Thanks Richard, The building has not turned out as well as I would like, however using the three foot rule, it does really suit the site. Gormo
G`day Folks, More done today. Fencing has been painted and installed. Station name boards likewise, plus some advertising signage, benches, a water column and a couple of railway staff. The pictures are self explanatory. Gormo
Hi Gormo. This is very good series. I saw how you mounted the LEDs behind the front of the mimic, but how do you produce the front panel of the mimic. It looks great. Steve
G`day Steve, All my panels have been designed in LibreOffice Drawing program........although some of my earliest ones were done in Open Office Draw. The two pieces of software are nearly identical, however LibreOffice is the standard package on my PC operating system these days. I am a Linux user, however LibreOffice should also work on Windows. I did two videos some time back that take you through how to use the software to create panels so I will insert them below. Once I have created a panel and printed it out, I then laminate it with a basic home laminating machine. My first panels are now about eight years old and have survived extremely well because of the lamination. The laminated panels are then usually, cut to size and then glued ( PVA ) to 3mm MDF. I punch through the holes for switches and LED`s using a hole punch rather than drilling. Drilling will tear the lamination. You could possibly use the hole punch just to pierce the lamination first and then drill.? Anyway, if you need anymore info....don`t hesitate to ask. Gormo
G`day Folks, I was not happy with the water column I fitted to Little Bardfield platform after thinking about it overnight. So I decided to modify it. The original column looks like this.......basically it`s too tall and I just don`t like it in hindsight So now it looks like this I cut the base off the column which brought it down to about the right height. A new base was made from some scrap plastic. The end ( spout ) of the column was bent down to the vertical and then I took a cocktail drinking straw and flattened it between my fingers. The straw was painted Matt Black, slipped over the original spout and Super glued in position. The drainage bowl was made from a plastic candle holder which had it`s stem cut off. The candle holder was Super glued to the original water column base that was left over. The bowl was painted with Burnt Umber and the column with a Tan colour......looks beige to me. So here is a comparison picture I prefer the conversion..... From there I`ve gone to finally starting a removable building that will sit near a windmill on the hill. Glue is drying overnight. More as it happens Gormo
G`day Folks, Window and door apertures all cut out and some more behind the scenes preparations have been completed today. And also a loco I won on that famous auction site arrived today. It`s a Hornby Schools Class ( Westminster ) with a little bit of age to it ( made in England ) however an inspection of the wheels and the overall presentation of the loco would suggest that it has never been run, or at least, hardly any running at all. I`ve always had a soft spot for Southern engines.....so what the heck.....go with your gut feeling I say...... It`s a tender drive and ran well in both directions right from the start. I don`t know it`s history, so I might take the lid off the tender and give it a very light service. So back to the building of the building and then I will be building a Windmill....another building More as it happens Gormo
I also have one of the tender drive versions of the 'Schools' Class, "Dover", together with 5 other much later loco drive versions. As it's fairly well known that I'm a Southern fan, I reckon the 'Schools' are about the best looking 4-4-0 ever built, and at the time, the most powerful 4-4-0's ever built. Keith.
Hey Gormo, The fencing on the Little Bardfield station looks great (much better than the 3d printed ones I sent). The whole thing is coming along very nicely. I didn't know they put water columns on station platforms (although it makes sense to water the loco at the station). The new loco also looks great ... if you got a bargain on eBay you did well (they are few and far between these days). Chris
Yes Keith, Have to agree.....lovely stuff. I`ve always had a hankering for a Merchant Navy Class as well....either version Gormo
Me too Gormo... when Mr Ennis at Scorpio finally reworks the Transport Age Rebuilt Merchant Navy I can then go into partnership with Keith and do a joint build as he has one also.
Thanks Chris, Your fencing is fine.........it`s just not quite tall enough for station fencing, however it will come in handy for residential projects. Yes water columns were found on platforms, sometimes with a dirty great big water tank nearby......I`m still considering that..... I was surprised just how good this loco turned out, because the pics accompanying the posting on Fleabay were not very good and the sellers comments were a big vague " I`m not a model train expert but is seems to run OK on a test track ". He seems to be selling quite a few locos, which is a bit odd for someone not knowing much about model railways.....anyway who am I to judge him..??? I got the loco for 90 dollars, which is a fantastic price considering it`s brand new condition. It`s a Hornby Top Link series. Crew included as well but they will need painting. Gormo
Yes the rebuilt Merchant Navy loco is a beast and you can definitely see where the Britannia design originated from... another loco which I admire very much. I think you may well need two or three MN's running on GCJ Gormo Did the boat trains stop at Little Barford ?
Here is my dirty great big water tank which is platform mounted... an old picture from last year... all scratch built and some items 3D printed. It will sit nicely with the 3D printed water column too, courtesy of Mr Sollis Sorry to bomb your thread Gormo but Leek is a good example of platform water facilities.
Personally I've always preferred what Bulleid termed the 'Airsmoothed' version as opposed to the 'Rebuilt' ones. He never described it as 'Streamlined' as it's nothing like the A4's styling which, as Gresley's second-in-command at the time, it was strongly rumoured that he was responsible for the design of rather than Gresley. Be that as it may, there's no denying that both are (to me at least) very attractive loco's, each with their own following. Keith.
.....Yes that water tank would fall into the " dirty great big " category.........quite impressive. Gormo
G`day Folks, Nothing much happened on the building build yesterday, however I`ve done a bit more today. All four walls have been laminated with paper. The white walls just with A4 white and then white acrylic paint was stippled on in an attempt to give a rendered brick finish on them. They also have to be dirtied up a bit with a further coat of light grime. The brick wall is covered with a Scalescenes paper. The back of the brick wall I find more interesting than the front. The patterns coming from cutting the paper so that it can be folded back through the apertures. I have also allowed an overhang of brick paper, being the thickness of the card, to overlay the edge of the end wall where it meets the brick wall. And here we have a loose test fit. It will be flush when glued. Now to focus on sills, lintels, doors and windows. Gormo