Will J

I wonder what the opposite of weathering is... the only criticism I could make of the 'out of the box' model is that, compared to the the real thing, it isnt quite shiny enough... http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:170104_Newport.jpg That aside, a fine addition to the fleet!

Looks like you are enjoying your holiday from all of that electrical stuff! These are excellent, the look that good, you can almost hear them rumble past....! Inspiring!!

Very nice Tom.. bear in mind that for creating planked decking for the scaffolding, the cutter can both do a full cut around the shape, and also burn scorched lines into it as well. This could suggest closely arranged planks of wood nicely. I saw it done on a concept model for a superyacht... though patterned teak decking and deck markings for deck quoits might be a bit extravagant for your builders!

Right, decision made, finescale track is the way to go... ...so the tricky question, how to adapt my existing N gauge kit to suit? Remember, I am not using points at this stage, so this contrived N/2mm FS approach just needs to result in trains smoothly scooting past without derailing, rather then navigating through a maze of junctions (not yet anyway ) I reckon my Minitrix Ivatt (which I am determined to keep running in light of all the recent modifications it has had!) will need some attention, to the wheel flanges, with a lathe. The question is, how much? The wheels rattle almost imperceptibly over the track chairs, so the flanges are (just) bashing into them. Has anybody else done this sort of work to a model of this, ahem, vintage?

Getting closer, I am just sorting out some of the details of the (slightly simplified) internal structure. I need to go and have another close look at the real thing. Before too long, I hope to have a basic structure with the detailed 'texture' layer that I could send in the post. I ought to make it 'lock together' with a bit of work so it can be easily glued together without a jig. Watch this space! Thanks for the advice regarding carriages.. Im not sure whether I'm unusual in finding carriage modelling more interesting than the locomotives, I suppose in N gauge, a carriage model remains a fairly simple project to take on in terms of time, resources and modelling aptitude! (I have limited supplies of all of these, but I am getting more confidence in the last one!) Next blog entry, coming soon (ish): the challenges of Easitrack and my slighly geriatric collection of models.. is this the end for my Ivatt?

...continuing from Missy's comment on the last blog entry... My usual excuse for avoiding getting into the finer track standards, is an all consuming fear of getting into a muddle trying to make working points. As Victoria Bridge is going to be a simple run through diorama, my excuse hardly counts, so here goes... A package arrived the other day from a forum member (who I know from the 'real world' so I am able to hassle him through all sorts of different means ) containing the pictured short length of track... I thought the package was going to contain mini eggs but the greedy so-and so had eaten them. The idea here was to experiment with existing N gauge kit and see what would run happily. As it turns out, more than I was expecting. I was amazed that the Lima carriages run without any bother! Above all else, the look of the track makes the Peco stuff sat next to it look bit odd.. strange, as up until opening the mysterious mini egg tube, I would have shrugged my shoulders and reckoned the standard N track was perfectly good enough! (PS Tom, I trust the mini eggs were good!)

*Point-less as in without points in the 'turnout' sense of the word.. just in case anybody read it the wrong way

Aha... see the next installment! (Which should have just appeared!)

What follows is an attempt to kitbash/scratch-bodge a carriage conversion within the duration of the Grand Prix on TV this afternoon. (Just to set the tone for peoples expectations of what appears below ) I am looking forward to the new Farish Mark One carriages, and will doubtless want to buy a few of them. In the meantime, I am busying myself practising my skills on a drawer full of old Minitrix and Lima examples. They represent a minimal investment in terms of actual money, and whatever the outcome, I figure that they are worth their weight in gold as subjects to practise on (especially when it comes to painting and weathering!) THE PLAN My Victoria Bridge diorama will be all the more realistic for having some of the unique 'modern image steam' rolling stock seen running over it. Things like this Mark One full brake, adapted, with big picture windows, and making use of the double doors, into an innovative solution the needs of passengers in wheelchairs. The idea is to create a short rake of crimson and cream Mark One carriages, if nothing else, to practise decorating techniques, and to create a 'cheap and cheerful' rake for the layout, by raiding the spares drawer! Most RTR carriages of a certain vintage seem to approximate the cream colour to a deep, mustardy yellow. The prototype look I am after has a much lighter shade, as seen here not far from the real Victoria Bridge... My 'scrapheap challenge' answer, well the main vehicles in the rake will be improved Minitrix products, flush glazed and if I am to do it at all properly, re-bogied (I may well skip this last stage in order to get something running in the short term!) The wheelchair saloon is, as seen in the picture above, shorter in length due to its humble origins. This is an ideal excuse to recycle an old Lima full brake. All of the Lima BR carrages were built to an approximate 1/160 scale, and so are way too short (lengthwise), although oddly not too short in height. By quirk of fate, the full brake was made to the same length, so in the end works out as 'almost sort of to scale'.... Or near enough. So here is this afternoon's bodging. Far from beautiful, but a starting point in concocting a unique vehicle. --EDIT--- Forgot to attach pic of the Lima end vs. the 'Trix one, with some sympathetic painting, they will match up reasonably well... PS.... who would have thought it, somehow the grossly coarse old Lima wheels scoot along reasonably happily on (point-less) 2MM FS track.. this is giving me ideas!

Aha, thought as much, I have looked at some photos of 149, and I can replicate it fairly easily with the standard cavendish side, sliced carefully with a scalpel, with some 'spare slices' of cavendish side liberated from a half finished one bought for £2!

Mmmm, if you need some more gauntlets throwing down Tom.... How about: -A widescreen TV on in one of the windows -To compete with Missy's Morris Minor, how about a car with its indicator flashing on and off.. -Or maybe a pedestrian with their face illuminated whilst replying to a text message Looking forward to seeing more progress!

Confession time... I'm finding working at such a small scale quite a steep learning curve, but hey, that all part of the fun! The toplight carriages, since their last appearance, have been torn apart and reassembled, and I am much happier with the way they look now. I now just need to lasercut window frames for the saloon brake, and add details such as handrails, buffers etc.. And repaint the roof! Another brief diversion into the full size Severn Valley Railway, this weekend saw the line running at full length again, and a superb 'reunion' gala reuniting locomotives that have worked on the line in the last 40 years... ..Panniers at speed B) ..and at rest These two were kept busy on the Saturday with the SVR's unique full set of LMS carriages. These are a must for my Victoria Bridge diorama.. Partly, it will involve some wallet surgery to get a handful of Graham Farish's finest, but some, like this 60' chassis 'porthole' example, will need some ingenuity. (Luckily, I have some lovely old Cavendish kits, they even come in different lengths, which will do nicely.. if you ever find some of these for sale, snap them up, they are a joy to build!) (The shorter one will become a 57' buffet car... which I think is a post preservation conversion, so unlikely to appear as a RTR model) ...note to self... must finish that 1500 Pannier tank. Comments, constructive or otherwise always welcome, I need lots of people to bully me into finishing some of these projects

Sorry for the slow reply... I will have to make notes next time I'm there, bear with me!!

....I've also decided to go with Will's suggestion of having a second block under construction.... Thats the start of a slippery slope, you will have me suggesting all manner of things! It is the sort of urban scene that needs a fox or two, wonder if you can get ones in N? (that or a badger..)

Its just thin card, which when painted, varnished, and stuck to a backing of clear plastic,should be strong and presentable looking. The next step, I guess, is to experiment with cutting into a piece of card, or shiny photo paper,already printed with some sort of carriage livery.

Further experiments with Laser Beams.... Which is a butchered Farish 101 centre carriage, on the way to becoming a GWR Hawksworth Inspection Saloon, not unlike http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/blog/?page_id=1176 .... hopefully!

I am sure something could be worked out!Would you be looking at an N gauge one?

Not at all, it was free (a case of speaking nicely to somebody with the appropriate machinery!)

Thanks for all of the kind comments! Next step is to contrive a reasonably accurate representation of the internal framework and bracing. I will try and end up with pieces that interlock reasonably easily in case anybody else fancies building one. Achieving the side panel has been a big step forward, it has changes from a 'nice idea' into something that I can see working now!!

It seems incredibly useful.. yet another technique to file under 'creative cheating' The other brilliant thing is that it is so easy to amend the design to 4mm scale, whatever scale takes your fancy, ...I like the idea of a T-gauge one B)

Big event today, and in its own small way, well worth the wait! First, a reminder of what I am trying to recreate, on a shelf, in N gauge: Victoria Bridge, just south of Arley on the Severn Valley Railway, half an hour by bike from my front door... The Corel Draw file has now succesfully found its way into a laser cutter, and produced two main components, the structure from thin ply, and the detail layer from thin card. The detail layer was then, carefully, stuck on using thinned PVA... Which seemed immediately to capture some of the character of the structure The final model will comprise of four of these main structural members, the connecting bits in between will be the next challenge And finally, bridging the yawning chasm of the kitchen sink, in the absence of a minature River Severn, some playing with the components.... that and some trains... First passenger train.. Viewed from the path from Trimpley Reservoir.. Freight viewed from the other side of the valley, with some impromptu foliage.... Right, time to pack away, and finish the washing up!!

Very nice indeed Tom. As you pointed out, buildings like this can spring up very quickly in real life too, maybe there could be the beginnings of a new block in a clearing next to your existing building, with a truck delivering a pre cast concrete staircase, something like that. (Modern technology is a wonderful thing... real time updates from a network of desks around the world.. some of them even have the same mousemat ... small world!)

Hi All, after the fun and games with Ivatts and Toplights, time to create something for them to run across! I have finally got around to converting my bridge silhouette into a corel draw file, ready to feed the laser cutter. Something actually tangible should be appearing this week. It will be an imposing structure, even in 1/148 scale, it will be about 40 cm long!

I guess it is all about doing things to break up the flat printed side, the odd brass doorhandle, maybe a cut out door 'shut line' (to borrow an automotive phrase) can do wonders!

Hello All, after Mikkel asked me about how the carriage sides were printed on the last blog, here is the 'story so far'.... To start with, the actual carriages (bearing in mind my layout is going for the 'modern image steam' look, modelled after the SVR over the last ten years or so) can be seen here: With due astonished thanks to 'Sharpo' for his incredibly useful site: http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/blog/?page_id=1025 '9055' http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/blog/?page_id=1162 '3930' http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/blog/?page_id=1145 My printed side started off with some fairly unpromising photos I took during Spring 2009's 'Festival of Steam'. Whilst rather hopeless looking, they did provide lots of the basic components to make something out of in Paint Shop Pro: Next step, cutting out a representation of the fiddly windows is a little beyond me, so I can thoroughly reccomend using Ultima printed sides as the starting point, giving you the windows. See here: http://www.ultima-models.co.uk/catalogue/release-by.cs?Section=S Here are the designs I made up for the sides, not side on photos as such, but more of a mosaic comprised of bits of side on pictures!! The 'printed paper decals' for 46443 were produced in a similar fashion, starting with a picture of the real thing, usefully square on, taken on a pretty dull day at Bridgnorth: I have been using a variery of scraps of printer paper to achive the best effect. It seems that you need to use shiny 'photo paper' to get the best, crisp print, but at the same time you dont want the paper to be too thick, and stand out too far from the side of the engine/carriage. I think the paper used on both of these projects was 120 gsm HP Photo Paper, ideally a lower weight paper would have been better. I think it ought to be possible to create a carriage side print from a single photo, though you need to find a good vantage point, without obstructions, from the subject! A good one is the upper floor cafe balcony at the Engine House, Highley, Here is one such work in progress, taken from there: (An unusual looking Mark One carriage, seen here in 'mock teak' colours, it has since been repainted in more conventional maroon, and looks rather smart!) I shall continue the research!! B)