ChrisN

I have a new laptop which runs Windows 11.  I have kept an old Windows 10 laptop going as I knew it worked with my machine, Cameo 2 I think.  I thought I would try my new one on the cutter and much to my surprise the cutter saw the laptop and it all worked as it should.

The Silhouette Studio I am running is 4.5.738

Well, as no one else is posting, (not much anyway).

You may have wondered what has happened to the progress on the platform, well it has stalled.  First some pictures.

The idea of making my own paving slabs seemed a good one before I started, well cheap anyway.  The slabs have not laid very flat, but worse they are all slightly different sizes.  That is cope-able with, but I have compounded it by starting at the ends and not the middle.  Real people, that is 1:1 people in the real world start in the middle.  That also may be mean that I can make it work.  More worryingly, is that I assumed that the slabs would be full length and half length so that you got interlacing.  Having got almost this far I had another look at paved platforms and found that they are laid with full length and two thirds length slabs.  What I have done so far is not redeemable.  I could continue with different size slabs but the most obvious bit is wrong.  I could live with all of this except that sticking down an infinite number of paving slabs is not the most riveting of pastimes.  That coupled with the above has meant I have come to a halt.  I may continue when the warmer weather comes and I can model on the dining table and get the whole lot on there together, and sort the front where the porch and the steps are.

I normally only post on one topic, but not today.  Mr Price's house.

Did I say that the random stone I have used seems to make the stones too small?  I will need to look at '0' gauge stone for other builds.

Looking at the pictures I realised that every lintel was different.  They had not used a standard size, so I had to do each one separately.

I have tried to make them visible but I am not sure I have succeeded.  The top and the sides were lined with 10 thou plasticard stuck on with tacky glue.  Both PVA and tacky glue worked on the trial piece but PVA has not done well here.  Tacky glue not much better.

Window sills next.

Lintels are quite clear now.

The large window will have a bow window in it so no sill.  The doors may have a step at the bottom, but that is more of a modern thing so I will have to think how I cover the foam.  The doors may look large but they have a transom over the door.

Talking of size, it looks a little big.

Sorry for the lighting in the picture.  If I could set the layout up permanently in the extension the lighting would be perfect, but as it is our main room for living in I think I would get a certain amount of resistance.

These pictures of course do not show it up that well I have just noticed, but it does look big against everything else.  My defence is that I have measured it, and it is two houses, and the prototype looks big.

That is a three storey house next to it.

My grandson says it looks large because the station building behind is single story.  The buildings behind are a Metcalfe cottage and an Airfix Inn, both of which might be under scale.  The half finished cottage, although the prototype is a large cottage is still smaller than it, height wise that is.  (This is a semi-detached, so two houses really.)

Magic you will say, nearly finished.  No, stuck together with Blu Tak for when we had the invasion of grand children on Easter Saturday, which never happened as we all went to my eldest son's house.  It is in the right position though.

So, a long post about not much at all.  Modelling may commence again soon.

If you have been, thanks for looking.

16 minutes ago, dagrizz said:

You would get a D minus in your English exam with this one........ 

 

There is a Pay and Display machine in St Helier Hospital in South London, well there was for a number of years up until 2019, which had the notice on its display, 'Change is possible'.  Just what you want, an optimistic Parking Machine.

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Not just Sat Navs. I have a copy of the Essex A-Z street map only a couple of years old. In south Essex there is a steep part of the A13 between Benfleet and Thundersly called Bread & Cheese Hill (named after a pub that no longer exists). Since the 1950's the area either side  of the hill has been built up considerably but because of the terrain none of the roads connect directly to the A13. However the A-Z shows most of the roads accessible from the A13. There is in fact pedestrian access from some roads via very steep footpaths and in one case steps but the A-Z gives the impression that these are through roads.

Apparently. so I was told, that originally Bread and Cheese hill got its name from when there were lots of Dutch living in the area.  The locals, got fed up with this, and dragged them up to the top of the hill, where they asked them to say, "Bread and cheese".  If they said, "Brot." they were thrown down the hill, as the Dutch did not pronounce 'bread' the same as the locals..  

3 minutes ago, Sasquatch said:

Ok then. Brambles!

After firing up the hot glue gun working one stop at a time, I laid down strips of the glue onto glass then stuck in clumps of rubberized horse hair. 

The strips were removed from the glass with a Stanley blade and using track pins I put them onto a foam scrap and gave them a quick blast of

Red primer. 

 

Using Aquanet hairspray added a little bit of mixed yellow scatter to represent last years dead leaves, more hairspray and the green scatter mix. 

 

Hot glue on the underside of the bush to plant on the layout. 

 

Before I do a huge production style batch I’d like to know what you all think?

 

Two more images here…

 

My attempt at an ash tree being attacked by the ivy. 

 

And, a long shot from the other side of the layout

 

 

Shaun,

I do like the ash tree covered in ivy.  The brambles are good, but I think they need to be a little denser, they see a little to open.

12 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

To be pedantic, I think DAS is actually a form of very fine papier machè.   It's certainly slightly fibrous, which you can see if you water it down to the consistency of thick yoghurt, which is what I use for coating roadways etc, using a No.6 soft artists brush.

 

Jim

Sorry to cross post.

Jim,

Do you have somewhere where you explain how to do roads with DAS?  I have a road that I need to do, Macadam but no tar, and gardens, and am thinking about ways to do them.

Thank you.

3 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

 

Thanks John, very kind. I want to add roof boards and seat numbering panels, I am also going to try adding corridor handrails as well.

 

Looking at the photo in Russel, the seat numbers seemed to finish at 368 and it looks as if it starts at 304

• 3rd class x 5 compartments at 4 across = 40
• 1st class x 4 compartments at 3 across = 24
• Which gives a carriage capacity of only 64 which doesn't seem very much.

In Russel, some photos show carriage seat numbers, which always seem to be 3 digits - but some photos show letters - does anyone know when seat numbers were changed for carriage letters? It is possible that this is a post nationalisation scheme.

 

Incidentally the typical rake for the 70ft South Wales stock was (Taken from the Comet models instructions):

• Brake third = 4 compartments = 32
• Third = 10 compartments = 80
• Composite (above) = 64
• Restaurant carriage H26 (1st x 18; 3rd x 32) = 50
• Composite = 64
• Third = 80
• Brake third = 32

Giving a train capacity of 402 - many years later a GWR 8 carriage HST would accommodate 487 or 557 depending on the configuration: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/hst-trainset-capacities.73196/

 

To be continued!

Neal,

Just food for thought, as I am not completely certain, but I have found on RMWeb, if you state something then someone will come along with the correct information almost immediately.  🙂

Would the 3rd class not be 5 across?  I am fairly certain non corridor stock was 6 across.

Also, When seats were numbered, at least in BR days, sorry for the foul language, the seats facing each other had the same number, so it would be defined as say, 5 facing the engine, 5 back to the engine, although this may have only been for non compartment stock.

1 hour ago, brumtb said:

Modelling has been very slow of late with other responsibilities taking precedence as well as general lethargy.  However, the arrival of the Dapol Mainline and City coaches was very welcome (as was the Kernow Steam Railmotor).

Here is Great Western 2-6-2T 3916 with a short rake of the new coaches heading out to Leamington Spa. The coaches are on loan to the Birmingham Area to assess their suitability for Birmingham suburban use!!!

They are as out of the box at present other than the substitution of Hunt magnetic couplers for the rigid bars supplied by Dapol.  I really must tone down those pristine roofs, any suggestions for a "new but in service" finish?

 

Thanks for looking

Tony

Tony,

Very nice.

In your era, is the roof paint lead?  If it is then it will react with the smoke and darken it uniformly.  If it is not, then it will just get dirty with smoke.  I am not sure how long the colour change would take, if the paint is lead.

18 minutes ago, heraldcoupe said:

 

😁

 

I am very interested in producing saddle tanks and have some rough patterns done. The Bachmann chassis will be a good starting point for those sharing the same wheelbase and wheel size. I'm hoping many of the major structures will carry across to a Buffalo (and others?) in due course, but I've not done a deep dive on that yet. The latter will have it's own mechanism, the design features of that being proven on my Aberdare project.

 

Do you have a website or is it just by personal contact?  I am assuming this is not your business.

Mikkel,

I shall follow with interest, not that I will, in the foreseeable future wish to convert anything GWR for main line operation in 1895.  (Honest 🙂)

I know somewhere you can get a siphon for the conversion as well.

As for the Cambrian there is a Mike Morton-Lloyd book that has images of those seen on the line, plus a list of local PO wagon owners, with or without photos.  This means that the likelihood of other PO wagons is unknown, perhaps I should look at other PO books.  However, this has not stopped me ordering two wagons, that it is not completely impossible to believe that they turned up on the line.  I have ordered these to support Rapido in the introduction of these wagons, as I want to encourage manufacturers in the production of pre-grouping stock.

It may be that they may be encouraged to produce in future wagons for the Vauxhall Colliery, Ruabon, the Ruabon Coal and Coke Co., Cannock Case Colliery Co., Wigan Coal and Iron Co., Black Park Colliery and Westminster Colliery.  Any colliery around North Wales and surrounding areas seem appropriate.

Given enough encouragement with these they may even produce a Sharp Stewart 2-4-0, or 0-6-0.  I can always dream.

1 hour ago, Mikkel said:

Good to see this progressing Chris, the panneling looks really good.

 

Recently I have become a little less enthusiastic about my magnetic clamps. On thin/soft materials I find that they can press together corners so tight that the areas above and beneath them "bulge" out.

 

 

 

We are but human. A few days ago I had carefully marked some almost square pieces of plain styrene with arrows pointing right, to make sure I got their orientation right. Then I dropped them on the floor.

 

Mikkel,

Mine came from York Models and I have not noticed them doing that.  I shall watch out for it, but the alternative is, a bit more tricky.

Yes, more mistakes seem to happen as you get older, or perhaps you are more aware it it.  Just have to be methodical, mark things, watch what you are doing, put knives down when not using them.............🙂

1 hour ago, corneliuslundie said:

I notice that you mention 10 thou square strip. I bought some from Slaters many years ago but it is both rather brittle now and nearly finished. I have not been able to find a current source. Any suggestions?

Nice panelling using it though.

Jonathan

Jonathan,

Mine is Evergreen.  I bought lots of different sizes years ago but I am fairly certain they are still available.

I thought things would be slow on the house, and they have been, but they are going quicker than I expected.  Still, what I have not done is show you the progress on the Saloon Third.  Remember that?  It was ages ago I cut it out, and actually was a while ago when I did most of the work, but the pictures were even slower, but here they are.

It was August last year that I showed you this.

August 23rd to be precise.  The laminates had been laminated and 10 thou x 10 thou rodding put on mimicking panels.  It stayed like this for quite a while then I filed the ends to make a bevel and then fitted them together.  It was not very precise.  I then held them together in my magnetic clamps and applied Limonene.  I waited and it worked.

From the end.

I tried filling the gaps at the ends between the sides with Humbrol filler, but when I opened it, all that came out was liquid, which stank.  As my wife has insisted that I move my modelling desk into the warmth of the lounge, (here be carpet monsters), I put the top on rather quickly.  It must have separated out, and I am not sure if I can shake the tube to mix it again.  I will need some sort of filler to strengthen the joints.

I then cut out a floor , and filed it to fit, then glued it in.  Yes, I took the precaution of making sure I knew which way round it was.  (What me?  Glue it in upside down?  As if?)  The markings on the bottom are the centre line, the middle, where I got the middle wrong, and the position of the wheels.  I had thought it would go on a Ratio chassis, but of course it is far too short for that, so it will be MJT W irons and homemade footboards etc.

This is Z shaped plasticard, with one side nearly cut off except for steps below the doors.  I have no pictures of this saloon in running condition, but other coaches of the 1860s on the Cambrian had this arrangement.

I glued them in place, much easier as it is Z shaped.    Of course it is better to remember that the buffers go all the way across before you do that but, as you see, it is not irreversible.  The buffers are 4 x 2mm plastrut.

Hope that is not too dark.  The buffer positions were marked before they were cut off the length, drilled out with a 1mm drill, opened out with a 1.6mm drill and finally a six sided, or so broach used to open them still further until I could get the buffers to push fit.  They will be glued in later.  I am thinking about seats next, but there are some other challenges which I shall maybe mention the next time this coach is reviewed.  When that will be I am unsure as it is done when the main project is drying, but as there are lots of bits, and you can do one while another is drying it may be a while.

If you have been, thanks for looking.

7 hours ago, Nick Gough said:

I completed my radiotherapy treatment last week and feel generally okay whilst I wait for the side effects to wear off.

 

As and when I have felt energetic enough I have been doing bits and pieces of scenic work on the layout - mainly bridges and landscaping:

 

I have found no contemporary photos for the road, under this bridge, for my modelling period.

Since it is an unclassified road I have assumed it would have been an untarred 'rural road' in line with the second paragraph on this interesting website:

https://www.igg.org.uk/gansg/00-app1/roads.htm

 

Therefore, I dug out this ancient tub from the depths of the garage:

 

Finding it was still reasonably runny I added some black paint to the mix then painted a couple of coats over the primed plywood, forming the road surface, making it thicker in the centre to create a slight camber.

 

I think it makes a reasonable impression of a plain, macadam road.

 

 

Nick,

Glad you have finished your Radiotherapy, you should gradually start to feel better.

The bridge is looking good, with enough seating for a large crowd to cheer any vehicle on.  😄

Just noticed that the paint is Texas.  How long ago did Texas go out of business?  I might have paint that old but it has probably all gone hard.

Will you need to sand the surface?  It is difficult to tell from the image.

1 hour ago, JZ said:

Love to know the story behind this.

Apparently '"Penguins" is a recent slang term for those saggy or baggy or "falling down" pants'.

I thought at first it was a 2-4-0, as the coupling rod appears to stop at the front visible wheel, but the rod is divided into two, so it could be an 0-6-0.  Also, the visible part of the loco is identical to a Dean Goods.  The tender is GWR and not Cambrian.  As to which one.......

1 hour ago, Citadel said:

Trackwork basically complete, had some short flat headed screws from fitting the galvanised steel MHVR ductwork in the roof space of my house which came in very handy to temporarily hold it down in place.  Will now wire everything up (what could possibly go wrong....) followed by a thorough test before finally fixing everything down with PVA, No More Nails or similar. 

 

 

Initially found the fishplates / rail connectors really fiddly but once had got the hang of it went quite quickly.  

 

Rummaged through the storage cupboard and opened up a couple of stock boxes and plonked a few carriages in place to see what it looked like 🙂

 

 

LNWR dominates at the moment.  Need to start thinking about representation from the North Eastern and the Caledonian.  Bought a CR horse box at Model Rail Scotland to start to redress the balance - will be the next project once the MR 6 wheelers are complete..

 

 

Right, better get ordering electrical bits and bobs - a steep learning curve awaits but will do my best to keep things as simple as possible.

I do love those coaches.  30ft 11 1/2" six wheel LNWR stock?  Did you make those yourself?

2 hours ago, Northroader said:

What’s the glue/s you’re using, please?

Yes, sorry, I should have said.  To glue the random stone sheet to the foam board I have used both Limonine and polystyrene cement.  I used both to see which was best, or if there was a difference,  So two sides were done with each.  The Limonene obviously dries more quickly and you have yto get the sheet on it quickly and it has to be accurate first time as it sticks immediately and you cannot move it around, which you can with the polystyrene cement.  Both seems to stick easily well.

As to plastic on the foam, I tried a sample using a cutout, and used both PVA, and a Tacky Glue, (Aleene's Original, Quick Dry Tacky Glue), and both seemed to do just as well.  You need lots of PVA though.

Well, surprise surprise, I have done some more modelling, but first, it is said that all Physicists should have a six inch ruler.  I did have one a number of years ago, but it disappeared, so when I went to the Model Railway show a few weeks ago when I saw one for sale, I bought it, along with a 2ft ruler as well.  (I mean, you know how frustrating it is when you are measuring something that is about 330mm.)  So, in case you have never seen one, here it is.

You will note that it is not shiny, which is very useful when working under a bright light which I often do,  Secondly, it has half mm divisions.  You will note that the foot ruler below also has half mm divisions, but in a way that is impossible to read.  I have found it very useful.

So what have I been doing?

Marked out on 5mm foam board, is Mr Price's house, and his neighbours.  It is based on the house in Barmouth.  The one at Barmouth had the Station Master's house on the right, and the one on the left was an exact repeat, it was not mirrored.  This meant that the blank wall of the Station Master's in the middle was repeated on the outside on the left.  This meant that the right hand house was 'posher' than the left, and so was let out to a Ganger.  My house however will have the houses mirrored, so that they will be the same.  My only problem now is, who to let it to?  I had thought the local Signalman, but in the status conscious world of 1895, is he senior enough to have the same house as Mr Price?  I had thought of a Traffic Inspector, but he would have to be back on the last train every day which would not be very late, although he could be out early in the morning.

You might notice that there are mistakes in the drawings, which is not unusual considering who drew it.  I also decided that I would have a foam board floor, so it is 5mm higher than just the sides of the house.  This actually fits with a house that would have been built with ground floor joists, and not a solid floor.

Windows cut out before separating the sides, I thought that would be easier.  Interesting cutting foam board, as you need to be careful not to cut the foam deeper that the plastic coating.

Random stone stuck to the cut out sides.  I have used SE Finecast sheets for this house, rather than the Slaters Random Stone I used for the station, as the stonework looks different between the station and this house.

Looking at this image of the house I am not sure the stones are really large enough, perhaps an '0' gauge version would have been better?  I had the same feeling on the station, that the stones should have been larger.

This house is not without its interesting points, by that I mean, things that should be straight forward, are not necessarily so.  Cut out windows and lintels next, this could take some time.

If you have been, thanks for looking.

3 minutes ago, Schooner said:

3d printed chassis perhaps? Again, I've no personal experience but they do seem to be becoming more common.

 

There is a printed 3D chassis that you can buy with the superstructure, and I probably have one.  It is on my list of things to do, after the buildings, the coaches, and perhaps before the wagons.

2 hours ago, Schooner said:

 

https://www.sparkshotcustomcreations.com/

 

...but anyone interested I'd suggest getting in touch to make sure there's a suitable chassis and that it's been at least test-built with the recommended motor, gears and wheels. Not me personally, but heard first hand from a couple who had to work quite hard (and spend a lot more time and money than lead to believe) to turn these into decent models. 

 

This is, hopefully, no longer the case cos they're gorgeous locos :)

@Edwardian and I were going to try and do a combined build, well he op 'norf, and me darn sarf, and do it at the same time but COVID got in the way.  My preference would be to use a powered tender chassis with something like aa tenshodo spud, or similar, if they still exist.  There are no RTR chassis to fit as far as I know..

Yes, it is a Sharp Stewart, and yes they had most of their locos built by them up until the late 19th Century.  These were running until 1922, when the GWR took over.  They were horrified and they soon met their end.

3D prints from @Knuckles, either his Shapeways shop, or contact him directly.  (Usual disclaimers.)

3 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

 

Hurrah, big milestone. The guttering looks good. It's interesting what a difference it makes to the appearence of a model roof when this is added. Somehow integrates the roof and walls, visually. And can help to hide problematic alignments, in my case 🙂

 

 

Thanks Chris, my new word of the day. I'll remember it by thinking of suffragettes. Sounds like their children.

 

Mikkel,

Actually, I got it wrong.  They are not soffits, they are facias.  The soffits run from the downward facias to the wall.  In my case they are imaginary.  (Soffit is a better word though.)

Finally a report on modelling.  I have added gutters to the station building roof.

I decided that I would use Ratio guttering as they were acceptable and not horrendously expensive.  I know @westerhamstation would have used the folded edges of Weetabix packets.  I looked at these and decided that they probably were not large enough.  Now having used them once, I shall proabley have to continue with them for consistency.  Shown is the gutter, and two strips of card, and a reinforcing piece of card.

I realised that the gutters need to be horizontal, but the roof has no horizontal portion to it, so the piece of card on the roof is for the gutter to lean on.  The soffit was then put in position.  It was all glued with PVA.

When it had dried  then the reinforcement card was glued into place.  I was concerned that the soffits were only stuck on where the supporting prongs from the gutters were, so was not convinced that they would hold very well without further support.

Gutters in place.

The other side.

The soffits, plus the flashing.  I have painted the soffits as well.

I finally managed the flashing.  The straight flashing was easy.  The flashing down the chimney is the third or fourth attempt.  I tried card and cutting it in situ down the brickwork, but it was too soft.  I then tried cutting the card in step fashion and then gluing it, with PVA, but it was still too soft.  I then took some more card, this time 2.5 to 3mm wide and cut steps in it.  I then shellacked it.  When I went to paint it, it had disappeared; no idea where it went.  I repeated the process and this time was able to paint it with Humbrol 64 light grey.  This time it was a bit hard, but I tried to wrap a small amount onto the roof.  You notice that the flashing on the front of the chimneys is a bit long, that is because I had to cover the gap between where the bricks stopped and the roof started.  I am not the only one with this problem.

So, the roof is FINISHED!  I would do this differently next time.  I would make the bricks on the chimneys go further down below the sides, I would have some method of making a flat surface at the bottom of the roof to attached the gutters, and yes, finials, they should go on near last as I have managed to break one, and the bit has disappeared, I think I saw it and put it in a bits pot.  

If you have been, thanks for looking.

P.S. The building itself still needs painting.