Stringfingerling

I will try to do some more step-by-step photos in future because I know it's helpful when people do this. The only problem I have is that I often make things up as I go along and I'm groping forwards with my methods just as much as anybody else. A lot of my work is more art than science I suppose, as that's my background. I've read the obvious books by Barry Norman of Petherick fame, Tony Hill, Martyn Welch, the creator of the incredible Hursley and the brilliant Gordon Gravett. I met Tony Hill a long time ago and was entranced by his work on landscapes. Anyway point taken, and I will try to be a bit more methodical in the way I take the photographs because I always appreciate it when other people give clear explanations.

Here's another picture from the area around my new bridge across the main street. The grass is stuck down with B&Q's Cocoa Bean Non-Drip Gloss - really smelly while it's drying, but it does the trick.

Beautiful!

Lumps of rock are quite gratifying to make; they happen quickly and have quite a dramatic effect on the landscape. I shall do some more work on them to refine the colours and textures a bit. I'm quite pleased with the way my grass is coming on - the model grass on the layout - not my real lawn, which is sadly neglected. For a long time I've been using an old tin of sticky brown paint to sprinkle it into. The tin ran out and I was concerned that I wouldn't find a match, but B&Q's Cocoa Bean seems to do the trick. It's a bit redder than I would expect to want , but it seems to bring the green of the grass scatter stuff to life quite well, and to hold the grass pretty well. In one or two places where the layout gets leaned on regularly and the grass gets worn away, I may try adding some PVA in the classic track ballasting manner (a spray over with a plant mister and a couple of drops of Fairy Liquid prior to careful application of dilute PVA).

Interesting and clearly your method works well - but are you sure you don't want to invest in a printer? They are unbelievably cheap these days! Using any drawing software it's possible to create sheets of appropriately thin 180gm card slates that just need a few minutes with a scalpel and a coat of knotting (wonderfully useful stuff!) to make them strong. If you need some randomness in the shapes that's easily done at the scalpel stage. They are then easy to glue down without long waiting periods. If you're interested I could give you chapter and verse on my methods which I used for my station building which you can see here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1200/entry-17428-more-barge-boards-and-finials/

Thanks very much folks! You're very kind.

Here are a couple of pictures to show what I've done to the girders on my bridge; I think there'll be a bit more rust before I'm finished!

I've started making good the abutments on my bridge over the main street. Although the original stonework was done with 4mm scale Wills Scenic Sheets I had lying about, all the modifications have been done using DAS clay, which I am growing to like more and more.

I've now got a bit further with the bridge over the main street. The bridge has its handrails in place. I soldered up the rails from brass wire fixed into brass angle from Eileen's Emporium, realising again the limits of my soldering skills I have a decent temperature controlled iron but, like a lot of people, I struggle to keep the tip of the bit in perfect clean condition. Anyway, it looks ok to me, and I shall claim that any wonky bits of handrail are due to clumsy plate layers knocking them about. I should like to get better at soldering as I'm still hankering after a Dukedog, possibly a Bulldog or small-cabbed Duke and that means kit building. I used rivet decals on the girders which were a bit awkward - once they separate from the backing paper it's not easy to tell which way up they are. The girders and handrails have been sprayed with car primer and will be painted further in due course, when the abutments are completed.

Thanks for that Richard, that sounds interesting!

I have realised in the last few days how little I know about bridges and their design and how much there is to learn! After some fairly rudimentary research I realised I was trying to build what I think is referred to as a "half-through" bridge where the top girder flanges are above rail level and the bottom ones are well below track level to support the beams that in turn support the ballast/track etc. I hadn't previously spotted that the webbing stiffeners on this type of girder would normally just be on the outside. Since realising these things I've had to raise the level of the abutments and this can be seen in the picture. I'm going to use rivet decals on the plating as life is too short for most of the other ways people seem to do rivets! The handrails will be soldered up from brass wire and angle strip. I may decide to re-align the retaining wall nearest in the photograph, when I've finally decided what building will go next to the road in the foreground.

Sunny weather and grandchildren have kept me away from the layout to some extent but here is a picture of the new cottages in the main street and their embryonic gardens. It can also be seen that I'm finally starting to build the details on the plate girder bridge of the road.

Thanks to all of you - I had an idea that grey or black would be the answer!

I'm currently building a plate girder rail over road bridge for my Welsh O Gauge layout (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1200-stringfingerlings-blog/). It will look a bit like the bridges to be found at Aberdyfi. Please could anyone tell me what colour the plate work would have been painted around 1947 - bearing in mind wartime neglect etc. Would it have been treated to the standard GWR colour scheme as applied at stations etc?

Hi Focalplane, I'd be interested to know how the Slaters plungers have worked over time as I'm considering using them; any problems?

It looks very good. Are you pleased with your choice of sprung horn blocks? My O gauge locos are mostly sprung but I built a 4-4-0 chassis for a GWR County in EM a long time ago and everything I read in MRJ pointed towards compensation. It was pretty successful in terms of hauling power and so on. I know the properties of 7mm scale are a bit different and I'm interested in case I get round to build an O gauge GWR Duke from the David Andrews kit, which (I think) is from the same designer as your kit.

Thank you very much Mookie I shall post some more at some point soon.

Here's some shunting on my layout. All the dodgy use of the regulator and brakes are to be blamed on me being the cameraman at the same time

This is a safe environment where we can share our feelings without guilt, recrimination and exclusion from normal society. Right on RMWeb! You are my spiritual home.

Here are my Spratt and Winkles at work:

I use Spratt and Winkle autocouplers and electromagnets (from SEEP I think) on my layout, modified a bit as per this photograph which I put on old thread on the site. http://www.rmweb.co....ouplings/page-6 Since posting the photographs, I've changed my method slightly: although my layout is end to end I can't really used "handed" rolling stock, ie - hook at one end, loop at the other, because I use a train turntable off stage. In the quest for 100% reliability I now fit loops to both ends of all wagons, half of the wagons also have hooks at both ends, locos only have loops. The snag with this is obviously that certain wagons can't be coupled directly to each other, but I have now achieved such good reliability that shunting is a real pleasure. For my new Lionheart B set I pondered about how to do the couplers and I have fitted Spratt and Winkles, hooks only, iron wire droppers instead of 3 links, no loops as the outer ends of the set will always couple to a loco with loops. I have been able to leave the existing screw couplings in place, which was good as I don't want to alter the coaches unnecessarily. Hopefully the photos will make some of this clearer. The route for the passenger services only has gentle curves so was able to use the length of the Spratt and Winkle hooks to go right round the realistic model hooks and achieve reasonably close coupling. I've been testing the couplers today and they seem to work faultlessly. Result! Attached Thumbnails

I use Spratt and Winkle autocouplers and electromagnets (from SEEP I think) on my layout, modified a bit as per this photograph which I put on old thread on the site. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/50279-o-gauge-auto-couplings/page-6 Since posting the photographs, I've changed my method slightly: although my layout is end to end I can't really used "handed" rolling stock, ie - hook at one end, loop at the other, because I use a train turntable off stage. In the quest for 100% reliability I now fit loops to both ends of all wagons, half of the wagons also have hooks at both ends, locos only have loops. The snag with this is obviously that certain wagons can't be coupled directly to each other, but I have now achieved such good reliability that shunting is a real pleasure. For my new Lionheart B set I pondered about how to do the couplers and I have fitted Spratt and Winkles, hooks only, iron wire droppers instead of 3 links, no loops as the outer ends of the set will always couple to a loco with loops. I have been able to leave the existing screw couplings in place, which was good as I don't want to alter the coaches unnecessarily. Hopefully the photos will make some of this clearer. The route for the passenger services only has gentle curves so was able to use the length of the Spratt and Winkle hooks to go right round the realistic model hooks and achieve reasonably close coupling. I've been testing the couplers today and they seem to work faultlessly. Result!

Thanks Mike. I'm looking forward to playing trains with you!

The prairie and "B" set are finally ready to go, having arrived in the mist in my last post.