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Boxcab

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  1. I now own that actual loco in the photo. I think that I bought it at the Winchester show about 8 years ago. It runs very well but needs some more weight in it to improve its adhesion as it can struggle with a couple of Atlas Master PS 4427 cu ft hoppers. I am led to believe that this loco was built by Robin Arkinstall (of Impetus kits.) I fitted a Loksound V4 with the Caterpillar engine file for the GE 44 toner & sugar cube speaker in it. I also have unmade kits for the GE 25 toner and 70 toner that I bought many years ago, I really need to get them built. They are ideal for minimum space O Scale layouts. Enjoy your loco. Mike.
  2. The empty Pringle tubes were supplied by another member, non were consumed by me. This photo is for Jason. Mike.
  3. More updates, I made these tanks from Pringle tubes wrapped with thin card & seams made from cotton soaked in PVA. The caged ladder is from plastruct as are handrails, the rest is scratch built. Richard has created an interior scene for one of the other buildings. This interior is larger than one of the big buildings on one of the clubs HO US layouts. The sheer size of things in O Scale never ceases to amaze me. Mike.
  4. A quick update. Following on from the previous post, I decided that the loading bay needed an interior. I made a workbench, interior door, noticeboard, clipboard & a cardboard box to go on the bench. The idea of the man opening the box came about from the fact that the figure was in an arms raised position. A box was made with the tops open to match the figures hand positions. The notice board has individual pieces of paper stuck on to represent memo's etc, a small clipboard was made to go on the bench. The access steps handrails are soldered nickel silver wire & the steps are scratch built plastic. Subtle interior lighting completes the scene. Loading Bay. Richard has been busy sorting out the lighting. Each board's lighting level can be adjusted individually and the LED strips have been positioned parallel to the buildings so as to give an even spread of light. The LEDs are of a higher quality with a higher CRI index which give a better quality white light. Richard has been using a light meter to help ensure an even light level. Overall view of Prime Cereals. We check the lighting with the club room lights off as we had some mystery shadows that we couldn't workout how they were being created until we realised that the room fluorescent lights were casting the shadows. More updates soon. Mike.
  5. Wow, it's been 6 months since I last updated this thread. Just to reassure everyone, this layout is still an active project and is making good progress. We originally planned to have a single large building, 4 ft long, at the right hand end of the layout similar to the one at the left hand end. However several factors caused us to have a change of plan. The first was that we only had a couple of the panels laser cut for this building prior to lockdown, but not enough to complete the whole building. Second was the cost, the charges for using the laser cutter had increased, the cost & availability of the "window grid" plastic canvas was a problem post covid. Throughout this project we have regularly reviewed as a team how & why we are doing things. The result of this was that we decided that a change to several smaller & different sized buildings would be visually & operationally more interesting as well as less expensive. After studying Google Earth images of the Post Cereals plant, on which the layout is based, we found some suitable buildings that we could use. This is what we came up with. We have included a truck loading dock and a modern metal clad building extension and bridge between buildings along with some inset track. The differing heights and depths make the whole scene much more interesting than the original concept. The white building is the modern extension between the older buildings. This was made from a sheet of MDF covered with corrugated paper. More updates will follow soon, and I won't leave it 6 months before the next one. Mike. O Scale 2 Rail, the proper way to model US O Scale.
  6. Thank you for that Jordan. Jack, the brand name is "Maquett" plastic mesh. It is available as square or diamond pattern. Keep up the good work. Mike.
  7. I used the 4mm jig when I did my ACF hopper car upgrade. Bought mine many years ago when I modelled in EM. Have you thought about replacing the running boards as it really improves the appearance. Like this:- Really good job that you have done. The joy of O Scale. Be aware that once you do one freight car you will have to upgrade the rest of them to the same standard !
  8. That sounds absolutely wonderful. I have the same sound file in a V4 L for my S2 that I am working on. The V5 wasn't around when I started on mine.
  9. Sorry to see this layout is being demolished but I look forward to seeing what rises from the ashes. It must have been a hard decision to make.
  10. I decided to improve the appearance of this ACF hopper as it looked a bit toy like when compared to the Atlas Master line & Lionel hoppers that I have. The main thing that needed attention were the moulded running boards & grab handles. The running boards were replaced with Evergreen square strip & plastic mesh and the grab handles were made from brass wire. The trough hatches were made from plasticard to replace the original round ones. The only cost was the plastic mesh which was about £2-00, the rest of the materials I had in stock. Full details of this appeared in the August edition of Continental Modeller.
  11. How about brining the building forward a couple of inches to make it a low relief and narrow it so that the door is in line with the second track? You could also put a second door in where the Evans 53 ft car is with plastic curtains as suggested by 298. MDF is quite good for buildings especially in O Scale. What is the make of the white COE tractor unit in the left hand corner? Is it 1/43 scale?
  12. Wow, your son has a real talent for making & weathering buildings. We could do with him working with us on Prime Cereals.
  13. A big thank you to Sir Douglas for reviving this thread. Is it really 2 years since my last update! Well I am pleased to report that Prime Cereals is alive & progressing steadily. Luckily just before the clubrooms were closed for the first lockdown I had taken home most of the parts of the layouts main buildings . This meant that I was able to work on these during lockdown. The largest building is 4ft long and 2 ft tall and has 70 windows, which are of the "glass block" style. This "glass block" style window turned out to be a very challenging & time consuming part of constructing this building. Thanks to a suggestion from Long Island Jack we ended up using something called "plastic canvas" that is used in needlework to represent the glass blocks. The plastic canvas was then covered with a frosted clear glazing after mounting in the window opening. The MDF was sprayed with textured paint to represent a concrete finish before the windows and brick panels were added. The Power house has very tall windows that had larger size glass blocks in them, so the grid had to be cut to create the larger block. The third building has two sides with 60 windows. the brick panels were painted and then had mortar lines & were then weathered. These 3 buildings took me almost a year to complete. Due to their large size they didn't fit on my workbench so I ended up working on the floor of the loft as it was the only place that I had sufficient room. You HO guys don't know how easy you have it! More updates soon. Mike.
  14. Thanks Ray, Unfortunately the track is in the clubrooms , which have been locked since last March. But I have been working on stock, checking couplers, metal wheel set upgrades & detail upgrades on Weaver cars. Just doing little bits here and there. Don’t forget, O Scale is bigger than HO by a factor of 8. You haven’t started your O scale layout yet!
  15. Thanks Ray, Unfortunately the track is in the clubrooms , which have been locked since last March. But I have been working on stock, checking couplers, metal wheel set upgrades & detail upgrades on Weaver cars. Just doing little bits here and there. Don’t forget, O Scale is bigger than HO by a factor of 8. You haven’t started your O scale layout yet!
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