Newtz1981

Lights have been install in the shed at Newton Grove. My Father and myself worked together doing this, as he is the one with all the electronic experience. There are 16 LED lights inside the shed and a further 3 will be added to the face of the shed too very shortly. Here are just a few simple iPhone photos of the lighting so far.

This layout looks superb with loads of operational potential. What dimensions is the layout? 12ft x 2ft, longer, wider? Do you have a track plan you can share showing the sector plates too?

Here are a few photos showing the interior of the shed, now glued into place I love this shot I must admit, taken from the back of the layout at ground level looking up at 8F 48773 and into the shed.

A little while ago I purchased a small hot glue gun as I thought it would be a great investment. This morning I put it to good use when I glued the smoke chutes and internal support beams into the loco shed. I'm leaving it a few hours to really harden up and then I will add a little more glue to the support beams for complete strength. Once it has all dried 100% I will add in the small beams and then work on getting things ready for lighting.

Who is this 'David' that you speak of??

So in a crazy impulsive moment I've ordered myself 6 Peco wagon kits; the 16t mineral wagons. When built that will make 8 in total, given that I have two already. Now I know I won't use them too much and they will not be easy to shunt with such a small fiddleyard, however Rose Grove had it's fair share of 16t wagons and so it's only right that I include these on Newton Grove.

I agree with you Rich, that's why I'm getting someone else to build it for me. I haven't a clue on how to do this kind of work.

Progress update on the Stanier Mogul. It has finally reached the stage where most of the below the running boards things have been built and soon enough the 'top stuff' can start to go on. My builder is doing a brilliant job.

Yes they have come up a treat!! Perhaps you may want some for your projects. I've asked Alan to make them available to other customers too. The individual ones look brilliant too and I will post a photo soon. Even the numbers are on the blocks, fantastic detail!

My order from ModelU has arrived from the UK - YAY!! I have loads of brake block stacks now and loads and loads of individuals ones too. Not missing a beat I have started to paint and weather the stacks. Here are a few photos to start with and I will add more soon. I'm just using flat brown as a base and then I am going over them with rust wash from Hunbrol and rust weathering powder. I might add a little smoke/black to these too just to give them a little more grime - however as these will be inside the shed I may not need to go to that much detail...

Thank you David, We all have our strengths. I wish that I had the talents that you posses to be able to add detailing to locomotives and build/fab things from nothing. I'm no engineer one little bit and even the most simply of engineering things seems ultra complex to me. I do admire your work and have looked at it dozens and dozens of times. Newtz

I decided to break the harsh look of the bridge up at the back scene. What better way to do that than with a tree (which I have not actually 'planted' yet - it's just sitting in place right now) Now I know that it was not common to have trees so close to the railway, back in the days when they managed line side vegetation, etc. However as this is the 1960s and workers are slowly being laid off and pride and care is fading in the railways, this tree has been left to grow. It's a young tree, only around 4 years old; however it looks lovely and helps to break up this end of the layout and soften it. What do you think? Here 46443 waits near the boothy. The tree just adds that little extra something I reason. I will only be putting this one tree in as adding any more will just look silly.

That looks simply beautiful!

More work has been carried out on and around the shed. To begin with I have started to install the pit floors into each road. Next job was to install the fire drums around near the water columns. The lighting works well, however I need to add more paint and rust it seems, as the sides are glowing too much. I seem to have a soft spot for Alberta. Shame she wasn't preserved I have also made up my concrete pillar at the shed entrance. This is just wet and dry sand paper that has been wrapped around the plastic, again I used liquid mails here so that it would dry quickly and hold firm. You can also start to see the smoke chutes and details and it's starting to look very very good indeed, in my opinion. And in the final photo we see Alberta and 48773 at the shed entrance. This is what Newton Grove will be all about, creating atmosphere so I can take some great photos that look as realistic as possible.

I've been doing more work to the shed building again. This time I have added the brick work to the side wall at the entrance of the shed. This wraps around the inside of the shed too. It was very easy to produce and install. To secure it hard and fast I used liquid nails. This meant that I could hold the brickwork in place and in a very short time I was able to walk away from it and let it dry, while it still retained its bend and shape. Images below:

And here are a few photos to show the detail of the painted and weathered chutes... All I have used here for the weathering is Humbrol 'Dark Earth' and Humbrol 'Smoke' powders.

The smoke chutes are finally completed and I have painted them Matt Black. It's currently in the shed drying overnight. The next step is to weather them before gluing them in place into the shed itself. The next step will be to add the smaller trust beams that run across the roof. These will not only give support (well, not really on the model), they will also make way to accommodate the interior lighting that will eventually be installed. At the moment I am thinking that the easy part of the shed has been completed. The roof may present a challenge for me, as at this moment I have no idea how I will build it or make it work. Having said that though, that's been the case with all scratch built items so far and somehow I seem to work it all out along the way - so let's see how this all unfolds.

After I have the lamps finished and on the bridge there will be no more work being done to this part of the layout. When the pelmet goes on the layout most of the road will be obscured, so there will be no point in adding minute details such as grass/weeds and footpath. When all is done you will see what I mean

As it's the weekend I've spent more time today working on the shed, in particular the smoke chutes again. There are only 2 side left to finish before I think about painting them all in matt black and weathering. Here are some photos of the work finished today. I'll get back to the remainder of the smoke chutes soon. I was also inspired to make a start on the low relief terrace houses. These will be featured on top of a cutting, over looking the railway. The model is from Scale Scenes and I have printed it professionally on thick matt card. This will make construction easier and will give the building strength when completed. I am also modelling these houses in 00 scale, to give a forced perspective when look towards the bridge and beyond into the distance. I'm sure that when it's all done it will look perfect.

I've been working on the smoke shoots within the shed. This is going to be a long process, however I have most of one road done already. Here are a few photos of the inside of Rose Grove. You can see the detail in the smoke shoots. Now I'm not going to model this exactly (because you won't really see it anyway) so I'm doing it in a similar yet more simple way. Using matches, I drew lines that are 1cm apart, and off-set, to give the diagonal angle. Then one by one the matches were glued down onto the balsa wood. Once dry I cut the heads off. Here are a few photos of the progress so far... And here is what it will look like (kind of) from 'ground level' If you are wondering what the black strip is underneath the brick work - this is wet & dry sand paper; really fine grade too. This is going to simulate concrete, once it's been weathered. Here is another view of the face of the shed, slowly coming along. I love that mirror! Best idea I had for the layout

I've had someone suggest to me to exhibit Newton Grove around the UK. Hmm, now there's a thought. I guess if the right deal came along, I may consider it

I had my girlfriend over the other day - I'm lucky in that she is impressed with my modelling and also very encouraging of it too. She looked at the road bridge and said "it needs the white lines on the road." Damn, she's right. So first I thought of what lines I ought to put on. Very quickly I decided not to put a double line in, as I didn't feel it would look good - maybe too much. I considered a single continuous line, but that was also given away quickly as I though it would be far too dominant. So, I decided to put single broken lines in. Now this really isn't what you would find on a road bridge, however it's my model and I make up the rules I took a small length of balsa and cut out 3 'lines' somewhat evenly spaced. I then lay the balsa across the road and gave each hole I'd cut a dab of white weathering powder, then I vacuumed away the excess right away. I did not want the white to be overly white, and so there are a few patches where it looks like it is fading, etc. I'm quite happy with the result I must say and it really has made a big difference to this dominant side of Newton Grove. Next step is to add some weeds and grass around the base of the brickwork. The lamp is just there for now to see how it looks. In fact I rather like it and I think I'll order a second one (Langley Models) and put it on the opposite side at the rear. Once finished these will be illuminated too.

Hello Steve, I have spoken to Alan and he will make the brake block stacks, and the single brake blocks as well, available in both 7mm and 4mm on his website soon. Please feel free to email him to ask about prices and place your order - and show us all some photos of when you have them around your Rose Grove layout Newtz

I've just ordered another 12 loco crew figures from ModelU - Newton Grove is going to be a very busy MPD indeed!

Hi Jon, Thank you for letting me know that. I must say that I was thinking about having my ground signals 'bounce' so it's good to know who does what, etc. I look forward to placing my order with you very very soon. Newtz