Chris Chewter

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"

The layouts been on hold recently, simply because I needed to cut up a load of polystyrene sheet to continue progress on the land, however I don't think cutting polystyrene with a jigsaw at 9pm goes down well, so this afternoon i managed to get enough time to slice up the polystyrene sheets that i need, much to the confusion of the next door neighbour! One of the issues is that the hill is 65ft approx. high. I say approx. because the app on my phone had an error of a whopping 20ft the last time I visited Tetbury. I took two measurements, one on the inspection chamber roughly where the station building was, and another at the top of the hill. After cutting up so much polystyrene that I looked like a snowball, I laid everything out and this is what I got. I've checked it with my scale rule, and its come out at a respectable scale 50ft, so its close enough, but it does show how the layout is really the wrong way round to view! For an adult, your in effect viewing the railway from the top of the hill, however my kids struggle to see! Those who are eagle eyed enough will spot that there are a couple of totally wrong buildings. First the Bachmann pre-fab is wrong. As a minimum, it going to get a pitched roof, however its the closest i can get without scratch building. You also might notice that the cottages on the left are totally wrong. However I need to plonk a couple of temporary buildings down to keep progress going, and change them in the future to stop the project from stagnating! I need to model the access road into the goods yard next, before I get busy with the mod-roc! Also, a hoover wouldn't go amiss, but I need to smuggle that into the railway room whilst SWMBO is out!

I recieved a surprise at the weekend. Whilst undertaking my volunteer duties at a preservation railway somewhere-in-the-South-of-England, we sent the cleaner off to get the tea. He later popped back and handed me my mug. I was quite surprised to see that my tea was served in a Tetbury mug! Whilst I was quietly excited for a moment, I was also a little disappointing about the quantity of tea that it actually held! Unfortunately its one of those slender mugs that hold less tea than a traditional mug. However I was very grateful for the tea, and dutifully dispatched the cleaner to do a bit more cleaning as punishment for the slim measure!

Spent the weekend getting more plaster sloshed all over the place! as I'm working from left to right, I decided to get on with the area known as The Rope Walk. Opposite the station is a small industrial area which originally was a lime kiln and quarry. It changed into a Rope Walk at some point. Most of the historic photos show an assortment of corrugated industrial buildings, however around the 1960's, a prefabricated house appears, apparently the one which was once resided by Stephen Randolph. I only have one photo of the pre-fab which appears in Randolphs book. The photo was also pinned up outside the Goods Shed before re-development. I'm using the Bachmann pre-fab, and turning it around so that the rear faces the layout. Its not a total match, but when I have a bit more time, it shall receive a pitched roof to make it a closer match. In the future I'll scratch build a replacement but I need to keep progress to stop the project stagnating! The big problem is that the area has been redeveloped to build a number of modern houses, so I have to use old photos of an area which was never particularly photogenic! The pre-fab photo shows the pre-fab sitting on a patch of land, with hills either side. The area I'm unsure about is masked by a great big tree. Helpful! I also found a useful photo on the Railcar.co.uk website: http://www.railcar.co.uk/images/accars/tetbury.jpg Irritatingly this suggests that the pre-fab was on a lower plateau than I've modelled. I'm not digging that about now! This is what I have as of today, taken at an angle similar to the Railcar position. Comparing the two, I don't think its a million miles off. However the biggest thing I can't live with is the gradient of the main hill. Thankfully I can cope with adding more land onto the board. Its slightly irritating but nothing that more polystyrene boards cannot solve. Bring on the polystyrene!

Looking back through the last post, i don't think the photos show how close the new toilet block is to the cattle dock. To be fair, I think there's around a metre between the two. Perhaps is just my perception that they are uncomfortably close. Never mind, on with some modelling!

I spent a busy afternoon getting plasterd on Tetbury. I've been busy applying filler and Mod-Roc to see what happens. Once covered, the polyball technique does give a good result. Currently I've only laid one layer of Mod-Roc, even though the instructions indicate three layers are required. I'm not too sure whether its necessary, but I guess another layer can't hurt! Given the amount of flex from the polyballs, I'm not too sure how it would hold up to constant handling if the layout went to exhibition. Lets hope it doesn't need taking apart soon, and if it did, I suppose its nothing that a liberal soaking with PVA cannot fix! One thing that came into question was the alignment of the splash to the far corner. It just didn't seem right from memory. The Boss sent me for a scintillating training session in Bristol, so on the way home, i thought a detour to Tetbury could be accommodated. Anyway, I arrived at 5pm, and the light was fading fast, so some quick striding was required!! One thing that took me back was the fact that The Splash was dry! I decided to have an explore, and sure enough, The Spash bends after the bridge. Therefore I'll follow the alignment of the Ordnance Survey plan. I did try walking further to see how The Splash exits the Wiltshire Bridge, but it got a bit overgrown. Given that I was also wearing a suit, I thought I looked pretty peculiar, so gave it up. I was also aware that construction had started on the old goods shed to turn it into a multi purpose meeting space. As a surveyor, I'm all for recycling old buildings and finding them new uses, because if a building does not have a use, it falls into disrepair and decays to oblivion, but there has to be a better solution to mechanical ventilation than a chuffing great stainless steel vent up the side! Also the toilet extension, a necessary addition, does seem rather close to the cattle dock. I can't help but wonder if a bit more careful design could have been applied, but at least the building has a new lease of life, and can now serve a use.

Well it all revolves around using External References (XREF) and Viewports in AutoCAD. I use AutoCAD 2015, and you can easily import PDF's into Modelspace using the XREF command. You then scale the PDF in Modelspace against a known dimension, such as the length of a good shed or station building, so that the PDF is 1:1. You then create a Viewport in Paperspace of the dimensions of your baseboard, and set the scale of the Viewport. Select the Viewport, and Zoom to a Scale of 1/76XP. Don't forget the XP, otherwise CAD will think you want to do something else and it all goes a bit mental! If you have access to certain graphics programmes, you can convert some PDF's into DWG files, but you still need to scale in Modelspace, set the Viewport, and scale in Paperspace.

Well it appears to have been snowing in Tetbury over the weekend. Either that or it looks like someone has had an explosion in a nearby bean bag factory! The hill at the rear is a polystyrene core with polyballs mixed with a lot less glue over to smooth off the gradient. I've used less PVA in the mix, but getting the consistency right can be tricky. Too little and the polyballs don't bind together and it just crumble away. I now need to cover with a layer of either Mod-Roc, polyfiller, or plaster. Given that a pack of Mod-Roc arrived earlier this week, I think I'll give the former a go! Whilst waiting for the PVA to set, I've also taken the opportunity to remodelled the fiddle yard to something smaller to give me a bit more room. I just need to wire it up. Lets see what I can get up to this week!

Things have been a bit quiet on the Tetbury front at the moment. Sometimes things just don't go to plan! July tailed off, August was full of Holidays, and September has been stupidly busy at work! However the real problem is that I'm trying to avoid the horrors of scenic modelling! I then looked at the model and decided that I've come this far, I need to push through. I took a deep breath, grabbed the jigsaw and made up the raised roads. I decided to depart from my favourite way of making hills, which is squirting builders expanding foam everywhere and carving to shape, and decided to try something different. Risky but it could yield cost savings down the line! To make some of the landforms, I thought I'd give the "Morfa" technique a try. Basically you mix polystyrene balls with PVA and slop it onto the layout. Its best described here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/47984-morfa-getting-plastered/page-6. I've started with the embankments as a test. Unfortunately you need to consider a couple of things, which I've learnt tonight. 1/ The structure that you're slopping the mixture onto needs to be solid. Any gaps, and those pesky balls will keep escaping through any hole they can find. You end up stuffing more into the hole, and they keep on escaping! 2/ Not too much glue! I've plainly used too much and things have slumped! When dry, the far embankment may need to be adjusted, as I think its steeper in reality. However there is one major problem with using polyballs. They get EVERYWHERE! In the end, I felt like I was in some kind of polystyrene horror movie. I left the railway room a scene of polystyrene mayhem, and stinking of PVA. Ah well, tomorrow is another day, and I also have some Mod-Roc on order in case all else fails!