Tony Simms

Pete Go with the edit you've inserted into the main blog, ie more sky. It works for me anyway! I always recall a very nice O Gauge layout, quite narrow which had a backscene about 150% as high as the boards were wide. The scene was photographic and of hills with very little sky; killed the layout...

Pete Sorry this is a bit late in the day; I've been concentrating on doing some modelling myself! Personally, I don't think the original printout is too dark, however the picture has been overcropped such that there is too much hill and not enough sky. This gives the impression that I'm looking at the layout through a telephoto lens and suppresses the feeling of openness that I would expect in such a location. The crop seems to take a slice of about 50% from the middle of the photo losing all the sea and a big chunk of sky. I don't know if including the sea will work (which is what Kevin suggests above), but the recovery of that sky would help. Perhaps a few test prints reinstating the sea and/or the sky? Sorry! Tony

Wow! Super roof, John; very neat. The tiles seem to be working well too. Excellent!

Oh no guys; those are 2mm jumpers with knitted logos!

Ian. Good luck with the new layout! The key thing with 2FS is perseverance. Skill will come and the end product will come, but you need to keep trying and keep pushing yourself. I can make a pigs ear along with the best of them (see some earlier blog entries for evidence of that), but by redoing and revisiting things I can eventually get something I'm happy with. Oh and if you haven't already done so, get yourself to a 2mm local area group; a mine of help and assistance for the budding 2FS modeller.

Little progress on Brafferton right now. Most of the house is now boxed up with an impending move in a week or so's time. I just hope that the layout makes the move unscathed; it is all packed down into it's carrying cradles, but there is the matter of a week in storage between leaving house #1 and arriving at house #2. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, seeing Russ' blog (now thread) about his first steps into 2mm reminded me of mine, some 26 years ago. Whilst evacuating the loft I came across the album of my very first 2mm layout. Built mainly between myself and Bill Rankin, the layout was... ...Deadwater! In the days before Easitrac and drop in wheels, we managed to get a small layout up and running. A real learning curve for all of us. Bill went on to build two substantial 2mm layouts which were widely exhibited before he defected to 7mm. Before the arrival of the rugrats, I managed to get my own layout, Masham completed and also into exhibitions. Anyway, here we are at an exhibition in Doncaster, 1987 I think (!). Don't I look young? Also present are the late Peter Wright who contributed to the layout and occasional operator Trevor Spink: Using the marvels of current technology, I've scanned and knitted a couple of photos together giving an almost complete view of the layout: Things should revert to near normality by mid-December. I then need to push on with Brafferton; deadlines loom!

Very nice, Pete. I gave you top marks in the diorama comp; well deserved in my opinion. Should look a corker when the viaduct is incorporated into the layout proper. And don't forget to curve those backscene corners!

What's 4mm?

Work continues apace (well continues, we'll leave it at that) on the lighting gantry. I needed some system to fix the five pieces together. When we were constructing the baseboards, Edward came up with some bolts with large knurled plastic knobs on. These screw by hand to a captive nut on the next baseboard and give a solid connection without the need for tools. These would be too big for the gantry, but I thought I'd like to use a similar method. At the Farnham show, where the 2mm AGM was being hosted, earlier this month, I purchased adjustable feet for the layout legs. Whilst doing so, I thought that they would work just as well in the gantry. So I bought five more! Although the plastic foot will rotate on the metal ball, there is sufficient friction to enable the bolt to be hand tightened: Meanwhile, the outer facing has had a coat of paint. It will be glossed to match the baseboards: I have also just received the lighting units, two for each of the five boards and commenced their fixing: In addition to agreeing to step in at Nottingham in March (a debut at a public show), I have also now commited to Shipley 2012 (September). An impending house move is squeezing time available, but providing we're in before Christmas, I'd like to think January and February will allow the layout to reach an acceptable stage for Nottingham...

Looks spot on!!

Very nice, Pete. Is there any scope to get a small curve in that corner of the backscene? It would be worth it if you could imho.

Don, the gantry arms are integral to the layout legs. I have used the design before on Masham, although in that instance the gantry was straight. The gantry is marginally wider than the baseboards, but lighting will be fairly even anyway with the mini-fluorescents I propose using.

Thanks Nick. Progress is slightly on the right side of glacial of late...

Some of us might say it's been long gone. Meanwhile I notice that I haven't posted here for over three months. Dead? Lunatic asylum? Not just yet... A few bits and bobs have been progressed over summer. Most recently I've turned my attention to the lighting and initially the gantry: The gantry is in five pieces to mirror the baseboards and is made in a similar manner. Two laths of 9mm ply are cut to the required diameter; the upper piece is around 4" deep, the lower one just 1". These are joined by three pieces of ply 5" deep and tapered to match the laths. Glued and screwed together, they are ready to take a facing of 4mm ply. Lighting units will reside on the underside of the upper lath: Other recent activity includes ongoing landscaping of the bridge end. More grass, some fencing, trees and bushes. The layout will soon be dismantled and brought indoors for winter; I'll then continue detailing the boards one by one: Lining out has also started on the D49. More on that anon...

A little corker of a model, Rich! Lovely!!

As the wife was away at a concert, and the kids felt that they'd done their Father's Day duty by about 7am, I've been left pretty much to myself today. Bliss! I'd recently resolved to finish the ballasting and now that 99% of the plastering is done, I set about sorting it out. In the end, I didn't reach the finish line, but one more shortish session should put it to bed. Other recent work involved plastering in the platform extension, painting the basic landform and initial tryouts of fencing on the approach road. You may notice that the overbridge is missing; extracted whilst I paint the embankments: Oh, and a bit of roofing on the station.

Lovely result with the signal box, Missy. Might have to consider some lighting myself!

Very nice. Looks like it will be an excellent little layout!

Thanks, M! I like getting spaced out, now and then...

Pete, thanks for the comment. Somebody's going to catch it for leaving that wagon there! Nick, I covered the brickwork in an earlier post. In summary, it is Scalescenes brick (aged red, I think), the quoins and lintels are drawn and coloured using a CAD program and then printed onto paper, cut out and overlaid. Hope that helps!

As others have previously posted, last weekend was Expo 2mm; a lower key event than last year's Golden Jubilee Expo, but an excellent day nevertheless. The big advantage of these days is getting to see members from across the country, old friends and new alike and have a good chat about all things 2mm in a relaxed environment. I especially enjoyed seeing new layouts from Nigel Ashton and David Long. Always a great source of inspiration to see other members layouts taking shape. Back home, having acquired some etched bargains from Phil Copleston's gloat box, I set to Brafferton. The station building had been well received and it was time to start the second part of the building. This is now being redone to match the latest version of the main building: One of the etches that Phil passed on to me was the Shire Scenes cast iron gents toilets. Parts of this were extracted and adapted to make some outside privies in the yard area. Once the various sills etc. were attached, the two units were placed on the platform and positioning strips of microstrip were glued around them. This allows the platform surface to be formed of filler whilst retaining a neat edge: Once dry, the filler was rubbed back and patching undertaken as required. The roofs of the building still need finishing, then glazing and curtains, chimneys and chimney pots. Oh, and glazing:

Those are the NEAG meeting rooms at Bournmoor. The layout is currently set up, but in my garage. This isn't an option over winter and impinges on progress to say the least... Cheers Tony

Wow! Looks like Brafferton did in the early days!