Newtz1981

Wow, it's been a month and I've done no modelling at all. That's not good!! I'll need to kick my butt and do some more work on Newton Grove

Now that I have the temporary back scene up, I've taken more photos - just for fun 48773 waits in 3 road for her next call of duty A 4F shunts some wagons of coal and ash 44871 waits over the pit, while a photographer gets a 'snap' Just pretend that the back scene is also wrapped behind he shed 48773 slips violently on greasy rails The crew of 43895 are busy, but looked more relaxed on this turn.

Thank you Chris, Your layout looks amazing with the back scene!! It really does add so much depth. I won't be putting anything in front of the back scene on Newton Grove, as the idea is that there are more tracks behind what can be seen. Having said that.....never say never

I've added a temporary back scene to Newton Grove today. The photo of the grey sky was captured while I was visiting Haworth in June. I'm very pleased with the result and it really brings the layout to life even more!! And this one is a pano taken on the iPhone

That's what I've done very early in the build. No fish plates have been used at all actually. I think it's just a matter of cleaning the track overly well and then making sure that all the loco wheels are clean on the rims and the back of the wheels for the pick-ups too.

Playing around with DCC more and testing the track I'm finding that there are patches that the loco seems to drop out on and stop all together. I've given the surface of the rails a very thorough clean but this doesn't seem to achieve a result. Would anyone have any ideas as to what other parts of the track I may need to clean to prevent these little dead spots? Do I need to clean the inside of the rail where the flange rubs on too?

I've been chatting with Ben Jones at BRM and when Newton Grove reaches a level of build-completion that I'm happy with I will submitting an article and photographs to appear in the publication. Who knows, I may even shoot some HD video for them too if they want it.

Playing around with the yard lamps, just to get more of a feel for the layout and loaction

As promised, here are some photographs of the work the has been completed on the road bridge. I need to weather the coping stones and add a little more detail to the bridge as time goes on, however mostly it is finished. You'll also be able to see the road detail more in these photos too. The look has been achieved by using Humbrol weathering powders only and smoothing with a damp brush. You will see that I have weathered the van too, which is looking great! And a few shots from track level to see the bridge from a different angle

Notice anything different in this scene?

Here's a little video I found on YouTube of Rose Grove MPD in the final days of steam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVattaohtuk That clip apparently is from this longer video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zYx5gwvG54

I've spent most of my day working on the road bridge again and it is looking very good indeed! I've finished all the walls and I've made the coping too. Each wall has now been painted with a mix of thinners and black weathering powder and I'm very happy with the result. The coping has been painted in stone and once they are all dry I shall weather them too. Lastly I have weathered and detailed the road and it looks bloody brilliant!! I have decided not to add road lines on the bridge just yet, however when I do I'll be making the white line very faint so it looks like it needs to be resealed and painted again. As far as photos, I will take some a little later and upload but I'll wait until I have everything finished and weathered

I find that I jump between different things to do on the layout. Today I have worked on the road bridge, something I have not touched in many months. I cut some pieces of Balsa wood to form the walls that go either side of the bridge girders. That was easy enough, including cutting the angle for the board edges. Here are some photos that show the progress with the Balsa in place... And tonight I have started to add most of the brickwork, which is now 90% completed. I just need to add some edging where the walls meet the bridge girders and then when all that is dry put some coping on top. I think you'll agree that this simple work has really transformed the look of this part of the layout and it is finally starting to have a lot of presence and a great look. You'll notice that I've started the weathering on the bridge girders too. I'm sure that when this is all built and weathered it will look fantastic!

I've just ordered a range of 0 gauge locomotive crews from ModelU. I'm really looking forward to these figures and seeing what detail they have been produced in. Adding more loco crews around the layout is really going to bring the scene to life so much! Check out their website if you haven't heard of them before. http://www.modelu3d.co.uk/

Hello Rich, Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I don't know how I missed your message. Thank you so much for your compliments. I really appreciate the feedback and thank you also for taking the time to read through the whole thread so far. I know that I was inspired by many great layouts I saw on here and in magazines, so hopefully I can do likewise for others Warm Regards, Newtz

Hi Jintyman, Thank you for you comments, I really appreciate your kind words. Yes, three 7MT's - call me crazy!! hehe Newtz

When Newton Grove is finished late this year or early next I'd love to try and get the layout featured in BRM or Model Rail. Does anyone have any contacts?

Not exhibiting yet Chris - that will be in mid-2017. I'd just like to have the loco to play with during my Xmas break mainly.

Here is a little progress on my Stannier Mogul kit that is being built for me. It is slowly starting to look like a locomotive now. Hopefully the builder will have it completed by December for me.

I've been giving some thought over the past few days to the rear of the layout past the road bridge. Essentially that is the fiddle yard, however I want it to not be in view too much. So what I have decided to do is play with some forced perspective and put low relief buildings there, thus giving the impression of distance. I'll be ordering the terrace house rear kit from Scale Scenes and getting my local printer to run the design off for me in card, just to give it some good strength. The kit is only 4.99, so it's not a killer on price and printing wont cost too much either. The best thing about doing things this way is that if I build it and it looks terrible, I can just dispose of it. However I'm sure that it will make the layout look good and add a little more interest.

I've finally been inspired to do some more work on the shed building itself. This has always been the biggest challenge for me for this entire layout project as not only have I never scratch built a building before but I'm also not savy in construction, planning or intellectual matters. Though I have watched DVDs on building buildings before, this shed is quite the 'hope and pray' style of building. Regardless, here is progress so far. The walls are now all held together using Liquid Nails and the face of the building has been clad in red brick. I am now slowly looking at how to add the inner roof detail with cross braces and smoke shoots. You can really see the effect of the mirror in the above shot. The cross braces are in position like this for marking purposes only. The will be cut to length and then inserted inside the building, not on top of the wall as shown. You can just see the beginning of the smoke shoot and also the tops of the cross braces. Fingers crossed that this shed turns out to look the way I want it to. I guess if it doesn't I'll just build another one.

While I was in the UK I took a pano image of the hills around Haworth. After stitching them together and then duplicating it I have come up with something that I think might work as a backdrop to Newton Grove. I really wanted to go with a very average day where the sky is grey and bleak. Hopefully this achieves this, but a test print will confirm this. When it is attached to the layout the hills won't be seen. They are just there as a reference and aid the stitching process.

I've been working on the bothy again since coming back from the UK. The chimneys are 90% finished and I have started on the right hand side roof. This entire model is being details and weathered using colour pencils, however to finish the model once all that is done I will go over it lightly with an airbrush and then again with a matt varnish.

Here are a few shots of the Crab that I picked up while I was in the UK over the last few weeks. It looks so clean compared to it's weathered sister - something I'll have to deal with very soon. However I'm glad to have her in the fleet. Before I start to make it dirty though, I'm going to move those builders plates into the correct position.

Yes I dis see that the 'go button' has been pushed on the Brit's and the Duke. I've actually ordered 3 of the Brit's now, so I can't wait for 2017 to roll on and get them in my hands!! I've ordered: 70000 Britannia, 70013 Oliver Cromwell & 70049 Solway Firth