jonas

Congratulations - that has been worth every minute of effort you've put in. You should be proud - great modelling!

That's great, excellent modelling.

Thanks! I've started to use the 'foundation' line of paints - they are more pigment heavy, and a little more subdued in comparison to their standard line. 'Chardon granite', 'dhenab stone' and 'khemri brown' are some of the more useful ones I've found so far.

Hello again, Here are today efforts, both picked up on the cheap at Malvern toyfair. The weather has been rubbish all day so no step by step pictures I'm afraid, but managed to grab a couple of shots of the almost completed models. First up, a Dapol Cargowaggon. Dirtied up with lots of repeated washes of grime, wiped off after each application. Games Workshop / Citadel acrylics and a touch of Mig powders. Next up, a second Dapol dogfish, posed with the dutch example from my last blog post. Again I used Games Workshop / Citadel paints, and the rust patches were applied using the sponge method mentioned before. Excuse the overhead warning flashes - these will need replacing with the older type in time. Although both of these may have some more tweaking in store, I'm relatively pleased with how they have come up so far. Cheers! Steve

Missy, Cheers! I know what you mean about the track, to be honest it was a random length I bought just so I had something to put my wagons on! I've just had a dig on the 2mmSA website - I'm very impressed with what I found here. Definitely worth a look I think. I do find the idea of building turnouts frankly terrifying, but it's something I think would be worth the effort. Thank you for pointing that out, I may be sold! Steve

Thanks guys. I quite often peruse the forums of military, aviation and wargaming modelling for techniques. There are many good ideas out there, I just pinch the ones I like! Don't worry Lee, all this is leading towards a layout, I promise...

Hi Jo, Thanks for the compliment! I mostly use Games Workshop / Citadel acrylics, making a suitable muck colour our of chardon granite (dark grey), graveyard earth (light brown) and black, which I slop all over the underframe. This is also thinly washed over the bodysides. I then use a sponge to dab on a dark rust colour mixed to taste very lightly, which simulates chipping of paintwork - a technique stolen from military modellers! I then sharpen a matchstick and pick away at the rust spots to make sure none are too big, especially on the handrail type bits which tend to weather differently. A quick dust of Mig powders, a rub of pencil lead over the springs and buffer ends and that's about it. There is a fair big of trial and error involved, and a lot of it is about removal rather than application but I hope that helps. I'm off to a toyfair tomorrow on the lookout for a couple more dogfish and / or seacows so I will try and get some photo of the techniques if it helps, depending what the weather is like when I do them! Cheers, Steve

Hello all, My name is Steve and I have just started modelling in N gauge. I never quite got anything done in 00 due to a lack of space, and always had my reservations about N gauge (horrible couplings, chunky wheels etc.) until my friend Lee (Lee M22 on here - have a look at his layout thread) brought a Farish 14 amongst other things round one day. Since then I have picked up the odd wagon and an 08 shunter and I'm hooked. I am currently planning a small shunting layout, although my aim is to somehow represent Hereford yard at some point (please see my help thread here!). In the meantime, I am collecting some late 80s / early 90s stock with that aim vaguely in mind. There are a couple more pictures in my gallery. Thanks for looking!

That is looking superb!

Thanks for the replies! It certainly looks short enough to model as something different. Would I be right in guessing these are FFA flats?

I hope nobody minds me bringing back this old thread, but what was the purpose of this working I have found whilst trawling the web for pics? http://www.railphotoprints.co.uk/index/detail/5278/47227-Ponthir-130790-RP155.jpg.html

Those look great. Having just taken my first steps into N I understand how little trains quickly become addictive, but this is a real eye opener as to what's out there. Are you planning a Forest of Dean layout then?

Hi guys, I've just been past the yard on my way to Ledbury and it seems all the old sidings near the Bulmer branch (the other side of the road bridge from the platform end) have been removed and a new hardstanding put in place. These sidings have look out of use for years so no real suprise, but the hardstanding is new. It also looks like one of the sidings running right up to the old goods shed has been severed or shortened. Anyone have ideas whats going - is there a future use planned? Seems a bit of a waste of time otherwise?

Hi gents - thanks again for your replies! 45584 - you have justified the purchase of a Farish 08 I made last Saturday Paul, if you have any pics handy I would love to see them, if at all possible. It's such a shame I can't remember anything first hand being so local - as I was only 2 when you started there your insight is invaluable. So thank you for the info so far, great stuff. it looks like there could be more options for stock than I had originally envisaged. Would I be right in thinking most of the stabling would've been done on the other side of the bridge (looking from the platform edge) but the unloading at the good shed (TGS bowling) end?

Thanks again - that's really useful. I've since found this shot - the yard area is under the bridge, with what appears to be a long rake of dogfish. Brian, I didn't know about the bitumen - I'm assuming that would use TTA or similar. Do you think this too was part of the speedlink network, or was it served by a block train?

Thanks for all your replies! I hadn't thought of Painter Bros. receiving items by rail - but there is a spur now that appears to lead towards their site. Am I right in thinking they built quite a lot of OHLE equipment at one point? I will have to see if I can get hold of those books. I wonder what wagons were being used for the timber - I'd assumed they would be OTAs but they aren't bogie wagons. Interesting. The Multiple unit trials sound interesting. I'm assuming these are the MPVs that were also trialled somewhere in Wales on timber. Thanks again guys - this at least gives me a start at looking at what sort of stock would be suitable as I am aiming to get a flavour of the site on my doorstep!

Hello all, I've been dormant for quite a while, but I'm currently mulling over the building of my first N gauge layout, after being shown some of my friend Lee's stock and weathering a wagon or two. I live in Hereford, and can vaguely remember eating sandwiches with my Dad whilst sat in a break van in the goods yard there - at a rail day sometime in the early 90s, probably about 20 years ago at least. Whenever I pass the yard I wonder if it will ever see traffic again - as far as I know it used to have facilities for the loading / unloading of timber (see this link), presumably just the hard standing and the mechanical grab on the lorries, as well of vans full of cider from Bulmers and a ballast loading point. I can't find anything on the early 90s period in the local library catalogue, although there is plenty of information on the days of steam. I'd like to possibly build a layout based on the location - it has a handy over bridge/scenic break -does anyone have any photographs or information that may help? I have found a couple of pictures on google / flikr but not much. I am specifically interested in the yard area for a shunting themed layout (any blue 08s in shot are a bonus), seen on bing maps here). Thanks to anyone who can help with any info, no matter how small the detail!

Really nice! I've always been a fan of that shunter in both its standard form and the cut down versions that were in vogue a little while back.

I can't wait to see how you get on. You never know, you may well inspire me to tackle a brass kit myself! Did you build any wagons or anything as a test first? Or are you really just diving in with this superb looking kit? I'm sure you'll pull it off regardless, based on your other work - I'm just curious!

Have you tried using the Games Workshop / Citadel washes? They can be very useful when creating 'runs' like those coming from the top of your tanks, down the side. Also, I would always recommend thinning with some water when using citadels paints, never use them straight from the pot. Most figure painting sites suggest it. I use them for the majority of my weathering as there are some very useful colours in the range, once you get past the daft names!