ManofKent

One minor annoyance with Brekina (besides the overseas postage costs) is even the obviously British models are still left hand drive and the body shell is practically non-removable. A slightly dirty windscreen/side window means it's not obvious with a van thankfully.

Works van (Brekina H0 Austin Mini Van - Castrol branding removed with fibreglass pencil, sheen taken off with same and then rather heavily weathered). Should help set the period as late 60's /early 70s:

And the three huts done - Wills Garden Sheds, but the door height works fine for an H0 figure and they scale up to about 13.5 x 7.5 ft which looks about right for the ones on the local works. Struggled to get roof looking like felt, but I think they're good enough

Next building just about finished (modified Auhagen kits with new roof and extra fittings to attempt to de-continentalize):

That's my fear - a few weeds from well sealed flock might be safer.

A bit of work on track - had to remove a fair bit of the ballast I'd put down with the dilute PVA method to get the little thing running smoothly, which leads me on to a question... Has anyone tried running these Busch beauties over static grass filled track, or am I asking for trouble given the tiny clearance?

Ballasting done (painful with track size and magnetic strip). Whilst waiting for it to truly set hard I finished off painting the first building. I'm not the greatest painter but I think it will do. Used https://taverhamhistorysociety.wordpress.com/library-of-photos-documents/#jp-carousel-320 as a rough guide.

Some further progress... I wasn't happy with the earth colour, but mixing three parts Dark Earth with one part Brown Earth gave me what I wanted: I've also added the crushed stone yard. Plenty of hours seiving stuff through a tea strainer and experimenting. Final mix is Wood Ash, Chinchilla dust, Akadama clay and finely eived ballast - Busch brown and Javis extra fine. Close enough to what I wanted and once weathered will hopefully give the right impression: Ballasting next, probably garduating this mix to slightly coarser as I get further from the yard area...

I noticed a few of the Hythe Models Dapol commission on ebay the other day too - different livery (not sure on accuracy) - might make an interesting out of use siding with a mix

Progress: Soldered a few joints together and added a couple of bridging wires elsewhere. Added a little filler to get the levels better for buildings. Spent two hours re-cleaning tracks 😒 Cheap artists acrylic Raw Umber painted on. Spent two hours re-cleaning tracks 😒 Added a few details from bits to buildings and primed them. Put down some Vallejo texture paint for grass areas (colour is too strong and might dry-brush and wash it down, although it will be covered in flock and static grass) Next stages are ballasting (tempted to go glue down first rather than ballast then glue, as ballasting needs to be light and I'm getting fed up with rail cleaning), and putting down the 'road' area. I'll probably use grey texture paint as the base then build it up with a mixture of stuff to simulate compacted stone chips. Small bridge needs inserting and ditch needs work. Plenty to keep me occupied.

I'm going to solder bridging wires before touching up the landscaping with a little filler, but need to wait for leaded solder to arrive, so in the meantime I've assembled some kits (Auhagen, Wills and Ratio). I think with a few bushes and bits and pieces views will be suitably blocked without the arrangement looking too contrived.

A thorough clean of the track with a glass-fibre pen and IPA sorted the stalling. It ran for half hour in each direction.

Thanks - I soldered separate feeds to the siding, but I think before I go further with the scenic side adding bridging wires (that I can hide with a bit of work) might be a sensible idea. It ran well out of the box, but I'm getting odd stalls in places where I shouldn't... I also ought to look fora guide on adjusting the pick-ups.

It's gong to be a small rural works railway. Inspiration is taken from a local company - The Cardox Works, who still manufacture non-flammable charges for the mining, demolition and cement industries. They never had a railway as such, but until a few years back had a manually propelled narrow gauge tramway round the site: https://webapps.kent.gov.uk/KCC.ExploringKentsPast.Web.Sites.Public/SingleResult.aspx?uid=MKE14608 I'm not aiming at an exact replica of the site, but want to keep roughly the feel.

Not having much space, modest layouts are a non-starter, and my last attempts at OO got put on the back-burner when I realised I had either a workspace or a home for a layout but not both. When browsing the sale stock of my local hobby shop I spotted a reduced Busch Feldbahn set and thought hmm... I've got a wooden box that might fit in. Checking measurements it just fitted, although in the end I shortened it by 33mm to get a better fit, and added a point and siding to create a bit more interest. Finding anywhere in the UK that still had track wasn't easy (If I dabble with this again I think a bulk order from Germany would be cheapest and easiest). Central 'points' are dummy and need a little more 'faking' but hopefully will be convincing enough with fake blades added (have you seen the prices for real points!). Track down on 10mm Foamex (shouldn't need bracing), joints soldered (badly) and basic landscaping with DAS clay (mixed with the end of a tube of Burnt Umber acrylic paint. Now needs to dry:

Fascinating design concept and expertly executed.

I hunted the UK for the caboose switches without any luck. Ended up with a US ebay order - not too horrendous if your order the pack of four.

I grew up in the area and can just remember the railway - it was still running in the early 70's, but whilst the gravel works carried on for much longer the railway didn't last past the end of the 70's as far as I can recall. As a teenager (80's) you could walk along some of the old track bed near that bridge - there was still rail and sleepers. I haven't been down there in over 20 years so I've no idea what remains. There was a similar line at their Faversham site, but that was pretty much inaccessible without obvious trespass when I took a wander a few years back and is now being developed as a housing estate,

There's always the alternative of going with GWR locos with proper tanks rather than those daft paniers... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_1361_Class

I'm sure I heard someone say Rob has a passion for Yews.

You're collecting a nice collection of rolling stock. We definitely need someone to produce a rtr class 01 though - ubiquitous for East Kent.

Lovely looking loco. It possibly finished it's days on Tunbridge Wells- Three Bridges?

That's what weathering powders were invented for

Mud is looking good.

Langley do a few bits and pieces - lathe etc.