grahame

November 2, 2023

A base coat is now applied (I need to add some paint effects, if I'm up to it, to make it look like concrete and pebbledash) and I've taken it out to the shed to see how it fits in place:

November 2, 2023

The tedious job of cutting window apertures and adding balconies is complete, the walls glued in place, and it's had a coat of primer. Next some rubbing down and tidying up, then painting and adding windows, plus any details.

November 1, 2023

It's another tower block, that is designed as low relief (in two directions) to go in the corner and disguise the internal shed cladding quarter round baton.

It is based on one of those at Tustin Estate (Peckham, Old Kent Road). There are three tower blocks on the estate that are 18 storeys tall which were slung up in the early 1960s and are now undergoing redevelopment. My version is 16 floors to provide some compression and prevent it being too dominating, plus, being at the back of the scene, it also a slightly smaller scale.

November 1, 2023

Last night I embarked on the next bit of cardboard engineering for the layout. Here's the stage I got to. Can you guess what it will become?

November 1, 2023

10 hours ago, acg5324 said:

My wife and her sister had a not so quick trip to the York Designer outlet……….no clothes with posh labels for me…

Yes 3kg of jelly babies…..these are so much better than the Maynards ones.

You're gonna have to paint some clothes on them if you'll be using them as passengers in your coaches. . . .

October 31, 2023

25 minutes ago, Willie Whizz said:

Nice. But go on then, I’ll bite: what is a “herb garret” please?

A garret is the top of a building aka an attic. I guess the herbs stored (maybe grown) there would have been medicinal ones (such as opioids) used in the operations rather like an apothecary.

October 31, 2023

As well as Southwark cathedral I also have this N/2mm model on my layout. It's formally St Thomas's church, but now houses the oldest operation theatre in the UK, as a museum, along with a herb garret which are both open to the public. It was constructed by the Guy’s hospital governors in 1703 to a design by Thomas Cartwright, a 17th century English architect, and replaced the original one built in 1212. It ceased to be a church in 1899 when the parish was merged with St Saviours which later became part of the Southwark cathedral diocese.

October 31, 2023

4 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

The church to the left of the signal box must be the closest ecclesiastical building to any railway in the realm.

. . .

I wonder how many model railways there are with churches on them.

The Lady Chapel of Southwark cathedral is only feet from the main railway line. In fact the lines had to bend around it to avoid the cathedral when they were extended from London Bridge terminus.

And yep, my layout has a representation of the cathedral (a progressively compressed low relief one) on it. But no plans for weddings and funerals. Most likely to be tourists gawping at it.

October 19, 2023

Great news, well, for some perhaps, is that I'm closing in on completing issue #4. Just a couple of articles to finish off and they're well underway. With luck I should be able to get it to the printers by the end of October and have it available some time in November (assuming nothing goes horribly wrong).

G.

October 18, 2023

Very cute.

October 10, 2023

On 20/09/2023 at 23:21, Leicester Thumper said:

This has crossed my mind, but I feel that it would require editing and use of graphics editors or photoshop (or equivalent), which at this moment I can't as my PC is out of action.

You should be able to accomplish reducing the depth with a pencil, rule, and modelling knife to cut a chunk off a low relief building. No need for editing the graphics on a computer.

October 3, 2023

10 hours ago, Willie Whizz said:

Well, I suppose you could argue it prevents the item being damaged by being jumbled around in a tray full to overflowing of other random old stuff, which is the way a lot of this kind of thing are offered. It shouldn’t double the price though …

Or any bits that break or fall off get to stay with the model.

September 28, 2023

A lovely cat.

September 27, 2023

Stunning modelling.

September 27, 2023

After a weekend working on the next issue of my 'British N Gauge Railway Modelling' magazine and yesterday on some garden maintenance, I've returned to the layout shed today. Time had been spent jiggling around things like the bridge to ensure the location for the best fit. I also added a sliver to the platform track bed section to widen the platforms although a little more needs to be cut and added. I'm also going to need to make some alternations to the bridge:

September 25, 2023

I managed to get a number of issue #3 sold at TINGS thanks to Howard who hosted it on his 'N Gauge Now' stand.

Consequently I've made some good progress on issue #4 and spent most of the weekend working on it (to the detriment of doing anything on my layout). I'll get back to the layout now and look to finish off the mag (issue #4) later, but I'm now more confident of getting it finished, printed and out before the end of the year (should anyone be interested).

September 24, 2023

Fantastic modelling, super composition and great photography. Just a shame it's all that sleepy G*R stuff. 😁

Perhaps a bit of more up-to-date stock would liven it and the inhabitants up a bit. 😉

September 23, 2023

Surely Llahdos is what most overweight Americans are?

September 21, 2023

I've noticed there's always a bit left. I think it's the bile gland.

September 17, 2023

40 minutes ago, wainwright1 said:

I assume that this local station wont be an exhibition layout ?

It's a permanent home (shed) based layout. I was finding the lugging around of exhibition layouts too much, although I am involved in (slowly) building an exhibition layout also based on a real location. But that is (currently) exceptionally light weight and there is a group of us.

September 17, 2023

A few details added to Montague Chambers - the ridge tiles are on, the balcony fence made and fitted and an aircon unit added, plus a feeble attempt at sign writing, luckily with a pencil. I'll try and over-trace neater with a pen and then rub off the pencil. There is still the vent pipe to bend up and add but I think I'll leave off the gutters and downpipes - the building is hidden away as can be seen in the pic below.

September 16, 2023

A little bit of fine tuning of the ply track bed with some trimming and roughly marking up the platform locations this afternoon. The positions are not finalised as I'll start by laying the track at the back, then the platform edges and work my way to the front to ensure everything is workable with sufficient room.

The through platforms will be just over 40" long which should accommodate an eight car Mk1 EMU - but there is a little wriggle room if necessary although compression is required. With only two through island platform (instead of three) there is sufficient room for the lower level terminus and the train shed.

September 16, 2023

A bit of wood mangling and hacking early this morning before the sun and temperature get too high - it's forecast for 27C here and that's too hot and sweaty for me to be out and working. However, some of the high level viaduct track bed is now cut but it needs filing to remove and smooth the wiggly edges. Here it is just resting (not fixed in any way) on some wobbly supports:

September 14, 2023

I've made a start on mapping out the next section - the high level through station and the west end station throat. In order to cut the plywood viaduct decking to size I need to drawn up the track plan full size checking platforms, etc., and make a template. Paper has been laid on the baseboard to draw it up. Below shows the small progress to date.

The bridge is roughly in place (although it needs to be further to the right) in the pic below to ensure platforms are positioned correctly and to ascertain the viaduct track bed width. The strips of balsa don't represent the platforms but lift the track bed level to the amount over the lower level terminus platforms level to check the footbridge slope (if you get my drift). The viaduct track bed level is where the grey stops on the SER 'flat iron' building. It's all starting to get rather fiddly and critical, and consequently slow going.

September 14, 2023

Nicely observed, competent modelling. A pleasure to see and follow this thread.

Profiles

Forums

Blogs

Gallery

Events

Exhibition Layout Details

Store

Posts posted by grahame