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Ian Simpson

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  1. Ian Simpson

    Well, I'm usually Unlawful, Void and Without Effect myself.

    1. Mallard60022

      Mallard60022

      Ian for PM. (Or P4 if Andy is reading this)

       

    2. Liam

      Liam

      Let’s hope the site doesn’t get prorogued.

  2. Ian Simpson
    Many thanks, John! Funnily enough one of the things that sparked my interest in the period was seeing a wonderful museum model of a very early Swiss station (Lucerne, I think, but it may have been Zurich) back in the 1970s. I think I will build this layout, even if it's just to find out why fly shunting went out of fashion so quickly! I'm thinking of using two boards, one for the slope and one for the station, so that the station can also be used as a normal loco-worked terminus. The only question is whether I can get the coaches to roll far enough to get into the platform without building a ridiculously steep main line, and I'll report back on my experiments. Writing that has reminded me I'll also have an excuse for a banking engine to help trains leaving the station . Your turntable release sounds a wonderful idea. I think we even had one or two British stations using end-of-the-line turntables into the 20th century, e.g. Bembridge on the Isle of Wight and Seaford in Sussex.
  3. Ian Simpson
    "... an immensely time consuming and exhausting procedure"? That sounds just the thing for a plank layout:
  4. Ian Simpson
    I like it! (But then I am a fan of tuning fork layouts - and yes, a double tuning fork describes it perfectly). Is the bridge a scenic break to allow two different scenes, one at each end of the board?
  5. Ian Simpson

    Does anyone else judge a townscape by whether they'd want to live there?

    1. sem34090

      sem34090

      Sometimes, but not always - If it's a model of a grim corner of some city or other then I probably wouldn't want to live there, but it might be beautifully modelled and very evocative of the locality it seeks to represent.

      I offer here Harford Street, by a friend of mine:

      image.png.428039087e921be358024285f5bf0959.png

      A beautiful, in my opinion, recreation of Post-War North London - Full of rot and decay. I wouldn't really want to live there but it's nicely modelled!

       

      It's suddenly occurred to me that you might mean 'in real life', in which case I agree with you!!!

       

    2. Ian Simpson

      Ian Simpson

      Thanks, Sem, I appreciate such a full answer. Yes, that is lovely modelling!

      I guess I usually ask myself something like "Are there the appropriate facilities in this townscape that I would be happy living there?", e.g. is there a corner shop at the end of an Edwardian  terrace? You're right, it's not the quality of the modellling that matters, simply whether it looks as if the area would work as a neighbourhood, especially given the layout's period and location.

  6. Ian Simpson
    Agree the second option looks better. A third option would be to rotate the building through 45 degrees, so that the front of the pub is facing the station entrance but it is at right angles to it. That way you would be able to see both the attractive frontage of the pub and also some of that interesting yard as well. Whichever you choose, that corner of the layout looks very good!
  7. Ian Simpson

    I have now adopted mindless optimism as my perferred approach to modelling over the next few months.

    1. Harlequin

      Harlequin

      If it's good enough for Boris...

  8. Ian Simpson
    A lovely photo, @timatheronwood - and what looks like a fascinating station throat under development as well. I'd love to see updates as this progresses!
  9. Ian Simpson
    What are you, @Spodgrim, my work coach now? Actually I posted that comment about 30 months ago, so that particular job finished a long time ago! My fault for being lazy and using an old blog entry to add new material. I'll update you on what I'm doing now when I see you tomorrow. Many thanks for the compliment, especially when your own kit-building isn't so shabby either!
  10. Ian Simpson
    That would definitely be the best way to do it, @Allegheny1600. TBH I'm just not sure about my ability to couple together two separate bits of kit like this and make it work. I've never built or motorised a loco chassis before, so I may have to go for the simplest solution rather than the best, and to sacrifice performance for simplicity. (Of course if my nerve, or my skill, fails completely I guess there's always the option of a powered van behind the tender.)
  11. Ian Simpson
    I think the quality of @Knuckles's print is excellent too! It's from his Photon resin printer, and is very crisp. It is also quite light, @Dave John, but the hollow boiler and tender has plenty of room for ballast.@Mikkel, I think @Killian keane planned that slot under the boiler as a site for the motor. But since I've had the print reduced it to H0, the small motors I have are too wide for the 3.5 mm boiler. A Lawson micro-motor would fit, but I think I will use the hollow tender instead. So I've got a plan, I just need the skills to acheive it ... BTW @BlueLightning has offered to build the model for one of his marvellous Sunday night "Let's Build!" webcasts when I buy the wheels. I'm just trying to find the money for that now, following the unexpected expense of emergency work on our sewer here. You definitely don't want to see a photo of that.
  12. Ian Simpson
    And now @Killian keane has produced that perfect goods engine not only for the Birmingham & Gloucester, but also the London & South Western and the Manchester & Birmingham as well! It's a Sharp 0-4-2 goods / luggage engine, designed for 4 mm but @Knucklesat Sparkshot Custom Creations kindly agreed to resize it to 3.5 mm for me. I'm sure Killian will be very glad to give more details to anyone who is interested.
  13. Ian Simpson
    For pale blue perhaps read "soft pastel azure"? Seriously, you're right to consider the warmth of the colour scheme in a guest room. But blue doesn't have to be cold.
  14. Ian Simpson
    Pale blue, so it can double up as a summer sky backscene?
  15. Ian Simpson
    Marvellous coach there, Linny! I usually use plastic or brass angle for the footboards, to give the board a bit of rigidity. The problem being that most angled materials have both sides the same width, which rather spoils the illusion. But at least in plastic, it is possible to trim most of the backboard off while keeping just enough to stop the running board flexing. Here's an early attempt where I didn't cut quite enough off the backboard side, but at least it shows the basic idea: On this example I used staples for the (cosmetic) running board brackets - the running board was actually glued onto the axle boxes. BTW somewhere on an old memory stick I should have a SketchUp file of some running boards and brackets I did later for the Bachmann coaches. Brilliant news about the laser cutter! If I can add to @Northroader's comment, I reckon that coach would look pretty good in 3.5 mm as well.
  16. Ian Simpson
    I'm a Little Muddle-d about this myself, Mick.
  17. Ian Simpson
    Thanks, Dave. I knew they had been sold by the B&GR but I didn't know anything about their subsequent careers, so it's really good to learn something about their second lives.
  18. Ian Simpson
    I don't know if Awdry's interest in the B&GR grew out of his wartime curacy in Birmingham, but I'm always surprised that Thomas didn't contain a boastful American engine called Lafayette ...
  19. Ian Simpson
    So who won this time?
  20. Ian Simpson
    Hope Killian doesn't mind me posting a couple of shots of his excellent Sharp 0-4-2 goods loco print here: In 3.5 mm, I'm afraid, so please ignore the ruler in the first photograph.
  21. Ian Simpson
    Okay, that definitely sounds like a plan! I wondered if you would send a light loco along the line to deal with the problem ... Many thanks for the compliment on my blog, When I first read your post I couldn't help thinking how ideal this design would be for short early trains! It's also worth checking people like @Killian keane and @5&9Models for other early models that they are producing. (BTW I hope to start posting on my blog again soon.)
  22. Ian Simpson
    I do like your idea a lot, and the scene divider should work very well. My only query would be whether you'll be able to shunt both of the sidings, as they face in opposite directions and there is no runround loop. I'm certainly looking forward to reading further posts.
  23. Ian Simpson
    Having just bought your excellent 3.5 mm coal wagon, I'd add that it's a pleasure to paint the WSF with enamels as well.
  24. Ian Simpson
    Thanks, Edwardian. That seems to have determined where any spare money in this month's budget will go.
  25. Ian Simpson
    Brighton station, platform 8 - on the right hand side of the photograph.
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