Woody C

Like what you are doing Ian. As a side note I think you have actually a better box file baseboard having made it then if you used an actual box file. The track plan fits in well to and the track itself looks good. I take it that it is Peco code 83 as you are in the USA? Woody

Hello Chris, I won't call it a WOW but I think it might have been the much missed Allan Downes (apologies if I have wrongly attributed this) who used sticky labels. The method was to use a sharp scalpel to cut out the frame just as you would in plasticard. However the paper label was much easier to cut then plasticard and given the fact that is was self adhesive there were no issues with glue clouding the glazing material as would be the case with most solvent glues that would be needed for plasticard. Labels are available in a variety of colours but once cut out and before application to the glazing material they can be painted with acrylics including the cut edge. You would still need to be careful in cutting your frame out but there are savings in time and potential mishaps are minimised. Hope this may be of use or you may just say 'Wow, why did I ask!' Woody

Great progress Neil. Getting the road in gives some good perspective as to the lay of the land. I have to admit that I never seem to finish electrics before starting on scenery. My layout still has all the sections wired to one feed instead of section switches but it works - amazingly! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Hello Keith, You have done the most difficult bit in building your layout - starting. The rest is now easy! In all seriousness I have always found that once you start and actually get some baseboards together (I am impressed by your quality build - beats my wood butchery hands down) it does give you that kick to want to progress and looks like you have an interesting track plan to get your teeth into. There is something very therapeutic in sitting back and watching trains pass by and as with all layouts the most important thing is that you build it for your pleasure. Looking forward to see this layout progress.

FAB!!! Unfortunately IR have now call barred me over excessive use of their services. Apparently the final straw was my concern over a missing crate of beer which I believed was possibly the work of The Hood or similar. Oh well! Anyone got the number for SPECTRUM??? SIG!!!!

Yes had those moments too and not just with modelling stuff which can lead to interesting domestic discussions!. ' You must remember that deck chair?' 'Err no.' ' Well you sat on it yesterday!' 'Oh! That deck chair - why didn't you say!' Duck as flying pan and other catering utilities make progress towards me!

In best Captain Mainwaring mode, 'Well done Ian! I wondered who would be first to notice that!' A good point though! Shows how you can forget about reality when creating your own World. I could however, in my inevitable way, offer a variety of thoroughly comprehensive and compellingly ill thought out explanations regarding the husbandry issue that would make the average politician look almost amateurish. My top one is that I have 'future proofed' the layout as it is likely that the model trees will loose their foliage over time due to build quality issues eventually bringing them in line with the lambing season! Maybe I should just remove the lambs, but where's the fun it that! Now where's that copy of Farmers Weekly?????

Greetings, After a rest from most model making activities over the Easter break, but having to show willing in the garden, normal service as they say has resumed! Not a whole lot of progress but the last couple of days have seen some Woodlands Scenic trees installed. I should be making my own but I did want to see what these products were like. For the price I was happy. They will never be a scale rendition of a silver birch but neither are they a pipe-cleaner on steroids as some pre made trees can look. I did use the base that they are 'planted' in once it had been disguised in the existing scenery which is handy as I can take them out to re apply foliage in the future. Other developments include some vehicles and sheep. The vehicles are Oxford diecasts and they need a coat of matt varnish to stop them looking as though they have just been entered for best paint work at a car show but I am impressed by the detail and finesse of these vehicles. I have no idea of the origin of the sheep either their species or manufacturer but as I have put no date or location to this layout I am hopefully of not being called out for making a husbandry error! In my collection of 'I can't remember getting that' items I discovered a Corgi RB19 Face Shovel. Probably far exceeds the needs of this quarry but with some weathering it will hopefully give a little interest to the area. The quarry itself is becoming qite busy from the point of view of plant. From the ever helpful drone image the layout looks like this. Still more to do and a need for some figures and some road signs are probably next on the list but overall this project is giving me a lot of fun! Thank you for looking. Woody

Hi Chris, Looks good to me even with you highlighting where the joints are! Talking about 'blending', have you ever tried Vallejo plastic acrylic putty sold in the same bottles as the paint comes in https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vallejo-Model-Color-Plastic-Putty/dp/B000PHCNLC It is a paintable putty , i.e. you can use a fine wet brush to move it about and use it to fill fine gaps and even create small shapes. Being acrylic and a very fine putty, a damp cloth can be used to wipe away the excess so avoiding the need for sanding. If you do need to sand it, it is that fine no effort is needed. It has saved me a lot of heartache dealing with Wills sheets in the past. Apologies if you already know about it but hope this is of use. Woody

Hello Tom, Fantastic modelling! Really impressed by what you are doing. Good to see you have managed to get outside hopefully on a day of better weather and no doubt with a few domestic chores done going towards the score sheet that may lead to domestic approval for a 3D printer or similar!

Hello Neil, Impressive progress! I do like the method you have for mounting your point control - very neat. Also impressed by your post it note reminder. A great way not to forget those gremlins that you are going to deal with another time by which time you have forgotten what that gremlin was. Must remember that tip!

Got to say superb result so far and I have to admire your ingenuity, skill and patience in making these coaches. Just incredible!

Hello Johnsy, Just brilliant! Beautiful model and fantastic finish. Very clever use of decals too. One to be very proud of and I trust will be a frequent runner on your layout. On the photo matter, upload your photo and when you get to the part of the text where you want it click on the photo in the box at the bottom of the page which shows the photos you have uploaded. Hope that makes sense!

Hello Chris, Many thanks for your very kind words. I am no artist but I have to admit since I started military modelling 12 years ago I have changed some of the things I do and the way I look at things in railway modelling. That and getting older - you do learn from mistakes over the years and I have made many and still do but with age you do begin to work smarter not harder as a Canadian trucker said on his blog. I think we can all aspire but never doubt your own skills and always be proud of what you make - you are the only one who can say 'I made that' and seeing what you have produced so far on this thread I'd say 'You made it and its looking good!' On the painting front, and again a lot from my military modelling, but I turned this into this in about two hours using a minimum of different colours. May not be the greatest but it was quick and might be the look your after. more details on my blog at this page Apologies for putting pictures on your thread but trust they may help?

Hello Chris, You have my admiration for the skills and workmanship on the chimney as well as the rest of the layout but that chimney does look particularly good especially with that brick topping. Anyone who can work that sort of magic with Wills sheets has to have a lot of patience and talent which you obviously have. Woody

Thanks Ian - much appreciated and here is a picture of said process in progress - excuse dirty fingernail - the result of ineffective cleaning having done one of Mrs Woody's gardening chores and a desire to make progress on the layout once that chore was completed! Now properly cleaned I hasten to add! Whilst talking of hints and tips I will present the first of a series of probably one, Woody's Words Of Wisdom or a Woody's WOW for short! One of the issues that seems to come up on a regular basis when ballasting near to points using the traditionally diluted pva method is the fear of gluing up points so that they do not move. I make no claims for the originality of the following but having many years ago read in a car DIY magazine (remember the days when opening the car bonnet revealed an identifiable engine with components you could access and actually work on without the need for a laptop) that spreading petroleum jelly on the door seals prevented the door from freezing shut when wet in freezing weather. It worked for me and as my mind works in strange ways and as I was also building a layout around that time, I applied a thin smear of the jelly to the point tie rods on the layout as I laid them. I was pleasantly surprised when upon completing Operation Flood, as my ballasting activities usually become, and the glue had dried, the points remained free to move! I did it on this layout with similar success. Woody and success - No, those words just don't go together! The photo below illustrates the point and ties all the above together (pun intended) and will also no doubt bring tears to the eyes of anyone with soldering skills! I will await to see the reaction to this Woody WOW and whether my presence on this forum will still be tolerated! PS, other brands of petroleum jelly are available.

Many thanks Timken for your compliment. It is very appreciated and it is nice to know what fellow modellers think of your efforts. Last night, on one of the rare occasions that Mrs Woody ventured into my modelling making domain - the Room of Doom - she did actually say 'That's nice and small, I like that'. I almost fell off my chair......

Thank you for the compliment - very much appreciated. With regard to the loader I would agree it should be lower however I did construct it at that height to get a loco under it which at the time for a reason I no longer can remember, made sense! From a technical view, if it was not condemned by the HSE, the chances of it working are remote and the likelihood of it collapsing into a pile of rusty metal high! As with all my modelling, things may change in the future! As I write this, Top gear is the TV with the three presenters in a Scottish quarry with some real quarrying equipment that looks very inspirational.............

Strangely Wickes in this part of the Country appear to be major purveyors of Warps and Knots Specialist Timber. Enquiries with staff in my local store as to the availability of timber that laid flat on the floor without looking like the flight deck of a modern day aircraft carrier revealed that many deliveries of quality timber for the Wickes empire were in fact being redirected to the Telford area where significant increases in demand had taken place. Strange that.......

I do like the track plan - its going to be interesting to operate. Nice start on the baseboard. Being curious, as you are using a foam base what sort of point control are you going to use?

Certainly progressing rapidly now Ian. There are a couple of things that amaze me. Firstly how you have managed to source timber that is straight and not warped. My own visitations to the usual diy sheds have revealed a variety of interpretations of straight timber which perhaps might be of better use if you were recreating some form of rollercoaster. Secondly, as is becoming apparent as you talk about the Marklin system, is just how advanced it was at the time and how robust and bullet proof the equipment is. It is one of those things that literally you can hand down from generation to generation and keep going if it does break as it is all repairable. Altogether remarkable!

Greetings, Not achieved too much on the layout this past week but got a few hours in today (Saturday) on this weekend where some of us will be confused on Sunday morning wondering where an hour of valuable modelling time has gone! Yes it is that time when the clocks go forward and traditionally less time is spent model making and more on being outside. Progress on this layout may therefore slow further in the coming months but in the meantime I can at least report that the point leavers and buffer stops are now fastened in place and the quarry siding area has received some detail. Firstly the ballast was toned down by using some of the original plaster mix which was left over and had set hard. This was crushed and then used almost as a weathering powder. In addition the sand ballast acted like sandpaper so it was possible to use a chunk of the plaster and rub it along the ballast to produce a powder which adhered to the ballast. A small scrap pile was created using parts from left over kits and some balsa cut up to form a small pile of timber. The scrap pile was given a coat of matt black paint and then dusted with rust weathering powder and the balsa wood given a wash of dilute black paint. Various grass tufts, vines and similar products were randomly placed around the scene and it all ended up lile this. Then it was time, just for the fun of it, to run a train. Probably one to get me thrown out of here with a WHR loco and L&B coaches but it works for me! Thank you for looking. Woody

Hi, I have been very fortunate in having visited many old mining facilities in off the beaten track parts of Oregon and Nevada. Been some years since I last visited but seeing this beautiful building and its setting just suddenly took me back to some great times in those places. Stunning build and wonderful weathering. Thank you and apologies that I have not found your thread before but I will be following from now on. Woody

Brilliant! Didn't realise until I saw this that there is a reverse curve on the incline too which makes the performance of most of the engines remarkable!

Regardless of the detail and DCC abilities of today's model railways this just beats them all hands down! It does make you wonder whether if these systems were produced and retailed today if they would bring back younger people into the hobby. Strangely the day before you posted this I did come across some videos on Youtube of the old Tyco road system which has similarities to this. Thanks for posting this Ian.