KNP

Thank you. It was a mish mash of scenic odds and ends, plus small bits of balsa, twigs, etc glued on a mound of modelling clay. Held in place with a generous coat of pva applied via a syringe then painted a blackish, brownish sludge colour, when set a coat of satin varnish to finish off. Bins made of microstrip

End of another busy day, must buy some more vegetables for that last unplanted area. This is sort of semi hidden by the harbour masters building and the potato field so to take it I had to hold the camera at arms length and point towards me.

Or of course it could have been the other well known nickname and that was Great Way (Round)......?

It's a repainted Corgi Ruston Bucyrus 19 Crane.

Mike I have done the same thing about 18mths ago to all my points but had to alter them in-situ which made it interesting and nerve racking. The lump of plastic to the side of the track was left because I couldn't get easily to it on some of the points so I left it (for now). The points are operated by a SEEP PM1 and there is enough clout in the throw to hold the blade in position. To date I haven't had one issue but is that tempting fate? I would certainly recommend doing something like this if you are proposing to use, say, the Wills point rodding kit as if you fit the FPL on top of the spring it will foul most loco's underside. Thanks again for the comments. I must do something about working out how to add a word document to this site as I have that tree article I wrote last year for Railway Modellers I could post. I did have a reply so I must look into it. Regards

Thank you for the comments. If you recall I have been working on this layout, on and off, since 2009 so I've had quite a bit of time to keep tweaking and altering as I go (more on now that I retired early 2 years ago) so some of the results where not achieved first time. The one thing I can say about a permanent layout is that you don't have to fix anything, leave what you where doing and it'll still be there in the morning plus I don't have to keep tidying up so as I keep the door shut so you can't see the muddle. If I recall correctly you have some pictures of your layout in the kitchen which must make doing the dinner interesting! In fact this how the name came about, my wife wondered in one day to make sure I was still breathing and she said it's a bit of a muddle in here, I replied just a little bit so the name was born - Little Muddle.... The only issue I have is working on the rear of the layout and leaning over without damaging that stuff at the front, this where a portable layout wins as you can get to all sides easily. Been OK so far but I do fix temporary screens to the profile board which helps to a certain extent protect the scenery etc.. Did I notice that you have altered your points by removing the spring and some of the plastic?

Thank you for your comments.

Looking at the last set of pictures, nice railway by the way, I feel that lighting is going to be the main problem here so have you tried, on your own layout, increasing the room lighting or using additional portable lighting? I would say you have a good camera there so long as it can operate in a well lit area, the depth of field looks good and the definition clear. I use a continuous 125ww, 5500k daylight bulb on a tripod shining through a diffusing umbrella on top of the twin ceiling and pelmet strip lights being on as well. Like you, I never use flash as no matter what you do the picture always appears bleached and false.

As a none fisherman I have no idea where flies and maggots come into this......!!!! I thought you sort of dangled a line in the water and the fish tied itself to it.......? On a similar vein, when I was doing the 7 strand fences I decided to use very light fishing line as it came in long lengths and can be put under tension - so off to the local fishing tackle shop I went to in Bicester. Asking for the lightest line they did the salesperson sold me a 4lb reel. Whilst paying he got all chatty and ask where was I fishing and what type was I after as going fishing with size of line would be challenging, my reply sort made him look when I pointed out it was for a fence. Realising I needed to explain a bit more I told him it was a model fence on my layout, well you could see the interest evaporating in front of me, he gave me my change with not a word, sort of snorted, about turned and wandered off to the back of the shop......... Obviously the two hobbies linking together don't appeal to him???

Whoops, just seen that the last part of my reply disappeared, not sure what I did there but it's not the first time something has been sent whilst I'm still typing. It should have ended " Especially for one that can only normally see Brunswick green loco's" Honoured definately Kevin

The Colonel has the right idea but I think it might be a bit dark now. You know what, he's been standing there for absolute ages now and I've never seen him catch at fish........I assume I put some in the steam?

Looks great and very convincing even for a GWR fan.....!!!!

Part 2 Once the store was in place I then designed and built one of my prime trees specifically for this site but with a branch that had broken and fallen onto the roof of the store. I used a cut branch that I modified to fit so it looked like it had torn off the main trunk twisting as it fell and bending over the roof. Sprigs of Seamoss where planted on the branch some with leaves on and some not in effort to make it look like it was dying. The effect, I think, is quite novel, but I'm not sure the pictures do it total justice but here goes. Hope you like.....

The following posts detail (I'll do two bits as I can't work out how to post pictures in sequence yet!!) something I never ever seen modelled either at exhibitions or in print. It involved working out some structural dynamics of how a building would be stressed and effected by an event. First the building involved, which I decided would be an old corrugated store located in the grounds of the derelict house. Having worked it all out I built this.........part 2 will follow in a minute with the answer

OK, you're on, I was mulling over whether to post this or not so here it is. Give me a few minutes to organise.....

A tree......a tree......my layout for a tree!!!! to twist a well known saying. It seems I'm causing quite a storm with them?

One thing to clarify with your pictures did the flash fire?

Many thanks. The layout is DCC and started as such with a Hornby Select, now I am using Railmaster and e-link. Picture shows the entire control panel, I can isolate everything including section of the coal yard which is used for programming. The only must is that I remember to isolate and switch to program The large white switch is the lighting pelmet! Under the tablet the lid is hinged and that is where the e-link module sits. No sound at the present other than me going choo, choo, whistle, whistle........!!!

Just to prove I have actually been doing some work on the layout.... The signal pulley wheels are brass etches from Brassmaster and the last two where finished a few moments ago. Some of the observant ones of you will notice that the latest two have rather a long spindle, top tip moment now this is because it left something for me to hold whilst painting and then later when I get around to fixing them. It will then be chopped off and end painted like the other ones. You will also see some home made pulley posts using some square microstrip and a short length of telephone cable with the wire removed. No wires as I am relying on the implication that they are there.

Well it is certainly cheaper and you must also take into account that the 48xx only arrived 2wks ago from Hatton's so the motive power situation was dire!!!

After looking through some of the lovely layouts on this website I noticed that many of you have a vast array of motive power, the following picture portrays my entire operational steam power for Little Muddle. No, No No, you can put your hankies and donations away as, in a way, this sums my approach to model railways and that is they are just an excuse for me building scenery..........plus the grand children like to see trains moving - on odd occasions. Mustn't forget I do have a diesel railcar as well but that is currently sitting on the shelf waiting for some flush windows and weathering to be done.......no rush as the running timetable is very minimal on this railway!!!!!!

Its an ink-jet, full tile HP Photosmart 6520 Print, Scan, Copy, Web. (I'm reading off the label as it's next to me????)

This is a bit of a warning for those of you, like me, that use home printed brick papers. I make no apologies as this has been posted before under another topic heading on this website (so some of you might recall it) but I feel I must point it out again to ensure it doesn't happen to you.....or at least you are aware of a potential problems for the future Quite a while ago I used a compatable continuous ink printing system for my then HP printer for a while, it was about a quarter of the cost of a set of standard HP ink cartidges and was advertised as colour fast - it has now turned out it wasn't but it took about 5 years before I realised I had a problem when last year I was comparing photos of 'as built' and then. The engine shed was one of the first buildings I did with brick paper using this ink and was quite complicated one to model with all the recesses, plinths and BoE details so to find I had an issue was a bit off putting. I had coated the model with a couple of coats of ordinary matt varnish following completion to protect when handling and fading!!!! Once I realised I had a problem I coated the model in four coats of UV matt varnish (see picture) to stabilise and stop any further degradation - only time will tell if this has worked. To bring some colour back to the front walls and chimney (areas most effected where those facing the window where they caught the sun) I used the same UV varnish but added a dash of acrylic brick colour to give a wash which has brought some colour back, the chimney I also picked out some odd bricks in effort save it. I coated the entire building as well as all other buildings built in the same way on the layout even if they hadn't faded just to be on the safe side. At the moment it looks OK and appears not to be degrading anymore. The first picture shows the rear of the building and the colour it should be. The second one is the UV varnish I use as it is designed to protect photos and paintings it was also the one that had the best web reviews. Third picture is the worse area to the chimney and the final one is the front of whole building following the brick wash application Advise - I now always use the manufacturers ink for my printer (HP 6520) as it might be more expensive at the time but the ink appears to be of a much better quality and more importantly colour fast? Hope this is of help and stops someone running into the problems I had. I must admit I didn't get much help from the two railway workers sitting on the seat as they just sat there and watched - must have been their tea break!

Many thanks for your comments and if memory serves you where one of the first to tell me to do something.........!!!!

To me it's these little things that add the realism and I keep adding them as I think of them. This was an after thought following seeing some old pictures of a harbour wall. The steam drifter, to me, is actually quite a way from be finished. I have parked it for while as my new Hatton's 48xx arrived and this along with finishing the autocoach became the priority. The last thing I did to Misty was make my own transfers and I discovered that most printers, including my own, don't print white so I had to paint the hull section white and then apply the transfer with a see through section for the number making sure it all lined up.