peter findlay

Thanks Jason, I'm really happy with the way the staircase (and the rest of the signal box) has come together and with how easy it was to produce with the software and the Portrait cutter. Peter

Been a while since I posted an update on the signal box, but have been able to make some progress. The walkway is complete and an initial coat of paint applied. Trial fitted in place on the model, final fitting will be done when roof and staircase are added. The next step is to produce the staircase. The aim is to produce something looking like the picture below. The individual pieces to be sent to the Portrait cutter were laid out as shown. I think it would have taken me much longer to cut these by hand and I doubt they would have been as accurate. The bulk of the pieces were cut from 10 thou so plenty of time was allowed for the pieces to set with weight applied to try and prevent warping. the bottom layer was scored using the portrait to represent wood panelling. The spindles, yule posts etc. were constructed from 40 thou square rod as for the walkway described previously. Small 2mm beads were super glued to the yule posts to add decoration. The final assembled staircase is shown below. It will be painted to match the walkway. Next step is to construct the roof. Peter

The Portrait cutter was used to cut two 20 thou laminations for the signal box walkway. The cutter was also used to cut 1 and 2 mm square holes that would be used to house the handrail posts as shown below. The handrail posts were formed from 40 x 40 and 80 x 80 thou styrene strip. The post have an octagonal cross section, which has been represented by carefully filing away a small portion at 45 degrees along each edge. Each post is secured in the holes in the laminated walkway. The handrail is added and then the diagonal cross members. The front elevation almost complete. The handrail will be continued around both ends. Peter

The signal box design includes a upper walkway supported by timbers protruding from the main walls. In the design of the box I have made the walkway supports extensions of the joists that will support the upper floor in the box. The main joists were cut from 20 thou styrene and two laminated together to produce each joist. The ends of the joists which carry the walkway has been rebated to carry the walkway and detailed as per the original plan. The Portrait cutter handled the fine dimensions very well as shown below. The joists are designed to slip through the holes on the main walls to provide the internal support for the floor. The walkway supports for the end elevations are shorter to meet the main joists from the elevation again with the same detailing. The joists in place passed through the main walls and secured. Next is to move on to the walkway itself.

To achieve the recessed panels in the signalbox doors, two laminations of 10 thou were used. The individual panes in the windows are seperated by 0.5mm. The width of the sides are reduced to take into account the existing thicknesses. Before fitting the windows were painted off white and the doors LMS crimson. The cuts from the Portrait are very fine and much crisper than I could have achieved by hand. Next is to add the supports for the exterior walkway. Peter

Quick update on the progress of the signal box. After the the brick detailing has been addded, the embossed brick is painted and dry bushed with Humbrol enamels. The sills and lintels are painted to represent stone. The score marks created on the lintels using the Portrait cutter are more visible now. Next step is to prepare the 10 thou laminations for the windows and doors. Peter

The lintels and sills for the signal box are cut from 20 thou styrene. Before cutting the Portrait is used to score the individual blocks in the arched lintels and a guideline on the sill. After they are fixed to the embossed brick of the structure they sills are filed to the scored lines to form sloped cast offs for rain water. The picture below shows some of the sills and lintels in place. The signal box has brick detailing around the building so thin strips of embossed brick sheet (2 courses and 3 courses high at window level, 6 course high at base) were cut and added to the structure. The picture below shows this in process Leaving the box to set for 24 hours the next step will be to paint the brickwork. Peter

When cutting the 20 thou styrene I had the blade set to 10 and the speed set to 1, with the double pass option selected in the software. The cut lines did not go all the way through, but were far enough through that it was possible to carefully "bend and snap" along the edges of the walls. For the apertures (particularly the windows with the arches) I found it better to gently score with a sharp scalpel blade just to go a little deeper and then they popped out no problem. Peter

Geoff; I briefly considered trying the embossed sheet in the Portrait, but as it is thicker (about 30 thou if memory serve) I don't think it would have cut through. Instead I fixed the embossed sheets to the 20 thou styrene and then cut it by hand close to the Portrait cuts, and then finished with a needle file and sanding stick. Peter

Happy with how the cardboard test went, time to cut some styrene with the Portrait. Main structure is cut from 20 thou with additional layers and details cut from 10 thou. Some of the cut parts are shown below. The main walls are joined first. Not the rear wall has been left off for now to allow easier construction of the chimney. Slaters embossed brick sheet is cut to clad the outside, taking care to align brick coarses around the corners. The window and door apertures are cut a filed to size. The chimney was attached to the rear section and clad before being joined to the rest of the structure. I have just started adding the window sills. Next will be the lintels and detailing. Peter

I've been following the great work in this thread for a while and finally got a Portrait cutter for Christmas. ​ Jason's tutorial was really helpful in getting to grips with the software, so much so I've decided to use the cutter to build a signal box I've been thinking of making for a while. It's based on a design from 1880 ish. I've drawn up the basic plan in TurboCAD and exported the various component parts as DXF files to the Silhouette Studio. I've started by creating a cardboard test of the main components. . This was useful in checking some of the build steps. Next step is to move to 10 and 20 thou styrene. Peter

My existing stock is somewhat light on L.M.S. stock, so I thought this would be a good oppertunity to have a go at building and few freight wagons. A quick browse on e-bay identified a couple of potential models - Cambrian C57 5 Plank High Sided open wagon Cambrian C80 LMS 12 ton van Parkside Dundas PC83 LNER Horse Box (not LMS but I like the look of it) I have a copy of "L.M.S. Wagons Vol. 1" by Bob Essry which I used as reference material along with a couple of pictures downloaded from the web. First up was the LMS open wagon. The kit went together really easily with the aid of some MEKPAK, the only slight issue being that despite having reference materials to hand, I still managed to get the axel boxes on upside down!! I used Tamiya acrylics to paint and HMRS Presfix transfer to finish, wheels are Alan Jackson. The picture below shows the current build. It still needs a coat of matt varnish and some weathering, but I'm happy with how it has gone so far. I've decided to try using Sprat & Winkle auto couplings. I think they have gone together OK, they will probably need final tweaks once I get the magnets laid in the track. I have found that the soft iron links I have made for them are a little long - I think I need to use a slightly smaller former when wrapping the wire. Next was the 12 ton van again by Cambrian models. Again this was a really nice model to put together, the shots below show intermediate progress. Again Tamiya acrylics and HMRS transfers to finish off. Finally the Parkside LNER Horse box I had a little issue here with the door closer (missing in image above). It was rather aggressively attacked by the MEKPAK and effectively dissintegrated. On the other side I swithched to Plastic Weld with out trouble. To remedy the other side, some evergreen strip was used to reproduce the door closer and attached to the wagon. The roof was painted matt white and the body sides LNER Teak (Railmatch). The plastioc roof vents were replaced by white metal versions. The transfers supplied with the kit were used as shwon below. Again final varnishing and weathering still needs done. All wagins were weighed and extra ballast (stacks of 1p pieces) were added to bring the running weight up to around 25g per axel. Overall I'm really chuffed with the way the kits have gone together, so much so I've bought a couple others to take on holiday !! Peter

Well done for taking the plunge, given the quality of your first attempt I'd imagine the rest will look great as your experience builds. I have to admit that putting paint to model is one of my sticking points - I can picture what I want to achieve but lack the confidence to give it a go. This is despite my partner being a good artist and being able to give me plenty of advise. She keeps trying to remind me that it's better to start and have a go, it's only paint and can always be reworked. Peter

For this new layout I am essentially using the track plan described by Phil Parker for Edgeworth (as serialised in BRM and on this forum thread http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79690-building-your-first-layout-supplement/). I'm going to make a few changes to make it more representative an ex-Caledonian / LMS branch line specifically in the style of the signal box and station buildings. I'm also going to try and squeeze in a cattle dock on one of the sidings to emphasise a rural working environment. So the current plan looks like this. The signal box will be scratch built, from plans I have from the National Archives of Scotland of the box originally built at Larbert Station. The station buildings / engine shed are undecided - I still need to find plans I like. Similarly the coal stage, cattle dock etc. I'll firm up on later. The base boards have been constructed from 9mm plywood with a 2x1 inch softwood frame - there is enough plywood left for fiddle yard but I haven't made up that board yet. Alignment of the boards is achieved through 40mm split pin hinges attached to the softwood frame. Although I'm using my existing Hornby track as much as possible I will need to procure some additional right hand turn outs to complete the upper track on the second base board. Cork floor tiles from my local Homebase have been used to create the track bed and ballast shoulder. This has been glued to the base board with PVA and left to set. To try and improve the look of the track I have removed some of the sleepers from the straight/curved sections of track to try and get approximately 2'6" scale separation between sleepers. The turnouts have been left alone - I'm not brave enough to fiddle about with them. The track itself hasn't been glued down but the combination of installing the electrical droppers and ballasting the track should secure it firmly. The picture below shows progress on board 1 at present: Peter PS. Yes there is some ballasting already taking place - I'm really bad at taking pictures of my progress!!!The track on this board has been tested, and I'll cover my attempts at ballasting in a future post.

In an earlier blog I described my first attempts at modelling a trees, starting with a wire armature ... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/758/entry-13961-branching-out-a-first-attempt-at-making-trees/ ... and adding bark. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/758/entry-13972-adding-bark/ With the armature painted, it's time to add the foliage. For this intial attempt I am using Woodland Scenics clump foliage (Medium Green) torn into suitably sized pieces. Neat PVA was applied to the branches, working from those closest to the main trunk outwards. The individual clumps of foliage material were placed onto the PVA and held in place for a few moments to allow the glue to grab and then left alone as much as possible while the PVA dried. Only one or two clumps became detached and required another application of glue and resetting in place. The pictures below show the final results. For a first attempt at making a tree from scratch I am pleased with the results. However, applying a more critical eye I think the underlying armiture could be improved to produce a better result. I think on my next attempt I will use finer wire to construct the armatures and add more detail to the basic structure. The method of applying the bark and painting I am happy with although maybe some more careful detailing would improve the final appearance. Peter

I mentioned in my last blog post, that I decided to test my old Hornby stock to see if it still worked with a view to using some on a new layout. Most of the stock was bought around 1980/81 and for several years was used on various "trainsets" in my bedroom, before being packaged away in my parents loft. When I moved to my own house I took the stock with me ... and promptly returned it to the new loft. Principally I was interested to see if the locos still ran and my old controllers still worked: R328 Class 47 (type 4) Co-Co Locomotive - Mammoth D1670 R779 0-4-0 Saddle Tank Locomotive - Desmond R332 Class 253 Intercity 125 Train Pack (Class 43 Power Car) R900 Power Controller R915 Power Controller There are also copious amounts of Horby set track (straight, 2nd & 3rd radius) and some flexitrack. I had started playing around with a piece of set track on an old plank of wood to have a go at ballasting and I decided to bodge some wires on the end of this and use it as a short test track. Not exactly a long run but enough to assess if the engines would still run. I started with the saddle tank and having also kept the service sheet, stripped down the body to expose the motor. There was no obvious corrosion and the motor/wheels still turned freely by hand. A quick once over with some tweezers to remove small fibre deposits and a drop of "3-in-1" at the recommended positions and it was time to give it a try. A check with the multimeter showed that the R915 controller was providing the correct voltage so the loco, without body, was placed on the track and with a gentle tap the motor started turning, not very well but enough to provide confidence. A quick look at the wheels provided an answer - they were filthy. So the next 15 minutes or so was spent carefully rotating the motor/wheels by hand and using a peco track rubber to remove the build up. After this the body was replaced and the the engine tried again - by this time my 5 year old daughter had come to see what daddy was up to and "volunteered" to drive the train. The video below shows a short clip of the test in action. http://youtu.be/oWPXinqsSfk I'm pleased to say that both the Class 47 and Intercity power car also worked with a similar level of servicing. So after 20 odd years in storage my trains still work - time to start building that new layout. Peter P.S. In the process of this testing I discovered an excellent website entitled "Hornby Railways Collectors Guide" (http://www.hornbyguide.com/), which has additional service sheets and details on Hornby stock from 1955 to 2011

Thanks for the comments Mike. It just seemed like such a waste to have all that set track and stock in the loft doing nothing. I think it's going to look OK - watch this space for another update. I think blogging will definitely help arrange the work flow .. and getting feedback from others is never a bad thing. Peter

Well so much for trying to be good and create a blog entry reguarily in 2014!!! Ok I'll shift that to the new year resolution for 2015. Still I may not have made many blog updates but I did manage to make some modelling progress last year. Progress was made on several fronts during 2014. Over the summer I managed to build some Parkside and Cambrian kits - they still need painted and decals applied but it was nice to actually make something. I retrieved my old Hornby track, locos and rolling stock from the from the loft and tested them. After nearly 20 years in storage it all still worked, so to keep costs down I'm going to use some of the track and one of the locos for my new layout. I realise it might not provide the most reliable running, but it will let me flex those dormant "modelling muscles" and get back into practice. I decided on a track plan for a layout - actually I decided to follow Phil Parkers Edgeworth layout as serialised in BRM. I'll make a few changes along the way, e.g. switch it to ex-Caledonian / LMS, but for a first layout in more than 20 years it meets my requirements for being small and easy to store in a cramped family home and lets me start "playing" with trains again. Two base boards have been constructed and the track on the first one laid, wired and tested. Finally for Christmas, my family jumped on my modelling bug and gave me a new Bachmann Midland 1F 0-6-0 (LMS 1725 Livery) and Gaugemaster combi controller. For someone turning 40 this year it was nice to fee like a kid again opening toys on Christmas morning!!! So if I stick to my new year's resolution, I'll create separate blog updates on each of these areas as I make progess and hopefully not just make my next post be a summary of 2015. Happy New Year to everyone on RMWeb. Peter

Thanks for the comments. I have to admit for some reason painting the model was the thing I found most intimidating. I guess confidence in what your doing is what comes with practice and experience.

Before discovering RMWeb, my interest in railway modelling was rekindled by a chance purchase of a copy of BRM as something different to read. In this issue Right Track 7: Building Buildings with Geoff Taylor was advertised and a short time later I purchased a copy. This DVD was quite a revelation, before this I had never considered scratch building anything, but this looked like something I'd like to try. But what to build? Not long after I learned that the farm cottages that my Grandparents lived in were being refurbished into a more modern family home. While the building would still exist, the character I remembered as a child would be gone. So I decided to build a model of it as I remembered it. As this was before I joined RMWeb it never occurred to me to take pictures of the construction as I went along, but I'll describe the build with some pictures of the finished model. The basic structure is made from 30 thou plasticard with the ends shaped for the gable wall. Openings were cut in the front and rear for the windows and doors. These were made from Evergreen strip and glazed with transparent sheet before being added to the walls. The sides were fixed with MEK into a basic box structure. Smaller box structures were made for the kitchen extensions on each gable. The walls of the main structure were coated in PVA and DAS modelling clay applied all around except where the extensions were to be attached. When dry, the walls were scribed to represent the block work. The extensions were painted with humbrol enamels and talcum powder sprinkled over to represent the rendered finish. Some dry brushing of a dark grey was used to weather the finish. At the rear of the building, coal cellars were constructed from 20 thou plasticard and laminated with slaters 4mm brick sheet. The roof was constructed from artists mounting board. This was covered with strips of normal printer paper, cut with a scalpel to represent slates. This process was repeated for the pitched roof on the kitchen extension and the coal cellars. The walls were painted with enamels to reflect the basic sandstone colour and dry bushed to add variation, The brick work on the coal cellars were given a light wash to pick out the mortar and the excess wiped off. Again dry brushing was used to add detail. My mother told me about a tin bicycle "shed" that was at one end of the building. To model this I used Evergreen strip for the frame and Wills corrugated sheets for the wall and roof. The corrugated sheets were painted a suitable rust colour and then maskol applied to certain areas, before applying another coat of green enamel paint. When dry the maskol was carefully removed to expose areas of rust. The area was also dusted with weathering powders. The chimney pots are castings from Dart castings fixed with super glue. The down pipes are made from evergreen rod with sliver of masking tape used to represent the fixing brackets. Guttering is made from Evergreen half round section, with the brackets cut from larger section of plastic rod. The final model is a reasonable approximation of how I remember the cottages and was fun to build. As I have this model I am keen to include it if possible in my diorama to give it a proper setting rather then simply left sitting on shelf.

To make the armature easier to handle, I mounted it in a block of wood left over from a flat pack DVD rack. The wire was then covered with a dilute solution of PVA and a few tweaks made to the position of some of the "branches". For the bark I bought a small premixed bag of Artex from a well known DIY chain and mixed a small amount with the PVA and a drop of black poster paint borrowed from the kids arts and crafts box. The mixture was applied using a small paint brush and left to dry overnight before the process was repeated. The bark was then painted with a mix of Tamiya acrylic Nos. XF-55 Dark Tan and XF-52 Flat Earth as a base. A dark wash of artist water colours (paynes grey and dark umber) was used to add depth and highlights picked out by dry brushing with Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey. The image below shows the over effect after painting. A detail view of the tree trunk. Detail of the branches. After applying the bark and detailing, I feel the tree is looking better than my initial view of the armature and I think there are improvements I can make on future models. Next is to apply the foliage.

As part of my armchair modelling I read the landscape modelling books by Barry Norman and Tony Hill and was taken with how it was possible to create such life like scenes. A definite far cry from my father and I dipping torn up Halfords sponges into green gloss paint to add scenery to my first layout. Feeling inspired and determined to actually make something, my annual trip to Model Rail Scotland had new focus. I came home with a bundle of scenic materials and Gordon Gravette's book on modelling broad leaf trees. This seemed ideal, something I could do in the evenings without needing a lot of tools that little fingers could find. My partners mother makes jewellery and she was kind enough to provide some 1mm wire for me to start with. I followed Gordon's method and with reference to a picture of an oak tree and produced the armature shown below. I initially felt that the armature was not particularly good, but as this is a learning exercise, I decided to stick with the armature as is and move to the next step of adding the bark. (To be continued...).

Ian, thanks for the thoughts. A private siding certainly would raise additional possibilities, a cattle dock being the first that springs to mind. The use as a test track I hadn't considered, but has appeals. More to consider in planning, which is part of the fun :-)

It's been a number of years since I discovered RMWeb and joined. At the time I had great intentions of getting back into modelling and create a blog as I went. However, as can be seen from the date of my last (only!!!) entry this did not happen, instead the demands of life with three small children took precedence and I became an armchair modeller, regularly browsing RMWeb and enjoying my monthly dose of "modelling" from BRM and Model Rail. This year however, I've decided to try and move from the armchair and start doing some practical modelling. Taking inspiration from articles on photo planks and small size layouts, I cleared some space where I can store a model and decided to try my hand at some of the techniques that I have spent so long reading about. My first foray is going to be more of a diorama that happens to have a length of track running through it, than anything with a meaningful track plan. What I hope to achieve by this is practice with different techniques to see how I can apply this to the ideas I have for the future. So what will the "diorama" contain? Well I have a few things I'd like to try to have (fuelled by childhood memories of visiting my grand parents farm): Country cottage, with garden and hens (for reasons to be explained later). Corn field Hedge rows and trees Country road Portion of scenery on an incline Simple length of track With a little practice and patience I hope to produce a scene which sparks my imagination and leads to finally getting back to having a small layout that I can share with the kids. But where to start??? Well while finalising what the diorama is going to contain, why not have a go at making some trees.

Ron, Hope you are back to full health soon. Peter