Tony Simms

Very nice Bryn. Keep at it lad!

Ian, I'm very impressed with what you've achieved so far and eagerly anticipate some photos of the fruits of your labours. I'm sure this process will become more and more useful to 2mm modellers with its short run capabilities. I have downloaded Sketchup, but am nowhere near as proficient as you obviously are. I need more practice!

I know you're only planning position here Pete, but don't be afraid of getting some good size trees in there! Too often we get the trees on our trainsets too small and their impact on the scene is lost. You mention that the trees were quite young in the 80's. By the late eighties, it appears that some of those trees were pushing 45/50ft? http://www.djipix.com/view/gallery/images?category=1&subcategory=19# Incidentally, it looks like they might have copied your design on that viaduct...

Next "show" is the NEAG 30th birthday bash in June. Make sure you've marked your diary!! Next public show is Shipley in September.

Bit of an anticlimactic weekend following a week away in Wales. Saturday was spent sorting out the usual chaos that greets you following a period of absence and then, yesterday, there was a pile of paperwork to shuffle into some semblance of order as well as catching up with various relatives. After all that, I really didn't feel like braving the Easter throng in York so a quiet Monday has been spent beavering away on the central board. More trackwork has been tweaked and large chunks of what can only be called "overballast" have been removed from rail sides, chairs and between check rails and crossings. Slow tedious work, but oddly therapeutic... On a lighter note, some fencing has been painted a base brown and planted for future weathering and bedding in. Finally, in the spirit of progress, the plasticard platform top in the loading dock has been removed in readiness for individual edge stones and a filler infill (as per all other hardsurfaces). Oh, I laid and painted that final bit of track missing from the loading dock siding too. You can see the shiny bits of rail that have been fiddled with. It's worth viewing the picture full size if you can load it without too long a wait. Sort of stuff that I find quite satisfying; nothing earthshattering but real underlying progress!

Very nice Julia. I have the point rodding to do once I actually get the trackwork running to my satisfaction. I hope I can make mine look as realistic as yours. Cheers Tony

Very good, Pete. The viaduct looks rather well in its new home! Keep 'em coming.

Perfect Bitch - Acoustic Ladyland

Thanks for the comments guys and gals! Just back from a few days in snowy Wales; no internet and no modelling. Back to the layout fully refreshed this coming weekend! For those who have been worried about the heading of this post, WTF? of course means Where's That File?

What's going on here then? Major surgery in the yard area, that's what! Post-Nottingham I've been obliged to take the sledgehammer to the walnut. Bits of rail have been removed, replaced and rejigged. As a general guide: W = widened N = new rail TD = still to do! OLANB = there's the titchy weigh hut from the last post!!

Very nice, but you should be aware that somebody's been drawing on your trainset!

Thanks for the encouragement guys! Said office and weighbridge (W&T etch) are now bedded into the central scenic board and are being surrounded by fences, bushes and general junk. I'll keep you updated...

With the sun shining this morning, I took the opportunity to take some better (?) photos of the weighbridge/coal office. These are somewhat higher resolution than the previous post and highlight the grottiness of my modelling! Here you can see the method used for the roof: tiles on 10thou plasticard and a centre beam of 40thou timber. There are similar beams mounted on the inner gables to support the plasicard sub-roof. In an attempt at redemption, here is a "look how big my thumb is" shot:

Thanks Andy. Yes we are rather more critical of our own models than a general viewer, aren't we? Bryn, I remove the tiles from the backing and stick to a sub roof, usually constructed to fall between the walls so that just the edge of tiles show. The rubber takes paint surprisingly well. It's also worth painting that overlap on the underside of the tiles so that the roof isn't permanently stuck to the building!

Thanks Pete (and Don). Yes it is a bit wee! From the scale on the scalpel, you get some indication of length; 24mm along the longest wall and 20mm high. The base will be set into a recess on the layout so that the threshold of the door will be fractionally above ground level. I also need to fabricate and squeeze in some weighing mechanism and a coal scuttle and irons. It might be nice to put some sort of lighting in too. We'll see...

Something About Isabel's Dance - Peter Hammill

Well! A thoroughly enjoyable time was had at Nottingham. Thanks to the show organisers for all their hard work; I don't envy them at all. Although Brafferton didn't thoroughly disgrace itself, I have come back with quite a to-do list. There are some fairly substantial tweaks required in the trackwork, especially in the yard area to ensure that running reliability is maintained. Additionally, I was concious that some of the scenic work didn't progress as much as I would have liked. On the Friday before the show, I even went so far as to steal a coalyard office (Ratio) from my sons N gauge layout just to plug one particular gap! With the layout still awaiting re-assembly, I thought that I would sort out that weighbridge office this weekend. With no plans or photos of the real Brafferton office, I based the model on a photo of the one at Hexham albeit in mirror image. I also endeavoured to put a bit of an interior detail on the model and made the roof so that it can be removed. Evergreen clapboard was used for the sides with the profile reduced slightly with wet-and-dry. The tiles are the Noch rubber ones which I have used on the station buildings and the brick chimney is Scalescenes brick around a plasticard base. Bits and bobs of plasticard and paper make up the details before painting and weathering with enamels and some powders. All in all an enjoyable few hours work!

Pete Very nice. Some top notch modelling! I did get your PM about Brafferton. Nottingham was fairly successful and I think a couple of photos have made their way into the exhibition thread. I hope to get the layout re-erected this week and I'll attempt to emulate your success with the camera.

Truly inspirational modelling, Jerry; a reminder that I must try harder!! Incidentally, are you aware of this recording: http://www.dgmlive.com/archive.htm?show=1217 ?

Thanks for the supportive comments guys. After 25+ years in 2mm modelling, I do know how to build a point, I'm just struggling to make a decent fist of it. Lack of match-fitness if you like! Rich, I will be posting some updates after Nottingham; watch this space, but do hope you make it to the show anyhow.

Well we've been settled in the new house for a couple of months now and in the last month I've been beavering away trying to get Brafferton to a state where I won't be embarrassed by it come March and Nottingham. I'm not going to post anymore photos of the layout before Nottingham and hopefully this will make it more enjoyable for those who visit the show. The layout is now permanently erected indoors with the ability to run it and work on it in comfortable surroundings; a much better situation than at the last house. Now, unlike Julia (Missy), I do not like fiddleyards (or staging for that matter) and unlike Valetin, I do not like soldering (nor am I half as good at it as he appears to be). Before we moved house, Edward Sissling had kindly agreed to fabricate some pointwork for the staging for Brafferton to make the one off-scene track into four loops. This will enable eight to ten trains to be held during exhibitions. "Let me have the dimensions and I'll sort them said Edward". Nice chap, eh? Anyway following the move, I failed to let him have any dimensions of any description; how thick am I? When my thoughts returned to the staging, I had a change of heart. Yes, use the same system, but why not do it myself? I knew my soldering would be a bit rusty having hardly looked at a soldering iron in months, but how rusty shocked even myself! So I could have farmed the work out, but having found the time to do it myself, I've re-honed some somewhat blunt skills. The results are a bit shabby, but they work and only the operators will ever see them. Job done! Oh no! Now you've all seen them. The shame, the shame!!

Bravo! Some lovely pointwork there. You could have said you enjoyed soldering earlier; I've just had a couple of grumpy days soldering six points for Brafferton's staging!

That's a result! Nice one Pete.