Al.

Progress update. Well, not as much as I was hoping for. It's been a busy few weeks and unfortunately the railway, as always, took second place. Anyway, this is were we've got too. Soft landscaping has started on the West Bank. Yellow has turned white and is slowly turning green. Grass isn't too far off.

That's looking good. Remind us all when it gets its first outing.

As it's free lance, you can pretty much do as you like. Films like Railway Children, Landgirls will give you the idea of how it looked back then. As you know, it's all about capturing the atmosphere of the era. I like the sound of your N gauge blitz layout. I've been thinking about my next layout after Remagen. I've been contemplating an Overlord theme. Still only ideas at the moment. BTW, don't forget the invasion strips on the Spit. By late '44, front line aircraft wore them on the underside only, but as yours is Home Front, they'd still wear them all round. Al.

Yep. Cats out of the bag... I'm watching yours with interest.

Br-05 arrived today. Armoured plate and camouflaged paint job to add....

Yes, a mark V is probably s bit too early to be chasing V-1's. But I'm sure few people will notice.

This looks interesting. Tell me more...

From someone who knows this stuff, they look bloody good...! Well done. I watch with anticipation to see the wires go on. Al.

Simon. The size of your layout is impressive. Nice work on the overheads. I can see a lot of time has gone into them... Al.

Then you'd like my Hummell train. A unit of 9 guns and support vehicles loaded onto twin axle wagons.

Tanks aside. I've been working a bit of river traffic to go under the bridge. These are a small flotilla of e-boats that will be on a training op. The models at an S-3, two S-7's and an S-100. Still premature of work to do.

Don't disagree with you Lez. When you can build 5 Sherman's at the same rate as 1 tiger, yet take have s kill rate of 3/1 the Sherman's will always win. The T34 was even more efficient with the Russians turning them out something like 8/1. There were a lot of reasons why German lost the War. Technical innovation was not one of them. Without doubt the Panther was the best tank ever produced during WW2. It out classed everything but the heaviest of allied tanks. A good all rounder, and the starting point for all French and German post war MBTs. Glad you appreciate it. Al.

They're lovely loco's, Paul. Are you going to get it weathered?

Just caught up with this thread. Impressive work. Look forward to seeing the layout. Al.

They are M10 Panther used by the Germans during the Ardennes offensive -The Battle of the Bulge. During the early stages of the offensive, the Germans use troops and tanks disguised as Americans to deceive the Allied troops. Due to the lack of captured armour, they welded steel plates onto a unit of Panther tanks to make them look like American M10 Tank destroyers. Despite initial success, they where quickly found out - probably something to do with them shooting in the wrong direction- and were knocked out. However, they did cause enough confusion among the American lines to result in several friendly-fire incidents.

They're Revell 1:144 kits that have had the wings cut off. The 262s are the same, but I can't remember manufacturer. I've got an eye out for a Ju-152 as well to add a bit of variant to the train.

A bit more progress on the rolling stock today. These wagons will form part of the Messerschmitt Train These are the imfamous Me109s, bane of the RAF, being transported back to forward airfields after withdrawn for repairs. They'll eventually be a dozen or so of them along with a couple new Me262s. It's an odd fact that the Luftwaffe lacked forward repair bases for their aircraft. Battle damaged machines were often shipped back to the factories for repairs. It was one of the reasons they failed to maintain air supremacy. Anyway. The aircraft are coming along nicely. I've still a bit more work to do on the fuselages. However the wings are do and looking pretty good on the wagons.

A few more photos from Saturday.

Looking good Paul. Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh next weekend.

Another update. Basic paint job done on the two triple 'A' dugouts along with the two quad 20mm guns. The infantry trenches has had some modification as felt it was too big. It's been shortened and I've started adding the detail. Also started the basic structure of the infantry trench on the far side of the bridge.

Thanks Dave. That film was the inspiration for the layout. I've still got a lot of hard work ahead.

Latest update. I've back to working on the West Bank scenery today with the trenches and light anti aircraft gun emplacements. The trenches are still at the basic structure stage. I've still to add texture to it. This trench sits ajacent the farm house on the edge of an apple orchard. The two anti-aircraft dugouts are further on. A little bit more detail to add and then they'll be painted. One of these sits in the field opposite the farm house, while the other is on the other side of the bridge abutment. In realty both dugout were much further away from the bridge to eliminate blind spots for low flying aircraft. I've moved them in closure to include them in the layout.

As promised, the 'modern' concrete bridge is painted and installed. Also started on the cobbled road beneath it. I should get the sold landscaping done tomorrow, then it'll be time for the plaster bandage... Ps. Another tank for you, Lez

Electrics isn't my strong point and I've been putting off tackling it for way too long. Anyway I've finally got around to it and started on building the mock-up for one of the control panels. The layout is split into two half - the East and West bound lines. Each controller will take the trains from one storage siding, run them across the layout and deposit them into the other storage siding for the other controller to preform the return trip. This is the Eastbound control panel mock-up. It feels about right with the switches in the right place. Next stage is a plywood prototype.

Production of the PzIII finished in 1943, but the tank remained in service right up to the end of the war. The model in the photo has been converted into a Panzerbefehlswagen - command tank. The 50mm gun has been replaced with a dummy gun and extra aerial have been added. One of the scenic areas will be a panzer unit have a few days maintenance rest. ThePzIII will be part of it.