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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
Penzance layout 1970's

Not much happening since Christmas

I haven’t done a lot to the layout itself since Christmas. I was hoping to get the platforms sorted and after a lot of consideration of materials came across the excellent Metcalf paving slabs. They produced an excellent result and I was really proud to produce my first section of platform. That was until after putting it in place I discovered the slight dampness caused by the atrocious weather conditions in the new year made it warp and bend. That’s somewhat taken the wind out of my sails. Bein
chrisstiffer

chrisstiffer

0
The Legge Lane MPD Blog

The Coal Hole takes shape (virtually)

I've never used Sketchup before but yesterday decided to download the free version and learn how to use it. Once I got all my Illustrator bias out of the way I found it to be intuitive and really quite good! I am sure I have a long way to go and will come back to that last comment and regret it!   Anyway, the coal hole design had started to come real in my mind, so why not use Sketchup to prove it?   Here is the standard view with the coal truck platform under the tank and the coaling trac
Focalplane

Focalplane

3
AllScales' Gerlos Blog

First attempt at a level crossing

I have a Noch kit for an N gauge level crossing, more of a barrow crossing as it's wood, however it's for straight lines only. I need my road crossing on a bend...   So armed with some left over rail, my normal fat fingers, a pair of pliers, super glue, some platform ballast, I've had a bash, so here is exhibit A:     It needs more ballast, I know!   Now the gap is huge between the running rails and the guiding rails for the heart piece, perhaps next time I should trim off some of the
AllScales

AllScales

2
Andy_197011's Blog

House move completed

Well the house move happened and we have been here 5 weeks. Looks like the new home for my layouts will be in the garage after I line part of it. The temptation to fill the entire 21x9 feet is strong but where would I put all the junk.
Andy_197011

Andy_197011

2
The sleepers workspace

Mink 'G' Van 3

I started adding some detail, first the doors, here's where I realized my second mistake , I'd forgotten about the doors and made the body 1mm too wide. This was because I didn't want too much overhang at the sides of the roof and so the faces of the doors are outside the edge of the roof. I may have to fit another plastic roof over the top of the aluminium one with a larger overhang at the eaves. . I cut the 'T' bar strapping to size, adding an angled cut-off on the ends and fixed these ont
sleeper

sleeper

0
The sleepers workspace

Mink 'G' Van 2

With the roof sort of sorted I turned my attention to the building of the body. After experimenting unsuccessfully with scribing planks in to plastic card I settled for using tongued and grooved boarding from the wills 'scenic series', seen here. The next photo shows the sides cut from a Wills T&G sheet and in it you can see the roof section (third from left) with the plastic card attached   I stuck the sides to a floor panel and left it overnight to cure before going any further. Unf
sleeper

sleeper

0
The sleepers workspace

Mink G van 1

Whenever I throw any packaging into the re-cycling box I think ' now I wonder what I could make out of that', and so it was with the item in the photo below. I thought I'd have a go at cutting one of these cylinders into a strip that could be used as a roof on a coach or wagon. Now before you all jump on me and say ' you aren't supposed to puncture aerosol cans, yes I know what it says on the tin but if you are wary and you know what these cans contain you need have no fears. Some aerosols c
sleeper

sleeper

0
Petes Model workshop (or ramblings from the balcony)

GWR MOGUL (9)

We are getting closer to the end. I have done most of the major work now we are down to the never ending detailing.   First thing done since last update was the pony truck.     The fire box was soldered to the footplate and cab front. The boiler smokebox unit fits over the front of the firebox and is screwed through the smokebox, Hopefully it will aid painting.     As you can see I have also now fitted the chimney, looks better in r
N15class

N15class in GWR 63XX MOGUL

0
Sixties Snapshots - 00 scale

The ups and downs of buying online.

I was recently paid for some unexpected work. I would invest part of the proceeds in some additional motive power (more engines). I don’t think there are any model shops in Dumfries and Galloway (probably the largest Council in the UK) so it is very much a case of what is available on the Internet. All very exciting – well until the post arrives!   The first item should have been straightforward. I would buy a Bachmann BR ROD - pristine. Bachmann BR ROD – Early Emblem – Pristine   The mod
Silver Sidelines

Silver Sidelines

9
AllScales' Gerlos Blog

Strictly back above board....

Again no fancy pictures, diagrams or any other new fangled stuff! Strictly text! All that's left is some childish innuendo...   Having found myself under the table last night and I must get a big cushion or two for sessions like that, today was the evening for testing. Partly to make sure and I hadn't broken anything, partly to make sure it works nicely with the Z21...   Partial success...   Most point motors work, two need replacing. The surprise was that one of Lenz point decoders only r
AllScales

AllScales

0
Up the Line - 1918

Down to the detail

Knowing myself as well as I do, I quickly realised that if the layout went back in the studio again or got crated up all those little detail bits just wouldn't get done. I put up with tripping over it in the office for another couple of days therefore and just got down to it.   Much use was made of PhotoShop and printable transfers so I came up with this lot. A lot of attention was paid to making sure that they didn't look like signs that had just been knocked up on a computer so no straight f
KH1

KH1

3
N-Gauge LMS Layout

Foster Street - I Need Help (Storage Yard Limitiations?)

Well the good news is that this post has no pictures (I can hear the cheers from here ), I've not done much modelling over the last few days, as with the demands of work and being a little off colour I have spent more time on the more "theoretical" projects.   As you know Foster Street in a continuous run layout, in an attempt to portray a secondary line somewhere in the Northwest, leading up to the dreadful day the LMS was nationalised .   The layout is approximately 11 foot long, but becau
paulprice

paulprice

7
TomE's N Gauge Modelling

Ropley - Let it flow

Watering at Ropley just got easier!   Hi All.   A very brief entry today to show a little bit of progress in finishing some loose ends. The watertower has long needed it's downpipe making, and so armed with some brass tube and a hammer I set to work. The whole pipe is one section of tube bent to shape, and one end flattend out to represent the rubber shroud. I had pondered how to approach this aspect for a little while, not really liking the use of elastic fabric as supplied in the Rati
TomE

TomE

2
ScottW's Blog

NBR 0-6-0T Class 'D'

At the request of Simon Dunkley here are some pictures of my NBR 0-6-0T Class 'D'. I have included some pictures taken during it's construction as well as some of the completed model taken by Barry Norman.   Scott.
ScottW

ScottW

7
PGC's workbench

A long time since I posted anything!

Hello all   It's been a long time my last post on this blog. I went through hellish times at work last year being suspended as the Acting Head Teacher wanted to try and get rid of me, so my modelling mojo disappeared. However, we now have a new Head Teacher who's supporting me and life generally is far, far better, so my modelling mojo's reawakening and I'm building stuff.   In the previous posts I've put up items about a layout based in Norfolk - this is a long term project so nothing has h
PGC

PGC

2
Neil_S_Wood's Blog

Back to the boards

I got round to finishing off the base boards. The track plan isn't really finalised and I have to do the initial tracklaying to see what will work. The layout, or rather the track I'm laying, is for the Bavarian layout. The plan is that this layout will occupy the main base boards as depicted below. There will be an eight track station with a city scene behind . Still deciding on whether turntable is feasible or not.       These are the tracks that go round the edge of the room. Th
Neil_S_Wood

Neil_S_Wood

0
AllScales' Gerlos Blog

Under the table (but not legless)

No fancy pictures tonight I'm afraid, just some hard graft!   Every now and again you get these jobs you don't really want to do, but in the it's unavoidable. So tonight I crawled under the layout to reconnect the point motors. This was followed by banging home the nails, a lot of which were removed to allow me to fit dropper wires to the frog points or to allow painting of the cork underlay...   Tomorrow testing, testing!
AllScales

AllScales

0
Shipston-on-Stour Branch

Same branch, different eras

My purist sentiment says that I should persevere with a 1935 era accurate rendering of a GWR branch. And there is no reason why this should not be the initial aim for the project.   But what then, when the layout is finished. Well, there are two options. The first is to make a bold assumption that Dr. Beeching never existed, that old branch lines were encouraged to exist, that Ernest Marples was never Minister of Transport and road taxes on trucks became exorbitant. So not only did passeng
Focalplane

Focalplane

2
sigtech's Blog

Sproston - Hand point levers, and some signalbox progress!

It's been quite a long time since I last updated progress on the layout, so thought I better get cracking... I have added 4 new levers for the hand operated points scattered around the Station, after repainting them correctly - for some reason as purchased the black and white colours were reversed.They are mounted on timbers just clear of the lineside Next task was to extend the goods shed road by about 1 1/2" to allow a van to stand completely outside the rear of the shed, and allow a
sigtech

sigtech

0
Modbury - 2mm Finescale (Brunel's Baulk Road)

Modbury - Trackwork 1

Now that I have completed the baseboards, a start can be made on the track work...   However, as preparation is everything I first wanted to put down a raised track bed. This is formed from some 1/32" bass wood sheet which was fixed to the baseboard top with PVA, and weighted while it dried. This was done in relatively small sections by transposing the Templot trackbed onto the sheets before cutting out ready to be affixed - I had included the Trackbed Edges on the print out from Templot.
Ian Smith

Ian Smith

5
Up the Line - 1918

First try at resin casting.

On my to do list for quite some time has been loads for the wagons, which, with a very large number of bogie opens to sort out really shouldn't have been left until now! There are various loads to be considered, duck boards, A frames, wire, hay, ammo boxes, but I have started with shells. A bit of lateral thinking and a chat with another Dad at school who is a pretty serious shooter resulted in several bags of these;     Then some cling film in the wagon to stop them sticking and a bit of c
KH1

KH1

12

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  • Blog Comments

    • 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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