Wednesday 27th March

Worklist:
Lighting supports and holder
LED testing
Stock testing

Geoff had been busy and produced the four 15mm copper pipe posts for the lighting. These were shaped using a bending 'fixture' made for the purpose. He'd also made and fitted the socket-blocks to locate the ends of the pipes on the trestles. The height and forward 'throw' were guessed and adjustment is available, if required. The pipes will be prepared and painted in our standard dark grey, which hopefully, will make them less visible.

Two 2m lengths of black 112mm rainwater guttering had also been procured and each was cut down to the same length as the two backscene panels. It was originally envisaged to use pipe clips fixed to the gutters and snapped onto the pipe supports, but the clips were very tight, and might require excessive force to unclip them - TBA. Stephen had brought some self-adhesive silver foil tape left over from sealing foil-faced insulation panels in his workshop. Short sections were applied to the inside of one piece of gutter, to create a reflector.

These were temporarily slung from the supports with wire loops, which we soon realised offered the option for the gutters to be rotated in the cradles (to shade the lights from the public side), which could be tested during experimentation. Stephen had also brought a selection of old LED strings - one was white and one was multi-coloured. Both were tried in the silvered gutter.

The coloured set (on the white setting) were considered not bright enough although the range of colours could be useful to add a touch of colour. The plain white string was better and so two further lengths (bright and warm white) will be purchased.

After lunch, the layout was hoovered and the track cleaned. 'Approved' stock was loaded into the cassettes and a running session took place.

As usual, the session raised a few issues both operationally and with stock. On their first run on the layout, the brake wagons at the ends of Geoff's tipper wagon train were lifted into the air when the iron dropper was strongly attracted by the uncoupling magnets. We also found yet again, that the station area was easily 'locked-up' with stray items of stock. These issues will have to be overcome in readiness for the shows. However, it was great to play trains again.

Stephen had brought the order of FR black fabric he'd received for the drapes, which looked superb when handheld in-place. The final dimensions and Velcro fixing points were agreed. His wife, Christine, has offered to make up the drapes.

All-in-all, a very satisfactory day.

Wednesday 20th March

Worklist:
Lighting.
Electrics.
Lorry.
Sticking stuff down.
Drapes.

We arrived to find a piece of shaped copper pipe hanging over the layout. Geoff had assembled some off-cuts to investigate the supports for lighting strips. A base plate and clip is all that's required to secure the poles. The pipe ends would have a pipe clip attached to a length of black guttering, holding the strips of LED lights. All agreed that it was our best option, which would be progressed in due course. The only question was should the lighting extend over the fiddleyard? TBA.

Laurence got comfortable and assembled the repainted lorry.

Geoff was making changes to the power supply unit which turned into a lot of work in the end.

Stephen continued to fix things down - cows mainly, but also some more bags of coke (after painting the pallets), and the telephone box.

He then completed the new plugs/sockets bases ready to fix next to the existing loom sockets.

Stephen showed his latest 'bit of fun', a shed made for a joke at his bowls club.

With a second life in mind, it was made to 1:43, and secured to the base with a magnet. Remove the banner and install a window - the tool shed might just become the ticket office?

The final topic for discussion was drapes. Back in the old days, when smoking was allowed in exhibitions, fire retardant material was essential. Assuming it still to be a good idea, Stephen's wife had sourced some black fire-retardant material, which she will make-up into drapes. These will be secured with Velcro strips.

Wednesday 13th March

Worklist:
Discuss another exhibition.
Discuss the To Do list.
Control box fitting.
New electrical connectors.
Stick stuff down.
Lorry painting.

We have been invited to the SWING show in Littlehampton and need to respond asap. Coming in 6 weeks time and then only three weeks before the Burton show it could be tight going, so we had prepared a To Do list. After considering said list, we felt it was do-able and would be an ideal opportunity to stress-test both the layout and ourselves under exhibition conditions.

While Laurence picked up where he'd left the repainting of the coal lorry, Stephen and Geoff turned to forming the new fixings for the control panel. Geoff had prepared two chunky aluminium angles and these were bolted to the box ends. We immediately realised that the box was located at the junction of the two backscene panels - over two fixing bolts. Realising that the box would hold the ends in place the panel bolts were removed. With the box clamped in place, holes were drilled through the angles and the baseboard for the M8 bolts. Tee nuts were screwed into place and the box secured perfectly, as were the scenic panels.

Geoff had made-up the trial electrical connectors and having been readily accepted, he made up the other set. One end was secured on a scrap of vero-board and the removable end was secured in a thick piece of paxolin to make plugging/unplugging easier.

We have been conscious that Worton Court has far less operating potential than Cottesmore and there was a need to select only suitable and good condition items for the shows. In a useful session over lunch, Stephen's stock was assessed and 'unsuitable' items identified. He can now concentrate on preparing just those items.

Stephen went on to spray paint the new shrubbery under the big tree, flocked it and glued it all in place. He then re-glued all of the sheep down due to their pasture being re-grassed. Loose detailing items were glued down around the workshop. He finally turned the glue tube on the main building/yard area where ivy (both gables), dustbins, coal sacks, pallets, bags of coke, weighing scales etc were secured.

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Wednesday 6th March

Worklist:
Backscene.

Just Geoff and Stephen this week as Laurence was recovering from overexerting himself on a DIY project.

Painting the backscene was the priority of the day. Geoff had purchased some matt white emulsion and two match-pots of grey. He had also primed a spare strip of MDF for practising. Stephen prepared a diluted mix of the grey paint and using pad of quilt wadding, attempted to create a cloudy sky scene. Neat grey and white were soon added to create highlights. It was very experimental, but a semblance of clouds appeared.

Both were happy enough with the effect and decided to have a go on one of the actual panels. The completed panel was soon touch dry, so it was loosely bolted into place and left to fully dry over lunch. Post lunch, the clouds had lightened very slightly - the effect was very 'Turner-like', i.e. a bit on the sketchy side, rather than realistic. Maybe, a softer effect was required?

Geoff got his airbrush out and had a go using the thinned emulsion, but it clogged the gun immediately. He then used thinned enamel paint, which was much better. The effect was much softer and soon it was decided that it was preferable to the first attempt.

Stephen roller painted over his panel, but due to residual water in the roller (we think) the finish was not as smooth as before. Geoff will sand it down when dry and re-coat using an oil-based paint.

That morning, Geoff had started 3D printing a cow using his newly assembled printer and over lunch, its progress was monitored.

During the afternoon, it finished. After removing all of the support material, it was clear that further experimentation was required with various printing settings, but it was a start.

Geoff had also completed painting and weathering his new train that comprised a 'Tin Turtle' Simplex loco and a rake of KB Scale skip wagons. Kadees are fitted to loco and end wagons, with link and pin couplings on intermediate wagons. Brass weights had been glued into all wagons, ready to receive their ballast loads.

Stephen had located a potential source of connectors for the additional wires required in the loom and Geoff had ordered some 6-way units from Rapid Electronics. Primarily for PCB mounting, these were for 5mm pitch boards, which we thought would be easier to handle than the smaller units. After trimming some of the protective casing and lugs off, the socket end was soldered to a piece of PCB. They worked quite well physically, so we'll do a full wiring test next week.