Markmiller2008

Hi Rich If you don't mind glueing the couplings in then there's a mod to do with the original couplings on the Turbots by literally chopping the fishtail bit off the coupling and glueing it into the mount. All of mine have this and that greatly improves the gap between them. I'll pop a photo up later once i get home. Mark

Hi All Does anyone know of any issues at DCC supplies currently? Website states that they are running with less staff and reduced hours but i've waited over a month for an order and three emails and numerous phone calls to them i'm not getting a response. Thanks in advance Mark

I have been really quiet recently and not actually done a great deal on the layout. I have however added some Modelu drain pipes using plastistruct and the Modelu parts onto one of the JSModels low relief buildings Mark

Thanks David it’s coming along nicely.

It’s all been rather quiet recently on the layout building, some more painting and concrete sheets have been put down but otherwise it’s slow progress.

Two new locos have appeared this week, a Hornby B2 Peckett in NCB blue (which has already had the NCB logos removed (if anyone knows a colour match for the Hornby NCB blue let me know as the printing was more stubborn than I thought!) Also the layout is looking far more substantially complete on the main board now that I’ve built and started to paint the third low relief building, just an 11cm gap to fill with something now. the hard standing underneath the warehouse was completed last night and just needs a Coat of Deck tan and then a little weathering. Mark

Hi All Does anyone know a close match to Hornby's NCB Blue that is used on Ryhope? The NCB lettering was a little tougher that i expected and has shown the Black plastic when removed so will need to patch paint it. Thanks in Advance.

Hi all Not much work this week on the layout but there’s a stash of exciting things arriving tomorrow, so just an overall view of the layout and a couple of locos have had their dock working discs added which also correspond to their loco numbers. Mark

Hi all I’ve started to fit SEEP point motors in the last few days, I had a stash of them taken off an old layout along with two Digitrax DS52 accessory decoders, this has meant that powering the point motors has cost me a grand total of £25 for the layout which is a third DS52, certainly progressing well although the scenics has taken a temporary halt waiting for some supplies. Mark

Couple of additions the layout, some WWS clumps and some lettering on one of the Factory backs. Mark

Just a couple of photos today no real progress. Mark

Kit Number two was built today and painted up, now stands pride of place next to number one factory. I’ve also completed a Parkside Palvan over the last few days, got a couple more Wagon kits to build also. Mark

So back at the start of Lockdown the reason I started thinking about the layout was because I had seen some absolutely brilliant laser cut kits. Fast forwards three months and I received three Low Relief Factory backs from @jrb at JSModels which I’ve started to build today. The kit goes together very well and I very much enjoyed building it. Mark

Some more progress on the layout although at a slower pace this week. ive painted and weathered the water tower along with the fuel tank. Some more greenery has been added to various places and some more ash ballast. The goods shed is progressing quite well however it’s now ground to a halt as I’ve run out of grey paint. A new addition has appeared.........ill cover this in another post. Mark

Did some more work on the Goods shed, painted most of it apart from the roof panels as I’m out of grey paint currently, the upstairs of the goods shed also needs detailing before the roof is glued in place. The items next to the engine neck have been painted and some more ballast and greenery added.

Believe the Chiltern ones are different obviously having the tripcocks but i know when i used to live at Wellesbourne they would road the GW ones into Long Marston for their ride height changes, only the GW 165/1s can go up the cotswolds.

Half of 165027 and half of 165029, were moved Aylesbury to Burton earlier in the week and are on their way to Chrysalis Rail at Long Marston for drag box repairs. Why didn't they go by rail you ask? 165/0's aren't permitted over the cotswold line and Nemesis was the nearest place to the Chiltern Network that Angel Trains could get them road moved from. Mark

Work continues on the layout, more concrete hard standing has gone down. A Knightwing water tower and fuel tank have appeared which will be painted a weathered soon. A Goods shed from in the greenwood laser has appeared and is starting to take shape. My three JSModels kits have arrived too so they will be built over time. oh and a possible exhibition for the layout in April 2021! Mark

Work continues on the layout, more concrete hard standing has gone down. A Knightwing water tower and fuel tank have appeared which will be painted a weathered soon. A Goods shed from in the greenwood laser has appeared and is starting to take shape. My three JSModels kits have arrived too so they will be built over time. oh and a possible exhibition for the layout in April 2021! Mark

Today I built three legs for the layout and that meant that finally I don’t have to work on the floor to do anything on the layout either, Peartree Green has taken over from Ashbridge which is stored underneath the layout now. No sooner had I put the layout up and run it did one of the Gaugemaster Autofrogs suffer from a component failure and went up in smoke, fair play to Gaugemaster they rang me and said to send it in for them to look into and they’ll send me a new one if it was component failure Mark

Jonathan, Great News, I’m glad your kits are getting recognition that they deserve, can’t wait to get my hands on some for Peartree Green and they will be fully worth the wait! Mark

Only small steps on the layout recently, the remaining bit of track in front of the Fiddle yard has been laid and wired in. Some more ballast has been put down, Greenscene 2mm dark grey and ash ballast being used. Mark

Hi All Does anyone have one Petrol Pump from Dapol/Kitmaster Service Station Kit that they would be willing to part with? Send me a message if you can help. Mark

Disaster struck this morning when I tried to run the layout it seemed that one of the points was electrically dead on the frog, so that meant the point had to come out i’m being replaced by a spare one. on the good side some WWS grass clamps have been added and small ballast. Mark