Ian Smith

A little more progress has been made on the baseboards, although as is often the case there has been a step backward before resuming the stepping forward!! The originally made traintable used a turned peg and socket on which to rotate, whilst that worked I could not prevent the whole traintable from rocking slightly on this centre pivot point without introducing a lot of friction at the outer edges which I felt would be counter productive as I could visualise the "sudden unsticking motion" when overcoming the friction throwing all of the stock of the rails. A search of the internet yielded a "Heavy Duty Turntable Bearing" sold by Station Road Baseboards. I recognised this as something called a Lazy Susan, and managed to find a 12" diameter one online at http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/product_detail.php?products_id=42341&gclid=CO7Ah92WqLwCFafKtAodR1YAsQ. (No association with this company except as a satisfied customer) A fair bit of hacking away at the underside of the traintable baseboard was necessary to accomodate the depth of the Lazy Susan below the traintable (about 8mm), and extra blocks of wood had to be attached to the cross members where the fixing holes in the Lazy Susan were. But once it was all back together it has made a much better and stable traintable that rotates smoothly. The layout has also grown some legs and supporting structure. The legs themselves are 2"x1" timber held apart by 6" panels of 8mm plywood (screwed and glued), hopefully this will allow each pair of legs to be light and not require any diagonal bracing. The top of the legs protrudes above the panel by about 1", and the top panel is slightly wider than the baseboards so that the baseboard side member can rest on the panel and be held in place by the 1" protrusion. To help keep everything together, the leg pairs are held apart/together by 4" deep lengths of 8mm ply, these longitudinal members are slotted at their ends to match slots cut in the leg panels. Hopefully the pictures below will illustrate this. I am in the process of priming all of this woodwork, the undersides of the baseboards will be painted gloss white (hopefully that will aid seeing what I'm doing under there), and the outside sides and ends will be in a suitable colour. The next task will be to construct the traintable at the embankment end, and to form a suitable hole in the end back scene to get to it. Then the lighting pelmet will be constructed to effectively hang between the end back scenes. The back back scenes have bothe been cut from 6mm ply, but won't be fitted permanently until all of the track work is in place. Ian

Jeremy, This is looking really good - I've been following the build of the coaling plant with interest. To see it in position and in context of track work must be quite exciting. I look forward to seeing it progress. Ian

Jerry, Just a quick question - where do you get surgical lint from these days? I intended to use lint for my grassy areas (when I get that far), and do have a roll that I dyed over twenty years ago (which won't be sufficient for the whole layout), but haven't a clue where I can get it from these days (having seen various entries on RmWeb indicating that it's like the proverbial hens teeth). Luckily I do have a hank of plumbers hemp that is also probably worth it's weight in gold these days :-) Ian

Mikkel, What a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a few minutes - watching these bygone images which are so inspirational. I particularly liked the first two videos, they show many details that were commonplace in the early years of the 20th century. Also it illustrates suitable modes of dress that I for one need to try to replicate to give my layout that Edwardian flavour (not easy to do in 2mm scale - I have some Prieser people to which I need to add long milliput dresses to and give almost everyone a hat of some kind) Thanks very much for posting!! Ian

Mikkel, As usual, you have produced something that is an absolute delight!! I really can't see how you could have produced a model that could look any better. As others have said the choice of horses really complements the wagon - the originals almost look like ponies in comparison, and the lettering to me looks "right" (which I think is what really matters in many cases). Ian PS Happy New Year to you too

Richard Brummitt has also made a GWR revolving type of point disc !! It was lit up as well !! PS Happy New Year to all.

Paul, I think you need to file a flat on the top of pound coin tender so that it will meet the loading gauge

Now that I have a home for my new layout and a plan that I am happy with, I decided that I should make a start on the baseboards. The first (Board 1) is the left hand traverser board. This has been constructed from 12mm ply for the ends and top with 8mm ply sides and 6mm ply for the cross bracing. The top was first dealt with first, a hole was drilled in the middle and a circle of 20" diameter drawn from that hole - I originally thought that I could use my router fixed to a trammel to cut out the deck but found the smallest cutter I had was 6mm (and a casual look in B&Q yielded nothing smaller) and since I didn't want a gaping chasm to bridge elected to cut the traverser by hand with a jigsaw. The depth of the sides was decided at 4" (or 100mm in new money ), but for the traverser board the sides and end that isn't connected to another board were cut to a depth of 5" to hopefully stop any stock careering off to an untimely end. The cross bracing sections were slotted where they cross (and have a recess to accept a square of 12mm ply into which the traverser bearing will be located). All of these pieces were glued and pinned and once dry look like this : The front of the traverser board has an arc of hardboard spaced off the side by a further piece of 12mm ply, to prevent accidents when being rotated (I hope). The second (Board 2) is the left hand station board. This has the same construction as the traverser board but has an 8mm ply top. At the end where it meets the traverser board, a back scene (or it a side scene?) panel of 6mm ply has been incorporated and is glued to the 12mm ply end piece. Before the parts were glued and pinned together, the end (with back scene) was clamped to the traverser board and the holes drilled for the alignment dowels and bolt fixings. The back scene along the rear of the board has been left off for now as I thought it would get in the way when I start to build the track, eventually it will be screwed to the upright supporting the side scene and a batten along the baseboard edge at the back. Once all had been glued and pinned it looks like this : The front facia of this board has a gentle slope down from left to right, the aim is to have a road over bridge at the left of the scene to disguise the exit to the traverser (this end of the station will be in a slight cutting), at the right of the scene (next board along), the track will exit on an embankment with a couple of trees in front to disguise the exit. The next one to do will be the right hand station board, and finally the right hand traverser board. which will both be pretty much mirror images of the two so far constructed. Hopefully I will get all of the boards complete before Christmas, the eventual track height will be about 4'0" above the floor.

Dave, What an absolutely beautiful rendition of a Dean Goods. Fantastic !!! Ian

Andy, My saddle tank has one of the Nigel Lawton midi motors in it (10mm dia x 12mm long), it has the worm directly on the shaft with a further stub of axle steel out the other side of the worm so that it can be supported on both sides of the gearbox (the shaft of the motor has one of Nigel's sheaths to fatten it up to 1.5mm). I don't know how well it runs on an AMR, but on my old gauge master (cream facia rather than the black) it runs ok on my test track. Obviously it hasn't done too many miles - I think the measurement is probably still in feet :-) I know on St Ruth we've restricted it's running to the Pentroller. Ian

Fantastic!! I hope you're feeling very proud - you should be! Point rodding is rarely modelled in the smaller scales, which always leaves the scene looking like something is missing in my opinion - It may have been a lot of work but it really has been worth it for the overall impression of the layout. Well done!

Thank you all for the encouragement!! I'm not too sure - I'll have to have a look through some photo's to see whether slips were relatively common on baulk road track work. If not then I think that the plan would still work quite well with a diamond in that location. Hopefully someone may be able to answer that poser before I spend too much time trawling my library :-) Anyway, I'm off to my man-shed to see if I can complete the first traverser base board - got to cut the traverser and it's surround from some 12mm ply. Ian

Having finally completed the insulation and fitting out of my new shed, I now have a hobby room with internal dimension of some 10' x 5'8". Not huge, but large enough to house a reasonable 2mm scale model railway, a table/bench, etc. Because this new space will also be my modelling room, what I intend to do is to construct a layout along the back wall of the shed which will allow the modelling table / workbench to go under the window for natural light to be used when using my lathe, etc. Some time ago I decided to locate my model in the South Hams of Devon, and be a fictional station in that area as the only real railway in the area was the Kingsbridge Branch from the GWR's main line at Brent. The assumption I have made is that the South Devon Railway Company built their line from Exeter to Plymouth as they initially intended by constructing their line from Newton Abbot down to Churston, crossing the River Dart a little to the South West of that station before continuing along the coast to Salcombe, Kingsbridge, and across the South Hams to Modbury, Yealmpton and thence to Plymouth. The line would have been built to Brunel's Broad Gauge. In my little world, the existing real main line from Exeter to Plymouth was also subsequently built along the south of Dartmoor rendering my "old" line little more than an elongated single track branch. The whole of the South Devon Railway was absorbed into the GWR in 1876, and was subsequently converted to "narrow" or standard gauge in May 1892 along with the rest of the GWR's Broad Gauge network. My model will be based c.1906, and will still retain Brunel's Baulk Road track work. The model will comprise a 20" diameter traverser fiddle yard at each end, and a 6'0" long scenic section which will allow me to model a through station with 2 platform roads which will allow trains to pass each other. The buildings will be based on those on the Moretonhampstead and Ashburton branches (both originally Broad Gauge lines in South Devon). At the left hand end, the platform tracks will disappear under a road bridge, the turnout joining them will be off-scene (and will be replicated by the traverser), this will allow a short section of countryside at the right hand end but will not impact on the operational aspect. The diamond crossing in the plan above will actually be a single slip (I just haven't worked out how to draw them in Templot yet ). Over the last couple of days I have made a start on building the baseboards, so will post again when a bit more progress has been made.

John, Beautifully built and described. I've always had a soft spot for these brake vans (and like Mikkel most outside framed stock - to me they always look more attractive than later iron framed wagons). Ian

Richard, very nice. They look massively improved on the Lima models that they started out as :-) I like your impression of weathered GWR lake too. Congratulations on winning a "pot" for them too! Ian

Really disappointed that I couldn't be there to help out (hopefully I will be fit enough for Burton) - it looks like it was a really good show. John really has done an impressive job on the back scene, it certainly adds depth. Ian

Thank you all for the positive comments. The trees were installed on St Ruth last night. So we now have a small copse, more trees need to be made and fitted to continue the wooded area to the end of the scenic section, unfortunately they won't be done for Aldershot show this weekend. Ian

Having completed the Oak (which took more hours than I care to think about), my son suggested that he probably could get a couple of off-cuts of cable from work (he works for an electro-mechanical company). What he provided was about 13" of some pretty hefty stuff : Each cable within the main cable consisted of 7 twists of 72 individual (0.38mm diameter) strands which were a little thicker than the wire I'd used for the Oak. I decided that by folding a single length double that it would make a good basis for a tree a little over 6 inches high, once folded double, the folded end was inserted into a length of 5mm diameter brass tube to allow a secure method of planting the eventual tree into the St Ruth landscape. For the second tree I tried to model a Scots Pine, but once soldered up I decided that the structure didn't capture the look that I was after, so I decided to make it into a "generic" tree for the wooded area. This time I began the tree at the base and worked upwards into the finer branches, again using solder to fix everything. Again individual strands were again looped back on themselves in places to provide far more than the original 144 strands that I started with. Once happy with the tree structure, P38 was again used to cover up the twists of the wire and provide a bit more beef to the base of the trunk. Again Woodland Scenics "Bushes" were secured to the painted structure to provide the foliage. The third tree I once again tried to produce something that could be identified as a Scots Pine, and with the benefit of experience, this time decided to use just a single length of cable (72 strands). Once again I began at the base and worked my way upwards. This time, instead of using Woodland Scenics "Bushes", I decided to use their dark green foliage net to better replicate the flatter, stratified foliage of a Scots Pine. I'll let others judge how successful my attempt to model a Scots Pine really is, although I am quite pleased with it. The fourth tree is for the wooded area, so no attempt this time to model any lower branches, as the branches would grow towards the light giving more canopy than lower branches. Again the trunk is formed from a doubled length of cable, for variety splitting the trunk. Again for this tree I utilised Woodlands Scenics foliage net, tearing pieces no more than 1 inch diameter after teasing out which were attached to the ends of the "twiggy" bits (this time I used Light Green to give a little variety to the wood). Annoyingly, the matt varnish that I coated the trunk with has dried somewhat glossy, so I need to re-cover this where it is visible. The blobs of white are PVA as I took the photo before this had dried. Ian

Julia, Fantastic!! That point rodding really is worth the effort!! It has lifted the whole area to another level, it looks extremely realistic, which is I think what we all try to aspire to. Ian

Dave, Really sturdy looking baseboards. I dread to think how heavy they are though!! (or will be once complete). I envy your work room if it can accommodate what is a large layout, I got my son to help me mix and lay 2 and a half tons of concrete for my "man shed" last week, I'm going for something 10'6" long which should allow my proposed 2mm layout to fit quite nicely down one side. I look forward to seeing the Dean Goods in all her glory! Which reminds me to chase up some 2mm number plates for my saddle tank :-) Regards, Ian

You didn't see the squirrel then? It's sitting on the same branch as the wren ;-) Thank you for locating those articles. I remembered reading them, but didn't want to pass the idea of looping the wire off as one of my own!

I think that it's a very effective method of producing a great many "twigs" from very little wire - I used 7 strand wire between 6" and a 1' long, which produced anything up to 60 "twiggy" ends. The only down side for me was that the branches where they meet the trunk are probably a little thinner than I would have liked, although clearly this can be beefed up with solder or filler.

The basic trunk, branches and "twigs" were built up from multicore wire as described in my previous blog entry (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-12142-going-round-the-twist-for-st-ruth-trees-pt-1/). Once I had finalised the shape that I wanted, I attached the base of the trunk into a piece of 5mm diameter brass tube so that the tree could eventually be planted on St Ruth. The base of the trunk was thickened up a bit with some P38 car filler (having first planted the tree in a block of wood separated with a piece of polythene so that the P38 didn't firmly fix the tree to the block!) Once the P38 was set, the whole tree was sprayed with self etch primer, and once that was dry it was painted with a grey-green-brown colour (actually a mix of Humbrol Matt 31 (grey-green), and Matt 113 (a brick red colour)). When the tree superstructure was dry, the foliage was added using Woodland Scenics "Bushes" applied with tweezers to the ends of the "twigs" with PVA. The final product hopefully represents an Oak, this particular tree has been made with a bald back area as it will be at the corner of the small wooded area behind the branch line on St Ruth. I'll take it over to Wolvey on Tuesday, and hopefully the rest of the 2mm Midland Area Group will be as pleased as I am with it, and will allow it to be the start of the wooded area. Ian