Review the new floor
Water tower position
Lorry repaint
Backscene
Figures
A full house again and the first thing we had to look at was the new floor. Although years of contention with the neighbours over the growth of one of their trees under the workshop had been resolved and the tree removed, the roots had caused some awful damage to the concrete floor slab. Geoff had removed the chipboard flooring, timber battens and insulation board. The roots had cracked and lifted the centre of the slab by 20mm (almost all of the 1" battens). New battens, tapered to suit, were fitted and new water-resistant chipboard laid on top. Geoff intends to have a paint finish applied before next week.
The trestle legs were put-out and re-levelled to suit the new floor, then the layout was erected.
First on the agenda was to discuss the position of the track-side water tower. The requirement was to allow a train to arrive, stop, uncouple and move up to take on water, without fouling the headshunt. The current position (light grey base) required the loco to back-up for water after uncoupling over the magnet at the end of the platform and we had decided not to move the magnet. Two typical-length loco's were positioned at the end of the platform, with a coach. The Decauville and Hunslet had different water filler positions, but a suitable position for the down pipe wasn't too difficult to agree.
The next question was whether to retain and extend the exiting tank base or create a new one? Stephen squeezed an old chisel under a corner of the base and with minimal pressure, the whole unit popped out. A few cuts with a large knife and a new hole for the base had been created. After a bit of cleaning up, the base was sitting solidly in its new location. A bit more cleaning and the square of 'ground' had been fitted into the old base hole - voila! Stephen glued the parts in their new locations and filled the gaps with plaster.
A final test showed that it all worked fine - a worthwhile exercise - thanks Chris!
Geoff and Stephen had been to the Woking MRC show over the previous weekend and were very impressed with Gordon Gravett's 'Arun Quay' layout. Apart from the layout itself, the minimal backscene and LED lighting had stood out. The latter is a mixture of warm and cold LED's which we will probably try and replicate.
Geoff had some leftover sections of the Gaugemaster backscene sheets and these were mounted on some foam boards. Geoff likes the strong blue and white panels, whereas Stephen preferred a less 'blue' background and suggested a plain white base sheet with applied areas of pale blue and wisps of cloud. We'll have to experiment further.
Geoff had purchased some Preiser 1:43 figures and set about painting all of the flesh areas. Apparently, they are scanned replicas of real people and there are some very interesting shapes, poses and clothing. Geoff had circulated links to some YouTube videos of 'life in the early 60's', in order to get a feel of the fashions of the day. We await the outcome of the painting, with interest.
Laurence misinterpreted the reason for Geoff's 60's videos and thought it was a suggestion to turn up in vintage clothing. He duly arrived with his 'Cottesmore West' sweatshirt, first worn at the 1978 MRC show at Central Halls Westminster.
(Shirt courtesy of Stephen's brother)
