Les1952

Dates confirmed Furtwangen Ost will definitely be at the British Horological Institute Summer Show "Railways and Time" at Upton Hall, Notts NG23 5TE on the 8th, 9th and 10th June. Due to exam commitments I might not be with the layout all three days, but it will be in good hands and operating.

A couple more of the publicity shots. Vintage passenger train passes blue diesel delivering coal to the locoshed. This was before the new signal was installed. Blue diesel shunts the loading dock as a tram passes. I hadn't spotted I'd turned the diesel round between shots....

Monday again- another falling apart day. I think I'm allergic to Mondays. Firstly a shot of what I broke...... I'm not sure how I managed to catch the crossing sign it took me an hour to make, but two parts of it are now on the workbench waiting reuniting, and the third has disappeared altogether. A job for Wednesday....... What I was doing when I broke the crossing sign was addding more ramblers to make the one on the top level feel a lot less lonely....... Also shows one of the two signals on the layout. The sunbathers are now in place on top of the bonk building, some on towels that look remarkably like Kibri curtains. The other signal. I've wired this one back to the tag strip but need a third tag strip under the layout for the other signal and the yard lamps. The signals will be working, hopefully before Cotgrave. I need to find a pair of DPDT switches and somewhere sensible to mount them near the railway control panel. The grasstrack crossover, seen from above. Another of this week's jobs is to finish weathering the paving so I'm ready for catenery.

Very many thanks for the compliment- always nice to receive one....... Main advice I would give is when you decide on your area look at pics of the buildings in that area. I've seen loads of beautiful German building kits that just weren't right for the western side of the Black Forest. The other advice is watch eBay, particularly German eBay. With kits being anything from £25 to £50 each you can often find exactly the building you want secondhand at a fraction of the new price. Now the layout is fully populated with structures I defy anyone who hasn't read this thread to look at it and say what building came from what source.

Exhibition date Subject to final confirmation, Furtwangen Ost will appear at the British Horological Institue, Upton Hall near Newark, at their Summer show, entitled "Railway Time" on Friday to Sunday, June 8th to 10th, 2012. Connection with time- Furtwangen is the home of the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, the German equivalent of the museum section of Upton Hall.

Sunday morning- publicity shots As the sun hadn't got round to the workshop windows and Mr Simon hadn't appeared I took the opportunity to go out and get a set of high resolution pictures for Bingham MRC's show publicity. It had been suggested that a set of pics showing trains or trams would be a good idea, so here goes. Yellow diesel passes through with a freight, tram for Freiburg taking crossover to loop line. Yellow diesel continues its journey passing a coal delivery to the eisenbahnfreunde. Trip yesterday to Wendy's for street lights (which weren't suitable), signals (which were), and figures also yielded another 10-pack of Dapol magnetic couplings. That means the yellow diesel and the rest of the brewery freight stock can be fitted with them. I'll probably need another pack to do the spare loco for Stamford East as well. There are quite a few older wagons with Rapidos but I have three diesels that can work these as through trains. Tomorrow's job is getting the timber for the proscenium and fitting the signals. If I have any suitable switches I'll wire them in as well, but this might have to wait.

PS- I DID get another show out of last night's meeting. Exact details will be posted when confirmed. That makes two definite and two waiting confirmation, and with Trevor's Stamford East going out to Nottingham, Cotgrave NGS show in May, Loughborough and Warley that makes for quite a few busy weekends...... Must press on.

I'm confused on this one, at the back of the socket there is a pin that the coupler appears to butt up to with its D-shaped cutout. Looking at a B1 tender there is a slight V in a rigid plastic part which allows the coupler sideways play- my Fleischmann 0-8-0 diesel with the Dapol couplers on it has this part under a plate but the whole pocket swings from side-to-side rather than just the coupler within it.. Do you mean the actual pocket is a little V-shaped inside giving sideways play to the coupler, or that the whole pocket swings sideways (like the Fleischmann)? I'm intending to fit these mounts to Dapol 21-ton hoppers, presumably by cutting off the existing coupler pocket back to flat plastic. What comes next? Quite interested to know as I'm trying to design a colliery layout around the system........ All the very best Les

Friday bits.... A nice box this morning from Gaugemaster containing street musicians, nuns and Noch track cleaner pads. The nun pic is out of focus and I forgot what it was I couldn't photograph yestedray due to the low sun..... Tramway track cleaner running. The 04 is small enough to take the tram corners where a larger loco won't. I suppose the Minitrix Glaskastern would also do the job, and maybe wouldn't stall at the top of the hill where there is a sharp change of gradient. Tomorrow to Wendy's to look at signals.......

Thursday update Not the busiest two days, partly because tyime needed to be spent on other things- Friday shopping done a day early etc..... Added to that most time has been spent on little things like edging etc, so not a lot changes from picture to picture. The bonk building..... sorry, bank building has it's name and the market has its notice. Nuns and street musicians on order. Painting denim shorts on the pink legs of the Chinese girl figure in the foreground seems to have worked. Also ordered a Noch track cleaner set to see if it will get the tramway track clean enough under all of the overhead obstructions. It will look odd under the only freight stock that will run on the tramway- I'll video it when the track is reasonably clean, but not spoil the surprise. Tram pointwork at the front is now grassed, and the points still work. Sun this afternoon was too strong- I'll try to get a picture tomorrow. Now for Bingham MRC club night, (might get another show out of it).........

Progress Pic Two months to Cotgrave show- this is how it looks. The curtain for the front is now bought ready for making up, and at some stage in the next month or so it will be back to Trevor's for the proscenium arch to be made. I didn't get to Trevor's today, so the Stamford East job is now next week. A trip to B&Q for some more glue has allowed me to bed in a couple more buildings and install another length of railings. Two buildings left to stick down and the layout is useable, if not the final finished article. Fine details still to do. Also done today- The kaufhof building and the blue building have their new signs. the Eiscafe Fabio sign has been replaced since the pic after I realised it wasn't really readable. The blue bank has its sign "Deutsche Bank" over the entrance also. Plenty to do, especially in getting the railway detailed.....

Dyspraxia rules- KO I finished the day yesterday by managing to knock the corner building- by this point one of only four not stuck down. Needless to say it ended up on the floor, and partly reduced itself to kit form. While it was in bits first thing this morning I took the opportunity to add curtains- rather than an interior. Rebuilt building ready to get stuck down onto the layout.

More details I felt the bonking boss was probably too close to the front of the layout - certainly for my comfort. Where could a blue scene like this go? Behind blue glass- look for the desk end (bad pun) in what is now the "bonk building". There is a doorway onto that flat roof- sunbather territory? Closer to the front I felt I needed someone leaning on a shovel in the coal stack, a Graham Farish fireman. Marktplatz with all stalls in place. Needs more figures, but these will be added slowly as I find appropriate ones- first the rest of the stallholders, then a group of very distinctive figures (nuns or monks probably). Taken before the bank building got its new inhabitants. I'm still looking out for suitable vans to park in odd corners round the front buildings (mainly behind). Time for research.......

Another Monday... and glue sticks anything to anything other than what is wanted, yet again... Shed interior done- leaving space at the front for a car. A bit basic and a bit over-gluey but that won't be too visible. Notices on the right say West Yorkshire Metro, but I defy anyone to get a magnifier anywhere near them..... Looking into the shed, not a lot can be seen, but it looks much better with something there. The bits on the bench at the back make up to a Life-Like US truck, cut into three and the odd two pairs of wheels are on the shelving stack at the back. Trestles are leftover Faller from the barrels pack on Evergreen strip laid on end, people from the Chinese bulk pack. Shine a lot of light and you can see right in. Still some railings to add to obscure this view. Hikers Rural Railways at Sileby show last weekend had some Preiser hikers and some Veissmann lamps, one ready-made and one kit. I've used the lamps on the top level, but left the works out of the kit- there is no way I can thread the wires to it and I don't intend to have lamps working. One hiker by the lamp at top right, sunflowers planted in green patch in corner. The three hikers who were in walking poses are coming out of the woods. Perhaps I should have removed the shop sign from the flats block before sticking it down..... Two ready-painted cycles placed prominently at the front (of the twelve bikes so far I've painted eight but these are better done! - eight more waiting painting......) and the remaining pair from the hiker pack have obviously hired bikes and parked up at the Rathaus to visit the market. More details added, pics to follow. Oh, and I've been fitting Dapol couplings to one of my B1s and some stock for Stamford East but didn't film it. Maybe tomorrow actually ON Stamford East when Trevor and I sort out his magnets ready for Nottingham show..

Friday. Details, details... Today (and a good deal of yesterday) spent on detail around the Marktplatz area, and today getting the two apartment blocks stuck down. The cruel close-up of one of the blocks shows the need to bed in the edge- though I'm not sure how much will be seen when the front row are in place. Appropriate music today- Munchener Freiheit. At the back of the market is the stall selling "loose" wine- bring your own bottle and it will be filled. Obvuoiusly if the wine isn't good enough to bottle it must be the real rough stuff. At the front of the market is the flower stall. These are some roses bought from Derby Trees & Scenics, but they started to fall out of their base when I tried to plant them- hence the flower stall- one of the DM Lasercut stalls finished. Hiding the base of the tree pot to a certain extent are benches for the population of Furtwangen to sit on. Superglue helps disguise the fact that one of the benches (Plus Daughters' finest cheapo ones) has only three legs. Also today- ten more railings panels and posts painted one side and some sundry figures stuck in place.... Eight weeks to the show. Basic scenery should be complete by next weekend, then on to troubleshooting.......

Two days in t' workshop and lots of little bits done.. The houses at the back have now been finished and bedded in. Plenty of foliage to hide glue marks and make them less "out of the box". Of course when the Rathaus is in place you don't get as clear a view. Rathaus and tree also now in place and bedded in. Camera shows that the line between Faller and Noch cobbles is very pronounced- needs some judicious disguising. Also done- railings along the top over the tunnel mouth all market stalls are complete and waiting installation- this includes stallholders from the pack of Chinese people about 30 Chinese people painted more Germanic colours all remaining houses at the top are now bedded in- only six buildings are now "loose" second portakabin installed behind shed sunflower patch started at the far right end. My daughter visited last weekend and demanded to know where the pair of Tardis she had bought for me and Mr Simon were on the two layouts....... I felt it would most likely land on the brewery roof as nobody ever finds the Tardis outside of the UK. Finding a Chinese figure that would paint up to look like Dr Who wasn't easy...... More detailing tomorrow......

Tuesday- naughty man Take a look through the top left window of the brown building. Can you see the desk? Can you see what is happening ON the desk? Hopefully not too clearly- the bonking boss is now installed but deliberately difficult to see. Don't fence me in... At least not completely or the loading dock can't be shunted. Fleetline security fencing sourced at Doncaster last weekend- took me a lot of yesterday to paint and is now in place. The left-hand end. I used the sliding gate from the "plus gates" pack as it is easier to model it open. The right-hand end. Superglue used to fix panels to each other, and PVA with scenic scatter spread across it and upwards to represent some of the pallisade fencing I've seen. Once this little lot dries I'll add more vegetation and some clutter into the corners behind it. Photo shows there is STILL work to be done on the track....... Still painting figures- I need one that looks like Matt Smith......

Frustrating Monday..(again...) Hello again. I sometimes wonder why I do any modelling on Mondays. Trip to B&Q first thing- 25 miles each way- to get some edging to stop the backscene deteriorating further at the vulnerable points. It fits the sides perfectly (just visible in the top photo). Does it fit the back? NO, because we raised it and the strengtheners are double thickness. Homebase has some thicker stuff- only 2 miles from home this time. It can wait until I need to go out for something else. Next- putting more figures at the top of the staircase. Amazing how I can place a figure perfectly without glue present, but as soon as glue is involved it flies in all directions, and the glue ends up in tiny quantities everywhere EXCEPT where it is supposed to be.... At the top of the staircase is the tourist guide with her green umbrella and all of her group not hearing a word she says about the gateway. The blue building is now bedded in. Strange how the camera autofocuses on the green skip instead of anywhere useful. More trials of figures in the Marktplatz- how many benches will I need to hide the bottom of the tree tub? Nothing in front of the blue building is yet fixed. I need to build three more market stalls I think as well as the ones here....

More views of the couplings and magnets Being so small the magnets are proving very difficult to photograph. two more attempts this morning- Loco with coupler opened, magnet is just visible below the coupler. Loco and wagon posed above wagon.

Second shunting video The clicks are the direction change switch on the controller. Look carefully and you can also see the orange lamp flash on the diesel.

First pics of the uncouplers. Not very good, and the second video didn't want to upload- I think the bandwidth is too low at the moment. Mark 1 magnets under the end of one of the Modellbahn Union wagons. Mark 2 and 3 magnets in the track- slightly out of focus but can just be made out. Mark 2 is the longer one on the right (5 magnets long) with Mark 3 on the left (4 magnets long. These are mounted on the sleeper tops- Mark 4 involved sinking Mark 3 into the spaces between sleepers, and the "final" version is Mark 5 with 4 magnets sunk into the sleeper gaps until they are just fractionally below railhead level. More pics when I can get some in focus.

Greetings. I've now received my ten-pack of couplings and am playing with them, firstly on Fleischmann, Brawa and Modellbahn Union stock as well as Dapol. No problems fitting the coupler heads or getting them to work over a Kato Unitrak embedded magnet in my test track. On the layout I've tried Rare earth magnets, 2mm diameter and 1mm deep- possibly too small for the job. Mounting them vertically needed four to the stack and the top one needed to be well proud of sleeper level to the extent it was derailing wagons and sticking to loco wheels in passing. After trials I have come up with mounting a stack of four horizontally across the trackbed. The most effective way seems to be set between the sleepers with the top edge just reaching railhead level. The limiting factor is the Brawa refrigeretor wagons I have. The Brawa wagons have a particular problem, and this is with the NEM mount itself. This has sideways movement but a good degree of vertical slop- to the extent that the trip pin is pulled downwards as much as sideways- hence mounting the magnets so high- it means the trip pins on the Brawa wagons HAVE to stay in the correct vertical plane and uncoupling can take place. I wonder if excessive vertical slop in NEM pockets could have been a factor in Microtrains not making an NEM version of their coupling? There is a video under Layout Topics- Furtwangen Ost. Apologies for knocking the camera off its mount at the end- my dyspraxia rules, KO?

Friday- fitting uncouplers- first try First go with Dapol Easi- shunt couplers. Sorry about knocking the camera off its stand at the end..... The loud clicking is the reverse switch on the controller. I've been experimenting with different types of magnet- the best solution for this layout seems to be four 1mmX 2mm rare Earth magnets laid crosswise in the ballast with the top edge at rail height. Mounting them vertically used more magnets and needed the top one at or above the railhead to work the Brawa cars. The problem is with the Brawa Interfrigo cars, which have an inordinate abount of vertical slop in the NEM pocket causing the trip pin and thus the coupling to be pulled downwards as much as sideways, even on Microtrains or Dapol big flat magnets. The height the rare earth magnets are laid is the lowest where I can achieve sideways deflection- lower and the Brawa cars won't uncouple, higher and the trip pins attract the magnets in passing. At least the magnets are so small that when I paint the top edge ballast coloured they'll be all-but invisible unless you know what to look for. There are worse inaccuracies in the trackwork. Two more videos to follow, and some pictures later- will need to try to get those tomorrow or Sunday.

Cobbles Cobbled!!!!!! All of the cobbled area is now done, though some edging will still be needed when I bed the buildings in. All buildings are now in place- time for a progress picture. Progress in 16 weeks from start- The "new" Vollmer building, imported from Germany for £12 less than the price of the kit, is the Apotheke. The one that was bundled with it has gone on eBay to hopefully get some of the cost back. . Looking along behind the front row the changes in road surface are apparent, and deliberate. A lot still to do here before the front row get stuck down. It was also deliberate choosing to make the second row of buildings lower than the front row- I didn't want to carbon copy things that have already been done. I may keep the blue coach entering the layout as it will help hide the bottom of the backscene at this point. The Marktplatz showing the effect of turning the rathaus round, and the market stalls under construction. Still a lot to do, including bedding in most of the town, but it is getting there.

Wednesday- More done than I expected... Went online to get the exam marking sweepup done (which often takes all day) to discover there were no questions left to mark. So, off to the workshop with vacuum cleaner under arm. Only disaster is that I'm going to have to replace the three gas cylinders in the loading bay doorway. Problems mainly amounted to granite chips that should have been better stuck. Repair music by the Proclaimers. Looking along to the shed, showing the new green in front of the railway, and the effect of adding some grot to the ballast. The coal heap is beginning to rise- when that bit dries I'll add another layer. Second Portakabin will be behind the shed. Better view of the shed with Portakabin and base of coal heap DM-Toys laser-cut kit for market stall. I'm making three of these, with a set of Faller stalls to go with them. Time to feed the cats and get coffee....