marc smith

Hi Dave,
 

The building is up to the fine standard of your 4mm work!

Only this time, I can see it better

Yes, we are accustomed to seing pictures of such structures in B&W

but I'm glad you posted those colour piccies too....
I think you've got the brickwork colour spot on

Great stuff, and yes, I think there are plans for Abbotsbury G/S in GWR branchline termini,
by Paul Karau....

Although, it would be nice to match the station building, and make it from brick,
rather than the stone I think Abbotsbury was built from?

Cheers again

Marc

Only just got around to reading this blog,
despite having spotted it a short while ago....
.... appologies for that

I do like your concept, I must say
I built my night-time / winter steelworks with some removable lanscape, drop-in "units"
but alas, I still haven't got around to building alternative modules.....

It isn't difficult, but as others have said,
the joins are one problem

However, with a bit of careful planning, I'm sure you would be able to achieve a great result
I think it's a question of view-blockers, or structures that take your eye away from any joins

Barry Ten has built his American N gauge layout "Gulf, Atlanta & Eastern" with removable
jigsaw-type pieces, so he can get at hidden tracks, for cleaning etc

I think both Iain Rice & Barry Norman have written about removable sections
mainly to hide baseboard joints. I did this on my EM layout "Ogmore Rd"

many years back. I made the end of the platform removable

The resulting "staggered" joint worked well in taking the eye off what would otherwise have been
one big straight line and obvious join.......

It's certainly do-able, especially by a talented modeller such as yourself,
and you've got me doodling again! - no, I must focus


Let us know how you get on Mikkel

Cheers

Marc 

The lighting has worked well in the photos
And yes, it does look cold for the lorry driver...
 

Very atmospheric

Looking good Pete,
Nice to see you starting a small project
It'll all be worthwhile in the end

And it keeps your modelling skills up to date...
... whiclst keeping you out of mischief

marc

Nice comprehensive set of guidelines there Tim

And I agree with the above poster

You cannot tell how many spokes there are,

with the chasis detail back in place

Neat job

BTW. Which brand of superglue did you use?

I'm considering re-gauging one of these to EM

and I'm thinking of re-gluing wheels back in place,

using rocket powder, for a really strong bond....

Cheers again sir

Looking forward to seeing it painted

Some folk do say they take to paint really well

.... makes perfect sense, really I'm sure

And yes, card, plasticard or brass parts would lend themselves better

for a "finer" appearance for some areas like valencing & roof tiles

Cheers

Marc

Superb work Capn

Forgive me for not reading the thread before,

but I'm very impressed with your check rails too...

How did you get that slightly duller, tarnished look to them?

..... and I really don't know where you get the patience (or time!)

for all that scribing..... It'd drive me mad - well..... more mad

Yes, nice plan there,

but as Mikkel says, the working point rodding might make this less of an "interim" project

Good luck with it though, and let us know how you get on....

Looking superb Dave!

Next time you want to know what brackets are made from,

just hang upside down under the canopy

and I'll get my camera

It does indeed demonstrate what a brilliant resource rmweb is

now, if only it could reduce the time I spend building a layout.....

Again sir,

Congrats on the job!

And as always, very neat work sir

.... wish my wiring and baseboard joints were half as neat....

Cheers

Dave, again super modelling sir!

Personally, I don't mind a bit of a "misty" look to the windows

I'm sure they got pretty grubby, what with the livestock being carried,

and I'm sure the gwr weren't concerned that the cattle couldn't see too well.....

Smashing stuff, I'm glad to see you're back up & running with your modelling,

and doing as much as you were in the 90's

.... But you didn't save me a chocolate

Marc

Very neat idea re those folding cassettes..

Nice

Neat, tidy work again Pete

I'd have dabs of glue & solder everywhere....

Well done indeed Pete

As everyone else has said

Don't be embarassed about that wiring...

I'm all for keeping such things simple

It all looks very neat indeed

Some nice progress here

Marc

Wow indeed!

Dave have you been off work for weeks or what? lol

Those chimneys look ever so intricate...

.... would have taken me ages

Super modelling Dave!

Those chimneys must have taken ages

.... and yes, it looks every inch a William Clarke

Hi again,

I too had such thoughts you may recall

I made the landscape at the front of WRR&S removable

however..... I still haven't got round to making alternative units

The current units are wasteland / grass & piggery,

but I wanted to have a go at adding more reflective road surfaces,

perhaps a car park, or half empty coil storage area / scrap coil area

... must get round to that one day!

One word of warning though, as Wenlock will agree,

his super EM layout "Lesser Wenlock" was en-route to a show....

The station building & platform were a removable unit,

and as a passenger / helper jumped into the van,

threw his overnight bag behind the seat, and you guessed,

the sound of chmneys breaking off!!!

So when exhibiting, it may be wise to have a dedicated storage box / unit

for the removable sections.....

.... but then that's something else that can be forgotten and left on the kitchen table....

groan!

Have you tried static grass yet Al?

Just wondering how it compares with HBL....

I know Chris Nevard "updated" his older layouts a while back,

using static grass, to replace older HBL

I would guess that HBL is quicker to apply?

Again though, as you say it is a basis and not the completed article

and I always like to add and blend textures and tones,

so I would probably favour using both together

Painted backscenes can look really good,

but nowadays, I usually prefer photo-backscenes

when used well....

however, I can see your art classes have paid off

good work sir, as others have said, nice & subdued

And you actually have a unique background as to an easily spotted commercial brand

I'll have to enlist your skills for Cashmores...

Can you do me an overcast about-to-p*** down, Newport sky?

Yes, a very neat idea with the removable pieces...

As you say, a group of milk churns,

or perhaps a trolley and some luggage....

...perhaps even a flower bed....

Nice progress,

and good to see the re-vamped Abbotsbury has a home

I almost asked a favour of you recently....

The organisers at Swindon had (in their promo brochures & programme)

printed the name of my layout as

"Wales, Rails, Rain & Steam".....

I was tempted to ask if I could borrow a loco,

as my few remaining steam locos are all EM....

Think I got away with it in the end though

.... taking diesels to a show called "steam"

- whatever next?

Nice shot Mr Ten

Those horses look good...

Did you paint them yourself?

The artist is in a nice, natural looking pose too....

oh to be in his shoes

Yes, the SE finecast sheets are great

Oddly enough you don't see them around too often...

Next time we're at the Bristol O gauge show,

we must remind each other to look for more of them

Experimenting with a scrap piece or two is a good idea...

I did this sometime back, and found that different paints stayed in the mortar courses better,

and it also depended on what base colour was used....

My acrylic black martar worked better when I painted my brickwork yellow,

than it did when painted red - which I never understood...

Also, I did find acrylic was better at staying in the gaps than enamel

but you have to work on small areas, and don't let the paint dry too much!!

I may try thinned down acrylic black next time,

I'm hoping this will slightly lengthen the drying time

and make things a little easier

Your William Clarke building is looking great,

and I think the relatively small-ish expanses of wall should make "mortaring" a tad easier

Have a good weekend

I'm hoping to see the station finished soon....

... but not before those wheels go rusty

.... but that means you're not casting up my scapyard wheels! lol

I always thought a lot of scribing must be tedious,

but some tell me it isn't half as bad as you'd think...

... as per our conversation yesterday...

The chap who built "Corris 1930" did a splendid job,

scribing lots & lots of buildings on that layout - every stone!!!!

I think I'd be bored by then....

Did you use the South Eastern Finecast / Wills large sheets we both bought

at the same show, a few years back?

That material seems much better to me than the Slaters brick plasticard,

which has rather less relief, and doesn't lend itself to the technique we used in 4mm

- wiping away black paint, to do the mortar courses....

I think you'll find the Wills 7mm large sheets better suited to this technique,

but you still end up taking too much paint away from some areas...

I'll be interested to see how you go about painting this one

You must take a look at a small shed I made using this material

Cheers again

Marc

Looking great Dave

I'm glad you've opted for a more "standard size" of doorway

It may be prototypical for some buildings to have doorways of 8'6"

but it can look wrong when you place a figure nearby....

It's a shining example that modelling something exactly can produce an optical dichotomy,

and that when modelling, if it looks right - it is right

Lot of work scribing & bevelling all those corner stones.... whew

Having just seen this mentioned in Gordons' "Newbies" thread,

I just thought I'd say, this layout still appeals to me....

Having not seen it for a while, and re-visiting those early pics

I look at them and think you've achieved a lot in quite a small area

What struck me is how the layout looks so uncluttered,

even though it is in a constrained place, which looks so SW Valleys

I just love the contours and levels of the road in the foreground,

and the hill shapes in the background

perhaps your painting classes have paid off in this hobby too?

Though the buildings are kits, they look perfectly "at home"

sat on the layout, and they don't look as if they have been re-used from another layout

(which I know they have - I've got a copy of the article)

Hope you get to exhibit it again sir.....

Cheers

Marc