Philou

Hello chaps and chapesses,

Hope you all had a good weekend.

I have some pictures for you, nothing much, but progress is being made:

^ These are the two bridge decks that took me an age yesterday to cut out. I did find my scroll saw but as it had never been unboxed, it had to be all assembled and I thought it quicker to cut and snap. That wasn't such a good idea as the plasticard was so thick I had to cut through quite a lot (top and bottom) before it would snap. I got there eventually.

Today, I had to clear the barn of some of the collected detritus as the carpenter is coming around (finally!) to tackle the barn door that lost one of its hinges. He's coming tomorrow to see what tools he needs to do the work and then coming on Tuesday to actually do the work. By the time I'd put things away and swept up all the sawdust and waste wood and then started yet another bonfire to burn it all, all the morning had gone in a puff of smoke.

However, as I'd done a lot of cutting other bits of plasticard a couple of days ago, I managed to do this in the afternoon:

^ It's the underside of one half of the deck. This particular piece was in two parts that was simply butt-glued together with a flange to one of the cross-members strategically placed to reinforce the join. I have done all the cross-members and placed the track reinforcing girders. There are some missing, but as they're shorter, I need a pair of tweezers to hold them in place while I run a fillet of Butanone to secure them. There are angles to be cut and glued along the sides to help hold the deck to the side plate girders. Once that's done then I can fix the top flange (as we see the deck above) to the cross members.  I'm not going to detail all the underside with rivets as they won't be seen ever again, just the bottom flange (deck right way up). I'll reserve the rivets to detail the upper part of the deck and plate girders.

I shan't have much modelling time tomorrow as it'll be into the woods again doing some more log-splitting.

More tomorrow :)),

Philip

Hello chums and chumesses,

Finally got under way yesterday and made better progress today. I cut out the side plates and all the cross-members plus track supporting girders (not sure if they have a proper name). Tomorrow will be a no go-er unfortunately as I have real life matters to attend in the morning and log splitting with M. le Maire in the afternoon. I'm happy to do the log splitting as the wood is for me anyway for use this coming winter.

I have a picture for you:

^ WUT? It's the cross-members all cut to length and chamfered where necessary. They're loose-laid on the card jig just to make sure that I have the right number and cut to the correct lengths. I hadn't yet cut all the supporting rails at the time of taking the photo, but they're all done too and they fit at right angles to the cross-members aligned with the rails above. You can see the dashed lines.

At a suitable moment either tomorrow or Saturday, I shall cut out the deck plate (same shape as the card above) out of my 3mm Plasticard and re-mark the markings but on the underside so I can start glueing the cross-members (with their flanges) to it plus the supporting under-rails. As the 3mm 'card is very stiff, I may cheat and cut the central girder length-ways and glue one part underneath and the other on top. This may be easier and sturdier than building what would be two bridges side by side glued to the central girder. Any thoughts? Unanswerable question as it's moot. I thought I'd better check and the size of the plasticard has determined that I have to make it as two bridges anyway - the one side being made up in two sections due to its length - drat!

Next question: How to cut the thick plasticard? As some of the cuts are on a curve will it snap to the curve or shall I just cut through with my trusty Stanley or even my jig-saw with a fine blade?

BTW, I didn't find my razor saw but a did remember having a junior hacksaw in my plumbing kit. Did the job! And I've just remembered in my stack of tools, I have a scroll saw that I bought over 10 years ago and never used. Now would be the time to dust it down and cut that plasticard!

I feel better now, a clear road ahead.

Cheers everyone - the weekend is just around the corner,

Philip

Not a lot of progress to report as it took a while to mark out my card as a cutting jig for the Plasticard bits - there's hundred's of 'em quite a few bits and I can't find my razor saw (I haven't seen it in ages so may well be in the UK) and I shall now have to order a new one. I'll have to look back ^ as I remember some Czech ones were recommended. I shall also get an X-acto one too. Some Blu-tak will come in handy.

The new longer card sides for the plate girders have been prepared as jigs and so the sides in Plasticard can be cut out later tomorrow.

Slow progress, but it's moving forwards.

Cheers,

Philip

1 hour ago, peak experience said:

Is everyone using 2D printed brick paper then?

Possibly. If you're modelling UK brickwork, Flemish, garden, common or whatever bond, depending when the wall was built, so will the depth of the mortar joint vary. Only in recent times has it become trendy to have deeply recessed joints (saves mortar but exposes more brick to weathering and potential frost damage) whereas the joints would have been flush or recessed to 1/2" (about 0.15mm @ 4mm scale) and can't really be seen when viewed from 2' (600mm). I find the plasticard offerings are recessed too much even for 4mm scales.

Just my tuppence worth.

Cheers,

Philip

17 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

More of that elsewhere later when a bit more progress has been made

Oooh ..... a tempting morsel. I shall look forward to seeing it, whatever 'it' is.

Oh ho, what's that then? \/

^ As I said yesterday, a bridge-in-a-bag..........

^ It is a bridge kit without any instructions. There are various thickness of 'card' from 0.5m to 3mm, square and rectangular tubes, channelling, 'I's and very small angle. I did have a plan but I think the concept plan and what is on the ground are not quite the same so I need a couple of hours to re-measure and check the 3D plan before knife meets plasticard. I'm so glad I didn't start bending tiny bits of card for the angles and then to find it was WRONG. I bought out the stock of angle so I probably will have to GSI. I found that some of the sites selling plasticard don't make easy for picking out the sizes needed.

The angle profile will be for the - well - angles between the side plates and the top and bottom flanges and at the edge of each individual plate. The plated side will be made up from 0.75mm 'card' with 0.5mm flanges along top, bottom and sides. I have some thinner 'card' for the reinforcing webs along the plate sides. The square tube will be used as the cross-members underneath - I'm cheating here as it ought to be a simple girder made of rivetted flanges, angle and a single web - nothing will be really visible, so who's to know?

The 'I' pieces will be the rolled girders between each cross-member that will be laid directly below the running lines under each rail. I did notice on the real thing, part of the top flange of the rolled girder was removed to make a snug fit within the cross members and maintain contact with the underside of the plate supporting the track.

The rectangular tube will be used to simulate the baulks. I may use a bit of 0.5mm to pack under one side of the baulks to simulate the cant. The grey 'card' measuring 3mm will be the plate used as the track 'bed'. It is quite stiff as I didn't want it to flex with the weight of any loco passing over.

I also have some channelling to form the wotsit joining each plate along the top of the abutments (there is a name for it and it has escaped me at the mo').

It has come to mind that the only thing I have missing is some blu-tak to hold the bits together while applying the MEK with a fine paintbrush (I have plenty of them - somewhere :) ).

Question for @lezz01: I have come back with 50% MEK - is it going to be too strong for the thinner material and do I have to dilute it?

Re-measure it is and make a start,

Cheers,

Philip

4 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

20 - 30 cm now with, in places, quite a lot of drifting.

I saw on the news this evening that there was a lot of snow in parts, but I didn't think that you would be affected as bad as that. Pity you can't use it as an excuse to do some modelling!

Hello chaps and chapesses,

I did manage to do a little work in the barn - but got waylaid again this morning - this time by Mrs Philou who wanted to do some gardening whilst it was dry and warm (a balmy 15°) and as I had commandeered the wheel-barrow for 'other things', she needed it toot-de-sweet. Some emptying of my bits ensued followed by carting some loads of earth around for her and that was the morning done.

I cut the last remaining wall to size and fixed it to its glue-blocks and is now ready for further decorating. I'm glad I did do that as it has shown that the card sides to the bridge that I cut out some time ago are too short and will not meet the pilasters as erected. A pretty minor but major detail that I now need to take into account when constructing the bridge in plasticard - once stuck, it's stuck! I may have to re-do the pilasters as well - but they're in card and easy enough to replicate - bit annoying but it's not a major disaster as everything is demountable.

I didn't hang about in the barn as I felt it was getting cold. Colour me surprised, in an hour the outside temperature had fallen to 8°!!

In warming up inside, I was browsing a thread on RMWeb (Fatal that. Don't. Just don't.) I had missed, and got engrossed - more modelling time disappeared - hey ho.

Tomorrow, I shall open my bag of bits - bridge-in-a-bag, I suppose - and then moan I haven't enough of this or that. Once I've re-dimensioned the bridge side and centre plates, I shall get cracking!

More tomorrow,

Cheers,

Philip

Hello chums and chumesses,

'Tis done! I completed the wall this evening, gave it a going-over with my pastels and a waft of spray varnish later ................... taa daa:

^ Once the photos were taken, the two parts were taken into the barn and screwed into place and they fitted together, can't even see the join!

I wonder if I should go the whole hog and add details such as downpipes now as later will be more difficult once things like station platforms are placed in front of the wall. What do you think regarding the question I posed yesterday of adding lighting? (I meant to take a photo of ones I did earlier).

As for the next step - I shall probably start the bridge, but it's years since I actually used plasticard so I'll have a short learning curve of how to cut and bend the stuff without too much waste. However, before I do do that, I really ought to set up the last retaining wall that will sit alongside the sidings at Dymented as I did see a part of the upper level track bed that needed fettling to allow the wall to sit square. Once that's set up, I can do the arches and decorating later.

Now we're moving!

More tomorrow,

Philip

Hah! Well, I was on my own today but did I have more time to myself? You know the answer ............... It turned out to be 'help the neighbour day' again. My opposite neighbour is having fibre to the door (as we did a few weeks ago) but the technicians turned up yesterday and gave up try to thread their draw-wire through the previously laid ducting - blockage somewhere along way. 'Nah mate' (or the French equivalent) 'We're going to have to come back with an excavator and expose the ducting even it means digging up the flowers beds and that nice new drive laid last year in blockwork  and trench into your garage ...... '. Armageddon basically and they're both in their eighties so M. le Gendarme (retired) decided to help and did I have a ladder so that he could go down into a manhole where the ducting popped out of ground before popping back in. Yes I did and did he want a hand (he had a shoulder joint replacement last year and is not as mobile)?

It was an interesting couple of hours this afternoon pushing and pulling the draw-wire into the duct that was full of water and goodness knows what else and finally between us we pushed through three blockages and onwards and upwards into his house. The other end of the draw-wire was threaded into the duct in the opposite direction and out it popped in the street next to the pole from where the fibre will make its connection - that bit was done in minutes. Three old guys did in two hours what three strapping young technicians couldn't do in a whole morning ...... pffff, the yoof of today, mumble mumble ..........

I did do a little more modelling, but I still have the cappings, copings and corbels (I said plinths yesterday) to do, but I do have a photo of the whole of the supporting wall that will be behind the platform at Dymented:

^ The peg is holding a bit of buttress in place whilst drying. This is the return of the wall where within which the waiting shelter of the platform will be placed. The return will not be fixed permanently to the already finished wall in case I need access to any electrical gubbins under the track on the upper level.

^  Here's more or less the whole of the retaining wall behind the platform (I don't know if it'll be the up or down line :)) ). There's a bit of wing wall to add at the very end where the retaining wall becomes embankment in the direction of Pontrilas. Nearest the camera will be the one ramp and way over at the far end will be the other ramp. The length of the platform, including the ramps, will be about 1.6m - long enough for a decent branch-line train.

All-in-all, despite the untimely cry for help, I'm quite pleased with the outcome for today. As there's no club tomorrow, there'll be no excuse for not finishing the wall by tea-time.

Question: Do you think the railway company (GWR influenced) would have put lamps attached to the wall or placed them independently on the platform? I can do the former easily enough as I have a whole load of LEDs that I can form into swan-necked lamps with a white-painted metal reflector made from card.

Cheers everyone,

Philip

Received a photo of one of these from my go-to railway emporium with just the words: 'These arrived today. Stunning.' If he says that, then they must be pretty good. I am very tempted ...................

22 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

leaving only the heavy metals . . .

Oo-er, I should have thought of that .......... :(

I pressed on today and I have arrived at the sticking buttresses phase. Tomorrow should see the copings done and the return wall - but I needed to go into the barn and do a check measurement for that as it will butt against the previously constructed wall. I'm on my own tomorrow so I should have plenty of free time ........... says he with fingers and toes crossed.

As promised, a photo ........................

^ Here it is ... the pegs are there to hold the buttresses in place whilst the glue dries. Just as well as I took the photo only moments before posting as it shows the second buttress out of alignment -  glue hadn't set and so it's now straight! The white card will disappear when the plinths are glued in place.

I've also shown below how I've marked out the mortar joints using a pizza cutter. It only works if glueing onto card and you have to 'groove' before the glue dries (Pritt-type in this instance). Quite effective I thought and the strong sunlight has emphasised the joints. In reality, the joints may well have been flush or no more than 1/2" deep (0.15mm at 4mm scale) and to all intents and purposes flat especially when seen from 2' away - but it's there. I haven't done the verticals as I haven't got a steel tipped tool suitable for the job and in any case it's probably not worth the faff:

I have to get really cracking as time is moving on and I still haven't finished in the Dymented area and at this rate I won't be finished by Christmas. Oh, which year I hear you ask? This year, I should like to have a train do a complete circuit - yeah, right :)) .

More tomorrow,

Cheers,

Philip

Hah! By the time there were only glowing embers, some 7hrs had passed, and probably all the oil would/should have burnt off (still glowing hot at the mo' nearly 12hrs later) but the point is taken :)).

Hello chums and chumesses,

My gusto sort of fizzled out on Monday, I just didn't feel up to it - probably a hang-over from all the travelling. It went better yesterday and I did a half-hearted attempt and managed to assemble and decorate some of the card cut-outs and glue them to the plywood base. I was going to do the buttresses today but Mrs Philou had other ideas and so we had a bonfire of all the bits of branches that we cut down before going away.

Normally, I'm first in the queue to make a bonfire, but this was a barsteward to get started. A whole bottle of meths, a quarter pack of firelighters and a half box of matches later, I had a very weak flame underway. The ultimate accelerant was a litre of sump oil - not good for the environment, I know - but it worked and everything was consumed save for some big damp logs that are still slowly burning as I write this. I'll make it all safe before I go to bed, but it looks very inviting seeing the dull red glow at the bottom of the garden. Sausages and marshmallows come to mind!

I should be able to get really going tomorrow and I'll have a photo for you.

Cheers everyone,

Philip

The lad is back!

Hello chums and chumesses,

I got back late this evening - left Lunnun at 10am and arrived at 7pm - no bad weather and no traffic.

Tomorrow will be putting things away and so no modelling will happen, but I did acquire assorted plasticard and struts and such like, so once I've finished the short section of wall, then I can return to the bridge.

Whilst I was in London yesterday, I went to Borough Market and as it was piscillating down, where better to stand but under the bridges surrounding the market. Whilst Mrs P, my daughter and SiL were looking around all I could do was look up at all that lovely ironwork. I now have a slightly better understanding of how the things are rivetted together AND all different too.

I also took the London 'vaporetto' from Parliament to London Bridge and the one bridge that threw me was the Blackfriars Railway bridge. The cross-girders were underslung to the longitudinal ones and I just couldn't see how the whole was holding itself up.  Must have been sky-hooks again :) !

Modelling ahoy!!

Speak soon!

Philip

Hello chaps and chapesses,

The evening modelling that I had mentioned a couple of days ago didn't happen - after our evening meal I just pooped out. But, I did do a little more the following day and I shall get some done this evening.

This is probably my last message for a few days as it's chicken heads-off day running around doing last minute shopping and getting suitcases ready for our trip to the UK early Thursday. I shall be visiting my favourite modelling emporium whilst in Cardiff (wonder which one that might be :))) ) and collecting a few bits and pieces no doubt.

I shall be lurking if I have nothing to do of an evening whilst away and all being well I'll be back to some serious modelling at the end of the month.

Take care out there and speak soon,

Philip

Hello chums and chumesses,

I did start the retaining wall and all went well. I need to do the arch reveals (the inside faces) and I can start papering - I have a photo of the WiP:

^ This is the retaining wall dressed temporarily with the arches - buttresses need to be added on the outer face and papered inserts will go inside each arch. On reflection, the columns between the pairs of arches are somewhat thin - a note to myself for next time - but once dressed it may blend in and not be so noticeable - ahem.

Other news: Despite the impending rain, M. le Maire and I, did assemble all the cut wood into convenient piles ready for splitting and bringing down from the woods. This won't be done until end of August or September to allow it to dry out in the summer sun. I do have some pictures of Mr Mayor cutting the one tree that was blocking our access today (plenty of windfalls every year due to being too wet, too dry or attacked by insects), the rest are just what we did today. Last week's work was the same!:

^ Busy cutting into 1.0m lengths - elf'n'safety would have had a fit - no hard hat nor ear-defenders. I had mine on!😛

^ Into the mess we go .......

^ Half an hour later cleaner and much tidier ............ There was a lot more to do but all done by lunchtime.

In the afternoon (thinking that rain would arrive and I would do some modelling) we went and started cutting M. le Maire's wood stock. What you see above are matchsticks compared to his tree that we cut into lengths! He has only another three to do, and I couldn't really not help him, could I?

Busy life being retired!

I shall try and do some more modelling this evening as I'm nowhere as tired as I have been these last few days.

Speak soon,

Philip

^ Hmmmmm .......... I think I should have re-read that. Six times 'cut' in four lines seems excessive, five in the same sentence too!

I haven't been loafing around enjoying my retirement - just completely pooped after being in the woods all day and no modelling was done in the evening. We have, however, cleared the three parcels, cut down all the trees that were to be cut plus some saplings that would come to nothing and cut whatever could be cut into 1.0m lengths. I shouldn't like to say just how many trees we cut (saplings excluded) but conservatively between 50 and 60. If I remember to take the camera with me I'll take some pictures.

Friday another all-dayer as we will assemble all the cut lengths into conveniently placed piles to be split and then allowed to dry before bringing back down into stock ready for NEXT year - some will be burnt immediately this coming winter, but oak takes much longer to dry hence no good until the winter of 2025.

Today is a day off as it's raining, so I'm going to tackle the arch cutting and glueing the formers for the arch onto the plywood base. Papering will follow.

More tonight,

Cheers,

Philip

Unfortunately as the weather was overcast but dry, M. le Maire decided to press on and do as much as possible before lunch which meant a short lunch and back we went straight after - at least two parcels are now done and the third we start tomorrow. He thinks we'll have all 40 trees down and cut to length by the end of the day - WUT? - is he trying to kill me?

If I have the courage and energy, I may do the curve cutting this evening after dinner. I'll have to use the kitchen worktop area as that's where is the best light and I can't do it now as Mrs Philou is preparing a soup .......... mmmmm soup :).

Cheers everyone and take care,

Philip

A report as promised - it was a slow start getting the feel for where I left off. I managed to cut my plywood retaining wall to length in two parts, the smaller of the two forming a short return wall. I had glue blocks already made up (remember them from last year?) so these were fixed to the underside of my formation and then the wall sections screwed to the blocks. The now one-piece wall was released from the formation complete with the blocks and brought indoors where the blocks were unscrewed temporarily to be then glued and screwed permanently in place.

During the afternoon, I kept myself amused by sketching out some retaining wall details similar but not identical to that already made. Having decided on the detail, it was a question of marking out on some card of what was to go where. The card has been cut to height and length but tomorrow will be the cutting out of the arches. I need good light for that as I find the artificial light we have here casts too many shadows that make for less than satisfactory curve cutting. I'll tackle that during my lunch-time break. Once done, I shall get on and cut a basic form in thicker card on which to place the finer cut card facing. I can do that in the evening when I get back from wood cutting.

It's good to get back to be doing 'something'. The weather is definitely getting milder (though still a tad damp) so going into the barn isn't such a thermal shock! Scenic stuff to do and my PVA, kitchen paper towel and plaster awaits for the off.

More tomorrow,

Cheers,

Philip

Provided the PVA is NOT waterproof, you can re-wet it to loosen it. If the base is to be scrapped, it won't matter how much water you use! Having gently prised the nails up (if you used nails), remove them with a small pair pincers/pliers and you should be able to lift the trackwork. I have a very small upholstery tool that looks like the claws of a claw hammer that does the job as it fits between the rails (just!). It's ancient but still useful.

Good luck!

Philip

Hello chaps and chapesses,

Right! Time to stop moping and saying 'It's too hard, difficult etc...' and get on 'doing something'! As I'm not happy that the card will give me a satisfactory result imitating plate girder, I shall get on with the other retaining walls. I have the ply already cut height-wise and only need to trim it to length.

So, out will come all my cutting boards and cutters and the card plus printed paper that I put away yesterday and I can tackle all of this in the warmth as today is grey, wet and miserable and Mrs Philou and I shan't be doing any gardening.

We had a good bash on Friday afternoon cutting down an apple tree that despite being 15 years old has never given a crop of apples (my favourite, Cox's Orange Pippin) whereas the adjoining one, a Best of Boskoop, gives a huge amount every year. So, down came the Cox's, a dwarf Leylandii that was over 10' tall and a whole load of prune tree suckers that had grown into saplings - oh - and coppiced a hazeltree that was rotting from the inside out. Now the garden looks like a mini Somme with tree branches all over the place. We'll cut them into manageable lengths with some big garden lopping shears and then burn them in a couple of weeks when dried out a little.

Who ever said being in retirement was being always on holiday?

Back to the woods tomorrow as there's another parcel of trees to be thinned (this time all standing) - there's about 40 to cut down - nothing big all less than 300mm (1') in diameter.

Hopefully, a meaningful progress report tonight,

Cheers everyone,

Philip

Hello chums and chumesses,

No modelling yet again today, it was out into the woods with M. le Maire to cut some trees into logs ready for the log-burner this coming winter. I have to confess I've run out of stock this year and had to GSI as the stuff I have left is absolute rubbish - too old and too wet. It burns but gives off no real heat so he and I (mostly he) are thinning out a parcel of trees (trees stunted, twisted or already fallen) already marked by the ONF (Office National des Forêts - Forestry Commission). It's quite cheap at €5 a stère (stère = 1m3 of wood cut into 1m lengths and split) but not as cheap as affouage (the right to cut and use thinnings) which is €35 for 35m3 in our commune.

We cut about 6m3 of wood today (4T approximately) and more to be done tomorrow. The only thing is whilst relearning my woodsman's badge, my joints haven't yet acclimatised to the hard work - my wrists, feet and back are feeling it in the main. My chainsaw probably weighs more than 20 Accurascale Deltics! and I haven't used it in at least two years.

Anyway, all is well and no mishaps with the saw nor falling trees on me or M. le Maire!

More tomorrow,

Philip who's pooped.

Top tip: When using a chainsaw always work away from your feet, otherwise you could become a foot shorter and I'm not that tall already! The other thing, do make sure that your safety trousers are outside your safety shoes and not tucked inside. Result? Shoes full of wood chip and sawdust. How do I know this?

@lezz01 Well, I didn't know that - thanks for the information. Is Butanone (diluted) OK for the chairs that you sent? I don't want to end up with brown soup all over my baulks - oo-er missus. :)

Cheers,

Philip

Top tip: If you use Ethyl Methyl Ketone, do be careful in its concentration in the air as apart from being flammable, it'll make you go woozy and at one time it was considered carcinogenic (whether it still is the case I don't know).

Hello everyone,

A couple of days off to add to those already lost over Christmas and the New Year (unfortunately). I've struggling a bit with the bridge at the moment as my card isn't giving the same results as the first time I used for the bridge. I also had a closer look at what I originally constructed and am horrified to see glue marks and badly fitted bits of card - painting hides a lot!

Rather than tear my hair out or give up, I'm changing the approach of the construction and I shall do it in Plasticard and Plastistrut but it'll wait until I get to my favourite railway porn shop - erm - emporium, Lord and Butler in Cardiff to which I shall get in mid-February. My brother advises me that he has a full stock of assorted shapes and sizes. I shall get rivet head transfers from RailTec.

I made a useful discovery that I can acquire 5L quantities of EMK (MEK) or Butanone and iso Propyl Alcohol (iPA) here in France at about €6 a litre - that ought to make fair few bridges!

Cheers,

Philip