lash

Lloyds Bank in particular looks the part Dave and yes of course I do remember trolley buses , Enjoy this link http://www.strong-island.co.uk/2010/04/16/transport-no-1-portsmouth-trolleybuses/ Portsea Town now has two complete platforms ready for painting and looks rather good I think.

Thanks for the reminder GC ,I checked out the website and yes those are them ,such distincive buildings and all still there. I have a Southdown Queen Mary and a Portsmouth Corporation double decker ready for the layout ,but there will be limited scenic area outside the railway itself so they will have to appear on the Commercial Road overbridge which will be the exit to the fiddle yard

Modelstrip has arrived but I am out overnight so will leave it a while to deal with the dodgy roof paint on the canopies .Pot of acrylic roof dirt has also arrived so I am now fully equipped once the old stuff is off. Can anyone help with an acrylic paint that is the best match for Southern Region green for station mouldings, metal work etc , described as green 3a .I think Precession do an enamel but I really want to stick with acrylics which I find easier to work with ( incidents with roofs aside) . I suspect the exact shade may not matter too much in reality given the effects of weathering but it would be nice to know. Been working on the second platform cutting and gluing a balsa top and ramp ,coming along nicely and I can see good progress at the terminus end of the layout . Collected more code 60 Peco rail from Hobbygoblin and will start work on installing the third rail on the terminus roads when the platforms are completed , that should be an easy start as platforms 1 and 2 are without curves .

Portsea Town is a layout I see as a part of my learning experience as a railway modeller. Today I have learnt to use a lot of very bad language and not to be hasty. The language bit is reprehensible. The hasty bit is somewhat ironic given the decidedly sedate pace of progress of the layout which is now more than a year from its conception and my first post ( I was going to type entry but that's old fashioned and in danger of being inappropriate) on RMweb. I have been working on the overall roof /canopy and completed the roof sections and decided to paint the tops of them . I checked out Southern Region on the excellent web site www.stationcolours.info and worked out Railmatch roof dirt would be ideal and I had a pot to hand . It needed a bit of diluting so I added a drop or two of water , the paint went on ok but there seemed to be a problem with coverage and my brush was going a tadge claggy. After putting a coat on all three roof sections it occurred t me something was wrong . A quick check of the pot label revealed it to be enamel not acrylic as I had assumed , not good and by now the roofs were looking pretty horrid lumpy and streaky . Salutary lesson on how to mess up hours of careful work . So I have been on line today and ordered a pot of Modelstrip ( now there's an interesting product to Google ) along with a selection of acrylic paints. Interesting day so I've bought a lovely Hornby ex LMS parcels van in BR maroon to cheer myself up, isn't there a brilliant section of parcels stock around and this one will make a nice change from southern green

Ian I had a quick look at Jedbrugh ,very nice and I will do it justice soon with a longer study Dave ,have you posted any of your efforts, I can't find them . There are some kits that are actually based on Portsmouth buildings , North End in particular including the old Mcilroys ( I think )department store. I can't remember what they are called but I have some stashed somewhere and have seen them for sale at shows. I do think the multi-track line from the Fratton station footbridge to the Fratton Road bridge would make a great small model of busy main line operation. As you say it is in a cutting ( well drained canal actually) with interesting buildings behind , the footbridge when it had its roof was very attractive and would be a great a scenic break allowing a bitsa model of the end of Fratton station with its distinctive signal box and tall lattice signal. I think the whole stretch is no more than a couple of hundred yards. As to progress on Portsea Town I have had daughters visiting so my attention has been elsewhere but I have made some progress on my Airfix and Dapol roof kits ,can you see what it is yet? Please excuse blatant Rolf Harris reference

Dave, sadly nostalgia isn't what it used to be but I understand and as you will see from this thread it those memories of the early 60s that inspire my efforts . I love the navy blue paint anecdote and remember those Bedford trucks very well. I've been working on the overall roof putting together my two old Airfix kits and one new one from Dapol. The glazing bars are as fiddly as I remember when my dad built one for my layout 50 years ago, but liquid cement and a brush is much easier than a tube of Airfix glue and a matchstick. The new Dapol kit is made from a softer plastic and the detail is not quite so sharp as the older kits ,but still more than acceptable for my level of modelling . The brickwork painting trials have gone well using acrylic washes for cement courses and dry brushing for brick work . I have produced a perfectly ok weathered red brick and an engineers style blue brick with red undertones. What has not worked well is a soot black weathering spray can ,it is too concentrated even when sprayed at a distance of a couple of feet and wiping off/smudging does not work well, creating a mess of the underlying paint and removing some of it along with the weathering dye. Lesson learnt and will use brush application if necessary in future . No pics but will post some soon

Dave In Pompey, given the local sport of nicking from naval stores, I'm amazed most of the city wasn't painted battleship grey ,green and cream would undoubtedly be a nice change

Collected my 2 Bil from Hobbygoblin and gave it a good run on the track there , much admiration from other customers with no direct southern interest. It's a lovely model, neat and crisply moulded and at an affordable price. A few years ago who would have thought we could buy this quality at this price and of a 1930s suburban emu . Wonderful so bring on the 4Cor Hornby," England expects " etc. ( 4 Cors known as Nelsons if you didn't get the reference ) What I really do want in the short term is another 2 Bil to form a 4 car train with distinctive curved roofs of the driving ends between units and the straight inner ends of the carriages in the same unit alternating . I think that may be my reward when Portsea Town reaches a decent level of completion, so quite a while to save up I expect I have been working on the overall roof and continuing trial painting brickwork ,pics to come soon In the meantime here is a rubbish pic of the 2 Bil

Andy, thanks for the comment . I am a big admirer of your work. Spare a thought for the 2Hap too for which I have a strange affection, but I hated 4 Veps . I was at university in London in the 70s and my heart would sink if I had to do the Sunday night trip back from a weekend at home in Pompey in one of these draughty rattle traps rather than a cosy 4Cig with the genuine possibility of nabbing the second class compartment Steve at Hobbygoblin in Burslem, my local shop , has told me my 2 Bil may arrive this week so I am a quiver with anticipation . I wonder if the third rail might have got to the Highlands ............

On the subject of canopies . The idea is to have a short section of overall roof at the terminus end of the platform to provide a sense of a significant if small city station and a visual break at the end of the baseboard to give the illusion of something rather bigger than it is . I will not model the terminus building or buffer stops etc. and the whole thing could be extended into a non-scenic extension for longer trains ( my 4 CEP on a Victoria service for example ) The roof will be adapted from three Airfix/Dapol canopies ( I need to buy the third kit ,I have two ancient unmade Airfix kits I must have bought 30 years ago and the mouldings are stamped Airfix 1959) side by side with a substructure of Knightwing lattice girders held up by ordinary Knightwing girders. The idea is to produce something somewhat reminiscent of the roof of the old Southampton Terminus, now a car park, which I visited a couple of months ago . There will also be canopies on each platform using Wills kits. The originals on the platforms at Southampton are long gone along with the platforms themselves but there are plenty of pictures on the web if you want to check out the idea.

Computer has recovered from fit of vapours/updating etc. so here area couple of pics of the platforms as work in progress And no that isn't an advanced weathering technique on he English bond, just some filler residue , makes you think though

Had a couple of sessions working on platforms and Portsea Town is starting to look like it just might one day resemble a small railway terminus I built the substructure of the island platform from 5mm foam board and have now cut and glued the balsa surface and ramp for the main platform ,stuck on embossed English bond plasticard for the platform side, filled gaps etc. with fine domestic filler ,rubbed the surface down and sealed it with a couple of generous coats of dilute pva, could say lashings of pva but that sounds a bit off beam ...... I have also been working on a simple jig for installing third rail insulators and giving some thought to the canopy. My computer is threatening to shut down so will post this now and may be back later

Been building platforms and as mentioned before using foam board and balsa. 5 mm foam board cut in 18mm strips and cut for edging , reinforcing cross pieces and ramps then topped with balsa sheet ,all glued and temporarily pinned . Very pleased with progress.

More ballasting and patching previously ballasted areas which are a bit bald.However a big event occured this evening . I decided that I would stop ballasting and start the basic construction of the platforms before dealing with the tracks in the station itself and so Portsea Town has its first bit of strcuture above ground level Platforms are being constructed from foamboard strips (18mm wide) and will be faced with Slaters english bond plasticard. I'm not certain about the tops yet but maybe plasticard or balsa ? The idea will be to produce a platform rather like this at Arlesford,simple and also quite similar to Fratton

The beneficial effect of the arrival of the 2h is showing and I completed ballasting of all turnouts this evening . This was done by hand and desert spoon rather than the clever patent push along ballasting device thing and compared with the plain track I think it was quicker and neater because I could control the amount of ballast going down more easily and tamp it with various paint brushes. So mixed feelings about the device thing and remaining ballasting may all be done by the hand and spoon method . I also adjusted my water pva mix to add a bit more water and a decent splosh of washing up liquid , this achieved a much better flow through the ballast . Am now waiting with mixed anticipation and foreboding to see if I have stuck the point blades in place , I do so hope not but s@ds law says yes (again )

My 2H has arrived and just collected it from the post office , felt very much like 5 year old at Christmas .Wrapping of at home and first impressions are very good, all done to same standard as the 2epb so not much wrong with that. Had a quick test run and snapped a few pics on the Blackberry, most rubbish but have a look at this . I’m off to play trains now ……………

Ian be brave and stick with it ,but not to point blades, tie bars etc.Do you have a blog or topic ?? My mojo has returned with the prospect of the arrival of the 2h and so about 2 feet of ballasting done this evening and some patching of what I have done before . Very slow but moving again and here is a pic to celebrate the happy event Dave the pen looks a good product but the video.................maybe not up for the Oscars and a visual equvalent to Vogon poetry, my will to live was departing well before the end of the 4 minutes and 15 seconds .However I am grateful to any modeller sharing good ideas so thanks to you and the american gentleman who made it

Dave thanks for the encouragement , Things looking up with a call from Kernow Models my green 2h unit with V marking on the guards end has arrived after a very long wait and was dispatched last Friday. Very exciting as its the perfect unit for Portsea Town ( well a 3h would be better but that's quibbling) so I can't wait. Hopefully my 2 Bil will arrive any time as well if Hornby manage to supply my local model shop. Pics of the 2h will follow as soon as I get my hands on it

Been cleaning point blades ,unsticking sticky point blades checking electrics (again) and feeing frustrated .......... but I keep telling myself this is vital work for the long term viability of the layout. So ballasting and progress delayed and need to find my modelling mojo

Not a clue how double post happened , the interweb is as much a mystery as ever to me , fun though

Thanks Jamie, as you will see from the thread no great skill was involved ,just a spray can of sleeper grime and a bit of care . I really don't have the patience to paint rail sides and sleepers by hand. The damaged point was replace this evening and looks fine but not tested yet. I gave it the sleeper grime treatment before it was laid .Progress is slow but at least its steady .

Thanks Jamie, as you will see from the thread no great skill was involved ,just a spray can of sleeper grime and a bit of care . I really don't have the patience to paint rail sides and sleepers by hand. The damaged point was replace this evening and looks fine but not tested yet. I gave it the sleeper grime treatment before it was laid .Progress is slow but at least its steady .

c2c , was that Bedenham sidings I wonder. You have been making me think about a more precise location for Portsea Town and its starting to look like this. The LSWR built a line diverging from the main line between Fratton and Portsmouth and Southsea station to serve a potential commercial dock located to the north of the naval dockyard located pretty well where the commercial docks are today. A terminus for passenger trains was located where Victory Retail Park is now between Flathouse Road and Mile End Road . Initially local trains ran to Fratton and the station served as terminus for some services to Victoria and Brighton ( third rail electrification in the 60s) to the east and also services to the west ( steam and diesel ). Parcels traffic was also handled . By the 1960s the line was looking tired and run down but maybe it lasted into the 70s ( blue period stock a possibility as an alternative to my early 60s green ). That's it for the moment and no doubt my ideas will develop and change , and strictly speaking I know its more Landport or Stamshaw as a location not Portsea but that never seemed to stop the railway companies in naming stations On the modelling front I have removed the broken point and will hopefully install a replacement tomorrow

Started ballasting using clever push along perspex device. Ballast is a mix of Woodland Scenics medium brown and grey with ash as well ,it will be weathered once laid . The clever perspex device is good but you need to learn how fast to push it along the track to avoid too deep ballast . I got the hang after a couple of trial runs. Ballast is glued down with dilute PVA with the traditional dash of washing up liquid and applied by a syringe. All fine after a dodgy start which resulted in the tie bar mechanism of a point getting stuck and then me being over rough trying to free it and detaching the blades from the tie bar and generally messing up the mechanism. I have thought of repair but unless anyone can persuade me otherwise I am going to replace the point and then learn to be more patient ,careful and gentle , I am decidedly cross with myself about this c2c thanks for the comment . I think the layout will end up being located somewhere on Portsea Island and so I will not be taking the Gosport option. There are some nice ideas for a Gosport based layout thogh ,how about a what if of Lee on Solent taking off as a resort and the branch developing a healthy passenger traffic with the Meon Valley line staying open to give a direct route to Waterloo

Thanks Matt, that's what I thought , I will let you know how I do , Marked out platform clearances with time honoured technique of a pencil taped to the middle of my longest coach ( Bachmann Bulleid ) then lots of test running with different stock including my Crompton with parcels stock ,my 2 epb and Terrier. Fun and useful