Friday 23 March 2012

Cattle Dock.

 Before you all get sick of looking at bits of plastic sheet and tiny bits of Microstrip- It's finished.
There had to be some compromises ,such as bridge rail on wooden posts but I couldnt face filing thirty odd holes to take bullhead rail.
Luckily I found some T shaped strip produced by Plastruct which I have used as a representation of bridge rail and I don't think it looks too bad, I would be interested in your comments!
The whole lot was given a couple of very light dustings of grey undercoat then the rails dry brushed with a grey/green and brown to add a bit of relief. I may have underdone it but it passes when not at the
end of a camera lens.It now has some landscape around its mounting site an seems to bed into the landscape quite well. The boards between the rails have been cut and need painting and some drainage grilles added. I need to source information about the size and construction of the water troughs that would have been sited within the dock- any info gratefully recieved.

Thursday 22 March 2012

Must be doing something right.

From the start of this blog I didn't expect great things, indeed I have looked at wether I could transfer the content to my other offering, Dorset 3mm.The feedback I recieve is encouraging and I am wondering if I should open this blog to a question and answer format after the debut of Teignford has passed.
Dorset 3mm will remain the focus of my 3mm activities, but this has suffered due to the pressure of producing a working layout for a specific date.
Please feel free to contribute or suggest topics that can be discussed, and if possible I will try to assist.
Remember that the 3mm Society is the Friendly Society, and we only get assistance if we ask and are able to put ourselves out- JFK said "It's not what your country can do for you, it's what you can do for your country". This also equates to modelling. You only get out what you are prepared to put in! Your input will make this blog more interesting and, hopefully convince modellers to adopt the 'Modellers Scale'
I look forward to hearing from you.

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Cattle Dock.

 With the upright posts cut there is the small matter of making 30 odd square holes in the base.
First a pilot hole was drilled at each post point, then opened out to something near the post width, then each hole was filed out to make a square just large enough to take the post.
As can be seen, several posts are in place, I must fix the rest of the base to keep the floor square- it has slightly warped since making the holes and fitting the first few postes.
I have some 1.2mm T shaped plastruct which, although wrong for wooden posts, will give a representation of Bridge Rail along the sides.

Monday 19 March 2012

Signal Box.

 Cracking on with the buildings, next is the Signal Box.
This will be a composite of mounting card and plastic strip. As can be seen, the shell of the Box has been cut out and the four base walls glued together. It always seems very basic at this stage but probably the easiest part has been done.
For windows, Allan at Worsley Works has sent me some windows and door etches, these can be seen in the lower picture and are as usual of top quality.
Next job is to cover the base with brick paper- which one I have yet to decide- it was quite usual to find a different building material on Signal Boxes than on the main buildings.