big T

Hi matey thank you very much! Trev

Hello John, Ive thoroughly enjoyed reading your thread, and in particular like your weathering on the HTO's/HTV's etc. Have you tried using hairspray to seal your powders? I use hairspray on my wagons and it has the benefits of being cost effective and quick drying. Nice work on the bridge too. I wish I could use CAD, but I still do all my drawings by hand! Trev

Horseriding with my daughter prevented me from doing any modelling last night, plus the temperature in the garage matched that of the suns surface! I managed some quick shots of a few wagons before calling it a day Cheers Trev

Morning Will Thanks very much! Ive used swarf of various grades. Ive weathered one of the wagon loads and am going to post the pics in a minute - I'd be grateful if people could advise if weathered or unweathered is best.... Cheers Trev

Hi Pete! Hope you are well mate!! Thanks very much T

Hi Steve, Thanks very much! Really appreciated Trev

Hi Simon, Nice track plan. Ill be keeping an eye out for your updates. Ill be interested to see how your traverser works as regards movement and electrical connections and continuity as its an idea ive been toying with for a further layout. Cheers Trev

I did a bit more weathering tonight, and focused on a Loadhaul BDA that Id had lying around for a while. This is the reference photo Ive used: https://www.flickr.com/photos/martincoles/5209020583/in/photolist-8WiAkH-JTeTsZ-PoVNqM I drilled some holes into the bolsters and added some brass wire to represent the steel braces, and then painted the braces with a couple of coats of good strong rust brown. I ran a glassfibre brush down the solebars to remove some of the detail and fade the contrasting black/orange areas to represent weather fading. I then airbrushed the decking in about 6 different shades then added powders and ran a rough brush over it to bring out the wood planking. I then painted the wheelsets and set it all aside to dry. I will pay attention to the bogies, brake gear and underframe tonight. I then turned my attention to the lighter weathered Transrail SSA, adding an oily mig wash to certain parts of the underframe. I also tried out some colours from the Lifecolour pigment set I bought a while back. Mixed results TBH - a bit watery and no so noticeable. I have a bottle of MiG black "grease"pigment that i usually use on things such as class 08 springs and motion - I applied some of this to the body panels of the darker weathered SSA and this brought out a very dull stain effect which I have seen in real life. This really pops and adds a different dimension to the model. In the past I have used neat thinners to replicate this, but this obviously has its inherent dangers of removing the weathering effect. Ill be using the MiG stuff again. Cheers for looking! Trev

Hi Adrian! It didnt take long! just splurged it on really! Thank you very much mate I really appreciate your kind words Cheers Trev

Thank you Simon! Trev

I was bored with working on the layout so decided to have a break and weather a couple of Bachmann SSA's Ive recently purchased. Twenty minutes later and hey presto! Cheers for looking! Trev

It was my daughters 18th birthday over the weekend so modelling time was limited to a few hours yesterday afternoon. I managed to paint and fit my dummy point levers and point motors. I also recieved my 3D printed items for the signalbox interior. I primed and painted these and have yet to fit the point levers to the frame. I couldnt resist a quick play too, getting the 08 pottering around the yard. This also helped check the clearances on the double slip in relation to the point levers I fitted earlier. Thanks for looking Trev

A few more jobs off the list (and a few new ones also completed that werent on it in the first place!) ballasting the new point that I relaid after damaging the first ballasting the area around the old yard lamp addition of a new ballast pile with scatter material fit trees to ballasted area (cutting them down as they look too high) - I had a brainwave to re-use the off cuts to replicate stumps! I created a small diorama by the signalbox with a grounded signal and two trackworkers have a conflab I added a broken lamp to the signalbox path at a deliberately wonky angle. Ive also extended and painted the small fence around the signalbox Thanks for looking Trev

Good progress Jim! Any ideas on trackplans for your layout? Trev

I managed a few hours on the layout yesterday and managed to finish the lighting. Phew! Ive added a couple of yard lights to the P-Way depot and have finally got round to wiring up the streetlights on the road bridge that forms the scenic break between the scenic sections and fiddle yard. I did a few other small but important tasks, such as glueing buildings and fittings down and completing the wall at the rear of the P-Way depot. I also got a couple of items out for a quick running session. It would be rude not to! Thank you for looking Trev

Hi Will, Ive just spent the last hour or so catching up on your thread, awesome work - I dont think Ive hit the "Craftmanship/Clever" button so often!!! Nice one Trev

Thanks Col. Yea Ive bought a few 101's im going to paint them Nato Green/black. Dont like the orange flashing light tho..... Did you manage to pick the other bits up? Trev

Absolutely!

Cracking little mini-project there chief! Trev

Hi Ian, I like your trackwork - nice flowing lines with neat ballasting. I'll be keeping an eye out for updates! Cheers Trev

Last night I concentrated on constructing the perimeter wall of the Permanent way depot at the rear of the layout. I had some cardboard wall sections left over from my last layout and luckily had three that would fill the gap with 150mm's worth left over. Bonus! The only issue was that for the two and a half sections of wall, I only had one strip of coping stone, so I cut some Plasticard of the same thickness to match. I will score rebates to represent stone later, then paint. I also whipped up a metal gate with frame and bracing. I also had chance to prime, paint and weather the gate using enamel matt black spray and weathering powders. I mocked up the positions of the wall and gate for a few photos to see how they look. I think tonight I will install the streetlights and glue the walls into place (and fit the coping stone sections) Thanks for looking - feedback more than welcome Trev

Had a good night in the old garage last night. I had a good clean and tidy of my shelves and surrounding areas, unearthing a few hidden gems I'd forgotten that I had! Does anyone else have stuff they've forgotten about?! Is it an age thing?!! Firstly I painted a first coat of matt black to three internal walls of the signalbox. This was to try and reduce the light bleed I'm getting with the LED's. I think it needs another coat as the light is still showing through the resin, albeit a lot less intense. Thinking about it I want something nice and bright to show off the interior furniture and signalling fittings that will be fitted. For some reason I didn't take any photo of the painting on the signal box, but here is the result of the painting seen from outside with the roof back on: Second task was to dry fit the P-Way yard buildings with a couple of road vehicles etc to try and find the most agreeable layout without looking too cluttered and un-proto-typical. I intend to fit a wall at the edge of the baseboard that butts up against the backscene. I will try and create the illusion of depth of field by fitting the wall about 10-15mm off the backscene and putting a streetlight between the outer edge of the wall and the backscene as I've done on previous layouts. General views of the P-way yard - still lights to fit, plant and people to add. I will also be fitting out the Portacabins too with tables chairs and miniature wall charts. I also fitted a steam style yard lamp at the exit point of the yard where it connects to the main line. Im not sure if I will wire this up as I think it will look better representing a redundant fitting. Finally I spent my remaining time trying to construct an uncoupler using magnets as per Sam SDW7300's "Brian Kirby" method. I couldnt find the link that Sam had kindly posted showing Brians' method, and had to resort to memory. Ive since found Sams' link and it is apparent that I had glued the staple in the wrong position on the tension lock coupler. I tried several variations of staple position on coaches, wagons and my trusty 31, but failed to get them raising together. Now I know why, and I will amend this tonight. Thats a few more things ticked of the "to do" list. Thoroughly enjoyed my time to myself, listening to ICP (Insane Clown Posse) for a bit, then switching over to Jungletrain where my good friend DJ Problemchild was playing a 2 hour drum and bass set till midnight. I called it a day around 1AM and was up at 05.30 for work. deep joy. Thanks for looking! Trev

Thank you mate much appreciated Trev :

As Im in the mood for some 'dirtyfication' and Ive still got another 5 and-a-bit hours at work plus an hours drive home, Ive decided to post a few pics of some previous mini projects: Jobs for tonight: (fail to plan etc) 1. Paint signal box interior to prevent light bleed 2. Below track magnets for uncoupling. Nowt too strenuous! Trev

Appreciate that mate, thank you! moody is good! Trev I agree Col it is!!! we had some right old nails floating around! Cheers Trev