Layout Plan

It's about time I posted a plan showing the extent of the modelled area of the prototype.

The front edge of the layout will roughly follow the middle of Alderson Road.  The Yarmouth to Lowestoft line to the rear of the layout is at a distinctly higher level to the yard itself at the front of the layout.  The Yarmouth Union line leading from White Swan Yard joined the Yarmouth to Lowestoft line at Caister Road Junction which is just off scene on the layout (to the right on this plan).  The branch line accordingly climbs upward toward the right hand end of the layout.  The area from Ormond Road toward the junction has had to be considerably compressed as has that between Garrison Road and Ormond Road.  Hopefully the atmosphere will still be captured though.

I hope to post some progress showing the baseboards shortly.  The plan of the design of the main baseboards is included below.  The space between the main yard/ Yarmouth Union line boards and the mainline boards to the rear will be infilled using lightweight boards that carry scenery only.  Hopefully this will create a depth to the model that is relatively unusual in 4mm scale.

M&GN 6 wheel Carriages

Happy New Year to all.

On the workbench at present are a number of 6 wheel former GNR 6 wheel carriages which were transferred to the M&GN up to 1920.  Currently under way are two 3rds, a Corridor 3rd, a Luggage Composite and a Lavatory Composite.  The bodies are being scratchbuilt using a combination of paper, styrene sheet and rod and are much inspired by the work of the late David Jenkinson.

The starting point is a scale drawing showing the upper and lower beading and window positions produced on TurboCad.  This is printed out onto 190gsm paper and given a coat of shellac to strengthen the paper as shown below.

A tedious but mildly therapeutic session with the scalpel (if you're in the right frame of mind!) produced a bead layer from the above which was then stuck onto a backing of 20 thou styrene sheets using solvent to produce the following:

Once thoroughly dried the windows were cut out.  The three level panelling of GNR carriages of this period (and of course following into the Gresley GNR and LNER period) is represented using 0.4mm plastic rod glued around the edges of the lower paper beading and then infilled using further paper strips glued in place.

The lower photo reveals that the paper beading has lifted slightly but I am confident this will be resolved by the application of further solvent and flexing the styrene sheet backward so the paper is back in contact with it until the solvent sets (in practice this is usually only a matter of 30 seconds or so).

Scratchbuilding in this way has allowed me to start models of vehicles for which there are no kits and also to include the minor variations of which the GNR seemed so fond (2 different lengths of 3rd have been attempted in this batch).  It has also been a surprisingly quick process so far taking far less time than I anticipated.  

Thoughts are turning toward underframes.  I've had some joy with the Brassmasters Cleminson units but dislike the appearance of the moving outer W Iron units.  I would also like to spring the units if possible.  Maybe it's time to get my thinking cap on and then get TurboCad fired up again and prepare some artwork for a set of etched 6 wheel sprung underframe parts?