Captain Kernow

In the previous blog entry, I mentioned that the next job on 'Callow Lane' would be the production of a low-relief factory, based on the new Scalescenes 'northlight' engine shed kit and this has now been completed. I have previously described the construction of the Taffson Evans lineside factory, which is built in part-relief, and is partly about providing a bit of background detail in lieu of a flat backscene. This was also based on a free Scalescenes warehouse kit, albeit fairly heavily modified and with new scratchbuilt corrugated extensions. I always planned to add something else to the left of it (as you view the layout), between the factory and the road level crossing near the cottages (the photos will make this clearer), but I wasn't sure what that might be. In the end, I discovered the recent release by Scalescenes of their new engine shed kits and bought both the 'northlight' and gable-ended roof kits, as I thought they would also have potential in terms of industrial buildings. In the end, the initial part of the factory was really rather small for a premises that is purported to have once manufactured narrow gauge locos and other 'heavy engineering' products, so the extension using the engine shed prints has really increased its size to something a bit more credible, even if the new sections dominate the older bit slightly... The extension proved to be so 'low relief' as to be almost flat, although it is not quite as bad as simply pasting a photograph onto the backscene, but there really wasn't much space, as the photos will show! This is the Taffson Evans factory before work on the backscene factory extension began: Here is a typical page from the Scalescenes kit, printed out: I had sufficient room to incorporate five 'bays' of the northlight structure. The main elevation would use Dalerboard mounting card, but first I cut two and a half of the Scalescenes printed templates out and taped them together, to form a 'five bay' structure: The paper template was then lightly taped over the Dalerboard and the main shape cut out in card, including the windows. Two and a half brick paper prints were then cut out and each glued in turn to the Dalerboard. I use 'Pritt' type glue sticks for this (I read somewhere recently that the glue doesn't cause the paper to go damp). Each component, once glued, is then weighted down with heavy books and whatever other weighty stuff I can find, and left to go off overnight. Once the base layer of brick paper was glued to the Dalerboard, I needed to start matching the new structure up to the existing factory building: From the back, it all looks a bit 'Heath Robinson' (although this will eventually be permanently attached to the backscene proper): Here is the basic shell, with the base layer of brick paper attached, plus the vertical buttresses: The plinths were cut out and their respective brick paper coverings glued on. I had to make some plinth sections deeper, because the ground falls away slightly on the layout. These have only just been glued: And this was immediately followed by ensuring that they were lying flat, and then covering them with more heavy books and something else with a bit of weight in it, and leaving the lot overnight: Work continued, with the plinths and drain pipes being added, plus the window sills and a representation (in Evergreen plastic strip) of the edge of the roof. For the glazing, I used some pre-printed factory type glazing sheets produced by Freestone Model Accessories, suitably weathered with a dilute dirty enamel mix and wiped off almost immediately, Black paper was attached in behind each window. A little weathering followed, and the completed extension was again matched up to the original factory structure on the layout. Please excuse the awful green poster paint on the area in front of the factory, but I thought it would look slightly better than the bare newspaper & PVA landscape, prior to the application of some proper scenery... I have temporarily fixed a large sheet of light blue/grey Dalerboard behind the layout at this point - this is not what the final backscene will look like, nor will it be as high as this Dalerboard has been fixed, either! Some kind of water colour or toned-down photographic representation of the lane receding into the distance, flanked on both sides by industrial buildings, will need to be provided immediately behind the level crossing: The corrugated extension to the original factory has now become a small 'lean to' workshop extension: More general views: When it comes to sorting out the backscene proper, I think I will add some hint or representation of further factory structures behind and slightly higher than the 'northlight' structure, to give the whole scene a bit more depth:

Superb, thanks. May well turn out to be just what I need for a future project!

Nice one guys! Got to have one of these! Good luck with the venture!

That looks like a whole lot of fun to operate!

The broad gauge version?

Don't go giving him ideas, Neil...! No, on second thoughts, do!!

I think it's time he built Quai:87A - an organically grown and quite natural extension to his masterpiece....

Yes, it means that what I get up to in my own time is nothing to do with you. Cosi fan tutte.

Mmm, donne delle pulizie puo essere divertente...

E pericoloso sporgersi. Mezzo chilo di salsicce. Il mio postiglione e stato colpito da un fulmine. Cosi che cosa si usa un 'scartomento' per?

Ah yes, the as-yet unnumbered 56XX. Just worked through on a goods train from Severn Tunnel Jct...!

The track was first sprayed all-over with a Halfords red oxide primer. It was then sprayed from the airbrush with Humbrol track colour. The sleepers were then individually painted with a mix of Humbrol enamels to represent wooden sleepers at various stages of weathering. It's not actually finished yet, I need to vary the hue of the rails and chairs on most of the layout, to show the difference between fairly well used track and less well used track. Also, when the air-dry clay 'gunge' is added between the sleepers in the sidings, further weathering will be requried...

Hi - the track is mostly from the P4 Track Co (later Exactoscale, and now part of C&L), with separate plastic chairs glued to plastic sleepers and with steel rail. It's painted with various shades of Humbrol enamels. The ballast is mostly 2mm Carrs stuff, with some fine 'Solent sand' mixed in (kindly donated to me by a friend who had visited a beach in the Solent area!).

I've not had a lot of time for much modelling since late summer, but have finally got round to doing a few conversions etc. to P4. I've also built a couple of Ratio clay opens (non-hood fitted), as a kind of experiment to look at what kind of standards we want for the new DRAG layout project, although these will certainly see use on 'Callow Lane'. Here are a few photos. First up is D7042, which I bought second-hand a few years ago, and finally got round to converting a couple of weeks ago. It's had screw couplings and pipework fitted, plus the main front handrails at either end have had the two missing inner stanchions added. Weathering will follow at some stage... This Hymek is one of the 'BR blue' era locos, the layout will mainly operate in early 1960s mode, so here is D7042 with an unlikely bedfellow: Last night, I finally tested some newly-converted wagons on the layout, plus the two china clay wagons (although the two Presflos have appeared on my blog before). Apart from the two clay wagons, none of the other wagons have any compensation or springing at all... I find that provided the wagon concerned has a nice, square chassis and sufficient weight (the three opens all weigh 42g), then that is sufficient to avoid any derailments. One clay wagon is sprung, with Bill Bedford 'W' irons but solid (Lanarkshire) buffers, the other has internal rocker compensation, and sprung (Lanarkshire) buffers. The Class 20 (another one in the weathering queue) was used to haul and propel this rake at pretty high scale speeds through all the pointwork and curves. Fortunately this was accomplished without any derailments or other 'operating incidents'... These two Bachmann ex-LNER 'high bars' will acquire some of Dave Franks' buffers in due course: The buffer shanks on the china clay wagons scale down to 3mm, and with the overall buffer diameter not much more than that, the ever-helpful Mr Franks was not able to drill them out to that diameter. However, he did kindly suggest drilling them out for 2.5mm, which he duly did, and I think that the result, when fitted with sprung heads, isn't too bad: Next up for 'Callow Lane' is to produce a part-relief/part-'backscene' factory building, using the new Scalescenes 'northlight' loco shed kit as a basis...

I like this, nice work on the Lima van. I converted one to P4 a couple of years ago, and revamped the body, with flush glazing (home-made from Cobex) etc. There were some photos on an earlier version of the forum. I also did a similar job on an OO one, although for that used the SE Finecast flush glazing, as the Laserglaze product wasn't available at the time and I didn't fancy cutting out a load of Cobex again (might replace with Laserglaze in due course).

Common as muck, mate!

Nice work, DJH were a good choice for BR standards before Bachmann and Hornby produced their respective versions. Kemilway did a lovely BR Standard Class 3 2-6-2T, as well. I also did the DJH Standard 4 tank just before the Bachmann one was announced, and then I did the Standard Class 5, again before the Bachmann one was announced, although in the latter case I had the 'wrong' tender in the kit, so ended up using a Hornby Britannia tender as the basis...

Lots of things may (or may not) have happened in my S&D universe...!!

Quite right, Mike. Pete Waterman probably didn't help by using language like that, but he's seen by many as a 'man of the people', so no doubt it was felt that, overall, he would be a net benefit to the cause of HS2. At a time when NR is shaping up to meet the financial challenges of CP5, which include ensuring that the organisation is the right size and with the right level of competencies and experience etc., the last thing we need is a huge additional possession burden, going forward into future control periods as well. The philosophy of 'a little and often' may seem to offer the least disruption to passengers, but in reality, the more disruptive engineering possessions you have, the greater the risk to train service delivery and the greater the cost.