Pizza Ponderings 2 - Square Pizza

There used to be a pizzeria locally who's trademark was square pizza. I suppose it is better box space utilisation if nothing else... 

Curious I took the estate scene pizza and translated it to the same 13 x 19" board size as my 009 scene 'Old Quarry Line', retaining the 5" radius curves of the pizza but adding in a straight on each side allowing a short siding to be incorporated.

Having checked with a full size plan the siding would probably have to be curved in reality, but it just about fits. Overall the scheme reminds me of some of the micro layouts that James Hilton has built over the years, more recently in OO6.5.

At 13 x 19" is isn't much smaller than the 15 x 24" of my stalled corkboard scheme but it seems a very different style of scene. All this thinking is leading towards how this project could be restarted and as part of that process I have revisited some older sketches made during the development of the 'Misterton Fen Tramway' scheme (another square pizza) to see how I tackled issues such as the line vanishing behind the buildings and through the hole(s) in the sky.

In the scheme above a tank on brick piers, and a simple block structure hide the exits. The tank was the focus of my attention, I think it was envisaged as Knightwing on scratch built piers but could easily be fully scratch built. In the scene below the all too familiar hut appears!

Eventually a full size mock-up was made, by this stage I had actually extended the board a little at either end. A combination of structures and trees would hide the exits reasonably well.

Ideas are now starting to fall into place and thoughts are turning to how the corkboard inspired scheme can be taken forward...

Colin

An afternoon at Derwent Road

A trip to the Pontefract model railway exhibition gave me a change to catch up with Bill Flude and his O9 layout 'Derwent Road'. I've followed this with interest online and it certainly exceeded my expectations on this first viewing. Although not quite my own personal style of O9 modelling (it represents a 18" rather than 15" line) it is very close in some ways, with it's carefully selected stock including some 15" prototypes, and a couple of things that I can claim a hand in...

An overview of the layout.

Sitting in that back siding is a battery locomotive that I built (and painted) many years ago and the coach hiding behind the station building is a modified Avalon Line 'Exmoor' style kit.

'Kestrel' is a model of a Groudle Glen locomotive, the prototype is tiny for it's 2ft gauge line and scales well to 18" gauge on a Minitrains chassis.

Fiddle yard exits at both ends of the layout are well disguised, presentation is firmly in the 'cameo' style.

A view down the layout past the modern houses with a sand train approaching. Every loco has sound speakers and the layout itself also has a secondary sound system, which proves very atmospheric!

Finally this should prompt a 'round tuit' for me - the James Hilton/6point5 Minimum Gauge model of 'Jubilee'. Must dig my kit out!

The traders at the show provided a few useful items to assist future projects, and I certainly left feeling a little bit certain about the direction of a few future plans. Prepare for Plan C...

Colin

Flower of the Forest - at last!

It is 13 years since I completed my first 'scale' locomotive in O9, constructed from drawings  of the Ravenglass-built tram locomotive 'Flower of the Forest'. These were published in the only copy of the 'Ratty Modeller' newsletter I ever got my hands on, obtained when Owen Ryder exhibited his 'Boot' layout at Wakefield many moons ago. It's all his fault...

Construction and finishing are covered here - the basic finish was all I felt I could achieve at the time and the name 'Cumbria' chosen as I had the plates and it seemed appropriate. As I reached one of those round number birthdays this year I decided to investigate what might be possible to commission re-finishing the loco to more closely resemble the real thing.

She arrived back on shed at Shifting Sands this morning, seen here raising steam with 'St Edwin'.

The model has been expertly re-finished by James Hilton Custom Model Railways with the green repainted to a more appropriate shade, and custom lettering on the sides and "smokebox" end.

I chose James for this work as I needed someone who could not only refinish the locomotive in the desired colour, but also to create the artwork for the lettering and plates as a one-stop shop. James took great care working from my reference photographs to get the lettering to look right, especially as the real thing is hand-lettered to no standard font.

Whilst the etched plates are not legible they do have the correct pattern of lettering, the real locomotive is dedicated to the memory of Ian Fraser, the Ratty supporter who commissioned the real locomotive to run in his garden.

Having the model in this condition is a great reminder of the time the real thing spent running at Cleethorpes, and the influence it must have had on Shifting Sands!

Some readers may be wondering why I chose to take the unusual (for me) step of contracting this work out. Well, my own time is presently quite limited and quite frankly I decided to treat myself!

I'm really pleased with the outcome and can recommend the service James provides, even working around existing paint finishes and details is no obstacle....

Colin