Robatron86

In other news, I was bored last night and wanted to build something. I have quite a lot of the Lakeview Warehouse kit left, most of it was butchered to make the loco servicing building on North Valley, so I have bashed a building together with what's left. I sadly suspect it is too modern for the TYS extension.

I know the feeling. It's why I think DCC sound would be totally wasted on me as I am partially deaf in my right ear (15+ years stood to the left of very enthusiastic drummers). It looks cracking though! Still not helping me stay away from the temptations of O scale!

I'm sure it will be nominated and have a price tag of eleventy billion pounds I'm still awaiting an invite from them.... That is beautiful, and how I would like my car float layout to look, when I actually get round to making it.... Woohoo! I got a vote! Proper piste artist me The extensions debut will be at the Barnstaple Exhibition next July. The layout will be available with or without it for other shows.

*cue artsy fartsy mode* I try to, you know, be minimal in my work. Track is soooo overated. I'm inspired by such artists as Ellsworth Kelly and Sol leWitt. You have to open your mind. Imagine your own trackwork and scenery. It then becomes personal to you. I don't like being constricted by what society thinks of as a good trackplan or good scenery. That's so blasé.

First look with the extension. I will be getting another stand. Because the board wasn't really designed to be extended, the board ends aren't easy to modify, so I am using some aluminium "L" to line up the boards and just a couple of g clamps to hold it together. Quick and dirty, but it works.

While I wait for my brain to make up its mind on the next project, I thought I would sink my teeth into extending TYS. 34 inch by 12. Why 34? The original board is 62, so by going for 34 gives us exactly 8 ft. I like nice even things. The board os constructed exactly how the original was, just 5 odd years apart. On the left is the continuation of MPB and Empire storage that end TYS. Then in the middle at the back is some classic tenements, then a main road with some generic shop fronts.

Not enough room once I have got in. Plus it may be sunk by my toy submarine.

So in my experimentation with the car float, I have discovered that it isl overpowering the board, so I decided to chop it.

Such sacrilege! No it is a cracking repaint. Well done. Thank you for the good luck wishes. I'm still experimenting with ideas for the carfloat, and other, larger scale ideas.

Ooo stripes! You know I love stripes! Just been assessing the wood in my man shack, and I think I have all the wood I need to make a 48" by 20" twin track board.

Thank you for that. At the moment it's a bit of both, curious to try, but a little bit hesitant. But that is half the fun hey?

I've got a pile of wood in the shed, and your thread tempting me to go Freemo.

Very impressive work. I've been curious about doing my own casting, I'm sure it is as simple as you make it sound!

Doesn't surprise me Dan Whoops...

Very nicely done Max.

I apologize in advance for the off topic tangent I'm about to embark upon: This "Ugh, it's foreign" phenomenon we experience truely saddens me. At the last show I did I had this young lad, maybe 8 or 9, come racing over to investigate the snow on the layout. I was also doing the delayed magnetic uncoupling at the time. He was enthralled with it. Sat him self down and was just taking it all in. His mother caught up with him and said quite loudly "Oh, it's American, you won't like that" and began trying to drag the poor boy away. I was stunned. Nearly dropped my tea. As far as I'm concerned, a layout could be GWR terminus or a sugar cane narrow gauge line, I will still enjoy it for the artistry involved. Good modelling is good modelling, no matter where it is based. And the more unusual, the better. Perhaps we should start saying "Oh it's another BLT" (tongue very firmly in cheek). And clearly we are not the only ones as more and more "foreign" layouts are appearing at shows. Blimey, it's rather windy up here on this soapbox..

Oh yes I remember that one. It's whitemetal isn't it?

You are more than welcome

Is that the 15 ton mack?

Pre orders. They don't have a final price until they are in.

Making me look bad Nick... And that's just with Model Junction!

Just being on the Darkside should be enough to keep you fired up!

Happy birthday. I hope you have great day.

It lives! Now you can play, I mean test it thoroughly.

That's funny, as I have owned 5 Bachmann locos (GP30, GP38-2, GP40, H16-44 and S4), but only the H16 had roadrunner characteristics. Obviously they aren't in the Atlas/Walthers Proto leagues, but I don't have a huge problem with them. The controller plays a massive part, as North Valley used the standard Bachmann controller and TYS uses the Gaugemaster handheld. A giant leap in performance. And the H16-44? Well because it so far removed from the Atlas model in terms of looks and performance, it is being converted into a H12-44TS.