MoonMonkey

I would go in there, but...

Quite right! To get us back on track, here are a couple of Modelu chaps destined for a railcar (when I get round to it!).

Hi wamwig, agreed, the figures are different sizes. The pmmstudio ones were big, suitable for foreground perhaps, but most of my figures are smaller and its a narrow board layout so tricky. So they did stick out. They were nice though, certainly different subjects. The Hardys OO ones come up slightly smaller than Modelu OO judging by the ones I got, but not too small, still suitable for sure. They are also nice, although they come on the sprue attached by their heads which is weird, makes them harder to paint on the sprue and they may have flash on the top/head area. The Modelu ones come up nicely in the middle for OO, and seem to be a good fit. They are good definition and nice to paint. Interestingly, the figures in the coach are actually Modelu but 1:87/HO, to ensure they fitted into the coach. It was a tip from the Little Muddle thread. I've got a railcar to do at some point, so I've got a mix of Modelu OO and HO seated figures to use... after all, people vary in size, and in the 1940s they probably were generally shorter. I haven't started thinking about painting them however. I'm trying to get my head around point motors and associated track laying. Just to say, I have no link to any of these suppliers, but I thought the info about comparisons, as I found them, might be useful to someone.

I would say "You should see the other one in there", but it might be too much for you! Actually, there are two figures in there, both female, and these didn't come from Modelu. That other supplier seems to have vanished though, unfortunately. Clothing is scant to non-existent! I ordered a few to practice skin tones with the lifecolor flesh paint pack, and I ended up with a few other figures. They were actually good practice, as they had quite large areas of skin, so handy for testing washed and what colours to use, including for browner skin colours. But it meant I had some rather unusual people for a 1940s British layout. So, I thought I'd pop them in a coach to see if anyone notices them! My boy thinks they are hilarious. My wife despairs at them.

Well I finally found a use for the chap in the deerstalker! A Sherlock Holmes (-ish) scene in a coach. I enjoyed painting these guys!

I like the idea of having some open windows in the doors with some people gawping out. A few photos of prototype coaches I've found online show door windows down, and some people looking through, even with heads part-way out. I'm using the Bachmann GWR Collett 60' coaches, which have quite a distinctive red edge around the window frame. I haven't worked out how to replicate an open window yet, and certainly not without trashing the coach bodywork. If I can work that out, there will be some summer air flowing through those corridors and a few casual figures staring into the middle distance.

No, unfortunately not. I've been keeping an eye on feepay but their profile is closed, which is a shame.

Hi, funnily enough, I just reassembled a coach this evening - my first attempt to 'do up' a coach interior. It was really to see how it went, to learn skills, and to see if it was worth it for my other coaches. It's been one of those back burner tasks while I've been doing other stuff. I chose a Bachmann GWR coach. It's been a bit of fiddly work to get the compartment interiors sorted, but now I've done it once the next ones should be quicker. I painted the insides, although the masking on the compartment walls was tricky so I resorted to using a strip of plasticard and painting it along the midway line, and glueing in the strips so they butt up against the molded seats. I cut down some Sankey Scenics coach pictures so they would go three abreast the compartment dividing walls because they are too big as they come in the pack (for this purpose, I mean). I also cut some small rectangles of silver cooking foil, same size as the pictures, to vary the look. I painted up some figures (Modelu ones for the most part), making sure I did a pretty good job because I was keen to see if the detailed paint (and therefore the effort) is worth it. They were stuck in with tacky wax for now until I'm content that no changes are required. For the lighting, I initially tried to use the TrainTech ones but these proved to be tricky to fit into the compartment coach as they are fixed units. So I tried hacking one about and it worked initially but I frazzled the terminals on the lighting strip while trying to solder wires between the battery compartment and the actual lighting strip (that, however, was probably my duff soldering that evening!). I gave up with the TrainTech ones, although I would be willing to use them in future, it's just that I couldn't make them work with my level of skill in terms of adapting them to suite my own purpose. I therefore tried one from layouts4u, a battery one with the reed switch. I soldered the components together and it worked fine (fortunately I remembered to buy a magnet wand to make the switches work). The battery and holder goes in the toilet cubicle which can't be seen from outside. Once the strip and wiring was stuck to the roof interior, I painted over it with black acrylic paint (obviously not over the actual lights!). I needed to trim the top of the compartment dividing walls with zuron cutters. I also used these cutters to trim out the floor of the toilet cubicle to allow the battery and holder to fit in ok. All that cutting sounds tricky but was actually easy and took less than 5 minutes. I think that was pretty much it. The coach was reassembled and popped onto the track. I've added a few photos to show the interior before it went into the coach, and a few from outside in the dark. I have station lights so I do have it on at night, so the lighting is worth it from that perspective. If I wasn't going to have lights on at night, it possibly wouldn't be worth it. I haven't had chance to look at it in daylight yet to see how obvious the passengers and interior are (with and without the lighting switched on). I'm a bit maxed out at the moment so probably won't be able to respond immediately to any responses, but I'll keep an eye on the thread in case I can be of help to anyone. So to answer the exam question... I'm relatively new to this kind of thing. Yes I've now done up the interior of an RTR coach, yes I've added lighting. And do you know what? I really like it. As a bonus, the magnetic wand for the layouts4u reed switch is great fun, both me and my boy love it. You waft the magnet over the coach and the lights turn on and off. Simple joy, it made us smile.

I just had an hour to look at the virtual exhibition... thanks ever so much for putting it all together and for making it happen. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was surprisingly easy to view (I'd been a little bemused before I signed up to it!). I got loads of hints and tips, the videos in particular were great. It was also great to see other layouts for inspiration and ideas.

Night time, and the undead walk again (even in 4mm scale!!)

Halloween, anyone? My lad saw these Noch figures and I ended up buying them... excellent fun for today!... Down on the up platform, the local monks gather to commence their Halloween protection activities, and then a vampire hunter joined them... Then Dracula turned up on the down platform... It all got a bit feisty... Then the vampires decided to head into town on the lash, ignoring the COVID-19 restrictions and the glaring sunlight!

Thanks Kevin, that's great, very helpful. Lovely work and photography as usual!!

Hi Kevin, I think the plants are mainly MiniNatur? But do you recall where the lettuces/cabbages came from? And what did you use for the soil in the veg beds? They all look great!

Hi, depending on how much you are looking for an accurate prototype and era, versus inspiration to justify some 'reduced distances' ... I can't help with an actual interchange. But if you are up for inspiration rather than accuracy, and ignoring the real distance and a steep hill between the tram terminus and the narrow gauge tramway - try "Bathford" village near Bath. Its a small village, one of many around the edge of Bath. The old Bath tram ran through Batheaston village and then onto the terminus in Bathford village, just by the mainline railway overbridge which went over the road. The scene would have been where the big roundabout is now on the main road from Chippenham to Bath, just before it becomes dual carriage way-byepass. So there's your tram terminus, right next to the mainline bridge over the road. Try googling images for Bathford tramway. An example of the scene is at: https://www.bathintime.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/32582 In the same village, some several hundred yards as the crow flies but up a steep hill at the top of the village, was a stone wharf. This was used for quarrying Bath stone from the surrounding hills. The wharf was on a road/track up the hill. I believe there was a narrow gauge tramway from the wharf to further down the hill toward the main railway line, but not actually heading toward the area of the tram terminus. So you need to use some artistic licence, but these components did exist within a distance of some several hundred yards, An example of the stone wharf, but without imagery of the narrow gauge tramway can be found here but just google Bathford stone wharf, or something like that... http://www.choghole.co.uk/HISTORY.htm check out the pic at the top. I don't know if there was actually a narrow gauge to main line interchange in this spot. If you need some more artistic license for how to model the tramway, then over the hill in Corsham there was narrow gauge stone quarrying activity, there are many images in google of 'Corsham stone wharf' and narrow gauge tramways, etc. Some (I think in the Getty Images site which can be found from some google images, include the locos and rolling stock oft he stone-carrying tramways Hope that helps! I'm not an expert on these, but if I was looking for this combo that's where I'd pick. Plus the scenery is lovely and the Bath stone is a great colour for a model railway layout.

I like that idea, about putting a pic of a family member into a pic of one's layout. I have plenty of deceased relatives I could try that with, but I guess finding a suitable image would be a challenge. I don't have any, that I'm aware of, which are railway related to use as an inspiration like you have done here. On a similar tack though, I did try putting a picture of my son into a video I took of the layout early on during lockdown. It was really basic because I don't have the tech really, but he thought it was hilarious, seeing himself in a video of the model railway which he was sitting next to as he viewed it.

Yes, I think so. I got my 2nd batch of figures from them shortly before they changed their page to this placeholder. The delivery time was very good for the two orders I made, and very sensibly packaged up. Great service all around I thought. Again, no connection to them, just a happy customer.

That all sounds good, glad you have a good system to work to. I steered away from aligning baseboards for my layout, with hindsight it might have been good, but such is life!

I got some of these PMMStudios figures and dogs, and I like them. No association with the supplier, just a happy customer. Here are some of the first ones I got...

Hi, I just spotted this article/thread/blog. I'll follow your build with interest. My limited layout is modular, but in my case it rests on a window sill. From my own experience, I'd mention two things that immediately sprang to mind when reading your entries... 1. Are you using the homebase pasting table type things? I've used those in the past and they seemed a bit flimsy. If you are using those, it might be worth thinking about bracing the actual tables. The layout modules might be heavy, and the tables may sag or collapse. 2. How are you joining the track? are you relying on good clips to line it up, or using fishplates/track clips? If you are doing a circuit which relies on track clips/fishplates, you need to give some thought about how to release the modules/track from each other when you pack it away, and how to put it back together again. Mine relies on the fishplates, but because as its a 3-sided thing, I haven't had to worry about the full circle. Even then, I had to allow a method of of permitting some wriggle room to tease the modules apart from each other. I now have a sequence that it needs to be dismantled in, and the backboards in one corner are removable first, which gives 9mm free space, which is enough to prize apart the first corner module. The other lengths along the long run can then be slid apart. I have the modules on lengths of leftover lino from a bathroom floor job some time back. These slide with the modules, making the task a bit easier. Just food for thought, it might save you some grief in the future. Good luck with the layout!

Another platform shot with the new figures, this time at dusk. Red dress still present.

I forgot about this Modelu chap, the guard (with Tommy and Tony in the background)... The guard was about the first one I tried to do a face. And the boy figure is a classic 'fugly' character. They also were about the first I tried. Too much paint (which was a mix of Humbrol acrylic paints, not actually lifecolor), too thick, and not letting layers dry.

Also, I was going for a more 'summer tan' look as the layout is loosely set in summer, so I think I was probably going for a browner rather than a winter pale face. Still a good point though, thanks, I'll have a go with the next lot

Hi, thanks for the hint. I ended up using the various shades of 'flesh colour' in the Lifecolor set, some of which are definitely pale pink. The results are really a pretty experimental effort. I did have a go at trying to do highlights of lighter pink on noses/cheeks/foreheads, as I've read about online/in books, but in some cases they looked like really obvious brush work rather than an actual person, so I tried to reach a compromise finish. I now have some more figures to do, to help with improving and learning further. I also now have a 'OOOOO' brush for the detail, rather than the O and OO brushes I was limited to before. Hopefully the finer brush will work well. PMMStudio also do some figures 'in the buff' or close to a birthday suit, so I got a few of those to practice the flesh tones on a wider surface area. I might hide these in a coach compartment or something as a comedy interlude. When I get around to them (currently working on a platform though) I'll post images up here too.

Many thanks, very kind!