Where we do our modelling

[David Holman]

As suggested elsewhere, thought it might be a nice idea to share where we do our modelling. Am always interested to see how others do things, so here goes with mine.

 When we first got married 41 years ago [I was a child bride], my wife and I's first house was a two bed Victorian terrace, though this did have the advantage of a 10x12 cellar, where I built my first layout. We moved to our current house five years later and have been extending and improving it ever since. Initially the railway room was the spare bedroom, which doubled as a study. However, taking an exhibition layout downstairs, through a 180 degree turn soon lost its novelty, while becoming a schools' advisor meant I needed the study for report writing and so on. Hence the current railway room/workshop, which we converted from the former integral garage. While I know I'm very lucky to have this 16x8 space, like most modellers, I'd love to have more - ideally a double garage, so I could have a continuous run, but that aint going to happen.

 The garage was converted by replacing the flimsy up and over door with secure conservatory doors and an internal access door was added from the hall, along with a radiator off the existing central heating, plus plenty of extra mains sockets. Hence it is warm and dry all year - important in our hobby methinks. The layout is as follows:

• Along one long wall is the main layout, now called Belmullet, currently being rebuilt from the previous Arigna Town. This sits on [cheap] kitchen units, in which household tools, paints etc are stored, along with drawers for modelling materials. Above are long deep shelves, separated by a rather inconvenient pillar in the middle. Both sets are just over 2m long. on one side is my general railway library: one shelf of magazines [including every MRJ] and another of books. The other half has three shelves: Fintonagh lives on the first [minus fiddle yard], with the 'Irish Library' above, with some of my stock boxes and more on the top shelf, along with facias, pelmets and beams for Fintonagh. Because of that central pillar, there is space behind Belmullet for storing things like trestles and spare sheets of plywood.
• The end wall has more kitchen base units, but with a worktop above on which sits a range of small tools and containers. Above these are shelves and a display case for some of my models. Some of the shelves hold files of modelling info, plus things like storage boxes for small items, paint brushes and the like.
• The other long wall also has base units, but not as many as this is my main workbench space, while a larder freezer also lives here. You'll see there are more shelves for odds and end above, with a range of containers for plastic strip, wire etc on the workbench, on which also sits my pillar drill.

 So, there we are. It probably needs a bit of a spring clean and clear out, to free up cupboard space, but currently our recycling centre is closed, so that job will have to wait. By and large, everything fits in well. However, problems arise whenever I want to move things around, as stuff then need to go elsewhere while I do, which doesn't always go down well with the 'domestic authority'! Oh yes, that is a bath panel you can see - it is not just a modeller's workshop, other stuff has to be done here too.

Edited April 3, 2020 by David Holman

[Midland Man]

HI David 

You are lucky compared to others who do not the space to build the dream layout. For me I don't have a spare room so my workbench and future layout will live there. The layout is 12ft by 1ft with a 6ft scenic area and two 3ft storage yard so not big formations as for my workbench is a  6ft by 1ft office table but will have to change to something a jeweler would use to keep me old soldering iron.As well as inside I model outside and use a desk in my greenhouse.

MM

[RobertRoche]

I don't have a layout or dedicated room, so this is the workbench. I have storage and another room for the more workshop type of tools. The 3D printer also lives in the workshop.

 

Edited April 3, 2020 by RobertRoche

[Galteemore]

I do love that workshop David! It’s what I aspire to. Yours is pretty good too Robert.
Tonight I’m modelling on the kitchen table which is best option right now. I think we can all find space to do something - even a small project. After all, many of the greats such as Peter Denny managed on a tray with a soldering iron heated in the kitchen stove.......

Edited April 3, 2020 by Galteemore

[RANGERMOUSE]

I work away from home so have 2 modelling areas. The layout in the attic at home and a desk in my accommodation at work.

The layout started by accident. I had just completed my second tour of Afghanistan and had a then new MM 201 and nowhere to run it. The intention was a small 8x4 just to run it and a couple of the MK 2s. Instead I ended up getting carried away and converted part of the attic and built a pear shaped layout. It's pear shaped because it's wider at one end than it is at the other and not because I made a hames of it.

Maybe getting carried away was therapy after 4 hectic years including 2 tours in Helmand, 2 arduous promotion courses and 2 stints in Kenya. I remember working late one night putting the floor in, not realising the time and looking at my phone at 2 in the morning with several messages wishing me a Happy New Year.

The layout is based on various places around Ireland, the station is Tullamore. Town/canal scene is Mullingar. A scenic scene from the Kerry line. I'm hindered by working away from home. I fly home every 2 weeks for a weekend but don't always get a chance to work on the layout. When I do get longer leave and drive home I make far more progress.

My desk at work has a Bachmann MK1 being converted to a weedspray coach alongside a 1/72 Hobbyboss HH60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter. 

With the current situation I can't go home as we're on standby to help locally but it does mean I have more time to work on ongoing projects such as the weedspray coach. Being a "key worker" I do have slightly more freedom but I'm not ripping the arse out of it. I'm happy to get back to my room and carry on with my modelling. It was slightly awkward earlier when one of the lads upstairs had a "friend" over. I can safely say from the noises I was hearing they weren't practising social distancing. This called for my radio to be turned up. 

I rarely take pics of my progress but defo have to change this in future.

[Georgeconna]

The Stan Twice, Hats off to you man.

[warb]

David

A few photos of my workshop which has been built over a lot of years and had the space to build a workshop. The major items are the TV/Radio and fridge for self isolation even before now. The only problem is that barrow street cannot be fully installed to allow for full running but i have smaller sections to allow this.

[Broithe]

I'm not doing a lot of modelling these days, but I did escape from the Big Island when I could see how things were likely to evolve. My mother is on her own these days and, at 89, it wasn't an easy situation for her. So, having domesticated the shed systematically over the last few years, I decided that I could isolate myself fairly effectively in there and avoid potentially contaminating the house. I had only been back there for ten days, with little contact with the natives and I still have no symptoms showing nearly a fortnight on since my escape.

I have a gas cooker, microwave, fridge, woodburner, internet - all mod-cons really. Even the toilet facilities are separated. There are two, and one has an outside door, via a push-button combination lock (to avoid my father traipsing mud through the house), so we have no cross-over, except as "neighbours".

We have neighbours supplying, but I brought my strategic reserves with me.

I expect to survive.

 

[David Holman]

So, where's the layout going?

 Great to see behind the scenes  of Barrow Street. There is a TV aerial socket in my workshop, but never got used as I prefer the radio. Indeed, a hundred years ago (ok, four weeks), Saturday and Sunday afternoons doing modelling while listening to football or cricket, were an ideal pastime for me.

[StevieB]

The behind the scenes views of Barrow Street are very impressive. I look forward to seeing moving pictures of the operations.

Stephen

[Irishswissernie]

My bolt hole is in  the loft. When we moved to Haltwhistle 27 years ago I converted the loft into 2 bedrooms and a railway room with a proper staircase to it rather than a loft ladder in the previous house. The railway room also had hatches through to the bedrooms at a height of 3 feet and the first layout actually ran right round the loft space through the bedrooms  with a station in my eldest sons as he was (still is) into modelling. THere were slight problems due to once the train departed the railway room you had no idea when it was going to re-appear plus there were objections from the other bedroom occupier (wives can be so unreasonable!)

The next layouts retreated to the railway room but eventually as the 5 brats er sorry children grew up and scattered to other parts of the UK and the USA I was allocated a layout room on the ground floor supposedly the front lounge but basically a stable for pet rats ,rabbits and guinea pigs which also departed (this life).

A couple of years ago my youngest daughter returned home with her husband so it was agreed that the downstairs layout room would be absorbed into living area and my trains, books etc returned once again to the loft. Glengarriff then appeared  (see its topic for its history etc)

One (probably the only) good thing to emerge from the current crisis is that it provided a stimulus for me to get my finger out and get the layout completed. I need a bolt hole as said daughter and son-in-law both work in the local hospital and he is working on the coronovirus ward.I have this feeling I should get something done instead of procrastinating and as I get up at 5 am to take the dogs out when the rest of the village is still kipping I have a few hours to fill in without any nagg er interuptions.

Now if you think your layout room is cluttered don't worry the following photos should beat your 'lair' easily. 

Slides, negatives etc and computing still takes place downstairs , my argument  that this couldn't be done in the loft due to the affect this would have temperature wise on the material was accepted by the authorities.

 

downstairs with assistant on duty 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Irishswissernie

[Galteemore]

Great stuff - l like what’s on the screen -can’t beat a bit of Sligo Leitrim! Every blessing for your family at this time - can see why you need a place of retreat and solace. And a nice candid view of the man who has given us access to so many wonderful modelling research photos....

Edited April 8, 2020 by Galteemore

[Irishswissernie]

Been cleaning the neg up , due to go on flickr soon. I've just had my annual hair cut!

[Mayner]

I have managed to spread myself around with a home office/model railway room in the house and a converted garage in the garden. The  office is the nerve center, library and archive, home for my Irish narrow gauge layout Keadue and lots an lots of junk and clutter. We have high ceilings in our house which gives us a lot of vertical storage.

Desk where I do most of my CAD work, roadside section of layout and fiddle yard above.

Original modelling workbench on right, storage bins below, Keadue station above. The shelf above the layout is due to be converted to a bookshelf. I am planning to install a lighting pelmet above Keadue to frame the layout better and to reduce dust fallout.

The workbench (self assembly kit) was one of the first things in we bought after we arrived in New Zealand looks nice but not very practical. I started the layout shortly after we bought the bench in 2004 and its still incomplete!

The other side of the room! The bottom L shaped shelf is due to be cleared for an N Gauge layout, the storage boxes in the center of the room are due to be re-located to the wife's new studio/office in the garden.

[Midland Man]

Now here is my workbench.

As one of the younger modelers on this form I am more or less a newbie. I have been modeling for about five years now but have only started learning techneiques about a year ago. The table on whitch the bench is housed is about 6ft and is hafted to have one side modeling the other for work purposes. If you are wondering what the mirror is for it is a short story. The house was used the band The hillbilly a and the room for my workbench was a guest room equated with a sink and mirror. 

Beside the workbench is my collection of days gone cars they are basically rip offs of dinky but there in better and where made in England. The compony made 3 series before going belly up. There is also on the self more space for books.

Now on to the small collection of books I have. Most of the stuff here is because I have a interest in that subject. There is also non.railway books but are there as I like different subject in history.

That is about 2 years of collecting. Some books are great like LMS 150 an Rail through the Achill. While very few are a bit bad.

And last is the the files and it is what it says FILES! As you can sea the is no layout but soon there will be so I can start working on train formations whitch is fun researching. The formations will include J15s 186,184( In the livery it Carried from Broadstone to Palace east Via Borris) and 131 (the J15) The may be a C or a G class but I am not a fan of diesels.

Hope you all like and stay safe in the dangerous time.

MM

 

 

[Georgeconna]

On 4/4/2020 at 5:24 PM, warb said:

David

A few photos of my workshop which has been built over a lot of years and had the space to build a workshop. The major items are the TV/Radio and fridge for self isolation even before now. The only problem is that barrow street cannot be fully installed to allow for full running but i have smaller sections to allow this.

Mike my gaf look like something from Deli!!

 

[Mayner]

My main workshop/railway room is in a converted 90 odd year old garage no doubt intended for the owners Model T or Bullnose Morris when our neighbourhood was first established. Although the timber framing and weatherboard was in good condition the building was leaning at an angle when we first moved in as the original foundation piles had rotted away. Several years later having leveled up and re-piled the building, lined and decorated the interior the conversion to a railway room is very much a work in progress, so far this year we have moved out most of my building and woodworking tools to a new workshop and I am planning to replace the existing roller shutter door with something more in keeping with the age and character of the building.

Main work area with spray booth/paint shop in foreground and workbench in background. Large scale Loco roster/blackboard. I will remove the scroll saw to the general workshop eliminating the final source of wood dust from the railway workshop.

The opposite aisle with the exhaust for the spray booth, traverser for future Irish layout on right.

Main modelling workbench, modelling is done on an offcut of kitchen bench top in center, collection of soldering irons in foreground, Unimat set up as vertical drill in distance. Workbench has to be large enough for working on 1:20.3 scale locos & stock and assembling large scale track panels. Yellow storage bins mainly contain 4mm detail castings, & kit scratchbuilding parts.

Looking toward the open doorway, jungle taking over outside!

 

My version of the waiting/scrap lines at Inchacore works, the J15s are due to return to the works once I have completed three current projects. 9mm scale NZR loco in background.

Opposite side of aisle to main work bench, large scale staging/fiddle yard on lowest level, live steam loco and N gauge layout sitting on baseboard for 4mm layout even more storage above!

[KMCE]

My main work area is in the Library (grand title ascribed once I moved my office out to another room).  The libray was built both as a library and my office as I work from home.  The room is on the side of the house, so doesn't get much sun / light, so I moved my office a rear bedroom which then freed up the Library for hobby use.  

Main work area is the original built in desk.   Storage kinda apread out across the library shelves.

 

First broadgauge model was the port "Port Cumtha" which I stopped working on for a few reasons, one it was fictitious (not a big issue, I know, but I wanted something closer to the prototype), track was steel, and also points were too tight for hand built models, particularly six coupled locos.  I moved to "Wicklow South" as it is smaller & esier to move.  Layout is resing on a cabinet built to house a two drawer filing cabinet to match the library construction.

 

A display cabinet followed which is mostly filled with UK stuff I was attempting to re-purposed before I took up scratch building, so most of this lot will go up for sale at some time in the future.    Space being made however for more Irish related models - some broad gauge track will be added at some point to replace the OO.  Again cabinet built to match the rest of the fittings.  Ship on top is the Corvette kit in the long term process of being built to represent MV Cliona from  the late 40's.

 

Work area with "Wicklow South" just above the work desk.  I find the white board is good for putting up photos of the prototype when building for easy reference.

 

Mill is in the wood workshop out back - will follow up with photos later.

 

Now, all I need to do is get back to working on the models at some point!

 

Ken

[David Holman]

Lovely stuff!