Sasquatch

The mojo has returned 😎

Following a great afternoon on Sunday when Felix of Boxer Bay Railway fame came for a visit and receiving a fantastic parcel the morning after from Terry from down under (better known as manna on these pages) my enthusiasm has regained all its zest. 
 

Luckily all the trains behaved for Felix and I managed to turn the pig sty into something resembling a layout home. 

 

Work in progress involves getting Queensbury finished, I’ve started with the infills around the station buildings and goods sidings. 

Also embedded the new farmhouse and added the a saddle back in her sty 🐷

I’m looking for ideas for something a bit out of the ordinary to put in the shed. Any suggestions would be welcome. 
 

Here’s a few layout images and it is about time we had some trains on here. 

Lastly.  I will leave what manna has sent over for another post as it’s not quite ready just yet 

Squatch

On 19/02/2024 at 14:33, St Enodoc said:

Are those Slater's letters and if so what size? I might be able to help you out with a couple of proper 'D's.

Forgot to thank you for the offer!

I obviously made a better job of the ‘E’s, ‘H’s & ‘V’s !😀
Oh, and the ‘I’s😁

40 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Are those Slater's letters and if so what size? I might be able to help you out with a couple of proper 'D's.

Wow you’ve got good eyesight😁Found those in the scrap box. From a Heljan kit or some such. The pub was a cost free exercise. Pettite properties sent me a free kit and everything else is scraps. The “D”s will do. 
 

Regards Shaun 

Quite romantic feeling that A4 with the blood and custard Mk1s. Bit like a nice cosy warm pub. 

A couple of winter ales would go down a real treat!

Squatch

On 16/02/2024 at 07:54, Stray said:

Excellent work as usual,  I'm retired and I still don't know where you get the time to put in all that detail.  

Thank you. Unbelievably much time gets wasted. The mojo is waning at the moment. Too much fun can get boring!

This week I had to clear out one end of the barn so that I could get the truck in there. Some one backed into it with a JCB! And it needed an oil change. Just getting the oil filter off took all my energy and a whole afternoon. It’s back on the road now but I don’t feel like modeling much today. 

On 17/02/2024 at 14:09, Stray said:

Found this on an old memory card. 

 

Sir Nigel Gresley  Goathland

Brilliant! Thanks for posting that. The lighting is just wonderful. There’s something very captivating about a well lit evening train. Knowing that the passengers are all cosy on there and the crew are warm and enjoying the job. Same feeling you get when ships pass at night! Well I get it!!

There’s not many trains in Oregon. Haven’t been on one in donkeys years. 
The pick up goods passes through Rogue River and stops at the “coffee caboose” for a latte. Last time I saw it, it only had two box cars and a tanker on😄

Regards Shaun

Those Mailcoach Coronation sets are a bit of a challenge mate. Assembly is quite straight forward, same as any Kirk coach but painting around all those windows will take a month of Sundays! The other way is to use “Maskol” and air brush but I think painting on the maskol will be even more interesting to say the least. 
Either way, I shall look forward to seeing how you get on. 
The V2 looks nice. Always been a firm favorite just what a loco should look like 👍 

Regards from the soaking wet Pacific North West, Shaun 

On 09/02/2024 at 08:05, ChrisN said:

Finally a report on modelling.  I have added gutters to the station building roof.

 

 

I decided that I would use Ratio guttering as they were acceptable and not horrendously expensive.  I know @westerhamstation would have used the folded edges of Weetabix packets.  I looked at these and decided that they probably were not large enough.  Now having used them once, I shall proabley have to continue with them for consistency.  Shown is the gutter, and two strips of card, and a reinforcing piece of card.

 

 

I realised that the gutters need to be horizontal, but the roof has no horizontal portion to it, so the piece of card on the roof is for the gutter to lean on.  The soffit was then put in position.  It was all glued with PVA.

 

 

When it had dried  then the reinforcement card was glued into place.  I was concerned that the soffits were only stuck on where the supporting prongs from the gutters were, so was not convinced that they would hold very well without further support.

 

 

Gutters in place.

 

 

The other side.

 

 

The soffits, plus the flashing.  I have painted the soffits as well.

 

I finally managed the flashing.  The straight flashing was easy.  The flashing down the chimney is the third or fourth attempt.  I tried card and cutting it in situ down the brickwork, but it was too soft.  I then tried cutting the card in step fashion and then gluing it, with PVA, but it was still too soft.  I then took some more card, this time 2.5 to 3mm wide and cut steps in it.  I then shellacked it.  When I went to paint it, it had disappeared; no idea where it went.  I repeated the process and this time was able to paint it with Humbrol 64 light grey.  This time it was a bit hard, but I tried to wrap a small amount onto the roof.  You notice that the flashing on the front of the chimneys is a bit long, that is because I had to cover the gap between where the bricks stopped and the roof started.  I am not the only one with this problem.

 

So, the roof is FINISHED!  I would do this differently next time.  I would make the bricks on the chimneys go further down below the sides, I would have some method of making a flat surface at the bottom of the roof to attached the gutters, and yes, finials, they should go on near last as I have managed to break one, and the bit has disappeared, I think I saw it and put it in a bits pot.  

 

If you have been, thanks for looking.

 

P.S. The building itself still needs painting.

 

The Ratio guttering is the best money can buy, of course I'd use it but would need to remortgage the house to provide 1/76 rainwater management for Grim-up-North, Mr's Sasquatch is getting fed up with Wheatabix! Mind you the cereal stuff comes with the soffits built in!

Having found some grey paper which made ideal flashing I was upset after inadvertently chucking it away while clearing out the modeling closet, so am on the lookout for a sheet of grey paper now.

Impressive model making as ever. Looking forward to seeing the painting completed, always my favorite part.

Regards Shaun 

5 hours ago, Barry O said:

Apologies in advance.. all being well I will be "operating on Sunday (ie causing chaos!) complete with some "different rail mounted vehicles

 

 

Baz

Sounds like a lot of fun, and I know that you will be busy but...

Might it be possible to get a few quick pictures of that please Baz?

Regards Shaun

Was wondering just the other day where you'd got to Jeff. You know, we haven't seen the moon since before Christmas, (it's very damp and extremely cloudy but at least we've escaped any flooding). Aren't those Chinese up there stealing all the cheese, shame because "I do like a bit of gorgonzola"!😁 (Cheesy grin emoji)

I'm looking forward to seeing the layout and any progress, when you're ready of course.

And, well done with getting published, that's always a good feeling of accomplishment, Bravo!

Regards Shaun. 

21 hours ago, GWR57xx said:

Would dental floss tape be any good for making reins?

Always looking for a fresh idea!

8 hours ago, jcredfer said:

 

{Reins??}  Back 50 years or so, there used to be some flat tape, which I think, was for tying round Christmas and other presents.  It was made of parallel lengths of some [unidentified} fibre {cotton / flax??}.  The fibres were held together in some sort of coloured resin / glue, as they were not woven in any way.  It was possible to tease / cut  into the end to separate a narrow section, which could then be pulled away from the adjacent fibres in a narrow, flat strip.  Semi-gloss paint for leather straps and matt for haversacks etc.

 

 

I might still have the remains of a roll, in the garage somewhere, I'll have a look later.

 

Best wishes All

J

 

The detailing on the Hussar and his mount are on another level. I take it that's your work Julian?

Yes! I seem to remember the stuff that you're talking about. I quite often start rummaging through boxes looking for bits and things only to recall that they might be on another continent from a past life! Or, finding a new roll of something that I total forgot that I'd picked up in a beading store or some such non-railway hobby shop.

Regards Shaun

4 hours ago, manna said:

G'Day Folks

 

Do you have candles, I know you have a wood heater, must have a match somewhere, surely you don't rub sticks together ??

 

manna

No. We conjure fire with "Incendio" for the wood stove. Of course we've got matches! You're just not reading between the lines. I've not needed a cigarette lighter for 20 years!!!

Regards Shaun.

P.S. The N1 is on the table for reassessment of the body construction regarding the fitting and wheel clearance. 

I thought that I caught a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel today...

...but it was just Julian with a torch bringing me more work!

No, seriously that's a good little snippet of info. there mate. I'll just have to model that! Always on the look out for neat modeling subjects and details like that, it's what can set a model apart.

Hope that you're well 

Regards Shaun. 

12 hours ago, manna said:

G'Day Folks

 

You could probably make 'Nose Bags' out of the same stuff, for the horse's.

 

manna

Didn't think of nose bags! The horses are in motion, so they'd be hanging from the dray no doubt!

I've still got the reins to make too and will probably use heat extruded plastic sprue for them, something I haven't done since I was a kid when we used to borrow grandad's cigarette lighter to make radio aerials for Airfix tanks. Trouble is I don't own a lighter, haven't for decades!

Shaun

1 hour ago, boxerbayrailway said:

Looks fantastic,  really nice job Shaun.  The horses are a perfect fit for the dray.

The use of electrical tape is a neat idea that I'm going to explore.  never thought of it before.

Cheers,

Felix

Hi Felix. Go to Grovers for the tape, it's super sticky and less prone to failure. Unfortunately, they don't sell suitable layout wire. 

Regards Shaun.

Almost ready for the beer delivery round. 
Thompson & Thompson are wearing aprons made from electrical tape and the Heljan barrels have thin plastic siding ends punched out with a hole punch. They’re a perfect fit. 
 

Thank you Baz!

Things got a little fiddly today after I discovered a huge hen on Queensbury. Remembering that this came from a long forgotten Airfix set I set about finding it because I'll be needing two big cart horses for that beer dray.

These animals aren't too bad considering their age. The little molding pip and flash was scraped off with a Stanley knife, the harness etc. is simply thin strips of electrical tape, the saddle is water proof electrical tape and the collar complete with hames is a bit of bell wire. I parred away a flat to the outer sheeting using the same knife. All the above has been lightly touched with an almost dry tip of the Zap-A-Gap cyano. The collar was flooded (if you can call it that) and given a fine dusting with baking soda. Works a treat!    

Congratulations, Brilliant stuff!

Regards Shaun.

1 hour ago, Stray said:

Hi, I've been following your thread, on and off for over a decade, with envy at your modelling skills, but enough of the flattery. I  was in Goathland at the weekend,  it's only a 40 minute drive, and took some photos. When I saw your horse and dray, I thought if it's delivering to Goathland it might need a few barrels from the Wensleydale Brewery. 

 

 

They were beside the "new" learning coach parked next to the goods shed. 

 

After the station,  we had a walk to Beck hole to TMC, and wonder of wonders the Birch hall Inn was open,  so we had to stop for a pint and a ham sandwich. 

Hi Stray,

Thank you for your input and welcome to RMweb!

I'm totally envious of course having not been back to the UK since I built the layout. It would be my number one tourist destination.  

Coincidentally, I just not too long ago purchased a kit for one of those Gresley baggage vans and was debating what livery to finish it in. The image settles it. Crimson it is!

Regards Shaun. 

27 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

 

Shaun,

Thank you very much.  This is the stuff that I thought you and others meant, but Foamex has been mentioned and seems to be different.  The stuff I have come across seems to mark quite easily, and if I cut a window out ot it the window would need some plastic lining I think.  I have some black but have stayed away from it as I will need to paint the inside a light colour.

 

With the better quality board and a fresh stanley blade window and door cutouts sometimes cut clean. Three layers of acrylic usually is enough to hide the foam look. If not I use the woodfiller and when dry a fine file! After a bit of practice this method becomes second nature. The wood filler will not react with the foam. Once satisfied the windows fit and the painting is complete, the window get glued in with that super tacky glue I love so much!

Regards Shaun  

The latest bit of sidetrackery 🫣

After finding out that Duncan Models only produce O scale kits I had a go at scratch building a horse drawn drey. 
Wheels are from a cheap ho kit and the   horse is by Slaters 

Squatch 

9 hours ago, ChrisN said:

Shaun,

Sorry to be a pain, but can I ask a question to get things clear in my head.  When you say 'Foam Board', do you mean foam covered in a plastic type of paper, or something like Foamex, which I think is PVC board?

 

Thank you,

Confused of England

No problem at all mate!

The stuff I buy is widely available in the states. It's usually 5mm give or take and approximately 20 x 30in sheets. It has a foam core with paper on both sides. 

At present I have 5 sheets in my stock. 

One has a kind of plastic coating and seems tougher than the others. Top. 

Two are cheap Dollar Store product which as the name suggests cost a dollar each. Paper coating and not so good quality. I use this for internal walls etc.

The Elmers stuff is good quality, comes in various colors of which I use the white for scribing and drawing out.

Queensbury's station masters house is made from it. Bare folded board painted with water based acrylics. 

The main booking hall had the stones scribed in with a fine black pen.

The Elmers black variety inevitably gets used up the quickest and if I'm lucky there might be a damaged, large school project, folding display (36" x 50") at the craft store for which I'll make a low-ball offer!   

Hope that helps 

Regards Shaun