development, a lot of effort has been put into reliable running and how it was or was not acheived. A decision was made in part 1 of the design, to keep areas of development that didn't work out in the blog, this was so that we can see how the final design was arrived at. Normally, when ideas don't work out, I'll delete all the unwanted material, go back a few pages and hide all evidence to give the impression that all was plain sailing, but for me, this is rarely the case. Although the tram featured in this blog is not based on a prototype, once this monorail system is complete and running is reliable, a search will be made for appropriate prototypes. What is Fun Town ? : Fun Town will be a small table top layout that will include a market stall railway, overhead tram, animated figues, rotating hot air balloon, steam operated traverser and anything else that may be appropriate, in other words, a bit of fun :- after the demise of Kimberley, I need it. Snitzl

Follow the development of a monorail for Fun Town in this part 1, Is it a bird, is it a plane, or is it just Snitzl Town's overhead tram. To be honest, didn't know whether to call this project an overhead train, engine or tram, technically its not yet a train, so I opted for tram. It's actually been eight months since my last blog, the main reason being that development of this overhead tram system has had a few major setbacks that caused me to take a three month break to sort out my workshop, replaced my old Southbend Heavy 10 lathe with an even older pre war Boley & Leinen LZ4, made new countershafts for a couple of Pultra lathes and then constructed new work benches. Enough of the excuses, this blog starts with the development of the monorail and ends with the archway supports for the rail, there's still a little more to come in part four of Fun Town. Snitzl

So on with the build, I'll keep the commentary to a minimum.. Resurrecting some elderly Tamiya XF-4 (Yellow Green) from the 1990's. White Tack to do the wavy camo line. Gloss Clear Coat (Tamiya X-22) applied. Chosen Decal Scheme (above) and applying the decals (below) Semi-gloss coat applied. First time using a metalliser paint on the drop tanks. Last bits ready to add. However the P-47D needed to get dirty first and another first - using a Flory Models Dark Dirt Wash for the first time.. I also applied the wash to remaining parts.. Final assembly and weathering begins. Finished and the final reveal (and the return of the Shackleton MR.3 Cameo) Till next time James

No fault on Jidenco, but man am I bad at this soldering thing. Real happy I didn't dive straight into the 3F. So; Old kit, methinks. I have option B, the 12t 1-planker. I also don't have wheels for it. I fussed with it some years ago, when I first picked up the $10 stick-iron from Radio Shack. Back when there were Radio Shacks. The mess on the bottom is from back then. Trying to tin the thing. Never got it quite clean. I'm a little better equipped now, though I guess 180-grit sandpaper isn't enough. This is what I ended up with at the end of the night; I also really don't have good clamps for this. Smallest clamps I have with any grip are 2". Ended up bending the body at one point. I also couldn't get the solder to flow. I may have been generous with the flux. I was under the impression that was right, though. I don't know. I need to order one of those scratch-pens. George Dent suggests such a thing in his guides, and I've found myself agreeing with his methods before.

"Oi! Yow. Ow much longer yam gonna be? Mi buzz back ter Pye Green is abowt to leave and it's one of thowse noice comfy single decks but oi need t'ring me mom..." Wench who knows about WMPTE's new Leyland National private hire semi-coaches and how nice and comfy they are has a row with some bloke in a phone box at Wednesford.

Further work on the buildings continues with the 'new' sand dryer building, which from aerial photos in my my possession was built in the late 1940s . I found a stock of old Formcraft bricks which I decided to use to build the front with it's pillars and use slaters english bond sheet for the remainder. On reflection this was probably not my best idea as it took rather longer to build than anticipated. My first attempt at adding 'sand' by using talc did not convince so I raided that grand daughters covered sand pit - with permission - a borrowed a cup full. Next building project is to clad the arches of Barrow Road with Wills coarse stone........

Following on from the discovery of shrinking plastic, I've tried to get the product to produce scale 48 sheet advert hoardings (in real life 10 by 20 feet, so a scale 40 by 80mm) but trying to work out the shrinkage was proving a problem, and the larger the original, the more distortion crept in. Then the brain kicked in. The main reason for me wanting plastic signs was down to paper or card not liking damp or changes in temperature, and whilst it is possible to apply a lacquer to paper or card to protect it, the fibrous nature of the material would still make it prone to curling or delaminating. However, I had successfully printed on to the plastic sheet in full colour without smudging, so why not 3d print a set of bespoke hoardings, print out the adverts onto a sheet of the shrinking plastic, to the correct dimensions, cut and trim, then glue to the hoarding? Just to be on the safe side, I gave the printed plastic a spray of photographic lacquer (used to protect home printed photos) but being on plastic, glued into a recess on the hoardings, they should hopefully be more robust than paper prints. So, the inkjet printable shrinking plastic has solved my signage problem but not as I thought it would. The local rag and Cock Marling's new brew Cock Inn Cider. The hoardings are mounted on the planter boxes with the 3d printed name of the station on them that I was going to use on the platform. However, I thought 3d printed station name signage would look odd, but the planters make the ideal base for an advert hoarding located on the redundant track bed, planted up by the Wednesford in Bloom Swat Team who seem to be everywhere across the town. The retaining walls haven't been glued into place yet Move to Wednesford and buy a new home via Ben Gallow Estate Agents. Or, if you are filthy rich, buy a factory instead from the Council. Your choice. "Leave it, leave it to Len, leave it to Len Langlands…" Part of the fun of making your own ads is (a) you can stick two fingers up to corporate flim-flam and (b) you can have fun with friends and relatives. My cousin and her daughter in law in this case, and the three most argumentative solicitors in Wednesford played by three friends. ...and in this case, my niece, who loves art and crafts, her dad, who is an expert modeller in his own right, and my cousin's son whose taxi firm has explosive fares deals. Clearly Cassocks from Hassocks are happy the preponderance of clergy rail enthusiasts make it worth their while advertising in the Midlands when their retail outlet is on the Brighton Line. I wouldn't mind, but to get there from Wednesford would take forever, changing from the daily direct service to Brighton at Gatport Airwick. Wednesford's Premier Night Out, the Knight Inn Cabaret Bar and Lounge. Actually, apart from the Poplars and the chippy, it's probably Wednesford's only night out unless you fancy paying for an evening horizontal leisure consultant. Which reminds me, I must pop over to the Noch website and have a look at their "sexy scenes"... Funny, Wednesford's graphic designers don't seem to know if they are in the 60s, 70s or 80s judging by the typefaces. It'll end up being twinned with Scarfolk.

In a previous life, I worked for Centro in the Midlands for ten years and one of the things I got to deal with was a public art programme of involving artists to try and work on the presentation of new infrastructure projects. This wasn't anything new, London Transport had done it for years in the 1930s when a pride in providing public services was more important than the post 1970s mantra of Get Everything Cheap and treat your customers as criminals, and quite a few transit agencies in the US had percent for art programmes, but developing something for the Midlands was a challenge. As a town planner, I was aware that despite what one heir to Brenda's place on the throne would have us think, quite a bit of 1960s architecture had artworks integrated into them. unfortunately, so well integrated many just don't notice them, but for example, quite a few of the Birmingham shops and offices of the 1960s have relief murals and decoration on their facades. You just need to look upwards instead of window shopping. Some have rightly been listed, some unfortunately have been lost in the rush to demonise the 60s architectural heritage - in fact, if anyone knows where the huge glass-fibre Bull that once hung on the Bull Ring has vanished to, I'm sure the police or City Council would like to know as no-one seems to know where it is. Quite how you lose a massive glass fibre bull weighing several tons, is anyone's guess. So, Wednesford, being a progressive, modern and civically proud town, was going to get a Public Art programme. Problem was, finding suitably scale objets d'arte for the plastic citizenry. The answer? Cheap ear-rings from the Bay of Tat. Seriously. Chinese cheap costume jewellery, Some of it is spectacularly grotesque but occasionally some gems do come up. I doubt many model enthusiasts, when eBay window shopping, think to search for cheap tomfoolery from the Orient, but if you are thinking of installing a modern art installation, give it a go - after all, if the domestic authorities notice, they may be fooled into thinking you are looking for something for them, rather than a faux sculpture. Win-win. The sculpture which will sit outside the courthouse and Civic Centre Council Chamber. "Circular Arguments" was designed by renowned ear-ring artist "Pat Butcher". In reality a pair of stainless steel ear-rings, 99p from China, in a 3d printed planter box with some clumping material. Another "Pat Butcher" design, the Peace memorial for the civic centre peace garden. Again a cheap "Dove of Peace" large ear-ring (I'm sure any woman wearing these would have ear-lobes the length of her neck after a few hours they are so large) with 3d printed base and commemorative plaque. Still waiting the delivery of grass mat for the lawn. Shop facia panels. The abstract 1960s design was spot on and size wise they were almost a match for the windows on the Hornby Skaledale shop. Again some cheap 99p metal ear-studs sourced from the Bay of Tat. I've also used a Staffordshire Police badge on a 3d printed plinth for the entrance to Shaw Taylor House, and a Royal Coat of Arms badge on the new Court House. Both were pretty much the right size to go on or in front of the buildings.. So, there you are. Not the most obvious source of detailing, but cheap cuff-links, ear-rings and brooches could give your models a touch of cosmopolitan urban modern art without breaking the bank. Just don't tell your mates down the battle cruiser* why you are searching for tomfoolery* on eBay, they might get the wrong idea. *(Battle Cruiser - boozer, tomfoolery - jewellery. But you already knew that, right?)

When I planned "Wednesford" two things dictated the presentation of the layout: a desire to try and get decent curve radii, and some means of trying to reduce the amount of "dead space" taken up by the backstage fiddle yard. The former led to me pushing the track to the back of the layout and working on an island station platform, and the latter, partly connected to the plan of a single bi-directional main through platform and a single bay, resulting in a plan to place scenery on one of the fiddle yard sidings. One advantage of the railway being up against the shed wall is that you will view the station behind the adjacent town scenery, which is perhaps to my mind more realistic but I spotted a potential problem: I was planning to use DCC, in a shed, and as we DCC users know, you have to have absolutely spotless railheads and wheels to avoid stalling. With buildings and scenery in front of the track, and with cosmetic OHLE planned, I could see getting the track rubber onto the rail head might be an issue. So, having laid out the rough town plan I had additional boards cut to specific lengths onto which the buildings would be affixed, so that I could temporarily remove them to gain access to the track more easily without knocking or damaging the buildings. One happy side effect of this decision is it allows me to take a board and allocated scenic off the layout to work on in the house, plus in the future, if I decide to reconfigure the layout, I can easily slot in a new scenic module if I so wish. So, having more or less completed the "Old Town" raised section which conceals an unavoidably tight curve near the shed door, I moved onto the "Civic Centre" scenic module. A sheet of 9mm marine ply left over from the main baseboard works was cut to size, just long enough to accommodate Wednesford Borough Council's new Civic Centre, built on the site of the old goods shed destroyed in the Blitz and never rebuilt (in our fictional back story, the Borough Council and the BRB entered into a joint venture to redevelop the old railway lands, the bombed out "Low" or "New" town area around the ruins of St Florian's Chapel, which had been compulsorily purchased by the Corporation, and the site of the old engine shed which became the site for the new Technical College). The post-war Town Plan saw the area adjacent the new lower station entrance being allocated mainly to a mix of civic and Government uses, including a new Civic Centre, Library, Courts complex, Police headquarters and Government offices. The Civic centre would comprise a new public entrance off Station Approach, with a multi-storey office block alongside the railway, and a new Council Chamber, with shops and administrative offices forming a third side to a U shaped building. In the centre there would be a raised square housing the town War Memorial and in front, a "Peace Garden" to commemorate the civilian deaths in the town during the Blitz. Close up of the entrance, a Vollmer railway station, slightly modified with a partial repaint, and with interior, largely 3d printed. I will be adding internal lighting on final installation, although I need to think about how to do it in order to allow ease of removal. Wider view showing the 3d printed planter with the name of the Civic Centre on the right. I'll probably replace the clock with a suitable coat of arms when I can find something on tatBay. Overall layout. The bare wood will be an area of grass-mat lawn with a large dove of peace sculpture in the middle, with flower beds, and there will be a pavement alongside the entrance building on the right, with visitor parking in front. The 3d printed steps and wheelchair ramp leads up to where the war memorial will be located, in front of the main office block. The building on the left is the split level Council Chamber, with the "Members Terrace" modelled from the platform area of the original Vollmer station building. The typical 1960s concrete bollards are a cheap eBay purchase. The main Council offices are of course a Kibri 1970s kit repainted to match the two Vollmer stations. The member's terrace and floral displays. Four of the Council members having a chin-wag during a smoko break. The section still needs some additional paving work, the War Memorial and Peace Garden, and possibly the visitor parking bays marking out on the left, but I have to say I'm quite pleased with how it has all turned out. For the "fiddle yard" I've decided to have the track from the bay platform terminate in a single track, heavily rationalised "temporary" wooden station. The back story is this was once a branch which linked Wednesford with Wombourne on the GWR Wombourne branch, a short lived by-pass line linking Stourbridge with the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton line, which lasted just 40 years from 1925 to 1965 and which lost it's passenger service after just seven years in 1932. Those of you who know the Black Country will know that west of Dudley the GWR pretty much had a monopoly, so I decided that the "Wednesford" loop and branch over towards Gornal and on to Wombourne was a competitive strike by Euston to try and tap into the Earl of Dudley's extensive rail worked iron, coal and brick industries. So, when Wombourne lost it's GWR station in 1932, the LMS branch to Wednesford became the only passenger service to the village, which clung on mainly because it served Gornal. Slated for closure in 1965, pending a decision, BRB built a temporary wooden platform on the site of the closed goods yard to serve Wombourne, allowing the closure of a level crossing and signal box, and the sale of the station house and buildings. Any similarity with Sheringham in Norfolk is purely intentional. However, owing to a mistake in the closure proceedings and associated legal wrangles, the line was still chuntering away when WMPTE signed an agreement to underwrite local rail services and so ended up in a legal limbo. The problem was the station was technically in Staffordshire, but the majority of users of the hourly bubble-car shuttle were from the West Midlands county, so the "temporary" wooden platform and dismal unstaffed shelter soldiered on for forty years whilst SCC refused to pay anything to upgrade it and WMPTE/Centro refused to pay for something over the border. That's the back story. It'll be an electrically separate single line running as a shuttle from the bay platform to the platform stood in a weed infested gravel goods yard with a backscene behind, a sort of minimal bookshelf working diorama of the kind of heavily rationalised, "crumbling edge of quality" stations that most enthusiasts hate, but I find actually quite atmospheric. I've planned it as an electrically separately fed line to allow it to double up as a test and programming line without the need to remove any stock in the main fiddle yard. The idea is the bubble cars will leave Wednesford bay, pass behind the scenic break, before emerging from behind a second break to run past the dismal, weed endowed goods yard--parking into the platform on a regular shuttle. Which leads me to the other project I've been doing this week, Wombourne "platform" The platform is a rather nice laser cut MDF platform kit from "Torri Laser" just up the road in Pigtown - sorry Mochdre, Conwy. Mine arrived without instructions, I'm not sure if that was an oversight or if they are meant to be an intelligence test but I managed to get something together and work out the main structural components, with only a few details not applied as being un-necessary for my needs. The kit comes with a more "steam era" wooden shelter and platform but I wanted something more modern, and the shelter came from an eBay seller in Northumberland, and is again laser cut MDF, which fits perfectly onto the platform. The post and rail fence is genuine metal wire supplied with the platform kit. You'll notice that the half of the platform on the right has holes. Somehow I missed this when laying out the parts, it should have been joined by a similar piece I put on the back but should have been on the front left, to allow some additional detailing to be added. Never mind. At the moment I've left it "au naturel" but will probably weather it down once I start installation post track laying. The complete length, which I estimate should just about accommodate a two car 57ft underframe DMU or a Sprinter with the cab door on the ramp. To me it really captures the look of minimum service, minimum expenditure branch stations of the rationalisation era. The parts all go together well, once you've worked out what goes where and being real wood has a wonderful feel. Also, being made here in Wales was an added bonus for me. With a Dapol 122 burbling in the platform waiting departure, surrounded by copious drifts of fireweed and scrubby undergrowth, I cant wait to get it installed and hopefully trigger some of those who think all model railways should be chocolate box fantasies of a mythical golden era.

I've been working on the “Biscuit Shed”, the first of the buildings for my new Farthing layout. It is inspired by the “beer shed” in the GWR Goods yard at Stratford on Avon, which was used as a loading facility for beer traffic from the Flower & Sons brewery. The biscuit theme draws on the so-called “biscuit siding” in Gloucester Old Yard, which served a small loading shed that was used by various industries over the years, including Peak Freen’s biscuit company. Every building has a history, and so it transpires that the Biscuit Shed was the original train shed of the erstwhile North & South Junction Railway's terminus at Farthing. When the GWR took over that line it was decided to keep the shed as a transshipment facility for the area’s blossoming industries, and in 1899 the GWR entered into contract with Badger's Biscuit Company for just such a purpose. This non-standard history allowed me to use some roof trusses with a "Queen Post" pattern from an old Airfix station canopy kit. The side was built using laminated styrene and braced as per the beer shed at Stratford on Avon. I've only just discovered microbrushes (the green thing), they are proving quite useful. I used a small jig to make the supporting timber posts. The jig was developed with input from NASA engineers and proved an excellent way of gluing the posts firmly to, er, the jig! :-) I liked the “waisted” appearance of the timber support columns in the beer shed at Stratford at Avon, so I tried to copy this by fitting a hollow section of square rod around the bottom of each post, filed lightly at the top to add an angle. This was also a convenient way of hiding any inconsistencies in the height of the support posts (purely theoretical, of course!). Still working on the loading dock, it will have a polyfilla surface and sleeper-faced sides. The footprint of the dock is a bit odd as the building will be located in the front left corner. The white pipes on the roof marks the join of the Wills slate sheets. Once painted grey I hope they will blend in - sometimes I think it is best to hide a join in plain sight, so to speak. So just a little more work and then it's time to paint it before embedding it on the layout.

This is the third and final part of a story based on a real incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. It draws on the transcripts of a court case at Old Bailey. The story is narrated by Dennis Watts, a slipper boy in the employment of the GWR. The story began here. Having produced their damning evidence, Detective Benton and constable Walmsley rounded up the four thieves and took them to court. I was the star witness at the trial, and made sure to tell the story well. Based on my testimony, Woods and Lawson were convicted and put away. Unfortunately Fraser and Marsh - the two other slipper boys - got off free. I hadn’t counted on that. After the trial they returned to work and cornered me. I ran off, but they chased me… …all over… …the goods depot. In the end I had to call for help… …and soon we were four against two. We quickly overcame the two villains, tied them up, and… …packed them in a couple of tea crates. They were forwarded that night on the 2AM goods, labelled for Thurso. Because you see, dear reader, I haven’t been quite honest with you… I’ve got a gang of my own, and we didn’t want those amateurs intruding on our turf. Not that they were any competition, really. We’re a pretty organised bunch. My uncle the goods checker is on board, and Watts the GWR copper. Handy people, if you’re into goods scams. You see, we don’t deal in petty theft. We aim much higher than that: We have ways… …of making whole trucks… ….disappear. ***************************************** Editor’s notes: You may be wondering how much of this actually happened. The story roughly follows the real events recorded in the proceedings from Old Bailey up to the point of the trial (albeit in a simplified form, and with the names altered). The original theft of the satins and silks, and the clever detective work of matching the pieces of wrapping did thus in fact happen. The appearance of our “hero” the slipper boy as the star witness at the trial is also true, as is the fact that two of the thieves were released after the trial. From there on, the story is fiction. Or is it? A closer reading of the court proceedings leave certain questions unanswered, and it is these “loose ends” that inspired the rest of the story. As for making whole wagons disappear, I refer to “GWR Goods Wagons” by Atkins, Beard and Tourret (1998 edition) which in the preface states that 3 wagons were added to the condemned list in 1908 because “they had not been heard of for 10 years” (sic). PS: I’m using the term “truck” rather than “van” or "wagon", as that is the word used by all the staff in the testimonies of the court case at Old Bailey. I’ve always thought the words van and wagon were used at the time – perhaps that was the official terminology, and "trucks" was everyday slang?