jukebox

Something about the rather nice lighting on those last two shots, Gilbert - perhaps it's the presence of shadows? - but for my eyes anyway, it makes the scene lift substantially compared to days with more subdued/diffused light. Cheers Scott

So, what's the story with the faux Tourist Stock, you ask? About 18 years ago (!) I had accepted a position as a Project Engineer in Taipei. Apartment life in Taiwan meant spare time but no railway, however I had a workbench of sorts, and had brought my modelling tools with me from Australia. Being a lot less discerning back then, I had acquired some second hand Mk1 coaches, and decided to respray them in LNER tourist stock colours. I didn't even have an airbrush - just the Phoenix spray bottle system that was propelled by lighter fluid. I used some Fox lining and decals and ended up with a not too unsightly, but very unprototypical, representation of a tourist stock rake. Fast forward to last Christmas, and a rather generous sale going on at Model Railways Direct. I used that sale to acquire a mix of accurate Bachmann Mk1 stock to build up a representation of a typical BR era train, and then started investigating the make up of the Eastern Region Car Carrier, as about a decade ago, I had bought myself four Southern Pride TCV kits to build. I remembered that I had some Triang sleeper cars that I acquired, ostensibly to fill out the Eastern Region Car Carrier rake; but MRD had nice new Bachmans Mk1 Sleeper Seconds on sale... and with a proper make up of that train now at my fingertips, I ordered a pair. For those who are curious: 4TCV/BSO/RU/3SLP/3FK or 3TCV/2SLP/2FK/RU/BSK appear to be typical formations ~ when the time comes, I'll abbreviate mine slightly for the sake of scale. So whilst I might never reach the lofty levels of Gilbert's Peterborough North accuracy with his passenger rakes, my modelling has matured since 2002, and I decided it was time to cull all the old stock. I knew I had seven Stanier coaches up in storage (!), and remembered six sleepers... turned out I had a complete Blue and Grey rake of composites and brake thirds as well. All not up to today's finesse, and totally inappropriate for Stockrington's NE England locale (there's a pair of Comet brass LMS Coronation kitchen car side sides around somewhere, too... I used to own two Princess Coronations (!!)... I had plans to make a faux LMS Coronation set in Caledonian Blue.... I still have Duchess of Sutherland, but she's soon for eBay, too), so they found a new home. Well it was in my digging through all those coaches, I discovered the long forgotten tourist set. As I said, it had been almost 20 years since I built it. A lot's gone on since then. It's a sad truth that my money at the time would have been better spent buying a rake of correct (and back then readily available) Kirk tourist stock kits and just holding them until I had the time to build them, but hindsight is 20/20. The first 15 (!) old coaches sold on eBay last weekend, and I'm putting the tourist rake up this week. These sales won't break even, but will recoup some costs, and go some way to paying for a smaller, but more accurate fleet of BR period stock. As a parting gesture, I posed the set behind a Replica/Mainline B1 on the layout - the loco looks a bit coarse by today's standards, so there may be another round of thinning out as I turn my focus from layout to rolling stock. But in the meantime.... Cheers Scott

Keep your head up, Shaun. I can sympathise 100% with the ebb and flow of mojo. My less-than-revelatory advice is that sometimes there is not a great deal you can do to kick start it, and trying to force yourself to re-start before you are ready is not always useful. A change in modelling focus works for me - switch tasks for a month or so - or break up the life sapping activities into small bites. Try browsing RMWeb for inspiration - there's some pretty special stuff out there on here. We will be here waiting when you get back in the saddle. Regards Scott

You have to be careful when they drop comments like that. Next you know, she'll be wanting a red locomotive... *** Looking very nice, Gordon. The eyeball does see lots - but a photograph after the event will always inevitably highlight the ugly stuff your eyes miss! (and so is well worth doing) If it wasn't a short week here (public holiday yesterday, hence my burst of productivity), I'd offer to race you to see who gets a circuit of the room with a train first - I'm a little behind you, but agree, the friendly competition is an incentive to see it done sooner rather than later. Cheers Scott

In the meantime, spotted on the avoiding lines... Cheers Scott

After the timber was sorted, I unrolled a 5m roll of chicken wire... ...and started by stapling the hard edge of the roll to the front (straight) edge of the layout. Working my way from the centre, I pinned it reasonably taught... I then stapled the wire to the toe of the embankment, before trimming it up It was not *quite* wide enough, so I had to cut a 40cm long x 20 cm high flap, and stitch that in just past the pliers in the next shot. It will work just as well as a contiguous piece of mesh, especially there where there are no building loads. The timber work needs to be bullet proof, as I'll need to lean and lie on in as I build. With no hard shell (yet), I use an old pillow, and stand on a chair. That gave me enough reach to get down into the cutting Leaning on the wire does stretch it and push it out of shape. I'll "fluff" up the contours before I add the plaster shell. In the meantime, I can check the angles of the cutting and some of the sighlines of the lowered hillside The end on view is the litmus test. Near enough to symmetric for me. The reverse angle is looking good, too.. (you can see the "collapsed" ridge line in this next shot - It'll be easy to right before I plaster) I didn't take a photo of it, but the front view has the hill with a very - to me - subtle profile, not exaggerated like the corner hill had to be to disguise the curve and tunnel. It's going to work out okay, I think. Cheers Scott

Productive weekend. Plans altered, risers shortened... and added to the hillside Which also looks like this Then add in the cross bracing... Which locks things up one one axis. And then the long bracing, locking it all up in three dimensions: And I'm left with something like this: It's not quite as tidy as I wanted, and there was a bit of playing around on the way, but that frame now transfers loads down those front six risers into the main L-girders. The bracing makes sure it gets spread around, and is plenty rigid. Time for the next step.... Cheers Scott

Awesome vertical curves! Are those old water columns trackside in the first scene? Cheers Scott

I'd wager Jesse is going to chime in on that in 3.. 2.. 1... I'm sure your stock will have a long and well appreciated after-life, Tony. Cheers Scott

Last night I broke out the thinners and cotton rag, and cleaned the mainline along the east wall. before I started construction That's (hopefully) the last time elbow grease will be used there - the CMX needs to earn it's keep moving forward. I slipped upstairs this evening, with a view to hooking in to forming up the hill frame shell. The progress looked a lot like this... (I see in a number of these recent photos areas where there is a green tinge to the ballast where I've not properly vacuumed the static grass off the 4ft. I will rectify that) Start with the risers furthest in and work out toward the layout edge... But when I clamped the ones by the layout edge in place, I was served a hefty dose of reality. My original plan was to have the terra rise from 200mm at the top of the cutting, to 400mm at the layout edge. When I had the four tallest edge risers clamped, I took a bit of a breath. They were high. Very high. I mean stupidly high. To the point where I doubted I could reach in to apply scenic details to the cutting , let alone see any trains afterward... As I had a number of different riser lengths pre-cut, I had a play, and figured a 100mm reduction was in order. So I shuffled those carefully planned and cut lengths around, using the ones that I could, and that got me to here: I stopped the timberwork, and grabbed some drop cloths I had in the room, to get a feel for the bulk I was about to create. It's only rough, because the chicken wire will form more rigid / gentle contours, but it went a long way to modelling what the end result will feel like. The views from the top of the cutting look promising And down the long straight, too: The reverse view from the junction shows how that hill mass will hide the rest of the room from that angle: And my favourite angle, where the hill blocks Stockrington station site, and creates a reverse curve for the trains to appear from, and lean in to: I'll need to wait till the weekend to dock 100mm off five risers to their new shorter lengths, but I'm hopeful I can get the chicken wire attached in good time after that, and check that the cutting looks symmetrical before I start to plaster. Cheers Scott

Don't be too rash about remedying that issue, Gordon. Stockrington Mk1 was going to have a 66m circuit, and I had disillusions that I could control two trains on each track, separated by a good 30m each. But even as I started building, and played with two trains "orbiting" on a basic 22m run, and bringing one up from the stabling sidings, I found it *very* challenging, and not enjoyable, so was not disappointed when I scaled my track plan back. The mental gymnastics to keep 4 trains going, when something goes wrong, would be quite significant. Cheers Scott

And to close the weekend out, just some shots of the terrace house corner, now substantially complete, except for populating with some residents. Cheers, Scott

Not a lot of visual progress, but I thought people might like to see what the duck's legs look like, paddling like crazy under the water. There area of the layout in question is this: That has always meant to be a cutting, which is reminiscent of the ECML near Peascliffe Tunnel (at one point I had contemplated modelling this here, but felt it was too cramped). Here's a look from the reverse angle: In order to proceed, it involved a bit of science, mixed with a bit of art. I took a tape measure, and measured the length of those exposed bearers from layout edge to edge of track-bed support, as well as the spacing between them. That's the science. The art was then to imagine the mirror image hillside, and the contours I want to create, use the tape measure to simulate some heights, and then assign those heights to the layout edge, centre of the bearer, and near track side locations. I came up with this contour plan: I'd gotten 3/4 way through when I realised the elevation of each riser needed an additional 40mm to be attached to the cross bearer underneath - that's what the black ends represent - and why the numbers that follow do not match that Master Plan. I call it the Master Plan, because this is the document I will need to refer back to as I attach each riser. I also had to allow from bracing between the uprights, and a pair of longitudinal braces, to create a rigid space frame. In the end, I came up with a bill of quantities: Then the maths part of the problem kicked in. I had x4 off 1.2m lengths of 19mmx42mm pine (my timber of choice) lying around as leftover from the previous terra-forming, and knew I needed more. Off to Bunnings, I discovered that perversely, the per/m rate for 1.2m lengths was *more expensive* than for 1.8m lengths. 2.4m lengths were priced between the two, and would be pushing to fit in my hatchback. So the Scotsman in me told me to work with 1.8's... I hadn't made the Master Plan when I went to Bunnings (!!!!!!) so I just guesstimated I'd need x4 off 1.8m lengths, and I grabbed those and a 5m roll of chicken wire, and loaded up the car. Then the fun began. I needed to work out the best way to use the timber - the one with the least waste. I set up a spreadsheet, with the lengths of material I had, and a cell that subtracted each length as I assigned it to a long timber. I also need two long pieces - or equivalent - to form the lengthway bracing. Rather amusingly, by pure fluke I came very close to getting exactly the right amount of timber I needed: So I have 12 linear metres of timber, and needed 12.015m in theory. The one piece I am short is a 435mm long brace. Luckily I have an off-cut left over from earlier that I'd not included in my stocktake, and I can use for that. The last thing I did was make up a cutting list, so I could mark up the 8 long timbers, and cut them out in the shed... 15 mins with a jig saw this morning and I've now got ~25 pieces of timber, ready to stick-build my cutting. So now back to the duck on top of the lake. Cheers Scott

Sorry, Flood, a quick follow up. You mention removing some of the height from the car well. 1/. How did you do this? 2/. Without trawling back again, there's also mention 2.5mm was too much - can you remember how you came to that conclusion? I have four of those kits to build, and the well depth has always concerned me - so it was good to read your post. Did you notice that the kit artwork - and most / many / all the ones I have seen completed - have the well painted black, but it was actually maroon on the Eastern Region Car Transporter liveried versions (ref embedded link)? It certainly makes a difference as to how they appear. Cheers Scott

I think it looks lovely, Gilbert.... but there's a part of me that knows that even if she'd just come from a repaint, and running in turn, that there'd be a haze across the boiler top. It was one of the things that struck me as a lad riding behind preserved steam - how dirty they got by the end of just one day, with soot, oil, and hot water drips. Take a look at Bittern, here - you can just see that dusting of soot on the green boiler top, and the front of the wedge is a satin/matt. Having said all that, you know I think Tim does a masterful job on your East Coast fleet, and of course he's allowed to have one loco bulled up like it's on Royal Duties. Cheers Scott

If you are searching for a fine primer, I can also recommend trying the Gunze brand "Mr.Surfacer" range. It comes in grades of 500, 1000 and 1200 that emulate wet and dry paper, and is sold in both grey, and white I believe. I'm not a fan of aerosol cans for hobby work, but I make an exception for this product - it really does create a great base to paint on top of. There's even a Mr.Resin if you're dealing with that base material. Cheers Scott

There's also a version of that cigarette card with black smokebox and grey. It'd have been nicknamed a Black Headed Python if it ever got that livery in real life...

That's a *very* glossy A4, Gilbert.

Gordon touched on that a month or so ago, John... yep, t'would be nice. I've not actually run a train since I airbrushed the rails - hence the need to grab the cellulose thinners, some elbow grease, and a cotton rag, and hop to it. Not a small task, but like ballasting, one I can nibble away at. Once I get the worst of it off, I will set the CMX orbiting in front of one of the Heljan diesels and that will sort itself. In the meantime, here's one I prepared earlier... 3 years ago, in fact Cheers Scott

Hmmmm. Time does not stop for anyone. And all of us have just a (relatively) small, finite amount of time to fulfill our dreams and leave our legacy. I'm thinking these rather profound thoughts , inspired by the musings of one of my musical heroes, Bruce Springsteen, as I look at my calendar and I see it is almost halfway through January, and I'm *still* not done with the Terrace House corner... However I am closer to being finished - I've now added a pair of trees I felt where needed, finished the details for the fence, and am working on the allotment veggies and weeds... But am I procrastinating because I do not see a clear way forward - too many choices at to "what's next"? Possibly. I'm frustrated that I am 1/26th of the way through the year, and don't have a plan. If I have a plan, I can have a schedule, which will motivate me to get on with whatever is next... I did a run up to Perth and grabbed some extra hobby supplies - foliage and scatter for those trees, some square plastic tube sections to make up the frames of a coaling stage, and some brass sections to solder the Braithwaite panels of the water tanks to... But then I looked at the layout room, and realised that if I shift to the MPD next, I lose the best layout level storage space I have left. I still have a station, and half a large hill to build. That space is gold. Great for having all my tools laid out, and having plaster buckets at hand, paint, flock, glue... all the messy stuff I need to terraform. I think my fear is that by building the other side of the cutting, I need to have finished the open farmland on the far side. I haven't - it's too homogeneous, and needs some details to break it up, but I haven't got my head around what that means - weeds, patchy grass, animals.... But if I build the hill, I *can* make it Kirkby Luneside-Jeff battleship grade sturdy, with enough strength I can lean on and over it, to reach the far side if needs be. And that then means I will have completed the plastering above the low level storage tracks, and can clean out that space. And one long side of the layout will be finished. So I can attached the fascias I have been making... So unless I have a change of heart, that's the plan: Build the cutting. And clean the rail heads across the whole of the layout in the mid-week gaps when I am waiting for glue or plaster to dry, or at night when I can't use the power tools. Okay, so let's have a best-guess what that means: End of Feb: Have the wooden framework for the hillside cut, screwed and glued in place on the layout. End of March: Complete the plastering and terraforming End of May: Complete ground cover - flocking, static grass End of June: Complete details - fencing, trees, hedges End of July: Build and fit fascias to Eastern side So that's a six month plan. With some contingency. I'm not exactly thrilled at the prospect - which may be why I have put it off in the first place. But I'm sure once I get going, and can see the finish line, my mojo will be stronger. I'm hoping that with the rail heads clean, I can run some simple trains, which should also help motivate me. Strap yourselves in, and let's see how the story pans out.... Cheers Scott

Hi Flood Apologies for the severe case of thread deep diving, but I was doing some research on TCV's, saw your post from 2014, and wondered if you ever got around to completing yours? I trawled your thread to the end, but didn't see any further reference to it being complete. Cheers Scott

I don't know about anyone else, but knowing there's *not* going to be any substantial news from Bachmann next month, the sole reason I'm still coming back to this thread is just to see how many times Andy has to bash his head against the brick wall that is other people. Unfortunately for him, it has not disappointed.

Thimble sized sheds... Pea sticks? Shot.... and chaser.... I'd add some twine when the glue dries on that lot. Cheers Scott

That one's definitely P4.

Cripes! I didn't know video existed of Mike Sharman demonstrating flexi-chas that far back....