Southernboy

I thought I was a Member of that group (?) ... having said that - I rarely receive notifications from RMWeb no matter what I do with my settings ... so I'm probably missing out on quite a lot

Hello Southern Railway Modellers. Firstly the usual caveat of 'please feel free to move this if it's in the wrong place.' Ok. I recently posed a question on RMWeb 'Is my Third Rail Plan Correct?' http://www.rmweb.co....y-plan-correct/ Much helpful information came forth. But what struck me was that my thread would eventually get lost in the archives of RMWeb history. There seems to be no repository for received wisdom/accumulated knowledge /archive pictures on the matter to which others can easily refer in the future. And to my knowledge there are no books or web pages where such information is centralised. There is the much referenced page by Russ Elliott: http://homepage.ntlw...tt/3rd-4th.html This page helped me a lot, but if you check my thread on the subject, it seems to pose as many questions as it answers when it comes to Southern Railway practices specifically. So I wonder whether there's any interest in the Southern Railway Group here on RMWeb having such a page or thread, to which we can all contribute/discuss and build a body of accumulated knowledge about Third Rail? It would definitely benefit me, and perhaps other Southern Railway modellers to come (?) What does the panel think? I know there is the SEMG, but they have no such page - and personally, following the email group, I find having photos divorced from emails unintuitive to navigate and a fracture to the thought process. Similarly, the practice of 'daily posts' (of everything) rather than 'thread by subject' equally frustrating to follow when it comes to trying to follow a specific subject matter. ------------------------ On a similar note: I tried to investigate electric point machines in Southern Railway days and find there's virtually nothing out there (plenty on point rodding/signal boxes/or point mechanisms in more recent years) but very little on the infrastructure in the inter-war years. Or did they not have them until after the war?? That question sort of proves my case It's quite difficult to find these things out... Do people think it's worth having a section/thread of this Southern Railway Group dedicated to such matters? Just a thought. Over to the great and good ... Mark EDIT: btw - I'm thinking specifically that such a thread would not be about matters such as carriage set numbers, liveries, route numbers etc, that are covered elsewhere - but would cover matters about which it is currently difficult to obtain information - colour light signalling practice springs to mind- there's always plenty about semaphore signals, but less about electric signals in the interwar years. Equally, I know there is limited interest in this period - so understand if others may not feel this is worthy of much time.

I like what I'm seeing Mr Simon, expansion on both micro and macro scales, all very exciting I think that's the second car show room you have on your layout (?) - not exactly encouraging rail travel are you

"Well I seem to be doing my usual thing and moving forward far quicker than I intended... " Yes, your pace of work sometimes astounds me David, and always with excellent results This last set of pictures in particular have really demonstrated your eye for getting a sense of historic setting right, it all feels very authentic - and I do like the 'moody' sky you've chosen for your backdrop too - it's very atmospheric. Always top marks from me

Excellent work Mr Simon. I know how fiddly this sort of project can be and you've done a good job Can I ask how you're printing the signs? My reason for asking is I found those I run-off from an office printer don't look good in close-up (the 'dots' are too large). I did print some from one of those commercial photographic printers you find in places like Boots, which were better - but still not perfect. It may be there isn't a 'perfect solution' for us N gaugers (without resorting to commercial presses). Thanks, Mark

Glad to see your attention has returned to Gresby Simon. I didn't know you could get N gauge household furniture, is that also from P&D Marsh?

I have to say how much I continue to be impressed with the scope and detail of the railway modelling here - and for me that includes the amount of work going into the electrical side of things as well as scenic. It really is inspiring to see your work unfold. In particular this (from a series of images) caught my eye: I love the annotations/tables printed around the sheet. I guess these are references/step-by-step reminders and so forth? Either way it's almost a work of art in it's own right. It looks very methodical and detailed, and I take my hat off to such intricate preparations.

Hello F-UnitMad, " ... so many characteristic features, in such a small layout, without any of them even getting slightly close to being a cliche... " Thank you: I did make some effort in trying to distill the broad characteristics of what I wanted into a small area - dismissing probably 80% of what I'd 'liked to have had' into that which was purely essential to portray a broad picture. I think ultimately the layout will be better for it. bcnpete: I knew you'd appreciate the quote from Corbusier But transistor radios came in from 1954 ... you need to get one with valves to pick up transmissions from Frankland I remember as a child my Grandparents valve television set, me standing at the back, watching them slowly warm up over 5 minutes or so, before going round to the front to see a picture gradually come into focus I do love old technologies ...

Hello Westerner and Mr Simon, I'm looking forward to making the cinema, although it's some way down the list yet. The frontage will be modelled in it's entirety. I'll have to compromise on the right hand side of the building, but I should have enough space to include the full length of shop fronts on the left.

Thanks Tom, People can't sit around the wireless knitting and smoking pipes every night - a cinema is essential, and will be based on the Astoria, Brixton: http://www.flickr.co...y1969/78612805/ http://www.southlond...res/astoria.jpg I particularly like the jade green tiles on the facing wall behind the dome. Mark

Hello Mr Simon, well currently I'm thinking viaducts and bridges are next. Viaducts because I want to start getting a bit of 'old and worn' to balance the 'new' that Frankland is at the moment, and bridges because they'll be plastered in advertising, which again balances the 'cleanness' of structures to-date. EDIT: Oh, and my three EMUs of course. I'm thinking these will be nearer Christmas. I'll need an airbrush, so Christmas is the time of year to think of such indulgent purchases

Thank you again gentlemen, you know how to make a railway modeller feel good! Thanks also to those who clicked the 'Like This' button, really very much appreciated. Zunnan: I hope you realise the telephone junction box was inspired by you! (Remember the PMs you sent me some while back? - and if you look closely you may also notice two GPO manhole covers on the corner - another lesson I quietly digested). I may well model some of the viaduct and bridges next, and I'll be tapping into previous posts of your own for information and to remind me of clever construction techniques. I do make a big effort to get my modelling 'right'. One of the first lessons I learned was not to rush anything, there's no point, and I'm quite happy to keep plugging away at something until it looks the way I see it in my mind's-eye ... I suppose I have pretty firm ideas about how I want things to be on my layout. There's still a good five years of modelling to do on this layout at least, so don't panic! And after that? Well something even better is waiting in the wings (I hope).

Thank you David - that's very flattering. I'm glad you feel 'drawn in' to the way I see the layout myself - I do think the enjoyment and appreciation of any layout is enhanced when the viewer is aware of the 'bigger picture'. Rather like yourself having a story and history behind each building and road on Cross Street. Poirot? I'm not sure. I know Miss Lemon was seen viewing one of the flats yesterday (chaperoned by Captain Hastings, of course).

Hello Pete, The EMUs are on hold, BernardTPM reported a while back: " ... The N Gauge Society are looking to produce the Southern 8' bogie as a one-piece moulding which could be useful." So I thought it worth hanging on for those. I don't really want to start without such major components in my hands. When I do complete them my layout will jump from one with virtually no (proper) stock, to one with a full fleet. I can't wait to have all three lined up neatly in my carriage sidings. EDIT: I don't know whether I mentioned this before - but I have some A3 drawings of the original LSWR units from the South Western Circle, so am well prepared in that respect.

Thank you gents, you are very kind Carl: The double-sided Rymans tape sounds interesting and something I'm sure I'll use in the future. Thanks for that. Simon: I'm not an architect, but do enjoy looking at buildings, especially those of pre-war vintage.

Frankland update No. 7 Hello everyone and welcome to another in our series of occasional broadcasts from Frankland ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Firstly we follow on from the previous programme featuring the old Tram Shelter on Frankland Hill. A thread about Photoshop on NRM prompted the following: (with apologies to those who have already seen this). I love things like old faded postcards, like you see in the windows of sea-side shops where they've been in the sun for far too long, or pictures you discover in a box in some dusty corner of a junk shop ... each holds a personal history and long-forgotten memories about which you can only guess. Equally I like early colour photographs and film, whether hand-tinted or over-saturated colour or similar: The common denominator is simply the colours are 'out' or not quite 'real' for one reason or another. So anyway, here's an old postcard and a frame from an early colour film, both depicting the old Frankland Tram Shelter in the 1930s. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The house is a machine for living: Le Corbusier, 1923 The architects of Frankland embrace such modern thinking and were much inspired by http://www.hartingto...t.com/news.html. Designs were drawn up and construction commenced on a block of modern flats... First the base for the building. It's on a hill so the first step was to build a level 'foundation' for it to sit on. Then the main 'tower' of the building was made... Followed by the two 'large' and 'small' blocks that sit each side of the tower. I cut slots in the base ... ... and lugs(?) in the bottom of the units so that hopefully everything would sit neatly together and add some strength to the assembly. This is the first 'large' building seen in Frankland, and as such was an opportunity to experiment with methods of construction. For the left-hand side 'slots and lugs' were cut so the smaller section 'plugged into' the larger section... plus some basic bracing. I thought this method would be handy as it allowed the two sections to be separated for painting and detailing as I went along. For the right-hand side a I used the traditional method of an inner layer of Plasticard to add strength, without cutting any slots/lugs, giving me two solid units. Overall I prefered the latter method. I found no real advantage to having separate units (the first method), and it felt less robust. So anyway, next the blocks were glued in place. Meanwhile, I started building up the landscape around the flats using foam-board topped with plaster. Here are the roof sections. Despite close scrutiny of the original building using various satellite views, I could find no evidence of obvious roof features, so modeled them flat and plain. To get the effect of roofing-felt I used a mini-roller, which leaves a slightly 'stippled' surface. This was repeated three times, each with a slightly different mix of paint to give some colour variation. I was very pleased with the fine texture this gave me. At this point I also added window sills and the bands of concrete that run around the building. The balconies ... ... and the path up to the tradesman's entrance at the rear of the flats ... ... and here are the steps up to the front entrance. The scene is starting to come together now So next onto some details: Firstly hedges: Some kitchen sponge cut to size and painted dark green. The 'leaves' are ground olive stones (from the 4D Model Shop). Some while ago a fellow modeller commented that whilst many of us make great effort to get the integrity of our track right, take pains to have reasonable looking foliage, and make a point of ensuring the flashing around the base of chimney breasts is evident - few people pay attention to representing with reasonable accuracy telecommunications. So henceforth I am putting that right by ensuring the GPO telephone system is proudly represented in the street furniture of Frankland. So here we have a Telephone Junction Box. Next detail: Pavements. Initially I made the pavements up as one large 'drop-over' section as I thought this was a clever idea, but it wasn't. Trying to 'drop' one, large, single assembly, around such a big area was just plain messy, with glue in places in shouldn't have been. Quite frankly it was a mistake and an embarrassment. So I started again making components ... Having re-made the pavement in sections, I glued them down, filled the gaps, filed them level and painted over the joins. You may wonder why I pre-painted the sections, despite the fact I later rubbed/filed between them. The reason for this was that to try and later paint accurately around the manholes whilst leaning over the layout would have been impossible with anyone's eyesight. So I thought it better to 'block in' the main areas of paint from the outset, then touch-up the joins later. Next, doors: On the left are the front doors to the individual flats. These were pre-scribed on the back so I could snap them off as required. Top right are the two columns of doors which go each side of the tower, and lower right are the main front and rear entrance doors. Now then, the next detail started off as something I thought would be 'nice to have', but proved more difficult to make than I imagined, so evolved into a 'Have To Have' feature. It took me a couple of weeks of failed experiments to work out how to make something which in theory should really be quite straightforward :shock: So what do we do with the sleeve that contains cigarette filters, a length of plastic rod, and the ink tube of a ball point pen? Ornamental Palms... I painted the sleeve green and cut across the width following the natural curve of the plastic. The Plastic rod was narrowed at the top, and 'nicked' with a scalpel lower down to give it the correct texture. I have to say I was particularly chuffed with the final results Later, the top of the ball-pen ink tube was sliced into narrow sections to make flower pots - pictures further down the page ------------------------------------------------------------------ The windows took ages - I reckon there's 124 of them. Because there are so many I had to work out some sort of 'production-line' method, and came up with the following: I made a jig with the window frames marked out, laid strips of clear plastic over the top and scribed the horizontals along the length of the strip. Then, starting at one end of the strip I scribed the verticals for one frame, moved the strip along and scribed another frame next to the first, and so on ... Next I roughly painted the 'bars' of the windows, Then rubbed off the surplus paint. The inner edges of the frames were relatively easy to keep straight - I kept the paint fairly dilute so that the scribed edges of the inner frames drew the paint in by capillary action, thus forming a natural line just where I wanted it. So this gave me a strip of window frames ready to snap-off and use as required. Btw - the pictures show my first attempt and the scoring is less than consistent, but I got better with practice :-) Finally, I needed some mottled glass for the windows of the main central tower. To create this I used clear plastic sheet, painted it with a slightly dilute PVA, then as it started to become tacky, stippled it with a tooth brush. I did this twice to get the right degree of opaqueness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The servant problem solved! Well it's another fine Spring morning here in Frankland and everyone is out in their Sunday best to witness the opening of this prestigious new building. Let's take a tour Here we are looking down the hill ... The flats are all-electric, and each has it's own telephone - so on the corner we have the Telephone Junction Box. And here's the grand entrance, with it's ornamental potted palms ... An aerial view ... Just over the road is the tram stop ... Here we see the little path that leads around to the tradesman's entrance at the rear of the flats. To the right will be some Victorian shops, with their goods and wares piled high on the pavement. Where the trees shade the lawn the grass has become a little scrubby and bare. Ultimately I'd like to see a few saplings sprouting from around the tree trunks, but that's a project for another day. And here's the back of the flats. It looks a little too clean at present because until I've put in the viaduct walls (to the right), I shan't do any weathering here. And that's that little project put to bed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I thought it would be fun to stitch together a few photos giving a view of Frankland Hill as seen from the train window... The distance from left to right is around 40" - for some reason it looks quite compressed here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And finally we have a couple of little gems that recently arrived in the post. I've been eying the Scale Link website for some while, and could no longer resist a couple of sample purchases in order to find out what their products are like. So recently I received a 1925 Morris Cowley Saloon... ... and some 'Ornate Shop Pilasters'. I love the fine detail and they'll save me a lot of work when I come to the Victorian shops at the bottom of the hill. So that's a couple of things for the 'Future Projects' Box -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And that concludes today's broadcast. But that doesn't mean an end to our entertainment ... there's a little compilation of films on at the Picturehouse which you may find amusing. With the number of cars on the road fast approaching one million, no Highway Code, and the advent of proper pedestrian crossings some 35 years in the future, pedestrians take their life in their hands each time they venture to cross the road. So here's a little dance from Jack Hylton to help you all to remember to 'look left and right' before stepping off the kerb. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you (watch out for the 'stomp')

Looking at the window configuration I initially I thought it was one of the older Glasgow trams - but it's not. So what is it ... ?

Thank you Mr Flying Pig, It is indeed my period By coincidence I was watching some similar clips the other day with a view to including one with my next update. Olddudders: well that's another coincidence. My father also had a potters wheel (and a kiln at one point). I remember as a child making some very wobbly things, less 'mug' and more 'lump' probably.

Wonderful, isn't it Mr Simon

My apologies. Work has been unbelievably busy - but we mustn't complain considering economic circumstances. I hope to have an update in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, I do have to fill the gap whilst you are waiting

This is looking absolutely delightful. Colours from backscene through to foreground are perfectly harmonised. I must say I studied that last picture for some while appreciating the fine surface texture you've achieved with finely sieved garden soil. It's very effective. I've heard of people using Johnsons Kleer in ballasting - out of interest, what sort of proportion ink/Kleer do you use?

Great video - I particularly like the view from the pedestrian crossing looking towards the bridge as the trams sweep majestically around the curve. But then I suddenly wondered whether there was sufficient clearance on the curve for your G&I tram, with it's longer length, to pass another tram coming the other way? Probably a daft question or covered elsewhere ... but I have to ask I also like your Mechanics Institute and the reasoning behind it - all those little details help set the scene, as do the the little markers across the road indicating the pedestrian crossing.

Andy, great to see you posting on RMW. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have had the honour and privilege of seeing this layout, and I can honestly say the real thing will strike you dumb! I could wax lyrical about my visit and Andy's work - but think it best for Andy, and his pictures, to speak for themselves. 'Watch Topic' clicked

Absolutely exquisite (and that's just the drawing - the point rodding is even more impressive!) How do you solder such small parts? A particularly small iron and tip - or is it just a normal iron and plenty of practice?

Thanks for the over-view. I was just interested to see the whole, and where things sit in relation to one another. So thanks for that. I don't know about you, but I rarely take notice of my layout from above, I always get down and squint at it from ground level. It's just sometimes interesting (and useful as a measure of overall progress) to actually make a point of looking at the whole to see what 'real' progress I'm making (all quite subjective of course), or what I may tackle next. Here's an example of a Medium chopper at the 4D Model Shop. I understand they're very handy when you need to cut numerous small strips of plastic card to the same size (like parts for window frames), or as already mentioned, ensuring larger sheets are cut square. Probably useful for people who use plastic card a lot, rather than occasional users. Mark