Hi. i have been posting on the Platform 1 Face book page but neglecting the forum for which i apologise. i had a thought that a few of you may not een on the face book pag so thought i better post about my newest layout on here. I haven’t been on here for a while to which I apologise. My modelling mojo has been on and off for a while. But thought I would get you all up to date with my new project. So I thought I would start a build blog about “a cold front” my new layout that should replace my existing exhibition layout of “operation abyss” The idea of this layout is to build a 009 gauge WWI trench railway. I wanted a continuous run and originally opted for a figure of eight. However this was so hit and miss it was scrapped. The concept is to be sent on the edge of a french town in winter with unloading of wagons and troops, moving over to the start of the trenches and a Forrest. So this was the plan, I will post a lot more over the next couple of days as I have moved on loads. But here is the start. I hope to get your views and support like I have with my previous layouts that I have posted here
So to start off with things went really slow as I converted half my garage into a workshop. If you have followed my previous threads you will know that I love detail, the plan is that this layout will follow this and have loads of details.
The main board is a lazer cut board and is very light, the two end boards are also lazer cut however modified to suit my needs.
Back scene is place. You may notice it’s the same as the one I used on “Chapel Rise” I think it works well. All track wired, and dcc cobalt point motors added.
I’ve been following your build on the Facebook page Jimmy, lovely layout. Full of atmosphere. Great work
Thank you for all the comments there will be a lot of posts over the next few days to get you all up to speed as to where I am Upto. I am really enjoying this build as it’s pushing me away from the norm
And strong too as they seem to be designed with aircraft influence. Cheers and happy modelling Richard
Yes the base boards are amazing, really light and really strong. Which will be good if it gets booked for exhibitions, as “operation abyss” is quite heavy so will be nice to be a lot lighter
so next up on my list of todo's was make a start on some of the kits that i had managed to get hold of, first up was the first of two airfix WW1 female tanks. Next up was the second air fix kit of a WWI female tank then this armoured car which is a resin kit made by WD models. oh my i have never built a kit with this much detail. it was a challenge but well worth it. And then a second armoured car, however I couldn’t get the decals for the colour scheme I wanted so I opted to hand paint the insignia on the front and the rear..... I did go a little cross eyed.
so while i was playing on the interwebs looking for inspiration i found the above photo of a mobile pigeon loft and thought i really really need one of those. at first i was going to get a old bill bus kit and scratch build it. but then i found that WD models made a resin kit of one so a quick click and pay pal transaction and it was on its way. these kits are absolutely amazing but very fiddly. so the way in which i build these kits is to paint sections as i go. i opted to build this with the back door open so i needed to paint the inside as there is a very slim possibility of seeing in. before i paint these kits they are sprayed with Halfords grey primer first. i use just normal superglue to stick these together. to make painting a little easier i leave some pits off until i have painted it, this always comprises the wheels as i find its much easier to paint these then attach them. one of my hobbies is figure painting and i attempt to paint even my railway figures in the same sort of style. so i start with the base flesh colour on my figures then add a little black to the paint to make it darker and add shadows. i do this about three times building up the shadows. i then do the same but add white to the flesh colour adding the highlights, bridge of nose etc. i then do exactly the same on the uniform. starting the base colour. the paints i use are vallijo acrylics. no pigeon loft would be complete without pigeons, luckily Langley models make white metal pigeons. now these were tricky to paint. finally once the kit is painted, to me it looked far to clean and factory fresh, after all tyis is going to be an abused truck in the midst of war in the winter. so what i do is mix blck acrylic paint with water to make a really runny mix. i then paint this over the entire model, but immidately wipe it off again with kitchen roll. this leaves a black dirty look over the model. depending on how dirty i want it depends on how much i wipe. once that is dry i then mixed a dark brown muddy mix of paint an airbrushed the wheels and lower body. a lot of work over something so small but hopfully you will agree that the model wa worth the work
Jimmy, I'm interested in your baseboards. Did you make them yourself? If not do you mind my asking for your supplier? Also, is it 'ordinary' birch ply or specialised (eg Baltic). 6 or 9mm thickness? Thanks, Richard.
Hi Richard, be interesting to find out who’s boards they are, I know over in the uk that there are a few company’s that make boards one of which is :- https://www.whiterosemodelworks.co.uk/
Thanks Kimbo, sorry, I didn't know you were outside the UK. They look similar to Tim Horn's that was all. R
Just checked his web site, not working at the moment, but images of his work on the net, looks exactly the same as Jimmy’s
The boards were cut by Tim horn he has a website, the link is below but the website is being updated. He also has a Facebook page. the board is a mix of 3mm 6mm and 9mm ply to make it really strong and lightweight. This board was a experiment of his but think he is planning to kit it. The two fiddle yard boards are one of his normal boards cut in half to suit what I needed. tims boards come flat packed and easy to build. I do the odd commission work for https://www.thelittlelayoutcompany.co.uk/ and we mainly use Tim for the customer layouts. https://tim-horn.co.uk/epages/846fa...h=/Shops/846fa32e-7920-444e-bfce-72e09ce0c838
here are some more photos of my little tin turtle that runs on a little N guage chassis and has a DCC decoder fitted you will notice in future photos of my layout that this loco has changed colour very slighty, this is because i am stupid and dropped it and as i hand mixed the green for it i no longer had any so it got repainted in khaki.
So next up another resin and white metal kit. Again from WD models and again the details have blown my mind. These kits are great fun and very fiddly. However I am really pleased with how it turned out