Tel2010

I know the feeling all thumbs in my case ,looking at photos ,very nice Tel

what can i say

Hi All Well its been quite a while since i updated this thread and sad to say as far as this layout in its current form is concerned ,its the end of the line.. It didnt quite get finished for a number of reasons,ill health been one,but main one is because of a possible house move in the near future. In its current form ive never been really satisfied with my track plan,so instead of digging my self into a deeper hole,ive bit the bullet and decided to dismantle it and start again. I could run it as a roundy,or out and back but the next one will be a end to end and more prototypical. I will probably keep first two board but making them separate instead of been hinged .A third board will either have a fiddle yard or turntable fiddle yard.This will hopefuly allow me to continue with it in that form when and if i move.I could place this end board at 90 to layout to save on length, so that all three boards will form a L shape. Here is a link to some final photos i took.If you open photo up ive got a few bit of information on some photos. Visit Castle Bolton layout Album Ive still got a few other projects to carry on with aswell,one been my old boxfile layout Stooperdale, ,i am in process of making extra cargo/wagon loads and revamping it a bit as it has been invited by the club i joined to its/my first exhibition May next year.

Hi Pete here's a link to cassettes i built.I soldered wire to rail ends so it would be joined by simply pusheing cassette up to it.And off you drive. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58638-cheap-homemade-loco-liftstorage-cassete/?fromsearch=1 All the above are great ideas too,im in process of rebuilding my layout so some of the above is useful information to me ,as ill be either usuing cassettes or a fiddle yard turntable.Thanks Tel

I started getting junk calls to my mobile,really anoyed me,which is a android phone.Ive found that there are good free apps out there,one being called Call Control which has black lists and white lists along with options to just ring silently or hang up.It also has a number look up feature. There are even call recorder apps which ive found useful.usual disclaimer,nothing to do with apps but just a satisfied customer. Tel

Hi Ive been sorting through some old Railway Modeller magazines the other day and seen a mechanical means of lifting a magnet under track,think would work well with the Kirby system which i have been thinking of using.By what i seen of the Kirby they can keep clicking coupling open as you drive over them when not un coupling.Think this would eliminate that and would be cheaper than a electro magnet.It consisted of a L shaped bracket made out of wood pushing a magnet up a tube. It was pulled with a cord and spring to return.Looked quite neat. Tel.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been building up some scalescene low relief arches. We had to make them a little taller by adding a wall along bottom, to accommodate hiding the return loop at back of board. It took us a little longer than anticipated ,glad had the wife aboard to help,i did the cutting she did most of the covering.I printed the textured sheets onto A4 seld adhesive lables. The tunnel that goes through one of them will be for a road which will be dead ended with a suitable back scene inserted, to give a sense of a road going some where. Station area I had a little problem with sagging of my platform tops ,they had foam core sides and cardboard tops. I replaced them with some suitability thick wood i had to hand, the cardboard for the tops. Ignore the black road surface in photo, its just some off cuts of black paper i had to hand to get a impression of how the road width and look will turn out. There will be level crossing at this point too. With the fitting of new platforms, i finally got to get the station building fastened in place. I glues a block of wood inside and drill / screwed from under board. This will enable me to remove it to finish inside and lighting. Still needs canopy supports fitted and some of the painting done. The goods shed i wasn’t going to use but looking at it in the photos ,it doesn’t look to bad. Its a adapted superquick goods shed recovered in scalescene building papers. Needs some more work to complete but may do that now and keep it on layout . Goods shed Last thing managed to do today was start finishing the ballasting off, got the platform area done, but restricted time wise because of drying times, guess one of draw backs having it in a bedroom, small price to pay,as only place i could put layout for now. Until next time ... Tel

This week we have managed to get a bit of scenic work done to end board which contains the engine shed and turntable. View of Turntable board with scenery started In this shot we have just tried board back in place to enable to do a bit on the track infill's.I roughly ballasted it,once dry ,coated with pva glue then pushed in air dry clay ,carefuly keeping it off inside of tracks, followed by tampering it down with a stiff brush.I will paint it and may add some ask from BQ which i kept. This will be mainly around ash pit will paint mix darker ash on the rear track which will contain coaling stage or tower. The greeny on hills and grass banks still to finish on some you can see undercoat of hanging basket material .Once dryed backing will be teased off,some done, some can be seen in photo still to do.Got static grasses and other ground cover still to add,aswell as end sky back ground. The hill is in two parts,top piece,and bottom bit with retaining walls and tunnel.This is so can fold away without fouling. Once removed they store verticaly on rear non scenic board,held in place with velco straps. Its an amazing how adding a bit of groundcover transform the look.From bare board to landscape in a week Hopefully can get the time to do more next week. Tel

Hope you feeling better soon,i know first hand how fibromyalgia affects you as my wife has it and me to a lesser degree.certainly stops you doing the things you want to get done. tel

This week having got everything i need working for now. finished control panel ive looked at making a start on scenery.Im starting on the end ,engine shed board for now.Looking at it a while i decided to push the background board back a tad to make the hill over tunnel a little better looking.The background board is detachable anyway to allow the board to fold up,so moving the stops back a little still works ok and im making hill detach in two pieces aswell. The foundations of the hill section was made out of bits of foam core i had laying about. to this we started (HEY ! my nearest and dearest helping )adding cardboard formers.Also glued the retaining wall in place with contact adhesive.They are old Graham Farish ones made from vac formed plastic ,my dad bought them back in the late seventies.I have recovered them in scalescene brick paper and put a false back wall out of card so could lean them back and keep back wall vertical. bare bones hills Along the way had a little extra help if a little unwanted lol Little helper Today put the hillside on table and using newpaper scrunched up and masking tape covered the card formers.Also added a couple of rock faces make from a mold using expandable foam. Next we added strips of newspaper dipped in 50/50 mix PVA/water and covered the hill in two layers. Once that has dried overnight will add a layer of neat PVA and white tissue before painting. Im hoping this works out ok as not tryed this method before.Didnt want to use modrock as trying to keep it as light as possible.The rock faces will be blended in with some filler. Hope fully will get a little more done tomorrow.

Its been a couple of months since i last updated blog,but i haven't been able to get on doing layout as much as i wanted to. What i have got done though, is alter the track plan a little,so making it a bit better to operate ,nearly finished the turntable,butit is fitted ,only needs wiring up.Ive also been making up some retaining walls and trying to figure out how to make sure i have clearance when board is folded,this been the end board with the turntable.I had it planed but only today thought of a better way which hopefully will give a bit more in the scenic department.I will only know for sure when i try it out ,this week with luck. I also got my control panel finally done and tested.I had a pleasant hour or two playing trains Sorry no more pictures with this entry, but will post some more soon Tel