Southwich

Hi all, Just realised I haven’t updated the thread for a few months. Just to show the project is still going full steam ahead I thought it was worth posting an update to show where I’m at. I’ve been very busy on various things over the past months, primarily the end of the garden going from this: To this: (The crosses over the windows have now been painted for anyone wondering ) Inside the workshop I’ve been beavering away insulating, using CLS from B&Q for the stud walls, rock wool and a damp proof membrane - it’s now nice and toasty after 5 minutes of having the heater on. Over the Christmas period I’ll get it boarded out with plasterboard and put some form of path in at the front - but for now it’s time for some layout progress! Firstly I thought it was sensible to try a proof of concept for the P4 track - by completing my small scenic board: This has been fully wired up using the DR5000 and DR4024 to power the points - very pleased with this! The Exactoscale tortoise conversion unit mounted underneath works very well indeed. I’ve built a mix of flat bottom and bull head to try both construction methods and I’m very happy with the result - it makes for a nice programming track! It will also allow me to trial techniques of track weathering, ballasting and scenery before tackling the main layout. Onto Temple Mills. A big thanks to Tim for his help with the project so far - I had a nice trip up to Norfolk last Sunday to collect the boards. They only just fit into the car! On Saturday night I was left to my own devices by SWMBO so I cracked on and assembled the three remaining boards which will all get a coat of primer at some stage this week. Please excuse the dodgy track plan and dark ish photos, I have posted a few of each board to show off the track plan below: Board 1: (depot shed will take up most of this board) Board 2: Board 3: Board 4: The track plan now needs a bit of tweaking and then etching into some thin ply to start the tracklaying. To get an idea of sizes, I placed two 37s, an 08 and a 60 in the depot - think I may need some more stock! Hopefully will be back with some more progress soon. Any feedback/comments would be much appreciated! Kind regards, Will

Thanks John - PM sent. Kind regards, Will

I saw them at GETS a few weekends ago and they look very nice indeed! The mouldings were very crisp considering they were the first samples. On a separate note @hayfield I have a query on an outstanding order following GETS and haven’t been able to get through to Phil - wondering if I drop you a PM if you can help me with this? Kind regards, Will

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by for a chat over the weekend to discuss various projects. We also managed to pose the 3D printed grid onto Oak Road - a big thanks to @scoobyra for letting us do this! It looked right at home in the yard on Oak Road! Kind regards, Will

Congratulations to Mike on the third place finish! Thanks also must go to Mike for running the PGAs on his layout all weekend as well as posing the 3D printed grid in the yard - it looked absolutely superb! It was a pleasure seeing the layout in the flesh and speaking with Mike, @Temeraireand Rhys over the weekend. Will post some videos up over the next few days. Kind regards, Will

Hi Guy, Please see photos of the first sample below: Apologies for the rubbish phone pics - will post some better ones up in the light box later in the week. Kind regards, Will

That 222 is a bit superb Jack! Superb work as usual sir Kind regards, Will

Thanks for posting the photos Jules! A big thanks to Tim Horn and the Scalefour society for a great day out at the Norfolk mini exhibition. We also wanted to thank Jeremy Good for allowing us to take a photo of our 3D printed class 56 on Wheal Elizabeth on it’s public debut. We will also be attending the Great Electric Train show in Milton Keynes next weekend - if you’re attending please come and say hello and have a look at the 3D print of the grid! Kind regards, Will

Hi Rob, Really nice work on the VBA - nice to see someone else springing some stock. To be honest I’d not use Bill Bedford springing units anymore now the Stenson Models ones are available from Phil/Colin. The new ones from Stenson Models go together ridiculously well and are really easy to fit - I can’t recommend them enough. I have linked the castings and the units below: https://www.stensonmodels.co.uk/product/vba-10-leaf-springs-with-hood-style-axle-box-4mm-for-Bachmann-model-sm95d/ https://www.stensonmodels.co.uk/product/suspension-unit-4mm-br-w-iron-for-Bachmann-wagons-cc02s-11/ From recollection everything you need including bearings come in the packs, and the cast axle boxes slot really nicely over the outside of the bearing. There are also some really other goodies for all sorts of wagons as well as loads of underframe parts, so well worth a look! Here’s one of the VGAs I converted earlier in the year - it runs beautifully and is sprung very easily! (Needs the underframe spraying black and weathering!) Hope that helps! Will

Thanks John! Pretty much complete now: It has gone together very nicely! Just got the cosmetic bits to add as well as the tie bars. Such a good kit and goes together really nicely. Just got 15 to go for the layout… Kind regards, Will

Thanks Dave much appreciated. I do indeed - but I haven’t been on in a while; thanks for your tip I’ll give it a look! Thanks Will much appreciated! I think that might be a bit much for these I’ll be honest Kind regards, Will

Looking great Martin! Nice work Kind regards, Will

A bit more this lunchtime on the test point; I’ve cut the copper clad with the dremel, and then filled using Revell filler: The filler was applied as carefully as I could using a cocktail stick. I then left it to dry and sanded off using a nail file as can be seen. It’s much easier to do this now as you can use the file flat against the copper clad to get a perfect fill - and avoid the awful look of cuts in the sleepers later down the line. Ready for baseplates and rail now! Kind regards, Will

Hi Scott, The PDFs you mention can be found in the website here: https://www.cavalexmodels.com/information Just click the image of the train formation guide and it should open as a PDF in a new tab. Hope that helps! Kind regards, Will

Thanks Rob - very kind although you’ll have to reserve judgement if it looks like a modern depot till I have something to show! I’m trying to be as in keeping with the prototype as I possibly can - so Google earth has been a god send. If you look at where the footbridge is on the left, that was the bridge that ran through the middle of the stabling sidings of the depot, see picture embedded from Flickr below: I may be wrong, but I believe the area is now Orient Way carriage sidings which GA use to store their units and the ROG thunderbird uses. Kind regards, Will

I’ve made a start on the first of Colin Craig’s flat bottom P4 points this evening - kindly sold to me by Nick Lee. All of the copper clad sleepers are down and ready to have the cuts made for insulation. I will make the insulation cuts and fill them before soldering on the rails as it makes it so much easier to fill and sand back whilst it’s still just the sleepers. My plan is to make this up as a test point for a programming track to practice getting the method correct before starting on the points for the layout, which will then be used for programming my locos and eventually testing automation. I’ve used the 08 for a size comparison - bearing in mind this is the smallest sized point I’ve got on the layout. Kind regards, Will

Stunning work as usual Jerry! The barbie 90 is particularly nice! Kind regards, Will

Some great prototype inspiration in this video below at 23:47 - class 60 on Bardons followed by a 58 and another 60: Kind regards, Will

Thanks Mick! Size wise and subject - DL has been a massive inspiration for this project! Thanks for the info Paul. Yes I think 2007 is correct Thanks Mark much appreciated. A lot of thought has gone into this one. Fryers Lane was a big inspiration to go down the finescale route when I saw it at showcase, but I’ve regretted not going straight to P4. EM was a great learning project for me, so hoping to build something very reliable in P4 off the back of the learnings done in EM. Thanks Guy - why a coincidence that is! 076, 091 and 095 are planned in the fleet from the Boxenby modern fleet Thanks Will. Yes it certainly will. I haven’t got complete kits but Colin has really helped me with the templates and I will be using his components. I’m planning on 3D printing the common crossings in steel to save myself the time, and everything else will be filed from the EM Gauge stores flat bottom rail. That’s the plan at least… Thanks for everyone’s interest so far! Kind regards, Will

A very nice announcement - I think a 37/7 is too tempting to resist! Look forward to seeing the sample of the /7 and some /5s in the future 37/5s won’t be possible from any 37/7 as the bodyside steps/windows were plated over. One for Fran to confirm but I think all 37/7s would be ok as they all have riveted roofs? Nose grilles may vary though depending on era - see pic below from Flickr compared with 714’s nose grilles: Kind regards, Will

Looking at Google earth on the time travel tool, my assumption was that the yard and depot were demolished entirely for the new Eurostar depot. Not sure if I’m correct but looks like the site as a whole (EWS depot and the yard) were both cleared and rebuilt? I think nowadays the site where the depot was is Orient Way carriage Sidings? Kind regards, Will

Thank you very much. I believe it was taken over by Eurostar as it was no longer required by EWS although happy to be proven wrong! There are a few shots of the demolition of the site on Flickr, like the below: Kind regards, Will

Afternoon all, After I sold my EM layout 'Mott's Lane', I have taken a break from layout building primarily due to not having a proper space for a layout. I've taken my time since and have decided that my next project will be a scale model of the former EWS depot in East London at Temple Mills. The layout will be 16ft in length by 3.5ft wide, split into four boards. I have ordered a cabin from Dunster house to house the layout - which is arriving on Friday. I'm looking for a long term project which will provide sufficient operational interest - which I think Temple Mills provides. The prototype: Given the EWS depot was so short lived (2001-2007 I believe) and it isn't around today, research has been quite a struggle. Flickr and Google earth have been life savers, with a combination of the two allowing me to design the track plan and the shed. I have embedded a few shots from Flickr below to give a feel for the prototype and what I am trying to achieve. All credit goes to the original posters from Flickr - please click the photos to see the original post One of the most interesting aspect of the prototype is that all of the track work it is flat bottom, and relatively new. My plan is to use Colin Craig's components and concrete sleepers from the ScaleFour society stores. Track plan: The design of the layout has been completed in Templot over a few evenings. Overall I'm very happy with how this has come out and I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks in the flesh once printed on A0. My plan is to get it etched into the baseboards then I can build the majority of the track in situ. As can be seen below I imported the screenshot from Google earth into Templot to trace: My plan is to use the Templot sleeper spacing for flat bottom concrete sleeper track combined with Colin Craig's point templates, which I've measured the prototype off of Google Earth. I intend to 3D print the common crossings in steel, and make the points from soldered copper clad construction. The plain concrete sleepers will be exactoscale concrete sleepers. Depot building: I have designed the depot building using Inkscape (a free alternative to Illustrator), scaling/counting the bricks across the front of the building. This was then checked with the measurements from Google Earth. As you can see below the main elevations have all been drawn: I'm hoping to get these cut over the next few weeks so then I can build a mock up of the building to see how it all goes together. I have also designed internal walls, internal bracing and the roof, so hopefully it all goes together like one big kit. My idea is that this will then slot into the concrete hardstanding, which will hopefully be very solid, and act as a locater, so then it is easy to take the shed on and off. Stock: The main stock on the layout is going to be a mix of 08s, 37s, 60s, and 66s, which is perfect for modelling interests. My primary era for the layout is going to be 2003 to 2006, which should provide a nice variety of stock, both in the depot and the mainlines behind. I have made a start on most of the 37s for the layout, which can be found on my workbench. The paid I'm currently working on can be seen above - 37516/517; both in Loadhaul. These use the Bachmann 37510 release in DRS as donors, combined with Penbits bogies as well as a host of Shawplan/Pete Harvey etches. I'm also planning some departmental stock for the layout, namely; 901001 (ex 101), 950001, mentor and a variety of other test trains/engineers stock to work from the yard. I'll update the thread with stock and layout updates as I go. The log cabin for the layout gets delivered on Friday, so as soon as that is up I can get the boards sorted with Tim and get cracking. Thanks for reading - more to come soon hopefully! Any recommendations or comments would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Will

The 40 looks very nice indeed! Interesting to see how others tackle fitting the screens. Have you filed back the front of the plastic windscreen so then the etch fits in correctly? Also interested to see you didn’t take a razor saw to the body as I found my windows sat far too high unless I used the saw to get the windows to sit low into the bonnet. the mention of cutting the corners off of the etches is one I’d echo, makes things much easier! Here are my two tractors 516/517 currently having the chassis sorted out I found it a right pain to get the etches to sit at the correct height, but once in it makes such a difference to the look of the loco! Kind regards, Will

Awesome work Will - the station building and canopies are stunners! Kind regards, Will