The kiss of death

I don't know why it is but each time I've started a layout specific blog the project seems to splutter to an undignified halt. I've sort of made up my mind to try a new approach, and to post progress here rather than there. Of course it will somewhat spoil any continuity, but with luck at least there'll be something to read with some regularity in one place. So while I won't be taking down, Morfa, The Ganllwyd Tram and En Vacances, I also won't be adding to them.

By way of recompense here is one of the latest views on Morfa, showing the current scenic progress on the Abertafol curve. By choosing a careful angle I've managed to give an impression that matters are more advanced than they really are, but never mind it does hint at how things might be.

My resin casting blog/website Rushby's Resins bucks this trend and will be updated as and when new products emerge. Hopefully this month I'll have news of the latest resin kit as a start has been made on masters and moulds.

Not taking things seriously

Lately most of my model making has been focussed on the narrow gauge world. It's been skewed this way partly due to uncertainty about the long term future of Morfa, my big EM gauge trainset and partly because of the momentum that my resin casting business 'Rushby's Resins' has gained. I'm only now beginning to redress the balance by indulging in a bit of HO standard gauge modelling. Currently on my workbench is a representation of a Czechoslovakian diesel shunter, taking shape from the butchered remains of a cheap Piko train set loco. 

Here's what it looked like before I started.

Here's what it looks like now.

It's a way of being finished, but I'm already very happy with how it's shaping up. The whole point of this tale isn't about how well I've done, but what liberties I'm taking with the model. Comparing what I've done with what the real thing looks like reveals differences, which in the normal scheme of things there would be an expectation that I would address. The narrow gauge world is to a large extent very tolerant of models that look like a particular loco, wagon or carriage, but which aren't slavish copies. It's intrigued me why this should be so, and if it would be possible to apply similar practises to standard gauge models. If pressed to justify this methodology I point at paintings where much is left out or simplified, yet the essence of the subject is there, clear as day. It's difficult to judge whether this non-finescale approach will work, but if I look at my narrow gauge models then I believe that it can and should.

For your viewing pleasure

Last week I was sent a DVD, Right Track 19, Layout Planning and Design, to review. Now I'm a print and paper chap at heart, and while I have a DVD player it gathers dust, so what would I make of it? I watched it (2 hours, 25 minutes) in a couple of sessions, and enjoyed it. However sayings it's good, you should consider buying it isn't much of a review so lets look at it in a bit more detail.

What's it about?

The DVD takes the viewer through the stages that Paul and Paul use to develop a layout design from an inspiring subject, test it, and refine it to produce a finished layout. On the way subjects like coupling choice, perspective and backscene are covered too.

Who's if for?

I had wondered just who the DVD was aimed at; in part it assumes some prior knowledge of both model and prototype practice, yet the worked examples are perhaps smaller in scale than an established enthusiast might normally choose. On reflection though I think it's pitched pretty much spot on. It would take a newcomer to the hobby who wonders why his or her collection of models doesn't look like a real railway and doesn't please the eye, a long way in their quest towards a better layout. It would equally work for the established model maker, expert at the mechanics of construction but unsure of their artistic abilities to create a pleasing and coherent design.

 Those with ambitions greater than the scope of the small project layout, illustrated under construction above, should easily be able to extrapolate the concepts and process to a much larger scheme. Though shown in their finished state, Paul Marshall-Potter gives a tour of two larger layouts to demonstrate how such thinking has been applied.

What's it like to watch

Even though it's easy enough to digest in big chunks the DVD is broken down into several 'chapters' making it simple to dip in and out, or to go back and refresh ones memory of a particular piece. Both presenters deliver in a pleasant and engaging manner to camera, not always a strong suit of the railway enthusiast video. I particularly enjoyed the first half of the DVD, the initial stages of working up a design being an interest of mine. Paul Lunn explains this process with clarity and crispness. Both presenters discuss the mock up stage, where 2-D plan becomes a full sized simple 3-D realisation. It was good to see personal preferences coming into play here, as each argued the case for a particular size or site for a structure. Paul Marshall-Potter takes this a stage further turning a full sized mock up into an actual layout, showing the further refinement undertaken along the way.

 

I reckon that most modellers would get a lot out of the DVD, certainly those who haven't really considered design beyond track plan would. I'm going to lend my copy to a mate, a beginner whose present layout has evolved from a circuit to include loco depot and branch line. He's shortly going to embark on a rebuild, I've no hesitation that he'll find this DVD to be of benefit.

To order or for further information go to the Activity Media website.

Tidy like

This week I have mostly been tidying up. I'm not sure how it happened but the big empty space that was my playroom had evolved into a cluttered mess. Admittedly it had taken seven years to get there, but perhaps it was the slow, steady, incremental progression to it's awful state that had blinded me to what was happening. It took a trip out to Birmingham Museum to make the penny drop that I'd be happier and more motivated if I did something about it. Various plans were hatched, some included the dismantling of my big trainset 'Morfa'. In the end a less drastic course of action was taken. It's taken a week or so to get half way through the tidying but already I'm more motivated to get up there and do things. Here are before and after photos.

Reality and Fantasy

Mutually exclusive terms I hear you say. Well I'm not so sure; let me explain .....

For the past few months I've been building a narrow gauge micro layout in 009. The notion was to build a layout to fit into an old leather suitcase I had found, however nothing much had happened until we took a holiday in Belgium. Freed from the practicalities of layout building I had time to plan and concoct a history for the line and its fictional setting of Little Point, a sand spit protruding into the North Sea. Many of the elements of this back story are plainly fantasy, a sort of Emett-esque rendering of an Ealing Comedy. It's this barely believable, imagined train of events which make the line live in my mind and motivate me to press on with its construction. In many ways it's as real (or even more real) than my more grounded essays like Shell Island and Morfa. Here, have some pictures.

 

While I hope you will have enjoyed the photos I'd also like to think that the railway seems plausible to the viewer. What I'd like to point out at this stage is that none of the component parts is anyway near an accurate copy of a real life example. All the bits and pieces I've constructed into a whole are at best loosely based on something similar, but more often are utter figments of my imagination.

Middle of the road

Amongst modellers and enthusiasts trams get a bit of a mixed reception. Some enjoy pretty much anything that travels on rails, for others the fact that they are almost always single self contained units diminishes their train-ness and therefore the attraction. I like rails in the road, from the most basic of level crossings to dockside networks set in cobbles, there's something incongruous about them, they hold the promise of rail borne locomotion appearing in a mundane setting. Visiting Hay on Wye earlier this week I was pleased to find this gem for £1.49 in an Oxfam shop.

At first sight it's not hugely promising. The better railway books usually focus tightly on their subject, whether that be line, rolling stock or region; this one gives a general overview of tramways in the British Isles and Eire. However the writing is clear, interesting and authoritative; the pictures absolutely fascinate. There are absolutely no fillers just there to make up the weight, each image illustrates a feature of the tramways, each one tells a unique story, each one is visually attractive in its own right. My favourite is this one of a cable gripper car in London. To my mind it cries out to be modelled. Though this is the one that gets my motor running, the rest of the illustrations are similarly inspiring.

Triang Toys

A mate of mine came round a few weeks ago, and after a while the talk turned to how well provided for we are these days not only by the big rtr players but also the manufacturers of kits and bits. It's been a while but I think the phrase he used was 'what would we do without Bachmann and Parkside these days?'. I must admit it set me thinking, but contrary bugger that I am, mostly about the good stuff from the past. I've made no secret that I prefer the Hornby Derby type two body moulding as a starting point for models than the Bachmann offering. I also have a soft spot for the Dublo plastic wagon bodies and the Airfix rolling stock kits. My latest stock project pleases me no end in that it's based on Triang offerings from the early sixties.

As the branch line on my layout Morfa is to be modelled in the throes of demolition I thought it a good idea if I provided the engineers with some lifting tackle. The crane is Triang's model of the Cowans Sheldon 10T hand crane, and is at the start of the tarting up process. The runner is a model I put together some years ago and uses the Triang single bolster as its basis. Though my example runs on a cut and shut Parkside underframe the model which inspired it was described as Having modified Airfix parts; which is close to where we came in.