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  • SouthernRegionSteam

    Coastguard Creek - 15 months of planning!

    By SouthernRegionSteam

    Hold on to your socks - this is going to be a lengthy one! (In fact it's so long, I've now split it into 2 separate posts - the next will be up soon...)   I think it's fair to say that you are all long overdue an update on Coastguard Creek. Due to other commitments, no real progress has been made since the last post way back in March 2021; almost 15 months ago! If anything, things went backwards for quite a while, as I kept finding more and more inspiring locations that I really wanted
    • 8 comments
    • 3,310 views
The sleepers workspace

a rather juicy experiment in roofs

I've a couple of things to talk about in this blog. One is about my recent acquisition of a 12 volt mini drill. I bought it from a seller on Ebay it cost £9.95 and came all the way from Turkey post free! how do they do that? I've had stuff shipped from China for nix too and yet some sellers in the UK are asking anything up to £35 yes £35 for a coach that cost a tenner, who's fooling who here? Anyhow, here's a picture of it and this one shows the spec   I attached it to my trusty H&M
sleeper

sleeper

2
Fen End Pit's Blog

Gresley coaches - quick conversion

A few months back I was tempted by a pair of Hornby coaches while in Model Junction in Bury St. Edmunds. I had a rake of 3 old Bachmann suburban coaches in BR Blue but these weren't really suitable for my period and move to a less urban setting.   I was prepared to re-use the Bill Bedford sprung bogies from the Bachmann set to go under the Gresleys. The shape isn't quite right but you can't really tell. While wandering around Scaleforum I had looked to see if anyone had any Gresley bogie sidef
Fen End Pit

Fen End Pit

1
Freshwater, Isle of Wight, in 2FS

Look out, its the copse

Freshwater will have more trees than any previous layout I have built, so I wanted to get some planted in time for the Farnham show (and 2mm Scale Association AGM). Previously I have used plastic tree armatures from Heki and Woodland Scenics. These start off as 2D trees, the branches of which need to be bent to produce a not very realistic 3D tree before attaching bits of foliage.   This time, I wanted to try new techniques. I had purchased a tree-making kit from Ceynix many years ago,
Ian Morgan

Ian Morgan in The Layout

8
brightspark's Blog

76010 Cylinders and Valve Gear

Fitting Walshaerts valve gear has in the past filled me with dread. It was one of the reasons why I started with pre-group Midland where things like this are nicely hidden away. However here lies the tale of my attack (with help from Branchlines) on the Walschaerts valve gear. Going back to 76009, this was my first attempt at this tricky valve gear but the Comet kit did give me the confidence to continue. That kit has some nice castings for the cylinders but I get the feeling that there is some
brightspark

brightspark

5
Hydraulic Heaven

Octel 1957 Chlorine Tank - Part 4

After a somewhat late night yesterday evening getting them finally assembled, the two chlorine tanks are now finished.   Here are a couple of photos.     Overall I am really pleased with the way these have turned out. They have taken a lot of effort to build, mainly in the initial etch design and the painting and final assembly stages because they are such complex vehicles. I have also discovered a few tolerance adjustments that will be included in any future builds.   As Association
D869

D869

14
The sleepers workspace

GW Mink G van 5

Well at last it's finished, well as near as. It has now been painted in GWR freight grey and weathered to what I think it might have looked like. On checking online I had a lot of guidance on the state of some wagons when in service, on refering to some of Paul Bartletts work some wagons were virtually falling apart, I didn't want to overdo the weathering to that extent though. See what you think,           I've ordered a sillhouette portrait vinyl cutter from Amazon which is due
sleeper

sleeper

2
MikeOxon's Pre-Grouping Blog

A new 'Old Engine' - GWR 184 - part 3

I've re-titled this thread, so that it doesn't read as though I'm building a whole fleet of engines - one at a time is enough for me!   My first attempt at scratch building was a 'Queen'-class 2-2-2. I chose it on the grounds of simplicity, since building an uncoupled 2-2-2 is little different from building a wagon. My first step was to draw the constituent parts and then cut these out as a series of paper templates, so that I could check the fit of the parts and explore different asse
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in general

1
Petes Model workshop (or ramblings from the balcony)

GWR 850 CLASS (11)

Been a bit short of time this week, I lost a couple of days through shopping and interviews concerning our adoption.   But managed to get the panniers closer to being ready for finishing. I decide to to do the filling on the curves before I add the white metal castings. I know it means a lot of cleaning prior to soldering but it is easy to sand without all the details in place. You will see the scrap in the smoke box to allow me to screw it down. Still a little to the underneath of the
N15class

N15class in GWR 850 CLASS

0
Barry Ten's Blog

DC - the way forward?

Now, this isn't intended to be a contentious post - not at all. I'm totally sold on the benefits of DCC, and indeed my American layout wouldn't work without it. But one of the unexpected delights of the past few months has been the rediscovery of the simple joys of operating the 4mm layout on plain DC. As mentioned, I'm trying to save time, money and frustration by reverting all my pre-Nationalisation models to DC. This has worked well because all of my sound-equipped models are either diesel or
Barry Ten

Barry Ten

6
2mm Tavistock GWR

A Selection of 2mm Scale Open Wagons

Since my last post I’ve been trying to catch up with the backlog of unmade wagon kits that have been sitting in my “to do” box for far too long.   Before giving some details and final pictures of each wagon, the above picture is a fun little test for the wagon experts among you – can you identify the wagons with only a coat of grey primer? They are all constructed from the 2mm Scale Association plastic body kits with the appropriate etched chassis.   Well – how did you get on? The DC1 and DC
John Brenchley

John Brenchley

3
Up the Line - 1918

Photofest

Have finally got around to taking some decent pics of the layout so as they will make up for a thousand words I shall just let them do the talking!
KH1

KH1

9
Shipston-on-Stour Branch

Lamp Brackets - frustration finally sets in

As noted in my previous post the fret of lamp brackets is truly beyond my capabilities. A decent desk light from Maplins helped to prove this as I could actually see that it wasn't going to work out to my satisfaction. The lamp brackets on the Dean Goods require an L shaped piece of brass which is then bent twice, one on each limb, to create the required shape. The fitting is then glued with CA to the front of the buffer beam. Well, this is the theory. In practice I simply could not get it
Focalplane

Focalplane

4
Building Treviddo Viaduct

Treviddo Viaduct - part 4 - The baseboards completed.

I’m distinctly pleased with progress over the last ten days. Having added the remaining X bracing to the legs, it occurred to me that I could easily modify them to make them even more like the supports which will eventually form the viaduct. I decided to add a middle vertical leg to each of the folding leg sections. This does add a bit of support and does make the whole structure slightly stiffer, but the main reason is purely aesthetic and I think it’s worth the extra weight.   I’ve also cut
Philip1812

Philip1812

1
thesteambuff's Blog

GCR shed

Hi   I am constructing a 00 gauge GCR engine shed similar to Leicester and Annesley. I wondered if anyone have any pictures or diagrams of how the roof over the main section is constructed; I have looked on the net and through all of the GCR books but cannot find anything except a long distance view of leicester shed.
thesteambuff

thesteambuff

3
Ze German way ov railways

Setting Trends: Deutsche Bahn class 120.1 electric from ACME

Morning all!   In today’s loco profile, you will learn a bit more about a locomotive which at the time of its roll-out could be said to have been the pride and joy of the German railway industry. Even though it was eventually built in 60 examples only, the class 120 electric definitely contributed much to the breakthrough of three-phase AC traction.   The rationale behind the 120’s development was that Deutsche Bundesbahn were intending to supplement their fleet of class 103 express passenge
NGT6 1315

NGT6 1315

3
Ullypug's tales from the tinking table

Peckett E Class - Minion

In the end, we decided Minion was a better name than Munchkin and the loco has emerged from the finishing shop for running in. I daresay it will get grubbier after such exertions. Happy that it seemes to work ok. The pickups are going to give a bit of grief but I wanted to avoid using top bearing wipers as recommended in the kit. Time will tell if I have to revert to this system. Saddle tank is full of lead which helps. Nameplates are from Narrow Planet and the works plates something I
ullypug

ullypug

6
Shipston-on-Stour Branch

Dean Goods loco chassis - 3

A quick update. Back in England and some progress has been made. Smokebox dart fitted, a great improvement. But the brass fret of lamp brackets, oh dear, so small and fragile and my eyesight not good enough and my fingers like lamb chops. I need to buy a desk lamp for my workbench before trying again.   I finally bought some Isopropyl alcohol at Maplins and have removed the BR lion, lining and number. I have also fitted the Comet PCBs for eventual electrical pickup.   Once the lamp brac
Focalplane

Focalplane

0
Up the Line - 1918

Hudsons and Deltics

Hudsons and Deltics may sound like an odd mixture but all will be reviled shortly.   The Hudson is the other little project that I alluded to last time. This is the KB Scale kit originally produced by Roy Link. Etched brass, white metal and a fiendishly designed compensated chassis. Am very annoyed with myself as I forgot to photograph this rather complicated item before I installed it in the frames as I consider it quite an achievement that I managed to construct successfully and in fully wor
KH1

KH1

4
brightspark's Blog

76010 out of the box

It has been well over a year since my last blog entry. Life in the interim has been rather hectic. And way back in January 2012 before a rush of other projects I started on a build of a standard class 4 2-6-0 that is going to be numbered 76010. To recap the model is a Branchlines chassis that will live under a Dapol (ex Airfix & Kitmaster) body. The last entry (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/795/entry-8497-76010-the-start/) found the basic frames of the chassis put togethe
brightspark

brightspark

3
MikeOxon's Pre-Grouping Blog

Another new 'Old Engine' - 2

My first post in this series described how I produced a working drawing for a model of GWR No.184. Now, it's time to consider the tender and, for this, information is less readily available. Wet and windy weather has kept me indoors, so that progress has been rather quicker than I had anticipated.   The various photographs of No.184 show it partnered with a variety of different tenders, so I decided to try to model the tender shown together with its 1893 re-build. I have not found a br
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in general

6
Southgill

Stone walling

With Southgill being a rural Cumbrian based I knew that stone wall were going to have to be extensively constructed. I've seen some very realistic walls created using broken up pieces of plaster which are assembled much the same as building an actual wall. The main issue for me was making the blocks of plaster small enough not to look too over scale but large enough to handle with a pair of tweezers.   Once the building of some walls started I soon came to the realisation that it was going t
BRera80s

BRera80s

1

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    • Yan
      Post Scaleforum 2024

      By Yan · Posted

      Thank you for leaving the comments and thoughts guys, much appreciated.   Both Butley Mills and Ditchling Green are with new owners that are currently refurbishing them. Even the modelling skill and composition still shine through, so they were both well worth seeing in the flesh. One of Iain Rice's layouts I'd like to get the opportunity to see is Trerice.
    • BarryP
      Post Scaleforum 2024

      By BarryP · Posted

      It's good to see so many positive reviews of a model railway exhibition. I did dabble in S4/P4 way back and Iain Rice's writings were inspirational. I saw Butley Mills when it was first shown at Scaleforum in 1987 and I loved it. Gordon Gravett's models are fabulous and I would love to see them in the flesh, as it were. I did visit two shows specifically to see the magnificent "Pempoul" layout that the Gravetts built, that was the finest I've ever seen. I'm dabbling in "O" Gauge and an opportuni
    • Keith Addenbrooke
      Post Scaleforum 2024

      By Keith Addenbrooke · Posted

      Good to see it was a positive experience - and really nice to see a couple of photos of Ditchling Green (I didn’t realise it was still around).  Always struck me as a lovely layout: an early example perhaps of the ‘less is (so much) more’ approach to railway modelling that is now widely appreciated.  Keep up the good work, Keith.
    • Mikkel
      Post Scaleforum 2024

      By Mikkel · Posted

      The layout and info display looks very good. Thanks for posting photos of the other layouts, always a gift for those of us abroad - especially when they are this good.   Imposter syndrome is common I think, it can hold us back but on the hand I'll take that over bragging anytime.  
    • Mikkel
      Netherport and Basuto Quay Chronology

      By Mikkel · Posted

      That sounds like a good approach Nick, thank you for clarifying. A sense of space is so important, less is more and all that.   The Penzance photo shows unloading of flower traffic from the Scilly Isles (no date). It features on the front page of this volume by Tony Atkins. The book is perhaps not unexpendable and a tad dry, but it is informative and some of the photos are lovely.    

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