4mm Morfa - The race is run.

[Neil]

Morfa - Enlightenment

I've had a day out while waiting for the bad news regarding the car and its MOT test (don't ask; it'll be a William rather than a bill when we get it back) taking the train from Mach to Morfa then walking to Barmouth. The were a few angles at the Barmouth end that my books and Google don't cover so the camera came too. I've sixty snaps of grotty sheds, bits of wall and electricity poles, but here's one of the more presentable shots.

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[28ten]

Morfa - Enlightenment

Lovely shot, captures the cold, wet fee, hard to capture in model form though

 

[Simon Dunkley]

Morfa - Enlightenment

Nah; just use grey for the sky backscene, mute the greens a bit, and turn the room heating off when you have visitors...

Saw something similar many years ago in Model Railroader. Two things struck me:
1) It was very effective;
2) It was quite depressing, and not something you would want to greet you when you entered the modelling den...
(Well, not unless you were into Emo or anything like that.)

 

[Neil]

Morfa - Enlightenment

Actually chaps it wasn't raining then, didn't start until I was on the 3:00 back to Mach. I do know what Simon means about being a depressing sight if one was continually exposed to it evry time the layout was glimpsed, I'd have a hard time getting much enjoyment out of a snow scene for the same reason. Strangely I can enjoy industrial grot and decay, that most would find to be a bit of a downer, as long as there's sun about.

Here's some seaside grot also from yesterdays expedition.

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[Neil]

Morfa - Enlightenment

In the real world many of us like clean and tidy, yet as modellers, ....

Au contraire my good man; I'm most partial to a bit of real life decay and distress. A good job as a high percentage of our furnishings come from the skip (I jest not) and those that don't from some of the tattier second hand emporiums that the Cambrian coast has to offer. Anyone that's seen the shanty town part way down the drive will have realised that I treat outdoors pretty much the same as indoors; shabby not necesarily chic.  ;D

 

[Simon]

Morfa - Enlightenment

Au contraire my good man; I'm most partial to a bit of real life decay and distress. A good job as a high percentage of our furnishings come from the skip (I jest not) and those that don't from some of the tattier second hand emporiums that the Cambrian coast has to offer. Anyone that's seen the shanty town part way down the drive will have realised that I treat outdoors pretty much the same as indoors; shabby not necesarily chic.  ;D

Oh come come my dear chap!

We all know you are currently sitting in your glass and chrome mountain hideaway, sipping at a gin and tonic while you simultaneously create scenic masterpieces of disarming dilapidation, type on your exquisite Ipad, manipulate your foreign currency reserves and keep a watchful eye on your army of scantily clad Hawaiian gardeners as they plant marajuana plants in the soft Welsh rain...

 

[Simon]

Morfa - Enlightenment

Regarding my last post I would just like to point out in a totally non sexist "that bird hasn't got a clue about the offside rules" way that Neils gardeners are all Hawaiians of a youthful and female persuasion.

Just to make sure we're all tuning in to the right pictures here

 

[28ten]

Morfa - Enlightenment

Simon, you didn't even know what an iPad was on Sunday  have the boys been getting to you?

 

[marsa69]

Morfa - Enlightenment

you didn't even know what an iPad was on Sunday

The wife wanted one of those for Xmas. I got her an iRon by mistake 

 

[Simon]

Morfa - Enlightenment

Simon, you didn't even know what an iPad was on Sunday  have the boys been getting to you?

I think something has been getting to me

 

[Neil]

Morfa - Enlightenment

I think something has been getting to me

You been inhaling again Simon?

 

[Simon Dunkley]

Morfa - Enlightenment

Actually chaps it wasn't raining then, didn't start until I was on the 3:00 back to Mach. I do know what Simon means about being a depressing sight if one was continually exposed to it evry time the layout was glimpsed, I'd have a hard time getting much enjoyment out of a snow scene for the same reason. Strangely I can enjoy industrial grot and decay, that most would find to be a bit of a downer, as long as there's sun about.

I don't think it's strange. There is a variety of colour, a depth of change and a range of textures to be found amongst industrial grot and decay. A rainy day, though, has muted colours with more than a hint of grey to everything.
Similarly, a snow scene lacks variety - but do avoid the yellow snow.

 

[Neil]

Morfa - Enlightenment

A couple more expedition photos while I bung some more hardboard profile pieces round the layout bottom edge.

At the Morfa end of Barmouth bridge the vista is despoiled somewhat by a pole run, the overhead cables terminating close to the estuary's edge at the joint with the subterranean section.

As I'm a sucker for a bit of juxtaposed grot and beauty this is something I've got to have; the only downside is that to look right I'll have to cable it up, the wires being too thick to use the pole and no cable dodge, which then means that other cabling (even the thinner stuff I might have omitted) will have to be represented.

 

[Simon Dunkley]

Morfa - Enlightenment

Were those poles and wires there 40 years ago?
If so, were they the same pattern?
You might think no one would notice, but there is that group of people who go pylon spotting on their journeys...

 

[Neil]

Morfa - A Bit Edgy

Were those poles and wires there 40 years ago?...

Ah ha, the spanner in the works gambit, unfortunately today I don't bite; nearly did but a miss is as good as a mile. I almost went upstairs to leaf through the pile of books I've accumulated on the Cambrian Coast, but didn't. The thing is there are so many liberties taken with my model already that it's pointless squinting at photos invariably taken just a few feet to one side of where I'd really like them to be trying to ascertain if the pole road really looked the way it does now. I like it, I'm having it and the books are staying on the shelf. However I'll probably spend hours doing the same squinty job, not to mention trawling the interweb trying to find just what warning signs the late sixties health and safety boffins decreed should be in place.

Anyway more pics, this time of my card layout profile templates. The sea level profiles are easy, and I'm happy to hack the hardboard without any practice pieces, the bumpy stuff to the landward side needed a bit more thinking about hence the card tester. I think the piece parallel to the tracks may be a touch lower and I'll break up the aggressively straight line too.

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Finally I thought I'd drape some hanging basket liner behind to see how the scrubby hillside might look.

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[Simon Dunkley]

Morfa - A Bit Edgy

The thing is there are so many liberties taken with my model already that it's pointless squinting at photos invariably taken just a few feet to one side of where I'd really like them to be trying to ascertain if the pole road really looked the way it does now. I like it, I'm having it and the books are staying on the shelf. However I'll probably spend hours doing the same squinty job, not to mention trawling the interweb trying to find just what warning signs the late sixties health and safety boffins decreed should be in place.

Modelling, like life, is full of compromises and ultimately as long as you are happy with the levels set, then that's OK. Agree that the signs are worth investigating, as they would be more obvious.

Those card profiles are a real aid to the imagination: I think the composition is looking good.

 

[Neil]

Morfa - A Bit Edgy

Modelling, like life, is full of compromises and ultimately as long as you are happy with the levels set, then that's OK. Agree that the signs are worth investigating, as they would be more obvious.

Cheers Dunks, you've just given rise to an interesting question. If one wants a particular thing on ones layout, but it's not prototypical then is it a greater compromise to have it or not have it? I'm sure there's no universal answer, that others would choose differently to me. I'm not even sure that there's one unifying constant in my own choices, some things I'll happily have however inaccurate, some have to be spot on.

Those card profiles are a real aid to the imagination: I think the composition is looking good.

Thank you; I normally blast away with the scenery on an intuitive basis, and so far I seem to have got away with it. However I worried that perhaps I've fallen into model-making representational shorthand so I've decided to fuss a bit more and study the scenery in the same way I look at mineral wagons, rusty tin huts and smelly diesels.

 

[Simon Dunkley]

Morfa - A Bit Edgy

If one wants a particular thing on ones layout, but it's not prototypical then is it a greater compromise to have it or not have it? I'm sure there's no universal answer, that others would choose differently to me. I'm not even sure that there's one unifying constant in my own choices, some things I'll happily have however inaccurate, some have to be spot on.

Depends on how far out of prototypical it is, I suppose.
Addendum:
My DX goods loco has a Ramsbottom smokebox fitted to a Webb boiler. A few were rebuilt thus so it is perfectly accurate for a handful of DX goods. However, I didn't know about these differences when it was built, and as an EWJR loco it should have a Ramsbottom boiler, which would be 2" lower on the centre line, 2" larger in diameter, and have a shorter firebox. If I hadn't told you about this, you wouldn't have known, and even having told you about it, can you tell the difference? (Sadly, I can!) The H-spoke wheels moved from one loco to another - they may be created at a later date.

But you can also apply rule number 1 in some circumstances: "It's my model railway".
Add subclause (a) ("And no one else is about") and you can get away with anything you like!

I mean, you could model 3.5mm scale Irish stock on your 18.2mm track if you like...

 

[Phill Dyson]

Morfa - Enlightenment

You might think no one would notice, but there is that group of people who go pylon spotting on their journeys...

Reminds me of Arnold J Rimmer's  photo collection of 20th century telegraph poles 

 

[iploffy]

Morfa - Enlightenment

or his collection of Hammond and Morgan elevator music

Ian