Bellybuster Breakfast to Eat In

Some more musings about the recently completed diorama - as the café has become known as Truckstop, I think the name will probably stick. These are some of the scenic items used to detail the model. All are commercially available or made up from odds and ends in the bits box, and with a little work can make a big difference to a layout.

Flash! Gordon’s gotcha camera. A whitemetal two-part kit of the ever-popular HM Government roadside cash machine. Commonly found on long straight sections of road where a 30 mph limit appears out of nowhere, for no discernible reason. Greater minds than mine have suggested that this to collect revenue for the Government to boost their pensions in these hard times, but I’m not that cynical. On the A15 near Caenby there is a school within, oh, about 30 miles of such a camera, so obviously they’re there for safety reasons. Politics aside, these make a really nice scenic detail on a layout, and at around £3 are a £57 saving on the real thing. Available from Ten Commandments.




‘Work starts here in September until your bones are dust.’ This roadsign isn’t really prototypical, but it’s based on a real idea. The base is a Busch model of a German warning sign; I simply painted it black and made a typically British roadworks sign to warn of a lane closure ahead. The orange lights flash alternately, and the effect looks rather good. Simple to install and runs off 16 volt accessory power supply. I purchased mine from Contikits, who carry a good stock of Continental scenic accessories. To complete, simply add 18 miles of cones and an Audi TT forcing its way in at the last possible moment. But not in front of my X-reg Iveco that eats such impatient and impudent idiots long before a bellybuster breakfast.




Typically British outline streetlights have always been difficult to get hold of, but Express Models manufacture these authentic looking models that feature a bright white LED and run off 12 volt DC. The effect is rather good, the light is realistically cast downwards in a concentrated pool rather than all over the layout. Whilst difficult to see in daylight conditions, they come into their own in a nighttime scene. Personally, I think an orange LED would look better for these lights, but nevertheless, they make an interesting scenic addition to a layout.




Wheelie bins have become a subject in their own right with the fortnightly collections issue, and such publicity is a good selling tool for these whitemetal models from Ten Commandments. Painting depends on where you live, and I’m sure some Council Official will be happy to tell you the exact hue that they should be. They’ll also be happy to tell you what to put in them, what not to put in them, what day and time they must be put out for the vague possibility of a collection if you’re lucky, and what time of day they must be removed from the street – even if the collection lorry hasn’t been round yet, because it’s stuck in traffic caused by the congestion that has been created by all the bin lorries going out on the same day. I’ve personally found that wheelie bins are the ideal size for putting Council officials in, which solves a number of problems at the same time.

On which happy note I'll leave you for the moment as I have a long weekend to prepare for. More later!

Windows Are Such a Pane

The biggest issue with the factory building that I’m labouring on has been the windows. I got close to a solution on Sunday when I painted the matt black panes with a spot of gloss varnish, and that did help a bit. Inspired by this, last night I decided to experiment further. Using an eye-dropper, each pane was filled with a good blob of gloss varnish. This dries in a concave manner that is remarkably good at reflecting the light from just about any viewing angle.

To my mind, this considerably improves the appearance of the model. With so much glass on show, the flat black finish that I originally applied looked just that – flat and black. The new reflective finish does at least give the impression of glazing and help create an illusion of depth. I’m quite pleased with this; in fact, as I have two more of these factory buildings lined up for painting, I may well demonstrate this simple technique at Peterborough Exhibition in October.

Story of a Plank - Part 6: Completion

The long running saga of ‘The Plank’ is now more or less complete, so I recently set up some photo sessions to illustrate the model. The idea behind The Plank was to build a model that could be used during exhibitions to discuss and demonstrate scenic modelling techniques; primarily, however, I required a diorama that could be used to display models for Ten Commandments products in photo sessions.

The diorama has been christened ‘Truckstop’ by virtue of the fact that it is essentially a model of a layby that runs adjacent to a railway line. In this layby is located a restaurant that specialises in catering to the logistics solutions supply chain facilitators, as management consultants in Audis like to term lorry drivers these days. Think I’m making this up? Take a look at the sides of lorries on your travels – trucks that carry chilled and frozen foods used to be called Fridges. No mistaking that, eh? Now, they’re called ‘Coolchain Solutions’. I used to drive a car-transporter; now it’s an automotive logistics solutions provider. And I’m, apparently, an automotive logistics solutions facilitator, because, as some spotty 12 year old oik in Human Resources (Personnel Dept) explained to me, 'I facilitate solutions to the automotive retail business.' Do what? I don’t facilitate anything; I drive a car transporter to a dodgy Arfur Daley dealer with a backstreet car dealership that’s always one step ahead of the VAT man, and tip a load of highly questionable cars that are sold on for cash only to Lithuanians who don’t ask any awkward questions about guarantees, mainly because they don’t speak English. That, predictably, went down like a lead balloon. Or should I say it descended in a manner more accustomed to a helium filled device that had been injected with quantities of a ferrous substance of higher density than the surrounding atmosphere. Two can play at that game - bloody upstarts.

But I digress, and return to the mainstream of this evening’s symposium. Since the last update, which seems to my mind to be eons ago, landscaping has progressed to provide plenty of bushes and vegetation growing wild; a detailed and illuminated café known simply as ‘Truckstop’ and based on one my favourite haunts on the A1 near Stamford. True to life, a Portaloo has also been erected here, and equally true to life, I don’t recommend paying it a visit …..


Accessories on the diorama include a much loved Gatso speed camera, a flashing warning sign advising of a lane closure ahead, working streetlights and various assorted details that I’ll cover in more detail later. The model has been built specifically to demonstrate products manufactured and sold by Ten Commandments, so naturally there is an emphasis in this direction. Nevertheless, the diorama shows how carefully sourced accessories and models can create realism on a layout and add some pleasing finishing touches. For anybody with a serious interest in scenic railway modelling, I can thoroughly recommend taking a visit to Iain Robinson’s modelling blog; there are some amazing scenes that are exquisitely detailed and provide great inspiration. Iain also features the work of other respected modellers, and illustrates his articles with superb photography.

The Café

This is simply a Knightwing portacabin kit, an ideal model to use as so many roadside diners originate from such buildings in reality. I added a detailed interior to add a bit of life, and illuminated the café with a couple of bulbs. The entrance step into the diner is provided by an old pallet, an arrangement we happily used at my old job for many years – without incident – until Health & Safety banned it on the grounds that it wasn’t secure enough, and we might slip on it, or the pallet might give way underneath us or something might … something might … something might …. Ah yes, the thoughts of those who never leave their air conditioned offices, and for whom the most dangerous object in their working life is the cuddly toy that sits on their computer terminal. We had to have a proper brick based step constructed with stone slabs on top, all cemented together at great expense – and the first time we had a touch of frost, one of the staff slipped and fell off it, breaking an ankle in the process due to the hard landing. I rest my case. Behind the café is small portable generator, used to power the cooking equipment. Another accessory is the extractor fan, located next to the entrance door above the window. This might seem to be a strange place to locate such a fan. Well, here’s the reason, and once again, I don’t come out of this too well…..


I installed lighting, as I mentioned – two simple bulbs. Then I wired it all up to test it, using my old Gaugemaster Combi. This allowed me to control the brightness of the interior, normally just a pleasant glow. For the photos, however, I wanted plenty of light to emphasize the detail, so I whacked the power up to full and went to set up my shot. I got more than I bargained for, because through the viewfinder I could see that I had in fact set fire to my new creation! What a total ... well - plank!!

The orange glow at the top of the right hand window set alarms bells ringing - literally! I was busy setting up this night time shot, and didn't realise that the glow was actually the overheated bulb beginning to melt into the plastic of the walls and roof. In fact it wasn't until the roof began to buckle and smoke a bit that I realised something was amiss. The driver and his mate who were at the cafe seem quite unpeturbed by events - doesn't matter if the cafe is on fire; we'll have take out.

The wall was a bit distorted, and the roof was a write-off. We’ll put that down to an ambitious chef doing a flambé, then. The roof was discarded as it was beyond salvation – thankfully, I had a spare kit handy for another project, so I borrowed the roof from that. The damaged wall needed covering up, hence the need for a fan to disguise the area. I think I just about got away with it – one of these days I’ll learn not to be so stupid ….. doh!

The portaloo also counts as part of the café, so I’ll include it here. It is the Ten Commandments etched brass kit, and makes up into this extremely realistic model. To add some authenticity, the interior was detailed with some left over newspapers; some to read and The Guardian to … well, do I have to draw a picture?! Relevant signage is also displayed, but true to form, the toilet roll is empty. Now the significance of The Guardian becomes apparent!

"I'd give it ten minutes if I were you, mate."

I'll cover other areas of Truckstop in due course.

Paint Your Wagon(load)

Work is progressing on the demonstration items that I mentioned last weekend, and here is an update after a Sunday afternoon spent pootling around.

The Plank

This is pretty much complete – photos taken this afternoon, and I’ll update during the week.

Factory Building

Well, it’s coming on, and that’s being nice. The paintwork was tidied up a bit, and then toned down with a black wash to start the weathering process. This is an old building, and needs to look as though it’s been around a bit. I’m not overly happy with the window frames; to improve things a bit, I painted each piece of glazing with a blob of gloss varnish to try and add a bit of shine to them and take away the matt black that gives the building a dead appearance. This has worked better in some panes than others, so I think a second go is required. Some subtle weathering is required, followed by signage and some detailing.

The Lorry

First job was to swap the black wheels for a spare set of red wheels, and make it look more sexy. Erm ... okay. Work then began on the trailer; the body is a flatbed with aluminium dropsides and such vehicles are often used in the construction industry – sometimes a HIAB crane is built onto the deck. The body was simply sprayed aluminium colour, leaving just the headboard to paint later on. For the floor, I used some of Blairline’s excellent laser etched wood decking. Blairline products are American, and not available for sale in the UK. Fortunately, I used to import some of their stock when I ran Signs of The Times, and ordered some of these before I ceased trading. Blairline have a good range of products, obviously aimed at the US market, but with some useful bits and bobs that British modellers can make good use of. Mail order is available direct from the States. The website greets you with the heading that Blairline is a Christ Centred Company, which is a tad unexpected on a modelling website to say the least. However, that's Americans for you. Notwithstanding the Bible bashing, the products are excellent, and the owner of the company, Dale Rush, is extremely helpful and friendly - nothing is too much trouble, and mail order service is second to none.

The wood looks incredibly realistic, and being self-adhesive makes installation a simple matter of cutting to size and placing into the body. I weathered it first, by attacking it with a knife blade, in order to represent gouges from loading and unloading, which believe me, isn’t a gentle process. Then an all over light black wash was followed by two more black and grey washes in areas that would receive the most bashing about. Finally, I ran the whole thing under the tap before sticking it out in the hot sun (yes, really – gorgeous afternoon in Lincolnshire) to dry out and weather naturally. It now looks faded and scuffed, which is what I was after.

Wagonloads

The two loads consisted of a set of steel pipes, and a set of steel pipes with steel coils adjacent. Simple and straightforward enough, but once painted up, they didn’t look that good. To add realism, they needed to be rusting, and that can be a tricky job. Fortunately, ages ago I purchased a product called ‘Scenic Rust’ at an exhibition on impulse. As is so often the case, it got put in a box and forgotten about. This seemed to be an excellent time to experiment.

All of this comes in the Scenic Rust pack - details about these products at Deluxe Materials.

Scenic Rust is a small package, but with a lot of stuff in it. Basically, there is a tub of what looks like a pile of iron filings that we used to chase around school desks in physics lessons. I doubt if piles of mysterious grey powder are still allowed in schools; most of the teenagers would probably snort them rather than find magnetic north. Wotever.

"Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing rust." *

A white liquid substance that looks like diluted PVA is applied in equal proportion to the filings, and mixed into a liquid paste that turns blue. This is then painted onto the model and left to dry. After a couple of hours, the Scenic Rust Developer (blue watery liquid) is painted over the top and left to dry. The rust begins to appear after a couple of hours, but won’t be fully developed for around 8 hours – so you can watch rust form in front of your very eyes! It’s a very long, slow process, but preferable to X-Factor.


The finished result looks like this – but I have to say, it is very difficult to photograph convincingly. The pipes really look as though the rust is bubbling up, and the texture feels rough, just like the real thing. Whatever angle you view it from, it always look different as the light catches it, hence the photography problem. I’m delighted with the result on the pipes, and set to work on the pipes / coils load later in the day.

The second load, about 3 hours into drying.

* If you don't get this line, watch Airplane!

Gearing Up

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I’m ratcheting up the modelling as the season approaches. Work is progressing on the Ten Commandments factory unit that I received from Dave a couple of weeks ago, while I have also started work on the two lorryloads that accompanied the building. If I have lorryloads I need - yes, you’re way ahead of me again - a lorry. Fortunately I have a spare Volvo FH artic with a dropside trailer doing nothing, so that can form part of this project. Here is progress to date:

The truck appears ‘as is’ as work hasn’t begun yet. The two loads are simple one-piece castings; one is a stack of steel pipes and the other steel pipes plus stacks of steel coil. For a one-piece plaster cast moulding, they are reasonably good and look the part. I gave both loads an all over coat of Citadel Miniatures ‘Boltgun Metal’ grey, an excellent colour that really looks the part representing unpainted steel. Next stage is to detail and weather these loads to make them look more realistic.

At the rear of this collection is one of the factory units. It has the basic colours applied, but needs tidying up to make it look halfway decent. The windows and frames were a nightmare; I really do not like a one piece casting for buildings and would prefer a kit that can be made up more convincingly. That said, this could still be made into a nice model with a bit of work.

I actually started with the windows and am working out! The whole building was sprayed with Halfords Black Primer to provide the undercoat as well as the basis for the glazing. For the basic brickwork I used Citadel Miniatures ’Terracotta’, which is one of the most convincing shades of red brick that I’ve come across. Windowsills and lintels were painted pale grey, and window frames in white, while the roller shutter door is in Boltgun Metal again. I was mildly surprised to see that a vintage building such as this features a roller shutter door rather than wooden barn doors for the loading bay. This rather dates the building to one that was built probably during the Victorian era, but modernised from the 1970’s onwards.

I got all the basic colours done, and was debating whether to tackle the awful window frames when Radio 2 took the decision out of my hands! On Sunday evening, an Abba concert was playing at Hyde Park, hosted by Chris Evans and featuring an interesting line up. So, to the strains of Does Your Mother Know, Waterloo and the incomparable Kylie blasting out Super Trouper for all she’s worth, the window frames got painted!

At this stage, the building is not much to look at. I wasn’t going to post this picture, but decided that if I did, it would motivate me to improve it and create a reasonable finished product.

I hope!

Thomas to The Rescue

Saturday morning dawned with a swirling mist around Grantham. Fantastic – I was off to the Nene Valley Railway again, and didn’t really need this. But not to worry, ten miles down the road the morning sun was burning the mist away to reveal a beautiful cloudless and sunny sky. Photographic conditions were perfect. I was heading to the NVR as it was their big gala day, entitled simply ‘1968’. The idea was that the railway would be celebrating the final year of steam traction as diesels took hold, so a varied day was on offer. In addition to an extensive passenger service, they’d also be running the Royal Mail TPO set, plus demonstration freight trains. It was the latter that piqued my interest, as I needed some footage of old style freight trains for another filming project. Combined with everything else, it promised to be a good day.

This notion ended on arrival at Wansford Station, where a small notice over the gala posters explained that due to the non-availability of the visiting locos, the event was off until October. Instead, there would be the usual off peak one-train-in-steam service. Oh, brilliant. This news had certainly broken very late in the day, as I’d been on their website quite recently. I was now in a quandary - what to do? Well, it was a lovely day; I had all my stuff and pack-up with me, and the bike was in the car ready for the Ferry Meadows and Peterborough filming sessions. Therefore, I could do some cycling around the Country Park, and photograph the odd train as it went by.

So off I went to Ferry Hill to park up and take to my two wheels. It really was a great day for cycling, and I rode up and down seeking out potential locations for a future visit. I also spent some time around Overton Lake, home of Poshboatz, and took some early morning pictures as the lake came to life. At Peterborough Nene Valley station, the wagons were parked up, so I filmed them with a view to working them into the project one way or another.


I stuck around the park for the first two runs, these featured regular but very photogenic 73050 City of Peterborough working the crimson and cream Mk 1 set. Then I decided to head back to Wansford, as I could do with a nice station arrival piece of film; something I’ve not yet managed to do. On arrival at Wansford I was able to get some great footage of 73050 running round the stock in quite a complex move that involved Thomas the Tank Engine working the Wansford to Yarwell section of the line and back.


73050 duly left for Peterborough once again, and I was left with two hours to fill. How to occupy myself became abundantly clear, when someone high up (even higher than Gordon Brown) decided that Thomas could do a bit of shunting around Wansford. An old oil tanker was detached from a freight train, carted off somewhere and dumped. Then Thomas coupled up to Deltic D9009 Alycidon, and shunted it from one depot road to another in a series of interesting moves that looked good on film – and the sight of diddy Thomas dragging a Deltic round looked pretty incongruous, I have to say! Then the tanker was returned to the siding from whence it came. The full story about Thomas's shunting day will be told in my other blog in a different style.

Thomas had his big face on throughout the day, of course, but by always filming bunker first, I was able to get plenty of seemingly industrial steam age shunting shots that actually suit my purpose just as well, if not better, than the planned freight trains. I was glad I’d decided to stay and make a day of it!

I’d planned to capture the arrival of the next passenger train and then go, but with a cloudless sky it seemed a waste, so in the event I stayed for every service – hiking off down the Nene Way to come across this particular spot where I took a nice piece of film as the train ran by.


All in all, it was a great day, and despite my initial disappointment, it turned out to exceed my expectations from the gala itself in some respects. Not only do I have some industrial freight shots, I have the bonus of City of Peterborough from some lovely unspoilt lineside locations, and the station arrival shot. And not to mention all the exercise from walking and cycling.


Now, in the past, I may have mentioned the odd mild criticism about the use of Thomas on non-kiddy days. So it’s only to fair to redress the balance on this occasion, seeing as it was Thomas who ..... I can hardly get the words out … saved the day.

Thanks.

Crafty Competition Results

The results from the Crafty Computer Paper competition are in, and I’m pleased to say that I managed to achieve a ‘Highly Commended’ result for my submission to the advanced section. Two of my creations are featured on their website within the video, the 1:87 Scania rigid with HIAB that I finished in the livery of a fictional builder's merchant - 'Bricking It'. The vehicle was converted to right-hand drive, detailed and a load of bricks finished the model off.

The truck is seen here at Valkova Road as it makes slow progress down the busy High Street. The driver will later be pulled over for not securing the HIAB jib securely before setting off - it must have been like this all day at the exhibition, but I never noticed at the time!

The second vehicle was the Geo Adams Actros fridge artic that featured in my own article about using Crafty products.


Both vehicles are destined to appear at the Peterborough model railway exhibition in October, where I will be demonstrating how to use the decals, as well undertaking a variety of demos for Ten Commandments products on the Saturday. Jobs are stacking up for this exhibition; the demo unit 'The Plank' is making slow progress, whilst I have started painting the old style factory units that I received last week. These are incredibly fiddly, I have to say. I much prefer to create buildings from kits or plain materials, as this enables individual items such as doors and window frames to be painted prior to fitting - all these individual panes of glass featured on these models have not generated an awful lot of enthusiasm so far. Talk about going square eyed!

Matthew and Son

... or indeed, any other family run business.

I’ve been neglecting my modelling projects recently, as the making movies bug has hit hard lately – although I have been adding bits and bobs to ‘The Plank’ every now and then. However, September is looming, and that means that the model railway exhibition season is coming out of hibernation. I was reminded of this in today’s postal delivery, which consisted of the latest product from Ten Commandments with a note saying ‘Get these done for Peterborough.’

Upon opening the box, I found three Victorian style low-relief factory / warehouse buildings. This type of industrial architecture was common in Britain, and continued to flourish around until around the 1960’s and 70's when more modern construction methods saw them begin to die out.


Buildings of this style can still be seen in ever decreasing numbers – I came across this amazing example in North Shields earlier this year. Not only intact and in everyday use, this building has been fully restored as part of the North Shields and River Tyne regeneration scheme – and looks magnificent for it.


My task, which I have been chosen to accept, is to paint these buildings ready for Peterborough Exhibition, as they will be going on display to demonstrate another new line – old style industrial signage. Painting itself doesn’t present too many problems; however, I relish the prospect of painting all those windows with all the enthusiasm a hedgehog would have when contemplating crossing the M62. Basic construction follows the real building above - brick and stone with wooden window frames, each inset with countless small individual panes of glass.


There are three different building types, and as they are modular in construction, can be combined to create a backscene of any length. Each unit is 160mm long with a height of 85mm. The depth is a mere 14mm, so they provide a perfect answer for the space-starved modeller wanting to create the illusion of an industrial background. Each building is a solid one-piece plaster cast moulding. This makes them solid, but at 250g per unit anyone contemplating a large industrial estate on an exhibition layout might want to hire a fork lifet truck to get it out of the van on the day.

More on these later, when I get the chance to paint them. Once tI've finished squinting at the 528 individual window panes, I'll get down to Specsavers and then report back with my findings!

There's Going To Be a Murder ...

Grumpy Git Productions are pleased to announce the release of their latest film, so without further ado, please sit back and enjoy Murder on The Ferry Meadows Express. I recommend full screen with the sound turned up!

I have to say that this film is 8 minutes of pure self-indulgence on my part. I wished to create a railway film that told a story along the way, but when I first set out to the Nene Valley Railway two weeks ago, I had no idea what could be achieved. In a way, the Thomas weekend a fortnight ago did me a favour, as I concentrated on shooting footage from the train and small detail segments. My visit on Saturday concentrated on the exterior shots, and gave me plenty of clips to play with and edit. I also wanted to pay homage to the most evocative piece of railway filming I’ve ever seen – the famous departure scene in Murder on The Orient Express. The truly inspired music score by Richard Bennett captures the atmosphere of a train journey in a way that no other piece of music has done, so using parts of it were essential in my home-grown version. I loved the atmospheric build up with the introduction that leads into that rousing station departure scene. The pace of the music follows the train on its journey to the intermediate stop, followed by the tranquil calm of the middle section before the triumphant crescendo of the final station arrival.

The name of the film and this article is not directly linked to the Orient Express. The soundtrack on the level crossing scenes was ruined by a small child aged around 5 or so, who was having the great-great grandmother of all tantrums at Wansford. His face was as beetroot red as his shirt, and the howls and screams that he was emitting not only drowned out the steam loco, they gave Def Leppard playing live at Wembley a pretty good run for their money as well. His mother was doing her best to ignore him with those ‘it’s just his little way’ shrugs that I found as annoying as the brat himself. The murder in question, therefore, was my suggestion to chuck him into the adjacent River Nene and stand on his head. Needless to say, my well intentioned and genuine offer was met with a hard stare and some presumably sarcastic comments – obviously I couldn’t hear them due to the racket. I know how my mother would have dealt with such a situation; I still have the bruises, a pronounced limp and deafness in one side to prove it.

Only joking – the bruises cleared up long ago.

Out of interest, here is the original Orient Express scene:

Story of a Plank - Part 5: The Green Green Grass

Don't worry, there is no chance of Boycie or Marlene appearing anywhere in this article!

With recent expeditions to visit the real railway in action, my modelling has not surprisingly taken a bit of back seat. However, I have added a few bits to The Plank, so let me tell you where I’m at, as they like to say on Dragon’s Den. Since the road was laid and the track ballasted I’ve turned my attention to the natural areas of vegetation – the first green shoots of modelling, you might say.

The area around the layby is fairly flat land, so there was no need to build up any significant height. If I need height, my preferred method is polystyrene ceiling tiles to keep the weight down, as used on Exeter Parkway. Ceiling tiles are easy to work with, albeit messy, but cheap – although mine were free as the local McDonalds was having a refurb and threw hundreds of them into a skip. Without the need to build up the land, I simply used a supermarket own-brand of Polyfilla, and I worked this in to the required areas accordingly. One reason I like using this type of filler is that it is flexible to use, and can be watered down to any consistency to suit the terrain being modelled. It takes a long time to dry, and this gives plenty of working time to sculpt the area exactly as you would like to have it. This is useful in countryside, for example, if you wish to create a well-worn footpath, sheep trail or stream. Simply run a finger through the filler to create the path, taking it steady and lightly all the way. This photo from a visit to the Peak District earlier this year clearly shows a well-used footpath, and inclusion on a model can help break up large areas of greenery.


While the filler is drying, I create the sites for such footpaths and scenic features. As this model depicts a layby, there was another feature that needed modelling – the rutted earth and tyre tracks at the entrance, caused by lorries cutting the corner. This can clearly be seen here:


The easiest and quickest way to replicate this is to use the exact same method as used in real life! I took a spare vehicle that had good tyre treads, and rolled it over the affected area several times. I didn’t do this all at once; I did a couple of runs and then allowed the filler to dry out a bit more before having another go. After a few of these sessions, the earth is now looking realistically churned up, but with clearly defined and overlaid tyre tracks. This shows up on this module I made for demonstration purposes a while back:


Here is the entrance to the layby itself once this week’s work was complete:

If you're wondering why the tree has a large '3' on it, the reason is simple. While the filler was still damp, I 'planted' each tree into the area I wish them to be located in when the model is completed. By pushing the tree into the ground, it appears as though the tree is growing out of the earth, rather than daintily sitting on it - one of my pet hates. As the trees won't be glued in just yet (they get in the way) I have numbered them simply so that I know where they're going. Okay, there's only 3 tress and 3 holes - how hard can it be? Well, you don't know me like I know me.....

I allowed the filler to fully harden for a couple of days while I played with my recent video footage in the evenings. Then I returned to The Plank to begin creating Mother Nature. The first step was to paint all the earth brown. Soil is rarely a uniform colour, and I used six shades of watercolour artist’s paints that come in squeezable tubes, rather like toothpaste – although I’m not recommending that you clean your teeth with them. An artist’s palette is useful here, as various quantities of paint can be squeezed into each compartment and then mixed together as appropriate. Add water, a little at a time, in order to create the required consistency. I give the whole area a basic coating to build a foundation before going back and highlighting areas that require more colour. For most types of earth, around half a dozen shades of brown, such as Vandyke Brown, Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber from the excellent Windsor & Newton range etc work nicely – if lightening is needed I use Cadmium Yellow. A good artist's supply shop is the best place to find a decent stock of such paints, and in my experience, the staff in these shops are invariably friendly and knowledgable about their products. For distinctive colour such as the cliffs at Dawlish, several shades of red need to be gently worked in as well, so I’d recommend having photos to hand of your preferred location on such a project. As with most modelling projects, add a little at a time and work it in slowly. Overdo it, and you inevitably end up back at square one. Been there, done that.

Recreating these famous Dawlish cliffs can be quite a challenge. I have previously had a bash at these with Sam on Exeter Parkway, and will write up the experiences later on. This photo is one of many I took during visits to Devon between 1999 and 2002 whilst engaged in chasing the last years of loco hauled operation in the area - I really must write some of those trips up, too...

With the earth complete, basic flocking can begin. I do this in stages, starting with a basic covering of grass, then working up to thicker grass, weeds, small shrubs and then onto bushes and so on. Currently I’ve got as far as the basic grassing stage. I painted watered down PVA glue onto all the areas that required grass, and sprinkled Woodland Scenics fine grade flock onto the whole area. As with earth, grass is rarely a uniform colour outside of well-tended areas such as lawns and golf clubs etc. So I mixed around four different types together and sprinkled this onto the areas needing it. Don’t forget small individual areas where grass is clinging to life – even in the rutted earth of the tyre tracks, some hardy grass manages to grow!

I left the grass overnight (to grow?) and hoovered up the following evening. Put a Jaycloth over the end of the nozzle and this saves all the expensive flock ending up in the bin – I put it all back into the flock tin I keep for this purpose. Before beginning any further flocking work, such as scrub and small bushes etc, I added in the lineside fencing. I discovered the hard way that if you leave this until later, when bushes and trees are in position, then it is difficult to get the posts to run in an orderly line parallel to the railway. Also, it is an absolute nightmare to thread the wire through the fence posts!

The fencing in this case is from Ten Commandments, and a pack consists of 25 whitemetal posts, pre-drilled with holes for the wire that is included in the pack. This will make around three feet of fencing. The posts require painting, which can be a tedious process. I simply stood all mine up in some blu-tac and sprayed them with several coats of Halfords white primer. Holes were drilled out alongside the railway track at 27mm intervals, then the posts firmly attached with Superglue. These were left overnight, before the fiddly job of threading up the wire began. There is a technique here that I’ll pass on, but if anyone finds a better way, please let me know!

I start with the first post, and significantly, the lowest line of wire to install – don’t work from the top down, believe me! Cut the wire to the required length of the fencing section – in this case I have a continuous run of around four feet, so each strand of wire I used was cut to 4ft plus a couple of inches overhang as my ‘just-in-case’ margin. Using a pin, insert a small blob of Superglue into the fencepost hole, and gently thread the wire into the hole. Then leave it – several hours at least, if not overnight. It is absolutely crucial that the glue has hardened properly, as a fair amount of pressure will be placed on this joint. (N.B. It is a good idea to repeat this process all the way up the fence post, so that the four of five strands of wire will then all be ready when the time comes to move on. Just be careful not to get the wires tangled up).

Once the glue is hardened, give the wire a firm tug to check. If it doesn’t hold, repeat the gluing stage, as it must be secure. If it is firmly in place, you may now start the enviable job of threading it through the bottom hole of each fence post all the way along to the other end of the run of fencing. It is fiddly, and best done with a pair of tweezers which may be found in your good lady’s make up bag when she’s out (don’t forget to return them, and don’t bother to ask if you may borrow them for a modelling project. You will generally receive a hard glassy stare).

Once the wire is threaded all the way through to the other end, there should be a couple of inches of excess wire. I attached a bulldog clip onto this excess, and then pulled the wire tight to ensure that it is taut all the way through the run of fencing. A couple of spare lead weights were put on top of the clip to ensure that it doesn’t go anywhere. Then again using a pinhead, I dabbed spots of Superglue into the hole from which the wire is protruding. It is also useful to dab a spot of glue every foot or so down the run as insurance, but by no means necessary to do every post. I repeat this process with every strand of wire, always working up the posts as this makes the threading so much easier. Once the last bit of wire is threaded through the final hole, secure it with the bulldog clip and Superglue method, and relax. So what next? No, before a coffee and a Hobnob? Yes, return the tweezers.

Don't say I didn't warn you ...

The whole thing may be left overnight again, and when you return to the project, simply take a scalpel blade to the excess protruding wires and remove them. There should now a run of realistic and taut lineside fencing.

A note on Superglue – it is well worth investing in a good Cyanoacrytate glue from Eileen’s Emporium or a similar specialist. Avoid the cheap stuff from the Poundshop or supermarkets, as it is generally very poor quality.

Stratford comes to Peterborough

Following yesterday's successful visit to the Nene Valley Railway, I have now edited together my footage of class 31 loco, 31271 Stratford 1840 - 2001, named after the East London depot, of course. I have fond memories of these locos from my mispent youth in the North East, when my main spotting mate, Sam, and I would spend many a happy hour mooching around Gateshead Depot. During school holidays we'd blow our totally unearned pocket money on a Northumbrian Ranger ticket, and shuttle between Newcastle, Berwick, Carlisle and York behind whatever loco hauled train would turn up. Happy days!

Class 31's were primarily freight locos of course, working out of Gateshead and Thornaby. Local passenger trains at the time were in the hands of ageing, but solid class 101 DMU's. These were duly replaced by brand new and God-awful 'Pacer' units that had as much chance of turning up as a plumber who promises to 'be round first thing.' Consequently, Heaton depot put together a rake of Mk1 coaches and kept some spare 31's to haul it between Newcastle and Middlesborough as a semi-permenant stand-in. The track between Newcastle and Sunderland (where I lived at that time) is flat and well laid, so the 31's could really rock n' roll with the 3 or 4 coach rakes, timekeeping was spectacular to say the least!

Consequently it was great to see and hear one of these always under-rated beasts at work again, ironically enough, on a short rake of MK1 coaches. Enjoy!

Peterborough Revisited

Following my day-long saga at Peterborough on Friday (see my post on Grumpy), it may seem strange that I would voluntarily return there on Saturday in my own time. But this was different – the forecast was promising, and I wanted to return to the Nene Valley Railway in order to shoot some more film for one of my epic productions. Last weekend, you may recall, I happened upon a Thomas The Tank Engine weekend, and everything in sight had a big happy face on it – except me, of course. I don’t do happy.

Once again I turned up good and early to get the feel of the place and see what was running. The NVR’s website promised that steam loco 73050 City of Peterborough and diesel 31271 Stratford would be running. This was good news on both counts; I needed some good footage of City of Peterborough to complement the video I shot last week – most of which was taken on board the train to get round the happy face problem.


The class 31 was a bonus; I remember these locos from years ago when I lived in the North East and love the sound of their engines working hard. I’ve not seen or heard one since the 1980’s, so I was looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with the class.


Unlike most preserved lines that simply operate from A to B and back again, the NVR does it differently. All trains leave Wansford, the main station and operating base, and head west through the tunnel to Yarwell, a short distance away. The loco runs round, then the train returns to Wansford before proceeding to Peterborough Nene Valley, the easterly terminus. After another run round, the service heads back to Wansford and the procedure starts again. This is great for passengers and photographers alike.


At first it looked like there would be problems, as 73050 was on the Danish set of coaches – this did not fit in with my plans at all, as I needed the Mark 1 coaching stock set to match my previous footage! I’d planned a variety of locations to get the whole train on film, and this was not much good at all. However, a quick chat with the helpful driver discovered that the Danish coaches would be shunted out of the way for the day, and both locos would share the Mk1 set of stock. Excellent stuff!


Should you be wondering why a set of Danish coaches would be residing in Cambridgeshire, well, the NVR promotes preservation of foreign stock in a big way, and has an impressive collection of European stock in its collection, including some beautiful original Wagon Lits vehicles as seen on ‘Murder on The Orient Express.’ There are some fantastic Polish locos here as well, although mostly in a state of disrepair and years away from running in service. Perhaps the NVR could have a word with all the plumbers living in Peterborough, and get them to fix up these locos before they return to Warsaw and Gdansk due to the recession (the plumbers, not the locos). The NVR has been used for filming by a lot of companies; the best footage of the foreign stock can be seen in the James Bond film 'Octopussy' which features extensive use of the line and a special steam hauled train. This trailer from the film shows some of the railway scenes:

I feel that I should point out that this film is not a Grumpy Git Production.

I had my day planned in advance as the steam loco would only be running two return trips during the day, and I needed to be in my chosen locations ready for action, with finger poised above the hot shutter button. Because 73050 runs tender first to Peterborough, I would have precisely two opportunities to capture it running loco first on the westbound runs. I knew exactly where I needed to be and when for these runs, and the rest of the day was duly planned around these criteria. I factored in some class 31 filming as well, plus some general shunting moves around Wansford that could come in useful.

Well, I have to say that somebody up there was smiling on me today – maybe it was Saint Thomas? The weather conditions were perfect, all trains ran on time and I had no problems reaching my chosen locations via car, bike and on foot as the location demanded. The NVR staff were as friendly as ever, they gave long blasts on the whistle and waved as they passed by each time. I spent six hours on and around the line, and it was a very pleasant day indeed.

This was an added bonus, class 14 D9516 trundled past as I waited for the class 31 to arrive at the former station of Castor. It had been down to Ferry Meadows with the Royal Mail TPO set that was blocking a platform at Wansford Station.

The Nene Valley are holding a 1968 weekend of mixed steam and diesel operation, with extra services and freight trains running on 12/13th September, so expect to see me there. You never know, I might even have a happy face on …..

Exeter Revisited

I’ve been sorting out old photo files and tidying up the computer hard drive, as you do during a British ‘barbeque’ summer when it’s chucking it down outside. I came across a file of pictures I took of my first serious attempt at layout building – as far as I can recall they were taken between 2000 and 2003 on a film camera and subsequently scanned. The layout was pretty large – 14 x 7, and occupied almost a whole room in our house at the time. Work began in 1995, and the layout evolved in fits and starts as is so often the case. By 2003 it was getting there, although the time lag meant that whilst some areas were quite acceptable, others were well below standard. Then there is the ‘just what was I thinking / drinking?’ moments when I see certain pictures.

In 2004 the layout was quite well advanced (in construction terms, not modelling terms!) when a house move signalled the end, as it was far too large to move. By now, many in-built faults had come to light, and it was kinder to put it out of its misery and start again, using the lessons and techniques I’d picked up along the way – perhaps one of the greatest pleasures about the hobby. After all, modelling is all about learning new skills, then developing them and fine-tuning as you go. So I’ve decided, for better or worse, to show various scenes from this layout, because not only did I learn a lot from building it, I also had a lot of pleasure, a fair bit of frustration and the odd surprise along the way.

When I build a layout, I give plenty of thought as to where it is to be located, then work out the era, the sort of trains I wish to run and the general environment around the railway itself. With 14 x 7 to play with, I immediately fell into the ‘Oh, I’ve got more space than I know what to do with’ state of mind that entraps the unwary modeller. I did however, have a clear view of the area I wished to portray. I have a great fondness for the railways of Devon, ever since a family holiday at Dawlish in 1980 – ‘nuff said, everyone? Fast forward twenty years or so, and I wished to encapsulate part of this area. Naturally I wanted full-length passenger trains, as well as a freight yard, parcels services and engineer’s trains. I not only wanted jam on it, I wanted cream as well and the whole lot silver-served to me by a nubile page 3 girl. This ruled out anything along the seawall, and left only Exeter as a likely prospect.

Research discovered that just west of Exeter lay Marsh Barton industrial estate, and this was rail served even in the late 90’s for scrap and oil. The short branch line was the stub of the former through line to Newton Abbot via the inland route travelling through Chudleigh. Although truncated, the remains of the branch now terminated about a mile from the principal A30 dual carriageway, which in turn lay only one junction away from the M5 motorway. Ah ha! A plan began to form. Given the heavy congestion in the area during the summer months, how much better would it be to build a park-and-ride station at the end of the branch, given that the two major roads into the area met at this point, and on top of that, the proposed location was a greenfield site just ready for digging up and slapping down a railway station? (Before the tree huggers and badger lovers kick off, this is just fiction). Park up your car, and take the train to the delights of Torbay, Exeter city centre, Exmouth or Barnstaple. Naturally enough, some artistic licence would be required and bit of imaginative thinking, but it was an entirely feasible reason to build a station in the area, as well as a small freight yard that could handle road-to-rail containers – this was the Ed Burkhart era of EWS, and wagonload traffic was being trumpeted as the way forward for freight customers. I firmly believe that the Exeter park-and-ride idea will work in real life equally well, even though our current lords and masters just haven’t got enough vision to see it for themselves. Consequently, it will just have to wait until I get elected, and that will be one of the first things on my agenda. Back to the model though, and Exeter Parkway plus Exeter New Yard were born.

An overview of the station, with the buildings above the simple island platform. A Railnet parcels bay occupies the foreground, and the EWS New Yard is in the background.

All the trains that I operated on the layout were based around real services operating around the period, with details gleaned mostly from the excellent Freightmaster and Class One books (and internet service) by Jeff Rawlinson. Some tweaking was necessary, but by and large, operation was prototypical. In those days I have to say that I was far more interested in operating a layout than building it, a position that has completely turned around in the last five years as my skills evolved.

The northern end of the station, heading towards Chudleigh, although I did not envisage operation running along this line - these tracks simply s erved coach sidings and run-round loops for freight and parcels services.

As far as scenics went, I decided that the station should run underneath the main shopping street, which provided access off the main road into the car park. The other end of the layout would be more countrified, and the centre would be taken up with an industrial estate, representing the Marsh Barton area. A distinct lack of planning meant that I had five tracks all curving into the fiddle yard at the ‘country’ end, and as they disappeared into the backscene, this area needed a natural scenic break. You’ll see how I dealt with this thorny issue as we progress …

A glimpse of the town above the tracks, designed primarily to hide the tight curves providing access to the fiddle yard - or Exeter St Davids in real life.

Such was the background. I won’t go into the long details about building the layout itself; I’ll use the photos to speak about specific areas as this article proceeds. I must apologies for the pretty poor quality of photos used; many are low-res scans from original prints that got lost in two subsequent house moves, but this just a ramble down memory lane – and believe me, in many cases it is just as well that the image quality isn’t all that it could be!

This scene depicts the busy nature of the layout, and I tried to create a feeling of a bustling urban area. I re-used the idea of an urban cutting as a site for a station far more successfully when constructing Valkova Road - however, that layout owes its existence to Exeter Parkway and the lessons learned from building it.

The station buildings were actually two Faller supermarket kits joined together. The hexagonal shapes were interesting to work with, and created a contemporary look for a station that would have built in the 1990's.

The station throat at the Chudleigh end. The brick cutting walls have by now given way to traditional red Devon cliffs - they look rather gaudy in this view, but in reality were not quite as vibrant! The ballasting was truly awful. I attempted to do the whole lot in a day, and as it is a rather tedious job, I got bored and rushed it. Oh dear. Apart from looking horrendous, particularly in close-up, I had no end of problems with the points after that. Oh well, live and learn.


Unfortunately, very few pictures were taken (or survive) from during construction. This shot shows the first area of the layout to receive scenery. The cliffs and countryside at the northern end of the layout were built in a three day period when a modelling friend, Sam, came to stay. We created this set piece, which would later feature a hotel and beer garden, and it remained the best part of the layout throughout its life. This was my first bash at creating scenics, and was a very useful exercise.


Exeter New Yard was inspired by a real life version from my home town of Grantham. Everyday, an 'Enterprise' freight service would drop off a pair of container wagons into a siding. A lorry would then arrive, and the driver operated a large fork lift truck that would take the empty container from the lorry and load it onto a railway wagon. He would then take a fresh container from the recently arrived train and put it on the lorry and drive off - all in about 20 minutes. It was an ideal scenario for modelling, so I took the idea and expanded it as shown here. This area had originally been earmarked for a loco depot, but there was no convincing reason as to why a depot would be built in a such a location.

So that is an overview of my first layout, and as I dig out more pictures, I'll post them. It has brought back some happy memories going through them again.