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Thanks for the compliments. OK, a bit more done on the track at the S end of the yard. The shed roads under construction: And some more ballasted turnouts and plain track: I've had the first two raw prototypes of the LMS water crane back too. I'm not sure how best to get a really decent photo, but suffice to say that they are a bit grainy. However, the overall proportions seem spot on, and with a little filler and sanding, I think these will be good. What I don't know is whether they could be much better with a finer quality 3D printer. The CAD file appears to be accurately drawn if the shape and proportions are good. They will need a little more detailing with wire, some fine chain (probably) and a bag. Iain

Thanks again, Terry. To be fair, there isn't a rapid rate of progress, so you don't have to visit the thread regularly anyway! Today has been the first time for a while that I've been able to spend more than a few minutes in the shed so here are a few bits and pieces to update: I may have a solution to the LMS water crane question - I am going to try 3D printing. I've prepared a dimensional drawing and taken all the relevant measurements, and given it to a colleague at work. He thinks he can get them to come out well. I was having doubts as to my ability to make them in any form from scratch. The upright column tapers, goodness knows how I would create the part immediately above that, except on a lathe(?) and there are two 90deg bends to get spot on, before all the detail. So, we will see how they turn out. If the CAD file works but the 3D printer here is not good enough, I guess I can locate a better printer for a fee. I've laid a bit more track: This is all wired and painted but needs ballasting. I couldn't lay this lot onto the pva as previously because I'd built some of it linked together and it was too unwieldy. The bendy timbers should be ok I think. Made some more progress on pits - this time the inspection pits for the shed, which begin only just off the left edge of the photo above. These have been recycled from my old layout, and while I know they aren't perfect, the compromise is acceptable. Showing the difference between the standard peco items and the modified ones - chairs removed and underside filed down. Now ready for filler. Also I've been finishing off the scenic boards at the rear - Primrose Hill Station and the goods yard and depot. I mulled over for ages what to do with the bit between the station buildings and the line of goods wagons leading to the goods depot. Eventually I decided to mix the real with the imaginary. So there is now the appearance of a turnout from the passenger line at the station to the goods depot. Most of this is hidden behind buildings etc, but I hope it enables a slightly better impression. The backscene is nearly done, and I've been waiting for a while to get this bit all completed. Interesting how Carrs ash ballast discolours - the new and old together here. It's not a problem as there is a good deal of painting and weathering to be done yet. It all needs weathering properly before final fixing when the backscene is attached. I've begun a bit of rusting on this corrugated iron shed: Obviously needs a fair bit more work to be really convincing! Iain

Stanley, Thanks - do you mean this one? Could offer some possibilities with modification? Jol, Likewise, thanks for a typically great suggestion! I may try this and see whether I can tempt anyone to cast some. Mike, Again, thanks very much. Did you mean this one? Not sure whether the upright might be useful for modification? Thanks all, and do keep suggesting things. Iain

Thanks for the tips. I've checked out Mikes Models before and they don't seem to do a suitable LMS water crane, unless I'm missing something. This is the GEM one: This is what it ought to look like: From LMS Engine Sheds Vol 1: An old Hornby Dublo one! Err no... The Ratio GWR one in its pack: Doesn't have the potential to be converted either. It's beginning to look like I need to do something else. I don't think these could be cast in resin very effectively. 3D print maybe..... Iain

I'm trying to work out how to represent the LMS standard water cranes. There are a load (9 maybe?) to do, and they need to be a reasonable likeness if the overall effect is going to be good. The Ratio GWR one looks a nice model, but it's errrr, very wrong because it's a GWR one in the first place. But can it be butchered, and done so consistently so that all of them look similar? There is a GEM white metal one from Lytchett Manor, but the picture doesn't look quite right, and it is so devoid of detail that I'll probably spend longer adding bits to it than I would carving it out of lignum vitae in the first place. Are there any other options that any of you helpful RMWebbers know about? Or a repeatable, reliable scratchbuilding method? Time to 3D print them perhaps.... Ply timbered turnout nearly complete and it's lovely and flat. Which is a bonus........ Ashpits coming along slowly, but I'm 4 bridge chairs short so need to wait for a C&L order. I took the trouble to measure up the inspection pits in the shed, and at the north end by the turntable, and I need approximately another 7 packets, so there is a fair bit more to do. Iain

Arp, Long time lurker and admirer of Blackgill here. Gutted that I have to work all weekend and can't get to Aylesbury to see it. Best of luck - I'm sure it will be superb! Iain

Thanks Jol. I've used Limonene to good effect on buildings - most recently the ashplant - and found it eliminated the warping tendency on plastic buildings. I was under the impression that I needed something a bit more aggressive like butanone for the type of plastic (ABS?) that the c&l timbers are made from. But hopefully using the ply timbers will eliminate the problem. Plus is it easier to solder the electrical connections without damaging the turnout. Appreciate your encouragement as ever! Best wishes, Iain

Thanks Stanley. You're very kind as ever! I've finished the two turnouts and linked plain track that I was working on before: I've tried various tiebar solutions on these chaired points for the scenic area, and struggled with almost all of them. The conclusion is that the least bad of these is to use a dummy copperclad timber as the tiebar. It's not even close to perfect but will look passable when painted, weathered and bedded into the layout. I hope. However, I do have a bit of a problem in that the timbers have curled up. This pic: makes the problem look far worse than it is - the close up perspective has a fish eye effect so it looks as if all the rails are bowed and bent. It's not quite that bad.....! However, there is a definite upwards curve to most of the timbering. I wasn't sure whether this was due to the effect of the solvent (butanone as normal....) or whether it is the effect of the combination of a 1 in 20 cant of the chairs but using track gauges with vertical slots in. Anyway, I am hoping that this formation will stick down acceptably flat. If not, it will have to be rebuilt, which is a pain. At least I can point to the fact that the photos of the real shed area at Camden show appalling kinks in geometry, and undulations, plus no loco will be moving even as fast as walking pace over these sections. But the next turnout on the bench is this one: using thin ply timbering instead. I'll see how this one goes and perhaps will need to use this as a method for the rest. I've also started the ashpits: Modified Peco inspection pits. They have been welded together, then the peco chairs filed and sanded down. Filler in the holes left behind, and more sanding. Finally the underside is filed down to a thickness of just under 1mm so that the rail height is the same as the plain C&L track, and the bullhead rail laid using bridge chairs (someone told me these were correct for ashpits, but they don't look quite right to me and I am clueless enough not to know why....). I then welded plasticard strips together to create the concrete base area (which will end up being covered in ash) and embedded the rails for the little narrow gauge trucks. Slow progress, it feels..... 7 chaired turnouts done, 12 to go, maybe more if rebuilding is necessary. Nothing much going to happen for a couple of weeks now though. Except that Alan, the painter, has promised all 4 backscene boards completed. Errr..........soon..... Iain

And the operating gear for one of the ash hoppers: The Camden ashplant was unusual in having a complete casing for the lifting mechanism, presumably to attempt to reduce local pollution given the proximity of up market housing. So this operating mechanism will be partly hidden, and I'm not sure why I bothered except that I know it's there. And it was fun.... Iain

Thanks Stanley, it may well have been the best option overall. This morning however, a pleasant surprise to find the ashplant the same shape as I left it, and as square as I can get it too. So I've pushed on and added a few extra layers to represent the various concrete sections, and made up the ash hopper and its associated release gear, which is a bit like a grab bucket on a dragline but in reverse. And in miniature.... I've also got some more track building done. This took me an age! This pair of turnouts is close enough together that the timbering isn't as easy to get right, plus I've no idea what the timbering ought to be anyway. C&L turnout timber packs don't seem to have many shorter lengths? I seemed to spend a lot of time measuring and cutting them. I solder the vee and wing rails together in the correct (I hope) arrangement beforehand using three pieces of nickel silver fret waste to bind them together. These are placed so they don't coincide with any timbers, then I can fix the whole assembly to the timbers with the plastic chairs. I know I don't use the right "special" chairs, but it hopefully looks passable from normal distances. Iain

Hi Ian I love seeing your projects take shape, especially the neverwazzas. Your 2-8-2 and the standard 8 are fascinating, as is the Caprotti-Crosti 5 that may get attempted one day. One question - it looks from the pics as if the body sits further back on the chassis than your mk1 version. Is that just how it appears? Thanks, Iain

Thanks Andy. I can't claim any credit for it - it came from Captain Kernow originally I think, but others have followed suit. The rate you build layouts, you'll have completed P4 Waterloo to Clapham Junction before I get this ashplant done.... Iain

Take 2: Legs made from 2 laminations of .080x .188 strip inside the .040 shell. Progress so far - I didn't remove all of the waste but left a connecting piece at the bottom to tie it together. Also I've fixed it to a base accurately marked and square. Once complete, all this will be cut away. I think. I used Limonene as well, to reduce the warping tendency, so we will see what shape this is in the morning. Iain

Hi Scott, That's a good shout too, thanks. I was thinking also of a square section balsa framework, almost exactly the correct section for the legs, and then a veneer of card or 10, 15 or 20 thou plastic around that. I think I will get there somehow: will be interesting to see which method wins through! Iain

Every time you show us another view Jason, it looks even more right. I love that Lanc Sock Mfg Co building and look forward to how it will sit on the layout. Iain

Hi Arthur, Thanks, and yes, I'd thought of that, but also thought the weak point would be where I joined the legs to the rest of the structure, and this bit might be most likely to deform slightly. So I'm looking to have the two side profiles as complete pieces, then use Evergreen strip laminated inside that for the leg thickness. Box section legs may be attempt 3 though - I'm not ruling it out! Thanks, Iain

Thanks Terry. I am a follower and admirer of Hest Bank too. Maybe one day we can hire an aircraft hangar and set up Camden and Hest with a few miles of spare streamline off scene to connect the two.... Armed with a carefully scaled drawing of the Camden version from LMS Engine sheds Vol 1: my first effort at building the ashplant is here: And about to go in the bin as it looks like its been made from milky bars in Qatar in summer. I used 80 thou plasticard in the mistaken belief that this would provide some rigidity, especially in the legs which are thin. So, version 2 will use 40 thou and will be laminated instead. This attempt will also build it around a base as if it were a normal building, to keep it square and true, and only cut off the base when it's complete. If that doesn't work, I'll try something else! I need to build this in order to get the track laid absolutely right through the ash pits as it is so cramped, and I have to straighten out some curves that are on my plan but not on the real thing. The prototype Camden ash plant scales considerably smaller than the Bachmann item, so, although I could and have plotted things in Templot, I wanted to get it right this way as well. Iain Edited because I pressed post not preview by accident.....

I'm sure there are plenty of us reading still Gordon! I'm not sure whether it's absolutely the best way of creating the bits you need, but if you take a look at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/52339-camden-shed/?p=1057983 and some of the posts that follow, this is how I scratchbuilt the whole footbridge on Camden Shed, which is similar in some ways to what you've got here. Happy to drop round with a few leftover pieces of what I used to see whether it looks feasible? Iain

Thanks Stanley, your interest and encouragement are much appreciated. Look forward to seeing your progress in due course - sounds very interesting and, as you say, right up Jol's street! I hope mine will still be going when you start tracklaying. There certainly appears little danger that it will be finished..... Iain

Thanks Richard, very helpful. I've got several views of that odd-shaped building next to the footbridge and it will be on the layout. It might be a while before that gets done though..... Iain

Thanks Stanley. I've got only one shot of the east wall of the shed, which is this fairly (very) blurred screenshot from the opening credits of Train of Events at about 1'11" That clip has been mentioned before somewhere on RMWeb. I'd love a colour HD version! Iain

And a little more movement on 44741.... Steam pipes complete and awaiting a little bit of filler Reverser incl inside cab Lubricators and lubricator drive - this was not easy, and once again I had to make it in two halves so that the body and chassis can be separated. Handrails Smokebox dart Lifting rings Exhaust and live steam injectors plus pipework Buffer beam straightened out A few more bits to tidy still. Iain

Thanks Jason. I've got a bit of weathering to do once I've painted the concrete (?) sills, lintels and pillars. They look more like weathered sandstone in colour to me? Plus the roof..... And the window frames are doing my head in..... Not to mention the Camden no.1 sign..... And what was the surface like between the box and the Goods Depot? Concrete? I'm thinking it might have been sections of concrete a bit like the bit on BCB? It takes a while, to say the least! You know that, when you're next down this way, you're more than welcome. Iain

Thanks again Stanley. A little more progress: Here is a tiny piece of a photo of 46240 in Stanier Pacifics by Derek Huntriss. It's the best (almost the only) shot of the ARP box (Camden no. 1) in colour. Even b&w shots are uncommon, but I'd accumulated enough of those to build a representation of the structure. The vexing problem was how to paint it, and not for the first time, I found the detail I was looking for in this book, which was the first inspiration for Camden as a location to model. So I had a go. Red brick basis, dry brushing of various other shades and a wash of mortar colour. I've attached the supports for the footbridge and begun painting them, and the rest of it. Still have to build the bases for the legs and bed them in, when the backscene and this area is completed. Iain

Enjoying watching this take shape Jason. I've got a GW wheel press and quartering jig - I'll pop it in the post an you can post it back if you like? It would certainly help you I think.... Iain