expoEM 2012

The first layout seen upon entering the hall was Clutton (P4). Just 24ft of magnificence. Yes, a model railway operated to prototypical standards, bells and all, but more than this. We see a vast stretch of rural England with undulating hills and no less than three farms. The railway itself almost incidental passing through it.

Photographs do not easily capture the expanse of it. In my snap shot the station can hardly be discerned in the middle distance. Interestingly, the curves into the rear fiddle yard are landscaped too so there are more scenes beyond the horizon and behind the photographer.

All the other layouts were of equally high standard, as can be expected at a finescale exhibition.

Society member's demonstration stands seemed to be greater in number than the 2011 show, all attracting interest from visitors.

From the specialist traders I obtained materials to advance my own modelling activities.

Getting The Most From a Small Layout

Got 30 minutes to spare?

Some good, inspirational advice/opinions in this video.

http://thevollmerfamily.com/Pennsy/2012/04/getting-the-most-from-a-small-layout-video/

Whilst 'n' gauge is featured (and American Railroad) it equally applies to other scales, whatever the location.

May Website Cover

Thoughts of summer approaching and travel on the Atlantic Coast Express to holiday resorts in the west country. 35012 United States Lines passes Hewish Sidings with Bulleid coaches in tow, fitted with roof destination boards. (See posting below).

Track work shows an authentic mix of flat bottom and bullhead rail from the 1960s. Flat bottom is enhanced Peco and bullhead C&L chairs on EMGS ply sleepers.

Read more about that here.

View the cover here.

Apologies for the poor quality, low res. photo.

N Gauge Society - Berkshire Club Expo 2012

Simply because I'm taking an excursion into 'n' gauge modelling did I visit this exclusive 'n' gauge exhibition. It is always interesting and sometimes helpful to see what other modellers are doing.

This club has developed a modular approach to layout construction. Each member builds a section to a common standard to operate at home and connect with others for exhibition. a very large model railway is possible this way and it was exhibited together with 9 other n gauge layouts, demonstrations and a few trade stands.

It was expected this would be a small exhibition by current standards but the variety of layouts on display made it a worthwhile visit. If you like lots of track, or umpteen cameo scenes crammed onto the layout, or trains speeding by then your wish would be fulfilled.

Two layouts that I enjoyed were Kidmore Vale, which arguably was more authentic than the others, being based on reality to some degree with lots of fine, believable details. The other was perhaps easily overlooked as it was just a double track and station halt but, it was accurately constructed from historical photographs of Winnersh Halt in Berkshire.

I have always had a leaning towards authentic, historical railway modelling and whilst a model based on reality may be considered a boring exhibit to look at, if an understanding can be gained of the the time and place on which it is based then it brings it to life.

ACE Coach Roof Destination Board - New Fixing

When I first thought about fixing the roof boards I wanted a magnetic solution but could not find anything suitable so I developed a plastic saddle arrangement. (I should mention that the objective is for the boards to be easily removable so that the coach can be deployed on other services).

Then 'First4Magnets' knocked on my blog door showing their vast range of neodymium magnets, many targeted at model making. Neodymium is a very powerful magnet material so we need to be careful that in delicate situations it is not overly 'sticky'.

I selected First4Magnets F321 for this application. At only 2mm diameter by 1mm thick it is strong but at this small size is manageable and also not too conspicuous (once it is painted to blend in).

Of course, it needs either another magnet or metal to create the adhesion so, what to do about the coach plastic roof? One solution is to fix the magnet to the board and remove the roof to fix a magnet or metal strip underneath it. But I could not see how to remove the roof and did not want to mess about finding out in case I caused damage. What I needed was some metallised paint. Out to the garage with a file and sheet of steel to create some metal filings. These were mixed into a blob of Humbrol enamel paint same colour as the roof and a small area, about the size of a magnet, covered between the dummy board brackets. It is hardly noticeable.

Once dry a magnet was offered up and it stuck with just the right amount of adhesion.

But this revealed a problem. The angle of the roof differs to that of the board brackets and since magnets tend to lie flat to a surface the board followed the angle of the roof and not the bracket! (Bear this in mind if you choose to fix a magnet under the roof and make the board in metal to totally hide the fixing method). What is needed is either a magnet shaped to the same angle as the roof bracket or some packing between it and the board. The packing was achieved with a blob of epoxy resin glue placed between the roof board and magnet whilst in situ taking great care that it did not run onto the coach roof.

Finally, a test drive on the layout proved the method works and it looks great too. Off to paint the magnets now.