Ruston

I added some static grass to some areas. I'm not sure about it. It may look better when I add some more. None of these shed area buildings are fixed down yet. The shed itself needs joint pieces adding before it can be planted permanently. They've probably got a proper engineering or architectural name but I mean where the various pieces of angle iron come together and the plates that they all bolt to. I have found a photo of the loco watering facilities at British Oak but I won't be changing what I've got now. There was a rectangular tank, with plain flat sides, mounted high on the outside of the rear of the shed. A pipe and bag swung out and the loco was watered on the track that ran past the shed. Obviously, I couldn't replicate that anyway as the nearest track diverges away too far from the shed on the layout. I don't know how steam engines were coaled but one of the uses of the JCB could be that, so that's how it's done at Blacker Lane.

I remember those Ripponden & District lorries from when I was a kid. They seemed very old fashioned with the sign-written lettering and those fibreglass tops on the load area. I could have one waiting at the level crossing. For the coal lorries I've decided to do them all in Hargreaves orange livery. I'm not sure what the nearest one is, some sort of Leyland? I think the one behind it is a Leyland Mastiff. Incidentally, the Flickr photo above shows the towed vibratory roller and compressor that I mentioned earlier. I am waiting for this beast to arrive in the post, in the form of the Model Rail/Heljan RTR loco, any time now. 12099, at British Oak. It went on to work at Bowers Row, where it must have recieved an overhaul, or at least a fresh coat of paint. When I saw it in Booth's scrapyard it looked in better condition than above. I will definitely weather it but perhaps to Bowers Row condition, rather than the full-on faded wreck it looked at British Oak. Or is that just taking the easy way out? 🤔

The jackshaft crank looks strange without a balance weight. Is there a particular reason that you've made it that shape?

The Fowler's looking a bit different now. I never realised how different those standard ones are from the GWR one.

I put some corrugated sheet on the new building but my supply didn't stretch to doing the roof. There is now a piece of mirrored plasticard behind the new building, which I think looks quite effective. Better than a blank white wall anyway.

Could someone please answer this? @AY Mod?

I see. I still reckon I'm better off using the ear ring blanks. I can make them as any sort of mounting I like. Swan-necked, pendant etc. Rubbish phone pic, so not the best of focus. The building has some paint on it now. I've made a start on the card shell of another building and have begun to paint some trees on the backscene. They're very rough but aren't finished. They don't need to look much in any case as a row of model trees will be in front of the painted ones, which are only there to provide some depth to the scene so that it will look more like a wood than a row of trees on a ridge.

Thanks. They look alright but at £9.59 each, they can keep them! These are ear ring blanks. Ebay, £3.11 for 100 of any of these sizes. That's more in my price range. I don't need them to light up so a short length of plastic rod that has had the end heated in a flame to make it bulb-shaped will be glued on and Bob's your uncle. I'm not sure the stalk will bend, being Stainless, but it could be replaced with brass wire. A pack of 4mm and one of 6mm, I think I'll have. The 4mm for over doors in the screens, offices etc. and the 6mm for general yard use.

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads this rubbish. After a huge meal that had me worried of the consequences should anyone offer me a "waffer thin meent", I retired to the shed and had another look at the ladder and the landing, shown in the previous pic. It was obvious that anyone climbing the ladder would hit their bonce on the landing, so I ripped the landing off and made a new one. It needs a few uprights to join the horizontal rails but I'll have my Christmas pud and let the MEK joints set before adding the uprights. The bargeboards have been added and some greenery has begun to sprout on the embankment. Thanks but that would be even bigger than the poppy part, I would think. I've been told that ear ring blanks (no, I don't really know what they are either) can make decent industrial lamps, so I'll look into that in more detail.

Close. Ladders but not signal ladders. You can probably buy ladders with cages as 3D prints but where are you going to get one on a Sunday, on a Christmas Eve and for less than 2p worth of Plasticard?

I guess that might work for Gauge 1 but it'll be rather large for 4mm. I'd also have to wait until next November. No prizes but can anyone guess what these are going to be?

Cutting strips of corrugated aluminium, pressing in screw heads, cutting out individual panels and then gluing them in place is tedious but it's almost done. Only the roof remains to be clad on this building and then it's down to adding the details. The low-relief building along the end wall will need just as much corrugated sheet. I'm going to be having nightmares about it! I need some industrial lighting, like the one in this snipped picture of one of the buildings at British Oak. It doesn't need to actually illuminate. Does anyone know of anything - perhaps someone does a 3D print?

Interesting. It would have been a very odd choice to work such a site but stranger things have happened. A little more progress.

What does the "bespoke electronic setup" entail? Are we talking Stay Alive here? I've never heard of a Nano chip before. What sort of fitting is it - Next 18 or hardwired, or whatever? I would like some more information in order to decide whether or not to go for a sound-fitted one. If it does have a Stay Alive then I'd go for sound-fitted. But if not, I would fit a decoder that can take a Stay Alive, that is assuming other decoders can be fitted at all, and if a SA can be got in there. I imagine it's all going to be extremely tight on space.

Stick some wasp stripes on the tank front, add some block buffers, and this could be a perfect stablemate for my Peckett. If they haven't sold out by the New Year I might just have to order one.

I planned it so even a Class 08 can get under there with plenty of clearance.

The steelwork for the loader is taking shape. It will be 3 times the height when finished but the upper part will be made from card, clad with corrugated sheet, so there's no need to build the framework any taller than this. Some work as been done on the roller. I drilled out the rivetted over parts that held the floor to the body. That was easy, but getting the roller out was a swine. It was held in place by a roll pin that must have been made from hardened steel as a piercing saw blade simply skated over it without leaving a mark. I had to use a slitting disc and at first cut through the wrong end! The roller will need a hole putting in it to take an axle now. The rivetted stud that held the body together also held the roller frame on. This was positioned to give far more steering lock than necessary, making the entire thing longer than it ought to be and with far too large a gap between the frame and the body, so a new hole has been put in the floor. The frame will now be held by a screw and captive nut. The nut is held by epoxy. I also found some better wheels for it and have filed down the half relief exhaust casting. A new exhaust will be made from plastic rod.

I wouldn't rely on that advert as an example of plausibility. The 8-wheeled one was a Yorkshire Engine Company proposal that I'm sure was never built. The 4-wheeled one is implausible as it stands - a 4-wheeled bogie loco! Spinning on the bogie pivot it would have its own built-in turntable. 😁

It can be done without the milling machine. I didn't mill the entire lot away in any case. I sawed the most of it away, using a piercing saw, and only tidied it up by milling it. A decent enough job could be done with a file instead and it's not as if anyone's going to see it. If they do then it means the loco has taken a dive off the layout and is upside down on the floor, in which case file marks are the least of your worries. 😕

This is the sort that I meant by sprayed on insulation. I don't know whether it was sprayed on or not, but that's how I guessed it was applied as the anchor cables are embedded in the insulation.

I like the lagged tank. I don't remember seeing that modelled before, except for my own rather naff attempt, where I made the outer cladding from card. A challenge would be to do one with that insulation that looks like it was sprayed on.

Can you not fill between the spokes as desired? I filled between the spokes to make the balance weights on this Peckett.

There's still some work to do on the ground cover but it's starting to look good, even if I do say so myself. And, yes, locomotives can actually run down these, all the way to the end. Not that they will need to.

A small side project. Various pictures of the screens area at British Oak show a wheeled air compressor and a towed vibratory roller sitting in the dirt. There are a few 3D prints and kits about for wheeled compressors but I've not seen any towed rollers. I found an old Corgi Raygo 600 roller in my local model shop and paid just £2 for it. I think these Corgi Juniors were supposed to be 1/64 scale but that looks on the small side and the prototype Raygo rollers seem to have been available in different sizes, so it'll do for 4mm, I'm sure. I was going to use just the roller and frame as a towed unit but I've decided to use the entire thing. It needs a bit of alteration, detailing and a repaint.

I painted mine with no problem at all. I gave it a wipe over with some Tamiya thinners before painting. Once the thinners had dried off I sprayed and brushed Tamiya acrylics. No problem whatsoever. Time to drag yourself kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, John? 😉 Use acrylics instead of smelly old enamels.