Beacon

Love the lighting in those first three shots and enjoying your daily news! Shows what I could be achieving if I worked at that pace! Not sure what our plans are yet but if I can get along to see it in the flesh then I will do so.<div><br></div><div>Peter</div>

You are on a roll this week! Every time I log on there is a new update!

That weathering looks very effective - especially the peeling paint.

Loving the idea of the extension even if it just helps the general enthusiasm and remains at a planning stage for a while. I'm afraid I don't have any ideas for the technical issues but from a scenic perspective I think it is nice to have other bits to plan and play around with while you tackle some of those other jobs.

I think I am almost ready to start on the first board for Marchwood now but am planning to do a board at a time so I don't have too much to do at once. I'm intending to get the boards, track and wiring done on the whole thing first so I can just run things up and down but keep the scenics mainly to one board at a time. Could you do similar and start on the basics of an extension whilst focussing your scenics time on the original?

Love the beached plane by the way!

Merry Christmas to you too Jam! Another great collection of pics. Look forward to the continuing progress in 2011!

Never get bored of reading your updates. I'm always impressed that you manage to photograph so many different angles on such a small layout. Sorry I haven't sent any lightship photos as yet - I'll have to do it soon as they seemed to be digging up the tarmac around it this week so maybe it is on the move soon!

Sorry I missed it - I'm not very good at keeping up with the blogs. I'll try to look out for the New Forest show!

Gutted I didn't know about this otherwise I would have popped down!

These look amazing. They would certainly attract my attention at a show!

You've achieved a nice balance of attractive pictures with a manageable amount of interesting information as a taster/context taking into consideration the amount of time people might want to spend reading. I also like the "corporate" design across them too. Your logo is excellent. I can imagine it is easier to start a conversation if you've seen someone reading the info and they might have some things to talk to you about or to ask once they've had a look too!

What size are they?

I went for 1 and 3 which when I looked "felt" more like Calshot to me.

Love that idea to have a detachable backscene to allow viewing to be changed around!

Hi Jam,

I'm personally not very good at visualising what will fit where etc. and as others have already commented and made suggestions regarding clearances etc. I'll move swiftly on to the general concept!

I've enjoyed watching your ideas progress even if I haven't always commented and I think you've hit upon a great final idea. It looks like you have good scope for operating with enough interest in the small space, and have preserved the sense of location well with what you've planned.

I hope you are successful in working something out a bit more to scale. Will you create a 3D mock up first?

Peter

Sorry for posting twice!

Hi Jam,

A few thoughts...

Apart from those things already mentioned, I think that there are two reasons why larger layouts of the roundy-roundy variety tend to attract more time and attention from viewers. Firstly, with the larger size tends to come the feeling of space and the railway being set into the environment whether urban or rural . Secondly comes full-size and regular train movements.

I think you and others have shown that it is possible to achieve the feeling of space equally well in a small layout. With your effective use of a photographic background and the slightly unusual shape making use of the features of the prototype, particularly at the beach, I think you can make your layout seem much larger and thereby potentially more interesting to viewers.

The second, I suppose, is slightly harder. Although trains on a prototype like Calshot would be smaller than say a mainline station, you don't have the space for very long trains nor would a very frequent service be likely. I think if you can find an interesting balance between standard gauge and narrow gauge, passenger and goods and give viewers enough to watch whilst maintaining realism and not overdoing it (which, as with detail, many layouts fail to limit themselves in effectively) you will have a successful small exhibition layout.

I have also always found it easier to chat to an operator about his/her layout if it is fairly small and there is only one operator. Of course this is not always so and depends on how proactive and responsive the operator is. I think that, regardless of your age, if a viewer can see you have some skill from looking at your layout and then gets a sense of your interest and enthusiasm on speaking to you then you will be a success.

Finally, I don't think you need to be so modest when it comes to point 4) on your list. Your modelling is already quite impressive and constantly improving (as hopefully is everyone's!). I can't wait to see how this is going to progress.

Sorry for rambling. Hope some of my thoughts are helpful - I'm still racking my brains for some more practical ideas I can suggest for the layout and how you can fit in all the features you want but I doubt I'll come up with anything better than you will anyway!

Peter

Hi Jam,

A few thoughts...

Apart from those things already mentioned, I think that there are two reasons why larger layouts of the roundy-roundy variety tend to attract more time and attention from viewers. Firstly, with the larger size tends to come the feeling of space and the railway being set into the environment whether urban or rural . Secondly comes full-size and regular train movements.

I think you and others have shown that it is possible to achieve the feeling of space equally well in a small layout. With your effective use of a photographic background and the slightly unusual shape making use of the features of the prototype, particularly at the beach, I think you can make your layout seem much larger and thereby potentially more interesting to viewers.

The second, I suppose, is slightly harder. Although trains on a prototype like Calshot would be smaller than say a mainline station, you don't have the space for very long trains nor would a very frequent service be likely. I think if you can find an interesting balance between standard gauge and narrow gauge, passenger and goods and give viewers enough to watch whilst maintaining realism and not overdoing it (which, as with detail, many layouts fail to limit themselves in effectively) you will have a successful small exhibition layout.

I have also always found it easier to chat to an operator about his/her layout if it is fairly small and there is only one operator. Of course this is not always so and depends on how proactive and responsive the operator is. I think that, regardless of your age, if a viewer can see you have some skill from looking at your layout and then gets a sense of your interest and enthusiasm on speaking to you then you will be a success.

Finally, I don't think you need to be so modest when it comes to point 4) on your list. Your modelling is already quite impressive and constantly improving (as hopefully is everyone's!). I can't wait to see how this is going to progress.

Sorry for rambling. Hope some of my thoughts are helpful - I'm still racking my brains for some more practical ideas I can suggest for the layout and how you can fit in all the features you want but I doubt I'll come up with anything better than you will anyway!

Peter

Enjoying the Fawley Branch video thanks! Quite a few photos I haven'e seen before.

Marchwood is currently awaiting a rebuild of the boards as the current ones just aren't up to the job. Have started the plans for the station building but haven't managed the visit yet - work has been rather hectic of late! Thanks for asking. Look forward to seeing what you come up with for Calshot Mk2...

A bigger and better Calshot - excellent!

Chopsticks from the Chinese restaurant come in very handy for things like this!

Loving your progress as ever. That last B+W shot looks great. Everything is looking very 'natural' where you are placing it and I think the curved edges of your board help too. Can't wait to see it with the completed castle!