paulprice

Is this progress?

I feel an update coming on

Jim Sorry for the late reply, I have been down in deepest Cornwall for the past week, I even went for a ride on a GWR train, but now I have returned to more civilised railway territory I am beginning to feel better I really need to get my modelling mojo into top gear so that I can actually make some real progress, I think I may have to re-visit the trams?

Charlie you are a star I have been looking at Shoreditch from the link you sent, very interesting, I never thought of that. I may have to review my model. I can feel some armchair modelling coming on

David Thanks for the link, I think I may have to do a little investigation onto more of their products As for the DG couplings, I think I may just have to pluck up the courage and try and make a few up, I mean what could possible go wrong? They do seem a little fragile

Mikkel As ever thanks for the comments about the Station buildings, I may take a break from them for a few days to see how I feel about them. As for the DO roofs, stand by they will appear Sooner or later

Cool I might give the DG couplings a go, I bought a pack and a jig for them last year when I was at York with Foster Street, but have not opened them. I was thinking about the peco lifting arm option as it seemed easier, but the thought of using elctro magnets is very tempting.........I mean what could go wrong?

Well I don't know how I managed to do it, but I managed to find some modelling time and managed to spend it productively for once. In my previous post I mentioned that I had decided to that the station buildings should be modelled on those used by the LNWR. As most people know, they built some of their stations from standardised wooden panels, and as a result they could erect buildings that suited their intended environments quickly and cheaply. I must admit being a prudent (some people say I'm as tight as two coats of paint) the cheap construction really appealed to me so I looked into it a little further. Basically the I could get away with constructing the station buildings using three different panels, a blank one, a window one and a door one, and following the cheap, sorry cost effective approach they would be constructed from card. A little time making out the panels on some card sides, and blunting several knife blades (thank god I use the cheap craft knives from the £ stores) I soon had the basic shells knocked up. To make fitting the planks that form the panels easier I then covered each side with some graph paper, and then had to cut out even more window and door apertures. The station entrance will be located at street level on the right side of the bridge so I have used a Metcalfe subway mini-kit to provide the platform access. The problem is I'm not sure if I like the way the buildings look on the station so I may leave them on the platform for a few days to see if they grow on me, the benefit of card is if I don't like them I can just bin them and start again at minimal cost I think the fact that the building will have a canopy will mean a lot of it will be hidden so that's a bonus, what I have done so far is black the interior walls so that if I do fit lighting to the buildings I wont get any bleeding through the walls. The only problem to adding lighting is that I may have to then fit interiors, so yet again I turn a potentially easy task into a considerably harder one One of the other little jobs is to get my Stanier Mogul finished then I maybe able to add it to the stock for the layout, which leads to another problem of which auto-coupler I should add to the stock for the layout, I have some DG's in the tool box but I have never used them before. Well I guess I will have to end this post now, as I don't want the Domestic Overlord thinking I have any spare time, especially enough to model with, as this is vital to my plan to get enough sympathy that the DO will slate a few model roofs (insert evil laugh here) Mikkel you may have to get ready to bow in the dust as ever Happy Modelling

Mikkel Again thanks for the kind comments I think you may be looking at someone else's blog though I think if I was you I would get ready to bow in the dust

Well as I mentioned in my last post, I had managed to pull of the crime of the century and managed to get away with just applying emulsion paint to the backscenes on Lugsdale road. The good news is that the heat has died down now and the Domestic Overlord is still none the wiser, but not wishing to tempt fate further painting of the backscene will be strategically delayed for a while. What I have managed to do while laying low avoiding the fuzz is to work on what seems like the endless supply of buildings that the layout needs and I'm still only working on board 1. My attention has been focused on the buildings that will take up position at the back of the layout, which means they will mostly be hidden, which for some of my work is a good thing. Where possible for the industrial buildings, as I'm sometimes a bit of a lazy modeller I have been using severely butchered Metcalfe kits, I will let you work out which ones. Hopefully although there origins will be obvious to most modellers, I hope that I have used them to create something a little less common, as construction of the rear street scene progresses they will of course get a lot of weathering. The immediate problem with creating all these buildings is that there is a lot of roofs that will require slates, though for some of the factories that will flank the station area they will be finished with a roof felt type covering (research showed this was quite common in certain areas), plus I kind of like the use of easy options sometimes. Being a little angel lately, not my words but those of the Domestic Overlord (though I believe Lucifer was an angel once), I may see if the DO may help me by applying some of the required slates, which means I will be able to concentrate on other little jobs. One of the decisions I have made lately is that the station buildings will be those built by the LNWR, which means they will be of a timber construction (just like those on Foster Street but different). I had considered setting the station in L&Y territory but as I kind of like LNWR locomotives, especially of the eight coupled variety I thought the LNWR was the better option (plus I have a G2 kit to build, and a couple of other locomotive ideas). So basically that's all I have managed to get up to, as ever so many jobs to do but so little progress, what I need to do next is get some cork sheeting and lay some track, after all it is supposed to be a railway layout. As ever until next time Happy Modelling

How long has it been since I updated this blog, and has anyone notice?? I might have to go back to sleep

Wow now you need to make some form my N gauge layout

In that case maybe I should find a different hobby, as everyone knows I'm too sweet and innocent to do devious things like that

Mikkel, I actually thought for a moment I could trust you, but now I know the truth They will never take me alive I tell you, Never Never.......

Don't tell anyone especially the Domestic Overlord, but being the sneaky little chap that I am, I managed over the weekend to actually do some emulsion painting. In my opinion this was massively successful for at least two reasons, the first being that the painting was the actually to the backscenes on Lugsdale Road and not a wall in Price mansions, but far more cunningly without the DO getting even the merest sniff of my exploits. To be honest I'm not sure how I managed it, as I have the ability to get covered in paint by just walking past a DIY store, but the painting Gods were with me and I have committed the perfect crime and got away with it. The only problem is that I do not have any pictures to show this mastery of crime, but once the heat has died down I may venture into the spare room and take a couple. As the layout is supposed to be based somewhere in the grotty North West, being internationally known as a sun trap, the backscene will be painted to portray a typically tropical dank dark grey rain infested sky, brooding over rooftops and distant hills. Oh and I also got to lay a little track for the trams down the middle of the street at the from of the layout but more on that can wait for another time. I'm off to plan the next stage in my career as an international crime lord, so as long as the fuzz don't get me, until the next time as ever happy Modelling

Modelling time, in fact any free time has been in very short supply lately, despite a career change that in theory would have given me more time to model, I appear to have an uncanny ability to fill this time with lots of none modelling stuff . As a result of this, perhaps I should have tittle this blog entry as "spot the progress"? One of the jobs I have nearly completed is the addition of the end backscene panel on board number 1. As I have used 4mm ply for this rather than my usual 6mm I may have to add a strengthening support to protect it from knocks and bumps, soon it will be time to slap some paint on these boards and try to portray my favoured dark, rainy, overcast grotty dismal impression of the Northwest in the midst of a heatwave. The backscene boards on Lugsdale road are slightly taller than usual which means hopefully this will help focus the viewers eye onto the layout rather than stuff going on behind (if we get any exhibition invites that is). The idea for the layout was to portray an industrial town just like the one I live in, and research showed that if there was space for one there would be a factory or warehouse surrounded by terraced houses and shops to supply the inmates, er sorry workers with just about enough to exist. So my idea was to have suitable buildings flanking part of the station. The basis shells for these have been slowly created over the last few weeks, but I was not quite happy with the look off them on the layout. Rather than bin them and start again (due to lack of time) they sort of hung around while I thought about a solution, after a massive amount of thought, I gave up and just reduced their height a little, and it seemed to have worked, to me at least they now look more balanced. As you can see there is still an awful lot to do on these buildings, but they are very slowly developing, and in honour of the Domestic Overlord I think this complex will be named "Morgans Industrial Gussets and Truss". Before you say it, its not because the DO needs industrial trusses or gussets, its just that I thought an average town up north might have such a manufacturer to provide products for the average northern battle axes (I dodged a bullet there I think ) A while ago, just form something to do I bought a low relief Metcalfe Cinema, I had no intention of using it on the layout, it was just something for me to play around with and modify but now I am beginning to have second thoughts? It can sit on the layout for a while until I have a better idea (so that means it will take up permanent residence). So that's about it for the progress what little there has been, the problem is it just shows how much is still to be done, the good news is that I have two volunteers for the operating crew, the only problem is finding the time to train them Until the next time as ever Happy Modelling

Truly stunning

Some body please take these two Only joking.....honest

Progress on Lugsdale Road has been very, very slow of late, with the pressures of non modelling life taking up huge amounts of time, though any progress is a good thing? In my last update I mentioned that I would need a lot more buildings just on board 1 to try and create the cramped, dirty industrial town look I am trying to recreate. Then living in a typical northwest industrial town, it suddenly hit me, why not just open my eyes and look around. Lots of the old warehouses and factories in the town I live in had been demolished years ago, but the ones that remain seemed to range from huge to massive so the answer was just to build a huge warehouse/factory and fill the space on board 1 in one go. At least that's what I thought I should have done, what I have actually done is create yet more work for myself. looking from what will eventually be the station platform towards the buffer stops I have been trying to fill in the area with typical buildings you would expect to find in the area, a couple of heavily butchered Metcalf kits help in what I thought would save me a little time but actually used up quite a bit. Looking in the other direction towards what will be the goods yard, you can see the tops of Warehouses and Factories that back against the raised railway line, but the majority of these roofs will thankfully not be slated. This I hope will give the area a claustrophobic feel and will be somewhere the tram line can run behind to hide the fact it will come to a abrupt stop as the line runs out of space. There is still a lot of space to fill but at least the gaps are getting smaller and lots of opportunity to apply a lot of weathering and grot to the buildings, I think a lot of the brickwork will be hidden behind soot and smoke black and greys. The next stage will be the development of a N gauge fog machine as I think the layout will look a lot more atmospheric cloaked in a thick "pea souper" plus if will hide some of the more dodgy modelling. As you can see there is still a huge amount of work to complete, and that's only on board 1, hopefully board 2 will be a lot easier, and I still have to finalise the track plan, still its a break from modelling Terraced houses (I must get back to that) Until the next time, as ever happy modelling

I must be mad, I have even considered getting a few blue buzz boxes

Progress is very slow Perhaps I should have done a nice country branch line?

Well a tiny bit of progress has been made on the layout, in an attempt to create a "typical" industrial town. The problem is I will need a lot more buildings, perhaps I should have just modelled a nice rural location? Im going to need a lot more buildings, and then they will need a lot of weathering.......is it two late to just start again, I mean all I would need is a few bags of scatter??