CoombeTown

After 18 months, the first scenic item is finished! Finally got around to painting and weathering the bridge over the last couple of weeks. For my own record, paints used with Humbrol 70, 113 for bricks, Revell 78 for the Engineers blue brick and Humbrol 28 for the mortar. This afternoon saw weathering powders applied to finish the look, not too dirty but a good layer of soot over the track as the engines would be going for it leaving the station. And finally, posed with my new Hornby Peckett and a couple of vans that I picked on a trip to a model shop over the weekend. Really looking forward to getting it bedded in proper once I've built the Goods Shed & Cattle Dock.

Some progress, I've now finished the CAD work for all the architectural details for the Goods Shed, these are now off at Shapeways and due at the end of the month. In the meantime, the bridge on the scenic break has had a coat of primer and will get its first coat of paint at the weekend. I've also started giving some thought the opposite end of the layout, namely the large area behind the headshunt. This whole area will be raised to the base of the trees on the backscene and will then hold the station approach and Stationmaster's house, as with everything on this layout, based on that at Crowcombe. The line of poplar trees is an from the GWSR and was common GWR practice. In this case, the story is that the lady of the local manner did not like the sight of a station from her bedroom. Having seen these trees on the Honeybourne during a trip to a relative, she persuaded her husband to pay to have these planted... My view is that they will make a nice break and hide the joint with the backscene. But as with everything, I might change my mind by the time I get there!

Would this explain the buzzing from the motor I seem to be getting with a LokSound v5 fitted?

The platform has now had a coat of paint. The wood is very light at the moment but will get toned down with a dark wash tomorrow. Application of weathering powders will have to wait a few weeks beyond.

Some progress on the Goods platform. Now fully clad with Plasticard. I've modelled one end with the stairs covered over showing the support and a wooden panel. I have a photograph showing this set up at Washford Goods Shed, as this is based on. And in situ after a coat of primer

Thanks, I wish I could take credit but it is the product of South Eastern Finecast. The same sheet will be used to clad the Goods Shed and face the cattle dock

Wills Vari-Girders will probably give you a decent amount of flexibility. The bridge below I did from those with plastruct profiles under the road deck to add more detail, but you could omit that to keep cost down. The abutments are a plasticard shell, covered with slaters embossed brick sheet. Not linked to any company, just personal preference.

Before working on the layout I wanted to get some more experience of structure building and painting/ weathering techniques. To that extent, I've built a small diorama. There will be more work on this in future, mainly a country scene on the other side to practice embankment & static grass. But for now, on with the Goods Shed:

My first attempt at building a diorama. Scratchbuilt terraced house from Plasticard with 3D printed windows. The bridge uses Wills panels with plastruct t-beams and strip used to create the lattice.

They posted on a Facebook a couple of weeks ago stating April/May. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3983837365012433&id=178273575568850

Wheeltappers seemed to have one "in progress" no idea when it will be available though. No connection, just a curious potential customer. Dom

A very nice layout indeed, thanks for the video. The bunker seam is really not that noticeable from normal viewing distance

Very much looking forward to this model, which I plan to sound fit. I was going to use a Wheeltappers 64xx sound file although I notice that they have a dedicated 16xx sound file in progress. Has anyone seen any details about when to expect this?

They were available for approximately a day at that price, they sold out very fast. If memory serves correctly it was just after the decision to no longer stock Hornby products when they had a clear out

Is it just me, or does it look like Dapol have fixed the slide bar issues from the Mogul? Might have to reconsider my pre-order on the latest batch of Hornby models.

All of the sheds on the West Somerset were of the same design. I'm currently using Washford as a prototype, which has an access door at track level. On the road side there is a pair of full height sliding on the inside behind an arch, which I assume is as it is at Dunster, a couple of stations down the line. Both sheds have offices accessed from inside the shed only as well, but I haven't found any reference pictures to show where the door is. Hope this helps your thinking.

In fitting with some other thoughts for retooling of Airfix models. I'd like to see new tooling of the 'B' sets, the Hornby suburbans look great but are not correct for the branchline sets. The Comet kit has the wrong roof profile as well so it's a good gap in the market. It fits in with Hornby's current performance of retooling sets for each of the Big Four. Given that these have primarily been mainline sets so far it seems like a missed opportunity to target those of us with smaller layouts which can't take 4+ carriage trains.

The sound fitted version has a bass speaker fitted in the tender as well according to the manual.

When I watched the Sam's Trains review he showed the manual which listed the speakers as DCC Supplies 112965 & 100790 both of which I've found several hundred in stock? Are you saying that in fact these aren't the correct speakers? Apologies for the slight diversion Neal.

Hope all are safe and well. It's been a busy few months since coming off Furlough. I've been working on a small diorama to practice my scenic skills before trying things on Coombe Town. I'm making good progress on that so starting to plan my next steps on the layout, focusing on getting the smaller scenic board completed, including detailing the yard. I've mocked up a shed based on Washford on the WSR. The issue I have is that it looks a tad large, what do others think? On the other hand, it does frame a train appearing from under the bridge quite nicely.

Long time lurked here, it's really interesting watching you build such a large layout, I'm a long way off having the space to match. I've recently installed a MX600R in Bachmann Small Prairie. Since then I've had smooth running all over my small layout, including a couple of spots where locos with other brands fall down. The feature that really sells it for the me though is the braking function. Obviously it's down to user preference but for locos without a flywheel it really does to give a more realistic feel to operation. No connection but a satisfied customer. Take my comments how you please, operational gimics are not everyone's cup of tea. But for the cost of it the running and capabilities are great.

I've had an attempt at getting a feel for the layout with some proper photography. Due to the yellowness of the room lighting there's been some editing, although I hope this will reduce when I install the layout lighting. 5621 awaiting the arrival of the autotrain from the junction. Autotrain having arrived, 5621 departs the loop at Coombe Town with a short local goods. 82020 arrives at Coombe Town with the lunchtime service.

Goods Lookup now complete and plonked on the layout for a photo op. The backscene joint is a little obvious but the worst of it will be covered from this angle by the signal box and possibly the terrain, the latter is tbd.

More process again. The materials for the backscene have finally arrived and have been fitted to the layout, what a difference it makes. The track was also given a liberal coating of railmatch track dirt at the same time. Fully assembled with the backscene added: One final image showing the view from the end of the line with an autotrain arriving at Coombe Town.

Further progress the last couple of nights has led to a roof structure, gutters and drainpipes. As my first proper attempt at scratchbuilding from a prototype, I'm pretty pleased with how it's turning out. Hopefully my painting will do it justice.