Barry Ten

A few pics showing some of the development at the station end of the layout. The road curves steeply uphill - the idea here is that there would be a gentler approach "off scene". Steep roads aren't uncommon around here, though. There is an area to the right of the bridge which will eventually contain another building, but for now it will be developed into a patch of fenced-off wasteland. Overall view with the fiddleyard board in place, as yet trackless. This is slightly longer than the other two boards, in order to accommodate a three-car DMU of the 116/117 length. Having operated Bawdsey over the weekend, which includes scenery on the fiddleyard board, I am starting to think about something along those lines as well. One annoyance is that when I dismantled my old layout, I carefully removed all sorts of small scenic details such as advertising hoardings, pillar boxes, figures and so on. But I can't find the box they're in, and I doubt that I will before the weekend. Never mind, after the initial rush this will settle down to being another long-term project.

Yes, PVA is fine, as is ordinary No More Nails type wood glue (is that stuff PVA anyway?) and Copydex also seems to work well. As Nile says, any solvent based glue will met through the foam like Alien blood... Chimneys are on the to-do list, indeed!

Congratulations, Brian - and hope all goes well for your daughter and the twins. We'll lift a pint in your honour.

Indeed! Although I'm off to DEMU now so everything else will have to be done in the evenings next week. Never mind, I think it will look acceptable. See you there, Brian!

Chris: yes, Maerdy indeed (John B - I think I mistakenly said it was Porth in an email). I think the Maerdy one is faced in corrugated iron rather than wood, though, at least in the BR-era pics I've seen.

Thanks again! Yes, the 0-6-2T is a TV A class (I think). I didn't build it, though - bought it second hand, along with a couple of other pregrouping GWR types which may get a spin if I can get enough stock converted to three links by next weekend. The BR-era stuff is all still running with tension locks.

Cheers, Paul - see you shortly!

Cheers, John - yes, I like the idea of "it's just rained". After all, generally speaking it's either raining or about to rain around these parts. Perhaps a gentle misting with satin varnish over some of the surfaces. The only thing holding me back is that I want to keep the overall palette quite light and I tend to assume that surfaces (esp. roads and so on) darken when wet.

I've done quite a bit more this week (thanks, all, for the kind comments - a real spur to get on with it!) so here a few more snaps. Most of the work has been at the station end of the module, but it's not easy to get my camera onto it in my train room, so I'll wait until the sun comes out. In the meantime these were taken at the other end of the layout, under room lighting this time. I've put a temporary sheet of white card behind the scenery to serve as a photographic background; at the moment I'm undecided as to exactly what the final painted backscene will look like, whether it'll be grey with a suggestion of cloudy hills or perhaps with a bit more "valleys" detail such as terraced houses and so on. Realistically it'll probably just be white primer by next weekend. It only seemed like yesterday that I had months of time left to finish this thing... I had all sorts of daft ideas like building a painting a complete rake of 4-wheelers, detailing a 14XX, respraying an autocoach...

Thanks, all - I'll post more pics as it develops. The shed, in case anyone's interested, is based on the one at Princetown, dimensionally at least - I adapted it from the plans in one of Paul Karau's books. Andy: I think the noonday sunlight helped a bit there, with the track - althiough I like to ballast fairly deep and not over-emphasize the rail profile by painting the sides lurid orange.

Just a quick update from me - here are some summery snaps of a "quickie" layout I've been knocking together since Christmas. The idea was to have something other than Cogirep to exhibit this year, and to plunder the scrap box and general leftovers from my old layouts to the fullest extent. For a long while I've also wanted to create a compact, valleys-themed terminus on which 56xxs and panniers can potter about happily, and which gets away from the chocolate box look of so many GWR branch line termini. Having never built a BLT until now, it was also something new for me. Since I had a lot of perfectly good Code 100 Peco left over from the demolition job on Wyvant, when I had to relocate from Holland to the UK, I played around with points and eventually settled on a simple plan which enabled me to shoehorn in the engine shed and some small goods facilities. Obviously Code 75 or handlaid would look better, but I'm not one to get too worked up about these things. The plan is not very prototypical but I wanted to be use that shed! I also added a carriage shed reminiscent of the one at Porth, using the Ratio kit. It will be painted and weathered to look suitable grotty. The idea is to suggest a terminus at the end of its days, struggling to survive. The boards, which are about 3.5 foot in length, are made from extruded foam and MDF edging, with only a tiny amount of wood in each one to serve as corner reinforcing. Over the last couple of years I have been using foam more and more, and with this layout I wanted to make the leap into the unknown and abandon wood as much as possible. The boards were incredibly light, but by the time scenery had been added, the weight began to build up again. I wouldn't call them particularly light now, but they're not as hefty as if they'd been made conventionally. The downside is that they are probably more vulnerable to damage than timber boards but all that means is taking a little bit of care when moving them. The main scenic element I wished to include was the track being at a higher level than the roads and buildings. This was very easy to achieve with foam. The track is glued and pinned, and point motors are installed. The "control panel" is very small and recessed into the front. The layout is intended to be set fairly low compared to Cogirep, but with a high backscene, and to be operated from a seated position (most of the time). Early in the construction: There is still much to be done but Paynestown will be on show in some form or another at the Lord and Butler open weekend in Cardiff later this month: http://www.rmweb.co....ition-any-news/

I used to see it a lot in the Netherlands, hanging over fields - and I've also seen it near Severn Tunnel Junction, driving to the bridge, and on the M4 in Wiltshire. Not always early morning either, sometimes late in the day. Must be one of those inversion layer thingies.

The effect is clearly intended to be low lying mist, the kind that hugs the ground, often seen on early mornings and near sea level.

I don't own a Castle yet but if it's at all like any of the recent Hornby tender models, I'd imagine it's fairly easy to insert the loco-tender connector the wrong way around and thereby create a short?

Tom Petty. Lots of Tom Petty.

Golly gosh, I was also listening to this one this week - first time in years. I was a bit underwhelmed with Park Life when it came out but it's starting to look like some kind of classic album, very much a snapshot of the times. And This is a Low is indeed lovely...

Buffalo - I did have the bucket hanging off the rear fire iron loops before I stripped this model down for repainting - maybe I should put it back there? I agree that they'd be in trouble for knicking a fire bucket, but it's a nice touch of red to counter-balance the red lamp stored on the other side of the engine (in additon to the running lamp on the front). I'd best paint the splasher tops as well... Sylvian: the brake rodding's dead easy to do, if you've got some spare brake etches. I believe mine were left over from my Branchlines City of Truro kit. The only tricky bit is that the pull-rods jog down in the middle of each wheel to allow clearance for the coupling rods - this is as necessary on the model as on the prototype, although later panniers - as far as I can see - had straight rods. Ideally it would be nice to have the whole thing done as an etched component but I made do with plastikard.

Thanks, David - I did wonder about that; I'll get the paints out...

Hornby 2721, followed by a Parkside horse box:

Here's the finished 2721: HMRS transfers, Fox numberplates, Springside vacuum pipes and lamps and some light weathering with Tamiya powders. I also added lamp irons and some footplate details such as a bucket and fire irons.

Couple of blasts from the past: I'll be exhibiting Cogirep at Trainwest 2010 in Melksham on the 10th and 11th April, and at the Taunton RMweb members day a fortnight later. Hopefully there will be a few more bits and bobs to look at for those that have seen the layout before. Oh, and while I'm plugging it, there's an article in the current (April) issue of Continental Modeller B).

Couple of recent ones from my Gulf, Atlanta & Eastern: That's a new Bachmann 44-tonner in the upper photo: an exquisite little model and DCC onboard as well.

Here's one of several projects that I'm trying to get finished and off my workbench. I haven't posted anything in ages so I thought an interim report would be better than waiting for one of these albatrosses to reach completion. The 2721 is an old-stager in the Hornby range and by no means up to the standard of recent RTR but it's a characterful model that offers a bit of Edwardian charm with its delightful open cab. The main problem, aside from the usual issue of ride height and (I think) wheel spacing - is the sparse chassis detail, which completely lacks outside pull rods. One option is to swap the Hornby one for a Bachmann pannier chassis: http://www.gwr.org.uk/pro2721.html but I decided to see what could be done with the model "as is". The chassis under this model isn't the one it came with, which was the very old version with open frame motor, unflanged centre drivers and pickup off only two axles, but rather a newer version with a can motor and three axle pickup that nonetheless still fits the old tooling. I got it off ebay for less than twenty pounds including postage. The main job was to add the outside brake gear - this is the third attempt. I glued etched brake shoes to the plastic versions moulded as part of the keeper plate, then added cross-rods and outside pull rods from plastikard. My first effort was too fragile, but the cross-rods make the whole thing more than strong enough to withstand normal handling. In addition I have added separate handrails all round and am now in the process of additional detailing and finishing. The spectacle plates are from the Mainly Trains etch. The model has been resprayed with Precision GWR green and will carry "Great Western" lettering, I think.