TechnicArrow

Cheers! Thanks for all the likes too by the way, I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up to 70 notifications this morning! Thank you! No particular news - this little scene continues to sit on my windowsill next to Arrow Paints, acting as scenic stock storage for my slowly-increasing collection. Oh, and the footbridge gets nocked off every morning when I open the curtains... The infilling is no more than cereal box card, plain side up. It's sandwiched with Pritt Stick to various other layers of corrugated and thick card to bring it to the correct height. This method works on this scene since there's only 4 straight, parallel rails to contend with; I used the same method on Green Lane Wharf (link in my signature) but with curves and even points it isn't the tidyest. I've tried weathering it with watered-down acrylic black/grey paint but the section I've done looks pretty terrible, so I'll probably leave the rest for now.

I imagine it would be, he takes card to a whole other level! @6990WitherslackHall These builds are relatively simple - only the bodyshell is card, the chassis and running plate are standard Hornby items. Which one would you like, the one in the picture you quoted or the one I'm still working on? I've got both hanging around, since I'm not doing much in the evenings at the moment I'll measure it up and create a template if anyone wants to build their own. In the meantime, I took the rare opportunity of a dry, still and mild day yesterday to finally get the spray paints out on this loco. First up was 3 coats of primer: Already looking tidier. As you can see, taped to a bit of cardboard wedged in the doors of the bin store worked perfectly - until my housemate for some reason tried shutting the lid... Luckily not too much damage, since it came down on the bonnet which was directly supported by the cardboard (you can just about see the dent). I also sanded off a few rough edges the primer coat highlighted. But then it was on to 3 coats of satin black: Much smarter! And also unexpectedly shinier. I think this is partially due to the shiny card as well as the paint itself, despite the primer coat. But nonetheless this is an excellent base I can start weathering and detailing on. Plenty to get on with now!

It looks perfectly tidy to me! That traverser is a very smart idea, which opens plenty of options. My only concern is it's a bit short; I would have given as much length as possible to the tray instead of the lead-in tracks. But if it's only for running locos around it will be plenty. Regarding point blades, I've simply wired everything together on Arrow Paints to negate the dodgy contacts on my second-hand points - although I have the advantage there's only space for one loco on the layout, so no need for isolating. And as for the bits - it's just inevitable. I gave up and bought a cheap toolbox from wilko, very handy for lobbing things in! Anyway, I'm enjoying watching your progress on this layout, it's very promising - I look forward to what's to come!

Your fleet certainly looks better than my attempt at the same kit! Overall your stock looks great, with similarity and the variations between each wagon. I'm looking forward to seeing them run on the layout!

That last shot with the EMU simply oozes southern flavour! The Hornby shelter extension looks good, and the track layout looks like it gives plenty of operational interest. Good work!

Cheers! Work has been progressing slowly over the past few evenings. First up was the addition of capping to the tops of the parapets, as well as details sich as drainpipes and grilles. And then it was painting time - various shades of brownish-grey now cover all the window sills, lintels and capping, as well as darker greys on the roofs and some other spots on the brickwork for weathering effects. Finally the windows (printed) and doors (cereal box card with the coloured face outward, scored) were added. Spot the accidental paint fleck that I've tried to blend into weathering! Clearly the signage is yet to be added; I'm not sure whether to go with the name that's currently perched on the side or not, since the structure is still fairly grain-silo like so pretending it's just a warehouse doesn't really work. But other than that, I'm very happy with this building - it's got a lot of depth (especially compared with the rest of the layout) and varying shapes, and seems to disguise the angled backscene well. I'll take another overall shot of the layout when it's not dark - that's a problem with a windowsill layout, it's behind the curtains!

Another weekend, another building revamp... But first; I started by once again dismantling the layout and well and truly wrapping all exposed card faces with plastic bags, so that should be the last of the damp problem. There's also now a continuation of the parapet on the right-hand warehouse, and the beginnings of a platform and interior - that's now at a point I'm happy to leave it, since I've started work on the warehouse at the other end of the layout. This one's a little more though! I've never been completely happy with it; I didn't really paint the brickwork properly, and the windows and pitched roof are a bit too small and didn't really "go" with the rest of the layout. And ever since I perched the scalescenes free-with-Hornby-magazine grain silo there, I've been thinking... so it was cardboard mock-up time. The idea is to keep the platform, but replace the flat slot-in warehouse with a shorter, deeper version of the scalescenes kit. I started by printing a cut-down copy of the large concrete wall section from the kit (it's available as a free download from the "Scalescenes Modellers" Facebook group). This was affixed to thick card, shaped with the tabs in the correct place to fit in the existing slots in the "baseboard". The tower structure was then built out of cereal box card, with a slightly longer wall on the right-hand side in order to keep flush with the angled backscene. A slot on the back of the tower also helps to support the backscene. Then it was brickpaper time. In order to save my housemate's printer's ink, I used my existing stock of Superquick brick paper rather than the bits from the original kit. The lintels are plain white paper, I haven't painted them yet. A right-hand wall was also constructed to give the structure depth, again using the concrete part from the kit. You can also see a bit of card standing in for the roof. Whilst assembling this, I have remembered to keep everything fairly flat-packable (although I've kind of given up on this layout being "portable", it's just "moveable" - it will probably take a fair bit of packing, I've not tried since it's been setup here!). In the next photo the vertical bracing on the short wall section fits into a slot on the end of the main structure, although it's difficult to see since it's all plain card. You can also see plenty of bracing, the slim tabs at the base that locate it on the baseboard, and the slot on the end of the tower that supports the backscene. And finally for now, the roof was built from thicker card and has the additional brick structure on top. I decided to include a door, since there's more roof space now that needs to be accessible. All in all it's looking pretty tidy so far; I like how the square, brick-and-concrete structure mirrors the Arrow Paints factory, and it has a lot more height and depth than the warehouse did. The varying depths also disguise the angled backscene much more than the plain pitched roof ever did. Structurally, it's complete; next up is windows, doors, drainpipes, signage, weathering... the list goes on. I'm also considering something to go at the extreme left-hand end, to cover up the plain card lighting rig support, as well as a plain-concrete canopy over part of the platform - as ever, we'll see!

Thanks @Andrew D and @Multigauge! I've had a box of sprues potentially useful for pipework hanging around for years, but only just actually tried using them. I'm very happy with how they've turned out, so I'm glad you agree!

Yet more changes are afoot... The recent box shuffles during my attempts to sort the damp issue (still ongoing, looking like a project for this weekend now) made me realise just how unhappy I was with the right-hand end warehouse I built as an extension in July last year. The corner where I cut the wall to fold it back was getting tatty, and the corrugated pitched roof is way overscale. So I started again. Since the main Arrow Paints factory is the Scalescenes Low Relief Dairy that came free with Hornby magazine a few years ago, I looked to the Scalescenes Modellers Facebook Group for inspiration. There I saw Pickwick Lane's excellent model that features an extension "wing" to the dairy in the same style, and decided I had to try it myself. To start with I took the old warehouse back to the original shoebox wall, being careful not to damage the sliding door. The front folding bit was completely discarded, and a fresh wall built from (you guessed it!) cereal box card and brick paper. A matching segment was built to fill the remaining gap to the endscene the kickback along it. The join between the two segments is concealed by the pillar behind the bufferstop. Then a roof was cut from thick card; a flat one this time. Most of the roof fits just within the walls, and a lip sits over the top. A ledge was also added to one side to cover part of the low relief dairy factory, to begin tying the two structures together. A low parapet was added all the way around the roof, including the section along the existing building. A number of sprues where selected from the bits box, which with most of the fixing points trimmed off make for excellent, free pipes; some of the blibs where left on to represent valves or mounting brackets. These were glued to the roof, painted dark grey. A small brick plant hut was built for some of these to connect to, as well as some thread for electrical or comms cables. Finally the bare card surfaces on the entire structure were painted with a variety of grey paints, with a bit of brownish yellow for corrosion under the pipes. And 'tis done! I'm much happier with this building now. Even though I've lost some of the variety in brickwork and roof shapes, this warehouse looks far more integral both structurally and aesthetically with the existing low relief factory, not to mention all in the correct scale! There is, of course, still work to be done; the parapet should really carry on the no-relief section of wall right at the front, and I (still!) want to do with this building is fit a proper interior. Even though the door is tiny, I'd like to give a suggestion of internal works, rather than bare track and card everywhere. But now my thoughts have turned to the other end of the layout, whre I wonder what I can do to that warehouse... endless fun!

Looking very neat and square! I always enjoy building structures this way, it's simple but it works so well. I'm looking forward to seeing it finished, it should provide a very good "stage entrance" to your layout.

Thank you! I know the real thing is never the same colour, and certainly where I've seen these wagons in preservation they're all sort of shades. But this one's been annoying me for a while now; especially since much of the layout is orangeish-brownish-reddish, with the brick buildings, Peco backscene and sand "ballast". I don't think the wagon's pitch black roof helped it's appearance either, but that's weathered grey now which looks a bit better. I'm very good at using the railway as procrastination from my Uni work, but simultaneously good at procrastinating actually doing what I need to on the railway... and it's not even 4ft long! I can't imagine how I'd do with a "proper" layout...

Just a few small updates and a handful more photos. First off, I should probably say that the Barclay-ish shunter is still yet to be painted. Mainly because of the weather, but also procrastination! Secondly, I spent far too long last night applying waterslide decals to a couple of wagons. The first was the GWR 10-ton open I built recently. For this I mostly used decals intended for a "Mink D" long-wheelbase van wagon, since the Parkside kit only comes with BR-era labels and I was aiming for 1937 livery. The GW, LOAD 10T and running numbers look about right, although the Tare is a little off since it's from the wrong type of wagon - but you don't notice if you don't actually read it! Also, due to many breakages, the wagon is numbered differently on each side. Not that it really matters, since you can never read both sides at once! I doubt this wagon will appear much on Arrow Paints. It's the wrong era for the layout since it's mainly intended for the layout at home, so it often sits on the quayside of Alexandra Wharf instead. The other I wagon I decorated was the Vanwide. I tried to get the paint vaguely closer to BR bauxite - it's still off thanks to the base brown colour being too red, but with the "weathering" on top it doesn't look awful. I also attacked the air brake gear, taking off the extra peripherals to return it to vacuum-brake form. And then once again using the Mink D decals, the van has the same running number applied to the left-hand door on both sides, and an XP and wheelbase label to the right-hand end. Given it's from an 18' wheelbase van it looks a bit off if you read it, but it's only on one side - the other side the open door covers it, so I didn't have to put one on! Other work includes pulling up the front track leading to the sector plate; there was a bit of a "ski jump" gap! It was levelled off by taking out some of the card packing material underneath to bring it back down to the sector plate level, and now all is smooth again. Finally, one more photo for luck - D2280 and the Coles crane posing together.

All is now back to normal. I cleaned the windowsill as best I could, and then put the layout back together with an opened-out plastic bag to prevent any future condensation damaging the layout - not that it's been affected yet, but just in case. I would like to say the layout is also closer to level now, although the front-right siding/headshunt still causes some runaways occasionally. Thank you! As for hardening off the shell; not a bad idea, and if I was aiming for a more long-term model i probably would. As it is I still consider this to be a bit of an experiment, so I'll leave it for now. But maybe the next one I build!

Interesting idea. Looking at the forecast I might have to do something like that if I want to get this painted anytime soon! Not that there's anywhere to run it at the moment. This evening I started out by replacing the split axles on the Bachmann 04 with freshly bought spares. During testing I decided the track needed a proper clean, and then I thought I might as well try re-packing the layout to get it level (wagons have an annoying habit of rolling back occasionally). I took out the old packing material, to find it was a bit damp... so everything had to come apart. Assessment revealed the likely culprit is condensation from the windows, which runs down and collects at the base. The sealant along the windowsill wasn't a pretty colour, so I'm going to mention that to the landlord; this house was only converted to a student house this year, so it should all be clean. Luckily the layout itself is dry, it's only the packing material that's properly moist. The layout's staying in this state for now; I'm going to have a proper attempt at cleaning it tomorrow, and then reassemble everything. Certainly one project I hadn't anticipated!

Looking better already; you've got more space for running round and longer sidings and headshunts too. As far as lengths are concerned, from my own collections I can tell you that coupling-to-coupling the standard Hornby 0-4-0s are 11.5cm, whilst 4-wheel wagons tend to be 8.5-9.5cm depending on the coupling. Of course, the best way is to test things in real life, 3D is always slightly different to how you might imagine it. Just printing/drawing some accurate point templates and pushing your wagons around can really help you realise what you can achieve in your available space. Whatever plan you go for, I'm interested to see how it turns out!

I'm not really sure how, but I seem to have missed this layout up until now! I love the amount of atmosphere you've built here, and it ties into the photographic backscene really well. Your modificiations already look better, it will be excellent when they're properly bedded in.

Well, I wasn't born until 1999... I do know what they are though, my dad had an (unfortunately non-working) one until it was stolen in an unfortunate series of events. And I had my own cassettes when I was younger too. Anyway, your description of tall imposing buildings both in real life and in model form sound excellent, I'm looking forward to seeing them rise up over your yard!

These mock-ups are fantastic, they add plenty height to the layout, and are detailed enough they give a pretty good impression of the finished articles. I think I prefer the brick-infill type construction for the tower, but that could just be because the mock-up offers a texture variety that seems more in keeping with the adjacent warehouse building than the "plain" concrete mock-up does at the moment. Whatever you produce it should work well, since you're giving plenty of detailed thought into composing the scene properly.

Occasionally, this thread dips into loco-bashing rather than layout building. Today is another one of those days. I've had a bit of history with Hornby 0-4-0s now. I tried adding gears to one of them to reduce the speed, which sort of worked... but it was incredibly loud and unreliable, and the resulting motor mount was very tall making it difficult to conceal. I also tried buying a new (post-2010) one since they're supposed to be better, only to realise it was actually from 2001 and no better than the ones I already had. It was sold on soon after. However, a recent order from Peter's Spares included a brand-new grey 0-4-0 chassis. I'm pretty sure the grey ones were only ever used under the red Bagnall shunter that Hornby released a few years ago, and hence is one of the newest, up-to-date version. I can confirm that even straight out of the box these chassis are far, far better now! This one happily trundles all over the layout at a pretty low speed, although it does sometimes stall on my dirty track and insulfrog points if it's going too slow. Next up then is bodywork. I've tried making a bodyshell myself before, although I was so unimpressed with it I never shared it: It's made of card (of course!), and was built around the cast-metal running plate from the Caledonian Pugs to give it some decent weight. In my opinion the main problems are: > It isn't square, so doesn't sit flush on the running plate > Compared to the original I was basing it on it's proportions are horrendously off > The paint has no consistent texture; some bits are shiny, whilst others blobby This time, I've set out to correct all of the above. First up was to pick a suitable prototype. Whilst I'm not hoping for an exact replica, I took most of my inspiration from Barclay 0-4-0s, such as Kingswood at the Avon Valley Railway or 441 at Swanwick. I quite liked the lack of grilles on the sides of these engines, and the little "bunker" protrusion at the rear of the cab that gives it a slight steam-age feel. So onto the build! First up, the cab. Each wall was cut from cereal box card with a fresh, sharp blade to keep the window openings clean. The walls were then glued to eachother whilst sat on the chassis, to make sure it all matches up with no gaps. Then a rough idea of the bonnet; just the walls and bracing for now. I also added a square brace to the inside of the cab just under the actual roof, and gently folded some thinner card (from some Ratio packaging!) to form the curve of the rear "bunker". And then it was mostly detailing! From here onwards I carried on using the thinner card, rather than cereal boxes. Starting with the compound curves of the cab roof and bonnet, then some door panels for the side of the bonnet, topped off with thin strips to represent door hinges, ribbing and the rainwater gutters on the cab roof. The only non-card bits on this body are the front grille, made from the plasticy netting garlic tends to come in from the supermarket, a bit of plastic sprue for an air tank in front of the cab, and another plastic bit from the bits box for an exhaust/cap/thing. Now I have a well-proportioned, snug-fitting bodyshell, I just need to paint it. My instinct is just to get the acrylics and brushes out as usual, but if I want to achieve a more uniform finish I might have to investigate my housemate's spray paints. I'll need a dry, non-windy day for that though... unlikely in south Wales! April maybe?

I decided this morning that I really wasn't happy with the crane weathering, so I had another stab. Yesterday's paint came off quite easily with some soapy water and a tiny piece of wet-n-dry type sandpaper. I then re-applied some black to the various crevices with a cocktail stick, before dabbing away most of it with wet paper towel. There's still grub all over the side panels, but most of it is where it should be now. I also gave the Marshalls lorry a light going-over, making sure to take most of it off again as it's probably kept a bit cleaner by it's owners. Then whilst I had the layout running, I decided to take a few more photos. I couldn't quite get my phone's camera lens low and level enough for the shot under the bridge, but it's close enough. Enjoy!

Looks like a good track layout, with plenty of options for operating fun - I can see an inglenook within that plan, and with two lines running off-scene many more options are opened up. The repositionable fiddle-box sounds like a good plan too. My only concern is there isn't much scenic space left that isn't track, but if some of the factory yard is inset that will help. I'll certainly be watching on, this could be a good one! Edit: Btw, Dale Green looks like a very well detailed roundy-roundy that well disguises it's true nature, so don't mark yourself down for your modelling being "unrealistic"!

These are beautiful little countryside scenes, and you've shown how incredibly versatile they can be! I think if I ever build one I'll inevitably end up trying to incorporate it into a layout...

The weathering in this little industrial scene looks great, it really brings everything together. I hope you can find time to get back to modelling again soon, I quite like seeing this layout crop up again!

Things have indeed been happening! First up, I've been building a Peco/Parkside GWR 10-ton open wagon kit. It surprised me just how many separately fitted bits there are underneath! All went together very well though. It's mainly intended for the home layout, so I've painted in (approximately) GWR grey. Although the kit includes transfers, it only comes with those for BR ownership - as I'm aiming to match it to a handful of other post-1937 GWR stock I have, I've ordered a sheet of transfers originally intended for a GWR Mink D which should look about right. Whilst I had the paints out for the wagon, I painted the front of the the crane mechanism unit to tidy up the layout's presentation, and then set about grubbing up the crane itself. It didn't go as well as planned, since when I wiped it down the paint decided to come out of the crevices but stay on the flat bits - exactly the opposite of what I wanted! I might try washing it off and re-doing it at some point; some areas look alright, but others just look off to me. More successfully I gave the treatment to the grounded van body, which has been far too clean for too long. Whilst I was ordering the transfers, I ordered a few more bits; namely more ratio pallets/sacks/barrels, and a set of replacement axles for the 04, which will hopefully stop the wheels from de-quartering themselves and jamming up the cranks occasionally. It's time the loco had a clean out anyway, it's been the sole worker on this layout for a while. Finally, I bought a new spare Hornby 0-4-0 chassis. I've not had much luck with these so far, but I think most of the ones I've played with are the pre-2010 version. I'm interested to see what a brand-new one makes of the layout, and then what locos I can build on top of it!

Thank you very much! I must say that it was evolved rather than planned; the first single-box iteration had no points at all, but the track was carefully laid at 11.25 degrees to allow the y-point expansion. When I decided to build the second box I played around with AnyRail for a bit, and realised I could get something quite interesting. Overall I am very happy with this layout - the ability to run-round wagons offers much more interest than an inglenook, and the short headshunt for the front siding makes some moves an interesting challenge. In other news I finished my last of five (online) 3rd year exams yesterday, so I've got a completely free weekend to spend mostly on modelling!