Auchend1nny

Not a lot of progress lately, the unusually dry weather has meant attending to a few outdoor jobs. This evening however I’ve fitted the laserglaze to the cl 37 and I’m pretty chuffed with it. A bit fiddly but worth the effort. Also made a new axle (one of them was slightly bent and causing a bit of a shudder.) I generally cut new axles from 2mm stainless steel rod when I’m doing conversion to EM gauge. Anyway here’s a couple of shots of 37073 idling at the yard entrance.. Mark

My two class 47s have had their chips and speakers fitted, a job I’d been putting off for ages. Decided on mounting the speakers above the bogies on some roughly made plastic strip mounts rather than in the fuel tanks. The grey one will be 47550 ‘’University of Dundee’ in large logo blue. Not usually a freight loco but I’ve seen photos of other 47/4s on freight trains so I’m going to go with it. Mark

This weekend’s progress; the tenement roof has been masked and primed ready for final painting.

Thanks. Aye that was a cracking layout. Just looked it up but none of the photos seem to display anymore, pity. Mark

Well I’d hoped to finally get the tenement finished this weekend but not quite there yet. Almost though. Slight miscalculation on the number of chimney pots I needed so I’ve got to wait on extras coming from smart models. Otherwise just painting then the glass cupola to fit. Then maybe I’ll try to get onto ballasting the track or something. Mark

Slating almost complete. These are laser cut self adhesive strips of slate from York Modelmaking. Can’t recommend them enough - I’ve not found anything that looks closer to Scottish slate in 4mm scale. Mark

Bit more progress, chimneys on - two brick and four with harling.

Thanks, not really thought that far ahead but the layout is portable so I guess it could be at exhibitions. I’d need to actually get it to somewhere approaching finished which is always the hardest part. Mark

Update on the big tenement - basic roof structure now on. Appropriately for a pub roof I had to sacrifice 12 cans on brewdog lager to build it! Just needs slates to the pitches, zinc flat section, rooflight and chimneys now. Mark

It looks great and certainly robustly built! Cheers for all info on materials. Mark

And those rainwater downpipes? They’re spot on.. What scale are you working in? Thanks Mark

Thanks very much. Wow, that’s tremendous, Newhaven fishmarket. What’s it made from if you don’t mind sharing your techniques? The bricks look fantastic. Mark

Great looking layout and locos and an era not often modelled. Track work is looking terrific. Look forward to seeing it progress. Mark

On these ones I replaced the w-irons with etched brass ones but yes they are fixed in place and don’t swivel. Much smoother ride and fine if you don’t have any sharp curves on your layout. Yeah, I did start to wonder if the pipes were a good idea right after fitting them - I guess I’ll see how it goes when I get the layout properly running! Cheers, Mark

Bogies attached after a fair bit of fiddling about to get the ride height right. Just painting finish and the stanchions to add and maybe a load of old rusty rail.

And the Cambrian BDA kit has been primed and will hopefully be united with its bogies tomorrow.

A couple more photos

Some progress on wagons today. Finished weathering and detailing a couple of open wagons;

Cheers for that, wasn’t aware of them. Their stuff looks really good. Would’ve been really useful for my buses! Next time though.. Mark

Thanks, wasn’t familiar with prom bar but looked it up and yeah, it’s pretty similar. The model is based on bits of a fair few establishments I’ve been to over the years - check out the Speedwell in Dundee. Cheers, Mark

Thanks. Yeah I do have a bottle of that, I used it on the buses you can see in the photos. It’s very good but I still got sticky fingerprints on half the glazing! I think it’s maybe more a technique issue than materials.. cheers, Mark

Thanks very much. The product I used were these; https://www.dccconcepts.com/product/legacy-models-80x-pre-etched-sleepers-1-6mm-4mm-scale-straight-track/ I’d bought a packet a while back for a project that never got anywhere. What I did was break off three sleepers at a time, still joined together - on one side of the join I broke off the ends of the middle sleeper outside the rails. On the other side of the board join I broke off the ends of the two outside sleepers. When you put it together it looks like the sleeper spacing continues across the joint. When I do the ballasting I’ll ballast over the the shortened sleepers and hopefully hide them. Here’s a pic showing both types of trimmed sleepers side by side. On the adjoining board that’s reversed... Hope that makes sense! The remaining 60 odd sleepers I used for my fiddle yard.. Mark

Thanks for the tip, I’ll try with the gloss varnish. I always thought Klear was no longer available? Mark

Thanks very much. Will post more on progress shortly. Mark

And a start made on the Cambrian kit model that will sit on the bogies..