Hello from Lincolnshire / Far East

[Vardnoodleblast]

Greetings! Decided to go WT from the 'Other Place' where I just observed or 'lurked' for over a decade after an unwarranted and aggressive put down response to one of my first posts. I like to read about others modelling efforts and ideas to gain inspiration and maybe return some in time.

My modelling interests and efforts are highly sporadic due to career and geography but entering a season of life where I will make my hobby my art and creative focus. My modelling efforts are in the following areas:

• 16mm - in planning and equipment collection for far too long is the 'Lynmouth & Exmoor' conceived as an east-west running neighbour of the Lynton & Barnstaple. Promising myself a start in the garden this year. Buildings and rolling stock ready to go for over a decade now.
• 7mm - Ventnor Esplanade planned as a mobile layout with a view to exhibit, a concept of extending the Isle of Wight Central from Ventnor West to sea level at Ventnor. The line design serves a wagon repair depot, small goods yard and an extended station on pier structure squeezed into a steeply graded terraced backdrop. Period is pre-War with Terriers, E1 and O2 traction. In reality it could have been engineered with a re-profiling of gradient from the St. Lawrence tunnel but there would be a need to double up on Terriers for anything other than some four-wheeler coaches. The E1 and O2 provide more powerful alternates.
• 4mm - Lyminster Junction is under construction as a 'fixed' OO rendition of the Yeovil and Exeter depicting a junction near / substituting for Axminster. The joining branch is a coastal line joining Dorchester to the Y&E via the mythical coastal town of Lyminster. This is the second version of the line, the first being housed in a garden shed which saw too much attention from rodents. Mk 2 is in a studio room over my garage. Chosen period is mid-50's.
• HOn3-'Engineer Pass' - having spent many, many moons with work, friends and family in the US, the allure of the Three Foot was too much to resist and my first 'love' has to be the Southern Pacific 'Slim Princess'. However, the Owen's Valley desert landscape would make for a limited scope landscape. Engineer Pass as a concept is located in Colorado. It represents a devilishly engineered east-west missing link through a canyon in the Rocky Mountains just west of the Continental Divide. Inspired by the D&RGW, the model depicts the railroad intertwined with the river and a series of rapids and waterfalls. The railroad right of way clings to a fragile existence alongside the river and the design suggests the line has been modified over the years to accommodate longer freight trains needing a place to pass each other on the Denver to Durango route. A single Depot serves the 'Fubarite Mine' and numerous local mining settlements, mostly abandoned by the time of depiction. There are three modules designed to force viewing into the layout to impart the sense of restricted viewing you would have in a steep sided canyon. As a geologist by profession, getting the rocks right or at least plausible is a must as I am my own worst critic. Getting the rocks wrong for me is the same illusion shattering blow when bridges are modelled with spans that would collapse with the passage of the first train.The only barrier on this project is a rebuild of the third module that got damaged in a house move. Rolling stock is a collection of Blackstone Mikados plus brass C-16's. It has-been built for the possibility of exhibiting but that is a long way off being ready.

My intention is to 'thread' my progress on these projects to stimulate my progress and maybe get some mutual mojo boosting as well as critiquing. I still enjoy seeing the progress of other accomplished practitioners of the art in the 'Other Place' but I can live without aggression, point scoring and self-aggrandisement.

I guess that is why you are all here!!

 

[Dog Star]

Welcome Ian,

Your first post is so full of detailed scenarios of your modelling, such a broad range of interests that you shall fit in nicely. The best thing to do next is post a good handful of photos of your work.

regards, Graham

 

[michael mott]

Welcome Ian, yes I agree with Graham it would be great to see what you have done, that is quite a range of scales.
Michael

 

[Vardnoodleblast]

Welcome Ian,

Your first post is so full of detailed scenarios of your modelling, such a broad range of interests that you shall fit in nicely. The best thing to do next is post a good handful of photos of your work.

regards, Graham

Thank-you Graham. I will post some pictures as soon as I can overcome a Mac issue which arose yesterday and I found myself locked out of my folders after updating some disk cleaning software. Good at rocks, rubbish at IT.

Ian

 

[Vardnoodleblast]

Thank-you Graham. I will post some pictures as soon as I can overcome a Mac issue which arose yesterday and I found myself locked out of my folders after updating some disk cleaning software. Good at rocks, rubbish at IT.

Ian

Have found some pictures I can access. This is W1 'Medina' and W25 'Godshill'for 'Ventnor Esplanade'. 'Godshill' was my first brass 7mm effort made from an Alan Gibson kit. The E1 was acquired rather than built by me and is at the point of livery choice (pre-War to go with Dapol Terriers W13 'Carisbrooke' and W14 'Bembridge') or BR black. A Connosieur O2 kit awaits the magic ingredient of time to complete the motive power spread to cover the pre and post War periods.

 

[Vardnoodleblast]

Thank-you Graham. I will post some pictures as soon as I can overcome a Mac issue which arose yesterday and I found myself locked out of my folders after updating some disk cleaning software. Good at rocks, rubbish at IT.

Ian

I am not yet able to access all my pictures but here are some early shots of 'Engineer Pass' from a few years ago. The depot building and freight shed come from two kits for the RGS Rico Depot cobbled into standalone structures to fit a very constrained site. The water tower is an 'n' gauge product which goes well with the HO buildings. The bunk house is from a lighthouse keeper's kit of an origin I cannot recall but I added a plastikard roof with the panel effect from masking off sections with tape.

The painting scheme is not RGS but represents the independent ownership of the right of way through the pass. The back story goes that the pass through the mountains was discovered by a prospecting geologist who with an eye for business secured the right of way and then granted running rights to the RGS. Part of the deal was building the depot facilities. In latter years the DRGW negotiated rights such was the time advantage given by the Engineer Pass Route to reach Lake City and then Denver. The depot is painted in the house colours of the independent Engineer Pass Railway Company.

When I can post more pictures I can put the model in a better context but in the background the track takes a hard right turn through a very narrow canyon shared with the river. The depot loop is now a siding serving the loading dock of the 'Fubarite Mine' and the passing of trains is achieved by a bridge crossing the river roughly where the last passenger car is and running along a freshly carved out ledge on the far side. The Depot line crosses the river on a trestle to regain the original right of way. The track is now timbered in to permit wheeled vehicle access to the depot and bunk house as was seemingly quite common back in the day.

The third picture shows the very narrow 'keyhole' gorge where the full width is bridged to allow the line to take advantage of an eased radius. Timber baulks canalise the river hinting at the constant battle to keep the line functional.

The operating style of the layout is intended to be more 'watching the trains go by' with very limited switching. A short spur serves a Maintenance of Way depot on the other side of the river to the Depot connected to the 'new' loop line and there is just this single siding in the foreground.

The intent of the model is to portray the atmosphere of remoteness and vulnerability to Mother Nature. Raliroads through these landscapes had a very tenuous grip on existence which rose and fell with the fortunes of the extractive mineral industries. I have sought to bring that out with features such as the 'new' loop line and a truncated piece of line severed by a washout.

 

[Daddyman]

The American layout is already very atmospheric. Looking forward to seeing how a geologist gets rocks right. I agree with you that getting them wrong is as bad as any architectural/engineering error.

 

[Vardnoodleblast]

The American layout is already very atmospheric. Looking forward to seeing how a geologist gets rocks right. I agree with you that getting them wrong is as bad as any architectural/engineering error.

Thank-you. In the case of Engineer Pass I have built up the rock with cans of sealant foam. That, if built up layer by layer gives a head start on rock bedding. Then much carving with an Exacto saw blade takes place. A longer hacksaw blade is a good tool for near horizontal bedding simply because it allows you to keep a longer line going in the strata. If it doesn't look right first time around it can be resprayed and redone. I then mix up a weak wash of polyfilla and brush it over the surface until it looks less sealant like in texture.

I spend a lot of time looking at images of the 'real' location on line where possible to get inspiration, plus I try to work in features that appeal such as the 'High Line' on the Silverton Line and a rock portal leading to it.

In the Rockies, canyon rock faces are pretty raw due to aggressive weathering. Engineer Pass is above the tree line sp vegetation will be scrubby and located preferentially in joints and bedding planes where the rock detritus has reduced to a soil. So getting jointing to look believable starts with carving with vertical strokes with the blade that intersect at 45 degrees and then dragging the blade downwards over the area pulls out material hopefully giving the desired effect. Any smooth faces are then roughed up by combing the saw teeth over the surface.

The design of Engineer Pass has the river at just below track level at the eastern (right hand end) and falling to a level of about 1.5 feet at the western end. The river drops via three waterfalls and I carve a distinct bed of rock from the top of the waterfall and into the surrounding rock faces to represent a harder band or bed that gives rise to the waterfall in the first place.

Additionally I have carved in geological features such as disconformities or wedging out of units in the bedding or faults with an obvious sequence of bed thicknesses repeated but elevated on the other (upthrown) side of the fault. To the trained geological eye it will trigger the inner 'rock hound' as geological patterns repeat from small to large scale but are symptomatic of the same processes. Cracks in your plaster from house settlement will repeat in pattern in the San Andreas fault system as they area response to a process.

The thing I struggle with is painting the stuff! I've used spray cans, brushed acrylics, different colour base coats, nothing yet really gets the 'aaaah' factor!

I've found some more images :

1) A more recent shot which gives an idea of how I intend the layout to be viewed. Nearest is module 2 where you are looking towards the "Hanging Rock' entrance to the canyon. On module 1 you can see the timber stiffener which has since been extended to module 2. The upright piece of ply at this end will be cut away in the end to give a continuous view into the layout from module 2 into module 3. The 'pelmet' will be supported by a metal support from the back of the module to the front. My thought is to put a material 'hood' from front to back of the layout to control the view. It can be lit underneath accordingly.

What I seek to do is to effectively place the viewer in the canyon. Being in there would mean that the individuals view is very restricted because of the canyon walls. Therefore not being able to get relief from that perspective because of the controlled viewing forces the perspective and the atmosphere? If you have the opportunity to go down to railroad level below the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado you can see up and down the canyon but the view fore and aft is very constrained and quite ominous.

The idea in the layout design is to convey a message that horizontal surfaces are at a premium so the depot is broken up into three short buildings in a confined area and are also are part built out over the canyon side on a timber platform. In the back history the trestle is the 'original' alignment before the new loop line was hewn from the rock faces the opposing side of the river to accommodate longer trains needing to pass one another.


2) Hanging Rock - gives an idea of the keyhole viewing cut outs in module 1 and the Trout Lake water tank. I am a little further on with canalising the river in this view.



3) Under Hanging Rock - a mock up of an east bound train heading towards the Continental Divide, taken before the timber work was installed. The train is passing from the 'new' loop line to the original ROW.



4) Module 1- looking in from the eastern end towards Hanging Rock, a washout and realignment over the girder bridge is the story here. Eventually the abandoned ROW will be completed with bent and twisted rails plus upturned and partly submerged wrecked freight cars in the washout, simply uneconomical to be recovered. Trout Lake water tank is too imposing to group it with the depot buildings around the corner but located here it provides a reason for trains to pause in the scenery. The whole thing will look better after a resin for for the water!



5) Looking east from Trout Lake tank to the washout and the diverted alignment that plunges through a spur in the canyon side via a tunnel. This leads to the storage loops. The rock faces need a lot more work in this view and the road bed leading to the bridge will have baulk timber protecting it from the meltwater torrent threatening another washout.

The whole layout will need piles of rock detritus at the foot of the canyon sides and then scrubby vegetation added to rock joints.

 

[Daddyman]

Looks brilliant!

The thing I struggle with is painting the stuff! I've used spray cans, brushed acrylics, different colour base coats, nothing yet really gets the 'aaaah' factor!

My first port of call would be an airbrush, as it can be used to produce a "dusty" effect, whereas aerosols and acrylics always seem to dry with a satin finish. An airbrush also allows more subtle layering. Sometimes the colours used in the layers can be implausible. I paint all steam locos Humbrol flesh below the footplate, and then add darker colours on top. It might be that there is an equally implausible base colour for the rocks in Engineer Pass...

 

[Vardnoodleblast]

Looks brilliant!

My first port of call would be an airbrush, as it can be used to produce a "dusty" effect, whereas aerosols and acrylics always seem to dry with a satin finish. An airbrush also allows more subtle layering. Sometimes the colours used in the layers can be implausible. I paint all steam locos Humbrol flesh below the footplate, and then add darker colours on top. It might be that there is an equally implausible base colour for the rocks in Engineer Pass...

I think you are right. I have an airbrush that is so far unused. I think I need to lighten the far side of the canyon to increase the illusion of depth. Humbrol flesh! I would never have thought of that but will give it a try.

Greetings! Decided to go WT from the 'Other Place' where I just observed or 'lurked' for over a decade after an unwarranted and aggressive put down response to one of my first posts. I like to read about others modelling efforts and ideas to gain inspiration and maybe return some in time.

My modelling interests and efforts are highly sporadic due to career and geography but entering a season of life where I will make my hobby my art and creative focus. My modelling efforts are in the following areas:

• 16mm - in planning and equipment collection for far too long is the 'Lynmouth & Exmoor' conceived as an east-west running neighbour of the Lynton & Barnstaple. Promising myself a start in the garden this year. Buildings and rolling stock ready to go for over a decade now.
• 7mm - Ventnor Esplanade planned as a mobile layout with a view to exhibit, a concept of extending the Isle of Wight Central from Ventnor West to sea level at Ventnor. The line design serves a wagon repair depot, small goods yard and an extended station on pier structure squeezed into a steeply graded terraced backdrop. Period is pre-War with Terriers, E1 and O2 traction. In reality it could have been engineered with a re-profiling of gradient from the St. Lawrence tunnel but there would be a need to double up on Terriers for anything other than some four-wheeler coaches. The E1 and O2 provide more powerful alternates.
• 4mm - Lyminster Junction is under construction as a 'fixed' OO rendition of the Yeovil and Exeter depicting a junction near / substituting for Axminster. The joining branch is a coastal line joining Dorchester to the Y&E via the mythical coastal town of Lyminster. This is the second version of the line, the first being housed in a garden shed which saw too much attention from rodents. Mk 2 is in a studio room over my garage. Chosen period is mid-50's.
• HOn3-'Engineer Pass' - having spent many, many moons with work, friends and family in the US, the allure of the Three Foot was too much to resist and my first 'love' has to be the Southern Pacific 'Slim Princess'. However, the Owen's Valley desert landscape would make for a limited scope landscape. Engineer Pass as a concept is located in Colorado. It represents a devilishly engineered east-west missing link through a canyon in the Rocky Mountains just west of the Continental Divide. Inspired by the D&RGW, the model depicts the railroad intertwined with the river and a series of rapids and waterfalls. The railroad right of way clings to a fragile existence alongside the river and the design suggests the line has been modified over the years to accommodate longer freight trains needing a place to pass each other on the Denver to Durango route. A single Depot serves the 'Fubarite Mine' and numerous local mining settlements, mostly abandoned by the time of depiction. There are three modules designed to force viewing into the layout to impart the sense of restricted viewing you would have in a steep sided canyon. As a geologist by profession, getting the rocks right or at least plausible is a must as I am my own worst critic. Getting the rocks wrong for me is the same illusion shattering blow when bridges are modelled with spans that would collapse with the passage of the first train.The only barrier on this project is a rebuild of the third module that got damaged in a house move. Rolling stock is a collection of Blackstone Mikados plus brass C-16's. It has-been built for the possibility of exhibiting but that is a long way off being ready.

My intention is to 'thread' my progress on these projects to stimulate my progress and maybe get some mutual mojo boosting as well as critiquing. I still enjoy seeing the progress of other accomplished practitioners of the art in the 'Other Place' but I can live without aggression, point scoring and self-aggrandisement.

I guess that is why you are all here!!

I tend to be a bit 'free range' with my modelling projects, hence the range of scales. I really enjoy the research element and working that into plans or the models themselves. I also will 'bend' history, I suppose every 'what might have been railway' is bending history but if the research suggests it is a plausible then I feel my models have a story to tell.

For example, for the Ventnor Esplanade project I think that if the increase in traffic had materialised because of a better sited terminus, that an earlier need for a bogie push-pull set may have arisen. I also liked the look of the earlier Chatham bogie stock that could be seen on the Island pre-War and when depicted with the Terriers they present an image of the IoW system before the O2 plus longer Brighton and SECR vehicles typical of the post-WW2 era became the norm.

So began a project to create a Push-pull set of that period. I have used the Slaters Midland coach kits as a basis. I began the project while enduring two weeks quarantine under a pretty inhumane regime in the Far East during the height of the pandemic. The kits are a gift to the 'cut and shut' method as they are already 'cut'. The composite trailer I particularly like as it captures the look of the prototype already. The Driving Trailer has a standard Chatham P/P end which uses one of the non-curved compartment walls into which the windows were cut. Reading the Oakwood book on the SECR steam hauled stock gives tacit support to the idea that an extra P/P trailer conversion was plausible. Having got this far I have paused the project until I am ready to start the layout build. That will give me time to decide if I still like the idea or need to think about going back to a conventional brake vehicle. The Slater's kit is a beauty with all the brass parts to add. I didn't have the right tools with me in quarantine to make a start on folding up the bogies, I was fortunate enough to avoid surrendering razor saws and scalpels going into quarantine.



To provide motive power for Ventnor Esplanade the pre-WW2 era I have two Dapol Terriers, W13 'Carisbrooke' and W14 'Bembridge'. There are a limited number of simple renaming possible for W9 'Fishbourne' with sandboxes below the footplate level. However, naming these two commemorates some personal things. Bembridge, where my late parents spent their honeymoon and about which my Father complained that he bought a return ticket to Bembridge but the line closed while they were there and they had to take a bus back! Carisbrooke reminds me of a visit to the castle with my Grandmother who took my sister and I for a Whitsun holiday to the Island. At the time there was much more readily seen remnants of the IoW system still there in the late 1960's. The line to Newport was still in situ and we enjoyed the ride on the first generation of Underground stock to and from the ferry. Lot's of good memories to add to those from the early '60's when on arrival on the Island I stood over the entrance to Ryde Tunnel watching O2's descend and appear.


I've yet to pluck up the courage to re-line the nameplate surrounds!

 

[Vardnoodleblast]

Greetings! Decided to go WT from the 'Other Place' where I just observed or 'lurked' for over a decade after an unwarranted and aggressive put down response to one of my first posts. I like to read about others modelling efforts and ideas to gain inspiration and maybe return some in time.

My modelling interests and efforts are highly sporadic due to career and geography but entering a season of life where I will make my hobby my art and creative focus. My modelling efforts are in the following areas:

• 16mm - in planning and equipment collection for far too long is the 'Lynmouth & Exmoor' conceived as an east-west running neighbour of the Lynton & Barnstaple. Promising myself a start in the garden this year. Buildings and rolling stock ready to go for over a decade now.
• 7mm - Ventnor Esplanade planned as a mobile layout with a view to exhibit, a concept of extending the Isle of Wight Central from Ventnor West to sea level at Ventnor. The line design serves a wagon repair depot, small goods yard and an extended station on pier structure squeezed into a steeply graded terraced backdrop. Period is pre-War with Terriers, E1 and O2 traction. In reality it could have been engineered with a re-profiling of gradient from the St. Lawrence tunnel but there would be a need to double up on Terriers for anything other than some four-wheeler coaches. The E1 and O2 provide more powerful alternates.
• 4mm - Lyminster Junction is under construction as a 'fixed' OO rendition of the Yeovil and Exeter depicting a junction near / substituting for Axminster. The joining branch is a coastal line joining Dorchester to the Y&E via the mythical coastal town of Lyminster. This is the second version of the line, the first being housed in a garden shed which saw too much attention from rodents. Mk 2 is in a studio room over my garage. Chosen period is mid-50's.
• HOn3-'Engineer Pass' - having spent many, many moons with work, friends and family in the US, the allure of the Three Foot was too much to resist and my first 'love' has to be the Southern Pacific 'Slim Princess'. However, the Owen's Valley desert landscape would make for a limited scope landscape. Engineer Pass as a concept is located in Colorado. It represents a devilishly engineered east-west missing link through a canyon in the Rocky Mountains just west of the Continental Divide. Inspired by the D&RGW, the model depicts the railroad intertwined with the river and a series of rapids and waterfalls. The railroad right of way clings to a fragile existence alongside the river and the design suggests the line has been modified over the years to accommodate longer freight trains needing a place to pass each other on the Denver to Durango route. A single Depot serves the 'Fubarite Mine' and numerous local mining settlements, mostly abandoned by the time of depiction. There are three modules designed to force viewing into the layout to impart the sense of restricted viewing you would have in a steep sided canyon. As a geologist by profession, getting the rocks right or at least plausible is a must as I am my own worst critic. Getting the rocks wrong for me is the same illusion shattering blow when bridges are modelled with spans that would collapse with the passage of the first train.The only barrier on this project is a rebuild of the third module that got damaged in a house move. Rolling stock is a collection of Blackstone Mikados plus brass C-16's. It has-been built for the possibility of exhibiting but that is a long way off being ready.

My intention is to 'thread' my progress on these projects to stimulate my progress and maybe get some mutual mojo boosting as well as critiquing. I still enjoy seeing the progress of other accomplished practitioners of the art in the 'Other Place' but I can live without aggression, point scoring and self-aggrandisement.

I guess that is why you are all here!!

And now for the 16mm illustrated from my 'sent mail' folder:

1) A Double combine made from REA G Scale components. Since painted in Pullman Green. The Lynmouth & Exmoor will operate some imported American narrow gauge stock in addition to L&BR stock thanks to a mythical intertwined history:



In the photo it is stood behind a Pearse 'Lew'. It is re-wheeled with 32mm sets. I have also built a saloon but cutting and shutting bodies. It too now is painted in Pullman Green. If they really look out of place scale-wise, I will sell them on.

Below is an imported reefer. Evidence of repainting can be seen. I achieve this by printing the lettering and cutting out stencils. Not sure that in the UK ice lockers would be retained. Cost would probably be a factor in their removal so perhaps likely to have been left in situ! It is built from a Bachmann Big Hauler kit and mounted on 32mm gauge wheel sets. This will not look too bad behind the L&BR locos in this scale. Would it be churn traffic or fish along the north coast of Exmoor?
I have one further box car kit to prepare in the future which will be simply a goods traffic vehicle finished in a dilapidated sun-bleached L&ER livery.



I don't have a picture but this is a PowerPoint livery mock up of the line's most powerful piece of motive power. It is an Argyll Models Victoria Railways NA. It has been named 'Castle Rock' after the prominent feature n the Valley of the Rocks near Lynton. The mythical back history is that the L&ER bought the loco at the same time as the L&BR bought 'Lyn'. The line needed powerful haulage to serve silver and iron ore mines in the Combe Martin area. Ex-Maine 2' Godolas were used to haul the ore out. The Gondolas now are resplendent in SR freight brown post-Grouping. From the NA I have removed the fitted large headlight and taillight plus the toolbox adjacent to the smoke box. Consequently the similarities to 'Lyn' are evident.

I am intending to get on with constructing the garden line this year and giving this beast the opportunity to stretch its legs.

 

[Vardnoodleblast]

Welcome Ian,

Your first post is so full of detailed scenarios of your modelling, such a broad range of interests that you shall fit in nicely. The best thing to do next is post a good handful of photos of your work.

regards, Graham

To finish off with a couple of 4mm projects, firstly an alternative to the Hornby IWC Train pack is this:



Old Triang/Hornby Rocket coaches with roof modifications and a repaint to represent an Isle of Wight Central train from the turn of the previous Century. I would really like to replicate an IoWCR Terrier in the full red livery but perhaps a borrowed FYN no: 2 might happen first!

Then for Lyminster Junction a project to produce one of the extended smoke deflector West Country Pacifics 34004 'Yeovil' in early 1950's condition. Found a bashed up 'Bude' body on eBay and set about repairs. I used Albert Goodall components from RT Models to help out.

She is finished in a worn condition with joints in the casing picked out for concentration of dirt. I find a significant improvement in appearance comes from replacing the Hornby bogie wheels with a more scale equivalent. Still some more work to go but I am pleased with how a wreck was turned into something with some character: