Marly51

This Roco set was available recently, in a model shop up my way, Gary! Gave in and purchased it along with a couple of small Liliput DR Epoch II coaches. I’ve been reading up about the history of Swiss railways and also the Bavarian Forest Railway, so might create my own little fictional HOe layout? Maybe later I’ll tackle an industrial tramway based on a local Highland industry? Enjoying reading your topic here!

Wonderful!! And so Glasgow West End!

Just found your topic, Max! Scottish themed layouts are of particular interest and especially these ‘shelf’ layouts which capture a lot in a small space! I enjoy browsing through Ian Futers books and also research some of my own favourite places, in the hope that I might have time to model them at some point in the future. Thanks for sharing details of your Strachur model!

Hope you get some advice about this model, Luke? Narrow gauge is a very attractive option for small layouts with lots of interesting industrial themes, based on reality or a fictional scenario of your own creation?

Wow - what a wonderful kit! Thank you for sharing all the interior details, before finishing the sleeping car!

You are fairly cracking on with this one, OOman! Some nice effects there.

That's a lovely model with a lot more character than the plastic kits! Although we have enjoyed the convenience of Faller kits over the years. I have been searching online for old photographs of small Swiss and German stations or wayside halts, but haven't found many references so far? I would like to have a go at producing a small HOe layout based on a rural area where forestry and timber extraction is a feature. But that would be after clearing all the other projects off my workbench!

Thanks for the update! I’d love to revisit Brienz sometime! My only two later trips to Switzerland were for skiing holidays, which did not involve any train travel, unfortunately!

These little projects are like the equivalent of a sampler in needlework, Job!

Hi OOman - I thought this was quite a clever solution to joining small modules? https://youtu.be/b9ssz3iqwns Not all Forum members agreed and gave me lots of advice about the different connectors which could be used. I am still working on a larger layout which is 9ft long, but in three 3ft sections. At present, I have some clip-fit connectors for the power and bolts physically connecting the boards, with suitcase clasps at the sides, which I think will do for me in the meantime. Always open to advice from more experienced modellers.

Hi OOman, yes - I quite enjoy finding out more about the subjects I plan to model, which means I take longer to produce the actual CakeBox diorama, as you may have noticed? Other forum members just get cracking with their projects from the word “Go”! I still have a lot to learn and enjoy following some of the topics here on RMWeb. :)

More down time today after a morning in the garden, and now thunderstorms have begun again! With friends having had their computers and telephones fried in the past, we tend to be over cautious and just switch everything off. Back to my drawing board with paper and a Pentel pen! Working out the basic details for the model of the hostel. The model should capture the character of the prototype, although the footprint is smaller to fit with the Cake Box layout. The lower half of the hostel’s walls are rendered and painted white, while the upper half is faced with red brick. Card and paper will be used for the building and scenery. Two different N scale red ‘brick’ papers have been downloaded from www.clevermodels.net and www.railwayscenics.com, and an orange ‘pantile’ roof paper from www.scalescenes.com. I need to check out more details about Swiss roofing tiles? Not sure if I have got the pitch of the roof right yet? Swiss Mountain chalets have a very gentle pitch to allow the snow to settle and provide a layer of insulation, while chalets lower down on the plain have a steeper pitch to ensure rainwater run-off. Swiss vernacular chalets ref: http://iaste.berkeley.edu/pdfs/03.1e-Fall91Giberti-sml.pdf Once the hostel model has been built, the rest of the landscape above the lake shoreline can be formed and detailed.

Some 'Railway and Non-Railway' related memories of that Brienz holiday in 1963: The youth hostel provided us with packed lunches every day and. being Easter, it always included a brightly dyed hardboiled egg and a 'blood' orange' (my first)! Before this holiday trip our teacher took us on regular hikes in the Pentland Hills south of Edinburgh, to make sure we were fit for some of the walking she had planned for us in Switzerland. On one of our forest walks we came across metal grills, along the path routes, which provided ventilation to underground Swiss Army tunnels and we actually saw soldiers walking below! We received German language tuition for two months prior to the trip and somehow were fluent enough to chatter away with locals and shopkeepers. My fluency was obviously limited when I bought a rum baba from a cake shop in Interlaken and felt decidely woozy for the rest of the day. Considering our school was an ordinary Edinburgh Corporation primary school, we were not short of opportunites! A highlight of one visit to Interlaken was the visitor centre above the town, which we reached by rack railway. Here was a superb model railway, but not sure if it is still there today? I think this YouTube video might be that same model layout? We found the Swiss people extremely friendly and one of the Brienz churches invited us to join them for the service on our first Sunday. Back then everyone turned out in their colourful national dress for church, which made us quite dowdy by comparison! It was a trip full of great memories!

How we loved those kits back in the 1960s! It was a novelty to have the coloured plastic parts! I still have an old Faller catalogue and a couple of their ‘How to build scenery..’ books - somewhere in the attic!

Go for it Cornholio! A ‘Holiday’ CakeBox made from a ‘Holiday’ toy - ticks all the boxes for me! And you don’t have to worry about scale! Have you seen Phillipe Denys Massey’s ‘Monjouet’ Layout? Packed full of children’s toy figures and buildings! https://youtu.be/c4uKSof0o-0

1957 is the year and finally sourced headlines for the posters and cover images of the main newspapers, comics, magazines, etc! Will scale these down in Photoshop for the counter displays in the newsstand. Here is the one featuring mainly women’s magazines. Surprised at how modern some of these cover designs appear! I found ‘Model Railway Constructor’, ‘Model Railway News’, ‘Model Engineer’ and ‘Meccano Magazine’ for our hobby - couldn’t find a ‘Railway Modeller’ cover for that year?

I have just ordered the Roco HOe Logging Train Set with a view to creating a fun micro layout. Not sure if I will use the set-track which comes with the set or use flexitrack with the sleepers adjusted. Apart from my cousin’s Hornby 0 Gauge tinplate clockwork train and my brother’s Triang set on the basic 6ft x 4ft board, my earliest memory of railway modelling was an Alpine layout at an exhibition in the early 1960s, and the design I was later to discover was a version of the ‘rabbit warren’!

I like your approach, Northroader! I have picked up quite a lot of second hand items over the last three years, which I look forward to customising when I have gained a bit more experience. Photoshop and some of the other Adobe software is very useful for modelmaking generally, as well as creating backscenes. I still have a stand-alone version of Adobe Creative Suite on my old XP computer, although I am now sharing a subscription with my daughter for the current version on my new machine.

I found the green mats do eventually break up after intense use. I keep them for heavy duty cutting, but prefer the semi translucent mats or the glass sheet on my workbench for more finely detailed work.

When our internet went off for a few hours during thunder and lightening, I started looking through my collection of old model railway ‘cuttings’ and found this ‘Model Railways’ Plan Service advert from February 1981. J.A. Ahern and E.F. Carter drawings 95p each or four for £2.85! Also found some great ideas for micro layouts, maybe my next challenge?

Thanks, Bill! I’ll be glad to finish this one, as well as the Swiss model. There’s always so many other things needing done at this time of year! Do you think your ‘Rest Stop’ could fit with the ‘Holidays’ theme at all?

Having been a collector of cuttings most of my life, I thought I would have a browse through some old model railway articles and found this April 1979 ‘Railway Modeller’ piece on enamelled signs by D.J.Smith. The reproduction of the signs is good enough to reduce down for this model. I also have the Robert Opie 1950s Scrapbook of advertising memorabilia, which is another great reference. Apart from newspaper and magazine advertising, the newsstand would have had advertisements for cigarettes, confectionery, stationery, new book announcements... According to the article, enamelled signs were in use from the mid 19th century until the 1950s, and in many cases some were as old as the stations!

Made a start on the two main walls of the newsstand, today. There will be two of the narrow elevations with the ‘window’ opening. All the other elevations will be closed-in panelling, with the occasional door.

One thing I really enjoy about these small CakeBox dioramas is the opportunity to experiment and learn more about different gauges, eras, modelling techniques etc. If I hadn’t experienced the holiday in Switzerland, I might not have considered a Swiss theme and decided as a result to find out more about the Swiss Railway network. Forum members in the Swiss Railway Group topic have been very helpful with suggesting some useful books for further research, I also love checking out what other railway modellers have accomplished through their YouTube videos, and this Pilentium one is a favourite.

Have to admit, I’ve been dragging my heels a bit with this model. I want to produce some miniature front pages/covers of newspapers/magazines/comics circa 1957, so it’s taking a bit of time to research. However, I have just discovered a front page of ‘The Scotsman’ newspaper dated April 1957 and there is a photo of the Waverley Newstand, as well! I can use ‘The Scotsman’ newspaper article headings for some of the billboard posters. I am experimenting with printed paper textures, which I have already used for the road and paving. Considered kit bashing the free download of Mike Martin’s ‘Wordsworth Model Railway’ News Kiosk, with his permission. Instead I am creating my own paper kit, similar in style, based on the actual 1950s newstand, so hopefully this will be completed relatively soon! If you want to check out ‘Wordsworth Model Railway’ paper downloads and YouTube videos, just follow this link: http://www.wordsworthmodelrailway.co.uk/