AndyB

Ok, so the Mk1 version of "sky" didn't quite work. The brush strokes showed, making it look more like a painting than perhaps it should. So, no sense in spoiling the good ship "Highworth" for a ha'peth of paint and I had anothe go. This time I used a sponge to smooth out the paint application and this seems to have been a good tip from our local art materials suppliers. A trip up to the Lancs/Yorks borders this week also helped a lot with some field research regarding how realistic the buildings and stonework are on my layout. Interestingly I'd assumed (always a dangerous thing to do) that "grey" would be the brickwork colour. It wasn't. Sandstone with soot/grime was the reality. So, maybe my Metcalfe warehouse in grey would be best off if I modelled Aberdeen! Grrrr. Next time I'm going to model something I know about....

Thanks first of all to those who pitched in on the scenery thread I started where I was trying to reconcile the grey stone used on the Metcalfe warehouse with the redder hues on the Peco backscene. To square that away I'm experimenting with various washes over the Metcalfe kit to blend the two colours. Anyway, here's the first attempt at adding depth to the model using a mixture of Peco backscene and hand-painted hills and skies. I laid down a white MDF primer some time ago - anything is better than bare hardboard. Out in-house artist, Jo, recommends, however using a white emulsion into which you mix blues and greys. Apparently emulsion and watercolours love each other. Having bought sections of medium and large Peco backscenes I spent a rather laborious evening cutting round the roofline to get rid of the overly blue sky offered by Peco. To avoid too much repetition I'm planning on overlaying sections of "large" in front of "medium". For now I wanted to make some progress around the tunnel portal and warehouse. I used a mix of watercolours to extend the Peco hill and blend it into the 3-d scenery around the tunnel portal. Hopefully we're not a million miles away from getting the printed part to blend with the bit I painted. I've put a tree in front of the join. I then started to work on the sky which I wanted to make "threatening". The photos attached look a little bluer than they do in reality. This is a first attempt and the sky will need more work. And as Jo in the office predicted - it was fun.

Thanks, Andy. Still a couple of tracks to lay on Highworth, so I'll be giving this a go. Cheers, Andy.

Thanks for sharing, Andy. Would I be right in thinking that using the wax solution allows any ballast that is displaced to be repositioned more easily than if the traditional PVA solution was used? Also, can you advise on where to buy iso-Propyl alcohol? Andy

After quite a long time fiddling around with ballast it seemed a good idea to ring the changes and have a go at some scenery. As the tunnel portal looked quite good I figured, why not make some progress on this area and start to blend it in with the (currently) flat MDF board on which the station throat sits. The station throat is on quite a steep gradient; long story, but the fiddle yard below has plenty of room to reach into! Basically I wanted to disguise this gradient a bit and some kind of view blocking embankment seemed to fit the spec. Enter the expanding foam! With help from my young assistant who doesn't really "get" model railways, but knows a good "making and doing" project when she sees one (the alternative was swatting for this week's spelling test ), we set to with cutting up bandages and plastering them into position. I've subsequently added a layer of plaster and plan to paint and add scatter. Here's a photo of progress to date. Looking forward to cracking on with this project tomorrow! Back to work just now. Version 1 of my scenery (above) failed to acheve quite what I wanted - a railway within the landscape. Around the platform ends it looked as if the landscape had been plonked on top of the baseboard. The main reason for this was that the expanding foam had a uniform thickness as the basboard climbed towards the station. Imagine a hedge and you've got the idea. So, I took a knife to the foam and carved through, making the foam "fade" (roughly) into the baseboard;see below. Working on the scatter just now. And then off to get more expanding foam to tackle the hill which is anything but a "railway in a landscape".

Tackled the ballast and weathering at the station, station throat and viaduct. Using a combination of Humbrol and RailMatch sprays, got the colour to what I wanted - or close thereto. Then painstaking moving of loose ballast. Got a method going where I checked each bit of track and combination of routes across the points using a small shunter. And when that ran smoothly, then it was almost certain to work for the larger locos. One section on the bay platform which was working ok is now persistently causing a problem. I'd used a section of Code 100 connected to Code 75 and this this now gives a significant an de-railing jolt to the locos. I've tried to file down the step between the two sections but this didn't really help. So, that bit will have to come up and a section of Code 75 sourced. That'll teach me to economise and use what I had to hand. Doh! Time and effort wasted. But on balance, plenty of progress and not much wasted effort. And all lots of fun.

Having used the "bulk upload" feature I inadvertently discovered that you can't put captions on individual photos. Apologies to Andy Y and the Moderators for that. Been busy adding comments to each of the images in this album.

Just posted some images from the Woking exhibition; a small smattering of what was on offer. Thomas Junction - what can one say?! Delightful, engaging, but most of all clever. Richard Pretious has certainly done much to get the very youngest of next gen. modellers interested in the hobby, not forgetting Thunderbird 3 and Kermit the Frog who ably assist him! For me, Umbridge summed up what N gauge is all about. A work in progress it is an ambitious 4 track mainline, with harbour, ferry terminal,....Just one of those layouts that makes you think about swapping gauges and having full length expresses meeting local DMU services at a busy through station. Not forgetting 3 Z-gauge offerings in suitcases. Not to everyone's taste, certainly. Perhaps for me the most eye catching exhibit didn't have a single train. Attributed to Roy Hickman I've posted some images from a diorama which the stand-manners claimed had been made "For a tenner" from Weetabix packets. Quality modelling using scrap material and relatively simple techniques. As a demonstration they were making up trees from twigs, sofa cushion foam and brillo pads in a matter of moments. The sample they made for us will be appearing on "Highworth" in due course, along with some we'll have made ourselves. The photos shown here are just a fraction of what was on offer. Lastly, many thanks to the show organisers. Both inside and out in the car park!

With some 9 tunnel portals on Highworth I've started looking for prototype inspiration and working up to a bit of scratchbuilding. The various ready-to-use offerings are ok and have worked so far, but there are a couple of "vacancies" for something better/a little bit different, see below. The twin track portal that forms the entry/exit to Highworth station is the first one I want to tackle. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/gallery/image/22472-picture-138jpg/ This particular portal is hard up against the backscene and will most likely need a retaining wall to help blend the 3-d landscape into the backscene. The 2nd image shows that there will be a tall retaining wall on the left of the tunnel. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/gallery/image/22473-picture-144jpg/ Bit of a plea here. If anyone can point me to some photos of interesting prototypes of tunnel portals I'd be really grateful. Lastly, this image shows... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/gallery/image/22474-picture-145jpg/ ... what I'm trying to move away from. I created this as a temporary finish to a tunnel mouth using Slaters 7mm stone sheeting. There's nothing good about this and I'd like to improve the quality of the modelling. Again, if anyone can point me to some "vault" of photos that would contain some inspiration then I'd be really grateful. Andy

Hi, Jackrob, Certainl, PVA & washing up liquid is the technique I use. And a children's medicine spoon to apply the mixture to the centre of the track, with sufficient applied to allow it to seep into the ballast shoulder & 6 foot. By brushing, I'm assuming you mean leave the glue to set hard and then remove the excess? I'll give it a go. One problem / learning point is that I need to use more PVA in the mix. Today I ended up with loose ballast which needed a 2nd application. Shows what happens when you try to eek out the glue you have to hand and cover too much track! Andy

The early morning rain dance seemed to work, delaying painting the house's window fames. Which frees me up to do some ballasting on Highworth station. Somehow I always end up with excess ballast sitting on top of the sleepers. The end result has the air of a ramshackle set of tracks leading down a disused mine shaft. Interested in the new Metcalfe warehouse kit as a half-relief along the back of the station. However at £12 per foot of coverage this seems quite a lot when you consider the length of the station and throat that will need half-relief buildings. So, starting to look at the Scalescenes offerings. I was particularly impressed by the recent Harbour Office that was produced. In my dreams I'd be able to produce buildings like that. Grrr. Anyway, before the effects of my rain dance wear off and the sun comes out, better crack on with said ballasting. Andy

Love this layout. Take my hat off to you for creating it. Hope there's another project on its way to replace it sometime. Andy

An unusual birthday present from my wife, maybe, but most welcome. A day allocated exclusively to working on the garage layout - Highworth. No kids, no chores. Ploughmans lunch served at the layout. Excellent. I set to working on the area behind Highworth Station. I've a fair number of the usual Metcalfe and Superquick shops left over from a previous layout. So, the bog-standard "High Street" seemed to be inevitable. Nothing wrong with that approach - but I do tend to glaze over when looking at the model railway press and the only thing that changes is the order in which the shops have been placed on the backscene. What to do? Then a bit of inspiration triggered by a Happy Birthday text from my brother from his canal boat - fishing rod in one hand, texting gadget-thingy in the other, no doubt. Why not put a canal scene with warehouses in as the backdrop for Highworth Station? A spare couple of Wills retaining wall pieces were found in the "Odds and Ends" box and this swung it. By the end of the weekend (with kids now in tow and eager to help) the canal started to take shape. The photo shows an initial layout of the 3 Wills retaining wall kits (yep, 2 more kits acquired over the weekend and wallet £13 lighter). Artist's mounting board left over from last week's platform building project forms the bottom of the canal. Back to work now.

Hiring a skip seemed to make sense for this year's clearout of our sideway. It was that or 20 round trips in the Rover to the local tip. It was during the "topping our" ceremony, where in a Pythonesque moment I was trying to cram one last item on to the teetering pile inside the skip that I saw this shelving unit through new eyes. http://www.focusdiy.co.uk/Payless/Payless-5-Tier-Shelving-Unit/invt/252707 Disassembling it to see if it would fit into ths skip, the shelves looked as if, with a layer of cork, they'd make suitable baseboards for my son's N gauge layout that will slide under his bed. A few days later, a second thought occured as I was constructing the platforms for Highworth. Yep, taking the shelves apart each of the slats was a near perfect height and width to act as rigid formers for the platforms. Topped off with mounting board and with plaform sides from a Metcalfe kit they are starting to look the part. Photos to follow....

Just added and album with photos of the Royal Deeside Railway (the preserved bit). http://www.deeside-railway.co.uk/index.php for more details of the railway. And.... http://www.royal-deeside.org.uk/RDattract/station.htm for a wee write up about the station at Ballater - next stop Balmoral!! Definitely worth anyone reading up about this railway which has seen everyone from Tsars of Russia to Kings & Queens of Europe using it. Interesting visitor centre at Ballater station which has a cameo of the arrival of Queen Victoria on the platform etc. http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=12135042 if anyone wants to see more pictures. The station cafe next door to the visitor centre is to be recommended to anyone planning a visit.

Leaves growing on the rose. Nothing yet on the clematis. Did I just plants some sticks?!

Without going into endless detail I've purchased a Hornby Class 31 for the layout. The 31s were a familiar sight on my childhood commute, so along with my 37 something of a "must" for my layout. My local model shop was offering them at £68 which seemed to be a good price. Sadly the first one I took home succommed to a problem that apparently has dogged Hornby - the cab floor at one end cracked and sheared off. So, back to the shop with that example. The replacement broke in a different place - when I fitted a decoder the pillars within the bodyshell that you screw into shattered. Only 1 of the 4 pillars / brass inserts survived one disassembly/re-assembly. So, that one went back. Finally the 3rd example that the shop supplied was ok. The only residual issue to be sorted is to get the red LED directional lighting to work. To do this you need to take the model apart (hoping that it doesn't shatter), tease the copper tags out, and replace the bodyshell and screws. Do i really want to risk breaking the model after all the effort of getting a halfway decent example? Not quite yet. In spite of the problems encountered so far, it is a nice model. And it's going to look the part pulling parcels trains around Highworth. And scrolling back a few years to when RTR were a lot blander, if someone had said: "Hey, you CAN have a nicely detailed Class 31, but you might need to figure out how to fit the body to the chases", then many people might have thought this a reasonable proposition. After all we are modellers... Of course, alongside highly detailed models we also need and expect similar standards on reliability and robustness. And I think that Hornby has some way to go on this.