bcnPete

Jeremy, hi Just stumbled upon this by way of the Euston thread. Looks to be an interesting project - I like the scale of the buildings particularly the large one in the front...maybe with some trees along the edge too so you have to look through to see the trains? Watching with interest, Pete (Look forward to see your HST and 50’s stretch their legs on this... )

@46444 Very nice work Mark. Nice collection of rolling stock you are gathering up for this future layout. I really like the first shot too on the photo plank

Oooh luvvly stuff - keep em coming like that Got a couple of those coaches myself and just waiting for the observation car to be released. Would be great to see the whole layout with a fleet of large logo 37’s

yep, very neat Rich

I still use W-I-T for all my layouts - not good on the tech stuff me I get mine from here - does what it says on the tin... https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/signals/wire-tube-control-pack-sm4/ Usual disclaimer Nice progress Rich - lovin’ that low level class 33 shot

Very impressive work Andy

Amazing project Gary. As an architect, I was lucky enough to work on the new station refurbishment when I was with Norman Foster’s studio....I even got to walk over the roof arch and stare down across the station throat which will stay with me forever. Watching with great interest

Many thanks Mikkel, The whole lot probably needs a dusting of white to represent the clay but I will try and get the colours right first as a base than go straight to the bleached look. As for the gutter brackets, did I ever tell you about my idea to do Kyle in 7mm...

Likewise Don - might be able to bring my 7mm layout to that one

More cracking work Mark. No doubt after all that weathering, you can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal... Tell us more about the blue 24...does that get returned to the owner too or is this a hint at the new layout?

Many thanks to all the organisers for a thoroughly enjoyable event. Great modelling content and hospitality from the hosts and quickest load and unload ever for me with a micro layout. Hope to make it for the 2021 bash Pete

Can we open some windows in the hall to get a breeze through...the air is getting a bit ripe now...

Done! I have taken a slice of each... ...although I will stock pile under the layout as that Full English at the Lethbridge Arms is sitting a bit heavy at the moment

Kyle of Lochalsh - 2mm Finescale Originally built in Barcelona in a box file and transported to a small UK exhibition in hand luggage via a well known low cost carrier, the layout has since had two makeovers. The idea was to try and take the main ingredients of one half of the station and capture it as an extract. The scenic section of the layout is approximately 600mm x 105mm. Track is built using the (at the time) newly introduced 2mm Association easitrac with turnouts built in copper clad and code 40 rail. The era set is BR blue starting with class 24’s which gradually evolve into class 26’s and finally the large logo class 37/4’s. When conceived the layout was originally DC and has now been upgraded to DCC with locomotives gradually fitted with sound chips. Gotta love a grubby noisy tractor! Feel free to ask any questions and as I am on my own today I will be grateful if someone can take over the controls during the obligatory nips to the loo and then grab some pasties en route back

Many thanks Kris... Many thanks Mark Good idea re the decals. The hoods are Skytrex outta the box at the moment and I know they have their faults (they have a 10ft WB not 9ft I believe) so eventually it would be good to replace them. There is a kit available I recall for a GWR 5 plank China clay wagon but for now these pass muster to enable me to progress the layout...

Morning all, After an intense 3 months of work, including readjustment to WFH I was happy to have pre booked a week off after Easter to have a break and of course, profit from some modelling given current restrictions. Following the last post with the apron, the next job before tackling the dries was to undertake the ballasting. This was using some black ash ballast from Green Scene following the tests I did and posted last year. No point to dwell too much on the ballasting as this was done using the tried and tested dry lay, mist coat and then pva/wul/water mix. One board seemed to adhere better though and even after a coat of a well known hair spray manufacturer, giving it much needed volume and bounce I resorted to a second spray of said solution. This seems to have fixed it with just the usual patches needing some touching in. The chairs have been painted rust colour and the whole thing now needs toning down using some weathering powders. I also added some patches of static grass just to give the feel of it becoming unloved as this is set circa 1983 just before it closed...small hints of weeds will be added to the apron and the gap between the concrete and rails in due course. Right, that’s the ballast bit....now the clay bit...namely the dries. As mentioned before I had produced some drawings based upon the originals from an Architect friend I studied with and these formed my quick n dirty foam mock ups. Whilst I usually prefer to work in card, I knew I was going to build the dries in plastic as I needed a mixture of random stone (the base) concrete (the floor and projecting platforms) brick (for the columns) and block (for the later infills) Primarily as I didn’t fancy applying DAS and hand scribing and ending up with a mixture of materials. All of the sheets were purchased from South Eastern Finecast at an exhibition but also topped up by mail order direct during lockdown. I started by building a foam board carcass of about 300mm long which was then expanded bit by bit. The brick columns were cut paying attention to photographs and counting courses and received a few strokes with a file on the edges to get mitred corners making sure the courses lined through...that’s the Architect in me coming through Random stone was applied using double sided tape and I built a brick pier followed by a block work infill before commencing the next brick pier again. This continued until I had the complete length (1100mm approx.) and I set about making the timber wall plates and rafters. Here is where things took a detour I started the first bay building the rafters bearing on the wall plate with the idea I would attach the fascia board. The fascia board was pre prepared using some excellent gutter brackets found online by googling. Giles kindly ran me off some and dispatched in time for this week. These were glued into place and the fascia board offered up and glued in place as per attached pic. Feeling pretty pleased with myself, whilst I transported the layout back to the spare room, I bumped into a shelf and the dries building fell flat on its face...breaking off all the gutter brackets - the room was filled with much fruity language Relax, walk away, think it through and ponder overnight. The next day the first task was to make a foam board support jig to prevent this happening again...It then occurred to me that I was approaching this all wrong as I was having trouble keeping the alignment of the fascia as well as having to cut/trim each individual rafter Ok, time for rethink...and some cheating At the level of viewing the underside of the rafters will be barely visible from the front, so why build this as a traditional roof? What was needed was a box type structure with a soffit board to allow me to get the alignment as well as attach the gutter brackets separately to the front. This was made in sections, welded together with MekPak and attached to the structure. This would allow the fascia board to be attached as well as the profiled roof sheets. Win. So to end the week, I attached the fascia boards (having first predrilled and glued the gutter brackets) filled some joins with model filler and then the whole assembly was taken to the garage for a spray with grey primer...to see what needs more work! I have sprayed a test piece of roof but am not so sure about the profile yet so will get some more options before attaching. I now need to add the gutters, downpipes and further detail such as metal guard rails etc. The unit was placed on the layout and some test running followed to check clearances. One of the projecting platforms needed a tickle with a file as the handrails on the 08 caught on it but this is an easy fix. First runs were shocking despite cleaning the track prior to remove the pva and paint so a good coating of IPA on the rails seems to have resolved that. Going forwards I am tempted to now start the dries buildings on the other board before I start painting and weathering this one however I will see how the mood takes me on that. I now have a methodology to build the other more complicated building and as this sits more forward and will be more visible I may look at trying to laser cut some timber rafters at the studio when life gets back to some normality. Overall I am happy with what has been produced this week and turning a negative into a positive, this lockdown has allowed me to progress with the modelling which normally is undertaken for a couple of hours at the weekends. As always, comments welcomed and stay safe all, Pete

Nice work Mark - on a roll here Do like the finish you have achieved - am guessing you didn’t use any of your pre shading techniques to get this or else you would have said. Look forward to the next post...

Liking the progress Rich. Probably worth pointing out that when I originally started it as Meeth I was always conscious of the 1/3 scenic to 2/3 non scenic ratio so the two traverser’s you kindly took as part of the package were designed to be transparent to show the viewer more of the not normally seen areas. This was a development from my transparent traverser on Kyle which seems to have been received well at shows. So perhaps the idea to shift part of the turnout off the scenic area am sure could be made to work with some trial quick n dirty paper templates...

Try these Adrian...

I think DG are popular amongst the 2FS community although I find the dropper a bit fiddly to make personally. There are Jig’s though and Bryn of this parish did a good step by step to making them on here I recall. Depends if you have fixed rakes or not? I tend to close couple my passenger and parcels stock using Dapol knuckle couplings with a DG at each end of the rake. You could do the same for wagons or individually as I did for my rake of 20T vans so they can be broken up a bit and shunted. Hope that helps, Pete

Good makeover that Mark. Reassuring to know the spare parts fitted the other model so scale wise must be spot on. Are you keeping it for yourself or will it be dispatched to your friend after completing? No FFS moments this time then...

That is looking great Adrian! The sea especially so. Did you ever consider swapping the rapido’s for DG couplings? It makes such a difference especially the front of the locos...

Hi Rich, Many thanks for the shout out - I too enjoyed our afternoon and take full responsibility for any sound chip related incidents - It always starts with someone who changes your mind on these matters and for me it was Nick B of this parish Great to see the project emerging and I do like what you have produced. Looking at some of the initial back of the envelope sketches I could see that some would be a struggle as the size is so tight. But for me, and the beauty of 2mm is nothing beats a full size mock up to gauge if an idea is a runner or not. The ability to literally shuffle stock around check clearances and photograph different views allows one going too far before building track. This plan looks great and with Martin’s turnout templot tweak above may flow even better. Certainly a lot more operating potential then the original! I look forward to read more about it and with the DJLC postponed for a year you can use it as a milestone and if you decide not to enter you will still have a layout out of it. Win! Staying tuned for more...

Well done Nick - looking good

I thought FFS was something else