Marly51

Many thanks for the link to this brilliant film, Jack. The detail is so clear in these black and white films! I recognise the Edinburgh locations near the end. Lots of children playing in the streets back in the 1950s and early 1960s. There is also a 1950s film called ‘The Singing Street’ in the National Library of Scotland Archive with children playing street games and singing on the Waverley Steps leading from Princes Street down to the Station. Marlyn

Thank you pb_devon and melmoth - I’ll check out both suggestions. Marlyn

Thanks, Keith! I managed to submit my entry for Round 2, but have been a bit tardy with the first two cake box challenges. This ‘Waiting for the Train’ model was based on my own experience in the 1950s, and an old ‘Scotsman’ photo of the familiar queues waiting to board holiday trains at Waverley! This model should be completed quite soon! Marlyn

I visited Switzerland on a school trip in 1963, based at Brienz Youth Hostel. We travelled everywhere by train and I would now like to read more about the railways of that period , as well as the history of the Swiss railway system. Apart from working my way through the many interesting posts here, do any members have particular recommendations of books, articles, etc? So far, I have only found a couple of books (in English) listed online: Swiss Railways: Locomotives, Multiple Units and Trams (European Handbooks) by David Haydock Swiss Railways - Locomotives, Railcars and Trams by Chris Appleby and P. Russenberger

Train journeys were always associated with childhood holidays for me. Might try scaling up again this time, but need to check what model railway items are available in Gauge 1 first? An opportunity to scratch build a carriage in card, possibly? Modeller Jim Read, here on the Forum, has made some lovely micro layouts with the locomotives and rolling stock made of card and has very kindly shared his techniques. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/116975-making-a-7mm-0-gauge-lner-y8-side-tank-loco-from-card-for-about-£30/

Well I’ve actually made it! Finished the model and emailed to Phil! The final coat of yacht varnish on the buildings brought its own challenges. The first attempt at varnishing the loading bank was a bit blotchy, so I reprinted the artwork. I decided to dunk the figures in varnish as, well, to make them look like Dinky Toys figures. Gaugemaster grass mat provided the surface for the small embankment at the back and the gravel mat for the yard baseboard. I started making a cover for the cake box - like the old Hornby Trainset boxes, but ran out of time. I am tweaking an old Hornby illustration - changing the older boy into a girl - flying the flag for female modellers!

This is what 70 cheap Chinese figures look like when they have been painted! All the ladies now have skirts (instead of leggings and trousers) made from some tissue, which is more appropriate for the 1950s!

Hi Nearholmer - I have picked up some basic skills over the years, from when Adobe software first became available for the early small-screened Apple Macintosh! The digital illustration side of things is quite time consuming, but probably no more intensive than time spent on many aspects of railway modelling. For the dry stone wall, I used a suitable photograph as a template, scaled to size, then produced the artwork in layers. I am fortunate that my daughter has created some suitable texture brushes, which I used for shading the individual stones. The wall took me about six hours. In ‘Illustrator’, the goods shed with its odd angles took a bit longer, and I chose to add interior sheets as well. The backscene took me about eight hours, with the most fiddly bit being the castle, simplifying the shapes without losing the character of the building. I’d quite like to experiment a bit more, using real examples of buildings and structures for reference. Marlyn

Hoping to finish everything tonight. The coal staithe is printed on paper and modelled from one sheet. I have tried to imagine the structures being modelled from tinplate. My paper kits have been sealed with acrylic varnish spray, then coated with yacht varnish for a high gloss finish. A wagon load insert with coal effect was made the same way. I have settled on a Highland location for this model. This time it is Invershin, so the 2D printed backdrop, which I created in ‘Illustrator’, is of Carbisdale Castle. The last stationmaster at Invershin had a side business as coal merchant, and always kept an open wagon in one of the sidings for his own use. The retaining wall at the back of the model is a dry stone dyke, which is modelled in card with a paper texture created in ‘Photoshop’.

I was thinking that would be a possibility, Grahame. My local car mechanic is a vintage vehicle enthusiast and has offered to look out some old photographs from his collection, as well! Marlyn

Lovely modelling, Job! You’ve achieved a lot of character in the detail. Look forward to seeing it in its little diorama. Marlyn

Some lovely models Grahame and Queensuare! I am working on an N Gauge North Highland layout based during the late 1930s period. Still looking for some oil tanker lorries for two oil depots. Marlyn

Is it the same as previous CakeBox challenges, Phil? 3 photos + 200(ish) words to phil.parker@warnersgroup.co.uk by midnight tonight? Marlyn

I have four tiny folk, painted up and pretending to be ‘Dinky Toys Figures’! The simplified goods shed paper textures have been created in Adobe Illustrator - very loosely based on the Highland Railway Goods Shed at Brora. The height of the cake box restricted the height of the shed, so the roof is shallower. I am pretending Hornby brought out a ‘Highland’ range in their tinplate model buildings. The coal staithe paper kit is also finished, but still to be printed out. That just leaves the loading bay and walled embankment to be drawn up. All of the card structures will be given a coat of gloss varnish to emulate ‘tin plate’.

Intrigued to see more, Southern42? Loved your ‘snowy’ ‘Waiting for the Train’ cake box!

A lovely range of Hornby tinplate buildings, trains and accessories in this video. Watching a few of these YouTube videos, while I draw up my own versions!

Very neat work, Josh!

Thanks for the extra information about the figures and single-link couplings, Nearholmer. I have ordered two unpainted white metal ‘Hornby’ figures which were described as ‘spares’. They’ve not arrived yet, but were very cheap, so I shall see?

Started cleaning some of the flash off these Slater’s ‘Huminiature’ figures last night. They will have bases, to emulate the Dinky Toys figures which were produced as accessories for the Hornby 0 Gauge clockwork train sets. Slater’s didn’t have 7mm coal sacks so I am using the potato sacks, which come as a two part kit, instead. I was first introduced to Slater’s Plastikard back in the early 1970s when all my fellow students were using card and balsa for their architectural models. Back then, it was Vivien Thompson who inspired me as a female modeller and I still have her book. When I was searching online for suitable simple and cheap figures for this model, I came across Phil’s Workbench feature on remodelling a Slater’s ‘Huminiature’ figure. I would love to have had some of the original Dinky Toys figures, but not keen on spending too much on these collectibles at this point! https://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/2017/08/oh-huminiatures.html

Hi Brian, I didn’t want to use any of the straight track, in case I could use it for an actual 0 gauge clockwork layout at sometime in the future! For the small length of track needed for the cakebox, the damaged curve was fine, although it involved a bit of extra work! The track is in fact now finished, the baseboard cut to size, so assembly starting this weekend! Marlyn

Called by Brora Station, on my way back from a meeting this week, to take some reference photos of the goods shed. Here are three, including a close-up of the wall boarding on the north facing platform side of the shed.

Thanks, Mike! I am working on a larger North Highland Line layout at present, but won’t be posting this as a topic until it is completed!

Love the attention to historical detail! Paper mills and printers abounded in 1950s Edinburgh! We had a school trip to Leith Docks which, like the city, was a very grey place back then! The docks were full of activity! Pity I didn’t have have a camera - my dad’s ‘pride and joy’ had a concertina lens!

Don’t know how you keep up the pace with your models on top of your studies, Luke! Good luck with the exams!

Fencing looks good! Sometimes I spend hours modelling a feature like fencing or a balustrade then have to make the decision to scrap it and start again! But your fencing works - looks like a lot of post and wire fences where I live - much of it with temporary repairs that never get seen to later!