chaz

Quite outstanding modelling. Chaz

Just a bit of fun.... Pity about the crude plywood structure of the canopy.....and that support pillar at an odd angle..... As usual the camera highlights any shortcomings. A nice thing about digital compacts is that they are small. You can get them into places for "impossible" views like this... Chaz

Thanks Asa. I do find reactions on forum such as yours most encouraging. Chaz

No, not at all - the result is very interesting. I love the moonlight on the roof. 'Ere, 'ang on! That retaining wall has grown a bit! Chaz

Thanks, Adrian. Be better with a few wagons in view wouldn't it? Some time soon I will take snaps with some stock in place. Chaz

We are settling for the mounting board to represent smooth tarmac, Pete. Incidentally, as the bridge is so narrow, the street lights will be mounted on shorter columns fixed to the top of the parapet walls. Peter said he has seen photos of this type of arrangement - but we will have to be choosy, anything ornate would be out of place in this environment. Chaz

Peter came yesterday afternoon and brought with him the almost completed bridge #4. We spent the afternoon working on it. Here's the bridge in place wanting only some grime to make it totally convincing. Peter said he was very pleased with the way it has turned out and I can see why; it really is a superb model. The next picture shows the bridge from one end, with the camberred road surface (dark grey mounting board) and the railings, which are my contribution to this excellent piece. I remember walking across bridges with the parapet walls too tall to afford any view of the railway below. Frustrating, especially when you could hear a loco, but could only see the smoke and steam. When we planned the model we agreed that the roadway should be narrow and that there would be no pavements... Drivers would be slowing right down, and if two trucks faced each other one would have to wait while the other crossed. I'm sorry that the photo is so blurred - my compact could get very little depth of field at this close range - but I did want to illustrate the width (or lack of it!). I am sure Peter will forgive me if I post this photo highlighting the railings... I will add a few tufts of grass and weeds growing on the ledge under the railings. Next photo shows one of the drains and the kerb stones that would help keep vehicles away from the parapet walls. The drains are Plastruct rod glued to a Plasticard frame with superglue (I used solvent cement for the ones on the other road bridge and the frames warped quite badly) and the kerb stones are from timber spar slotted with a junior hack saw to represent separate stones. As the shell of the bridge is white foamboard Peter painted the parts of this which are visible through the drain with process black acrylic. I think the local cyclists would be well advised to steer round those drains! In the shadow of the bridge... The "orphan" hut from the factory yard has found a place here and it helps to make sense of the steps at the end of the platform, painted but not yet fixed in position. Under the stairs is another place where I will add grass and weeds. A last photo for now - the spotlights in the room suggesting a warm evening? Chaz

Thanks for the encouraging comment Kev'. Little details like the tea chest with lengths of wood standing in it are great fun to do, although it might well be overlooked by a casual observer....

When I was working as a technology teacher (when dinosaurs roamed the earth and Kenneth Baker was in charge at the Dept of Education) we kept a couple of tea chests near to the circular saw, into which were lobbed any useful offcuts. I think that the labourer who works the circular saw in the factory yard might well have scrounged one or two for his offcuts. Of course these might well be pillaged fairly regularly by the other workers, if only for firewood, but that's another story... A quick trip onto Wikipedia gave me the size of a tea chest (500 x 500 x 750mm) and I was away. I made my tea chests out of 0.8mm ply' (what else?) and cut the metal corners from aluminium foil. A small one-shot freezer tray furnished enough material for dozens of chests, which could be cut with a scalpel. The first snap shows two tea chests, one unfinished and one with the ally' foil added. All the assembly was done with a gel-type superglue. I did try to cut the foil narrower but found that if I did it was almost impossible to fold to a neat right angle. No, I'm not planning to paint 'em green, the Humbrol tinlet is there to show how small they are. The second snap shows a tea chest in position, complete with some timber offcuts. The other tea chest may well sit just outside the shelter and be filled with sawdust. Eagle-eyed followers might spot that I took the fence off the saw and refitted it so that it lies flat on the table, as it should. The saw has also had its first coat of green. I decided not to bother with primer. Once it's glued into the shelter the paint is unlikely to be touched, so shouldn't suffer any wear. Other small details may be added to the shelter - a girly calender perhaps - de rigeur in a 50s/60s workplace - no PC in those less enlightened times. Chaz

Thanks Peter. I'm not sure I could have made the assembly jig without my little Proxon circular saw, which made cutting the strips of ply' all to the same width and with square edges very easy. Production? You would have to enjoy filing! (every tread needs to be accurately to length). I suppose if you had a lot to do it would be sensible to have them etched. Chaz

Thanks Leigh. When I have problems with soldering they are to do with holding the joint together so an assembly jig is sometimes the best solution. Chaz

Next detail to be tackled......can you see what it is yet? Picture shows the back of the assembly jig in use for measuring to ensure that each brass rectangle is the right length. Each one is filed until it will just fit between the card pieces. Next snap shows the assembly jig with one side and the first tread in place. I set it up like this (with the weight) to leave a hand free for the soldering iron. The stairs with all the treads soldered in. As these are all butt joints the job would be impossible, I think, without some sort of jig. Once the soIdering was done I found the assembly was very tight on the jig - the brass contracts as it cools from soldering - and I had to eased it off very carefully. The next shows the stairs with the top landing, a support leg from square brass tube and the handrail with brass angle uprights. The trick, adding these details, was not to linger too long with the iron. Plenty of liquid flux put on the joints helped and nothing came adrift. The last picture shows the stairs in position on the end of the goods platform. A whole day spent making them if I include the jig, but worth it I think. Chaz

Thanks Adrian. I note your comment about the originating company - I'm sure you're right - however the stop block will be on the end of the track (behind the office) on which the J50 is standing in this photo, so can probably only be glimpsed by a viewer. Still if it's not a silly price.... Chaz

It might not be wise to build your hopes up, Alan. A couple of small jobs.... In the foreground three bundles of steel rods for the rack in the factory yard. Behind is a modified Peco stop block. The steel rods are lengths of Plastruct rod welded together with solvent. I painted them with Humbrol Metalcote 27003. I gave this a good stir and then tried to paint the white plastic. Horror! It wouldn't stick but just slid along on the brush leaving a lumpy mess here and there. In desperation I got another brush charged with white spirit to clean it off. Success, the thick paint thinned out and flowed beautifully, covering in just one coat. I allowed the paint to dry overnight and then produced the metallic look by polishing the surface with a brush. then I added some randomly applied rust colour, well thinned. I replaced the plastic beam of the Peco stop block with a wooden one. The 0.5mm brass wire fixed in the centre of the beam is there to lift the loop of a Dingham coupling. If a loco is driven too hard towards the siding end the loop would hit the beam very hard and might be mangled - the wire ramp will lift it safely over, leaving the buffers to do their job. I reasoned that this wire is no more obtrusive than the couplings on the stock. Chaz

Thanks Don. Trickiest bit (as you might well realise) was drilling the strips. A few bits of brass went into the scrap bin. "Are you tempted to add a small boy with his head stuck?" I did suggest this to Peter, but he didn't seem too impressed with the idea. Now, if I can find a good 1:43 fire engine.......maybe not. Chaz PS - I really must sign off now.....got some weeds to plant....

Thankyou Kev', for the most encouraging comments. The most satisfying thing for me this morning was that, having finished the railings to dimensions taken from the bridge, when Peter arrived and put the span in place (he had taken it away to work on it) I was able to make them fit against the end piers with just a little trimming needed. It doesn't always work out that way.... Chaz

A couple of photos of bridge #4 with the girders sprayed grey..... Another picture of the bridge with the wooden shed relocated from the factory yard visible in its possible new position... And finally two snaps showing the railings fitted, although not yet painted... Chaz

Thank you Martyn. Have a look at the posting below to see the two sets of railings fitted to the end of the bridge. I must agree that it's the small details that make the layout come to life - as soon as Peter saw the railings in place he said that this small addition gave a "human scale" to the bridge. Chaz

Peter and I agreed that we needed a couple of short lengths of railings for the end of the bridge #4. Here's the first piece.... When we discussed it Peter was keen on the hooped-top type of railing. A narrow strip of brass was drilled 0.7mm for the stanchions. Then soldered to a second strip and drilled through so that the holes matched. Hooped tops formed by bending the 0.7mm nickel silver wire around the shank of a drill bit (Drill bit set into a piece of wood with just the shank showing to hold it). support stanchions are 1mm diameter wire. Golly, am I glad that only a very short length is needed - this one is the longer of the two and is about 50mm long. It was not a quick job....

Thanks Stephen, and the wooden shed already has a new home....

Thanks Alan. Some colouring, a few details and it will be set in place. Chaz

Thanks for that link, very useful. Just had a look at the online catalogue - nice stuff - I also like AB30 - leg vice. I feel a purchase coming on.....

I spent this morning making a shelter for the saw bench. It's the usual concoction of thin ply' and small section spar. It would be a drafty place to work in winter! I will make a bin or two (tea chests?) into which the operator might throw his offcuts and there will also be a heap of sawdust, a broom and a couple of push-sticks hanging up; a few papers pinned to a board and maybe a small bench with a tool cupboard beneath (I need to find a few 7mm woodworkers tools and maybe a vice). Worth spending a little time on the details as the factory yard is right at the front of the layout. The next two pictures show a dilemma..... ....this is the factory yard with the (unfinished) features arranged along the rear fence. Left to right - steel rack, circular saw, wooden hut, oil store, brick hut. Does it all look a bit cramped? By relocating the wooden hut to elsewhere on the layout...... ...all the other features can be given more space. Bearing in mind that I will be adding some other bits & bobs (an oil drum or two next to the oil-store, a few lengths of timber leaning against the sawmill etc) I think it would be better to move the wooden shed away. Chaz .

Sounds as though it might be quite messy, the paint that lands on top of the oil - does it dry? Does the job clean up neatly? It just wipes away with the oil? Cotton buds? (I don't really have time for experiments for what is a very small part of the whole picture) Chaz

Crikey, that was a quick reply, Steve. Yes, it would, but I was hoping to avoid the need for masking fluid, this is a very small model and it would be quite tiresome to apply. Still, you might have talked me into it...... Chaz