going full circle

straped for cash,14mm driving wheels not available yet or still not confident enough to tackle a princess coronation yet. I have decided to revisit my first venture into 2mm modeling. Originaly being built from plasticard the engine has proven to light to pull the intended coach set. Now being constucted from brass there is a 70% weight increase and as yet no lead has been added.

The chasis has remained identical from it's original build although it was converted to dcc back in March. Gaining confidence with each modell most of the fittings were turned out on my lathe but it will be a long time before I will tackle any buffers. Hopefully the engine will be finished a couple of weeks after the Expo as I'm hoping to buy some handrail knobs there. In the meantime work plods on building Witney.

Which small samples of can be seen in the picies, who knows maybe one day I'll take some proper photos of it.

Mark

Getting there, slowly...

Hi.

Finally something to sit back for a short while and admire!! All the groundwork for board one of Highclere has now been done and to make things even better the room isnt coated in a layer of polystyrene bits either! Using styrene I have found it to help with visioning what the layout will look like and what with visiting Highclere several times and studying how the terrain looks has helped loads too. I will make a start on board 2 tomorrow which should be easier to do. Then once both are done it will be time for the wood edging. From what I have noticed I would be surprised if each board will need anymore support than that.

The only thing that is really bugging me right now is looking at the picture above it looks so much like a normal, run-of-the-mill layout to me, something that I dont like doing. This is worrying, I really hope I dont loose interest with it before its finished.

Julia :o)

Highclere Progress

Hi.
After a Bank Holiday off work and rain outside I spent the day working on Highclere. I pulled the layout from under the bed, brushed off all the dust and made a start on the styrene hills in the cutting towards one end of the layout. I dont know what has caused this moment of enthusiasm for it but I am not complaining!

I know its not the best of photographs but hopefully you can see the size of the cutting and the bridge which will be one end of the layout before the fiddle yard. I have found it easier to work on a layout which is a model of an actual location becuase you are stuck with what it looks like and I have found it so much easier to plan things.

Anyway I have all week off and if the enthusiasm hold more will be done on it this week. I just need to go shopping tomorrow for some more bits...

Julia :o)

A change is as good as a break?

Hi.

Just a quickie to let you know what I have been upto this weekend...

On Saturday I was invited to do a demo at a local exhibition in Witney so after a bit of thought I decided to have a bash at a laser cut wooden iron bridge I had done a while ago. It was something I have had for a while now and I thought what with the new found enthusiasm for our clubs layout WS Iron I would spend the day building something for it.

Hopefully in time it will end up sitting over the canal as the main entrance to the Iron Works.

Today I decided to take a break from challenge layouts, bubble cars which want to be awkward and blog pictures which wont enlarge and have a go at a shark brake van which has been kicking around for a whule now. As you can see from the photograph (hopefully) I nearly finished building it today so will finish it off in the week.

Julia :o)

WSI Update

Hi.
Just to add to what Brian said WS Iron is undergoing somewhat of a major rethink and rework based on the Abingdon Show this year. Hopefully its all for the best but this time we are all putting an awful lot of time in reworking the layout to a standard hopefully where it can cope with exhibition running without loosing any of its strength and engines struggling to make it round the track, much has been learnt since that day.

As you can see from the second picture above the construction of the boards is all plywood with plenty of holes added by myself (much to the amusement of Abingdon Club members) Believe it or not the new board is not far off the same weight as the old end boards so it has a benefit already.

There is still much to do to bring the layout back to the stage it was before it was exhibited at the Abingdon show this year but each one of us is putting in all the effort we can to get this layout up and running once more. Any help would be most appreciated right now but a special thanks to Mark for all his efforts and skills in making these boards...

Julia :o)

Whatever next?

Oh dear, oh dear, how will I cope? What is the world coming to? First the intricacies of dcc to contend with and now blogging, to get my head round.

The Group's layout, ‘W S Iron’, is busy evolving some more, we are in the process of rebuilding parts in an effort to alleviate the shortcomings which became evident at the layout’s first outing at the Abingdon Show at the beginning of March. Design modifications, cunning refinements, dcc and wiring(!) are being installed at the same time. More about those, later, including pictures where appropriate.

Work on my narrow gauge entry for the GJLC continues. The baseboard is more or less finished and the track plan is decided. Recent effort has been directed towards planning the control panel, point operation, the mechanism for the dockside crane, modelling the water in the harbour and the creek and wiring the switches for the diamond crossing incorporated. Further details will appear in due course in the layouts section of the Group’s website.

Brian

testing testing testing

Ok this blog things all new to me so if this comes out looking right I'll be surprised. Just for the test we have a couple of wagons I built ,a 2mm sa kit of a midland brake van which i built on the association stand at ally pally and a scratch built fuel tanker on association chassis.a few other items have been constructed since I was last on air but i will save these for another day. All right hit enter and see what happens.

Mark :-)