Hound Dog

Missing nameplates etc arrived this morning so good recovery by Hattons....... noticed they are branded “Extreme Etchings”, so clearly outsourced by Dapol and the disconnect is that somebody ( Dapol or Reseller) need to put them in the box........ in the end no harm done and both loco and nameplates look fab. thanks

Just bought Dapol Western Gladiator from Hattons and took delivery yesterday only to find the nameplates and numberplates missing.......made a call to Hattons and they are now on the way however it seems this issue is more widespread and I suspect the names plates have been supplied to the Reseller separately but nobody has caught on !....... lovely model BTW.

With a new batch of OO gauge Dapol Westerns shortly hitting the shops, I am thinking of treating myself to a Maroon version with Full Yellow Ends, “Western Gladiator” I believe........ my quandary is whether to take the easy option and go for the sound fitted version, or instead do with the basic DCC ready version and source a separate Sound Decoder ? ..... does anybody have any experience of the Dapol factory fitted sound ? If it is a thumbs down for the factory fitted sound, then would be grateful for any recommendations for the best sound module and speaker combination to suit the Western - Thanks.

Yes - I used to live in one of the houses in the Montgreenan Estate, hence the choice of name......... no intention to model any aspect of Kilmarnock station, but now that you mention it the canopies do show a resemblance. Thanks for taking the time to review and for the positive feedback.

Hi, Busy weekend at Montgreenan, as the railway bridge and retaining wall have finally been covered with stone paper etc...….I had bought an ID backscene which I had planned to fit today, and although the reproduction is of great quality, when I rolled it out it just didn't work as I intended with the townscene, and so I will keep it for the other side of the layout whenever I get to that. Still some buildings to be built to complete the town, as well as pavements, post box, bus stop etc etc...….also want to get some colour introduced thru plants and trees, the first of which have been added to the church yard. Planning to take the foot of the gas for a wee while and get around to lots of small jobs that I either have not finished or in many case not even started, before tackling the descent off the road bridge and station forecourt - will need to think that one through for a week or two, as I haven't done anything like that before...……...also I am kind of burnt out build card buildings and woodworking etc, so might just pause and play trains for a while. Hope you like the photos and as always any feedback is always appreciated - thanks Richard. PS - The first Rail excursion of the summer season is being headed by my nice new Warship, which I think compliments the chocolate and cream coaches I bought some time ago...……..If I was to start all over again, I think I might be tempted to model pre-BR Blue diesels as the Green and Maroon liveries are something special...…...perhaps in time, I can stretch the finances to modelling two era's with their unique fleets ?

Hi, I am far from an expert on such matters but on my layout I fitted four dropper wires to each set-track point one to each stock rail and one to each crossing vee rail....... using your diagram as reference from the top stock rail down across the vee’s to the other stock rail I would use wires coloured, say red( +ve) black (-ve), red, black ........ as a belt and braces I also fitted insulated rail joiners. Depending on wheel flange widths etc, you may occasionally get a short across the vee where the two rails come together....... to eliminate that completely you need to go down the road of a changeover switch married to the point movement, but that is another topic in itself. Hope this makes sense and helps you on your way - cheers Richard

Hi, Been making some progress on the townscene for Montgreenan and today more or less completed the Church and graveyard ( some finishing touches still required, including trees etc)...…...I was wondering how to fill the space I had behind the parcels office, when I hit on the idea of a little graveyard (brings a whole new meaning to "despatches and being shipped out" - sorry), and so I reworked the Metcalfe Church model to save the Lych gate to be used as the entrance to the graveyard ( in truth I did not have the width available at street level to use the Lych gate in its intended use as the main entrance to the Church…….also had to omit the rear aisle section for same reason). Not yet made any visible progress on my retaining walls and coming around to the idea of use embossed stone paper to provide the desired effect - a final decision will be made this week but slowly going off the idea of painting and weathering individual bricks. Have purchased a few more Metcalfe kits ( I am addicted to these ) to complete the shops and obligatory pub for the town, after which a suitable road-surface and backscene will be the next things to be contemplated. I have also been busy extending the width of one of the lift-out section baseboards to provide a more realistic descent from the road-bridge I posted on my previous update, but will save details on that until a future update when I have actually made some progress on building the road and embankment etc Finally learned a few hard lessons this past week that things which might break at the forefront of the layout, will indeed break when one is working on scenery at the back of the layout, including an expensive Train-tech sensor signal that I accidentally snapped in two...……..such breakable items will be removed during future work or not even installed until the other work is completed - sob sob ! Hope you enjoy the photos and as always any comments welcomed and appreciated - thanks Richard PS - No trains have been run recently during the making of this layout...….

Hi, Cannot believe it has been a couple of months since my last post, but work has been continuing to develop the main station board and earlier today I finished the woodwork to finally box-in the descent to my lower level fiddle year and in doing so create the base for Montgreenan town area. Attached are a few views of the newly constructed road bridge, the single track-hand left-hand tunnel of which provides the entrance for the long descent to the fiddle yard on the other side of the layout, the initial stage of which is hidden behind the retaining walls, before finally dipping below baseboard level right under the parcels office. The retaining walls are a little bit higher than I would have liked, but this was governed by the height of the bridge, which being across 2nd radius curves means that the inner most track is not in the centre of the tunnel and so needs to be a little higher to provide the necessary clearance at the curve in the tunnel roof / walls...….like most things on my layout compromise is the order of the day. I have started to pick out individual bricks on the left-hand side of the bridge and plan to darken this right down with a series of washes, before repeating this along the retaining walls...…..if I am not able to produced a realistic result, my back up plan is to cover the bridge and walls with Redutex texured stone sheets, but I want to have a go at something home-made as a test piece I prepared earlier turned out not too bad.........any advice or experiences weathering stone work on laser cut wooden surfaces would be useful and appreciated. The bridge and town will get a yet to be decided road surface and thoughts are already turning to low relief buildings for the town area and a suitable backscene etc etc. Might need to modify the ramp area to the right of the bridge, as I would like to have a descending r/h bend off the bridge down to a board level road junction, that feeds off to the right hand tunnel, through which will be the access road to the station area...…..still trying to figure this piece out as I go along. Other developments include ballasting and track-weathering of most of the main station area, fitment of AWS / TPWS, preparation for Train-tech sensors signals and cable trunking, and some metal fencing to the right of the parcels office......lots of small things on the go, and need to conclude a few of them before moving onwards to the next major part of the layout ( Tunnels, mountains and a TMD, but not necessarily in that order). Hope the pictures make more sense than my words and as always, any comments or feedback very welcome - thanks Richard.

Farrow and Ball paints have a colour called “Pointing”, which very much lives up to its name - perhaps at the white end of Mortar, but being of chalky consistency it darkens nicely with a wash over it.......available in 100ml tester tins at B&Q for around £4 so very good value - hope this is useful

As a relatively rookie I started with the Metcalfe Stone platform Kit and although my first attempt was reasonable, it need trimming as I didn’t quite get the template accurate enough and this spoilt the appearance ....... I then saw Railway magazine article where the person topped their platform with 2mm mount board and so I reclaimed my structurally sound Metcalfe Kit with a new top surface which covered up my rookie errors...... never going to win Modeller of the Year, but perfectly acceptable at my level and most importantly very forgiving. Hope this helps - good luck

Farrow and Ball do a chalky emulsion called “Pointing” (the clue is in the name)......you can buy a sizeable tester tin in B&Q for a couple of pounds.

Hi, Making reasonable progress on my main station area with the addition of Island platform buildings and a cut and shut canopy arrangement for my bay platform using two Metcalfe kits ( canopy and walled canopy)…….not perfect and needs some tweaks here and there but coming together. I have also started ballasting my track using Woodland Scenics ballast - one bag each of Medium and Dark Brown, and a small measure of grey and red oxide...…...trying to get a browny / reddy Scottish ballast...…..looks great dry, but darkens a little after adding Ballast Bond even after drying, but overall reasonably happy with the outcome...…...will be at this for some time but breaking the boredom by doing little jobs around the station, eg signs, benches etc etc. Also made a start today on my tunnel arrangement by which I will hide the initial descent to the low level fiddle yard - but I will post on that when I have made reasonable progress...…..hope you enjoy the pictures - as always any and all feedback appreciated as I am very much still finding my way in this hobby.

Yes on both accounts - the bridge takes a bit of time to paint and it has an extension piece fitted to span the three tracks.......

Hi, As a relative newbie to this hobby I went with Metcalfe kits for my first layout build, Montgreenan......I found these kits to be very good quality and rewarding to build at my level ....... I think there is also scope to further customise as I have tried to do with a green leaded roof on the main station building and the addition of mount board on to the platform surfaces using the basic shapes has been established using the Metcalfe kit - hope this helps in your decision.

Hi, I haven't previously shared any details of my layout on this forum, as given that I was a complete 55 year old newbie to this hobby, I didn't think I had much to offer...….now a couple of years down the line (I still don't have that much to offer - LOL) since I first started to convert the garage into a "man-cave", I finally feel that I am approaching the point where the pile of wood, track and wires is beginning to develop into something approaching a layout - for sure still several years of work ahead of me, but definitely making progress at last. First a brief background - Montgreenan is entirely fictional, but intended to represent Ayrshire, Scotland, but there is lots of flexibility in this...….it is DCC powered and 14ft by 8ft with dual tracks, a separate branch line, marshalling yard, TMD etc...…...Main motive power is BR Blue diesels ( especially addicted to Class 26 / 27's), but older EWS locos will also be rostered on freight, whilst after years of looking at models on E-bay etc this BR Blue nut has slowly developed a liking for Green / Maroon diesels and even the odd classy Steam loco......and so the late inclusion of a Railway Heritage centre allows the flexibility to include practically anything I fancy and to run ad-hoc charters etc...…..oh, there is also a incline around the periphery of 3/4 of the layout to a low level fiddle yard - hugely over ambitious for a rookie, but I got thru it in the end. After months of track laying and wiring ( lots of wiring ), recent first time activities have developed to building platforms, station buildings and associated items...…Over the holidays I have managed to make good progress on Montgreenan station, especially with the bay platform which was slightly lengthened to take a 4 coach push-pull Scotrail service, whilst a Hydraulic Buffer Stop was also fitted...….I had looked around for a suitable buffer stop for a while but kept finding myself coming back to the very basic and cheap one from Hornby, which I felt I could detail and fit a real light to and for a few quid it was worth a shot ………….after several unsatisfactory paint jobs, I suddenly hit on using the same colours as on my footbridge and with the addition of a set of Gaugemaster lights ( finished with a custom made collar from the end of a biro pen), I am very pleased with the end result, although some further detailing, weathering and finishing is still required. Today I completed the addition of the Parcels office...….again based on the nice Metcalfe kit with an extension, but owing to a lack of available space I had to reposition the ramp building from the normal location at the rear to one on the r/h side, but I think it works ok...…….the key thing concerning this Parcels office is that it is built upon the portion of the incline to my low level fiddle yard, where the rolling stock finally dip below or emerge at ground level - to accomplish this I have installed 1mm plasti-card sheet across the baseboard cut-out and then made a channel in the plasti-card and underneath the platform...….the two are then bonded to give a sort of honeycomb structure minus the internal stiffeners where the rolling stock traverses - difficult to explain but hopefully the pictures will help. The plan is to build a retaining wall to the left of the parcels office to hide the rest of the above board level incline until the train emerges at board level via a tunnel further round the layout...…..a piece of retaining wall will be added perpendicular to the l/h platform edge and into which a cut-out will be made to allow the train to slip beneath. Next step is to do some track weathering and ballasting in the coming days and an island platform kit building and canopies are on order, before starting work on the retaining wall and tunnels etc...…..probably end of Jan due to work commitments again. Although still pretty basic compared to the many seasoned modellers that frequent this site, I can start to see the layout come together ......hope you enjoy the pictures which summarise a couple of years of on-the-job learning, but as the new year approaches I hope I can lean on the experience of other on this site as I try to further build scenery and add colour to make the "train-set" a life like reality………...would welcome any feedback, comments and suggestions - thanks Richard and Happy New Year

Hi, I checked this morning and from underside of my baseboard to point track level on my largest elevated section is about 45mm......, I use Cobalt IP analogue point motors but had to make extended fulcrum wires for such sections .........I was advised to use slightly thicker 0.91mm ( 0.036” 20SWG) wire which I sourced from Eileen’s Emporium for around £1. I have made the hole in my baseboard under the tiebar a good 20mm diameter and this seems to give the fulcrum wire sufficient scope to accommodate the extra length. Hope this info helps - cheers

Excellent outcome for first attempt - must bear this kit in mind for when I ever get around to trying kit building...... of course that would probably be after I complete the layout wiring, ballasting, scenery etc etc...... might even get to run a train sometime !

Yes B&Q seem to be replacing all their stripwood with a new range - not before time as it was becoming increasing difficult to find a piece that wasn't warped or damaged in some way........my local store has some of the new range in stock and whilst surprise surprise it is more expensive, first impressions are that it is a significant improvement in product quality.

Recently tried Peco side mounted points using recommended DC voltage via Peco CDU with little success......switched to AC accessories outlet from an old Hornby controller and it works everytime........that said I think the general consensus is that the PECO CDU is pretty weak.

Hi, Whilst still a relative newbie, I have recently faced a similar situation on the fiddle yard of my layout build where I have used insulfrog points and solenoid point motors. My layout is DCC, but being old fashioned I want to throw a switch to change points and to this end I have used as my power source the accessory outlet from the same old transformer ( your first picture) via a CDU, and this easily throws the 14 points in the storage yard. Away from my storage / fiddle yard, I will also be using insulfrog points on the main layout as the track plan requires several curved points that are only available in this format.........however I will be using Cobalt slow action IP motors, again activated by toggle switches but powered throughout with a separate Cobalt PSU. Hope this helps..........insulfrog points are not a complete disaster, but I have had to solder additional droppers and fit some microswitches to change frog polarity to overcome shorts, so if I was to start again I would probably go Electrofrog for all but the reqd curved points......not a major problem on the hidden storage yard and addressed by the internal switching on the Cobalts on the main layout, but a rookie lesson learned.

Currently building my first ever layout which started out as Scottish based BR Blue era, as that is what I grew up with.........hence initial purchases of Class 26's and 27's, then a Deltic caught my eye.........but hey that EWS Class 66 looks cool, so I what if I had an EWS fleet for freight purposes and so this would also need an EWS 47, but remember the sound of Blue Class 20's ( but need a pair to be prototypical). ......and of course the Class 47 Scotrail push-pull livery looks the business, as does the eye catching Strathclyde PTE orange Class 156.........a SLW Class 24 is a must, and of course a Peak for good measure and to recall the Saturday afternoon Midlands service into Glasgow Central........better get another 26 just in case there is a need for double-heading. Wind forward and after looking at so many locos on-line and on web forums, this Diesel diehard is actually getting a faint interest in the occasional large Steam loco........perhaps my layout could have a Railway Hertitage centre where I could house the Flying Scotsman, a Mallard, and hey these new Hornby Duchess's look the part. Not forgetting I do need a shunter, so better get the EWS Class 08 to keep the freight look, but what about breakdowns and permanent way - sorted by the yellow Network rail Class 31.... .......yes, I am absolutely am sticking to an era but just not sure which one..........now if I could fit cantenary, then it would open lots more options.......

Is it just me who is sick seeing all these reduced priced Green Class 20's everywhere ?........where have all the bargain Blue 20's gone ? - I have one and it is desperately seeking a partner.........

Hi, Just came across this thread for the first time and really enjoyed looking back at the progress and great work done. As a relative newbie to this hobby I am not sure I am truly qualified to give an opinion, but whilst both TMD are great, I think the new one looks disproportionally tall......the shape and overall effect is really good but to my eye it just seems to tower over the loco. I am just halfway thru laying track and wiring my first ever layout, so if I end up with something half as good as you building, I will be delighted...........thanks for sharing your progress and for giving me some useful ideas and inspiration........cheers Richard

m Fair comment - just needed a rant as I only placed the order with them because all the items were in-stock and now this weekend's scheduled modelling activities are a non-starter........however like most, I am sure I can always find other things to do on my layout.

Not sure if this is the correct place to have a purchase related moan, but ordered 6-off in stock items from Hattons on 6th Oct and paid for postage etc, and now 6 days later they are still faffing around trying to pull parts off pallets because they are in chaos due to new system and have a major backlog.........in the interim ordered and recd other items from Rails and Trakshak ( within 24hrs from Isle of Man), so clearly other outlets have their act together..........