ash39

Good point - I should have made that clear in the post. My interest is in the early days of privatisation so I will be modelling it before the rebuild, around 1998 time. The old roof is a lot easier to model, too!

Quick hour or so in sketchup - this is what I've got. Even in N, it scales out at the height of a large ruler. Will probably be the largest building on the layout though and still much smaller than my last building I did in OO! I'm new to sketchup but it seems a great way to work. You get to see the building and check it looks 'correct' before you build it, and you can dimension the plan and print it out to work from when you're building it. Much quicker than drawing by hand.

I want to build a model of Leeds, my home station, as it was around the turn of the millennium. The full station would be too much to take on (not to mention the stock I'd need!) so I've decided to focus on the east end (towards Neville Hill, Cross Gates, York). The station roof will be a scenic break in itself, with the skyline printed on a backscene to give the impression of depth. I reckon it will fit on a 600-700mm wide board in 2mm. I have about 4m to play with in length. I'll be compressing the station approach slightly, as I want to model the viaduct leading to the station as well. I've had the idea of using a tall building as a scenic break at this end of the layout, whether that will work or not I'll have to see. I'm at the research stage at the moment, going to start by scratch building City House and the station frontage (see below) to get a feel for the scale. Drawing it up as we speak. Any advice at this stage would be great, I'm a long way off building baseboards or finalising track plans so anything is a help. I've found quite a lot of photos (as well as my own) but if anyone can help, particularly with shots of the front of the station, that'd be great. Also anything of Platforms 11-12 as I'm a bit short of that part of the station (12 was the platform next to what were the freight avoiding lines, 11 was an east facing bay).

Use an airtight container rather than a carrier bag, as the stuff sticks to the bag and gets everywhere. Ok if you're doing a full body but if you're doing a localised application to remove printed detail its much safer.

Sign me up for a Metro red and cream one, too!

So certainly not a difficult job to convert either way, depending on what Bachmann release. Good news!

Geat announcement for me! I've fancied an IC swallow or Virgin (respray) Bachmann 47 for ages, and I know there's a swallow release due imminently. I was put off by the poor (and pricey for what they are) Hornby mk2's. Considering I already have a couple of 87's I could also run them with, I'm going to have to have a set in both liveries I think. The Virgin ones I'm happy to respray rather than wait for Bachmann to do. The IC ones for the initial batch, does anyone yet know if these are swallow or executive? What exactly are the differences? I'm only familiar with the differences on locomotives.

Sorry Cav I messed up and asked what era when it clearly says in the title, I thought I'd got away with it when I edited the post but you got in first!! Railfreight 37's and 47's sound good to me. I thought you'd be handbuilding the track, if it's anywhere near as good as Outon you'll be onto a winner. Imagine it's a bit fiddlier in n though!

Can't wait to see this one Cav. Have you got any n gauge stock already?

I got a couple of shots of 60015 with the Javelin unit as it reached York, the 395 is a smart looking thing...