Ighten

Do the 47s and 37s have a completely different mechanism/motor etc to the more expensive versions in the catalogue? Just wondered how the chassis would be for slow running

Has anyone received the Hornby wagon included in this or was that a figment of my imagination it seems so long ago (like everything over the last 14mths) that I cant remember the details

Sites becoming super slow again - not sure if its related to the issues above and there seems no logic to it (ie one minute its fine then it just sits unresponsive)

A 1361 sits diminutively on Tunstead moors alongside a TOAD van.

Thanks for that MoK will order a pack of 18s and 19s I think to start and take it from there... Im still concentrating on the right hand side of the layout at the moment cutting up yet more of the granite cobblestones and adding a little more detail in the form of fencing.. etc The other thing that needs addressing are "other buildings" - I think they should be small and spread so I have placed an old lamp shed in various positions trying to get a feel for where it best sits - though I think perhaps something like a very small office building may be better suited.. Its also drawn my eye to how I'm going to deal with the right hand side of the backscene..

A break from work on Tunstead Moor..

179£ on sale now

Some great inspiration here I'm especially liking your vine creeper leaves and brambles -- what did you use as the base wire/line for them as it seems almost invisible

True - but in a small diorama (and basically this is just a prettified cutdown inglenook) it is important to have detail (but not too much) even if its false details.. If I don't put the ground signals down I lack pin points of white amongst the landscape and man made structure.. This is why I like to throw unpainted unweathered items on initially (so it jumps out) and then decide if it stays; needs repositioning (probably unprototypically) or goes back in the spares box.... One thing I cant quite get my head around is the kadee I need -- All I need to negotiate is short points so I can get away with realistic distances (I think - from trials with no couplings or NLR magnetics) but I cant work out from the packaging description how kadee measure in mm an NEM coupling --

Not sure what happened there but the editor seemed to keep wanting to add an old quote so feel free to delete as I cant find a delete button.. Moving on I probably said it on day one of this thread or at least page one but it really has become time to not only decide if the ideas for buildings work - but more to the point do they actually fit.... lol Now on paper everything fitted perfectly till a cpl of weeks ago I decided I needed more back drop landscape rather than just a picture of the landscape; and boy does 8mm extra depth (2x4mm lots of poly basically) make a big difference.. The main goods building is your simple Wills goods shed - though it will be sat on a length of platform twice the length of the building and altered here and there to suit.. However the only way I can now get it to fit is if I remove the piece of vertical landscape I added a few days ago for depth (see a few posts back).. Call me stupid or it may have been the red wine but I spent far to long working out how to cut a corner out of the shed so it would fit, or a notch into the background before it occurred to me I could simply trim back the depth of the polystyrene with nothing more complicated than a craft knife.... Anyway looking forward to getting this painted up.. I seriously need to stop buying Oxford plank wagons - they don't really suit the era I have in mind but they are just so easy on the eye lol... At the moment the shed sits on its wooden supports as supplied but Im going to extend these out to the left of the building, add boarding for a platform and position the yard crane on this... I also started trying out Wills granite sets and details like ratio ground signals just to see how I need to order things up for the paint shop..

Great work here - can I ask what your making the shrubs and bud from

I have to admit that all my "go to" favourite layouts for inspiration, feature nothing more than the plain painted background -- I have only seen a few who have managed to blend (especially IDs HD photo backscenes) well into the layout..

Your probably right and may have hit on the solution - the only issue I found before was the backscenes just took over and so I went for the simple blue paint.. It never occurred to me that I could have a backscene that just suggested depth by cutting it down (perhaps even using a 2mm).... Now to find one that isn't too green and why do they come in lengths to build 3+ of my layouts lol

Beautiful stone work - would suit my setting perfectly

TBF the first thing to remove from such wonderful looking things are the tension locks - Order placed even though its going to be seriously rule 1

OK so here's an example of how the 2D vertical bit of landscape Im having to squeeze in due to lack of space is working -- The area to the left of the 1361 engine is the embankment that was built up in the photo a couple of posts ago - where as the area to the right of the is the vertical flat area decorated in the same way. It looks slightly darker because its stood vertically meaning less light is falling on the actual grass so I may have to correct that with the airbrush but the idea will be that most of it will be hidden by a few trees and buildings and trees anyway so I may leave it so it looks like the trees shadow that area. You get a better idea from this angle. Sorry about the spotty marks - the cameras lens or something desperately needs a clean

Even though my boards are MDF flat and pinewood bracing - I built up to the track lvl using foam/poly a mix of 4mm and 7mm --- all I would say is be careful when laying track and applying glue that its not over wet.. remember this type of of layout needs crawling locos so the track needs to be bob on When I added my cork layer on top of the poly I must have gone too wet as the cork soaked too much (roller coaster appeared) --- Fortunately no track had been laid so I could re start - dont know if your considering it but I would forget about a cork layer and use something more solid like a 2mm ply

Yes the C12 from what I can remember was featured a lot

No the target is international - I probably didnt express it correctly - the Japanese tend to still present and target as if its a Japanese audience even when its International which means spme strange decisions do get taken.. The Australian presenter made sense as its a huge market both ways in tourism.

Stunning -- Slightly off subject but I wish I could paint trees like that -

TBF I think shes quite a well known cosplay photographer or model in Japan - the program does need to keep its numbers up to survive and there was an issue during the pandemic of it having its budget totally scrapped... I suppose if this keeps the Japanese watching (they are seriously into this sort of thing - just visit Disneyland in CAlifornia the costumes they turn up in are from another world) then it makes sense the guests are sometimes a little bizarre. The other issue is Japanese doesnt translate very well into English as its a very formal and polite language and they tend to phrase English in a similar way that they would respond in Japanese

Just decided to test the track work and give the track itself another good clean after all that glue and misting thats been going on - so we have a visitor to try everything out. Which reminds me - where would the lamps be placed on an engine thats basically just running a small yards and exchanging wagons..

For Inglenooks the tension locks are a real pain in the ----- .. I tried using the magnetic close couplers which look great when coupled and closed the gap prototypically but the magnets are just tooooo strong.. Kadees have the advantage of being simple lift to separate even if you dont want to automate them.. You can get NEM or ones with pockes

If I had to start again one thing I would do slightly differently is allow myself just a spare inch or two between the line nearest the backscene and the actual backscene board.. I was so concentrated on creating space at the front of the board to give the impression of openess and space that I forgot how I was going to really tackle having such a blunt horizon.. So Im copying a method I have seen on Boomers you tube channel where he adds vertical 2d scenery pieces - which are flocked and detailed just as you would the rest of the layout - the only difference being these wil stand vertical and with some shading and well placed half profile trees should help create some depth. You can see above on the right hand side how this would work with the foam 2d piece in place. So its time then to see if the scenery flows from front to back and looks ok when continued into the backscene and I'll use the small mound I have painted brown already to try. Earthed ,sanded and flocked in the same way with 2mm and then a 4mm mix as I did with the rest; its getting there I think.. Maybe some more layers of 6mm later and some tufts in places - then detail with brambles etc... Seam lines will be removed with an airbrush