Tonstadt Lagerplatz

I took a long break from my layout in June. Partly due to holidays, but partly due to trying to get motivated to spending several hours under the baseboards doing the new wiring. Fitting the Cobalt point motors was a lot more stressful than I was anticipating.

However, the wiring is now finished, the track is down and fixed, and I can actually run trains that don't stall on points. The great thing now is that I am finally at the stage where I can spend the occasional 30-60 minutes here and there without it being a major endeavour.

My task yesterday was to 'build' a brick wall from Scale Model Scenery. I was not happy with my first attempt that followed their assembly instructions. So instead of gluing to the supplied laser cut card, I fixed it to 10m foam board and made coping stones from DAS clay.

Those of you who know about such things might question whether the buffer stops are accurate for a German based layout. While have I have seen some photos of similar buffer stops being used in Germany, they are very rare. The reason for choosing these instead of the more usual Rawie design is that these cost £3.50 from PECO. When I was first looking at this, the only O gauge Rawie ones that I could find were etched brass kits that cost €45 each plus shipping from Germany. I had plans to modify the PECO ones to make them a little more Germanic, but I have just discovered that Lenz make some that are available in the UK for a more affordable £12.50 each.

 

I have now changed the Prellböcke to Rawie style and started on a diesel refuelling stage. I must say I do prefer the British style buffer stops, but...

 

For various reasons it has been a long time since I posted anything. For one thing not much happened on the layout for a while due to life getting in the way. But a new year and a new impetuous to get things moving. So this week I have mostly been converting a Fair Price Models kit into a German style(?) apartment building with shops. It needs a bit more tweaking, but I am putting it aside for now to concentrate on landscaping.

 

Funnily enough I bought some foamboard yesterday from a local art shop, this is for some brick walls. It was 95p per A4 sheet, so it is certainly cheaper than eBay. I have pondered making buildings from scratch. But as the Fair Price kits are only about £15 each, I find them worthwhile based on my current skill level.

 

'...but no-one got to be anything like an 'Expert' in anything without a lot of practice.'

I will certainly be trying some proper scratch building in the future, partly as it is something I am keen to try, and partly due to the cost and scarcity of O scale buildings of any kind, far less German ones. I was spoiled for choice when modelling British OO scale.

Another project I have part finished is this Kelinlokschuppen that I converted from a Hornby OO scale engine shed I have had for decades. The roof is painted sandpaper, the walls are coffee stirrers filled in with old wall filler, and the brick base is brick paper from Scale Model Scenery. I will come back to it in a few weeks/months and add the doors, lights, outhouse etc.