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that train appears to be on a flat earth and going nowhere. Still its 8pm and I will get on.

Beautiful. Will you make my whole layout for me??

Haha, Doc is a Gandy Dancer.

HO scale? Take me way back. Although we never had static grass BITD. Hmmm, things were not better back then. Looking at the size, I'm guessing a handcar will go on it?

Or a damsel tied to the tracks?

The clamps, FTW! One never, and I mean never ever, can have enough clamps. Old woodworker's adage. True for scratch-builders too.

Thanks Graven. Very "classic" indeed.

Ta Comrade. You would then be on a (rail)road to nowhere.

Thanks Gits'. Didn't know you had one. I'm always available to create things for people (it's the whole purpose of this thread, after all).

Red Harvest wrote:Haha, Doc is a Gandy Dancer.

Had to google that. Yes indeed, makes a change from architect, mechanical engineer or disease vector...

HO scale?

N gauge. For those not in the know (and that I had to look it up anyway) that's 1:148 scale or about 12mm for figures (with the tracks at 1:160 or 9mm width).

Take me way back. Although we never had static grass BITD. Hmmm, things were not better back then.

The felt/grass-on-paper that I used is from quite a way back (early '80s at least). But yes, no need to stick to classic methods when new things are available.

Looking at the size, I'm guessing a handcar will go on it?

Or a damsel tied to the tracks?

You will have to wait and see as to the subject. I may have to remember the damsel on the tracks for the future though.

The clamps, FTW! One never, and I mean never ever, can have enough clamps. Old woodworker's adage. True for scratch-builders too.

Yarp. I got a set with 2 of these, 2 ratcheting clamps and 6 sprung clamps: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ratcheting-Including-Spreader-Releasing-Non-Marring/dp/B01N1HAMQX/ref=sr_1_7?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1504444687&sr=1-7&keywords=clamps Rather than get dirt cheap ones from China that'll fall apart as soon as you use them, these came with a 1 year guarantee. Working well so far.

And here's the platform built and primed:

While the fence, cable reel, chap and roof are "kit" pieces, I did scratch-build the bench.

Just the painting to do now.

1:148?

It looks bigger from here,

Thanks LT. Yep, small scale:
You can also see the brick texture I scratched into the sprue "legs" of the platform.


Give it your best Ork / Train puns...

Well, it doesn't look that big now, that's for sure!

 Dr H wrote:
Thanks LT. Yep, small scale:
You can also see the brick texture I scratched into the sprue "legs" of the platform.


Give it your best Ork / Train puns...

Knowing ork mentality he heard holding up trains were fun..but he sprained his back shortly after this picture was taken....lift with your legs

LT: One of the highest compliments that can be directed at a model is that it looks to be a larger scale. Thanks.

Theo': lol Very true.

And one last wip for you lot. It's all done to be revealed tomorrow. But here's the tiny figure, complete with shading and highlighting, and a new pound coin for scale (for those that know how big the new pound coin is...).


The timetable behind him will get a bit more work on it to tidy it up (coz' I can't leave well alone).

Stay tuned for the full piece with the mystery subject tomorrow.

Is it bigger than a breadbox?

I have no idea how big a pound coin is, but I do know N scale. I have a few N scale train cars. (RR stuff was much more popular when I was a kid. Now it is all but dead. Sic transit gloria viae ferreae? Latin is not my strong suit, so this could be wrong.)

Am I seeing glue residue around the gandy dancer's feet? He's getting a tool in that hand, no?

 Littletower wrote:
Well, it doesn't look that big now, that's for sure!

That's what she said. Much to our hero's dismay.

Too easy.

A pound coin is just a bit smaller in diameter than a quarter, Red.

I thought it was N gauge. I know how bloody tiny that scale is, I'm impressed I know I shouldn't be by now but ...

... you even added weeds to the grass!

Now I'm left to wonder why there is a man in a green hat leaning on an imaginary bar, should we call the transport police?

Red Harvest wrote:Is it bigger than a breadbox?

I have no idea how big a pound coin is,...

Smaller than a Ningi.
For a better idea of the size, the base is 80x70mm. The whole thing will fit on the palm of your average hand.

...but I do know N scale. I have a few N scale train cars. (RR stuff was much more popular when I was a kid. Now it is all but dead. Sic transit gloria viae ferreae? Latin is not my strong suit, so this could be wrong.)

I know nothing of Latin; have never been taught it and I don't have much of a grasp of language in general (can blame the dyslexia for that), although I did get 'C's for English and German GCSEs, so I ain't totally not clever wiv words like.
Google, however, gives me a satisfactory answer (didn't have that when I did my GCSEs).

Am I seeing glue residue around the gandy dancer's feet? He's getting a tool in that hand, no?

We can assume it is glue, although I used liquid poly' to glue him down. I didn't see it until I'd painted the concrete. Not to worry, a bit of white paint and it's now a bit of rubbish that he's stood on.
Hadn't thought about putting something in his hand, I just see it as him gesturing at the train. Or maybe he just dropped the piece of trash.

...That's what she said. Much to our hero's dismay. ...

OneManNoodles wrote:... I know how bloody tiny that scale is, I'm impressed I know I shouldn't be by now but ...

... you even added weeds to the grass!

Of course. Can't have a flat (even if I've made it not "flat") expanse of ground without some areas of interest.

Now I'm left to wonder why there is a man in a green hat leaning on an imaginary bar, should we call the transport police?

Always keep your distance from crazy people. I'll just get my gingham dress.

Right then, it's all done and handed over.
I promised you a story (and warned you it wasn't exciting), and this is a personal tale.

First, the subject reveal: You all knew it would be a train (or train related), it is in fact a Shunting engine.
Why a shunting engine? Because it doesn't have any associated carriages that would need to be updated to match it. It's a stand-alone engine that would sit nicely on it's own, on a base.
I had intended to completely update the paint-job, but as it turns out it was actually pretty tidily painted. So I've only updated the paint work: Shading with a wash, highlighting with a dry-brush, the black areas and the white hand rails.


Why is this such a personal item?
When I was in single figure years, a visit to one set of my grandparents meant one thing (amongst other advantageous things for a grandchild), and that was trains. Across the bottom of their garden was a train track, so occasionally you would get a close-up view of a train going by. But upstairs was the real treat; in their bedroom was a door to what most would have used as storage, Granddad used it for something else (as well as some storage).

Upon stepping through the door you would enter a space that ran the length of one side of the house, but was the width of a corridor, there were no windows and it was lit by a series of bare lightbulbs. It always felt, to me, as a secret or hidden space, and inside was the largest model train layout I’ve ever seen in person. A tabletop ran along the wall, the full length of the house and was about 2 foot in depth. The back wall was covered with paper backdrops showing rolling hills etc. The area was fully contoured with hills and rivers and over and around these were roads and, of course, train tracks; snaking back and fourth across the landscape and even passing through a thin dividing wall to a store room via tunnel entrances. The landscape was covered with cars, boats, houses, shops, churches, everything you need. I could have watched it all for hours.

After my Granddad died, Nan moved nearer to us and the trains were boxed up. They were then inherited by my parents when she died.
My Dad intended to build his own layout and started with a table getting as far as the basic layout of the terrain, but life (as so often) gets in the way and the trains stayed in their boxes for years, until last year… or so I intended.

Dad had retired, and I thought it’d be a good idea to kick-start him back into the hobby if I pulled out a train and gave it a fresh lick of paint with my new found skills.
However, we couldn’t find the trains. Dad was sure that they were in the loft, many of the buildings and the track were found in the garage, but no sign of the trains or their rolling stock. In the end we had to assume that one of the many contractors that have been in the house over the past decade or so, laying loft insulation, installing solar panels, etc. had stolen them. They were all gone, and what we were left with was worthless without them.

You will have seen the small hut I painted up at that time and nice as it is, it felt a bit worthless as it was never to be used with the trains I intended it to be used with.

Until last week;
Mum and Dad were away and I decided to track down another abandoned project of my Dad’s, a cast resin chess set. I knew we’d found one piece while looking for the trains previously, so I just had to dig it out of the garage, clean it up and paint it (with a view to sculpt future ones to create the set; the moulds have long since degraded and been thrown out).
What happened while I was looking for that?
I found the trains.

All 19 engines, all their rolling stock, more buildings, some other larger scaled trains, and all the vehicles and little people for the terrain.
The plan changed and the birthday present became this, a display base for a single engine and the news of the found trains, thought stolen.

The morals of the story?
If you are looking for something, look for something else.
If you can’t find something where it should be, look for it where it definitely shouldn’t be.
If someone says that what you are looking for is in 2 boxes, ignore them and look in any and all containers.

And with that, the photos:
Arty angles.


All-round, with and without engine.

and some close-ups.


Thanks.

Now it's back to the garage (again) and lets see if I can finish it before I need to start on Christmas presents... place your bets now...

Awesome job mate , your grandad would be proud.

I’m building my first train table with my son currently, so I am envious of such a large layout like you are talking about.

The model is great... the story is better.

Yes, an excellent story. And a very cool diorama.

Now I feel a compulsion to go rooting around in my basement for my old train stuff. Maybe this week-end...

Wrong moral though. The moral is: keep looking until you've found the thing, or until you have looked everywhere. ( a moral that I have, alas, had to re-learn more than once )

Thanks Theo'.
I've seen you mention your train table... not seen any pictures yet...
Yeah, it was an amazing layout (and even more so stuck in my memory from childhood) that was even more special the way it was hidden away in a secret cupboard.

Thanks Gits'.

Thanks Red'. Yeah, do it, build something, show us...
Ha, yeah but looking everywhere is so much work. I prefer to store things in places where I know that's where I'd store it if I wanted to store it.

Back to the Workshop (I have been distracted trying to finish my latest FO4 settlement build, so no major progress).
A pop-up tool and storage shelf:

The thought being that it can drop all the way into the floor, hopefully the piston in the back and the top being painted to match the floor will help tell the story.

Just some scattered parts (for the thing being built) and small details (a mug of coffee etc.) to add and then on to the roof-hanging things (as yet unknown) before moving back outside.

 Dr H wrote:
Ha, yeah but looking everywhere is so much work. I prefer to store things in places where I know that's where I'd store it if I wanted to store it.

I prefer to do so too. However, there are those <glances over shoulder to make sure SWMBO is not around> who relocate things without telling me.

Been keeping an eye on the train and want to say how great it turned out. The picture with the Ork made me laugh, reminded me of an old Godzilla movie.

Garage is really shaping up. Keep up the good work!

Train dio looks great, story was even better.

+1for propperly stored things, too!

Train looks excellent. Really intrigued by the floor here...

Apologies, I've been neglecting my hobby space and you all. There is a reason, see below.
First some replies:

Red': Yeah, other people are such a pain sometimes.

Thanks York'. I did consider using a Tyranid for scale, but they are all in need on a touch up on the paint... one day.
More on the garage soon.

Thanks LT. I'm glad you all liked the story, it was quite the personal project. More to come in time.

Thanks Graven'. Floor will be painted to show the areas... how will be decided later...

So yes, no model progress...
But ...and that's a big "but"...
I have completed a build elsewhere.
Where? In the virtual world of Fallout 4.

My Vault 88 build is finished. I've recorded a tour for YouTube and I've uploaded the blueprint to the Nexus for anyone to download to their game (you will require a long list of DLC and mods for it to work).
The vault is very large and so the tour is quite long, so I recorded it in 4 parts:
The setup and recording, checking, recording, etc. not to mention the building, has taken a great many hours, so I appreciate any and all views.










And the link to the Nexus mod: https://rd.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/27830
Also, there are quite a few screenshots on the Nexus page, so you can just pop in there to have a look at those even if you don't have the game.
...
I wonder...
Large-tastic pictures...


I won't post them all, there are many.

Oh my gosh... you have an actual TV broadcast!? I've never seen one before (aside from the opening segment).

That, Gits', is the glory of mods. That tv is the same asset that is used in the pre-war home at the start of the game.

I then glitched that into a table that is itself glitched into a rug that I've positioned to hide the slanted ground beneath. All with console commands.

Wow. Doing amazing modeling things isn't your only talent! Very cool.

I find it very similar, in a way. It's just a matter of arranging pieces to create a unique whole project.

2 major differences: In-game, nothing is set in stone, you can always move something later.

Unlike modelling, you can't cut anything. So while I can push the back table legs into the ground and hide them, I can't do something similar next to a thin wall if I can see the other side.

Sweet vault. Though I think you need some music.

Also extra sweet train stop. Just a perfect 8cm. With excellent detail.

 cormadepanda wrote:
Sweet vault. Though I think you need some music.

Thanks Comrade.
The problem with adding music to YouTube videos is that if you're not careful someone will file a copyright claim and monetise your video, and that means adverts (and I really hate adverts). If anyone's going to get money from my effort, it's going to be me.
The way I see these videos is you can add your own music by playing something in the background. It's what I'd do. You may not like what I choose (it'd be your bad taste, but that can't be helped )

Also extra sweet train stop. Just a perfect 8cm. With excellent detail.

Thanks.

Progress on the workshop (delayed due to the other project below...).
I've added another robot arm, this time hanging from the ceiling.
This is the arm that does the work; welding, cutting, etc... so it has many attachments and a greater range of motion than the arms on the rails.

It's not glued to the ceiling yet, just press-fitted into the ring (that is glued to the ceiling). It's position may change slightly.

There will be an associated box on the roof above it when I come to it. That large ball is meant to penetrate the roof and be able to fully rotate. It's just easier to glue it on this way.

In other news:
You know when you get an idea for a project that just won't leave you alone and you must do it so that you can stop thinking about it?
I had one of them.
So the garage was put to one side for a few days (again).

This was not modelling though. It's a functional 1:1 project in wood.

After my visit the other week to the (not so) local climbing centre, I found that the main problem I had was a lack of finger strength. There were many holds that I could have used back in the day that I could no longer grip.
So I wanted a way to train my fingers.
I have dumbbells and a chin-up bar that I can train my arms with, and I can squat etc to train my legs, but fingers...

Well, I do have a pair of sprung finger strength training things, but they're not doing the job to the level I want.
I wanted something I can hang from, comfortably, by my fingers. To use my bodyweight to train my fingers. After all, they need to be able to take my bodyweight for climbing.

Research led to fingerboards: A board or block that has various sizes of slots, rails, holds that you hang from with your fingers.
While I could buy a fingerboard, they are not cheap.
I did find some that were made of wood, and that led to making my own from the wood in the garage (our real garage, not the one above... that has no wood in it).

One thing led to another, and 3 days later I have this:
(large facebook pictures ahead)

That's 3 rows of various thicknesses and various hold profiles.
A lot of screws the hold it all together, the holds on to the boards, and the whole thing to the doorframe (together with wedges between it and the walls).
I'll also position my chin-up bar above it so I can climb up the board to the bar, do a few chin-ups, and climb down.

Closer, side view:


And some hold examples (I am cheating with these photos, I'm still standing on tip-toe, not hanging):


I can't currently use all of these, especially the smallest, but the aim is the improve enough to use them all.

I'll have to start thinking Christmas presents soon, so the garage my be put aside again before the finish, but more to do on it soon.

I've got the scattered junk in and I've moved the robot arm (now glued in as I have a cunning plan to paint it).
View through the windows:


And without the roof/walls:
Also a view of the shelf brackets I've added to the rear wall (shelves to be added after painting them) and the table with coffee cup (to be filled) and spanner.


That actually appears to be the interior done... on to the roof then...

The tiny details! That tiny spanner! It's almost cute! It sees like it might almost go more sodapop than infinity

Thanks Graven'. With remote-controlled koala bombs (or whatever it is), Infinity has plenty of cute.

Behold!
My cunning plan for painting the arm (and additional roof details):


That will be glued down at the end. It's just to make my painting life easier.
The Hexagons are a convenient way to hide the cut-out.