Liam GWR

Thanks mate, yes I agree, getting down low really does add realism

That's a very interesting point you make there thanks for that and to BobM :-)

Thanks very much :-)

As my account name suggests I choose to model the great western (in wales to be precise) which is very difficult when you live in New Zealand. Before / during modelling Beeching End I did a lot of research on the GWR. I must say now that if it wasn't for websites like this one and other sites like GWR Modelling and youtube, I wouldn't have been able to learn even half as much as I know now about the GWR and things to look out for when modelling a gw branchline. I very quickly picked up on the concept the great western using the colours light stone (stone 2) and dark stone (stone 3) on all different forms of infrastructure eg, station canopy's, water towers, fences, doors, wooden parts of stations and signal boxes, lamp huts etc etc. this of course meant that by modelling a gw station that I would need to find the correct colours to use to represent stones 2 and 3. I am very aware of the option of going with Rail match or phoenix but I couldn't find a place that stocks them in New Zealand which is no problem but I decided to turn to resene because they produce 60mL test pots which are cheap and very good quality paint. The colours I chose in the end were Resene Whiskey (light stone) and Resene Sante Fe (dark stone). Note: these colours are based of the ones used on preserved lines ie Severn Valley, West Somerset, South Devon. I have seen so many photos of so many gwr layouts and each time it would appear that the light stone and darkstone are different, they all look fantastic but I thought that by using what the preserved lines use then I am playing it fairly safe. I might also add that the great western did also have stones 1 and 4, stone 1 being cream and stone 4 being maroon but I am lead to believe that cream was mainly used as an undercoat and 4 was quite rarely used. On the subject of cream many gwr modellers also use cream and chocolate as an alternative to light stone and dark stone. from what I have seen in photo's and read online it would seem that cream and chocolate wasn't actually used on buildings until after nationalization. when I found this out I decided to do a few repaints of stuff I had in cream and chocolate to stones 2 and 3. another note is that signs on the gwr seemed to more often than not be painted in black and white. I hope you have enjoyed reading my thoughts on great western building colours I have attached some photos from my layout for everyone to see. please feel free if you have any questions or comments to drop a comment.....cheers....Liam. :-)

When building the hills on the Redfern extension I decided to experiment a little bit to see if I could find a cheaper method than just using plaster cloth due to the sudden rise in the price of plaster cloth (at least where I live). The first thing I tried was paper mache with plaster over the top. this method was, a. cheap and b. rock solid, but the problem I found was that there were areas where the plaster was either thin and weak or brittle and was starting to crack so the plaster and paper mache was stripped back and I decided to try a method of paper mache using wall paper paste (because Ive heard that it works quite well). That method actually worked rather well and I was surprised about how easy it was to do. But then after a short while, I discovered that the paper stuck together very well but there was very very little adhesion to the actual baseboards and hill former (foam board cut to shape and glued in place like a skeleton) and was starting to peel around the edges. This happening on an exhibition layout is totally unacceptable because in my eyes I think that if its a layout is going to be at a show and seen by hundreds if not thousands of eyes then you want it to be very sound and on point. Finally I decided that after all of this that plaster cloth was going to be the simplest, soundest and most effective way to make the hills, so I bit the bullet and bought a roll of plaster cloth and I can now say that I am satisfied with the out come of the hills. below I have attached some photos of the hills in progress........enjoy. :-)

Baseboards, here are some early shots of the two module long Redfern extension onto Beeching End. As can be seen, there is an embankment for the railway and space for a river.

Hi guys, here are some photo's of the layout so far, this station is called Beeching End (pun intended) and this is the first station on the line. The next station will be called 'Redfurn'. I am in the process of designing a track diagram for this station and purchasing timber to build the baseboards.

I cant seem to work out how to send a link but it is just called Foxford and Beeching End model railways

Hi guys, this will be the first entry in this blog to track the progress of an Exhibition layout that my mate Matthew and I have been building. The objective is to create a 3 station branch line. the first station is already completed and I shall upload photos of that over the next couple of days. I do also have a Facebok page where I upload frequent photos of the layout to.