aberdare

Hi

I've been keeping an eye on your progress so far and it looks as if you have the makings of a great little layout here, I will be particularly interested in seeing how the scenic side develops as that often makes or breaks these little  branchline stations, the finer details always take time and that's one of the things I seem short of.

I'm looking forward to your future updates.

Jim

I shall be keeping an eye on progress Andy from here on.

I like the look of the scenic end especially as it has a river section, I do like to see one in a layout as you know.

Take your time though or else I won't be able to keep up.

Jim

Hi all, new member here.

 

2. Again with respect to the capabilities of the machine, would i be able to make brick-mortar /  stone-wall patterns on sheet styrene (scale 1/87 again)? Again the aim is to produce my own brick-walls / buildings etc.

 

Yannis

Hi Yannis

With regard to the above part of you post I have cut brickwork on my portrait to fit around some stone windows, after cutting I gave it a rub with some fine emery and just cleaned it up before adding a bit of colour just to see how it looked, it's nowhere near finished yet but seems to look OK. This is in 1/76th scale.

I hope that helps

Jim

Here are some pictures I took last autumn of the trees to the front and rear of my house, as you can see they are quite large and close to each other.

Hope they are of some use in positioning your trees. I do have loads of tree pictures as you can imagine.

Jim

One of the problems I find is that we can sometimes have a tendency to space the trees at regular intervals whereas they often look better if there were more variation in that spacing, therefore I would probably move the middle one closer to the one nearer the station.

If you remember I currently have two trees behind my station and they look better than the first did on its own, so again I think three is definitely better than one. I also agree with Mike about the thinning.

Jim

Hi Andy

This slipped under my radar didn't it, or maybe I need new glasses so I don;t miss new thread titles, but I think the truth is you build them so fast they've been and gone before I get a chance to read them.

It looks as though it is going to be a good one for a lot of shunting about.

Jim

Jim, I am using an old back scrubber like this. Clumps can be pulled out and trimmed if needed. I spray them or touch up with some colour.20170220_150616.jpg

Yes, I agree they are useful and I have a wide variety in my scenic boxes and have tried them for grasses, weeds, Thatch and anything else where I think they may be suitable, with reference to my current build the bristles of a yard broom for smaller rooves can be used.

Jim

 

Btw, as ballasting approaches, I reviewed the method I used on KL. Which, of course, came from you via Eastwood Town via Captain Kernow. Some say it's a ridiculously tedious way of doing things, but I found it worked a treat. For those who wonder what the hell I'm talking about, look at this:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/80480-ballasting-without-tearson-thin-sleeper-track/

 

Jeff

That is exactly how I do mine and I find it gives me a good depth too, I usually do a section or two at the end of a session in the shed and then leave it overnight.

Thank you for the compliments in your replies and for the ratings.

I can't take full credit for it though as it has been done before and also by others, I have read of spaghetti and wire being used but the former was too large for me and the latter too expensive, I used this method to repair a few cracks that appeared in my plastic carriage shed roof a couple of years ago and is now my preferred method for large rooves.

I also found the string ideal for gluing both to the card former and for the paper to stick to it, cheap too.

The main advantage I found was that rather than having a series of flat sections followed by a rib I could create an angle from the base of the string where it is glued to the top of the next piece before pressing it around the string to the base and repeating, it seems to give the impression of the curve of a pantile, to me anyway.

It's back to the slow progress of fitting the rest for me so in the words of Captain Oates "I may be sometime."

Jim

After a long spell of inactivity (double tennis elbow) I have managed to get back into some modelling and managed to get some work done on the rooves of the buildings.

The first was quite easy - the slates - as it was just a case of fitting strips of them across the roof until complete, the tiles however proved a little different.

I thought it was quite a big area to cover with hand-made ones having done it before so looked at the plastic alternatives but I just didn't like the look of them, too big so overscale for my needs and either too uniform or repetitive, so it was back to making my own. As I had used paper for the slates it was only logical to use the same medium for the tiles.

So time for a few photographs and explanations.

This shows the cardboard formers that make up the roof shape with the slates complete on the mill and loading bay, some string can be seen on the factory roof which forms part of the tiles.

The string being fixed around 3mm apart, there could be a few differences in gap size but hopefully will add to the character rather than look wrong.

A closer look at the string that is going to form the ridge in the tiles, this is simply fixed with PVA and gives a firm grip to the card and more than adequate for my needs.

The tiles being formed and glued over the string, each one needs to be held as the next is shaped and fixed beofre moving on again, a time consuming job but one that looks as if it will be worth the time and effort.

A comparison of the homemade against the plastic ready made ones, what is noticeable is how much larger the latter are which was far too big to my eyes and given a tile around 18" x 12" in real life when I wanted 13.5 x 9.5, it also had the effect of making the building look smaller than it is because we look down on the roof once modelled.

It's going to take a while to complete this and even then the building is still only just over half finished as I have the loading bay bases, doors and cobbled yard to do as well as an additional mill office, boiler and engine house, plenty to keep me occupied yet then.

All the best

Jim

Perhaps Killybegs can confirm?

 

Will jute twine work or is that too fine?

 

http://www.wilko.com/search?q=jute

I use sisal string a lot too for long grass as I prefer its shape rather than long static which in my fields of shorter grass looks too straight and spiky. I also have the twine but it is not as good and the wrong colour and I found it needed bleaching. Great out in the garden though.

Jim

Jim, funny thing is, I'm not totally happy with the way it looks! My brother and one of the neighbours have been telling me how good it looks. Maybe I see it with a different eye.

 

I'll just have to trust the opinion of all you guys! Cheers.

 

Jeff

Jeff

I can understand where you are coming from with that thought as I always feel the same, even when you think it's right a few days later you start to pick holes in what you have done, but that's what makes it so good.

One thing I have done is to use my most realistic shots as a screen savers on my laptop and see what the reaction is from visitors, if someone says 'That's a lovely place where did you take that?' then I know I have cracked it, the look on their face when you tell them 'in the shed'  is priceless.

Just one final thing to bring a smile to you. I would be happy to have the last but one shot as a screen saver too, I'm sure I've tripped over those small rocks on one of my walks in years gone by.

It's that good!

Cheers for now

Jim

Great work Chris.

The coat of paint has made a great difference to the finish and you now have a rake of coaches to be proud of, superb.

Now you have reminded me I still have mine to finish.

Jim

Well, I was quite proud of my path when I had done it but it looks as if my as yet uncompleted scene has been surpassed so I need to up my game and do some serious catching up.

Fantastic work young Jeff.

Envious of East Yorks

On a related matter though, have a look at this iron mink rebuild - very tempting to hack up a Ratio kit to make one: http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/misc/misc_equip202.htm

Ah Yes, the old compressor van, I have seen this in one of the wagon books and also thought it would make a great model and is on my 'to do' list, however that list seems to grow longer each day and at the rate I model it will probably never get built. It's a bit like the weighing machine calibration van I started a few years ago that lays unfinished in a box somewhere, I can't remember how many rows of rivets I put on that roof so I might have to dig it out.

Jim

Yes, there are some wonderful layouts there and a great bunch of people, enjoy it.

I have seen four of those layouts and have spent a good while studying them.

Jim

That looks really good now Jeff.

I must admit I prefer that look to the maintained version as well, I know on my own layout I prefer it too and am lucky that most of the railway land is only wide enough for the permanent way so plenty of scope for shrubs beyond that.

It is good to see you enjoying the scenics so much but I look forward to the day when the buildings start as that will really bring that station area to life as well as the excellent fells.

A masterpiece in the making. 

Not bad..... I recognise most of those. Not sure about "The Mill", though - where's that appeared from?    

 

You might manage to persuade me to come down to Stafford with you.....

 

Jeff

Blimey! Jason has been trying to get you to one for years, are you about to succumb, will it get addictive?

Hi Jeff/Freebs

For additional layers of static grass I do use hairspray and it has worked fine for me, I usually then give it another coat after a quick vacuum to ensure it is fixed.

All looking good now Jeff and I like the addition of the odd few small shrubs, it seems to finish off really well, but then again I like to see plenty of trees etc.

Jim

I have always enjoyed reading the various Coopercraft threads over the years as I would like to see it survive as well as many other ranges because all my models are kit or scratchbuilt.

It was interesting to see thee word 'fantasy' being used as I have often had that fantasy that with my experience (35+ years in plastic moulding) I could rescue such a company as long as I had unlimited funds to throw at it, this would then ensure it was there for years to come. But in reality even if I had the money I would be very reluctant to invest in something that would seem to need a lot of new moulds and machines.

With regard to the machines the ones shown earlier had a vertical injection unit and having had a look at the runners on my kits they were moulded with a horizontal unit as seen in CCs home page, just for the record the machine is a Boy and the one behind possibly an early Arburg? The latter are definitely still producing machines but I'm not sure about the former though they were still doing so a few years ago.

For anyone considering making new tooling I would be looking at a bolster with interchangeable inserts to minimise costs and keep change-over times to a minimum.

Succesful Injection moulding is not easy and the whole business should not be taken lightly for those wanting to invest in it.

Though I do not have any time (full time carer) or money to invest I would be happy to help if I can as I would like to see the range survive.

Jim

In the Hemyock photo the GWR open is colouredngreen, as indeed is one of the coaches, which probably gives a good idea as to the accuracy of such things.

Ah! Well I am colour blind so that is easily explained Thanks for pointing that out, it's not the first time I've got it wrong and it won't be the last.

Let's just hope none of the Colourists were or we're really in trouble.

Just referring back a few posts to the colour tinting of postcard views I remember posting this link in my thread a couple of years ago of a coloured view of Hemyock,http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/hemyock/index.shtml

I find it interesting that two places quite some distance apart (over 100 years ago) have similar colours to the vans (grey) and wagons (red), could they have been done by the same people or was it based on fact?

Sorry for raising the subject again but as I wish to get a few GWR and other company wagons built this year I'm getting fully absorbed in everything mentioned here on this thread.

My thanks to all participants.

Jim

Lovely work John

It's been quite a while since I last looked in but the standard of work is just as good if not better than it was then, I have made a note to refer back here if/when I get around to rodding, I can only hope to match what you have achieved, Great work.

Jim

Yes, you hit the nail on the head. It's being used as intended - and not hijacked by selfish individuals.

 

I'm sure you know what I'm referring to.

 

Jeff

Sorry Jeff!

I'm usually ever so quiet but once I get going you can't shut me up.  

In all seriousness I think a lot of us just kept out of the way at that time but now it looks like time to sink back into that comfy old armchair with a nice cup of tea, got any Darjeeling in by any chance?

Hi Jeff

I had the same problem as you with the wrinkling so hang mine from a thing strip of double sided tape for now, I'm thinking of going for the self adhesive version on polypropylene as they will stand up better to the shed conditions.

All looking good now that the walls are no longer plain though.

Jim