Tricky

Also been playing with salad boxes. Again based on a great photo of these, possibly at Grantham in the 60s. The writing above ‘Salad’ reads ‘Not Washed’ and on the ends ‘Hand picked for freshness’, and if your eyes are up to it is actually decipherable! Available in batches of 12 for £36. I’ve got a lot of updating of the website to do...!

Been experimenting with making some round baskets. Saw a photo of a line of trolleys loaded up with these. Not sure what the contents would have been, possibly crockery as they were standing outside a Midland Railwat hotel. A set of a dozen would cost £72. Sounds a lot - they may only be about 14mm across but there’s a lot of work that goes into them. And I think they look quite good.

Great, thanks.

Hi all, Many apologies as I’m guessing this question has been asked a zillion times already but.... I am looking to purchase a laser cutter and have no idea where to go (not eBay!). I have a budget up to about £3000 tops and ideally want to cut up to about 6mm ply or MDF but please don’t laugh if that’s impossible. I guess I’m prepared to pay a bit extra to get something as reasonably versatile as possible within a ‘domestic’ product, cutting up to about A3 size. Any steerage greatly appreciated.

You could always send it to me and I’ll have a go for you if you like...?

I don’t remember choosing a category, sorry everyone!

Not sure it should be under model engineering either.

Erm, I think my entry is 4b but it doesn’t link to my thread.

I thought I’d bore you all with a blow-by-blow on making crates. The photos show firstly a drawing I produced which has ‘construction lines’ drawn on it. This is enough to produce 4 crates. It’s stuck on the back of a piece of glass and the first photo shows a start made on sticking down long strips with masking tape. In this case they’re maple ripped to about 1mm thick and then sliced into strips with a Stanley knife. Then cross strips are added with either superglue or pva. Neither really sticks to the glass. Eventually I ended up with the two halves of a crate. The contents is a scumpled up square of kitchen roll covered in very fine-weave material and stuck together with pva. This is then trapped between the two halves, glued and cramped. The last job is to add the side pieces. The last photo is of the one that didn’t make it. This was subjected to a bit too much cramping force and collapsed. This is left exactly as it came out and will I think actually make it onto ‘Bristol’ somewhere!

Yes, the water is murky green with loads of coats of varnish. The curved walls are lumps of softwood carved to shape and then covered in DAS which was then carved to represent the stones. The coping stones themselves are also wood, with grout lines added with a razor saw, extra surface texture being created with a scalpel, files and sandpaper.

I think you do have ‘vision’ because what you describe is very similar to me. Monks Gate is only 8’ long plus traverser and certainly isn’t built for its prototypical operational possibilities!! I agree you have to fit your plans to the realistic resources available but that doesn’t mean it has to be perceived as second-rate or ‘it will do’ in any way. You love the detail, like me, so if I were you I’d crack on and get some baseboards up! If you’ve got a spare wall about 11’ long we’re in business!

My effort will be nowhere near as good as that! Still, I’m telling myself it’s in a decrepit state to explain why it’s been condemned! I have plans to get a laser cutter at some point this year which will be incredibly useful for Monk’s Gate Models! The nail varnish remover is purely for transferring ink...! Honest.

In a couple of the photos featured in ‘Midland Record’ No 30 there is a grounded coach body, apparently relegated for some sort of storage. I just about have the room for something like it, so I’m trying a bit of an experiment. This first shot is of a wooden ‘blank’ which will form the basis of the body, which I’m imagining has been severely truncated in its condemned state to fit the site. The idea being that I will clad this with two layers of plasticard. I don’t need to worry about windows as they will be portrayed as blocked in. I’ve drawn the end and partial side on Autocad and transferred the images onto the plasticard with my favoured nail varnish remover method. One layer will have the windows cut out, the thinner top layer will have the panelling cut out. And here it is with the base layer stuck on. I’ve yet to convince myself if the next step will be successful, which is to cut out the panelling layer and stick it over this base layer...! We shall see...

And here are some wicker baskets, also part of a bigger order. They’re completely scratch-built to order. Even the owner’s initials were specified! This set of 6 costs £33.

Here’s some 7mm barrels I’ve done recently as part of a bigger order. They are the Slater’s mouldings but with added hoops. You can just make out some ‘stenciled’ markings as well. Ten barrels like these would cost £25.

I can’t wait to see how you get on with your layout. If it’s anything like the standard of your work on here so far, it will be very special indeed. Richard

On a whim I decided to add some timber baulks to the track work (as if I haven’t given myself enough to do...!). However it is useful in covering up the dodgy timbering of the crossing. Sorry about the iffy photography- I took it without the layout lights on for some reason. More pics to follow later of progress on the buffer stops coming off the wagon turntable and the wooden structure over them.

Thanks Rod, will be posting some more progress pics hopefully over the weekend. Richard

Hi Tim, They're Slater's. But I add my own banding. If you pm me, I may be able to help with supplying them finished as per the photo. Thanks, Richard

Just working on an order of 30 barrels, these are 12 in a new-ish condition, 18 to do looking a bit older. As well as a dozen tea chests, just adding foil edging. And lastly 6 wicker baskets - base coat painted on, needs detail painting, stencil initials on some and varnish to complete.

No mention of the Cameo Comp then...?

I like the cobbles too!!

Or maybe not.

I expect they'll announce it in the next mag, due out this Thursday...maybe.