Blogs

(25) All Together Now...

Minor outstanding work on the fiddle yard board is now finished - and all is well! Here's a view from the public side. I am not sure yet how to deal with the screening of this board from the public. It would be interesting for everyone to see, but fiddle yards are normally hidden from public view. I shall have a long time to think about it, as presentation is low down the list of things to do at the moment. I couldn't resist the opportunity to put all 3 boards toge

Friday at 17:50

(24) Even More Nearly There!

Things really are now coming together with the fiddle yard - but first a very minor step on the main scenic board... I am preparing the trackbed crossing between the 2 scenic boards. This will be done with thinner top surface plywood and a layer of PCB to bring it up to the same depth as the trackbed on the rest of the scenic board. I use my own recipe for carrying track over scenic board joints. Here is the thinner ply laid to the correct level and the PCB strip ready to glue in pla

Tales from Pagosa Junction

Thursday at 19:44

Episode 3 - The Lessons We Learn

November hasn't been a modelling month, but I did manage to bypass the worst of the stormy weather much of the country was experiencing and enjoyed a day at the BRM National Festival of Railway Modelling held at the NEC. There's a dedicated Forum thread here, and which has been collecting comments and observations from page 13 onwards. However, for this blog I want to offer instead some reflections on what I learned from the show. It was my first visit as an adult to such a large show and I c

Keith Addenbrooke in 2024

November 26

Dogtown and Points West

Recent Acquisitions

Sorry. Been quiet. Lots of Gundam building. Almost endless Gundams. I have a problem... Some new locos brought in. 'New' largely being a relative term. Firstly, the only truly new loco. Hornby Sentinel, bought when RoS dropped them to about $80 No problems with it. Very quickly decided I didn't want it after all. Sold it on locally. Next, a used Patriot I bought to sort-of justify the shipping of the Sentinel.

AlfaZagato in Kitbuilt

November 26

(23) Lots of Bits - A Jigsaw Puzzle

Progress on the fiddle yard grows more intense as things start to come together... I glued blocks of wood under the arc where the fixed and moveable sections join (see last blog entry). I then cut through the board with a jigsaw, following the arc. I ended up with a concave and a convex interface. Here's the one for the fixed part of the board, placed upside down here purely for a photo. Here's a view from the other end, which shows the wood blocks more clear

November 23

Up the Line - 1918

Another Baldwin

With the miracle of being able to post after writing I am able to give you one more morsel of progress as I am slaving away setting everything up at the NEC - I hope! About three years ago I had this plan that I would replace all of the Wrightlines Baldwins with scratch built locos to much finer standards and then sell all the old ones for a small fortune on Ebay. I prepared all the parts for four locos, mostly built one and sold a surplus Wrightlines one on Ebay and not for a small

KH1 in Up the Line

November 22

BWsTrains in Upper Hembury - a GWR/SR East Devon Branch line

Cylindrical Water Tank

The tank at Upper Hembury received an upgrade with a pump driven high volume feed and so was never changed to the conical top type commonly seen. The Ratio kit is a great starting point with only a few additions and changes required. First photo shows the high volume feed, painting and lagging as seen in prototypes were added after this shot The tank was painted in the GWR Stone shades made from Vallejo blends as detailed on the topic. Pipe and ladder w

November 22

Up the Line - 1918

One More Load

Just time for one more new load. Over the years loads of people have said 'why don't you have a crashed aircraft on the layout', but I have always though this would be a bit too much. But, in the interests of keeping the punters happy..... One of the main problems was is that 1/43.5 is not a military modellers scale therefore there were not any suitable aircraft. Ok, 1/48 might just do but I would know that it was not right. Thingyverse to the rescue! While looking for something comp

KH1 in Up the Line

November 20

(22) Marking Out the Fiddle Yard

As mentioned in m last entry, I have decided to go with a slightly shorter sector plate for the main fiddle yard, making the static sidings 500mm longer. I have made some progress today on the board's construction. Here's the design, as a reminder... Firstly, I added the two short straight sides. These are slightly over-length to aid construction and will be trimmed to size later. Next, I marked out the plywood top with grid squares to act as a guide wh

November 20

(21) More Ends and More Fiddles Stuff

Work continues with the completion of the end sections for the fiddle yards. I had previously installed connectors on the baseboard ends between the two scenic boards. Now, I have completed the ends for the interface between the scenic boards and the fiddle yards. Not very exciting, but it's progress. The smaller fiddle yard, which is already built, required a new interface as the old one will not align easily with the new layout. I can now get on with building the rest

November 19

Auden's Pledge

6) Taking a look at the Accurascale Andrew Barclays.

When Hattons announced a second batch of Andrew Barclays for £85 each, I jumped. It was such a good deal, I decided to pre order two: National Coal Board no. 47, and a plain dark blue version. Then came the closure of Hattons. My heart sank. Then came Accurascale, and the Barclays were saved. (So was the P class. But that's something for another day.) Anyway, my two locos have finally arrived (albeit for the slightly higher price of £99), so let's

Audens Pledge in Locomotives

November 19

BWsTrains in Upper Hembury - a GWR/SR East Devon Branch line

Thomas Audley - Agricultural Merchant

I had a great deal of fun assembling the largest premises and business of the Upper Hembury Yards. The design is a copy #, but with modifications to suit my purpose. It was built from a timber frame with 1mm card overlaid with Slater's Plasticard sheet. After some research I found a suitable design for an external hoist and this was scratch built Details of the build can be found from Mar 2024 on the Topic. # Original featured on Hint

November 19

Up the Line - 1918

The Same but Different!

After over a week of evenings and much 3d printing I have now completed all five of the new loads. Having just one photograph to base them on the challenge was to make them all the same but subtly different. A couple of hint can be taken from the next wagon along but after that deduction and imagination has to take over. Just to mix things up and add a bit of variety, I decided that rations of water in the ubiquitous petrol can would would be viable and reasonable. The cans used for this purpose

KH1 in Up the Line

November 18

Awreville O Gauge Diesel Depot

Steve Beattie O Gauge Roadrunner

I was at a show and saw one of these kits, I always wanted some vehicles for the layout so placed order on the website including the crew cab. This is a resin kit which can be a bit brittle and would require quite a bit of cleaning up. I found that the chassis was slightly twisted, to rectify the twist and to add a bit of additional strength I added some brass section glued to the chassis. The parts are easily cleaned up with some sand paper or a small file, I glued the cab base onto the chassis

Tommyp81 in Model Builds

November 18

Awreville O Gauge Diesel Depot

Layout Details & Ballasting

I have been slowly working on adding details to the main depot, painted the doors to the main depot building from Railway Laser Lines and my first purchase from Bunters Yard in some pallets and a phone junction box, really impressed with these and the finish. Something that I have been struggling with is hedges and making them look realistic, I have tried various clump foliage which I have not been happy with, I'm currently using some from Woodland Scenic's which . Added a bit of health & sa

Tommyp81 in Build

November 18

Rospeath Lane - BR(WR) Engine Shed

Workington (Solrail) 2024

Again, it was a great experience, and congratulations are due to all the organisers and helpers for putting on such a warm and friendly show. There seemed to be a good turnout of the public, along with many Scalefour members. For me, three layouts that made the biggest impression where; Bruntisland, Alston and Tarring Neville. Burntisland must be one of the standout modelling projects of our time. A near scale model of the location in a period that entailed all items to be either scr

Yan in Exhibitions

November 18

(20) Got Board!

The woodwork on board two is now more or less complete, with the curved backboard firmly in place. Its alignment with the other board is very good - quite a relief after all that hard work. I've added a couple more strengthening struts made from more old scraps underneath, to make everything robust and twist-free. I have also cut down the framework where necessary to allow for the lower depths of the scenery. Here's a photo with the trackbed very roughly in place to give a crude idea

November 17

BWsTrains in Travel Notes with a Railways Focus

On Prospering in the Railway Business - Hankyu - #2

On today's trip some 20km out from Osaka-Umida on the Hankyu Railway was to Minoo Park. As per my earlier video, at precisely 12:10 three trains pulled away at the same speed from the terminus, ours was the middle line so we could watch the others each side. In a country where punctuality is the norm it seems Hankyu takes this to extremes! The journeys where excellent value at just AUD 3.00 one way. On returning back at Umida we ventured to the Hankyu Department store wh

November 17

BWsTrains in Travel Notes with a Railways Focus

On Prospering in the Railway Business - Hankyu - #1

If I can be excused a little digression as this branch of the Blog reaches its end, writing about our travel with Hankyu Corporation I 'm reminded of family Monopoly games where one or other of us (including YT) aspired to great success by being a Railway Magnate, buying or trading into all four stations and reaping 200 each time from every passing player who dropped in. End result was usually failure! The Magnate landing on expensive hotels before bankrupting others. Being in Railw

November 17

BWsTrains in Upper Hembury - a GWR/SR East Devon Branch line

Upper Hembury Station Yards - The Stables, entrance way and Weighbridge

With the track-laying completed more construction work of the various buildings and facilities of the yards. The Stables were based on a Standard GWR design with much helpful input from @Mikkel. Built in 65% relief the front wall presented the largest challenge Built from Scalescenes Papers over thick card and a wooden frame. The Weighbridge Hut was a simple construction from Card and papers, it can be seen here at the entrance to the

November 17