Chris Chewter

Fair comment. Knuckles rapped. (Although I don't think Hattons will say no to my cash!)

Its so that Christine Hatton can buy some more designer handbags!

Unless anyone has any insider knowledge, I'm not convinced they've arrived in Denmark! Sometimes there's a post on their Facebook page of new locos under test before dispatch to retailers, but to date I've seen nothing more than a single Manning Wardle. I think they must still be on a slow boat from China!

No guarantees it'll be a Manning Wardle in 30 days time. More like another Hattons email of postponement!

So to be clear, that's a date between the 27th March and the end of the world, hopefully nearer the former than the latter. I'm bracing myself for yet another Hattons email!

Thank you for the correction.

I received a facebook notification that a review of the Heljan Manning Wardles shall reviewed in the April 2017 edition of Railway Modeller. I don't think I've come across a model in recent history that's been reviewed before it's released to the general public! Looking forward to picking up a copy.

Things have been a bit stressful at work this week, so the thought of working on the railway in the evenings hasn't appealed. A trip to Reading and another to Newport haven't helped either. However I have been able to do a few little jobs in the evenings. Firstly the lamp hut has had a coat of cream paint. I managed to take a quick snap to see how it looks. I only put one light coat as the actual lamp hut was fairly shabby. I know the grass needs trimming and its next on the to do list. The water crane also needs a bit of TLC! I've also been trying to work out how to model the coal yard. There are very few photos in existence. The best are in Randolphs book, and the two on page 69 are especially useful. One of which is replicated on the Tetbury Raillands website: http://www.tetburyraillands.com/content/history-tetbury-goods-shed-and-rail-lands There is also the briefest of glimpses on the B&R DVD Gloucestershire Byways The closest I've found to the Dolphins office is the Dapol coal yard office. I've added in an additional window to the rear and lowered the sign. The colour is a little subjective as I've only got a black and white partial image of it. Unfortunately the model is a little crude but it'll do until those raised window surrounds get annoying. The kits aren't too expensive, so I can easily pick another up with a packet of Wills windows and try again. The resin garage model may get clad in wills corrugated steel. Also a little update on the lorry. I found mention in Tetbury Through time by Lynne Cleaver that the coal was moved around by horse. However on p70 of Randolphs book, there's a tantalising glimpse of the rear tyre of a lorry in the coal yard, so I think the Bedford can stay! I decided to take the plunge and open up the Wills semi-detached stone cottage kit to start next. However being a craftsman kit it does give me the heebie-jeebies a bit! Perhaps I might finish off the cattle dock next...

Whilst shopping around on eBay, I came across the Hornby Skaledale R8585 lamp hut, and was struck how similar it was to the engine-mans hut at Tetbury. Apparently this building housed the signing on point for the engine shed. I was thinking that I would have to buy a wills lamp kit kit and cut in the windows, but when I came across the Skaledale item, it was a bit too good to miss! All I need to do now is give it a coat of cream paint!

Thanks for the comment David. When I made up the second test piece, I forgot to put down the masking tape to give it a sharper edge. However I had forgotten about the cinder walkways. I might need to rewatch the Right Track 5 DVD again as they run through the different features of modelling permanent way.

Model Rail magazine March 2017 edition is running a series of articles on branchlines. On p36, they have a brief one page article on Tetbury. I picked up a copy to compare the track plan, but its basically a simplified reproduction of the plan in Randolphs book. Theres no new information that Randolph hasn't already extensively covered, so instead I'll have to make do with a nice photo of a 14xx!

Unfortunately not a huge amount to report tonight that's particularly photogenic. Now that the cliff has been sorted, the grass has been finished in preparation for the plaster rocks to be coloured using Woodland Scenics earth pigmet washes using the method described here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SfP4RpcDYw. However before I go that far, I need to do a bit of tidying up of the embankments as the photo below shows that its looking a bit wild! I've also been fitting the stone retaining wall beside the splash. This is what I'm trying to achieve: All those pots of paint propped up on the left hand side are trying to stop the Wills stone walls from springing away. I'm still waiting for the textured paint for the road to arrive, so things have temporarily ground to a halt whilst the glue cures.

Well that looks alot better with a black wash over the ballast! I think that with the Woodland Scenics track pens seems to be the way to go.

I've been trying to work out why the embankment by the engine shed looked wrong. It was only whilst studying some photos of the area, I realised I had the bank alignment wrong. After much slicing, I think I've got it sorted now! I also decided that the car spray track weathering technique looked a bit rubbish, so I decided to try the woodland scenics weathering pens. I quite like the effect, although the ballast looks a bit too clean. I've just applied a diluted black wash to a short section to see if that looks any better. I'll take a look tomorrow once its dry.

Hattons have just emailed an update saying that they should be arriving on or after the 27th March 2017.

I managed to get nearly four hours working on the layout last night and thought I'd post an update. However please note that the hanging basket liner still needs to cure, so it hasn't been trimmed. I also didn't smuggle out the dyson, so there was basket liner fibres everywhere, including all over myself! The goods approach road has been planted out. With a trim and some trees it'll look the part. The road is to be painted in Green Scene Light Tarmac, however I ran out half way through, so the road is still on the "to do" list. I did think that the cinders in the coal yard could be modelled using the Green Scene paint, or even just a layer of Sandtex would probably do, however I have a big tub of Woodland Scenics cinders, so that'll be laid down. Another job on the "to-do" list. You'll also notice that the Coopercraft Bedford ML has also been repainted. After making it 12 years ago, its lived in a box ever since, and has survived at least two previous model railway projects. Its a little crude, but looks good if you don't inspect it too closely. I felt that its paint job of matt Khaki looked a little boring, so after a Google session, found a fetching example painted in Red and Blue. I have no idea from Randolphs book what Dolphin Coal used to move coal around, but the Bedford can now help give a bit of brightness and variety to the scene. The engine shed, coal stage and temporary cattle dock area was also laid. However I'm not happy with the abruptness of the top of the embankment in the lower left hand corner of the photo. I'm hoping that once the grass has been glued down, that won't be quite so obvious. The water in the splash is going to be modelled using Woodland Scenics E-Z water once I've tested it out. Until then, the Splash shall have to remain dry. At the top end of the layout, with the old quarry and cottage, things have also progressed. However the lawn to the cottage on the right doesn't look correct. I wanted to model a well tended lawn, but ended up with a surface that looks like snooker oasis, and is anyway too dark. So another layer of light green will need to be sprinkled over the top after its been hoovered! I also made progress with the cliff face, and used another carton of Hydrocal shaping the face, and sticking on plaster rocks. However I didn't grab any photos of the work in progress. Feeling good that the model is moving forwards, and looking forward to it getting to a point where i can detail it whilst allowing regular running, without pots and glue everywhere! Looks like I might need to start thinking about how I'm going to make the trees!

Post Number one has the shed codes: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/92852-hattons-announce-14xx-48xx-58xx/page-1 I cant remember seeing a table with time periods on it.

That matches up with the email from Hattons that has just landed in my inbox, stating that the locos are now expected March 2017.

In case anyone was wondering, I wasn't going to leave all that expanding foam left blobbing all over the place! Today I took a knife to it to shape it back (And I've still got ten figures at the end of it, which is always a bonus!). What I've got is a compromise somewhere between reality and what looks right on the layout. The area was seldom photographed in railway days, and its hard to get a good idea of the gradients due to the heavy number of trees. Once planted out, I think it'll do the job! A bit of sanding tomorrow to remove any significant lumps and bumps, and it'll be ready for a coat of brown emulsion. I also decided that I didn't want a repeat of the grass fiasco again. With ballasting on the horizon, I've been trialling ballasting and track weathering. The ballast is laid using a Prose ballast applicator, and the ballast stuck down using Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement. I know its just diluted PVA, but it seems to apply a lot easier than when I dilute my own PVA concoction! Whatever is in it, after 24 hours the ballast was stuck fast. I found an interesting technique in the January 2017 edition of Model Rail magazine where Chris Nevard uses car primer sprays to start the weathering off, and I thought I'd give it a go. So after a lunchtime trip to Halfords, I got busy with the spray. Its worth noting that if using masking tape to create a ballast shoulder, remove the tape before weathering otherwise you get some bright bits of ballast showing. Looking back at the photos in the magazine, I think I've been a little too light with the misting! Lets try a little bit more tomorrow and see what happens.

Isn't it funny how when you model a real location, you remember things incorrectly. Its probably the same phenomena that causes us to recall our school days as the best days of our lives, when they were probably fairly dreary! Today I decided to model the goods approach road. After lots of sawing, cutting and throwing polystyrene and Mod-Roc about, I started to spray down some expanding foam to form the embankment. However this was when I had a bit of a blonde moment. I couldn't quite recall from memory how the embankment went. So instead of looking through some photos, I decided to do what I thought looked right, with the knowledge that with a sharp knife, you can cut it back to the desired shape. This is what I modelled: This is reality: Looks like a bit more cutting back that I thought, but nothing that can't be sorted. However it does go to show how important reference material like photographs are.

Well after an "interesting" Christmas following an accident with an x-acto knife, and some emergency surgery, things on the layout have unfortunately had to go on hold. Instead of being able to crack on with the layout, instead I've had to sit about with my hand in a bandage letting things heal. Now that I've got enough movement in my hand back, plus clearance from the doc that I can do "whatever feels comfortable", I've decided that if I can go back to work, i can get back on with the modelling! Well, yesterday I decided to trim the grass, with mediocre results. I wanted to model scrubby grassland, but I'm left wishing that I went for static grass. Its left me with the choice to tear it up and start up the static grass applicator, or accept it and move on. There will eventually be a row of trees behind the stone wall so hopefully it'll tone down. It has shown that its important to remove any stray felt backing. That'll have to be hidden below a few scrubby bushes! Well lets sleep on it and take a view tomorrow...

I received an email from Hattons earlier today indicating that the Baldwin ref 391-025 has an arrival date between November and December 2018. I presume its being timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1.

The plan was a simple one: Breakdown the layout into pieces, and tackle it task by task, area by area. I've worked out I have the following: 1/ The bank to the rear of the layout. 2/ The riverside cottage 3/ The river 4/ The prefab 5/ The coal yard 6/ The cliff face Well, I decided to tackle the bank as it is at the rear of the layout, and it make sense to reach the farthest parts of the layout first. The area forms the bottom of a row of gardens from dwellings further up the hill. Presently the area is heavily overgrown. The boundary is delineated by a dry stone wall which runs on the edge of The Splash. Firstly, the dry stone wall. i considered different techniques, and decided that the Harburn Hobbies walls would lead to the best result. i concluded that it would take less time and look better than manually cutting up small sections of air drying clay and becoming a miniature dry stone waller! Job done its onto the grass. My preferred method is static grass where I've had some passable results (See post 17). However I concluded that to tackle this layout in static grass would flippin' expensive, so i decided to try something cheaper. Armed with a video of Tony Wright, I set to work covering it with hanging basket liner. if its good enough for Tony... Firstly the ground was covered in Dulux "Muddy Puddle" brown. When dry its a little light in colour, but I concluded that if an areas became exposed, it would look like it says on the tin, a patch of mud. (Its also easy to remember when stood in the paint section of the DIY store.) I them set to work gluing bits of hanging basket liner onto the land using PVA glue. Nice and simple, if only a little time consuming. I understand that there are several ways of applying the liner. Backing up, backing down, or remove the backing. I elected for the latter, although I'm not too sure there's a difference between the various techniques! From a distance, it doesn't look too bad, until I look at it through a camera, and it looks odd! I'm hoping this is because I have yet to shave my grass. Checking it this evening, the PVA is still curing and it needs to set before I start attacking it with a pair of clippers. Hopefully when I do, things will start to look...erm... Grassy. Well with Christmas upon us, and with numerous family visits scheduled, my plan is to let it set over a few days, and attack it before the new year. Lets see how that goes before I resort to stripping it all back and warming up the static grass applicator! As for the trees, well lets leave that issue for another day!

Christmas time. Mistletoe and wine. Ready to look after children of mine! My Christmas annual leave has commenced! Hurrah! Squabbling children to look after. Joy to the world! With Christmas upon us, I thought it would be so busy that the railway wouldn't get a look in, however I've managed so far already to get a few hours in here and there, so things are looking hopeful! However because I'm looking after the children whilst my wife is working, I've had to look for railway jobs that I could do in the house where little fingers aren't going to prod and poke, and jobs that can be dropped when a little darling decides to hide behind the Christmas tree and threaten to give it a shove! I remembered that I needed to think about the rock formations for the cutting. I've been thinking how best to do this, and decided to go with Woodland Scenics rock moulds. So today, I've been getting plastered (Have I used that pun already?) Rocktastic! As I'm not too sure how aggressive multi-purpose DIY filler is, I've been using Woodland Scenics Hydrocal plaster. Anyway, it says its also lightweight, so I thought it would be useful to stop the blessed things from falling off the model cliff face. Well I was pleased when it set within the 40mins it said on the pack, so at least I'd get a few done today. However in trying to release the plaster from the deep rock mould, the mould split. Nothing that a bit of tape hasn't solved for the next few, so no big issue, but I'm surprised it failed so early! You can see in the photo that there are a few air holes that have managed to creep in, so some strategic plants will need to be glued into place, and the plaster needs a good tamp to get it to settle. I just need to decide whether to paint them in the house or not. However lack of supplies has now stopped play, as I've managed to get through a whole carton of Hydrocal! A good excuse to visit a local model railway establishment to replenish supplies. But before I jump into the car, moaning kids in tow, I think a test fitting is now required to calculate how many more plaster formations I need, which will also enable me to buy the right amount of plaster! "No more plaster at the inn"