Physicsman

Work continues..... All 4 chimneys made, in the correct positions, level sideways and vertically. This pic was taken after (about) the 6th acrylic wash, which I think will do. Flashings and main roof ridge tiles tomorrow with a fine rub-down of the stacks, if necessary - and a very dilute white acrylic pointing grout. So, Ade, if you can't sleep because of the heat, you can look at this. And Rob, I don't mind making chimneys but I just want to get most of the building finished now and have a break (gutters still to do, one barge board, a couple of doors....I think the gutter bit will be the next task).

Quick pic to keep Ade happy..... Chimney making underway. These two are just sat in place for the sake of the photo - more painting and stuff to do. Two more, larger, chimneys in the next day or so.

Hi Peter. "Doing an Andy P?" Not sure what to say to that! Thanks for the comments and I'm hoping I might get some more lunar images for you later in July. Will keep you posted.

Work continues on the station building. I'll start making the (4) chimneys tomorrow, then there's guttering to fit. The painting also continues, seemingly endless. Here's a pic from 30 minutes ago showing where I'm at.

Just an additional "two pennies worth" from me. I rarely stray beyond the confines of my thread or the S&C section in which it resides. Occasionally (4 or 5 times, so far) I feel I may have an image that is worthy of this thread and have posted it on here. Here's a quote from Andy York's opening post on this thread: "We are constantly blown away by some of the images in the 'How realistic is your modelling' topic each month and feel that the best content is worth sharing with BRM readers. So, we’ve set up this feed to allow you to share some of your work with us. We will then select the best entries featuring the most inspiring and realistic imagery for a short feature in the magazine. We are committed through the current situation to bring readers the best possible modelling content and thought, while we don't have exhibitions, this would be a great way to spread a positive message and showcase what the modelling community is up to." I've highlighted what, to me, are the key elements this thread is supposed to represent (it's irrelevant that Andy might then choose to publish some of the best images in BRM). As Gopher has just said, in a post further up this page, we all produce tons of reasonable-to-good stuff and often have images of this. But if it's not inspiring or truly realistic then it ought to remain within a person's thread and not be posted on here. This is NOT an elitist or condemnatory attitude. The remit of this thread goes beyond the normal "good stuff" we may produce and should be kept as such. Really good modelling is almost self-evident and there are examples on here that I find TRULY inspirational and can aspire to. The mundane, often repetitive images, are also pretty self-evident and it's clear that a large number of people on RMweb are getting a bit fed up with them. Disagree with this if you choose. It is one person's opinion and, of course, one person's "realistic" may be another person's "mediocre". Jeff

Fully agree about Jonathon's image. Stunning. Some of the contributors on here should take note of what the word "realistic" means by looking at that. More, please. Jeff.

I've just had the same Midland Red comment sent to me in a text! Tell you what, the enamel smells lovely!! And - coincidence - I was playing Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" album (Lay Lady Lay) only 2 days ago. So, David, a portent of what was to come!

Very witty, as usual, Jonathan. I take extreme care when using a scalpel but aside from the scalpel thrust I've got at least 4 other puncture wounds to the hand from all the "pointy bits" on the building as it's shuffled into different positions to paint, glue, sand down etc. BUT what a great hobby. Guess we are just masochists!

Still very quiet on here, John. C'mon folks, the modelling on here at 21mm to the foot is excellent. Jeff

An update..... I wasn't happy with the bargeboards shown in the previous pic. All boards were removed and made a bit more "dainty", though there was no way I could replicate the number of curves on the prototype. Yes, I could have drawn out a plan and sent it to, for example, York Modelmaking who'd have laser-cut the boards for me. But I think a line has to be drawn somewhere. Scratchbuilding to reasonable detail - and MY limit for 4mm (7mm would be a different matter) - is about doing it YOURSELF, so I'll stick with what I've done. Of course, there's always a catch in whatever we do. Mine usually involves injuring myself, usually with a scalpel. Removing the original boards resulted in a pretty deep scalpel-spearing to the finger and copious amounts of blood all over the place. Including the rooftops. Reminded me of the track "Blood on the Rooftops" from Genesis's very good 1976 album "Wind and Wuthering". Anyone else familiar with it? Anyway, after an initial clean-up, a chuckle to myself that it was only a scalpel this time (it's sometimes been a hammer blow), a plaster or two did the trick and new barge boards were made. There'll be 7 pairs of boards on here (4 gables plus building ends) and the 3 largest gables and one main building end have so far been completed. I'm really enjoying myself with this BUT the detailing is ridiculous and there's PVA, superglue, acrylic paint, primer, emulsion on the go simultaneously. Then I remembered I'd have to build 4 chimneys and fit gutters. Oh, well - so what? 4 pics attached, including Kirkby Stephen prototype. The roof has had a preliminary wash using something that was to hand. Not the colour it'll end up (that will be a medium grey). The blood stains may still be evident, once finished, but I'll regard those as a kind of "signature"!! I'll try and post something when the basic structure, minus chimneys and gutters, has been readied (that doesn't mean "complete"). That may be Friday/the weekend.

Morning John. A quick visit from me (so you know I'm true to my word) but I'll be back for future discussion! I see what you mean about the lack of feedback. It can be soul destroying, especially with the quality of the work on this layout. You could move the thread into the main Layouts section but you may prefer the relative quiet on here. Two things strike me. The inventiveness and the scale. I guess you're having to make most of the stuff from scratch and, as I've found, it can be a lot of fun. In your case, however, it's almost everything. I do like the scenes you've created, which links to my second point.... In some ways I'm envious of the scale you are using. I'd never be able to build my landscape in 7/8 (21mm to the foot?) but the buildings would be fun - especially brickwork and tiling. I'd say it could be a future project, but I've already got another 4mm planned and ideas for a 7mm cameo. As a lead out, for now, I can understand your frustration with the RM thread when I look at the quality of stuff on here. Just excellent. Jeff

I have some Weissmann lamps - they are black - from many years back. I may decapitate a couple and fit them into the station wall. Having painted them Midland red, of course! I've already made some changes to what was in the picture above. May be able to show you in a couple of days. There is a reason for the delay which I'll explain when the pics go up.

It's taking ages - and there's plenty left to do - but progress IS being made:

Hi Neil. Very pleased to hear that your long-planned visit to the UK is about to take place. Irrespective of railways, you'll enjoy yourself for family reasons. The world has "shrunk" over the years but 16,000km from Melbourne to here still makes me think! I think you'll also have a good time in Dentdale, though I hope the British weather will have settled a bit by the time you get here. It's warm enough at the moment (though 20C may seem cold by Melbourne standards!), but it is SO bl**dy windy!! Do have a walk to both Dent Head and Arten Gill viaducts and any tipple in the local hostelries will go down a treat. A journey further down the line to look at Ribblehead viaduct would be great, but given the number of services on the line, a taxi might be a better option. If anybody else wishes to chip in here and offer suggestions, please do so. As for Gill Head - I seem to have built quite a few structures of late, and the incomplete station building may soon be "finished". I think you may be surprised as you re-acquaint yourself with this very green and pleasant land! Jeff

Shaun, it's nice to see there are other modellers who are as nuts as me. Excellent work - the size of most British layouts! Good to hear about the logs. They are due here next week!!

Thanks for the comments lads, some good points there: Brian, must admit that I hadn't thought about slipped slates. Degraded walling in the fields would have been common, but from all the photos I've seen of the Midland railway, S&C included (even to the late 70s), great care was taken with structural maintenance. So a slipped tile would probably have been sorted out, pronto. Of course, that's just my justification for not having thought of it in the first place! The scribing is a bit tedious - my tiles are 6 x 4 mm, allowing a mm overlap in the vertical direction. Approximates to the number of times visible on the pics. The main issue then becomes the painting, as the acrylic washes I use tend to shy away in places where PVA has (inevitably) got into the tile surface. But as with all things, there's a great deal of satisfaction from doing a decent job of something. And I must have a look at your warehouse.... And I'm not answering the door if Mrs S has sent the hit squad from Oregon (or are you in Washington state?)!! J.

I quite enjoy it! As Rob (Teaky) implies, I MUST be nuts, or going that way....BUT if you want something doing (or you try to do it) properly, it just takes a lot of time. I built the majority of the station building in 2018 for the previous layout. When that was ripped up I just couldn't face all the faffing with tiles etc, and it's been left for 4 years. Now, with the will to get the job done, I've made pretty good progress in 3 days. Hopefully I can get the building "finished" in the next ten days or so.

Well, there's no accounting for the standard of the passengers these days and some will do anything to avoid the fare.... "Hey, pig, dat woz a graat ideur of yurs tur git away befor they sheer me or tek u tur the ab-boudoir..." "Shut it. Eets the abba-toir: they plaze nice moosic b4 they topz yur: SOS, mamma mia....but im avin nun of thaat..... Tells u wot - it woz quite a jump ontur this wagun. But weel be on our way zoon" "yeh, my fust treep darn sarf. Teekit sed Long Meg tur Ampsher, neer Pompey. I dunt like Amsters....." "yep, Yeastlee, viur Trewithen - oar sum stoopid name. I urd the seenury is inturestin darn thair. Mi mate, Pigeena, sez it luks like the zurfiss of the moon" "weel just ave tur wait and zee, wunt wee?"

As a change from the rural (viaduct, cutting etc.) side of Gill Head, a pic of the still-developing yard area, with a (far too clean) 24 passing the box....

On a more serious note, I've spent the last 90 minutes tiling the large gable roofing to the rear of the station. Once the PVA is set, the ends of the strips will be trimmed and "lead" channelling fitted along the gable-main roof join.

A couple of posts to keep Ade, and any other "picture watchers" happy..... So, in the TELLYTUBBY "again again again again again...." style of one or two on the Forum, I present: "It's a lovely sunny morning as the 07.14 from Long Meg arrives at Gill Head station....." (Different angles of the same thing may follow, according to Tinky Winky)

The main body of the roof is now tiled and the 2 long pieces stuck in place. That allowed the gable sections to also be glued into postion - these will be tiled tomorrow.

I might consider MSE but it's not a priority. I enjoy scratchbuilding but my enthusiasm for it has reached saturation at the moment.

Signals - another thing that will need doing. After all the other stuff.

So, having corrected that "error"..... It's a lovely sunny morning as the 07.14 from Long Meg passes the box on its journey south - on the Up line - via Gill Head. The Borg have clearly attacked overnight as the station building has been ripped away from the station area in the background. I'll ask them to return it before the next exciting update! And btw, work continues on the building - which is the real reason it ain't there!