Jason T

I took a break from painting yesterday evening and spent some time finishing off (most of) the baseboards, including a small bolt on section in front of the station building (previously, if you had walked out of the station, you would have fallen off the 'edge of the World'. I also sorted out the turnout into the goods yard, which was proving to be a tad troublesome for one of the Black Fives, unacceptable as it will be used a lot. With that done, I then had a period of 'testing', which basically meant shunting for an hour or so; I'd forgotten how much fun it is to actually operate a layout ! Unfortunately, the only photos I took were at the very end, just as I was rushing to go out for a pizza and what turned out to be the worst pint of beer I've had in ages (and boy, did the toilet pay the price for that this morning ). So, here we have two shots of a Jinty arriving with a short engineers train consisting of a Grampus, two Dogfish, a Catfish and an ex MR brake van (of the type to be modelled by Bachmann at some point in the future). The water tower at the end of the platform needs modifying but that is a job for the future.

I hadn't really thought about the name much and just tend to refer to it as Bacup, although Andy C had suggested 'Newchurch' a while ago and as a few of the non-railway buildings are based on examples there (it's an area of Bacup) then I might go for it. Saying that, when I was bored ages ago, I did knock up a Bacup sign with Slaters letters although I have no idea where it is now

Most of the progress I have made over the last couple of days has been with painting and weathering the buildings, including the not-yet-completed row of houses (I reasoned it was easier to paint it first). Quite a bit of finishing and tidying up to do but I'm getting there slowly but surely; I think a couple of the rows are going to need more black. Mostly weathered street, new houses leaned together: Bit scruffy on the end of this row, I'm not happy with how it's shown up in the photo (hadn't noticed beforehand) New row: The odd house at the station, wearing brown only at the moment: As an 'added bonus', I haven't forgotten about the Skaledale Challenge house and even though it won't be used on the layout, I've been painting it and will get it finished some day:

I know I said I wasn't going to post repeatedly about this next batch of houses but as Jeff (Physicsman) asked about the length of the builds, here is progress after four days. I've put about 2.5 hours per day in so far (I was actually free all day Saturday but chose to fettle / build mountain bikes in the rain instead!) and as can be seen, I've completed walls for the main structure (including interior formers and chimneys) and added the stonework, with the exception of lintels and sills. Second shot shows the window recesses inset, with the help of the trusty Olfa Cutter. Progress has been a lot quicker with this one than the previous houses, mainly due to learning as I go along. For instance, rather than glue the plastikard to the card and then start trimming, I now tack it on, mark out where the windows, etc, will be, remove the plastikard and then use the ruler, set square, craft knife and olfa cutter to cut out the excess and (with the olfa) score the plastikard for the window recesses. The latter on it's own is saving a lot of time as before I had this marvellous, weird knife thing, I would use the cutouts from the windows, cut strips from them and then try and glue these in the recesses, with the end result being that is was difficult to line up the mortar courses, a fair bit of tidying up was required and they were a swine to glue. Same with chimneys - initially I would cut out the four walls and then glue them on separately whereas now they are one scored piece that folds round; simpler and much neater. Edit: I also intend to paint all the stonework before adding the windows and glueing the whole thing together this time, as trying to paint the window recesses once they are glazed is a PITA.

More than anything else, what I enjoy about this thread is not the modelling, not the pleasure we all get from the photos, but the obvious pleasure that you get from this wonderful layout. I have this image of you in the room with a huge smile on your face all the time and to me, that is what makes it all the more enjoyable to see your updates.

Not sure if anyone will find this interesting or useful, but as I am just starting to build the final row of houses for the front of the layout, I thought I'd put up a couple of shots of how I mark out the dimensions, etc., before cutting. One of the advantages of building row after row of almost identical houses is that the dimensions remain pretty constant although with these ones, they climb a hill and do not start from ground level (as it were). As such, I have used Excel and very basic formulas to calculate the differences in heights between each house (and the doors, windows, etc., of each). Only part of the spreadsheet is shown here, obviously. Once I have all the dimensions, I then mark them on the card using a straight edged ruler, set square and a sharp knife. I know a lot of people use a sharp pencil but I find that when I do that, the accuracy is lost slightly and I find the drawn lines slightly off-putting whereas score lightly with a sharp blade and unless you are clumsy when actually cutting out, you're never going to stray from the original measurements. Works for me anyway. I won't pester people with each step of this build as I've already built far too many similar rows, the details of which can be found in the below thread. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/40873-buildings-for-bacup/

Weathering of buildings continues apace; still lots to do but I feel like I am getting somewhere and actually moving towards completion. I've also been experimenting with guttering, the result of which is that my fingers are covered with Super Glue and I swore a lot but I think I have found the easiest solution. Anyway, as can be seen, some buildings are further along than others - some are almost there, some have their first coat of black and some have just been daubed with brown.

It usually takes me 2 - 3 weeks to build the houses although that doesn't include weathering them, which is taking about a day per row. It does take me less time now than when I built the first as I have all the dimensions, etc., written down; the longest parts of the build are windows (including nets & curtains), doors and cutting the slates. Goods shed was about the same. Longest was the station at four months, but that was a fair bit more complex.

I had the predecessor to the Gringo, way back before I had to leave Cumbria and move South - did thousands of miles on it (both on and off road) and loved it to bits; I was gutted when it got nicked. Anyway, last mountain bike post for a while (I promise) and I'll continue with Bacup-related posts when I have something to put up (just continuing with weathering at the moment), but here is a video that my mate took on our recent trip to Spain. Towards the end, you may even spot me climbing out of the hole that I fell in, mentioned a couple of pages back. For the main part that features yours truly though, I'm wearing a white T Shirt: http://vimeo.com/40328771

Oh, and to get back on topic, I have continued apace with the weathering of various buildings, although to date none of them (with the possible exception of the goods shed) are completed, being at different stages in the 'process'. The corner shop now has the window and door recesses painted and a bit of tidying up elsewhere. The recesses were such a pain that I decided to do them on most of the other buildings ahead of the rest of the weathering. The Farholme Tavern row has now had the layer of brown dirt added all over and is just waiting to dry before getting a good coating of 'soot'. And yes, I forgot to move the various bottles and other crap out of the way. The back of the Farholme Tavern row. I've gone a lot darker than I did with the goods shed as from the photos I have seen, for some reason the houses seem to be much filthier than the mills and other buildings. Talking of mills, the one I started hasn't been forgotten, just left to one side for a while but it too now has it's first coat of muck, the brown coat. With the embossed stone actually being 7mm brick, when I used the dabbing cloth method, the mortar courses stood out far too much so I followed it up with dry brushing and hopefully the result is that the courses look a lot narrower. I STILL need to attach the roof

Cheers Andy, that would be fantastic. Anyway, just in case anyone was curious, I thought I would pop up a photo of my new frame, which cost me 350 quid second hand and is one of about 10 in existence (they were prototypes, hence being badged as Strange rather than Orange). I also own an Orange Patriot, which is also a prototype (and no, I'm not selling either before you ask ) as well as various other bikes (Iron Horse Sunday, Santa Cruz Chameleon, 24Seven Cro55er jump bike - frame only at the moment & a Santa Cruz Bullit - also frame only). I shudder to think what I have spent on bikes over the years but to put it into perspective, a few years ago I sold my old DH bike (an Orange 223 - I like Orange) and with the money, I bought a car and a Kawasaki KDX 200 !!! Strange Alpine Five:

Whilst RMWeb has been down, apart from getting very drunk and purchasing a mountain bike frame that is very similar to one I already have (a Strange Alpine Five for those in the know; one of the prototype Orange Alpine Five frames), I have been getting on with weathering other buildings after the goods shed weathering went well. Still quite a bit to do with both of these, but they are looking something a bit closer to how they should be now. Farholme Tavern and row of houses - only the base brown layer added so far and I am yet to do the front of the houses Corner shop - needs the window recesses doing, tidying up and then the green shop front itself will be tackled, once appropriate signs and adverts have been added

I don't mind the pic at all, I have a lot of retaining walls to make so it is very useful. I just need to get my head around the angle of the wall versus the angle of the ground as it rises towards the station as it strikes me that the board I use for the ground will have to increase very slightly in width as it climbs the hill, to compensate for the angle of the wall (if you see what I mean)

Good god, how did I get to six pages? Oh yeah, progress shots every time I do the tiniest thing to the stupid goods shed Edit - I've also been building the final baseboard but rain stopped play. That's just bits of wood screwed and glued to other bits of wood with foam on top though, so until I get some track down (waiting for point motors and switches), it's not really worth taking any shots of. Double edit - yes, the mug on the mug tree says 'Life begins at 40'. Girlfriend bought me it on my 41st birthday, only a year late

Hopefully it's about right now Andy; if anything, it looks slightly darker in natural light. Anyway, I couldn't help myself and took some photos - sorry if everyone is bored of these by now and maybe I should have popped them into the Scenery, Structures and Transport forum, but it's too late now for these ones. The stone colour on the coping stones and chimney is a bit too orange but it's a first coat to get rid of the white and whatever happens, it'll be covered in brown / black anyway at some point. Please also remember that this is just the first coat of grey on the roofs. Better light in the kitchen, or so I thought I didn't even try and hide the lurid green tiles in this one A shot of whereabouts it will be situated on the layout. A corner piece will be added in front of it, linking baseboards 2 and 3, with nothing on it apart from stone setts basically, but it will give the yard a feeling of more room

Ridge tiles and lead flashing on the roof - Done Roof to be painted and weathered - In Progress Tidy up the end walls (where the ridge levels out) and add coping (??) stones - Done Attach the office - Done Finish the chimney - Done Trim the edges where the walls meet - Done Gutters and downpipes - Pending. I've tried the half-round plastic rod method before, with mixed results. I may have a go with brass Touch up painting and weathering - Pending Getting there, nothing worth taking photos of really though. Coping stones were scribed in Plastikard, in case anyone was wondering.

There's been quite a lot of progress on the goods shed, the result being that I have blisters on my 'knife' finger through cutting out around 80 rows of slates. However, the outcome is one of those landmark points in any building; the coming together of the four walls and the addition of the roof. Still quite a few jobs to do before it is finished as you will see, but it's now looking like a building rather than a kit (albeit a scratchbuilt one). It was a fantastic feeling to find that all the component parts were the correct measurements; no reason why they shouldn't have been as I measured and then re-measured each about 100 times, but still...... For those that are curious, the outstanding jobs are: Ridge tiles and lead flashing on the roof, roof to be painted and weathered Tidy up the end walls (where the ridge levels out) and add coping (??) stones to the top surface. I actually made a bit of a boo-boo here the other week and forgot that the sides sat outside of the end, so I think a bit of milliput may be in order to make sure this looks ok. Attach the office. Until the rest is finished, I thought it best to leave it detached in case I need to lean the main building on it's end, so to speak, in order to trim, paint, etc. Finish the chimney - I decided to wait until the roof was on before starting this as it would be easier. Not sure why I thought that although it's a five minute job (in fact, the mounting card formers for it are already done and attached - took 5 minutes) Trim the edges where the walls meet Gutters and downpipes. I have a lot of these to do, in fact every building I've made so far is missing them. Need a good way to make the gutters and haven't decided what to do yet. Touch up painting and weathering The flash has made the building look more orange than it is in reality. If the weather stops being biblical later, I'll try and get the next update shots done outside.

The main structure is now pretty much all weathered, with only the hard to get to places and those where the building needs to be together still needing finishing off. Hopefully, tomorrow will see the main structure being glued together and then I can make a start on the roof and the unenviable task of cutting the slates from paper. Anyway, leaned together as per usual, here is how the building now looks in it's grubbier style.

Thanks Ian; I've tried to leave a modicum of brown showing through rather than just being black and hope that looks about right. What surprises me is that the mortar never really seems to have weathered in any of the shots I've seen, although it does mean that the buildings have that lovely look where each stone can be seen individually rather than a mass of grime. Whenever I go to Spain (quite often as the girlfriend is Spanish), the thing that stands out is that almost every building is rendered but when you get a peek of the brickwork that lies underneath, it's hardly a surprise that they would want to hide it

Ok, so I've applied (cloth and dry-brushing) a layer of 'Weathered Black' to one end of the shed to see how it would look. I didn't go overboard and personally, I reckon that this is about the right level. I took some photos in the garden (it stopped raining for a short time) to get some shots in natural light and the un-blackened one really does look a bit too light brown in my opinion. I would be interested to know your thoughts The brown only one The blackened one

Thanks Steve, that kind of information is really helpful in setting the scene later on as well as interesting - I'd never heard of a donkey stone but have now 'googled' it. Paul, I love the stonework on that building; the herringbone effect is fantastic - an absolute swine to reproduce in model form though, I bet.

Before I embarked on Bacup, I was going to have a bash at Sandside (hence the user name). One of the reasons I chickened out was the stone - limestone - comes in a multitude of hues and there is no uniformity to the stonework on a number of the buildings. For instance, this lime kiln would have been needed to be built in low-relief - can you imagine having to scribe that stonework? http://www.mine-explorer.co.uk/view_picture.asp?id=7354

The "Cloth, finger and grotty crap from the bottom of old paintpot" method is actually pretty good at depositing only a bit at a time, but I'll give it a test on some spare stonework first, just in case. I might just trademark that weathering method name; it's quite catchy

I tend to agree with you Paul; even if they were jet black in real life, it may look odd in 4mm/1ft. I'll experiment further and ask for opinions on what looks right, remembering to cart the buildings out into the garden and natural light first, of course.