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The photos accompanying this thread are a bit out of sync as I didn't save them in date or time order, I do apologise! I also have to keep reducing them in size so as not to go over the 10MB lilmit. So it will take a while to get things uploaded. Pete.

We, swmbo, and I had a new fire surround delivered a while ago. On the bottom, to keep the sides straight was a piece of 12mm MDF, 48" x 15". I took one look at it and thought, "this is too good to waste", so the little grey cells started working and I decided to make a plank to photograph my models after building and painting them. I also didn't fancy a flat earth board so I glued some polystyrene foam on the top so I could carve it for landscaping. Next thing I decided I fancied a river with rail bridge over. While at a show I spotted some reject Skytrex resin castings and in the box were a pair of steel girder bridge sides, as far as I could see, the only thing wrong with them were the sides were slightly bent, an easy fix with warm water and a straight edge. I built a couple of brick supports for them, wrapped them in cling film (Saran wrap) to stop anything sticking to them as I poured the varnish river and the mucky plaster/filler river banks. Pete. Oh, I also laid the track on some 6mm ply glued to the foam.

To be honest that was my inspiration. I will have to start a separate thread as I took quite a few photos during the build. Pete.

Great project David, though a small area there is potential for some excellent scenic modelling plus the fact that it is likely to be finished quickly. I built one a while ago using a small, 4ft ish x 9" mdf panel from a new fire surround. Initially planned to build a photo plank with a single track it soon took on a life of it's own and though not quite finished it is now a functioning diorama. Pete.

Thanks for your tips Vernon. The effect you've achieved is just the job. As you rightly say, you only have to please your eye and it can take a while, so I will keep following the different methods and experiment with each until I find a method that suits me. Pete.

The lower photo has the effect I'm looking for Mike. Is this 4mm? If so it is exceptional work!! Cheer's, Pete.

Sorry for the delay in updating. I have since my last post painted the panel. First with the Pumpkin acrylic base coat. Then using the colours suggested by Mike Trice.. Now to my eye it looks too dark but I left it to dry thoroughly then took a photo outdoors. Still a bit too dark for my taste. I like the grainy finish but I reckon I can improve on that. Any way I have decided to try again, and have made another panel. I have painted half(ish) in pale ochre and the 'tother end in a mid yellow. Next job is a trip to Range and see if they have any "Brown Ochre and/or Raw Sienna" to try. I'm also going to try and find some softer brushes. These have a stiffer bristle. Which do give a good grain effect but I would like it to be a bit more subtle. Anyhoo, I don't think I will get anything done until after the weekend as we are going to the seaside caravaning and taking our 91 year old stationary engine to a show there. Thanks for all the interest, and especially the hints, tips and suggestions. All are very welcome! Cheer's for now, Pete.

Sorry it has taken so long to post an update chaps but as you know life often gets in the way. Any way here are some photos of my projects. First up my GC coach sides. I had tried to paint one with a teak finish that I failed badly! Now my GE coach sides. So using the Mike Trice suggestion I have bought my paints. Not wishing to start straight on my coach sides, I decided to make up a coach'ish panel using some spare Ian Kirk coach kit parts. And after assembling and spraying with white primer. Once that has dried, I will paint with the Pumpkin acrylic. More later! Cheer's, Pete.

Fantastic modelling Steve! You've a great eye for the detail mate. I wish I could do mine to the same level!! Pete.

Some awesome results there chaps! I will try and take a couple tomorrow, I have a couple of coaches underway, a Great Eastern 6 wheeler and a GC bogie coach from a very tatty drawing that I have had for over 25 years, no idea of the diagram . Pete.

I am not usually a fan of N/2mm scale/gauge layouts as they don't appeal to me. There is nothing wrong with them its just a personal choice. 4mm, whether OO, EM or P4 are not my bag either these days, I think it may be my eyesight getting worse. So that leaves me with my own preferred scale/gauge, O f/s. I know it is getting more popular with the RTR models that are appearing almost daily but it doesn't seem to be transferring to the exhibitions, with the exception of the recent Lincoln show, almost as many O gauge layouts as 4mm plus a good number of N too. Much better balance. Now having said all that, once I have had a good look at the O presence I will go around all the other layouts and can appreciate the workmanship that has been put into them regardless of scale. However that can't be said of some other show attendees I have noticed. At a lot of shows I have visited, fans of OO or N seem to either ignore or seem to look down on O gauge. Not all!! but a few, and some have even been overheard, by myself, to say, "not for me, too expensive, too big, cheque book modellers, everything has to be built from kits etc etc, it almost seems to me to be a kind of snobbery, or maybe I'm just thin skinned. Anyway, back to the original question, what do show managers look for, obviously they go to other shows and look what is out there, but there doe's seem to be quite a few layouts that get repeatedly seen at other shows, not a lot of new stuff. If the organisers where to give contact details in their programmes for potential new exhibits, I think it would give the hobby some fresh exhibits and maybe get some new blood on the show circle. Finally as I said first off, my preferred scale is 7mm, but I can appreciate good modelling in any scale. Variety is good. Cheer's, Pete.

Hi I'm scratch building some wood bodied coaches for my layout in styrene and I hope to finish them in teak. I was wondering if anyone could point me to a "How to" thread or video perhaps. Thanks in advance. Cheer's, Pete.

Just caught up with this topic. Regarding the traverser, I had a similar dilemma with mine. Originally I wanted cassettes but there wasn't enough room between the station exit/run round tracks so I came up with this, a cross between a cassette and a traverser. All lined up with the mark 1 eyeball. Electrical connection via push to make buttons. Just needs a splash of paint to tidy it up a bit. Cheer's, Pete.

Another way would be to glue some spaghetti to a bit of card then press some kitchen foil down over it. Alternatively make two peices of card with spaghetti and lay a strip of foil between them and press the top one down evenly. If you want stiffer foil, ready made disposable roasting trays will be spot on. Just cut the panels from the flat sections. Pete.

After cutting the front slope and laying and wiring the track I gave it a coat of sloppy plaster mixed with some black poster paint and a bit of pva, once set I gave it a covering of static grass. At 'tother end I made two buildings, one to be the rear of the pub, Black Swan. The other is a semi derelict house back. One each side of the track to hide the open end. I made a fence to separate the track from the field and put some bushes etc along it. Thats all for now, I need to take a couple more photos of the whole board. Mean while here's my scratch built Andrew Barclay posing on the bridge. Cheer's for now. Pete.

A couple or three years ago we had a new fire surround delivered. It came with a piece of 12mm mdf board on the bottom to hold it rigid until fitted. It is about 900 x 250, it just called out to be made into something. My first thought was an O scale photo plank but realistically it was a bit big for that so I decided to go with the diorama theme. I then decided to avoid the flat earth type scene and laid some expanded polystyrene to raise the track bed and enable me to include a low river bridge and slope the landform down at the front. The bridge sides are a pair of Skytrex resin rejects, the only thing needed was to warm them up and straighten them. I wanted one end to be a small goods yard so I downloaded the free Scalescenes goods office and blew it up to 7mm scale, it is the grey Ashlar stone finish which I think suits it well. Pete.

Hi Gobbler, I'm afraid it has all come to nowt. After much faffing around and trying several different track layout plans I found I couldn't get the size of the layout to fit the size of my shed for building it. So, I have gone for a fictional terminus using some of the prototype buildings (except the engine shed ) Once I have got a little more work done on it, I'm having problems with the fiddle/cassette yard, it may need a rethink, and possibly another board building, I will start a thread on it. It has a name, Thaxham, track, points, wired and basic track painted, as they say, (who are "they" anyway??) "watch this space"... Cheer's, Pete.

Hi folks, I have bought an 85A Hunslet O gauge rtr shunter. It was last run around 1995/7 so as you can probably imagine it is in need of some re-commissioning. From initial viewing it needs a damn good clean of the running gear. I attached wires to the pick ups and the motor turned but threw the worm gear off. Also the coupling rods, both sides, came away from the centre wheels. Doe's anyone know if there are replacements available? The crank pins on the centre wheels also seem to turn in the wheels which seems odd, is this right? Anyway, a couple of photos. Thanks for looking. Pete.

I have been looking through topics I have started and found this one from 2 years ago. The engine I have been restoring is now up and running, I took it to Lincoln steam and vintage rally in August 2017 for its first showing here are a couple of photos from a rally this year in July. Cheer's, Pete.

Hi Martin, since my last update I have done some more work on the shunter including swopping out the old motor and fitting a basic dcc chip. Cheer's, Pete.

Thank you for the explanation Martin. Cheer's, Pete.

Please forgive my ignorance, I've been an O scale modeller for 20 plus years, and have built 2 way, 3 way, single slips and a couple of double slips but I have only very recently seen the term "O MF", what do'es it mean please? Cheer's, Pete.

Hi Scott just caught up with your build. Very impressed. I particularly like how you have scratch built your bogies. I am going to build a couple of these coaches, but in 7mm. I have the book of drawings you have used so I will have to scale up but thats no problem. I would like to ask if anyone who reads this if they know where I could get some drawings for the GER 6 wheel coaches? Cheer's, Pete.

If the rest of the layout is to the same standard as the buildings its going to be pretty special. Definitely looking forward to further updates!! Cheer's, Pete.

There is a guy on Ebay that sells embossed photo realistic brick and stone papers in all popular scales, unfortunately I'm unable to put a link to him, if you google brick paper for models it should bring up lots of suppliers but it needs to be ebay. He is based in Cyprus (or Greece) and his business is mostly dolls house stuff. Its worth seeking him out as his products are awesome, I've used his 7mm brick and its great. You will have to buy 8 or 10 sheets but they are worth it. Postage is included. This is an engine shed I'm building with his paper. Cheer's, Pete.