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I have not posted a blog for a while. But I am still modelling. I have finished my cottage. This cottage is called Rose Cottage and it belongs to Miss Harriet Parker, a free-lance journalist and writer. For the magazine of the Middleshire Historical Society Miss Parker wants to describe the cottages of Littleworth. She thought it would be a nice idea to start with the cottage she lives in. Sitting behind her Underwood Noiseless 77 typewriter she starts typing: “I know the cottage is built in around 1900. But there is not much information about the cottage in his papers. The only thing is a letter about adding a shed to the cottage in 1935. This letter was from Frederick Peterson & Son, Builders & Contractors. Mrs. Peterson tells me that Mr. Frederick was a fully accurate man. He archived everything very carefully. Now she stands up and goes to another room. After a while she comes back with an archive map. I can read that it is a map for Littleworth. Mrs. Peterson tell me that the firm had only done a few building projects in Littleworth. One of them was de building of some cottages on Green Lane. As a speculative builders Mr. Frederick Peterson hoped he could sell them to people who could afford buying a cottage. The three cottages there where of a basic design from E. Flint and Son, architects. In the map was page from a notebook on which stood that the cottages could be finished by a personal choice of brick and tiles. Mrs. Peterson gets another paper out of the archive map. This is a drawing of the floorplan of the cottages. I am incredibly pleased to see them and recognize my own cottage in it. Unfortunately, there is no further drawing information. No. 1 Green Lane was sold to Mr Christopher A. Roope, Wine & Spirit Merchant. They have their premises on Dock Road in Northall. We have no information when the cottage is sold to your farther. Suggestions and comments are welcome. Job

A pictorial journey: To test the choice of the textures I started to build the toilet group. Next step is building the main building of the school. Then the base had to be made and the school must be glued on the base. Base made with the help of a frame maker. The scene would be a photographer taking a picture of Victorian school class for a special occasion. I hope you have enjoyed this little journey. Comments and suggestions are as usual welcome Keep save and healthy. Job

Next stage was to search the textures and colours I want to use. Textures are aged brown brick TX07 from Scale Scenes and Mixed Grey Roof Slates from Model Railway Scenery. Brick Textures are printed on a photo canvas paper. Slates are printed on 100 gms. Rice paper from Hahnemühle. Remember: different settings and choices on your printer can give different results. Colours are from AK-paints – wood grain, from Citadel Paints: Zandre Dust base colour, Sturmvermin Fur layer colour and Dawnstone dry and Ivory from Vallejo Paints. I also used paints from Petite Properties: Red squirrel and Top of the milk. I also needed some additional textures for some details. The textures are Old Floorboards from Smart Models; White Stucco from Scale Scenes and the Floor Page from the Scale Scenes church TO14. Next step was to paint the window and door parts of the model, before adding the textures. Although I had selected a colour for the windows, I used another colour that gave a better result: Dust – from AK Paint. For the doors I used Woodgrain from AK Paints. I also painted the small stone parts in this stage. To see if my choices worked out, I started with the “toilet” building. The brick paper was glued on the walls. I painted the doors using the Woodgrain paint from AK. After I have glued the walls together, the additional details were glued on the building. Then the roof was fitted and finished. Next step is building the main building of the school. As always information, comments and suggestions are welcome. Greetings, Job

I have chosen The Little Acorns School from Petite Properties for my next project. It will be build as a diorama using the same base as for the George Inn. It will be a mixed media project using paint for some parts and textures for other parts. The first thing I do when I start a project is doing some research. Being a teacher myself for a long time this is an interesting subject for me. These little one class school actually exist around 1900 in agriculture villages. Littleworth was also an agriculture community around that time. I don’t know if I have to build the interior. I know that I have to give it a planked floor and a sober interior wall. I found some nice attributes that I could use. Nothing is available, so I have to scratch build everything. I also needed a story for my diorama. There are a lot of pictures available of photographed classes. So, I thought it could be a good idea to use that for the scene. I still had some Edwardian figures that I could use. After working out this theme I found out that I had enough children and a teacher. So, I don’t have to order them. The photographer is also available as a single figure from Langley. These small classes are historically correct. I found some interesting information on this subject. (Teacher is standing wrong in this try-out) I made a diorama plan to see if it would fit. The playground will be an aggregate tipped and rolled in surface. Found some interesting material to try out. Will use the book Landscape Modelling by Barry Norman and Modelling Grassland and landscape detailing from Gordon Gravett as a reference. Next stage is to build the school building. Suggestion are more than welcome, Job

I have finished the Austin A70 Countryman. Lovely kit from John Day but takes some time to paint. I’m pleased with the result. I have finished the diorama of The George Inn. The base of the diorama is 27 cm. I used some figures I had already painted and some I have used before. The story behind the diorama: The car belongs to Ernest Huntington. He is the current owner of Sweetman House in Littleworth. He has also a kennel with pointers. His wife is Julia Adderley. She is the sister of Andrew Adderley. Andrew Adderley is the owner of Adderley Glass Works in Northall. Adderley Glass Works - Nice Street in Northall His daughter Marian Adderley is visiting her uncle and aunt for a week during her summer holidays. Ernest Huntington is reading the new menu information next to the door of the George Inn. He has his favourite dog Fetch with him. She has a lot of energy and loves to play outside. For the base I have to thank my friend Nico. He is a frame worker and helped me to realise it. Suggestions, comments etc are welcome. Thanks for reading. Job

Here is update on my latest project. I have finished the pub, but there are some small things to do. Pictures are some great judges! The pub is, as said in my latest blog entry, a Petite Properties kit. I have used textures from the internet (the lower brick part), Scalescenes and Clever Models for the pub. It took a lot of time to put all the small paper parts into the frames. For the stucco I made my own PDF file with the right size for the stucco parts. Also, the chimney’s needed some extra care. I always work on a small A4 plateau which can be used on almost every table. The Austin A40 woodie is from John Day Models. It is easy to assemble, but hard to paint. A lot of little details. Paint is from the Citadel (main colour and chrome) and AK range (tyres and woodwork). The side shown on the picture is finished. I still have to do the other side and the back lights. When I have finished all the painting, I can finish the model. Suggestions, comments etc are welcome. Thanks for reading. Job

18th December 2019 After getting my two DB 90s back to leafy Staffordshire, an opportunity to visit an up and working DCC operated layout was too good to be missed, and that of a good friend and fellow modeller. So, getting to see my first two Bachmann Class 90s in action, one of which now sound fitted and the pair of them both just back from the paintshop, joined by a Bachmann Class 66, in the guise of DB Cargo 66009, also nicely sound fitted as well. A collection of pictures on here are below - as well as an video update on youtube as well - is to be found - just search ''Johnson Street IEMD'' on youtube - please bear with me as this is is just the start of me on youtube.

Due personal reasons and some other modelling interest there is been some silence from around my modelling projects. I still have to paint some cars, but that have to wait. In a box I had a lot of OO gauge cars waiting for a project were one of them could be used. Some months ago, I found two cheap showcases. The cars moved from the box to the showcases. Now I noticed I had just bought cars from which I thought they could be useful. But I like to use them in my favourite way as historical elements in a diorama. I bought a small book called “Cars we loved in the 1950’s” from Giles Chapman. This book is my guide to build up a collection of 1950’s cars. For every car I did some background research. Very useful, because I discovered for instance that an Oxford model of a Morris Minor 1000 was to date in the early 1960’s due his colour. I also made cards for my models with the name of the car and the date of production, with a black and white advert of the car. Some adverts are Dutch. For instance, the BOVAG advert . I also started with a new building project. This time a small diorama with the pub from Petite Properties. A friend of me, a picture frame maker, helped me with the design of the base. The base is to be finished, when the pub is finished. I will build the pub using textures from Scalescenes, Internet and self-made textures. Progress is going slow, so you will have to wait a while before you can see the finished diorama. But for me the process of my modelling activities is just as important as the result. I want to thank everyone who is reading my blog. I appreciate the comments and support I have received this year. I want to wish all of you a good Christmas Holliday and a healthy New Year. Greetings, Job

Here's a tale with a happy ending, of sorts. I've only ever owned a few Lima models, most of which were bought during my early teens. At the time they were a welcome addition to the variety of RTR prototypes available, and the painted finish was a step up from the raw plastic on Hornby items of the day. The mechanisms weren't regarded as being particularly awful, either - certainly my first Lima model, a Western, was a marvel compared to my grindy, sparky Tri-ang Co-co, which was the only other diesel I owned. But times change, and Lima's reputation has taken a bit of a denting in recent years. I only bought one Lima model when I returned to the hobby, principally because I liked the experimental livery on the Class 31. I think I bought it from Antics in Cardiff. I can't remember if Bachmann's centre-motored Peak was available by then, but I certainly didn't own one until later. Since the only other game in town for diesels was Hornby, who also used pancake motors, the Lima option didn't seem too bad. I was fond of my Class 31 but the running gradually deteriorated due to the poor pickup qualities of the wheels, and eventually it went into storage. After a few years I ordered and fitted some Ultrascale wheels, together with new pickups, and found that the running was transformed. Still a bit noisy, and with cogging at low speeds, but capable of smooth-ish starts and certainly up to a slow plod around the layout. Finally, I got around to putting in a decoder, and that's where things took a dark twist as during test running, the loco seemed to short itself out on points and expired rather suddenly. The decoder wouldn't function, and it looked as if some part of the wheel insulation had melted. Rather sadly, I put it away in a drawer, convinced it was dead as a dodo. Yesterday I was looking for some spare bits for another project and pulled the 31 out of storage. I examined it carefully and was surprised to see that the damage I'd imagined was there was nowhere near as obvious, and the motor/gear train still seemed to turn as intended. I placed it on the track, tried dialling up its address. Nothing. Tried again, and there was a twitch of life. A few more prods, and it grunted its way down the track for a few feet before coughing to a halt. The next time, it got a bit further... Hmm - not dead after all! I applied some lubrication and gave it a few thorough laps of the layout. After a minute or two it settled down and was running really well, and surprisingly controllable. Perhaps that initial short had forced the decoder to shut down, or something? In any case, I seemed to have a runner again. Back on the workbench, I added some extra pickups above those I'd already installed, and also a bit more weathering, using Lifecolour acrylics applied sparingly by brush and then immediately swabbed off with a cotton wool bud. The aim was to define the detail, but allow the base colour to show through in largely clean areas, with grime confined to corners and panels and so on. And there we have it - a Class 31 back from the dead. With a Lima motor at its heart it'll never be as smooth or quiet as a modern model, but first and foremost, it's reliable and a steady runner, and it's got more than enough traction for the kinds of train I run. Being Lima, it's also a doddle to disassemble and service. Personally I get a great kick from keeping old models in operation, far more so than just buying some new item, however nice it might be. The Lima 31 still looks good, despite being very much a no-frills product, and that's all the more reason to keep it running.

It's been a long time since there were any updates to the viaduct project (and no I haven't done any more to that footbridge). This has been due to a variety of non-modelling issues for both John and myself. Anyway, we're back looking to rebuild some momentum. This weekend we have made significant progress in conceptual planning of the final presentation format (of which more in due course). The main thing was to decide how high to have the track, bearing in mind that it will be different (higher) for the viaduct on its own compared with when it's exhibited with other modules. This has been done, and the track level will be at 1.40 m off the floor for the viaduct solo, and 1.15 m otherwise. The next thing was to determine depth of scenery at the back to the backscene, and the height of the backscene, taking into account likely viewing distances and eyelines. With some experimentation we were able to reduce the depth of board behind the layout without seeming to compromise the illusion. This is the real view through the viaduct: And these are the preliminary test images from today's experiments: Don't worry about the missing balustrades and pavilions - these were never permanently attached and have been removed pending final detailing and fettling. The backscene image is based on photos from the actual location. Obviously the final versions will be in (muted) colour with some 'real' vegetation in front. We'll decide on the actual sizes later on when we are nearer completion.

Some folks may have seen several episodes describing this under construction on the workbench thread in the 2mm forums. Last night it was planted on the layout and given a quick test. All seems to be working OK. Which frees up my signal building board for the next one... plenty more to do! We also have some new buildings... must try to get my camera and the buildings to be in the same place at the same time.

I was contemplating some rather lame puns for the title of this posting but I thought I would spare you all. We're just back from two days at the N Gauge Show which takes place in a barn on the Fosse Way near Leamington Spa - just down the road for us... which turned out to be just as well. I'm glad to say that St Ruth performed well during both days with just a few minor issues appearing during opening hours. The same cannot be said for the setup day on Friday... We had given ourselves plenty of time because we wanted to do some setup work on the new signals once the layout was up. Having completed a one hour stint adjusting things mechanically and programming the servo travel I was just packing stuff away when the signals went haywire and all of the lights on the control panel started flashing on and off. John pulled the plug quickly and then we noticed a nasty electrical burning smell. Unfortunately this happened shortly before the hall closed so in the remaining time we could only find out that the smell appeared to be associated with the power supply box and that none of the points would move. Then we had to leave without really knowing what we needed to replace to make the layout work again. So we arrived as early as possible on Saturday armed with pretty much everything that we might need including the kitchen sink. The signal controls were all disconnected and the 12V supplies piggybacked from a bench supply. Thankfully we then had a working layout for Saturday, albeit with non working signals. On Saturday evening I lashed up a MERG controller to some switches on a piece of ply to try to get the signals working again, fed from yet another bench power supply. Another early start on Sunday had this installed on the layout, followed by more mechanical and programming adjustements. Finally we had the home and starter working. Unplug the programming cable and the starter leapt up out of the ground because of a massive servo glitch. Suffice to say that further attempts to get the starter working were all followed by another glitch so the starter remained static. At least we had one signal working though. We were also joined by guest operator and 2mm committee member Jim Allwood who brought along some interesting things to run on the layout, oh and a Dapol Voyager that is about as uncontrollable as mine (2 speeds - flat out and stop). Some photos, mainly of more recent additions. I thought I'd try a photo from the opposite of the usual perspective. Jim Allwood's tamper and class 14. For once St Ruth was running every WR diesel hydraulic class... although there are no plans for a class 14 to be added permanently to the roster, The home signal and route indicator with a loco that some may have seen on the Hydraulic Heaven blog. Cossack again, arriving at St Ruth. One more building added since Nottingham - the hotel on the corner.