richard i

Three latest things progressing the layout forward. First up two POW wich are moving some aggrigate for road building. The underframes will need to be weathered slightly but i will leave them quite tidy in contrast to the coal wagons once they have all been through the works. Then the ballast bins, but how to place them? One facing each track - yes. but next to each other medium distance apart or a long way apart? Lastly the reason everything has been so slow, the couplings which are being made up. All 80 of them. Just keep saying to yourself......there is a point to the couplings, there is a point to the couplings.......there is a point to the couplings Richard

Le silence est grand et le reste est ferblese. (Silence is great, and the rest is nothing) as the french would say I will go with wood ballast bins. finished article on here soon along with another couple POW Being slowed down by having to make up 80 couplings, With 11 actions per couping to make it, it is slow and monotonous work..............but boy does it look good when hands free uncoupling can be done. Richard

Okay on to ballast bins, and throwing this one out there, were GCR ballast bins in GCR days concreate or timber built? Richard

yes Clive, i had found a picture of the chippenham wagons, but they were out of area so they could not be a wagon, but an 'orse and cart was possible. Richard

Bob parkhurst - now i remember, yes it was a hoot. And now for the latest project, the coal cart. It has the empty sacks, spade, hammer and bucket from prototype photos, the chains underneath were also added, in true modellers form. No idea what they do but they are on the photos. The driver seemed to be in either that position or ridding on the front swivel carriage. He still needs reigns and a whip........and of course the horse. I am thinking cart horse, (thanks for the advice), Things take a while to get to the states. SWMBO kindly got me the cart for christmas, but not a horse to go with it. As for the name.... Like the Cluro castings factory, it is named after a friend who has assisted in the project, for which i am most grateful. I feel a couple of ballast bins coming on next. Richard

Welcome back from the dark side, Darth Spider, will you be returning to your light side name?

Forgive my ignorance but who is bob parkhurst? The man driving on the bridge is driving a 1914 car does that count?

So what was the weathering colour on fish vans, was it white like cattle vans due to the use of lime or .....? lord flasheart, a constable.....any other requests, i am feeling in a generous mood.

Helpful as always. Some brakes with red ends, do i dare paint it and then post it on the GCforum to see the response. I have two so maybe one with and one without.

they have not chained themselves, and it was more likely to be a detetive near the GCR as Suffragettes set fire to GCR trains using the time between stations to the full in the unobserved non corridor stock to set up their incenduries. ......Now i have to model a train on fire, at this rate this will become a German layout in more than just name.

but i some how feel the consistancy would be wrong. It is back to that old phrase about dont let the bottom fall out of your world eat a madras curry and let the world fall out of.......

Thank you for the kind comments. The streets then seemed to have a reasonable level of pedestrian activity as most people walked. The casting yard was going to get the milk cart originally, but it just did not sit right, i might do an early lorry backed up as that would look better than a wagon(?). Perhaps a dray without a horse that is being loaded up, then the horse could be tied up away by the gates, (yet to be built). Horsedung........ i feel an experiment coming on to find something/ a mix with the right texture. There is no smellovision at least. Richard.

Thanks Chris, i will look at the langley offering. We are a bit far from east Anglia as it is set in Nottinghamshire. I have finished the road scene, minus the coal wagon and the casting yard. Though i feel that needs a little somethingelse to finish it off. I will let the pictures do the talking. Is there any thing else which could go in to the scene to make it more realistic organic items help break up the angular engineering lines? Richard

More people and the approximate position for some, The newspaper seller is done, i actually changed the figure as it seems most at that time held the papers in one hand and a big advert for the paper in the other, i went for fog crash, could be any time, though trams did go in the 50s. He will not appear on the station, but rather the bridge. However, there is better lighting down on the platform in order to see his sign better. to complement this i found a notice saying trains disrupted by fog, on the GER........I am sure the GCR would notify people of issues with their neighbour as they had connecting services. The last dog and owner, again a change as originally it was to go with a suited chap, but he was more likely off to work where as this one is more at leisure. The suffragette has got her sign, again cropped from a photo of an actual sign, i was going to fit a wooden post to it but in the photo it was held in the hands. In the second Beyond can be the fisher woman selling her wares and at the top almost blured to extiction is the top hatted gentleman and his wife. Just 2 women left and then it is on to the coal merchants cart. I do need horse though, would they have had a cart horse or just a bog standard dobin? Richard

They do look great, i hanker after the first incarnation with the really short cab.

Thanks for the "Like" of the lab, I did it a yellow, then had stone in places to change the shading. Nose was then done black, a wash of brown put over the top to bring out shaddows. A lead, (back to UK ) was made from a thin strip of painted masking tape. One dog painted. The Old English sheeep dog was white then dry brushed with black on the rear end. The dray has Great central Railway down the side, it is a copy of an image on google, if you search images for horse and cart. It has brake gear added and the chains hanging below.

the sash was a piece of paper where i used a sharpee to draw the two outer colours and then useda ruler and scalple to trim it to size width wise before looping it round and using PVA to hold it in place. Thanks for the suggestion of MRD for other relevant kit. Richard

Surely that would require bunting and crowds, how many people can i paint without going insane? But wait.......an excuse for a royal train.......thats another build!

More people, one needs a banner which should be obvious. Also i have gone to the dogs, the old english sheep dog has no leash, but the Lab? has one fitted, there is a Heinz 57 one on the overbridge which also has a leesh fitted using a little masking tape painted up. Two futher groups of people. The first is a young mother waiting at the top of the stairs for her sailor husband to come up the stairs. The second group is being pursuaded of the benefits of giving women the vote. She needs a banner too but that can be much more direct. The one in red came out by accident as the paint held off the risen areas to give an interesting affect to the dress. Just a couple more women to paint, i am finding the fashion colouring is coming to to me if i look at each figure in turn, new carer perhaps? No to get on with the news board and placard. I am sure this is a railway but i dont seem to be going near any wheels recently. Richard

Thank you for all the suggestions The miners and balkans are both great suggestions, along with election victories, i will have to see which are readable when reduced to half a 4mm man height.

Here are the next batch of people. first up the fish monger selling her fish off the train from grimsby, i would say fresh off it but then it would wiff a bit, she will have a customer eventually. you may notice the milk cart in the background, it has moved, it was to be in the factory grounds but i am undecided, it does look good on the road. then the casters from cluro castings are moving the latest casting out to sit awaiting cllection in their yard, but what other gubbins to put in here to fill it up realistically? I will move the man off the fence, he is only placed to see if i like the placement. Lastly the cess is now filled in on the ballasting to tidy it all up. The eagle eyed will also notice some trees have sprouted, they are temporarily in place to see if they work there. i do not want them to be in the middle it would lok wrong, but do they work at all as the need to be short to fit in the box when the two boards are faced off against each other. next some dogs, an old english sheep dog, a lab and something else which i can not work out. Richard

Clive true but i have not found photos of them on the large flyer sheets next to the seller and that is what i am trying to replicate, i could do it in word but i had hoped to be authentic.

Okay headline choices for the newspaper seller. 1. Peace talks for Russia, fits 1912, 1918, 1920, 1936, 1945, 1949 - any others i have missed? 2 Titanic - too specific and not that cheery 3 British ships u boat adventure - too war? 4 "Let them starve " views of public men - what was that about? 5 What Amy said to Jim - Again what is that about? 6 Police chief arrests himself! 7 Man hurt in fight over birthday cake.- It was a real one! 8 Fog train and coach collision 9 GER railway fog disruption 10 Does it matter they will be too small to read any way? All view wanted for the poll, voting closes tomorrow. Richard

I had not heard of the johnsons kleer, the two issues i am trying to solve are the ballast floating up on the glue when it is applied, and the glue bleeding out on to surrounding areas that then need reapplying. Would the application from the side assist or compound this?

your kids did not remove my sanity, they were not the worst by a long chalk. If they had removed my sanity what would the others have done?