brylonscamel

Thanks for the nice feedback John - a bit of motion makes all the difference (I had almost forgotten that it is supposed to be a model railway!)

A minor update but a great little moment when I allowed a Black 5 to crawl along the short length of track over the bridge. It's great to see a bit of movement!

Hi Grahame - a couple of questions for you as I always feel like I'm lagging slightly behind on the subject of the latest tools! So I looked up 'silhouette cutter' online and was curious to see if it was the sort of tool you use - what I believe is the sort of plotter-type device that are used by sign-makers to cut vinyl film: 1) Can they handle cutting styrene sheet of the type that I'm familiar with from model making? 2) Are you able to cut from the sort of A4 / A3 sized sheet I buy from model suppliers? 3) What thickness of styrene can they handle? Sorry if these are noddy questions but I'm very impressed by the results on the decorative mouldings on your carriage body and can see lots of potential for making architectural features etc. PS I also love the idea of a cutter than something that burns material - we have to contend with enough noxious fumes in the house as it is!!

Cheers Rob - always happy to read about these sort of curiosities!

What superb engaging scenes in these photos - there's just so much going on in the stage that merits being stared at. Bristol is my adopted home and the 'what must have it been like' question is constantly in my mind. Your model answers some of those questions beautifully. Bravo!

- you've got a head-start on the headcode box! PS the Shawplan window etching is the same for class 40 as a class 37 (where you' should find it) ..

... Jim, I also did the same thing to a split-box Lima / Hornby loco, using the same window re-modelling, handrail replacement and fan housing. You can go further and sort some of the hatch and port issues but I was happy with the results of these modifications. Before making some flush-glaze windows: On the layout 'Braeside' with all the modifications

Hi Jim - luckily enough I took a few photos of the 'Haymarket 40' so I can explain the modifications! The Lima / Hornby moulding is a good place to start. They can be easily 'hacked about' and look OK with a few changes. I'm not expert in the area of loco super-detailing but I got a couple of nice looking locos for very little cost ... 1) The worst bit about the mouldings is the clumsy window bars and glazing. The original locos had much finer window bars and were larger than appear on the Lima moulding. I just filed them out with needle files until they 'looked right'. NOTE: You can get some great etchings from Shawplan for the window surrounds and some laser-cut flush glazing to fit. I had mixed results with these - OK I really messed them up - but I put it down to some ham-fistedness on my part. With patience and careful preparation that they would make a very fine solution. 2) The Haymarket loco had a flush front and square-edged indicator panel. It gained the indicator box as a modification to a disc-and-gangway-doors loco. So I filed away the front and made a little styrene indicator box. I also fashioned some handrails from brass wire. 3) I thought the roof fan and grille would look nice if it had a proper wire mesh replacement. This is where Shawplan and their amazing etchings came in - and a piece of domestic copper pipe to make the fan housing!. 4) A bit of grey primer just to even things out and then a repaint ...

Cheers Martyn - yup I've meddled with a couple of old Hornby 29s but not achieved the results you and others have achieved. I'm not sure my membership at "Hornby NBL Type 2 Rebuilding Fraternity" will be renewed by the committee. Then there's the subject of a new model from Dapol which might render my efforts pointless! Exhibit A: This one was the first quick-and-easy foray into the club and retains all the glaring errors of the Hornby original (which appears to be a weird hybrid of the original and rebuilt locos). But it runs sweetly despite - as someone pointed out - having the wrong coloured snowploughs! Exhibit B: This one hasn't progressed beyond the initial hacking about of the cab front and valance. At least the Haymarket Class 40 is finished and up-and running!

Cheers! Much appreciated - how is the Stranraer project coming along?

Ah thanks 'Calidore'! - It's always good to get some feedback. After a couple of false starts, I've fiddled about to get everything to fit, so I'm pleased it's looking well integrated now. Be assured I'll be making updates to this thread!

Hi Mikkel - the crane is a little cracker! Extra love for something that was built in my adopted home of Bristol. Re: the factory, there's actually a generous amount of room outside the factory (it's a very low-relief building). Here's an aerial view to show you how the buildings sit in the scene ..

Whilst cycling the local Kennet and Avon towpath I stopped to photograph the old wharf crane at Dundas. If anyone wants to leave their crane in primer grey, they could point to this example as justification. As I don't model the local area in the modern era, I can't use this as an excuse. It's a beautiful contraption though - I love any of these hand-powered pieces of machinery. The combinations of gears, grease and grunting can all be used to move heavy things!

Not an often modelled van I imagine! I remember the Finsbury Park van on heating duties at Kings Cross (possibly when the platform heating system was being maintained). I understand it was affectionately know as 'Dobbin' .. was it possibly adapted from a horse box? Here it is hiding to the right of a 31 on the blocks at Kings Cross ... And another (rather poor quality image) from platform 5, looking back at 'Dobbin'

A 'straight ahead' view of the same scene And a work-in-progress of the long low-relief section

... thanks! Of course I see plenty of 'things to do better next time" but that's part of the experience.

Despite the best efforts of life / Christmas / work to scupper my plans, I have made a bit of progress with Caledonian Basin. The plan has been largely to see if I could 'kit-bash' some donated Metcalfe factory building packs into something that would fit nicely into a super-low-relief factory at the back of the elevated area in the diorama. There is a mill/factory that used to stand at Dalmarnock that I tried to reproduce in styrene but it didn't fit the space very well - I'm hoping this one does the job better. I thought of the idea for three reasons Chris Nevard's inspirational article where he did a great job of tarting up and weathering the Metcalfe factory entrance and boiler house The thought of cutting loads of arched window apertures in styrene We are very lucky to have a cheap source of high quality printed and card punched models with Martcalfe - just that they are used so prolifically and suffer a bit from exposed card -edges and lack of texture So here's some photos of progress to-date ... The Metcalfe Factory gates get a twist, some additional stone capping and detailing and a side door and OK yeah I will touch up the visible card edges with paint How the complete factory will sit within the diorama box ... Some work to add interest to the roofs with styrene capping stones and some individual tiles ...

I've just returned to this thread to see what people have been up to and (as always) its proved a worthwhile visit. This is a super piece of work, so neat and well executed. When it's this good 'naked' it should produce a beauty after weathering. A quick question - is this all scribed into foam board?

That effect is literally brilliant'! Once again you've shown the value of going that bit further with colour and little touches like the grouping of passengers and the table-top paraphernalia

Yesterday I took a set of photos showing how my busy diorama project can still be dismantled into component parts and reassembled. I don't know if this is common practice but I found it reassuring to have access to everything whilst constructing the model. I feared for trapping things into inaccessible corners, making painting and adding scenic effects nigh-on-impossible! It has probably made for slower progress but I'm happy with this approach whilst still in "learn mode". All the component pieces ... Bridge and canal lock assembly The canalside factory The yard crane finds a hole among the cobbles Est voila!

In which case Mark I qualify, having had a recent tangle with a Stanley blade. Note to self - never take your eye off the ruler!

Small progress Here's a couple of photo of the little canal lock scene, now that I've scribed the clay and painted the parts in primer. I'll need to blend the lock walls into the foreground- but the joins are small so it should be easy. At this point the layout is entirely modular, so I can get everything out of the way to enable painting and scenery elements. One view shows how small the position is, that it occupies in the box. This is the viewing position, with the rail bridge preventing anything other than a restricted view - hopefully enough to stop it being obvious that that lock is truncated! And further back - still a narrow window to look through

Cheers David - I wasn't hiding it away, it's just there are a lot of forum threads and a lot of competition for our attention! But I'm happy you found the model and are following progress - plenty yet to come as I haven't even got the paint box out yet! Cheers, Brian

Hi Jeremy - no special tips I'm afraid - just a ruler, a pencil and a steel-tipped scribing tool to mark the horizontal lines of the courses. Then freehand scribing of the individual stone blocks. I did find that masking tape was handy to mark the horizontal lines around the curved parts of the lock entrance. I hope that helps ...

Cheers! - I assume by 'proper modelling' you mean the fiddling, fettling and cursing type of modelling?