Woody C

On another note I started making a tree about 5 years ago from twisted florists wire which was covered in acrylic paste and painted. I can recall visiting a superb model shop near Shrewsbury where my inquiring questions were always met with a very informative response resulting in me finding out about the delights of Woodland Scenics foliage mat. Having departed with a pack of that and several other items which Mrs. Woody was informed were very necessary and highly essential purchases I did start to foliage the tree but for some reason it never got finished. Move ahead several years and said tree was found in a box along with 5 Hornby Freightliners and whitemetal conversion kit which were part of aforementioned very necessary and highly essential purchases (they will get done Ian!) Seeing it there led me to think about placing it on Chalkdon near the canal wharf. Having also found the tub I put the foliage mat in as the mat seems to shed leaves even quicker then Mrs. W can place internet orders on QVCs bargain night, I have finished the tree. Don't ask me what species it is. I don't do trees! All I can say is it is not conifer! Having temporarily put it in its intended place I will leave it for a while before deciding if it is right. I know that on any real railway a tree overhanging the track would be a no no but this layout is just for the fun of it. Initial thoughts are I am growing to like it - ironically the real life tree would probably grow more quickly then my mind will make its mind up! Anyway here it is.

I hope these are OK? My phone camera is not the greatest or maybe the operator is not the best! Just need to do some tidying up scenically and get the road the right shade of grey but I have to admit I am quite pleased with how this all looks. Is this actually my layout??????

A very good question Ian! Not seen that on a layout before but it would be interesting to pose a figure sat on the edge. I was reminded by your question of a friend who visited Denver and told me about the bridge over the 1053 foot gorge with a river at the bottom. There is a sign saying .... which has got me thinking! Now that is a dangerous activity for me as Mrs. Woody can confirm, but I can invisage having a couple of figures fishing off the edge of the baseboard with a sign saying 'No fishing off the baseboard edge', behind them!

As the baseboard is in two parts I had the job of disguising the break in the road surface. I could have gone for a utility trench but not having seen a cattle grid modelled before I decided to try that which gives a natural break in the road surface. Still things to do but I quite like how this has turned out. I will need to repaint the road surface between the cattle grid and the bridge as I had to remake the road which was mounting card because the original was not right. Unfortunately because I did the original painting so long ago I have forgotten what shade of grey I painted the original in! Meanwhile the Woody drone (no, not my voice!) has been in flight to provide some aerial photography. OK it was actually me stood on a chair! I think the bus driver may need to readjust his trajectory around the bend if chapel and Leyland National are to avoid some form of union! As I started the post (well the first part in the previous post) with talk of words of wisdom I may as well plug my YouTube Video for those needing a cure for insomnia! In this gripping installment of WMD - Woody's Modelling Diary - A Woody WOW I cover everything I know about ballasting. For some reason it is actually 22 minutes long rather than the 22 seconds thought it would be! If nothing else have a look at the point 18min 50 sec in to see how I potentially put my personal well being at risk and incur the possibility of domestic disharmony. Have you done similar? For those wondering a Woody WOW is a Woody Words Of Wisdom. I perhaps should rename that as a Woody WOOF - Words Of Overwhelming Failure! Many thanks for looking at this post and hope there has been something of interest. Woody

Hello and thank you for your continued interest in this topic. It was Keith Addenbrooke who in his thread on his great layout , Narrow Gauge Beginnings - getting started in HOn30 and H0e, said 'The layout is now complete, with everything in these photos apart from some Minitrains rolling stock is either kit built or scratchbuilt.' I did say that the emotion of finishing a layout was something that had evaded me and would continue to do so. However I find myself beginning to doubt the wisdom of my own words! Chalkdon as the layout is now known is actually at a stage when, as long as I don't get distracted (and I am easily distracted - so many projects!) has a possible chance of getting to a point where I could say it is finished. Recent work has seen much of the scenery complete with scenic sub-bases glued down, including the platform and ballasting almost finished. The mayhem created by this work took the layout back several steps, but the end result was, in my view, worth it. The main road out of the hamlet now has the beginnings of a crossing that allows the 4mm road users to escape the layout even if the only destination is a near scale 300 foot plunge to the floor! Still some scenic work to do at the edges of the ballast and the rear gardens and the edge of the petrol station and road. Both bridges are in place across the stream. The one at the front edge may look a little odd but that was my fault in misaligning the abutments! On the other side things are a bit more distant so my failures are to a degree less easy to observe! However I will, because of image size limitations continue that on a second post.......

Strange how as a child we all wanted something like this so much then as young adults it had to be prototypically exact then as we get older we not only go back to wanting it but we buy it!! Ian, I am exceedingly impressed by this. If it were not for the fact that I have several lifetimes worth of projects but only one life I would be so sorely tempted to build a layout just centered around this to be able to enjoy playing operating it!

Stunning layout! Lots of attention to detail and fun to rrun - brilliant!

But even more importantly you finished it and it is a great layout so be proud of your achievement! Now that is a emotion I may never have with my pace of modelling and easily distracted mind!

Apologies for adding this Keith but as I was just saying yesterday about being drawn into something not intended and then this today! Let me just say you don't expect to find something like this at a garden center as I told a rolling eyes Mrs. W at the checkout whilst paying for it. How could I resist and there was more - a lot more.

I should have gone to that well know optician!

Now that's the way to build up an eager audience! However in the meantime intrigued by the box just under the workbench. Is it a submarine kit or am I completely wrong?

As with many things in life, sometimes just go with the flow to see where you end up? I have lost count of the number of times I have, through some impulse purchase, ended up being drawn into something I never intended but I have always learnt from them and more importantly had a great time! Just what a hobby is about. Strangely I have never seen an epitaph saying ' wished they had not built so many layouts!'

Thank you for the reminder Bernard. It is amazing how many things we think are new innovations actually existed long ago but at the time never became fashionable - much like most of my wardrobe as Mrs. W would claim! Strangely I was looking at an eBay listing just the other day which included a whole host of Hornby Zero 1 items which reminded me that DCC control was something available back in the late 70s if you had the money - which may have been one of the reasons it never flourished at the time. Today we still think of DCC as something new.

WOW! That does look like a proper creative space Keith! Resist the temptation to fill it too much but then again that bed is taking up valuable layout space!

Hello and thank you for your continued interest in my escapades. Following my first YouTube video, the ultimate cure for insomnia, I have now posted a follow up in case anyone requires an increased dosage of droning!

I am so glad I am not the only one to have spent lessons track planning. Sure made double chemistry or maths more bearable! As for work meetings it was more creative then playing BS bingo.! I am presuming Ian must have had ideas for this long dreamt of layout jotted in some school exercise book somewhere?

I do worry that if Mrs. W sells my lifetime collection for what I told her it cost to buy someone is going to get one tremendous bargain!

I was actually reading that chapter last night and whilst possibly too much information it was bed time reading!. A very good read too! Meanwhile Mrs. W was reading yet another murder crime mystery. Should I be worried?

Well if nothing else Ian it looks a most impressive piece of track formation and probably wins this week's "Most points per square foot' award. I was thinking at the beginning of your post that you were going to have 'Fun with diodes' in making up a matrix for switching that lot! Standing easy awaiting next update!

Thank you to every one for the continued interest, comments and support which is very much appreciated. Amazingly I have managed to do a little more on this layout (must have been inspired by the backscene) with some bridge work and some vegetative cultivation! Bridge work looks a little cardboardish at the moment but hopefully will look the part once painted and weathered. One un-notice problem up to now is that the resin water splayed the bridge abutments. I did think this strange as you would think the resin would shrink as it dries - at least I did. There is further evidence on the banks of the stream where you can see whiteish plaster where the plaster has been forced out below the resin level leading to small splits. Most unusual and note to self that I should have pre-coloured the plaster! Peco static grass glue slopped around. Once static grass applied and left to dry and surplus removed vegetative cultivation began. Just like my real gardening expertise weeds flourish! I'm happy with that!

All that done in the two and a half hours between twelve minutes to six and eighteen minutes past eight! Note I have refrained from use of the 24 hour clock to avoid at least some come back! It is all looking rather grand.though - you must have a good few hundred feet of track laid Ian which probably means it takes two and a half hours for a train to get round it all.

Much going on Ian and, to use that YouTuber phrase that seems so common now, 'I am super impressed' by that tower crane! That has to be the ultimate scenic a addition to a layout. Just it operate?

Not done so yet as never thought it was in that league! Will have a look at what the other pics are like before dipping proverbial toe in water!

Hello, For those of you who suffer from insomnia, Dr. Woody recommends a dose of YouTube... None of it is scripted and it is done with a phone camera so things are very amateurish! I do however need to say sincere apologies to Ian for referring to him as 'somebody' when referencing some items he gave me - it will be rectified in the Directors Cut or the sequel! For those of you not suffering from insomnia this video will still aid sleep......

WOW! And even double WOW! Thank you for those very kind words. I don't think I could ask for a better endorsement! There is still a lot to do on the layout so it will keep me amused, entertained and frustrated for some time yet!