marc smith

Hi Richard, The sections will probably be fixed in place with Velcro. I think this is a strong enough bond, for transporting in place on the layout? But I may regret that later! On this layout, there is a road, just behind the foreground scenery, so it makes a fairly natural "break" in the scenery. I just knew if I had built these sections in permanently, while taking photos, I would have trashed the greenery + fencing..... Marc Edit: haven't got a piccie of them in place yet, as I need to add some "pipework" etc, to activate my points

Just a bit of news re progress on the steelworks layout…… I know, it was ages ago that I was supposed to have it complete. The good Capt K has asked me to bring this one to the next rmweb members day in Taunton – its’ first invitation – so I’d best get cracking!!! Sometime back, I decided to make the landscape at the front of the layout removable. Strange move, I know, but this was for several reasons; I wanted to try this concept, as I felt it was something different, and presented the opportunity to “change†certain aspects of the scenery, and thus enable a change of setting, or at least a change of elements in a scene. I had this idea ages back, when talking to a military modeller, who had a cracking diorama on several “tilesâ€, which he could change around, to create a slightly different scene. He does this at shows, occasionally dropping a new tile in, thus creating something different for onlookers who come back…. Also, I’m keen on getting some close, low-angled photos, and foreground scenery can often get in the way of close-up shots – the camera / your hands can flatten those nice, fine etched-brass railings etc etc! Another benefit of modelling on such portable modules, is that I can do this sort of stuff in the lounge, as long as I don’t spill the fibres everywhere. I know there are many modellers who don’t get much done during the winter, due to cold garages / sheds etc. So my foreground is in 3 removable sections, which are built on off-cuts of the foam insulation material I now prefer as baseboards. I’ll probably affix these in place, with some Velcro. It remains to be seen whether this works, but if you don’t try new ideas….. Another bit of news, is that the £12 static grass applicator I bought from e-bay does indeed seem to work well! As per Pixies suggestion, I tried it with fresh, new batteries. Also, I used a brass screw, with a large head – thinking that this may be a better conductor / ground than the steel nail I first used. Again, this seemed to work better than my previous efforts. The cheapie grass applicator is apparently made from a tea-strainer, and an electric fly-swat! One word of caution – there is quite a loud “bang†and a spark, if the metal tea-strainer touches the head of the screw –as SWMBO will confirm. Grass fibres do need to be “pushed†through the strainer, but rather obviously, you need something non-conductive – or ouch! I use the handle off an old modelling paintbrush – she says I never throw anything away….but I keep thinking – just keep complaining, dear….. I’ve opted for a more autumnal look, and used more of the pale, straw grass fibres. The colour of much of the other foliage is also chosen to represent this under modelled season. I’ve used clippings from those awful “manicured-looking†cheap trees which look pretty unrealistic, if planted “out of the boxâ€. Some of you may recall, I severely trimmed some of these trees for my min-space O gauge layout “Clarbeston North†– I was quite happy with the final appearance of these tress – and hey presto, I have a number of useful “trimmingsâ€. The material with which these trees are covered, is far more durably stuck to the intended tree than I can achieve on my own foliage. Whew! A lot of words for not much progress. Cheers all

Nice shots again Richard! For a relatively small layout, you seem to have found a lot of different viewpoints. I'm sure it was all planned........! Re the static grass applicator - I see you borrowed Darrens - was it a Noch, or another manufacturer? I recently bought a cheapie off ebay (£12.50 inc P&P) it works ok, but I don't think it's as good as the Noch I borrowed for the O gauge layout. Cheers again Marc P.S. Have a good Christmas!

Hi Darren, I'll probably be trying a few methods / techniques on this one. I've not got any acrylic stain in my ever growing collection of pots - which ones did you use? Cheers for the suggestion - I remember your river looking rather good! Marc

Cheers John, Please let me know how you get on Water is something I never really tried to model, until recently. The stream on the O gauge layout looks fine. I was pleased with the way you could "build up" layers; this meant I could place weeds, stones etc into the river, and get a good effect of different objects at different levels within the water.... ...however, it does seem to have something of a miniscus effect, and seems to curl downwards a little. I'm really just after some small puddles on the surface of the landscape, and just pouring a very small amount of the material onto the area seems to achieve just that. I'll experiment a bit more though, and let you know how I get on.... Marc

Hi folks, Not much news really - why am I less motivated on these dark, cold winter nights? and why do I fall asleep in front of the telly? - answers NOT including comments about age are welcome Did a bit of "soft" landscaping last night - dead grass weeds etc looks ok, but the £12 static grass applicator didn't work anywhere near as well as the Noch, which I borrowed from Lord & Butler model shop.... Pixie suggested making sure you have really good batteries - so I must try again, with some brand new Duracells...... There are going to be a few puddles of water around the layout, so I tried using the "realistic water" which Barry Ten gave me to use on my O gauge layout (clarbeston north). The realistic water dries quite quickly, when poured in small quantities, to a very shallow depth. This looked OK, but I must try Gordon Gravetts method, of insetting pieces of clear plasticard, painted black / brown on the undersideCheers all Marc

Hi folks, Not much news really - why am I less motivated on these dark, cold winter nights? and why do I fall asleep in front of the telly? - answers NOT including comments about age are welcome Did a bit of "soft" landscaping last night - dead grass weeds etc looks ok, but the £12 static grass applicator didn't work anywhere near as well as the Noch, which I borrowed from Lord & Butler model shop.... Pixie suggested making sure you have really good batteries - so I must try again, with some brand new Duracells...... There are going to be a few puddles of water around the layout, so I tried using the "realistic water" which Barry Ten gave me to use on my O gauge layout (clarbeston north). The realistic water dries quite quickly, when poured in small quantities, to a very shallow depth. This looked OK, but I must try Gordon Gravetts method, of insetting pieces of clear plasticard, painted black / brown on the undersideCheers all Marc

Cheers Richard, it actually looks a fair bit paler in the photos, than in reality.... I didn't have a fully charged flash handy (I left mine in work ) so the camera's built-in flash has washed it out a bit - there being very little opportunity to use daylight this time of year Marc

Nice work! I think you've made a good job of the kit, the home made transfers look a treat. And I think when on display in its' case - it looks all the better for being sat in some scenery, instead of on a bit of plain track, mounted onto bare wood! Now to build a layout........? Cheers Marc

Hi Mike, Thanks for that link, by the way! I bought an applicator on ebay for £12.50..... seems great, and I'm sure it's one of these conversions! Cheers Marc

Hi all, Just a brief (unlike me ) update.... I've planted ,most of the buildings along the backscene. I'm making a water-tower for the far right side. I've also been installing LED lamps into / onto these buildings. The lower building on the right side has a faded sign.... this was done by painting the wills sheet with a white rectangle, and applying Letraset letters. These were then distressed slightly, with a fibreglass pen, and airbrushed over, with a slightly lighter shade of blue than the original building colour. Not sure if I've slighlty overdone this effect, but I'll look at it again, in daylight, and maybe tweak it a bit...... By the way, I've also beeen weathering the track / ballast / ground.... on passing Celsa the other day, I couldn't help noticing, the grimyness of the track and ground, and the fact that, even where there is ballast - you can't see it for dirt! Thanks for all your kind words again.... Marc P.S. Lots of pipes + other detail to be added....

Hi Wayne, Other half getting in the way of your precious modelling already eh and valuable drinking time My buildings are mostly low-relief. The Slaters corrugated, comes in the usual A4-ish sized sheets. There's a lot less detail than the Wills. But the Wills stuff is such a small piece, you end up with lots of joins. I've used the 7mm scale corrugations, because to my eye, it looks a bit like box-section sheet material, in 4mm scale. With Slaters stuff, it's very thin, and needs laminating - at leat 3 layers, or it will tend to warp. I've used plasticard off-cuts + strips, to laminate the back of one large building.... mind you, it still warped slightly so I then mounted it, with PVA, onto mounting board, while keeping it flat with some heavy books (SWMBO's gardening books, not my precious railway books ) whilst it dried. Only the loading shed, and the rusty corrugated iron building (slaters 4mm corrugations) are modelled "whole". Hope this helps? Best Marc

Hi Wayne, Nice to hear from you! You were missed at the last pub-meet. I've used a variety of materials, for each building. Some are Wills Corrugated iron, another is Slaters corrugated sheet (7mm!) and yes, the one building is the walls of a Peco loco depot. Very sharp observation sir! The entrance / stairway / raised area on the left of this is made from some bits of Pikestuff I had lying around. Actually, I was on the lookout for a pikestuff depot building, but couldn't get hold of any....have now seen some on ebay, but the Peco stuff looks pretty good (in my opinion). For the rusty old corrugated iron building, I used slaters 4mm corrugated plasticard. I particularly wanted a few "slightly open / dodgy" joints, so I opted for the slaters, as I didn't want to cut individual pieces of Wills! I'm hoping you will finish "Dragon Steels" before I finish this layout come on Wayne.......I'm waiting Cheers matey, Marc

Hi Dave, The Lada blue is still a little dark, so it needs a further bit of lightening. I've wafted over, with a pale blue enamel, with my airbrush since these pics were taken. I'll post some more when weathering is further down the line. Marc

Here are a few pics of the buildings which will be on this layout. Most of them are low-relief, appart from the loading shed, which will be on the front, right side of the layout (disguising the entrance to the scene), and the large corrugated, covered building, which will sit at the rear left side. Painting (weathering / fading) is obviously not finished, and there is much detail / pipework etc to be added. The base colour I used for the buildings was a Halfords "Lada Blue". I'm possibly going to use a mirror on both sides of this layout - we'll see how it looks... Cheers all

Some more great angles on those latest photos there! As another poster commented - the layout is nice and uncluttered. Those 25's really do look at home! Nice work Richard! Best Marc

Yes please Brian, feel welcome to bring your demo along, but please don't spill any glue on my nuts! (dry roasted, of course!) Marc

Thanks all, Brian, I must visit a plumbing supplies shop, to see what diameters they have.... I suspect they may be a bit on the large side, so I'll be trawling about for plastruct tubing. Thanks for the hints & tips - I'll be trying your methods out. I know I saw some flanges / joints for pipework at a show... ...alas, I couldn't tell you who made them. It may well have been plastruct, but as another poster said, they don't seem to have the whole range in UK shops. Cheers all Marc

Yes, I've seen the Knightwing pipes. Think I've got a pack somewhere..... I'm in need of wider diameter pipes (various diameters, if poss). Brain, where did you get your pipework? Have you used plastic 3/4" plumbing? If you have sanded down the corners on your 90 degree angles, that's very neat work" I'm sure I saw some bends available somewhere. I got a couple in a plastruct kit I built sometime back... Marc

Hi folks, No more new piccies yet, but just thought I'd let you know what's occurrin' with this little project.... I was originally going to exhibit this one at Cardiff (a couple of weeks back) but as soon as I realised it clashed with Taunton, I stopped rushing, and decided to take my time. Anyhow, I've been putting the steelworks buildings together. Most of these are in "half-relief", and take up pretty much 100% of the background. These buildings are currently painted in primer, awaiting completion, and painting in grey, and "ASW faded blue". The loading shed / bay in the right foreground was made, but I've made a few minor adjustments to it, and my overall design of some of the low-relief buildings. I'm now glad I let the layout take a "back seat" for a bit - I think the buildings will look better for it.... Will post some piccies shortly. Marc P.S. Anyone know where I can get a good supply of right-angle "pipe-bends" for my pipelines (which will be different diameters, and probably running all over the place!

It's easy to miss details sometimes - shame as it was looking great... Still, the fact that it was looking so good should spur you on to finish it, it's nice to have something a little different in a rake. The flush glazing looks good, on the DMU. Again, re my comments on older models..... ...it's easy to get caught up with the excitement of new models being released - and that's what the manufacturers want of course. Mr Rushby still uses bits from the old Hornby cl 25's and they came out around 1977?

You're right - that old model still looks good! I think we sometimes dismiss older models too often, and it's nice to see someone who does get some of those projects which have been lying dormant for a while, actually completed. Hats off to you sir!

Thanks for that link Mr Controller! I hadn't really given it too much thought yet. At present, on HL, when you're only shunting one or two wagons a time, running hasn't been a problem. However, the distortion of the W irons has meant that some wheelsets really are quite stiff. So I can invisage a problem when moving 3 or 4 about. It's odd how some of the wagons have developed this. Other wagons seem fine..... Maybe it is down to the type of glue used. I know I used Humbrol Liquid Poly on some, and I think I used Revell on others (basically, what ever was to hand....) I'll certainly look into replacing a few, and see how that pans out. Cheers Marc