SNCF stephen

That fencing is really looking the part now. Good progress. I really like the grass on the tramway reservation, have you secured it specially to prevent it getting into the tram mechanisms?

I wish I could Tom, my hands are not precise enough. I cannot cut decent straight lines to save my life (on pretty much any project). I usually try and find ways around it.

So someone I know said something about a 70 metre vegetation free zone on the proposed HS2 link. I did not believe it and cannot find reference to it anywhere. I have found reference to a 25metre vegetation free zone on HS1 but it does not look at all bad. Can anyone clarify this for me? And thank goodness this has been approved. I was surprised there was no fast lines going through the Birmingham Interchange station as they have at Lille Europe.

That is some really good scratchbuilding there. I wish my skills could match yours.

Well said, plus the amount of disruption it would cause would mean that anyone near the line would effectively be without a decent rail service for some time (anyone remember the Trent Valley improvements?).

This layout just blows my mind. I am always impressed whenever I check this thread. The attention to detail is awesome. I am very envious about your Plasticard skills. I look forward to seeing how this progresses in the new year.

Your method of applying the grass is really good. I also have one of the fly swat applicators and, although I am sure the more expensive models are better, it is not half bad! I wanted to paint our bedroom in Railmatch Sleeper Grime but my wife wouldn't let me!

Well due to a heck of a lot of reasons I have not updated the blog in a while. However I have made progress on the 3D printing venture. I have 4 examples of the Draisine to build now and the original example has been shot with a coat a primer. This highlighted the exquisite detail. I also put some glazing behind the empty window frames. At this point I would have uploaded a few images of the progress but you will just have to take my word for it until the server comes back online properly. Basically the first model had a slight issue with a small section of the body making it sit slightly too high on the chassis. Some changes were made and it now sits perfectly. The rear bonnet was also added to the Sprue of detail parts making it possible to model up to 3 different varients from this single base model. The next step is to actually finish painting the first example and make up two others as examples of what they are like. I am hoping to sell a few to recoup some of the development costs. As you may have noticed Christmas has been and gone and I now have a large amount of UFO's including some brand new ones. I shall detail these once we get the images back online as the list is extensive. BTW I hope everyone had a good Christmas! This will certainly be the last blog post but might also be the last forum post from 2011. So have a Happy New Year and may it be filled with joy and nice models!

Nice work Les, I really like the layout of the town with the dual layers.

Thanks for that, I thought you might like just a few tips for you with the material. Use superglue to strengthen any fragile areas of the structure. It is very brittle and will crack easily. Always use primer to ready the surface for paint. Also in relation to making carriages you can create small inserts around the edge of windows which makes them very easy to drill and then push through! Good luck with the locomotive.

Wow, I cannot believe I have been missing out on this topic. I really like the subject matter and the tramway. Keep up the good work!

Wow, that looks great. I have just got the final draft versions back from the printers for the Draisine. I will post the results in due course! Did you have any knowledge of Sketchup beforehand? How hard did you find it to get your head around it?

Because your layout is still in development then you have the ability to also move with the times. When your layout eventually gets 'finished' you will need to consider whether you would want it to be representative of the prototype at that time or of a time a few months ago? Also, do you like the idea of having a footbridge in this location? Do you think it would add to the layouts interest? Stephen

Those cobalt motors are a dream. I have a spare one going if you are interested. I just need to remove it from my layout. That muck looks spectacular!

Thanks for the comments guys. The 3D printing doesn't cost a lot itself (especially for N gauge), however the design work can cost a fair amount. However it depends how much detail you want. If you were happy for a basic shell that you could detail then that is very doable!