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Thanks for all the comments and ideas on this project both on and off this forum. I'm getting the ideas to jell now, trying to balance all the features I want with practical considerations such as size and construction effort. I was originally considering something which would give me a couple of options, on the left we had the inside of the shed/workshop and then on the right we had the outside of the building with the gable end. This idea would be about 3' x ~1'6". The Thelkeld shed has a door in the side as well as the end so one option would be a wagon turntable to give a route out through that door, optionally a second road in the shed could be used for locomotive repairs while the main road was used for running locomotives. I then went a bit wild and considered making the plank double-sided, adding a track down the outside of the shed. So one side would be open the other closed. In hindsight I think this is probably too big and not meet my design criteria of wanting something easy to move about. What I am considering now is actually to do the design in two halves, the inside of the shed and the out outside and half them join at the gabled wall. Some considerations I'd like your opinions on, I want the shed to be very much a workshop and not just a running shed, so I'm considering some of the following :- a forge - I'd expect a quarry workshop to be able to do some basic blacksmith work, a power hammer? a power hacksaw? Do I have a mill and/or lathe? If I have a lathe how big should it be? Should I put an inspection pit on the running road? Just for fun I found some 3d models on the thingyverse for some blacksmith tools and also drew up a few bits myself. I printed these out on the photon. They painted up quite nicely and I think look rather more 3 dimensional than some of the etched offerings available. I think I might get some wood and try and make up a work bench. As always, all ideas welcome. David

There is one problem that has been lurking in the background throughout my design of this outside-framed locomotive – how to fit the wheels? The wheels need to be pressed onto their axles and set to gauge, before fitting them to the locomotive. I had already decided that this engine will be tender driven, so I do not have to make provision for a gear train. After considering various options, I decided to adopt the method used in the tender-drive ‘Mainline’ Dean Goods model. Since I have previously converted one of these models into an outside-framed ‘Stella’ 2-4-0, I already knew that this was a feasible approach. [see : GWR 'Stella' 2-4-0', Railway Modeller, April 2013] I decided to reproduce the ‘Mainline’ method, by creating a ‘sub-chassis’ to hold the driving wheels in their correct alignment while also allowing them to be removed from the rest of the model for any servicing that might be required. To do this, I designed a hollow box girder to run the length of the locomotive with transverse holes to retain the axles in their correct locations. After creating this simple 3D object in ‘Fusion 360’, I split the ‘body’ in two, along the centre line through all the axles, as shown below: Sub-chassis to carry axles in correct alignment The two split ‘bodies’ could then be transferred separately to my ‘Cura’ slicing software and printed as upper and lower halves of the complete sub-chassis. Nuts and bolts can be used to hold the halves together around the axles, with the wheels already attached, although for my initial tests I have simply wrapped adhesive tape around the two halves, between the axles. I needed to open out the axle holes into slots on my 3D-printed outside frames, so that these could be lowered over the extended axles. The rest of the superstructure, starting from the footplate, could then be added in layers above the brass frame structure. The process of assembly is shown below: Assembly of Major Components of my Armstrong Goods By making the body as an assembly of separate components, wrapped around a brass cylinder to represent the boiler, it was easy to paint the parts in their appropriate colours, without any need for masking between differently coloured areas. Although I hadn’t realised at the outset, this ‘layered’ method of construction also facilitated alignment and rapid assembly into a complete locomotive. I now feel that my model is a viable ‘rolling’ engine. Of course, there is plenty more to be done, including assembling the final form of the running gear and then adding a lot of detailing, including lining and lettering, for which I will use the techniques I have previously described in this blog. There is also the matter of the powered tender. I have a variety of different designs all of which were designed to be transferable between different engines. All the ones I have built so far have been based on Dean designs, so I shall create a new body in the Armstrong style to fit around one of my existing power plants. My adoption of 3D-printing has greatly increased the scope for making different tender types. Mike

Having joined the 21st Century a bit more this month, with the heady speeds of fibre broadband arriving at home and a wireless printer scanner to go with it, I decided it was time to scan my only set of pictures. Some context- The station building was demolished some years ago over a weekend in slightly dubious circumstances, the site is still just empty (very annoying.) A friend happened to be passing and took these shots from inside the fence with permission. They show a lot of detail useful to modellers. There is a degree of colour loss in these, they are scans of 10 year old digital prints! I have also included one of my dad’s beautiful sketch drawings, he made extensive notes on the back to aid me in building from his plans. The annotated part helps locate the canopy brackets and down pipes.

The Location Those who saw my previous entry know that I've been planning a new layout for a couple of months! I've finally settled on an idea that I think is very promising (and has already been approved by the "domestic authorities"!). And what better place to base it on than the New Forest, where I live. More specifically, on the coast (where I don't live, sadly!). The New Forest coast is very pretty, stretching from Ashlett Creek (Southampton Waterside), around Calshot Spit, to Lepe, Lymington, and finally Hurst Spit. Remarkably, Ashlett Creek remains relatively untouched, sandwiched between the monstrous Fawley Oil Refinery to the north, and the power station (now in the process of being dismantled) just to the south! The rest of the New Forest coastline also features some remarkable and historic locations; from the D-Day preparations just northeast of Lepe, to the RAF base at Calshot. Heading up the Beaulieu River a short distance we come to Exbury and of course the well known Buckler's Hard; a historic shipbuilding settlement remarkably still intact to this day. With so much history and beautiful coastline to choose from, I decided against my original idea of an alternate history of Lepe, instead choosing to build an entirely fictional location, albeit taking recognisable elements from all over the New Forest coast. I've also taken a few elements from places far and wide; including the crane from Queenborough, Kent, and the wooden halt from Medina Wharf, IoW. As to the name, well, I settled on Coastguard Creek as an amalgamation of the coastguard cottages at Lepe, and of course Ashlett Creek. I thought the alliteration was rather nice, in any case! A quick note before I get started properly; this plan is subject to change, especially during the mock-up stage. The track plan has also not yet been tested, although I'm hoping that short wheelbase stock will allow a bit more freedom to use tighter radii curves. I am in the process of modifying the fiddle yard design, and have already made other adjustments since these screenshots/renders were taken, and I expect many more changes will come. More on those later... Welcome to Coastguard Creek! Above: A front view shows how effective the large pub building and trees are at blocking the scenic exit; something I really struggled with on Sandy Shores due to its remote nature. Note how the rear coastguard cottages are each stepped up by 5mm to provide a bit of interest; this goes against the prototype, but you'll be amazed how much of a positive impact this subtle change has on the overall scene. Coastguard Creek can sort of be looked as the standard gauge version of Sandy Shores; indeed there are a number of similarities. They both have lighthouses, they both feature a flat crossing, they both feature a quay and slipway, a similar setting, and finally a few quirky elements (in this case, a standard gauge dockside crane inspired by Queenborough Ship Breaker's and Chatham Historic Dockyard!). That said, there's a lot here that varies, including the addition of a ship breaker's yard (it was going to be a shipbuilding yard as a nod to Buckler's Hard, but setting the layout in the 40s/50s/60s persuaded me that a breaker's yard may be more suitable), as well as, unusually for me, a more or less rectangular baseboard! Also somewhat surprisingly is that the layout (in its current guise at least) is pure OO gauge; no narrow gauge. As much as I'd love to include a siding or two, I think it's really asking too much of the space available. Let's take a look at the plan! Above: The track plan isn't too complex, and only features four points and a crossing, and I think allows for a lot of shunting possibilities, with some limitations on headshunt lengths that will provide additional challenge! The focus is obviously on freight, with only a tiny platform for the coastguard cottages. Note that although there is no run-around loop, there is half of one; the other half provided by the sector plate. 1400mm is perhaps a little long for a single board, but not totally unmanageable, although I'm not sure it'll fit in my car without going over the front passenger seat (testing required). Perhaps part of the shipbuilder's yard will be a separate small board so that I can keep it more compact. The 600mm width is ideal, although I have already made plans to angle the fiddle yard forward by 15 degrees (as well as other alterations). Above: The ship-breaker's yard on the left sits on it's own island, in effect creating a separate scene entirely; this is another way to help divert attention away from the scenic exit. I also plan to have a lot of scrap parts from boats lying around, and many other details in this area to keep the eyes busy! I'd also like to add a path on the river side of the pub so that patrons don't need to walk across the railway quayside. The pub itself is of course "The Jolly Sailor", to be found at Ashlett Creek. Above: The ship breaker's yard is a work in progress, but is inspired a clip I fondly remember of a steam loco exiting such a building at I think Chatham Historic Dockyard. Something tells me that wouldn't fly in today's world! Knowing nothing about ships, let alone ship breaker's yards, I'm very much open to suggestions for this area. Above: The gate to the ship breaker's is perhaps not in the most convenient place for locos using the quay siding, but either way I hope that it will be operable from the control panel via a servo. I've never had animations on any layout, so this will be new territory for me! Above: The halt is inspired by Medina Wharf Halt on the IoW. I've added a nameboard for two reasons; first, because I wanted one, and secondly, because much of the land along the New Forest coast is owned by wealthy landowners. I'd bet that even if they couldn't convince the railway to pay for a proper platform, they would at least demand on a smart nameboard! In any case, rule 1 of course applies... ...coaching stock will likely be a sole 4 wheeled brake coach (one of the gorgeous upcoming Hattons Genesis coaches!) that will form the leading portion of a mixed train. Above: A well-known structure I wanted to include was the Watch House at Lepe. As mentioned in the last post, this was originally used to check for smugglers going up the Beaulieu River. The coastguard cottages in the background and sloped concrete sea defences either side of the watch house are also from Lepe. As mentioned earlier, despite having so many inspired elements, in the end I chose not to call the layout Lepe; I learnt from building Calshot that giving a layout a real life name will immediately draw in unfair comparisons! I've gone through a number of names, including Coweshot (Cowes & Calshot), Calshot Creek, and Lepe Pier among others, before setting on Coastguard Creek. Above: A semi-overview shot shows another angle proving the effectiveness of the various view blockers. A lot of foliage will be needed to disguise the proximity to the backscene. I don't think I'll ever manage a working crane, but I'll still need to be wary that no structure gets in the way of its yaw! Above: A high view of most of the layout shows the curved nature of the track plan and various stepped levels to provide more visual interest. The seemingly random shapes to the left of the watch house (boathouse) will be rock armour. Obviously buffer stops will be needed on both sidings and the headshunt! Final thoughts and adjustments I've already mentioned how there are a few adjustments I'd like to make. The most drastic of which is a redesign of the fiddle yard. The screenshot below shows one idea... Above: The fiddle yard redesign from this morning. I can already foresee a few problems; notably that two of the three sector plate tracks (the front two) would ideally need to be kept clear of stock for smooth operation! The orange dictates that only cassettes aligned with the centre road and matching orange/green track will be aligned w/power. As you can see, I'm starting to lean heavily towards a cassette system; Graham Muz shared a photo of his wonderful layout Canute Road Quay on Twitter, and he seems to utilise a cassette system. I'll admit, it's something I never thought I would build, having many times spoken about how I don't trust myself handling stock! Suffering numerous problems with my turnplate on Sandy Shores means I may actually scrap the sector plate entirely and just build a bunch of cassettes; it would certainly make life a lot easier! Above: The current control panel looks like this, and will be recessed into the fiddle yard board (requiring flying leads to the layout). As you can see, I've tilted it back by a few degrees to give a slightly better line of sight. Note that I've included extra isolation sections on headshunts, and have also included two rotary switches; one to change the polarity of the flat crossing, and one to open/close the gate! Other potential adjustments include removing the rightmost curve in the baseboard, and bringing the backscene around that end at more of an angle so that it's not so obtrusive. And finally... Some may wonder why on earth I've put so much effort into doing an almost complete 3D model. Whilst for some people that may make the act of physically producing the layout pointless, for me, the focus is always on making sure I know the design works before I start wasting materials. I find a lot of fun in the design phase, but I get just as much fun during the construction of the layout. I do not lose any interest in building a project even if I plan almost everything beforehand as seen here. A large percentage of people will likely think the opposite, which is absolutely fine by me; each to their own! As mentioned, there are certainly aspects that could be improved upon, and the track plan will definitely need to be mocked up and tested to check it fits the space; but I feel I'm finally heading in the right direction! Time will tell... ...in any case, as always, I always appreciate thoughts and suggestions; so do pop some in the comments below! For additional screenshots/renders, including a bonus feature showing the designs that led up to this point; see the full entry on my external blog.

I've continued to add some of the never-ending bits and pieces to my Scrap Tank, and it's about time I recorded the progress. Here are sandboxes (I think that's what they are but wait to be corrected) - filed up from spare chunks of brass with a hole drilled in and a little turned cap soldered in. And here's one soldered in place next to the smokebox: In front of and behind the sandboxes, the tops of the locomotive frames (on the real thing) are visible above the footplate. You can just about see them in the next photo - I cut slivers of 0.25mm nickel silver and then had a fun job trying to get them to stay in the right place while soldering. It might be better to glue on these small bits, but I worry that they might then choose to come adrift at a later date. Working in no particular order, I next tackled the details on the smokebox door. The hinge was made from a length of nickel silver wire with some thin (5 thou?) brass for the straps. I made these as a U-shape and soldered the wire on before cutting off the scrap. (I suspect I picked this up from one of Pete Wright's articles in the 2mm Magazine.) The door handle is simply a length of 0.3mm wire with a small washer (which came from an old scrap etch from a wagon kit or something). The darts are made from 2mm Scale Association handrail knobs (the newer etched variety). I think they look better than those on my Banking Tank where I used twisted bits of thin copper wire flooded with solder. Next I turned my attention to the buffers. The type used are fortunately quite simple, being just a series of cylinders of different radii. For the Banking Tank, I made them all in one piece, but this time I opted to make two pieces. This will let me have a shorter shank "on show", and will simplify painting. This photo shows the two pieces. It's quite fun turning these up on the lathe with a thin parting tool. I made a spare to help ward off the carpet monster (who still operates even on laminate floors). And this is what they look like when put together: Soldering in place: Now it's starting to look the part. The most glaring omission at this point were the cab steps. Again I took a slightly lazy option and used some spare ones from my Banking Tank etch, with a bit of judicious filing. For some inexplicable reason I had lots of spare top steps and only one bottom step. This meant that I couldn't quite fit one of them together as designed (the main hangers are a double layer with slots in the back that fit folded tabs on the steps). But hopefully it looks passable. Unfortunately, I hadn't made any allowance for attaching them to the rear of the valances, having blocked them with PCB. So I drilled and filed away slots for them to fit, allowing me to solder them to the valances - I just didn't want to risk a glued joint as they will certainly be vulnerable. Finally for this report, something needed to be done about the cylinder covers, which still had unsightly fronts with holes in. I turned up some thin discs with spigots to cover these. Here they are before... ... and after soldering on the new discs. A bit of filler will be needed to tidy them up completely. It didn't help that the cylinder covers weren't particularly circular, but hopefully it won't look too bad once they are covered a bit by the body. There's not too much more to do now, although there are some bits of pipework under the boiler to be added, and the handrails to be prepared (although they will be fitted after painting). I'm not going to worry about brakes for the moment. If it works well enough to use, I can try to add them later. I've painted the driving wheels and started painting the chassis, so hopefully I won't lose momentum on the project now.

Although popular with several European manufacturers, tender-drive has never been well-regarded in UK, possibly because of some rather poor implementations back in the 20th century. Nevertheless, it does have some advantages, when modelling prototypes from the 19th century. Locomotives of that period were generally quite small, with open cabs, and most passenger classes used single drivers until quite late in the century. These characteristics create two problems for the modeller: there is little space, where a motor can be placed out of sight, and single drivers give poor adhesion. Some time ago, I found that I could place a Tenshodo SPUD power unit within the front bogie of a Tri-ang Dean Single but, if I were tackling the same problem again, I think I would go for a powered tender, even if a little less elegant as a solution. The disadvantages of a powered tender are the lack of 'daylight' under the body and, in some cases, a rather visible power-train. It is also necessary to provide a high coal load to conceal the motor, though I have several prototype photos to show that this is not as unrealistic as sometimes supposed. When I converted a Mainline Dean Goods to a representation of a 'Stella' 2-4-0, I initially accepted the rather noisy tender drive motor but then began to explore alternatives. Hornby produce the X9105 drive unit (available from suppliers of Hornby spares), which has a smooth-running, 5-pole motor and a reasonably quiet drive train. It also has the 7' 6" + 7' 6" scale wheelbase, used by many types of GWR tender. My first trial with this unit was to see if one could be fitted into the tender provided with the Dapol (ex-Airfix) 'City of Truro' plastic kit. This approach avoided 'butchering' the Mainline tender, while providing a similar outline from more easily manipulated components. Fitting the motor proved quite straight-forward. I had to either cut away or file down several protrusions on the inside of the tender side mouldings and also cut away the 'coal'. The rear part of the top and most of the sides could be retained, with a little filing to increase clearances. I then eased the motor unit into the body from below, with some thin black polythene sheet (cut from a waste-bin liner) to hide the top and provide a base for a 'coal' load. I fitted a miniature computer-style power connector to the front of the tender so that it could be used with different locomotives. My first application was to the 'City of Truro' kit, in which I replaced the plastic wheels with Gibson extended-axle drivers. Pick-ups on the locomotive were wired to a matching connector, for coupling to the tender. The result was a smooth and quiet running locomotive The Dapol tender is not too bad but does have irritations, such as raised panel mouldings that have to be removed with a scalpel, and it represents a later type, with filled-in side-sheets. I found that a white metal kit of a Dean 3,000 gallon tender, with etched coal rails, is available from Scale Link, so my next step was to try and adapt one of these in the same way. Although I had managed to squeeze the Hornby motor into the Dapol plastic body without modification, the protruding metal 'lugs' were too wide for the Scale Link kit. After carefully wrapping the motor itself in plastic sheet, to protect it from swarf, I skimmed off part of the lugs with a rotary cutter on my mini-drill - do not forget to wear eye protection, as swarf does fly about. I stuck strips of electrical tape on the inside surfaces of the white-metal sides to prevent any electrical 'shorts' and then assembled the kit around the motor unit. The end result is quite an attractive coal-rail type tender which, because of the weight of the white metal body, does not need traction tyres to perform well. I am now working on plans for some more Dean locomotives, which will be powered by these tenders. I am sure that there are several other tender drive units, with different wheel spacings, which could be used for other prototypes. It would be helpful if suppliers could indicate the wheel spacings or, perhaps, others could contribute a list of suitable modern units, to help in adapting these to different models. Mike

Harbour Cranes for Snitzl Town. Detailing continues for Snitzl with the addition of two types of yard crane and a warehouse pole crane. Images of these types of crane were collected from the web by searching google images. The model types chosen were Ratio's Yard Crane, Mikes Models GWR yard crane and a real world warehouse pole crane. A majority of the work was done by hand but a few components required lathe turning, milling, dividing head and bench drilling. Snitzl.

I have written before in this blog about the convenience of using tender-drive for small 19th century locomotives, especially for 'single wheelers'. In my earlier post, I described the conversion of two types of tender kit, both of which represented Dean 3000 gallon tenders. Since then, I've read 'GWR Tenders and all that' in drduncan's blog, which, amongst many other useful insights, showed the close similarity between Dean's 2500 gallon and 3000 gallon designs. He also comments on the tender for the Dapol 'City of Truro' kit, writing "But this is rather crude and will need lots of work to get it to an acceptable standard - but I'd love to see examples that people have worked on." Well, here we go! I have several of these inexpensive Dapol kits and have found them to be a useful 'quarry' of parts for various models. Previously, I built one of the 'City' tenders around a Hornby X9105 drive unit, which has the 7' 6" + 7' 6" scale wheelbase appropriate for the 3000 gallon Dean tender. Dapol 'City of Truro' with motorised tender I've now realised that the 2500 gallon version would be a better match for many late 19th-century locomotives, including my model of a 'Stella' 2-4-0. So, I decided to see if it would be feasible to modify the Dapol kit to represent this smaller tender. I also needed to find an alternative drive unit, since the requred wheelbase is 6' 6" + 6' 6". Fortunately, Hornby have another unit, the X2024 (intended for 'James the Red Engine') with this wheelbase, so my first step was to buy one of these. Next, I scanned drawings of the two sizes of tender from my copy of Russell's "A Pictorial Record of Great Western Engines" and overlaid these, to make a careful comparison of their dimensions. I was pleased to find that the lengths of the bodies differed by exactly 2 feet, which is the same as the difference in the overall wheelbases. This indicated that, if I made two cuts between each of the axles, I could end up with both the correct body length and the correct wheelbase! My method is to do a 'trial run' by means of 'Photoshop' on the computer, before attacking any hardware. The following illustration shows my planned cuts, with the results overlaid, first, over the 2500 gallon tender drawing and then over a scan of the X2024 drive unit. This simulation looked OK to me, so I made the necessary cuts in the Dapol sides,using my fine 'Silky' mini-saw, completing the 'cut and shut' job with 'Slaters Mek-Pak'. The next job was to clean up the sides, both to remove the raised lining (so thoughtfully included!) and any roughness at the joins. My favourite tools for this job are small wax-carving chisels, which work extremely well on the rather soft Dapol plastic. I always use the widest chisel possible within the available space, to minimise the possibility of the edges scoring the plastic, although this is hard to avoid completely. After 'cleaning up', it is simply a case of building the rest of the kit around the Hornby drive unit. In the past, I have skimmed off part of the lugs on the sides of the drive unit but here I simply 'shimmed' the tender sides at their ends, with fillets of 20 thou plasticard, to achieve a good fit. The result is a tender that is about 0.5mm too wide but, for me, this is acceptable and insignificant against the '00' gauge compromise. I adapted the lining and lettering that I had already drawn for the 3000 gallon tender and followed my usual method of printing a single sheet to cover the whole side of the tender, which also masks any slight scoring of the plastic. The result makes a very considerable difference to the overall 'balance' of my 'Stella' model, when the two are placed together, as shown below: UPPER - with original 'Mainline' tender LOWER - with shortened 'Dapol' tender There's some final 'tidying up' to do (handrails etc) but I think it's quite a good result, apart from the wheels, perhaps, which are part of the drive unit. As a footnote, I happened to notice, in the photo of a 'Stella' in 'Great Western Way' (1st ed. p.31) that slates seem to have been set on edge along the sides of the tender, presumably to help secure a large coal load. I may try something similar, to disguise the 'motor hump'. Mike

Finally, "all", there's still a run the run-round points when I've decided what's going where, the point rodding is in place. I have to say the results make the effort worth while, but it's not exactly over-exciting doing it - and it holds up so many more fun things (like ballasting!). The rods at the south end have had the attentions of the P&D dept. For this I went with Halfords grey primer sprayed into a can lid and then applied by brush. This is a reasonably match for new but dulled galvanized steel, so the inevitable chalks came out and brown drawn on erratically to the rods. This was then rubbed with a finger a bit and comes out quite nicely. Some very dilute black poster paint was then applied to the stools to get a slightly oily look - these aren't oiled in real life, but the black looks right which is the name of the game? With the poor lighting I have some bits missed and will be touched up when the rest gets painted - along with the cranks etc. Next.... signal wires... should be fun. 0.009" guitar top E strings for these, and the telegraph wires. Oh, and the reception road trap point - completely forgot about that. As this has to be on a curve I'm going to make a simple single blade version. - rodding... Perhaps some skullduggery here I think. Still, I can get with ballasting/claying now.

A few snaps of locos running on Loftshire, now that the 1990s have arrived. As I decided not to depict post privatisation liveries and rolling stock, this is about as modern as it gets.

Having got the basic shell done I guide coated it in Army Painter “ Skeleton Bone “ intending to use the beige as the base for my mortar tones. This was all I had done when we last saw the buildings in my previous entry. Most of my painting on this was done at night, since that’s the only time there is peace and quiet in my place since lockdown. One of the key things I was looking to reproduce from the prototype is the very grey granite used on the stonework, vs the more brown “local” stones used on the goods shed and other structures. I have some photos taken when the building was demolished for reference but as I didn’t take them they don’t always have the detail you would want as a modeller. I tried dry brushing over just the beige primer, but this looked wrong and I ended up with a very dark, slate like finish. Mixing the right grey was proving difficult. To solve my mortar tone problem I used a wash of white acrylic paint, applied over the whole stone work with a broad soft brush. I then rubbed over the surface with a pad of kitchen roll to leave just the “mortar.” I think a white/beige base would have been better so if you make a model of this building be sure to start with white primer. In larger scales I think you would want to tone the mortar down, it’s hard to make out the colour on the prototype but I suspect it was much more flat grey than my paint. I also wanted to paint the platform stones, they were primed black to give grime between the stones. No amount of careful sweeping by the station staff can get rid of that! Here it is with the base grey complete. I treated the roof the same as on the engine shed, it was based with GW “Charadon Granite” which I have stock of, they helpfully changed all their paints making continuity of colours much harder. The dry brush is done a bit unevenly to start the streaking on the tiles. Then darker streaks were added with a damp brush coated in Tamiya weathering powders, just a mix of black and brown. Those were lightly smudged with cotton buds to soften the edges. The roof lights were dry brushed white then sooty grime added with powders. Window washing is not a priority in wartime! The beige primer and dry brush residue provides a good base for slightly battered GW door paint. I am sure the local staff kept up the highest standards possible but I can’t imaging the passage of hundreds of extra service personnel and tonnes of stores through the station plus wartime paint shortages did much for maintaining pre war GW paint. With that in mind I wanted a degree of fading and some subtle variation in the doors. Window frames were just done white, some have dirty corners, particularly ones facing the yard. Doors were painted Precision GW Stone as a base. Once that was dry I dry brushed all the panels with a light stone and a touch of white. I then mixed a custom slightly pinker GW Dark Stone, as that is what happens when it fades. I left some tonal variation on the palette to add variety to the wear. For example doors under a canopy or on a north facing wall won’t sun bleach as much. The notice boards were applied after, I used Ratio etched ones for that. No idea where they came from, I had a single etch with just enough on it. In this photo you can see the dry brushing on the light stone, giving a bit of weathering to the paint finish, and a few chipped areas where the light stone is visible through the dark. GWR used light stone as the base coat so any damage to the dark stone will reveal that before the wood beneath. You can also see my point about the less correct mortar in close up. Most of this is less visible from viewing distance. Here it is with glazing added. I have simulated black out paper on the roof lights with a light coat of black paint on the glazing. I am sure this would still have been present in 1943-44 when my layout is set. I have found less evidence for other black out measures like white washed building corners and blacked out canopy skylights. I suspect blackout curtains were fitted to the station but you can’t get close enough to see them in 2mm scale so I left them off. I put my milk cart and pony down to get a sense of scale on the platform elevation, I think it’s OK. Next phase is building the canopy and finishing the platform detail painting. I will also be adding ridge tiles.

I realised this week it has been over 10 years since I started this layout, which was a bit terrifying. Life has a way of making things take longer than expected and the model of the station building at Kingsbridge is no exception. Thanks to those of you who have been with me since the beginning and all the commenters along the way, you have all helped keep me moving forwards, even if the pace has been a bit non existent! Last time we left the building at the elevations stage, I matched the plans to my kit bash as best I could and tried to keep everything proper. I got through 3 station kits in total I think. With that done it was assembly time. I needed to get all the dividing walls in the right place, Dad had done his best guess at the floor plan from site pictures and book research, so I copied that. I used the internal dividers from the kit and made the wider ones for the original building using styrene sheet. I forgot to take any pictures until I got the roof on, I got a bit carried away. This is the front elevation, original building on the left, extension on the right. Windows and doors were from Churchward, Ratio and Peedie Models etches. Some came from the Ratio kit. I am not sure all of them are absolutely correct but I had no way of checking. Yard elevation. Chimneys are modified from the kit ones. I wrapped them in Slaters stone sheets to match the real ones. The big holes in the roof are for the very tricky roof lights, which are a big part of the building. I used Peedie Models industrial windows etches for these, plus some scrap from the station kits. I thought about the side louvres and decided only a maniac with binoculars will see them from viewing distance. Here are the etched parts soldered up. Next I made a surround and added some plastic at the ends, which hid some shoddy fit and made them a bit more rigid. They are a shade “heavy” vs the prototype but it was a compromise. I couldn’t resist dragging the platform out of storage to test fit everything. I think this is looking about 80% like the real location, it is a bit further back from the platform edge than I would have liked but if I bring it too far forward the bay platform will be too far behind the table end, which will not look right. This is a result of me not thinking about the station area as a whole model when laying out track, it was the first (so far only!) station I have ever modelled and the mistakes are legion. It was also the second baseboard I ever made. So there it is, somewhere for passengers to alight at last. Next will be painting, I have already finished that IRL since I stayed up til 2am the other night working on it! So what are my future plans? I really need help with the back scene now, I need a 600mm high one about 12 ft long in total and have photos to use. The new Peco modular one is quite good for Devon hills as an alternative. Any thoughts on who could print me a photographic one? I also intend to put the whole layout together to make all the board connections and get the second station board working, which needs a very large space for several weeks.