RSS Fetcher Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Well 2018 was a very quiet year for Junction Dock - I did precisely nothing! No, sorry, I take that back - I fitted one piece of ~A4 card to complete the curved back scene in, I think, April... Club commitments, and 12-inch-foot commitments, mean I've not done much 'home modelling' this year. I have had fun with a few wagon kits, so I thought I'd round out the year by posing them in front of the half-finished 'goods shed' on Junction dock. From left to right, an LNER Fruit; mostly done, awaiting more weathering, a GWR V16 Mink; awaiting a second go at decals, and weathering; an LNER 5 plank open, awaiting details, decals and weathering, an LMS 3 plank awaiting a general going over and tarting up. All are parkside(-dundas) kits. The buildings behind need detailing and the roofs sticking on! Pushing the wagons about was useful - the trackwork is simply not good enough. I have serious gauge narrowing at the tips of the point blades (all hand filed, probably not finely enough, and with not enough set), the steps between sections are very noticeable, and the turnout mechanisms aren't positive enough. This is the real reason I've not done anything on the layout for a while - the fear that the fundamentals are not quite good enough... That and the terror at trying to cover the entire lot in scribed DAS setts! My initial idea - misguided I now realised - was that I could mask my first attempt at trackwork in setts. The ugly soldering, lack of chairs, mis-shapen sleepers etc would all be hidden. Of course the opposite is true - if you're going to encase your trackwork in clay, you'd better be damned sure it is up to snuff first! So I think Junction Dock needs some serious rework on the fundamentals. A shift of EM is appealing, given I feel I'm unlikely ever to have/want a big empire populated by a stable of RTR stock. Perhaps after a year dormant the project should be marked 'DNR' and I should consider something more classical? The good news from 10 minutes of pushing wagons is that I do still like the concept of the layout, and can see what I want. So perhaps it is not DNR but WIFLI - When I Feel Like It ! After all, the rest of life is stressful enough there really is no point getting worried about a lack of progress with little trains :- Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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