jetmorgan

A small update on progress....progress is likely to be confined to weekends and after pay days. I've made a couple of adjustments to the board now in the replacing the short end piece wood with pieces that go the full width of the diorama and used some small pieces of hardboard to shape the scenery. All the polystyrene has now been glued down with PVA wood glue and carved to rough shape ready for a coating of plaster of paris. The denser the polystyrene you can get the better for carving but as I'm using up waste stuff from work and it was all free I just had to keep the hoover going all the time sucking up the mess. I'm going to have an experiment using modroc on some areas and just straight plaster on others. I also need to get around to painting the bridge and the cattle creep, as well as the track so I may have a visit to the Engine Shed down at Ford over the Christmas hols to get some supplies. Also the track needs to get a painting so I'll get some spray cans of black, dark grey & brown for that along with some track colour paints for detailing (I've also seen people using artist pastels for track detailing as an alternative) Also changed the engine and train for a bit of variety...Jinty on the milk run this time

I like the look of this one....I really will have to get on with my planned layout Carr Quays which I had planned to be a harbour scene in the 1970's. I just hope my painting and scenery efforts can make Wot Halt look right. Thanks for your comment and you are very right space is also at a premium as well as I live in a 1 bed flat so no room for anything...just glad I have an understanding boss and I can hide some of my model railway stuff at my workplace. Already made a start on a second diorama...engine shed this time so I'll post pictures of the building of that as well...once I have worked out a name for it

Well it's been a god awful number of years since I left the railway modelling hobby and although I've given it a passing interest in recent years I haven't actually done any modelling for 25-30 odd years, just been collecting model railway bits and having lots of dreams. I have started at least 2 layouts(Ball Spond Road & Carr Quays) but those have stalled at the moment, mostly due to lack of money and, as someone on here put it, lack of modelling mojo. But I have now started on a small diorama, partly to give me something to do rather than just sitting about flicking through the TV channels, especially over Christmas and winter, but also to get experience of doing modelling again and working out how to do scenery. it all looks so easy in the magazines and on the DVD's but It's been so long since I've done anything and the hobby has moved on a lot since the 80's & 90's. Money is still very much an issue which is why I buy rolling stock that is old Hornby, Mainline/Airfix GMR etc etc...if it's less than £30-£40 in the month then I might consider buying it. The same applies to the building of the diorama bases. These are all made out of scrap plywood offcuts and timber reclaimed from pallets at my workplace (also means I can clear out the big stack of wood I have collected that my bosses would like disappeared) So here is the progress so far on Wot Halt. As I've said the base is a simple box pallet timber box with plywood top and a couple of palletwood slats for the backscene, painted blue as I had a tub of spare paint at the back of the shed doing nothing. Only items purchase for the diorama are the Will's cattle creep, decked girder bridge and station halt with waiting room. Oh and I nearly forgot a Ratio station barrow crossing. I'm in the process of gluing down scrap polystyrene to make a start on the scenery. Once I'm happy I'll start carving it out to the desired shape, embankment with a footpath leading up from the road under the bridge to the halt with the barrow crossing serving as a crossing for any passenger. I need to fiddle with either end of the diorama and change the end pieces of timber to provide a proper looking end and then I can finish off the scenery building and get it all covered in either mod roc or plaster of paris. Then it's just a matter of painting the base in relevant colours, painting the track and having a go at static grass.

I've finally gotten my finger out and fiddle with a few photos recovered from an old hard drive taken at the 2007 Biggin Hill air fair....one of the last I think until recent years. As next year I understand will be the retirement year of the Tornado I thought I'd post up a few that I had taken.

I don't know if it's been posted before but Edenbridge Motor show is coming up http://www.edenbridgemotorshow.co.uk/

Anyone still like to use thick card for building or scenery construction? I have a load of sheets of thick cardboard...about 2 mm thick but it does seem to vary a bit. These are from my workplace and were being thrown in the bin. Can be collected completely free from Edenbridge, Kent but if you just want a few sheets then I can post for cost.

Anyone still like to use thick card for building or scenery construction? I have a load of sheets of thick cardboard...about 2 mm thick but it does seem to vary a bit. These are from my workplace and were being thrown in the bin. Can be collected completely free from Edenbridge, Kent but if you just want a few sheets then I can post for cost.

I have been collecting Model Railway Constructor magazines from 1960 to the end of the print run in 1987 and I have a number of duplicates that are looking for a new home or homes They are completely free to collect from Edenbridge, Kent or I'm happy to post individual magazines for cost of postage I've written out a list of the editions on a word document and included scans of the contents page so you can see what's in them. I will also be doing the same with the Railway Modeller magazines I'm also collecting from 1960 until 1999 and will post that in the future but if you are interested in anything in particular to see if I have it then drop me a PM

Arrived today in the post to add to my Bradford Barton collection. Just under a tenner for the pair of them.

Apart from the White Admiral earlier this year, a few Meadow Browns recently and loads of Cabbage whites....I know they aren't called that anymore. I haven't seen any other butterflies in the garden this year. But last year I had several Red Admirals, Peacocks in the garden as well as the other common species. The previous year to that I had a load of Red Admirals, mostly in my flat than in the garden along with the common ones. But previous years to that I've hardly seen any butterflies in my garden even though it hasn't changed very much.

We have loads of these in the garden this year. Oddly hardly any sign of any other species except for the White Admiral a few weeks back and a couple of brown butterflies compared to last year when I had loads of Meadow Browns, Peacocks & Red Admirals all over the flowers. Even managed to get another couple of butterflies in flight although quality is again a bit dire, I really need better camera equipment.

Thought I'd posted a couple of these pics but obviously not. Couple of weekends back we had a surprise evening airdisplay near Crockham Hill by a Spitfire & Hurricane. I assume they were supposed to be displaying over Chartwell although some of the display didn't seem to be in that direction. And it was quiet late in the afternoon so rather dark. Also last weekend had a Stinson Reliant flying about. I think this one is based at Biggin Hill as I think I've seen it there before

My very first train set of any description

I get the same....no matter how I put the bird seed out, in feeders or just poured onto the bird table the Sparrows come along and chuck out what they don't want. I think that is just Sparrows for you and there isn't much you can do about it. I do find that I do get more of the ground feeding birds though, clearing up a lot of the mess. Any seeds that germinate I just scrape out of the ground now and again.

Finally spotted the Red Kite again and it got near enough to get some pictures. Looks like it has been in the wars though with some of the wing tip feathers missing

Just to give you some optimism in the pessimism https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/8509858/Heatwave-brings-explosion-of-rare-butterflies-in-Cotswolds.html

Interesting article on the BBC website https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44399804

Caught this little chap on a plant, variety of Achelia I think, at work as I was leaving on Monday. I got out van driver to take a couple of pics on his Iphone. I don't know the variety but I'm sure someone with greater knowledge will oblige

While out for my constitutional Sunday evening, a perfect summers evening, I did catch a Meadow Brown on some bramble. I really need to get a better camera & lens but money won't allow at the moment...well not unless I go sell my body on the street corner. My Buddliea is not long from flowering. 2 of them have been going quite well but the third hasn't really grown since i got it as a plug plant, I think it needs a bigger container so I might risk re-potting it now into something bigger.

Just wish it had sat still for a bit longer so I could get closer with the camera. But when I first saw it the camera was indoors and I nearly trod on the field mouse as I hurried into the flat to get the camera. Just as I got back out and the camera focused it fluttered away and never came back.

When I had When I had a quick look up on't tiner-net, that is what I thought it might have been. But all the photos I saw of them they had brown and grey on the under side of the wings. Yet the one I saw had the same black on the under side as on the top wings but it was very very much like your pic, and the black was blacker than that. The white bars were slightly different as well but I presume that is just individual markings in the same species.

The other day we had a Kestrel hunting around the back gardens. It was just a bit to far away to get any decent pics but some okay ones

The other day we had a Kestrel hunting around the back gardens. It was just a bit to far away to get any decent pics but some okay ones

Just seen a butterfly in the back garden, sadly couldn't get any pics as by the time I got my camera it was fluttering off. Tried to identify it but having a struggle. I thought a White Admiral but it doesn't quite fit with the pictures I've seen. Large butterfly, about the size of the palm of the hand. Black wings both topside and underside but the top wings also had a white bar going from the mid body to the front wing tips. First time I'm seen one like this....hopefully will get a few more

Thanks for that....I know gardeners think of the whites as a pest but I don't have any cabbages in my garden so I'm happy to let them stay