Getting ready to make an exhibition of myself

Underhill and I have been invited to attend the NGSW exhibition this year so I've set up the layout and started some renovations... and spent some time playing trains.

Loads of layouts and traders so come and say hello if you are in the area.

The first change I've made is getting rid of the shop which I made out of a Skaledale station building and was never really happy with. I used what I has available at the time but subsequently I've acquired a more suitable cottage. 

The offending building is on the left in this picture.

It was quite hard to prise the building off the layout and I ended up having to remove the shop in front of it so that I could get a better purchase on it. In the process I made a hole in the sky with the roof of the shop which was annoying.

Post demolition

Once the site was free I decided that the cottage that was going to replace the shop needed to be raised up to the same level as the road, the old shop was sunken on a lower level; I'd never been happy about that either. I found a sheet of expanded polystyrene which was just the correct thickness and cut it to size and glued it in place with PVA. To cover the exposed polystyrene and bed the cottage in I used some scenic gunk made by Noch (or Faller, I can't remember off hand and can't be bothered to go and look.) It is basically fine sand in glue but it sets hard and looks OK without painting so is good for quick scenery fixes.

With the addition of some trees to disguise the damage to the sky and Blacketts the dairy re-fixed in front I think it looks much better.

I've also used some of the afore mentioned gunk, but in black, to fill between the sleepers of the points which lead to the cheese factory sidings. Having used plaster type filler instead of ballast I had been frightened to gum up the points so there was no ballast under the point blades. It looks much better for this.

There are a few other things which need tarting up, the rock face above the cheese factory is a bit lurid so I might have a go at toning it down and maybe add a bit more greenery. The main thing which needs doing is to work out how to attach some material to disguise the legs etc. I also need to replace the light fitting I nicked to add to Arnold Lane Wharf, easy enough.

More transfers and some paint

Mrs Lord Stoner had a migraine today so after I'd done some chores I carried on putting numbers on wagons and coaches. I've taken a random approach with the wagon numbers and I seem to have letters instead of 1-30 so they are all in double figures.

The other thing I did was to dig out my Beddgelert and start to get it finished. I'd done the basic colour with car spray a while ago and then sort of run out of momentum. It looks quite good but I need to get some of the spray paint onto a brush to touch up a few cock ups and the cylinders.

It sits on the traditional Minitrix 2-6-2 chassis which was a reasonable specimen purchased from Uncle Brian at NGN last year. As built the whole thing sags backwards if I put the whitemetal cab roof on despite the tank and smokebox being stuffed full of extra weight. I'll do a styrene roof but the balance is all wrong, hopefully the rear truck will help, otherwise adhesion is going to be shite. Next thing is to get the chassis working properly as an 0-6-4.

Its going to be a big beast by IoSR standards but the original has always been my fave NWNG loco. The story here is that when it was worn out in Wales instead of scrapping it, Hunslet renovated it and sold it on to the IoSR.

The transfer list

I spent this evening finishing the Pickering brake coach and adding some running numbers to some recent rolling stock. The Pickering only needed the lid fixing on, some vac pipes and a tail lamp apart from the transfers. The ones I use for passenger stock are Old Time Workshop Talyllyn coach numbers which are red shaded gold, they are waterslide and look the business.

I've also done the VoR bashes and the small FR style bogie coach. In addition I've used a couple of Modelmaster waterslide numbers to start numbering goods stock. Unfortunately they are white numbers on a virtually white background and so are very hard to see to cut round but I've done a couple of vans seen in the picture below with the PD VoR I purchased from evilbay this week.

It is a very neat job and is a bit out of character in its GWR livery but I do quite like it.

Confined to barracks

On the way home from work on Monday something was very wrong with my car, it hardly moved and when I finally got out of it at home I could smell an ominous hot metal smell. The upshot of which was that I drove it very slowly to my trusty garage the next morning and left it there...

Once home again I was marooned as we live half way up a mountain, miles from anywhere; which is lovely when you have a car but when you don't, that is that.

Work is pretty flexible so I can make the time up at the weekend which meant that I had time on my hands for a little modelling.

One thing I did was to take a photograph of virtually every piece of rolling stock I own and post them as a thread on the NGRM forum as some one had asked to see my goods stock. I thought why stop there so I also did passenger stock and locomotives. It's only when you add them up you see how many you have. All the pictures I used on the forum plus some I didn't are on Photobucket if you want to have a look. http://s808.photobucket.com/user/Isleofstoner/library/?sort=3&page=1

The other thing I did was to finish off my VoR bash coach and nearly finish my brass PD NWNG Pickering brake coach.

 

The roof is still loose on the Pickering and it needs a few more tweaks but I'm pretty happy with how they look, I have another VoR kit un-started which will end up the same as this one. The only difference to how it should be is that I have trimmed one compartment off.

I also changed the bogies on another coach and changed the running gear on a brake van so they run better.

Shame the car is mended as now I have to do some work... at work.

Woodwork - dull but vital

I've been out in the cold garage and workshop today. I knew I'd run out of wood but I wanted to make a start... so I did. As a result I now have a stable set of legs, for the layout, mine are a bit wonky to be fair.

Partly it relies on the old quarry caban table which has my music equipment on it but which can be seen with the tools on it in the top picture.

The next thing I did was to lay a sheet of mdf on top and make a life size plan of the track layout so I could see where to cut the front area away which will be the estuary.

I've got a variety of layouts in mind but the basic area will be the same wherever I put the sidings. I cut the mdf and then started to cut the 2x1 which will be the frame of the actual layout. The layout will rest on the legs so that it can be taken to shows, the first booked one is the 009 AGM in Rainford next year: I like a deadline.

Couldn't help trying out a train, I'm happy with the way my PD VoR bash sits with the PECO L&Bs

I started to chop up the wood for the frame but I ran out so will have to wait until the post Xmas bankruptcy wears off before I buy any more, shame as I've got a fire in my belly for it now. Perhaps I should finish one of the dozen or so other smaller projects I have under way. Hmm

New Year, new project

Having had a bit of a modelling lull over the festive season I decided to get stuck in and try to get the Isle of Stoner Railway finished off… well a bit longer. What I mean really is to construct the Port Lucy end of the line and then connect it up to the existing bit. I've spent some time contemplating the track plan for the new bit and since I posted the plan on here I've added a siding by using  a three way point instead of a right hander for the branch so I gain a kick back siding which will be handy when shunting. I've also now got a curved point as the king point which makes things smoother.

The first thing I needed to do in the garage was to clear up the piles of crap which had accrued all over the place. I sorted out about 2 bin bags of actual rubbish and got most of the rest of it into some sort of order. Amazing what you find when you tidy up. I found several building kits and loads of bits and pieces which will come in handy.

Finally I got as far as the new layout. Hurrah. I cleared away the buildings and bits and pieces which were perched on the sheet of bendy mdf I was using for 3D planning. First actual woodworking was to start cutting timber for the legs. As this part needs to be seperable so that it can get to exhibitions, it will be slightly more wood intensive but make life easier. 

I've also found some stuff to pop on evilbay to help with the post xmas bankruptcy including some Eggerbahn rolling stock and the little inspection car I made last year. It runs nicely but somehow it doesn't sit with my layout so off it goes.