4mm Morfa - The race is run.

[Simon]

In many senses this tale of events is utter cobblers, a delusional ramble by a bloke only part connected to the real world, a daydreamer, a fantasist.

It'll do for me Neil, just your description of what the freight was doing somehow took me back to excursions on the line and my days on the Talyllyn - magic

I really want to be able to spin the same sort of yarn around my garden endeavours, I've a way to go yet though

Who'd want to be too connected to the "real world" anyway.

I think reality is rather over rated....

Simon

Bridge looks great too!

 

[Neil]

Oh dear I think I've boobed, how mightily I'm not sure yet. This morning I realised that I may have been a little premature in sticking the bits of my bridge together. I've just realised that it would have been possible to stick the baulks to the deck and (possibly) the rails to them before I stuck the deck to the piers. In fact the more I thi9nk about it the better it sounds. I would also have been able to drill the piers and insert something (not yet worked this out fully) to represent some of the bolts that held the timbers together. As it is I think there's a good chance of a balls up if I try to retro fit this detail to the piers. The bridge may therefore be a little light on detail; I'll just have to try and get the colouring right, fit some handrails once the track is down and hope for the best.

The upside is that with only some minor bodging the new bridge has been able to take the place of the old Mk3 specimen, here are some snaps I've taken this afternoon, cock up aside I'm rather pleased with how it's looking.







Made a start on the platform too.

 

[Simon Dunkley]

Oh dear I think I've boobed, how mightily I'm not sure yet. This morning I realised that I may have been a little premature in sticking the bits of my bridge together. I've just realised that it would have been possible to stick the baulks to the deck and (possibly) the rails to them before I stuck the deck to the piers. In fact the more I thi9nk about it the better it sounds.

Personally, it might have been a better way to do it in hindsight, I don't think that the difference is worth scrapping what you have achieved so far.
So, not a might boob - and being an archetypal Englishman and therefore obsessed with big boobs, I do know what I am talking about.

I would also have been able to drill the piers and insert something (not yet worked this out fully) to represent some of the bolts that held the timbers together. As it is I think there's a good chance of a balls up if I try to retro fit this detail to the piers. The bridge may therefore be a little light on detail; I'll just have to try and get the colouring right, fit some handrails once the track is down and hope for the best.

You might want to try fixing Grandt Line nut, bolt and washer "castings" (actually mouldings) on with the merest whiff of superglue, or indeed if you use enamels or acrylics to stain the bridge, a dab of butanone (MEK). You can get NBW castings from this source in Barrow-in-Furness. (Remember, dimensions given are for H0 in the listings.) Usual disclaimer applies!

All in all, thought, I would say it is coming along nicely.

 

[Neil]

... I don't think that the difference is worth scrapping what you have achieved so far. ...

It's ok, neither do I. I shall carry on regardless with my non precision approach.

 

[Geoff]

In many senses this tale of events is utter cobblers, a delusional ramble by a bloke only part connected to the real world, a daydreamer, a fantasist. The serious end of the hobby very often concentrates on the real virtues of the model itself, the skill and craftsmanship embodied in the finished piece, the patience and diligence of the builder even the scholarly approach to the research. I'd like to make a case for taking the same care and according the same importance to the back story and ongoing rationale that underpin the way in which we deploy the individual finished artefacts in the creation of a believable whole.

I couldn't agree more Neil and am glad or should I say relieved to learn that I am not the only one to feel the same way. Once I wander into my railway room I am transported back in time to the days of the country branch in the mid 50's and happy times spent by the line side.
So keep those yarns and descriptive captions of make believe coming because they add another dimension to the lovely scene you are modelling.

By the way the bridge is looking really good and with the platform area taking shape the whole scene is coming together superbly.

Cheers,
Geoff

 

[Neil]

It's strange but painting the backscene has managed to make the layout look smaller. Though it's been on my mind since the hills appeared I've yet to work out why. Even though the reason escapes me I thought I'd better see what I could do to avoid this being compounded when the full scenic works are applied to the bare skeleton as it's the sense of distance and journey that I most want from the layout. With this in mind I've been concentrating on what might be done at the site of Morfa station. The original idea was that the Barmouth Dolgellau leg of the triangle would have platform, lifted track and dilapidated shelter in place.



Currently I'm set on the shelter going, leaving the tin hut on the coast platform as the only structure and the stand of trees on their own as to screen the exit off stage of the branch.



I can't make up my mind whether to keep the platform the shape and size shown above, or trim it back so it only faces the coast line, rather like the real location now. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Geoff]

Hi Neil,
Whilst I can see where you are coming from could I suggest you keep the platform shape and size as it is but perhaps just model the foundations of the shelter, it would certainly be different and a talking point.

Cheers,
Geoff

 

[28ten]

Id go with less. the more you add the smaller the scene gets visually, Id almost think twice about the shrubbery.

 

[iploffy]

When did the original platform faces close to traffic and if it fits in with the time period do it, if it still looks too much take it out, it's your railway and from what I have seen so far you are doing a pretty good job of it

 

[Pennine MC]

... perhaps just model the foundations of the shelter, it would certainly be different and a talking point.

The 'crumbling edge of quality', as Peter Parker put it

 

[Simon Dunkley]

It's strange but painting the backscene has managed to make the layout look smaller. Though it's been on my mind since the hills appeared I've yet to work out why.

I suspect that when the background was plain, there was noting to provide a comparison against the train, to provide a sense of scale. At the moment, you have the distant hills looking rather small as they are, well, distant, but nothing in between, and nothing to act as a visual brake (such as a fence or hedge) between layout and backscene.

With something in place, things will change again.

 

[Captain Kernow]

Part of the whole essence of 'Morfa' in real life is the fact that it was a triangular layout, so I'd really like to see the disused Dolgellau platform modelled, with sleeper indentations in the ballast and a bit of weed growth, as the line hadn't been lifted that long, had it, in the early 1970s?

However, how were you going to disguise the point where the disused railway ran 'off scene', ie. where the non-existent tracks are crossed by the backscene? Some judicious shrubbery or perhaps a knackered old caravan on the trackbed?

I like the notion of modelling the foundations of the shelter as well, not something you see very often.

 

[Neil]

Thanks for all the suggestions chaps. I've just returned back home after a weekend and I'll need to let all that you've said float around in my brain for a while until a clear favourite emerges. Each and every idea is useful even if I use none, as they help sharpen up my own thoughts. Cardboard and sharp knife on standby.

 

[dibateg]

Hi Neil,
having followed Morfa for a long time and having an interest in the Cambrian as it is my local line:-
I like the idea of the disused platforms in place. It was such a common feature of that era. Wherever you travelled by train in those days, there were lifted sidings, empty platforms and trackbeds invitingly disappearing off.
I like the misty back ground - did you create it?
I'm involved with a layout that depicts Barmouth Junction in the early 60s - it's interesting to see the contrast.

Regards
Tony

 

[Neil]

.... I like the misty back ground - did you create it? ....

Thank you Tony, it's nothing more complicated than white emulsion tinted with poster paint and acrylics.

The sky went on first. I mixed two shades of blue, let down just a touch with a drop of water, and used three brushes one for each colour and one to blend the darker zenith into the paler horizon. It took two attempts to get a smooth enough transition and a frantic pace to both blend and keep the wet edge moving forward.

The hills use the sky colours as a base, greened up with yellow ochre, darkened with blue and/or warmed up a touch with burnt sienna. The first attempt went wrong as I tried to get too fiddly, the second went far more broad brush and I'm far happier with it. Logic and photos I have would say that there's much missing that could be seen even at the distance my backscene represents. However the arty-farty rationale goes like this:

It's a model

The 3-D bits in the foreground will not be as detailed as in real life

The relationship between the modelled foreground and painted background detail will be close to that in real life

 

[iploffy]

Neil are you the NEW Rolf Harris

 

[Simon Dunkley]

Can you tell what it is yet?

 

[Neil]

Morfa suffered a strange anomaly in the space/time continuum this afternoon. The characteristic silhouette of a dukedog appeared out of the either; I guess it had turned on the triangle at Morfa and was backing down to Barmouth to pick up its train and await departure time.

 

[Dog Star]

Morfa suffered a strange anomaly in the space/time continuum this afternoon....

Sounds like something which happens whenever I read a missive from the World of Basilcia Fields.

 

[iploffy]

OOOOOOHHHHHHHHH ghosties of the past are coming to get us