David Holman

Exhibitors are all being asked to sign Wuflu declaration forms. Maybe masks should reflect the period of the exhibits - so Fintonagh might have WW2 gas masks, while any Victorian era operators should sport the big brass diving helmets(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)

Gonna need a big display case!

That is a splendid artefact and deserves pride of place somewhere. Can't be many such things, though didn't the Swilly have something similar?

Fintonagh is appearing at Alexandra Palace in a couple of weeks. Come and say hello if you are going.

I thought he was an England spin bowler...

A friend at the model club found this in a charity shop recently. Cost him two quid, as he thought I might like it. Is the Pope a Catholic???

A 12" to the foot Peco point motor, with a bell?

Looks like a fine start.

Can only ageee with JB. Indeed, nosebleed level for me! Very impressive.

Nice article and fine pictures of Chris Romain's 10mm scale model of Killybegs in the new edition of Model Railway Journal. Not sure if MRJ makes it over the water, but for those of you in GB, you can get a copy from WH Smiths. As a modelling magazine, it's a bit niche to say the least (eg a 3 page article on scratch building a SR yard lamp), but there is always something interesting - though guess I would say that, having every edition since issue 0...

Lovely stuff. Thanks JB.

For appearance, 21mm is best. However, for running trains, much depends on your stock and if there is older stuff then Code 100 may be the only option, otherwise stuff could be bumping along the rail fixings. Peco Code 75 the likely compromise, I guess if your stock is all from this century.

Modern image modelling at its very best. Probably said it before, but ugly buildings somehow look really good when done as well as this.

Splendid.

For those with the knowledge, 3D printing is coming on leaps and bounds as this fantastic work shows. A different type of modelling to conventional scratch building, but still requires a lot of skill and patience. Those complex front ends are a work of art as much as anything. Top job.

Lovely work! The proportions look great and everything is 'square', as it were. This all brings out the character these locos had. All black locos can look a little underwhelming compared to the gleam of etched brass or nickel silver, though they soon come to life once highlighted with a little light weathering, or even just the addition of red buffer beams, number plate etc

Already looking effective - will be good to see how this project develops.

Loading docks and street scene This is the last area to be blocked in after the destruction wrought on the Arigna Town scenery. The idea is that there is a short loading dock for a horse box, with an end loading dock alongside for carriage truck traffic. This means certain trains will be able to drop off/pick up individual wagons, adding to operational interest. In addition the road surface, pavements and loading dock area itself all needed a fair bit of attention, meaning this took a lot more time than just doing ground cover. And a pleasant change it's made too. The walls are all made from Wills random stone plastic sheet, sometimes double siding 5mm foam board for extra depth. Where necessary, the walls are then capped with DAS clay, before painting with acrylics. The road surface was first prepared by putting 2mm thick strips of card down the centre, to eventually create the cambers with more 2mm card to raise the pavements. 20 thou [0.5mm] plasticard was then used to create gutters, curb stones and paving slabs. Fiddly, but worth it as this area is nearest to anybody looking, so merits extra detail. A mix of filler, PVA and black acrylic was then put down for the road surface, carefully sculpting it to create a camber, while in the loading dock yard chinchilla dust was sprinkled on the wet plaster to give a more gravelly surface. The yard gates are recycled from an earlier layout [never throw things like this away!], while the slope up to the end loading is made from C&L point timbers. The end terraced house is actually the Railway Inn from Arigna - a bit of a shame as the decorative front is now hidden against the back scene. Have decided this building won't be fixed down as it will foul the hawthorn trees on baseboard 2 when the boards are paired up for transport. You might also be able to see where I've added another layer of decoupage to the back scene, though, it must be said that like the rest of this area, there remains much to do. However, I find it encouraging to get areas visually complete, so I know things are starting to look right before adding the details.

What we need is a few more 7mm scale modellers to make worthwhile for Mayner to do some of his excellent kits in the larger scale. There's a certain 4-4-0 I could covert!

Full of fine details for us modellers and some very smart work on the level crossing too.

A little jewel. Beautifully done.

Especially the lower one.

Oh my! And there was me thinking it was 7mm scale!

Not green though, so really ought to be dyed before planting in PVA. Not sure it would like being ripped off after the glue dries either.

Moving on to Baseboard 1 After significant amounts of static grass and flocking, decided it was time for something different. That's the nice thing about layout building - when you've had enough of one thing, you can change to something else. First though, had to untangle my hawthorn trees from the electric drill bit [and each other], strip off the foliage and then repair the damage to the armatures with a hot glue gun, after which these needed painting again before being redressed with foliage. Thankfully it only took a morning's work before they were properly planted, as the pictures show. Still a bit of tidying up to do, but hopefully you get the idea. It was at this point that I shuffled the boards around, so I could get all round access to Baseboard 1. Hence boards 1 & 2 are now up against the end wall of the workshop, which somehow makes the scene look a lot neater than with the currently scruffy BB1 as a background. BB1 has been turned around so I can get to the rear - actually the old front of Arigna. What was the cattle dock is now where the goods shed and co-operative warehouse are, plus a small area of flat standing. The latter needed profiling to BB2, so there was still a bit of filler mixing and spreading to do. While I was at it, I scraped out most of the grass and weeds in the track, replacing it with more ash ballast. The idea is that, covering two periods, the track will need to be in better condition than Arigna's, though a few strands of grass can be seen poking through, which is still quite nice. So, on to some different modelling. Much of it has been fairly mundane, things like preparing the loading dock surfaces for the goods shed and Co-op, plus putting back the walls and stop blocks at the end of the platform. I've still got all the different castings of loads for these areas, mainly from Skytrex. Since then, I've been doing a bit of fettling on the goods shed, though the main work has been to make the pillars holding up the front of the Co-op. Vaguely Colonel H. F. Stephens in style [I'm sure the fact that we share a name is key to my interest in minor railways], I can't vouch for any authenticity, but at least the Co-op [which is a semi-flat] now stands up on its own! The two back scenes have been removed of course and the last of the photos show what I'm plotting for the end board. Like all the other back scenes, it will be profiled to the scenery/buildings, with the sky painted on a second board bolted behind. However, on this end board I want to put an impression of the town. For this, I've been toying with the idea of a bit of decoupage - where buildings are not just painted on the back scene, but appear as layers of card flats. Interestingly, at the Stevenage show in January someone was demonstrating just this, so hopefully I am heading on the right lines. The final picture gives an idea of what i'm trying to do.