Newtz1981

Moving ahead further on the shed, I have cut the front piece and also made up some supports to hold it and to also make the shed walls look thicker. The photos below show the top piece in place, but it has not been glued together - so forgive the warps and gaps between the timber. The rear wall and side walls have been glued together now and the inner shed wall will go in soon too. This will be painted before it is glued in though just to make my life easier. For the other side wall at the operating side of the layout I will have a piece of glass cut to the right dimensions. As mentioned before, the aim is to give the impression of a 6 road shed.

Here is the start of the shed so far. I've produced the rear wall and the side wall (viewing side). I've also cut the length for the other side wall and the intention with that one is to place a mirror along it, so the shed looks double the depth/length. I've painted the rear wall matt black and the side wall (viewing side) has already had red brick sheeting applied.

Moving ahead, I've decided to challenge myself even more. Now that I've been gathering skills at scratch building I've made a start on the locomotive shed itself. I can see this is going to quite a challenge for me and honestly I don't have a engineering or mathematical brain - so far I've already had to consult my father for the simplest of things. However, I'm confident that the end result of the build will be good. I'll just take my time with it. Photos to follow as construction slowly commences.

I've positioned the yard lamps temporarily on the layout just to get a feel for where they look best. Naturally I couldn't resist taking several images while I was at it.

Does anybody here know where I might be able to find lamp shades for use on the yard lamps? If it's possible to buy them from somewhere I'd rather do that than have to scratch build them. On another note, all three yard lamps have been made up. Next step is the lighting.

I'm feeling quite happy tonight! I've now built 2 out of the 3 yard lamps and they look great. I'll build the last one tomorrow and then after that I'll start adding the globes and wiring and working out other details. What I'm loving most about modelling and building this layout is just how often I am surprising myself in what I'm doing, how I'm doing it and the results that follow. It's so very satisfying.

Today I built the first of three yard lamps. A few days ago I designed and drew up a scale drawing, which I based off photographs of several different types of yard lamps. I have used rail for the posts and plasticard spaced between them. Peco ladders have been added too. Next step is to fit a warm LED globe and place a lamp shade (for lack of a better word) over the globe to hide it a little. So, one down, two more to build. I'm quite happy with how this yard lamp looks and I'm very much looking forward to seeing all three finished and in position on the layout.

Progress update on the Stanier Mogul kit that I am having built for me. The tender is now completed and work will commence on the locomotive part very soon. Here are a few snaps, from the builder, of the finished tender.

Could anyone possibly assist me with some detail photographs of how the injectors are placed on both side under the cab on both the 8F and Black 5 locomotives? I've just ordered some cast injectors from Hobby Horse and when they arrive I want to make sure that I'm fitting them 100% correctly. Many thanks in advance for the assistance

Thank you Steve. I have asked to join your Facebook group for Rose Grove.

I have finally, finally, placed the walls of the locomotive pits in position - after having them sit on the shelf for months and months. It's one of those times where you ask yourself 'Why didn't I put these in ages ago?!' Anyway, here are a few snaps that show the pit walls in place. Next job on the pits is to fit the end walls, pit flooring and then make and add the steps.

Thank you for sharing your post Steve. What a wonderful layout you have there! Is there anywhere on the internet that I can follow its progress? I'd certainly love to see more of it

And lastly, the details - concrete fence posts. In a reference book I have on Rose Grove shed there are a few photos that show a small area with a collection of concrete fence posts. I liked this little detail and so I've decided to model them on my layout. These have been made from square plasticard, cut to scale length. The tops (which I think I showed in a previous post) are made using poly filler. When this was rock hard I used a file to take them back to almost nothing, but giving both the poly and the square plastic a tapered look, to try and match what I'd see in the photos in my book. As far as weathering them goes, they were sprayed with grey primer and then placed in a small tub with Humbrol weathering powders (Smoke & Dark Earth). This tub was shaken around a little and a brush was used to stir the power onto the posts. Results are very pleasing. I've now stuck them onto the layout in the grass area, as per the photos I've been referencing.

Second that I have been working on is the road bridge. This project is very improvised as I've never really done anything like this before, so I'm taking my time on it and trying to be as careful as I can. I have painted the base of the road and also painted one of the bridge girders. Below the road I have cut out more iron beams that go underneath, however the middle girders are of the lattice type, which I will show you all later. Here are a few shots of how the bridge is looking so far:

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I put up any form of post, and more alarming is that it's been even longer since I've done more work on Newton Grove. However, yesterday that changed and progress has been made on: * The bridge * The Boffy * Details - concrete fence posts So to start with on this post, I'll show you what I've started to do on the Boffy. I purchased a kit from SkyTrex a few months ago of their Boffy, which is actually quite a good looking kit. This kit does not come cast in one massive piece like some of their other products do, which is fantastic. I gives me more flexibility. Given the space available on my layout on board #3 is smaller than the length of the Boffy, I decided to modify it by cutting off one end of it to make it shorter. This was easily achieved and I made up remaining bricks on the end wall by using Slaters 7mm red brick sheeting. Here are some photos to show you all the progress and modifications so far: Next job will be to clean up the sides so that the kit will assemble easily and then paint the inner walls. After that, I can start painting the building before putting the roof on.

And more progress, from the other side of the tender...

The tender of the Stanier Mogul is taking shape nicely

Thank you Simon. I may need to look into producing some myself, as what I've seen from Slaters and Springside are not what I'm looking for. I want loads of them so I can create a 'pile' of them, which were commonly seen around MPD's

Does anyone know if there is a supplier who sells 7mm scale brake blocks?

Thank you Bob. Slowly but steadily and I'm loving it all. I won't have the shed until August 2016, but hopefully I can get most other parts done before it arrives - then I can start to book the layout for exhibitions.

Thanks for that. I must say the #2 & #4 are my favourites. It's so much fun to do things like this.

And now - time for some atmosphere! Newton Grove in heavy fog.

The Skytrex bridge girders arrived today and I have wasted no time in cleaning them up and seeing how they look on the road bridge. They are a perfect fit and I really like the look of them. Either side of the girders I shall be placing brick walls. These will be made from balsa wood and then the red brick plastic sheeting will be placed over to match the rest of the walls. So far, it's looking great!

Mere semantics Ozzy, mere semantics

Having been so impressed with the effects generated by using Scenic Rust, I decided to make a start on one of the Peco 16T mineral wagons. These wagons were actually the very first items of 0 gauge stock I ever purchased, so it's about time I got around to finishing them off. Here is a collection of images that showcases the stage by stage process of weathering. What you are about to see is a combination of Scenic Rust, Humbrol washes and Humbrol weathering powders. I'm far from finished the wagon, but it's a very good start. And here is a real one, just to compare (although I wanted my wagon to look brutal ):