GWR/LMS OO Gauge DCC RR&Co

Thanks for the comments advice guys.

First of all, my apologies……there is something going wrong with my "new mail" advice, as a result I have only just read these emails :shock: :oops:  I think its probably something to do with Gmail so I am digging around at my end although it is curious that my RMWeb notifications are unaffected :hmm.

Thanks for the advice about bending Phil……..the deed is done and the finished structure is in the paint shop…….hopefully photos shortly. It is by no means perfect……the 3' rule will undoubtedly be employed! :roll:

Thank you Matt, Doug and Brendan for advice and support………I have re configured the structure using some surplus Plexiglass……once again it aint perfect …….a few adhesive marks will need concealing with Granby grime ( read your email too late Doug grr)…….. but its pretty close to being finished.

Photos and more detail shortly 

 

Hmmm, John, that could be a whole new colour for nail varnish !  "And here we have GRANBY GRIME" 
(Blushing pink, Me ? No! Never! honest !. . Well there WAS that time with the Vickers Daughter  ;-) But thats not a tale for here  :thumbs )

Glad we were of help,  

Cheers

Matt

 

Hi John,

Hope you are both keeping warm and well, despite the winter wonderland you live in. We have welcome signs of spring appearing, helped by goodly quantities of sun and rain, but thankfully double digit Celsius temperatures!

Best,

Bill

 

Hi Bill

Many thanks for your message…..that was very thoughtful of you. We are both well but I am afraid I have been a delinquent correspondent. I had hoped to do a celebratory post on completing the hotel but I found myself in a catch22 situation and found myself constantly deferring the post until "next week". Its still unfinished but come what may I will at least post some progress photos later today

The weather here is pretty grim. We had two days of snow last week but the arctic front that brought it has moved further south……a lot further in fact…. to Texas where they dont normally get any snow at all.

Very impressed with your station renovation…..you put me to shame.

Keep well

No I have not gone into hibernation although the last couple of weeks weather made me think about it.

The hotel is so close to being finished I kept putting off posting until I could write finis.Then I got into a catch 22 situation where I realised I couldnt attach a number of sub assemblies until I had completely finished the base………and I couldnt finish the base until I had cantilevered the support framework.

I think I have resolved the framework issues and having dusted down the chop saw I have just been cutting up lengths of 2"x1" in a freezing cold garage. 

 Meantime here is the progress on the actual building

The Palm Court is now complete




I forgot we had some plexi-glass off cuts. Rigid enough to create a more realistic shape than the curved structure I had originally envisaged. Fortunately this can only be viewed from 3'. Bridging three kits and two scratch built extensions revealed a number of 1/16" errors which combined to produce a few less than square corners.

You may remember I was not looking forward to soldering a fire escape from this etching



All done except for the painting




Thankfully another 3' viewing item There are more "less than square" corners and quite a few wavy steps.

As I suspected, it is too wide to be attached to a Wing end wall. Instead I built this four storey annexe




The doors will match up to the landings on the fire escape. There is an exit from the 5th floor on the flat roof of the annexe and a staircase on the roof  will provide an exit for the 6th floor

Marking out the doors and window to match with the fire escape was "interesting" . Fortunately the escape is quite flexible and with two pairs of hands can be glued into place on both the annexe and the base

Here are the other sub assemblies waiting for the base to be finalised


I was always a bit concerned about concealing the 2 separate Scalescene ends on each wing but I think this will work out quite well.

I covered the two battered chimney pieces with Dressed stone paper cut to shape.Below them the pieces of 1mm card with appropriate windows and doors will be glued direct to the end walls. (thats why the curtains are drawn)

All that remains to be done, apart from glueing in place, is to add doors to the kitchens below the Palm Court and add ventilation units to the roof of both the kitchens and the single floor extension on the right. 

And chimneys of course……I treated myself to some rather nice castings from Langley

More to come…….keep safe

:doublethumb

Just one word: Fabulous!

I know where to go  for Ä·it-bashing suggestions in future!!

Very  impressive,  John.

Douglas

The added fire escape will make a big difference :)

Absolutely marvellous John, what a great build.  You've done a great job on the fire escape - especially with the doors on the annexe and I love the contrast between the front and rear,  
 :cheers

Michael

  Hi John,
 
It’s good to know that Artic temperatures have moved south of you, but amazed they went so far! I’ve seen remarkable footage of the snow across Texas and was surprised the Texan power infrastructure collapsed and cannot be rebooted until the temperature moderates. What a mess!
 
You have been industrious though in very successfully resolving all remaining elements to the rear elevation in a most successful way. I was wondering how you would finish the side wing ends and incorporate the escape staircase and the clever solution is convincing and interesting.
 
I hope some final insitu photos find their way onto Mr Wiffen’s excellent website to help inspire other devotees of card modelling to try something different.
 
I was consulting my own Scalescene downloads yesterday and must get some better quality paper to print out some station signage and posterboards. I’ve recently bought some odourless hairspray to protect the prints as they come off the ink jet. Is hairspray still recommended for this purpose, or should I use it just for sticking leaves onto trees?
 
Brilliant modelling and design, as usual John and also a well tackled job with those fiddly etchings!
 
Keep well and cosy,
 
Bill

Oh yes, it should definitely find it's way to the Scalescenes website.  There is a Facebook page too, if you are into that sort of social media, where lots of members post their work - at all levels.  It should certainly feature there!
Michael

Thank you for so many kind comments guys……its taken far too long and you have all been very patient. 
I am so glad you like the contrast between front and back Michael. That was one of my principal targets when “designing” the rear. I hope to capture the utilitarian image that one could see from a train carriage.

My coarse carpentry went well and I have just captured about 3 sq ft of real estate from fresh air. This will widen the street outside the station and provide the extra space demanded by the hotel.

Hopefully I can run some trains as well…..my attempts at a timetable have been sadly neglected

Keep well

[user=1814]Longchap[/user] wrote:

 Hi John,
 
It’s good to know that Artic temperatures have moved south of you, but amazed they went so far! I’ve seen remarkable footage of the snow across Texas and was surprised the Texan power infrastructure collapsed and cannot be rebooted until the temperature moderates. What a mess!
 
You have been industrious though in very successfully resolving all remaining elements to the rear elevation in a most successful way. I was wondering how you would finish the side wing ends and incorporate the escape staircase and the clever solution is convincing and interesting.
 
I hope some final insitu photos find their way onto Mr Wiffen’s excellent website to help inspire other devotees of card modelling to try something different.
 
I was consulting my own Scalescene downloads yesterday and must get some better quality paper to print out some station signage and posterboards. I’ve recently bought some odourless hairspray to protect the prints as they come off the ink jet. Is hairspray still recommended for this purpose, or should I use it just for sticking leaves onto trees?
 
Brilliant modelling and design, as usual John and also a well tackled job with those fiddly etchings!
 
Keep well and cosy,
 
Bill

Hi Bill

Somehow my reply disappeared…..I blame Brexit…..I will try again.

First thank you for those charming comments about the hotel…..you are very kind.

I will be sending photos to Scalescene. I promised John Wiffen that I would do so when he sent me the file for the dormer tiles and photos of another modellers hotel.

I use an Artists fixative that contains ultra violet protection to spray my sheets as they come off the printer. Not sure about hair spray but a few years ago I used a cheaper non protective spray and it was amazing (and disheartening) how quickly the sheets I used it on (pavement and asphalt) faded and the train room is not that sunny.

Best wishes

  Hi John,
   
  Brext is responsible for all sorts of mischief, so keep good watch!
   
  Thanks for your comments about protection for printed Scalescene sheets and I’ll get some UV acrylic spray from the art shop when next I’m passing and keep the hairspray for the trees, many of which I’ll try making (I’ve a book).
   
  Good luck with the final details.
   
  Best,
   
  Bill

Oh, I assumed my spray gave UV protection. But reading the can again and a quick search, there is no mention of UV protection.

Time to hit my favourite art supplies store

Cheers
Evan

I have been holding off commenting on your palm court and fire escape until I had thoroughly searched my thesaurus for more superlatives John - what fantastic looking additions to an already brilliant building.

Given that it's all at the back of the hotel, you'll have to rig up some kind of mirror system so that it's all in full view - such a shame if one has to crane one's neck to see the pianist tinkling the keys on the white grand piano as the "gentry" take afternoon tea -  4mm scale cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off will be an interesting challenge, as will the cup-cakes, but I'm sure you'll manage it ………….

When I first set eyes on Granby, I thought it was a stunning layout but. unbelievably, it just gets better and better with each addition.  How on earth do you continue to excel - nay, more than that - continue to exceed already extremely high expectations ?

It's rather pointless simply saying "wow", "fantastic"or "brilliant" and my thesaurus wasn't much help either but it really is a genuine masterpiece and you'd have every right to feel very smug - using the entirely positive sense !

I have to agree with Peter, but I'd like to add another superlative that he's missed… bloody marvellous.  :)

Hi Peter and Pete
Thank you so much for being so complimentary about the hotel.

The back of the hotel faces both the main line and the entrance to the train room. Its because it will be so prominent there that I spent so much time on features like the fire escape and Palm Court. Not sure about cucumber sandwiches but I do intend to eventually add quite a bit of detail to the yard outside the kitchens

Hopefully I will be able to take some shots of it at least in position later this week…..your bridge in a day puts me to shame Peter. :oops:

Best wishes

Ah maybe John but the bridge has only about 10 pieces of laser cut MDF.  The toughest job was separating them from the sprue and getting the top off the glue bottle …………… :cheers