Mikkel

Thanks all.

I had understood that the Slaters re-release of these kits wasn't far off, and with some mods being made to the bogies for easier construction - but who knows.

As for the livery of the E37 and its brethren, there is of course also the option of the 1908-22 lake livery, to go with the new Dapol 43xx No. 4321 in 1913 guise 🙂

Although I suppose an obvious match for that would be some standard Toplights, when Dapol get around to doing those.

I still have to get used to RTR GWR pre-grouping stock being readily available, and how to approach it. It's more satisfying to modify/build your own, I find, but it does take time and I struggle with loco mechanisms.

Yes, it's that constant battle to stay on track while also keeping it new and fresh. There have always been running sessions for different periods at Farthing, but it's getting harder to avoid mission creep.

Hypothesis: When more discipline is required elsewhere in life, there is greater temptation to loosen the reins on the hobby front.

9 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

Mikkel,

An excellent build and commentary as usual.  You made it to a tri-composite before me!  All over brown would be easy but boring.  I know, I can send you all mine that need painting and you can do them all together, like a production line. 🙂

Thank you Chris. You wouldn't want to do that, it would take decades! 😄

I'm not sure if I find the all brown easier. You need the lining to look really good there, while with the choc and cream it's a bit less obvious.

13 minutes ago, Fair Oak Junction said:

Fantastic build, top job! As for the livery, my vote would be for the full pre-1908 choc/cream. But both livery options are nice and it'll look marvellous whichever you go with 👍

Thanks Fair Oak. I find myself moving the goal posts for my modelling period at the moment, which of course immediately leads to too many options and choices! 🙂

I agree, a nice suite of wagons there.

The L&Y wagon print looks good, and quite cheap too, I see.  And available in other scales. L&Y in TT:120, anyone? This hobby is changing fast. 

Neustadt an der Weinstrasse looks spectacular. And 3.4 kgs!  Clearly the kind of structure kit that is a whole project in itself. If you built nothing else for a year it would still be a satisfying achievement, I think. 

 Historically it looks like an interesting station too:

Thanks Dave. Well that just goes to show how effective those photos are! And unlike other photo backscenes they seem to work from most angles. Food for thought.

A very pleasing trio, Mike. And an attractive "livery" too! 

Will you be printing them?

The last shot is particularly attractive, with the foreground and background details helping to create a believable scene. Dave, am I correct that the downpipes on the backscene buildings are full relief? If so, a clever trick.

On 14/01/2024 at 19:45, David Bigcheeseplant said:

I have been adding the windows to my model and getting the paint brush out.

I've just realized that Iain Robinson - one of my modelling heroes - has built an excellent 4mm model of Princes Risbourough. He has posted photos of it on Instagram (sic), if anyone is interested. Registration not needed. This link goes to the first photo, click right to see his solution to the distinctive "Westbury" style:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C20cQy3sQS1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

The Rainhill Trials anno 2024 !

Hornby Dublo does it again. I can imagine dilemmas will emerge once the testing is done, e.g. whether to go with the lowest common denominator for your gradient (allowing all locos to run), or to set the bar higher even if it means some favourite locos won't make the cut.

Thanks for posting this S., it will be interesting to follow.

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 I’ve a collection of figures to add a little cameo here

A lovely scene here, on Didcot's Facebook page. Probably posed, but so are model railway cameos 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/DidcotRailwayCentre/photos/a.210517012308528/3629346803758848/

Fourth time lucky with the bridge, it looks right to me.

And who would have thought a GWR coach looked good in green! 🙂

Thanks Stephen, now that is thought-provoking. I'll accept the challenge. I think I'll time it a bit shy of grouping though, i.e. ca. 1919 with my Open Cab 1854 PT as motive power.

It will require a bit of joined up thinking. These five make up the sum total of my foreigners so far:

They have been selected mainly from "the neighbours", in order to indicate Farthing's location on the Berks & Hants Extension. They tend to appear one or two at the time when I shunt the yards in my normal 1900-1907 pre-pooling mode. 

But for this 1919 train I'll need to take other factors into account, e.g. the size and distribution of nationwide fleets, as discussed in the "Foreign wagons" thread.

The SDJR Road Van, MSWJR 3-planker and LSWR stone wagon need special backstories, and are out of the equation for the 1919 train I think. The D299 and LSWR 10 ton van are better candidates.

Edited for clarity/rambling

Thanks Dave. My mind is on Midland matters at the moment as I need to build one or two more MR wagons for my post-pooling goods trains. The obvious source is Bill Bedford's range of resin wagon kits:

https://mousa-models.co.uk/product-category/4mm-scale/4mm-lms-resin-wagon/

I expect that @Compound2632 would instruct me to do another D299, but it's tempting to add a bit of variety with one of the other MR diagrams in that range instead.

Thanks Mike, interesting thoughts on the SEF vs Slater's sheets. In my view the both suffer from overscale mortar courses. Not sure why really, perhaps it's easier to print - or maybe it's like figures where heads have traditionally been modelled larger than they are because we expect the features to be clearly visible.

The kitbuilt one has a good deal more character, I think.

This phone box stuff is becoming addictive, I hope it will develop into a regular feature. Phone Box Weekly, only on RMweb,

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I don't remember buying this

I know the feeling!

Thank you for that, it clarifies something I have wondered about. Although that last shot nicely shows that it isn't necessarily a big problem. 

That's an interesting method with the springbow pen, hadn't heard of that before. Thank you.

The Pendon method in the link gives a lovely result. I believe it is also the approach Stephen Williams used on his stone-built Faringdon structures, as seen in his GW Branchline Modelling books. 

Hi Keith, nice to see some German stuff developing. The kit looks quite nice, those paper inserts behind the windows work surprisingly well.

I've noticed that some structure kits from the continental European manufacturers have (or perhaps used to have) a relaxed approach to scale, tending towards being slightly smaller than they should be. Is that a problem that you have found?

Shocking to see a phone box that isn't red. Whatever next, green carriages? 

It blends in nicely, thanks to some clever positioning. In fact that whole corner is nicely colour-matched - except the signal box, typical inconsiderate corporate behaviour 🙂

Very nice. The window wipers are a neat touch.

Looking at that last photo, it doesn't take much imagination to hear the clank of buffers in a warm dusty yard somewhere in southern Europe. Did you ever settle on the setting? Or maybe it doesn't matter.

Nice low cost per hour too.

Not a lot of relief there, and thin mortar lines. An argument for brick paper. In fact, it looks like brick paper!

Interesting. So when it comes to stone sheets SEF have deeper mortar courses than Slaters? On my brick sheets it's the other way round. In other words, no universal rules can be applied.

Regarding mortar. I have been wondering whether and how much it darkens over time naturally. I have not noticed it in houses I have lived in or known - but that is also a short timeframe. Newbury station is now 114 years old. And then there is the environmental effect that you mention.

And then of course the effect of repair work and modifications. Here is one end of Newbury station. Quite a lot of stuff going on here, brick and mortar-wise:

Agree. It could be argued that it doesn't go well with the "consistency" mantra to mix old and newer stock, but in my view that's more a question of creating an overall unified look. I think your layouts demonstrate better than anyone's how it's possible to create overall consistency with stock of mixed vintage.