Tricky

Out of interest, who still sells 7mm Midland loco kits? I don’t think Mercian are going any more are they? Although I know their kits were basic. My medium to long-term wish list is for ‘Beatrice’ (as you know) and a 2-4-0.

You’ll be needing a layout soon….

I got this charming little find from eBay. Got to decide what I do with it now. I’d like to restore it and use it as a notebook. I only have these two front and back boards. They both have notices pasted inside them but strangely they are both pasted upside down.

Just found this thread, thanks to @Schooner. Will follow with great interest, and I will also enjoy catching up with a coffee and cake!

Is 7mm still outside your area of expertise?

I do believe it's finished! It's been fairly full-on to get it done in time for Railex 25/26 May but with one week to go, it's just a matter of final tweaks and getting the motive power working sweetly. I've ordered some trestles from Screwfix so when they arrive I will rig the whole thing up properly and test-run. However, I'm pleased with myself for forcing the completion of it as it was languishing in store and feeling sorry for itself, as well as depressing me with the lack of progress on it. If you're planning on coming to Railex then please do pop by and say hello. 'Tewkesbury' will be for sale following the exhibition, and more details can be found on the 'Latest News' section of my website. Once it is passed on, this will make room for 'Midland in Nottingham'. The plan being that this may be the last in the 'Midland in...' series but you never quite know what further inspiration may pop up! I will hopefully also have a couple of dioramas with me for sale too, if it all fits in the car! Tewks fits with an inch to spare...!

Great progress! Does the camera lens need a clean? The photos are a bit hazy…

Not sure what’s up with Frank. Horace told him he’s a barrel of laughs today which didn’t help.

A scene from Tewkesbury.

Fabulous, thanks @Dave Hunt

Some more details coming together. It’s like building up layers; the base layers seem to take ages and then all of a sudden I’m getting round to adding detail layers which begin to bring scenes to life. A way to go, but with 4 weeks to its first outing, I’m cracking on!

Still a work in progress but I couldn’t resist…

Got any pics?

It's the spoked wheels that I love!

Psst - they are! A trick of the camera angle.

Here goes another massive distraction! This is a 5” gauge wagon in the making. Cup of coffee for scale. Who can guess what it’s going to be? Sorry, @Compound2632 you’re not allowed to play!

A few nice little detail scenes emerging on Tewks. Subject to overcoming some technical DCC issues, I’m getting there!

So, having dragged out of storage the ancient and dusty Monk's Gate, I am loathe to shove it back from whence it came, but at a tad over 8' long I was stumped as to where it could go in my relatively cramped workshop. So I reduced the working height of Tewks and strung up Monk's Gate over it from the Dexion rafters! Not very pretty, and not easily accessible but at least it now has a place in the workshop - and very poetically, a place once more in my affections!

I couldn’t decide where on RMWeb to post this, so thought I’d pop it here. I had one of those flashes of inspiration over the weekend; just as I pulled Tewkesbury out of store a few months ago to resurrect it and finish it off, I decided to also drag out the original ‘Monk’s Gate’ which has also been languishing in the dust depths of my undercroft. I’m now thinking way ahead but this will be re-purposed and re-modelled to the next in the ‘Midland in…’ series as ‘Midland in Nottingham’. For those of you with good memories, you may recall this layout as my first real attempt at a layout about 7 or 8 years ago. I am loath to waste the boards and track and some of the scenic elements (although much has moved on in my methods since then). You’ll see that Nottingham Goods provided some inspiration even then with the canal and stone walling. This time around I will extend the canal to include the tunnel and also include the grain warehouse as a back-drop. My thinking also is that I may even keep M in N rather than sell it on…we shall see. The B&W photo is lifted from Midland Record no1 - the photo that started it all!

Who makes a decent 7mm kit? I like Princess of Wales but not keen on bogie tenders! Also, who makes a kit of 1757 Beatrice?

Progress update! Coming together slowly but surely. A lot of detail work has been done, some not obvious from these few pics. Ballast is all laid but still needs weathering along with the rails. The engine shed is in need of some TLC and then it’s concentrate on the ground works. Work is also progressing in the background on three locos. Updates to follow at some stage! The water also needs re-doing!!

Here’s another diorama I’ve finished today. This is based on the Midland goods yard at Ancoats but if the notice board was changed and the door to the office repai yes could be anywhere. It measures 1230mm x 480mm x 500mm high and the back panel with houses attached to it is removable. It makes a very effective static diorama to display O Gauge rolling stock. It’s available for sale for £900, rolling stock not included! I have loads more photos if needed.

Photos would be great!

I woke up in the night last night and for some strange reason started to wonder about the following: One day I’d like to build a Spinner. Working inside motion is a must with all that fresh air under the boiler, but how does one power it as clearly the gearbox can’t mount on the one and only driven axle? Is the tender driven perhaps? But doesn’t feel right pushing the loco…any thoughts or experience?