paulprice

I'm sure you are all getting bored with my updates on this project, so I think I will start to increase the length of time between updates, at least for the following 2 reasons. 1. There are far better things to read about on this forum. 2. If I post too many, the Domestic Overlord may conclude that I have too much free time, so increase the list of Domestic duties I have to complete each day before I am allowed to go to bed each day, just to dream about another day of servitude. Yes I'm like an actual Cinderella, I even have a FURRY Godmother, thanks to her having an unfortunate facial hair problem, in fact she looks remarkably like Bob one of the neighbours, but why would he be wearing a sparkly dress and wings, I mean it must have taken him weeks to sew all those sequins on, anyway I digress. On my previous layout I used card for the majority of construction for the first time in years, but I decided to revert back to plasti-card for this one, however I decided to use card again as I kind of enjoyed the challenges this presents (nothing to do with the fact that its considerably cheaper honest ). I decided that I needed at least one public house on the layout so I planned to have one at the corner of one of the streets on the layout. Progress on this is moving at such a rate that I may have to start looking at producing glazing for the windows, but there is still a lot of details to be added before then. I keep telling the Domestic Overlord that to produce a model you have to do some really detailed research (especially in the interior of Pubs) , but its fallen on deaf ears. Aparently to become really good Domestic skivvy you have to do more domestic chores, so as soon as I have finished this update, I'm off to scrub the kitchen floor. My idea for the street along the front of the layout was to portray as transition from commercial buildings to more mundane terraces, so I needed a few shops, the basics for the first block of these has been completed. I have not decided what businesses will be modelled yet and I think I will leave this for the Domestic Overlord to decide. This progress means that I am beginning to get a better impression of how Board 1 will look when completed, that is if I don't change the plan too much, and I hope its beginning to show a balanced urban scene. I have decided to work on the layout from front to back, and by coincidence (or planning) board 3 is dived into 3 sections, 1 The street scene, 2 The raised railway section, 3 The area behind the station up to the back scene. As you can see there is a massive amount of wok to be completed on the street scene alone so I better crack on and get some work completed on it whenever I can. I must go now, as I have just received a text message from the Domestic Overlord, saying "if you have time to read this, your obviously not doing the washing" never a truer word said. Until the next time Happy drudgery

A little more time has been spent on a couple of the buildings for Lugsdale Road, and I am getting near to the stage where I will have to think about making a start on all the windows. I must admit I enjoyed using card on Foster Street, but did think for the next layout (Lugsdale Road) I would revert back to using plasti-card but so far card has been the material of choice and I'm happy with the results (nothing to do with the incredibly low costs, like I constantly say I'm not tight just prudent). A few process pictures are as follows, Thankfully the Tram obscures most of the building but this will eventually become a Public House, but as I keep telling the Domestic Overlord that in order to make a truly accurate model, I need to do some detailed research, preferably from the inside of some pubs, but so far this has not been successful As my thought was to model a street that progressed at one end from a busy commercial area to more mundane terrace houses, so that means I needed some shops. The basics have been knocked up for a block of these, but there is still a lot more work to add to these, before I seal the card and then think about painting them (I have not even thought about what businesses they will be the Domestic Overlord can decide this). What this means is I am starting to get an impression of how board 1 will look as construction progresses, I think for the moment its looking balanced, but trust me I will do something to ruin this

I actually found a spare hour tonight to do some modelling, this cant be right

I took delivery today of two more of the old Typhoo trams, so many projects to work on, so little time

Well a little progress has been made turning the plan for the street that runs along the front, of the layout into 3D, the building carcases have been constructed, which means if I am happy with them, I can start to add the outer finished walls.

Well in my last blog, I told you that the Domestic Overlord had allowed me to have my felt tips back, well I have been a very good boy, as this weekend I was allowed my glue as well. Being positively angelic, the Domestic Overlord even allowed me so time to "play with my trains" as my reward for being good, or maybe it was just to get rid of me for a few hours. Anyway I ruches to the spare room to get my hands on my secret stash of card, my modelling knives (of the heavy duty Stanley variety) and set to work, knocking together the carcases for what will eventually become part of the urban sprawl on Lugsdale road. In my last post I showed you how I tend my ideas/plans onto the layout using a little graph paper with the footprints of the buildings drawn out full size. I find its a good idea to plan this way as it helps you get a feel for what will and wont work on the layout. Once I have made a few alterations only of the minor type, I like to flesh out this plan my making the carcases for the buildings so the plan turns 3D. Now usually when I construct buildings from plastic, I make these mock-up carcases out of cardboard, but because I am making the final buildings from card, I thought I would make these from the same cardstock I would use for the final buildings. I couple of hours work and in theory if your happy with the dimensions and positions on the layout you can then cover these carcases with the final walls etc. I still have a couple more to construct and then I can start on the very slow process of adding the outer walls, and cutting out doors and windows, that is once I get my head around the huge number this will involve. Hopefully I will capture some of that elusive urban atmosphere? So there you have it, that's the progress so far, I used my knives and glue, un supervised and I still have all my fingers in place, and only things glued together that I set out intending to. That means it must be time to panic, as things can only go down hill from here..............

You have a Garden shed that's not fair I want one

I'm not showing the track plan for the layout yet, but you can have this sneaky peek at part of the station area, and yes you can all now tell me how wrong it is. All I need to do now is make a start on the buildings, well at least think about making a start

Can you tell me what chassis you used for the Typhoo tram conversion, as I am considering motorising a couple of these myself? Thanks

Apparently the Domestic Overlord said they are for actual children, not people with the mentality of a child in a Gorilla's body, the cheek of it

Well a little time, and I mean a little time was spent working on the plan for the urban setting on board 1 which has meant that the Domestic Overlord even let me have my felt tip pens back (I'm not allowed my crayons back, as apparently if you eat them it does not colour you on the inside ) After I promised to use them properly I used them to flesh out the progress so far, and some of the colouring was even between the lines. I like doing this when I'm working on a layout, as it means you can actually see the details from the other end of the layout. I think the street width is about right, though I may work on this as the plan progresses, as it should allow my idea of adding a little moving street furniture, to actually work until I mess it up. I think its looking okay, but I think I may have to make a few building mock-ups and for that I need that special card you get from boxes of Coco pops, as its the perfect material for this job. Its not that I really like Coco Pops, honest, in fact if the Domestic Overlord is reading this I really hate them, and I only had 4 bowls of them so I could get an empty box quicker, yes I'm a martyr to my hobby

Well I think I'm happy with the plan for the urban setting on board 1, I even got a chance to use my felt tips and some of the colouring is even behind the lines. With progress going along at this rate, I may actually start building shops and terraces sometime in early 2020, and I'm actually looking forward to starting on these. I think I secret maybe out about an idea I have for a little street furniture..... I might start cutting the base templates soon, which means I can play with a big jigsaw, but I may make a couple of changes to the plan, well maybe, and peaking of plans, look there is some of the track plan on display.

I think I will have to investigate some ideas on how provide that unique northwest atmosphere, now how can I get some scale rain?

Hey it wont be that big a project to put the lighting in I mean there will only be 30-40 buildings.......OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE

As I have not really had enough time to do any modelling today, I have been musing on the layout, but I have still not come to any conclusions. The topics of thought tonight were 1, how tall should the layout be? (Im 6'7" tall but what is a good height for exhibitions?) 2. should the buildings be lit? Oh well off to bed I go

I get the feeling it wont be a quick build

Does that mean I have to have a track plan? I may just be keeping a couple of secrets Hey if I can make boards like this, it means everyone else should be able to make better ones.

Stable? what stable? Remember you can take a Horse to water but a pencil must be led....

Well I've managed to get the second board completed, which means that I can start at some point, maybe if this go to plan?

Well despite being feeling decidedly off form and weak due to the effects of my condition (the Domestic Overlord reckons I'm a condition all of my own) I have managed to get the second board completed. All I have to do is finish, or rather start the storage yard board and the layout legs, but these can wait for a while, as even a Woodworking GOD like me needs some rest Anyway the boards just need a little sanding and finishing, but on the whole I think I am happy with them, so I think the first stage on building Lugsdale Road is complete. Now I must admit I envy the modellers out there who meticulously plan their layouts, and produce detailed plans using witchcraft and templot, but not me. I have plans for the layout, I mean I'm not one of those modellers who just makes it up as I go along, I actually enjoy the planning stages, with a pen/pencil and some graph paper, but I always find that sometimes there is nothing better than planning on the actual boards. To do this for certain parts of the layout I cover the area I'm working on with graph paper so I can transfer onto it my plans and see how they feel "life size". So I get to effectively double plan, and hopefully the end result is a balanced look (I admit it went wrong with Foster Street), if the plan looks okay I can then look at building mock-ups, and this layout will need lots of them Part if the planning stage now is to decide if I revert back to producing buildings using plasti-card or card like on my previous layout? Decisions, decisions, decisions and I thought railway modelling was supposed to be easy, I mean what could possibly go wrong

keep the updates coming