Brasskingfisher

Well, I'll be honest, I'm none too happy with the quality of this picture. I may attempt to get some better ones at some point in the future.

Well Ladies and Menfolk, here we are again with another cakebox (mainly because I can). I'm calling this one Return of the Grot in reference to my first CBC 'The Grot Box'. The main difference here is the base (being a 3 ply lamination of card rather than ply). The shed is a cut down metcalfe kit (so as to fit into the box), the coal staithes and hut are from a Wills kit and the wagon is a Parkside Dundas kit with appropriate transfers from HMRS and a real coal load. I hadn't actually intended to go down the route of heavy weathering again, but it seems to work, and offers something of a USP (so to speak) to my work since weathering (especially heavy weathering) doesn't seem to be much in vouge atm. Any thoughts please?

Just I thought I'd share the results of a bit of an impromptu photo shoot I did at my MRC meet last week.

Well, the Grot box is now complete. It's proved an interesting challenge, and it's allowed me to play around with some new techniques. Overall I'm reasonably satisfied with it. I may even be willing to show it at my club's open day later in the year to try and encourage other people by showing you don't need masses of space, or even a full layout to enjoy the hobby. The first photo is just to the completed thing, the others are just a few cameos I've set up, I may even do some more.

Not entirely sure. I was hoping to just create the idea of a heavy, overcast sky in keeping with the general theme of grime and dirt. But atm I'm leaning towards showing it outside the box as a standalone piece.

Well here's the latest update on the project. I've used air drying clay, stippled with plastic strut for the cobbles and given it a couple of coats of citadel Agrax Earthshade and Athonian camoshade to give them a nice thick layer of industrial grime. Next task is to add the loading platform, and I have some left over sections from a Metcalfe kit I bought for another project which I might just use to fill up some space.

I've recently realised I've not been updating people on my work. Well here goes: First off we have my weathered shunting tractor: The Footplate crew for my Margate Pug: And the work I've done to interior of the box itself: And just a final picture to give a rough impression of where I currently am: I've also got a Dapol platform kit I've half built to break up the scene a little, but I'm waiting until I've been able to sort out the ground cover before I add that. I'd say all in all I'm about 80% of the way there with my first CBC, but already have ideas for a second and a third.

Well the main work on the shunting tractor has been finished, and surprisingly easy it was too. The only real difficulty was getting the supports I had to fashion to get the front end to stay up at the right height for a wagon's buffer (though getting the tyres back on was something of a pain). Here she is, ready for painting: And after a few coats of light olive, ready to be weathered: Looking at the pictures I've been able to find, machines like this seem to have been bodged together by the owners/operators as a stopgap or for economy reasons when using a horse/shunting loco wasn't practical or economical and so I'm assuming they would have been painted in whatever colour paint was lying around at the time.

Afraid not. I just did a google image search for 'shunting tractor' and found it. I'll be honest I'm using a small piece in a back issue of BRM for my instructions, I just had a nose around for a suitable picture to show something like the finished product.

Afraid not. I'm keeping things simple with a view to using the cakebox as a photographic backdrop.

And for my next trick, I will build a shunting tractor as a nice alternative to having the locos running around. Or rather I'll convert this die cast tractor into a shunting tractor. I've already taken the first step, which is to remove the mud guards, I just need to use some plastic strip to fashion some buffer beams. I've actually had this lying around for several years now without any purpose or ideas for it, but the rural branch line layout where I could use it doesn't really appeal for some reason. Hopefully it should end up looking something like this: Albeit a lot more used and abused.

Well work continues on the Grot box. I've weathered my little Margate pug with a few coats of Games Workshop Citadel paints 'Nuln Oil' and a wash of black ink. All that's left is to add a crew. This is now how my kitbashed Dapol pug looks, I still need to touch up the paint in a few places before I weather it, but I think it's not too bad as things stand. I've also done a bit of work on the board and box, but pictures will follow in the future.

Well I've been indulging my last opportunity to do some modeling before Christmas (possibly even this year) and I think my little Margate Pug has come out quite nicely. Taking the factory applied transfers off proved a little annoying (and left a nasty smear on the tanksides which necessitated a coat of matt black) but was achieved with some meths and cotton buds The mark on the cab gives you an idea of what the smear looked like, but I decided to leave those on the casbides be rather than risk messing up the lining. And here she is in her full BR livery, complete with freight classifications, courtesy of HRMS: The application of the transfers isn't brilliant I know, but this was my first time using them (partly why I was so worried about messing up the lining as a friend who's done it said doing lining using transfers is a right pain) and I'm quite pleased with the results, and I can hide some of the flaws with a bit of weathering.

Well, work has begun on the grot box proper. The track has been fixed to the bseboard (yet to be cut down so as it fits in the box, which will be something new for me). I've also got myself a nice little loco to go with the box van kit I have part built. I don't intend to leave it as is, I plan to remove and reapply the livery in the hope of disguising its' Margate origins I've also got a Dapol/former Airfix Kitmaster 0-4-0 pug which I'm planning to build as an open cab industrial shunter which I might use instead.

Amazing, just absolutely amazing.

Don't hit me with them negative waves so early in the morning.

And load the guns with paint so you can make, pretty pictures.

Ah, so pleased to see there's a club local to me.

Looks good so far. Might steal the DAS technique for the inset rails as I had no end of trouble with a previous attempt using filler.

Well having had some more time to work on Trelawney and a trip to the model shop I've made some progress on a couple of wagons. The first is the weathered mink I shared a picture of in my introduction, which has had a GWR tarpaulin attached to help contribute to the run down air of the layout by developing a leaky roof. I'll have to see about weathering the tarpaulin itself at some point in the future. The other is a Peco kit built 15ft Tarpaulin wagon I bought to help contribute to the GWR/WR inspired location.

Well having done some more work on this to create the industrial grime and necessary grot, and then playing around with my mock up I've decided to amend my plan, and split it into two separate CBCs. I'm going to get rid of the staithes and office, I might replace them with something else, maybe a loading dock (I was planning on only using two bays, but added a third when the idea for my new CBC came to me so watch this space for that one), I'm likely to fiddle around with the track plan as well but, will try and keep the industrial theme and grimy grot.

Well having bitten the bullet and decided that this would give me a nice change from my N gauge layout, and I because I have lots of OO bits hanging around here and there from other things, I've put together a rough plan (I might well work on the name, but it gives a good impression of the sort of scene I'm aiming for). This is obviously just a VERY rough mock up, but the general plan is to have two tracks side by side with a coal office/shed and staithes in the nearest corner being filled from a wagon and the retaining wall in the back setting the dimensions of the scene and giving it a nice industrial feel with a Dapol/former arfix kitmaster 0-4-0 pug shunting things around. I'm undecided at the minute as to whether I'll be using the one in the picture, or buying another kit since this one is quite old and I think I could do a better paint job on a new kit. Or I might buy a new kit and set about hacking it about into a more generic industrial shunter.

Well, here goes. This is my first proper foray into layout building, and although I've been working on the project for over 6 months now I'll be starting to show it off here. The basic plan is pretty simple, it's an N gauge shunting puzzle depicting a set of sidings at the head of a minor but busy former GWR branch line shortly after nationalisation (specifically in the 1947-52 period) based on the fact that the Dapol loco I've got set as my picture just happened to catch my eye. I'd appreciate any thoughts anyone has on it. These pictures show the basic baseboard and the space it takes up in the box I intend to keep it in along with the track plan, before and after weathering and then ballasting the track And some before and after pictures of my weathered wagons and the weathering I did of a Wills Boiler/Pump House kit which I bought to fill up a space. This is how the layout currently looks, I'm currently working on the ground cover. I appreciate this isn't the most in depth record, but it gives a rough idea of how things stand right now and I'll provide more details in future updates. I'm happy to answer any questions about the project.

Thanks for sharing this, and showing what's possible in a small space. Layouts like this are brilliant for showing off why it's not necessary to have a lot of space for a layout.

As a complete newbie to the forum I'm immensely pleased to see the range of ideas being contributed to this challenge (and the good natured 'joshing' from the mods and other members is especially welcome). All too often newcomers to hobbies and forums such as this are put off by rivet counters (I know I was), but having poked around a little I'm grateful for the chance to use up things I've had in my 'bits box' by trying something new, and the feature on submissions so far in the latest issue of BRM has certainly encouraged me to make my own entry. . IMHO challenges like this are the perfect thing to encourage new people into the hobby, and or reluctant hobbyists like myself to try something new and maybe learn something along the way, watch this space for threads about my own layout and cakebox challenge diorama.