richard.h

A re-design of the scenic section enabled me to fit an extra 12cm piece onto it. With this space available I first made a limestone cutting using Woodland Scenics moulds and cheap Plaster of Paris, I only needed a couple of moulds as they are quite easy to break up and then mix and match to get the desired effect. The resulting rock faces where then painted and weathered with washes of various grey colours using watered down oil paints Then as the space available increased I was able to include a field using a mixture of static grasses and trees from Seafoam and Sage Bush armatures.

Scenic Progress Were the line exits the south end of the Station it runs into the country section, originally I placed the lines too close to the backscene which meant that the embankment was unnaturally steep and it left little room for scenery as can be seen from the accompanying photo.

And here is the latest video showing progress to date plus all the work still to do, must remember to move that paint tin!

And here is a video of D9004 fitted with sound Every enthusiast who has heard a Deltic at full bore will probably have abiding memories of it so getting an acceptable sound is quite difficult. In my case I didn't have the tools or the confidence to start hacking chunks out of the chassis to fit bass speakers in so it has a Zimo decoder coupled to two of the largest Flame Speakers that I could fit in the roofspace.

For those of you who like your Deltics dirty here is one........... This is D9004 Queens Own Highlander crossing the viaduct with The Yorkshire Pullman

The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers races through the station with The Flying Scotsman This model was a limited edition so up to now I have been reluctant to alter it by weathering but looking at the photos I think it would benefit from a spot of light weathering

Now we see D9011 as emerges from High Fell Tunnel with the Scotsman.

These high level shots really show the depth of the layout, how on earth do you reach the far side for maintenance and to take all those marvelous photos?

This morning we cross to the Diesel Depot and see D9011 The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers being prepared for duty with the Scotsman.

One final shot around the Steam Shed. It's amazing how the camera will highlight all the faults the eye overlooks, more work needed here, Gable end to paint, windows to glaze, building to weather and bed in...........

Stunning as usual, Waverley West isn't my era of modelling but the quality is so good that you just have to watch and admire

Here we have a couple of evening photos taken around the depot. Time for a brew for some but more hard work for others.

Here we have an overall view of the Loco Shed showing some of the engines being prepared for duty. A mixture of fine 2mm ballast and powders in charcoal and black were used here to try to get the appearance of dirt and clag build-up that you get between the sleepers in these areas. The inspection pits are Peco but they have been weathered to a darker colour and oils and fuel stains added

Further into the shed we catch sight of the little Sentinel Loco busy keeping the place in order. Sand To Refill Ash To Clear And Coal To Load

Early in the morning we manage to dodge the foreman and sneak into Lowbeck Shed and here we see some of Sir Nigels finest cleaned and awaiting their turn of duty.

Neil Gow was an attempt at weathering which didn't quite work as expected. I have seen stunning results with a product called Johnsons Klear which produces what is described as an oily rag finish and this was an try at replicating it with an equivalent local product. Although the original Klear is no longer available it looks like I will have to risk it and order some of the modern replacement for it and hope that it does the job.

Today we have a few photos of A3 Neil Gow as it races south with Up Yorkshire Pullman

Finally! The old Princess is one Hornby model I never bought as it looked so dated but if this is up to the standard of the new Duchess it will definitely be on my shopping list.

Thanks for that I was a big fan of David Jenkinson and his work and have a couple of his books but not that one so I might have to investigate further. Regards Richard

There different methods of cleaning depending on factors such as if the wheels are powered or not so you can use such things as scrapers or cotton bud cleaners dowsed in a solvent that will dissolve away after use (such as iso-propyl alcohol} At the moment I use the Gaugemaster GM 60 cleaner which I find is very good. There is some information here if you use this link http://www.gaugemaster.com/articles/product-spotlight/model-railway-wheel-cleaning.html

Here is a video of the Parcels Unit in action,it has been weathered and fitted with a Zimo Sound Decoder, normally a stay alive capacitor would be added but in this case it wasn't needed as the performance was good enough without it.

I recently bought one of the Class 128 Parcels unit (it was on offer for a very good price), I thought it looked a nice model and would make for something different on the layout. So when it arrived it proved to be a nice surprise, a very good model which weighs about the same as a house-brick and so give excellent running, it performs faultlessly even down to a crawl. Here are a few photos.

A few more photos of the Old Town

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7ZmxIH-3eI