Tricky

I had one of those ‘breakthrough’ evenings yesterday when something that seemingly plods on for a while with little perceived progress suddenly comes together. Here, then, are a couple of snaps of the cab with most of the fittings. Still a bit of cleaning up to do but I’m a happy chappy.

Of course you can ask; the answer however isn't very interesting....black and white! With a tiny bit of light brown. With lighter shades on the lead flashing and vertical streaks of white. One handy knack, apply the streaks upwards with a dry brush.

The chimney stack looks decidedly drunk in this shot...I'm sure it's not in real life. I hope.

A quick shot of last night’s progress in getting the office building planted. Ground works and front wall to follow...

Or is it...

Actually by chance....I came across some leaves in the garden that had dried out to just the veins - very fragile and delicate. I dabbed them in PVA and stuck them onto the wall and weighted them down to get them flat. After a while and whilst still tacky, I sprinkled dried-out tea leaves on and pressed them down to represent dead ivy leaves. You don't see the finished article lower down the wall as this will be hidden by a wall in front of it.

The office building is finished at long last! Tomorrow I shall ‘plant’ it on site.

You see now why I’m worried about finishing it on time...!

Well...the downpipe itself is 3.5mm brass rod, the pipe coming into it is bent round to 90 degrees and cut off flush with the wall and then just soldered on. The joint knuckles are kitchen foil laminated to double-sided tape, cut into strips about 2mm wide and then two lengths of very very fine Slater's micro-rod stuck onto this to represent the ribs. Then cut into 12mm strips and wrapped around the rod and held on the back with a blob of superglue. The actual fixings I expect will be plasticard with plasticard cube bolts. Hope that helps!

Getting a bit bogged down with the loco build at the moment. Progress seems to be slow considering the effort I’m putting in! The loco body is almost finished, cab details still to do and no progress on the frames until I get the wheels and gearbox. Photos to follow... In the mean time, I’ve done a little bit more on the building, by way of a distraction and to keep things moving along. This shows the down pipe before fitting the wall brackets and painting. I’ve done a drawing for the doors and these will be next. I’m toying with the idea of ivy growing up the front end wall but not sure yet how I might do this. It will be right at the front of the layout so has to be good! I’m also thinking how quickly this year is going and how quickly the competition will come round...still lots to do!

Beautiful Dave. I built one of the Broughams too. It went together very well and now sits atop an open carriage wagon. Best wishes for the wedding. Richard

Hmm. I got redirected to C&L, 7mm wagon parts don’t seem to be available.

I have three 3 plank opens currently in Midland ED livery which you may have seen on some Midland in Bristol photos on here. I am considering removing the rigid w-irons and converting to individually sprung ones. Also re-painting to grey goods livery to help with a lack of rolling stock on Bristol. Does anyone have experience of fitting said sprung w-irons and if so, whose would you go for? Cheers

Welcome indeed! Look forward to seeing a track plan in due course....

The heater has been returned by grateful neighbours. Ned is happy once more getting feeling back in his extremities. However, like his owner; no sense - no feeling.

Ordinary liquid poly works really well. Too well actually. You need to apply very sparingly as capillary action can track it all over the place if you’re not careful and turns the clear material foggy.

Work on the loco has halted temporarily because I lent the heater in the train shed to a neighbour whose boiler has broken. I went in there just now and there’s a lump of snow still on the floor from when I last went in there on Wednesday. So perhaps a bit chilly to work in at the moment...

Here’s a few photos of progress on the building which is sited at the far left, partially off stage. Windows just gone in, waiting for a door, chimney pots, exterior plumbing and details plus roof painting. Stonework is the usual carved Das, windows from cd case material and plasticard.

Hi Jerry, Excellent-looking layout and welcome! Like you, I had lurked for a while before joining in here and never looked back. This is just the sort of atmosphere I am after... Cheers, Richard

Hi Steve, why don’t you write a list of pros and cons? I love lists and write them all the time; they are marvellous for keeping organised and focussed. That way you can discuss with yourself what you really want to do and eliminate what’s not that important to you. Hope that helps.

Yes thanks! Does anyone know how to do that on an iPhone? !

Another quick progress report on the Class 2. I’ve started the loco footplate and soldered the valances and steps. Also made a start on the boiler. The main section is pre-rolled but I decided to turn a maple dowel exactly matching the ID of the boiler, clamping the boiler around this to solder it up. This worked well and spurred on by the success of this, used the same dowel but added a flat section to similarly assist with soldering up the firebox. Here’s the former. And here’s the boiler and firebox soldered up. A bit of cleaning up to do. And here’s a quick shot of the work so far on the tender. Sorry all the photos are on their side, still don’t know how to rotate them on an iPhone.. I’ve got most of the bits for the radio control and reckon the battery will just fit in the tender with the receiver and other gubbins in the boiler. Need to save up for wheels and gearbox but plenty to do in the meantime.

I thought I would pen a quick update of progress, no photos as yet but they will follow soon. Work has moved on to the motive power department in the shape of a Class 2 kit from Mercian Models. Can’t say I have come across them before but so far so good. The etches seem quite good but the instructions are fairly brief. Good job I’ve got my set of Midland Locomotives books by Jenkinson and Essery, otherwise I would be a bit stuck. I’m pursuing radio control for this as there’s plenty of room for all the gubbins in the loco and tender plus the major attraction of course is guaranteed slow running. So far I’ve only made starts on the footplates as I’ve yet to scrape enough money together for wheels, motor and gearbox. Photos to follow when I feel like there’s something worth showing...Not at all sure if a tender loco is suitable really in this situation but I’ve started so I’ll finish as they say. The PW Department have been and gone so I’m keen to see if their labours were successful!

The coping stones are wood; maple and cherry. Just because that’s what I’ve got lying around and they are hard, close grained and able to be carved and ‘textured’. They take paint well as well.

The stonework is all carved DAS (see MRJ 260), colours used are mainly enamels in grey, light stone colours, brown, black and white. The green growth on the waterline is neat acrylic in green and yellow out of a tube. Also mixing Tamiya acrylics and Humbrol is not unheard of and produces some interesting effects! Nothing beats a bit of experimentation and if it doesn’t look right, work on it some more. It usually takes three or four ‘sessions’ to build up the depth of colour.