Tricky

As in 2018? That would be my first ever exhibition! If it's ready in time...

Right, here's an update of what I've been up to for the last few weeks... The fascia and arch are finished, these pics are of it on temporary trestles, it's a faff to get it rigged up on its proper legs which I also built, from panelled bed-heads. I've still to do the lighting and so it's a bit dim at the moment. The three black knobs on the front are to operate the two turnouts and the turntable. All are mechanical rather than electrical. The turnout knobs are fixed to lengths of M4 studding which are bolted to ply and maple sliders. Polarity switching is by a wire also fixed to the studding which slides across a piece of gapped PCB. The turntable ended up being rebuilt as it wasn't completely round. In the process I lost the centre point of the original turntable which in turn meant the tracks leading to the turntable having to be relaid. Ho hum...! Work continues on the traverser and electrics. I think some of the trackwork is actually quite tortuous so it will be interesting to see if my half cab manages to negotiate it...!

Believe it or not, I have been busy finishing off the arch and painting it, along with the support legs etc etc and will be posting pics soon. Meanwhile may I take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year. Richard

Fabulous stuff.

On a more serious note, you sir are an artist.

44665 simmering awaiting her next movement I know how she feels...

Been there already old boy. Trying to hold one end of the darn thing on one trestle, standing on one leg while trying to pick up the other with the other leg. Dicey moments....

Thanks Crispin, I too was a long-time lurker but I'm glad you've decided to join in. Actually there's not a lot of MDF; only the building mock-ups. The vast majority of construction has been in 6mm birch ply. But I suppose just lots of it! I've been busy working on the external arch, wings and support structure and will be posting some photos soon.

I like those pics a lot, especially the shot of the stray chair. Beautiful detailing and colour. Well done...!

Flippin' heck...! Great work, will follow with interest!

I need more than a Memsahib to help with mine: I need a body-builder. Getting rather concerned about the weight issue...!

Tonight I have managed to rig the layout up to something approaching 'proper' height, within 3/4" anyway. It is very high! Also my mimsy light pelmet has been considerably beefed up. I am embarrassed to admit I had somehow made bonkers assumptions. Let this be a lesson to me! Anyway, it's all salvageable and now it's at this height I have had a lightbulb moment and really begun to grasp the Cameo philosophy...crack on!!

Me too. I've been thinking about this and think the horizon is about 5" above rail, so floor to rail is about 58". I had another go at the light pelmet last night and with height percentages of between 18 and 25% of the width still doesn't come down far enough!!!

Very useful post, thanks.

Yes, weight is yet another issue...it's going to be a two-man lift as it is to get it on its trestles. I suppose that's ok? I did read somewhere it needs to be easily transportable... My main scenic board is 450mm x 1800mm with a fiddle yard yet to be built but probs about 400mm x 900mm.

As BG John rightly points out on my Midland in Bristol thread, my light pelmet is a bit mimsy and almost certainly won't hide the top edge of the skyline once the layout is raised to 'proper' height. Having built it, I decided perhaps I ought to read the relevant section in The Book...! Lo and behold, The Book gives quite a bit of info I really should have taken note of before building the light pelmet! Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I did, however, scan The Book to try and find the relevant section that talks about ideal viewing height and can't at present find it. However, a quick sketch shows that with a depth of 500mm, an overall height of 700mm and an average eye-line height of 1650mm (I'm 5'9" in old money and I reckon my eye-line is about 5'5") gives a light pelmet height of not less than 100mm in order to cover the top edge of the skyline with a floor to track height of 1300mm (51"). This does mean, of course, that shorter people are going to be able to see the top of the skyline. It also means that raising the floor to track height obviously increases the required height of the pelmet. I can't see how I can cater for people of below-average height in my calculations, unless the pelmet comes down quite a way. Maybe 700mm is too high?! But with a scene modelled at 7mm, it needs to be I think. Decisions, decisions....

Yep, totally go along with you on that one....I have fallen into the trap of making assumptions and then reading the book after the event and realising I've made one or two wrong assumptions! Will be posting shortly over on the Cameo thread with my findings! With wonderful hindsight, I would say your approach is the correct one.

Thinking about it overnight, I have a feeling the top profile whilst nicely curved in two planes is a bit mimsy and worse still I suspect you will be able to see the top edge of the sky. A definite no-no...!

Finally got round to making a start on the proscenium arch, temporarily positioned in this pic. Interesting discussion over on the Cameo competition thread about viewing the layout at somewhere around 54". This is, of course, nowhere near this height at the moment as I've got no means at present of jacking it up that high. Crouching down to simulate such a view looks ok though! I suppose I really ought to build some legs next so that proper viewing height can be assessed. Also need to rig the proper lights up as well...! Lots to do!!

Hmm...it's a fair point you make. To be honest, I've never actually positioned mine at anywhere near finished viewing height yet, although it has always been designed with this in mind. All I have done other than use my imagination was produce a pencil sketch on the back of an envelope drawn at 'Cameo Height' perspective - seemed to look ok!. Not sure what if anything might (or could) be changed now as track is laid and building shells made, to be honest, I'm not too worried about it. However, my next task is to build the wings and lid so that I can sort out lighting. It's amazing what a difference to colours lighting makes; something painted on the bench looks quite different under the layout lights. But when this is done, I'll be able to get an accurate first view of the layout at proper height.

The trackwork is finished - sort of. Amazing how long such a small amount of track took to lay. I guess because none of it is straightforward off the standard templates. I've got the tie bars, turnout operation and wiring to sort before it can be properly tested. At the moment a wagon pushed through is very smooth through the crossings with no wheel drop at all which is very satisfying. One or two of the transitional curves aren't quite as smooth as I would have liked but I'm sure prototype dock-side track wasn't exactly mainline standard, so I'm actually 'faithfully following prototype practice'. Ha! By the way, all the messy weird timbering around the wagon turntable will get covered up!

Any chance you could elaborate on this...maybe a photo? Cheers, Richard

Yep, both options worth pursuing, any idea where I could get some form of gearing from? I'm replacing the drill bit pivot with a length of 5.5mm silver steel round bar. Would be nice to get a super-slow action....

Some progress today, albeit slow....the wagon turntable is sort of finished, just need to work out some form of electrical gizmo to make it work. Also, two crossings made for the converging roads, temporarily positioned. Now that these are done, the remaining track can be laid. All of this little lot was unbelievably fiddly to get it all to line up but very satisfying now it's done. The final track laying up to the crossings is now the easy bit.

Thanks. Monk's Gate is however feeling rather neglected at the moment in favour of Midland in Bristol...one day I will get back on it....ho hum!