Greetings from an eclectician...

ianmianmianm

New Member
Hello all,

A refugee from RM Web here, just finding that the pop-ups and lack of pictures makes casual browsing really hard work. I wish RMWeb every success but I will be posting here from now on.

About me - I turned 50 today so that means I have been active in the hobby for 38 years, with breaks of probably a cumulative 8 years in that time. Projects have come and go and modelling has been very limited by being a bit of a global nomad for most of the last decade - but some micro layouts have managed to travel by hold luggage unscathed thanks to being built into the Really Useful wrapping paper boxes and packed into a big holdall.

I currently sit on stock for HOe narrow gauge and trams, HOm Spanish, and a few HOm Portuguese bodyshells for railcars. And a tray of 3D printed Bermuda railway stock, with another tray of 3D printed LUL and DLR units.

The next initial activity is a Spanish FEVE metre gauge layout set in the 1980s. This is likely to be completed pretty swiftly as everything needed is in hand, I am just mocking up with the real buildings. It is a micro with two offstage wings, a 4ft scenic section and will use short trains of single or 2-car units as well as short freight. The idea is a what-if - imagine another Spanish island had a railway- maybe the Canaries, another Balearic, or a totally imaginary one. There are nods to Mallorca on there but it isn't a direct representation.

The layout pics below show some of my HOe stuff being used for staging but the HOm units are seen separately. It will also feature a tram line at the rear and a small reversing and park-up area for a radio controlled bus. It'll be DCC controlled, initially not sound-based but this may change. I like to plan my trackplan by putting the structures in place first, so I can consider the plan as a whole, rather than buildings fitting around the track.

After this one is into the tails of activity, I will be rebuilding the DC single line Bermuda Railway in N. This will be a 3 x 1 self-contained cameo board.

Pics of these two strands are attached. At the moment I don't know whither next after these are done, the LUL and Portuguese stock takes up minimal room so will sit on it for a while - I am even considering a Portuguese Micro which can function as the fiddle yard for the Spanish layout, and vice versa.

If you do happen to have anything Spanish in HOm (FEVE especially) that you are looking to part with, shout me up.
I expect the FEVE layout to be complete toward the end of the summer and am hoping to exhibit it, once a change of car has taken place.

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The SMS Bermuda module. The stock and buildings are 3D prints. This operated with two fiddlesticks.

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The layout was built in Bermuda (I have since left) so is pictured here and below against the landscape of Paget Parish. It travelled home safely in BA hold luggage.

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The prototype closed in 1951 so it would be rude not to sepia it.

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Mocking up for the FEVE HOm layout, the building is by Bachmann. It since has a canopy (probably a mistake)


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A mixture of Northern Portuguese and Canarian town scenes stuck to an ID Backscenes desert backscene. I am placing buildings with a gap to allow for a suitable Canarian landscape to be printed as a backscene in the future. The 9mm gauge tramway will run in front of these shops and houses.


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Using my freelance HOe railcars to get a "feel" for the station. These are repainted Tomytec HOe units with a Lilliput centre car. As soon as my HOm units are complete, almost all the HOe stock will be up for sale to avoid me starting another project for it....! The blue and cream bus on the left is radio-controlled and will elerge from between the buildings, three-point turn, park up, and then toddle off.


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Billard FEVE railcars under build. These are Trenmilitaria kits. The driving car roof-humps were gone by the late 80sin most locations but they are signature features so I am imagining my island line kept them. The trailers were not driving converted so I am going to design the station to "step-back" the trailer so an arriving 2-car set will detach its trailer which will be collected from its opposite end and driven back off stage left. I am also allowing for provision of an off-stage on the right to allow for through-running. We are very blessed with provision for FEVE and its descendants, with 3 or 4 full kits for multiple units, at least 3 diesel and 2 electric locos available as kits or RTR, and 7 or 8 motive power items available as good 3D prints. My next unit will be a single-car FEVE Ferrostaal unit as used in Mallorca, and probably in the 1980s white and yellow.



343456972_115022411589173_129937144029088182_n.jpgWe are a bit short on Spanish vehicles in the marketplace but some of the Norev French marques are lovely. There was a specific watershed in the mid-80s concerning the brands and types of road vehicle allowed. A Skaledale cricket hut makes a fine builders' merchant building.



Well that's the modelling world of Electic Ian (eclectician) - anyone else modelling FEVE please do give me a shout.
 
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