nest

It's been a while, apologies all round. This is a breakdown of all my modelling activities since my last posting I've been keeping myself relatively busy a few little bits and bobs. My main focus at the moment has been track construction. This is moving slowly onwards and I'm hoping to complete the first section (photo below) by the end of next week. I'm also hoping to start construction on the baseboards relatively soon. The track is being built onto Balsa wood which will then be laid onto the baseboards. I will go into more detail on the layout in a further posting. With this, I've been having a go at re-wheeling a few wagons. I'll be doing some more to these in the coming weeks so watch this space. I'll also be making a start on my 12in Nielson kit from High Level this week. I need to get some wheels and I'll be all set to get going with it I had a bit of fun this afternoon by adding grass to my little photo track. I also gave the rails a light paint job and am quite happy with the results. This little plank has provided me with many opportunities to practise a few little skills. Finally, as a way of giving myself a bit of a kick up the modelling backside, I made my second trip to Pendon Museum on Saturday. Unlike my previous visit, I left my house a lot earlier meaning I had a fair amount more time to spend taking it all in and enjoying the scenes. I've now also signed up as a friend of the museum. Whilst I'm unlikely to every produce anything quite to their calibre, the museum will always be something to push me in the right direction Below are pictures of the track for the new layout being put together, the photo track and finally a few from Pendon

Those steps are looking great Adrian. Nestor

Unfortunately not Gareth, however my Irish four by one is slowly coming along Nestor

Evening all I've had a busy couple of weeks and have had very little time for modelling unfortunately. I have however managed to squeeze in a little here and there. I've started plans for another layout project to satisfy my British needs whilst I'm still going with my Irish thing. It will be a mostly industrial themed layout set in deepest Sussex on my imaginary South Downs Light Railway. I'll do a separate blog post about that another time with a track plan as well. To satisfy my modelling needs this week, I re-wheeled a wagon a had sitting about (given to me many years ago along with a lot of other stuff, again, a blog post for another time). I also started on some point work which may well be included in the above project. By started, I mean I laid the templates...it really hasn't been a good week or so for modelling... Here are some photos of the work Nestor

Hi all Back to my Irish thing now. Since my last post on the subject, I've taken up the previous lot of rails due to the inside/outside chair kafuffle. Once I took up the rails, I decided to ballast the sleepers prior to relaying the rails. This allowed for a slightly easier ballasting process. The rail width is not an issue due to my gauge providing the correct width. There is a little bit in the middle which needs adjusting slightly but this is not difficult. It's all progress! Here are some photos of the current state of play Nestor

Wonderful work there, looking forward to the whole scene coming together Nestor

Cheers Adrian I'm presuming that was an accidental pun...?

I'll make a post about this next week as I have since had to correct this. The chairs should be on the outside. I stand corrected Nestor

Hello one and all After a slight gap in progress in anything remotely modelling related, I've finally been getting on with something. Next week, we at the Brighton MRC are holding a 'show and tell' evening. This will give our members a chance to show off their modelling skills and also hopefully provide an opportunity for some discussion and sharing of skills and techniques. My personal contribution to this is an example of handbuilt track in P4. It comprises of a small piece of straight track of about 20cm long. I will adding scenic detail to it (ballast and some grass etc). The purpose is to show that it's worth building one's own track and also to give myself something to practise my own skills on. It is built using Ply sleepers from the Scalefour society, chairs from C&L and code 75 bullhead rail also from the Scalefour society. It isn't perfect but as I said, this is essentially practise for the future as I am currently planning a layout to follow on from my Irish detour. I'll discuss the future project some other time but as a quick prelude, I will say that its firmly back in my comfort zone of Southern light railway steam. Attached are a couple of photos of the track. Nestor

Good to see that the thread is getting going again. Looking forward to progress Nestor

Great work Adrian, I'll be making a mental note for future buildings Nestor

This is a P4 layout. Built to Irish broad gauge (5 foot and 3 inches) which translates to 21mm. Nestor

Ah well that's a pain! I'll take another look tomorrow. luckily I haven't laid too much and it shouldn't be too much of hassle to relay. Just a case of swapping the two rails around...only a slight step back. I stand corrected Nestor

Going from the photos I have seen, it's always been quite hard to tell. If I am wrong however, I am quite happy to let it lie as most of the track is going to relatively hard to see under grass and quite built up ballast/ground cover. As I said above, I have no intention of going back to ready to plonk track so I think long it will continue! Cheers Nestor

Afternoon all I'm frankly amazed there are not more drug abusers in model railway circles. I've spent this afternoon attaching rail and chairs to sleepers using butanone, a particularly strong smelling substance. If using this solvent, use in a well ventilated area for no other reason other than the smell. In all seriousness, it's nice to feel like I'm making progress on a layout after quite some time of idleness and distractions. Even if progress is still slow, it's still progress. It's also very gratifying to see one's scratch built track coming together. There is something tremendously ego boosting about seeing something you have made yourself coming together when compared to laying a load of set track down. I'm certainly not going to be going back any time soon. I've attached one photo for the moment and will upload more as and when I feel there is something to look at. You may notice the red screws in the wall. These are remnants of my first 'proper' layout, long since dismantled. I'll also do an entry on the E class later on in the week as I'm hoping to get a bit more done on this. Nestor

In terms of the building layouts, I've always found scenery to be the most sastifying element. To get really stuck into. Good work on the ballasting Nestor

Photos of the loco on the Westport-Achill line were the main reason for selecting it for my line as it's an imagined branch from Westport down to Roonagh. They were quite a lucky find were SSM as I had been trying to build up the motivation to totally scratchbuild something and that would have been a much longer process. Nestor

Afternoon all The loco for the Irish Project has arrived and I have began to make a small start. It is an etched-brass kit produced by Studio Scale Models. The instructions seem pretty comprehensive which considering that I've not attempted a kit before, is terribly helpful. Not one for making things easy for myself... The loco itself I've found to be quite attractive in the photos I have seen. They were small 0-6-0 tanks that worked across most of the MGWR system. After the grouping into the Great Southern Railways, the locos were re-fitted and classified Class 551 or Class J26. My model will be based on how it appeared during the MGWR period. Aside from anything else, the livery is quite attractive. I'll be posting updates in the construction as and when it happens. Attached is an image I found on a google search (no copyright infringement intended) and it shows the livery and general outline of this rather attractive locomotive. Nestor