3mm Society AGM

Yesterday was the day of the Annual General Meeting of the 3mm Society and the high point in the 3mm modeller's year.  Most of the traders specialising in the scale were there as well as the Society's various stands selling the countless items available solely to members. 
Several competitions are held in a variety of categories and I entered my model of the William Clarke station building from Barber's Bridge which you will have seen under construction in previous Blog entries.  The category I entered was for lineside buildings and structures and is called The Ralph Murfitt Trophy after a late Society member.

This building has taken up all of my modelling (and Blog) time over the last couple of months and I'm rather pleased with the result.  I am glad I've made this and some of the other buildings for Chipping Compton as "plug in" structures therefore enabling their removal from the layout for maintenance etc.

It was up against some stiff competition as we can see here with all 6 entries in The Ralph Murfitt Trophy.  At the rear on the left is the winning entry from Howard Love with some street corner shops from the Manchester area.  I wish I'd taken some close-up views of this as Howard is a retired art teacher and this shows in the sheer artistry of his buildings.  I regard him as being on a par with the late George Iliffe Stokes and his handiwork deserves attention in the mainstream model press.  This competition is always decided by a guest judge and this year we were honoured with the presence of Steve Flint, editor of Railway Modeller magazine.

The category covering steam outline locomotives is called The Tony Birch Trophy in memory of another deceased member.  This year it was won by Nick Salzman with this delightful LSWR 0-6-0 "Ilfracombe Goods" loco.  This competition is decided by member's votes.

Here we see two Society members, both accomplished modellers (Mike Davey and Richard Preece), examining the entries for The Market Drayton Trophy.  This category covers goods vehicles or non-passenger coaching stock.  This was won this year by Andrew Thomas who's 3 tank wagons are on the far left at the far side of the table.  Again this competition is judged on member's votes and this was a runaway winner.  The entries on the right-hand table are in the Modern-Image Trophy and demonstrates the vast diversity of subjects members portray, the multi-coloured diesel loco edging into view is from the Thai State Railways! 

Well, AGM day would not be AGM day without parting with some of the folding stuff!  I just had to get one of the latest kits for the LNER Lowmac (Low Machinery) wagon.  Moulded exclusively for the Society by Parkside, these kits are excellent value for money and the same high level of quality enjoyed by modellers in 4mm and 7mm is present in their 3mm scale mouldings.

A new post at last!

Following some hounding from fellow 3mm Society members to update this blog (no names mentioned), I had best recount how my modelling time has been spent since January.  Having ballasted the sidings with a certain brand of ash ballast and then decided it just wasn't right I lifted the 3 sidings concerned and relaid them.  Drastic measures perhaps but I just had to put it right there and then or live with it.  The ballasting is all done now with the sidings suitably ballasted in ash and I'm really glad I went to the trouble to improve things.  So, not an enjoyable thing to do and having taken a break from working on the layout I have returned to the platform area.  This is now surfaced with card as a basic surface and about half of it is covered with individual paper paving slabs.  The remainder will be surfaced to represent tarmac or gravel.  The upper picture shows the hole into which the station building will slot whilst the lower view shows virtually the whole platform length.  Updating this blog I was shocked to realise that it was last June that I started to lay the track and this is the progress to date!  Then again, wiring the layout up took time and as for the track painting and ballasting....well let's forget that bit and concentrate on the future.  It has its first booking in October 2013.  Will it be ready in time? we shall have to see...............

   



Layout progress

The Christmas break enabled me to spend a fair few hours on Chipping Compton.  Concentrating on the main station board I managed to do most of the ballasting and even start on the platform.  The basis of this is a framework of good quality card to which the surface will be attached.  This is both light and surprisingly strong.  The buildings simply plug-in to the card framework for accurate location and to eliminate any unsightly gaps between the walls and the platform surface.  

To enable the buildings to locate into the framework the inner layer of the walling extends below the surface level as seen here with the pagoda shed.

Once "planted" there is no gap visible although obviously the platform surface needs to be fitted.   

Rusty rails

 One of the tedious tasks when building a layout is to paint the rails.  There are various methods nowadays ranging from spray-painting the track in situ to a rather natty looking gizmo I've just discovered on the web which uses a tiny foam wheel to apply the paint to the rail sides.  I opted for the old-fashioned brush painting way.  As long as you get comfortable, put some decent music on and concentrate it soon gets done.  Rather than using a paint shade marketed to portray rusty rails I use ordinary Humbrol Matt Leather enamel (62) suitably thinned down.  To my eyes the branded "track colour" is simply too dark in a small scale.   

It works!



A couple of weeks ago I finally completed the wiring on my new layout "Chipping Compton".  Test running it was successful apart from a minor wiring error which was soon remedied.  As on previous layouts the points are controlled by using the simple wire-in-tube method but this time rather than using metal tubing for the wire to run through I used PTFE tubing.  Model Signal Engineering sell a nice low-price kit.  The tube runs can just be seen running across the board on this view of the scenic section of the layout.  As I had used 1/8 cork sheet to cover the ply baseboard it means the tubing is hidden nicely in narrow trenches in the cork meaning it is flush with the surface.   The shaped blocks at the foot of the backscene will be hidden by scenery and are there to provide additional support for the backscene. 

Nostalgia Corner

Back in the 1970's the Malmesbury area group of the 3mm Society exhibited a lengthy branch line layout.  I first saw it at the Wales & West of England show which in those days was held at the Victoria Rooms in Whiteladies Road, Bristol.  This layout was certainly a major factor in my decision to switch to 3mm scale.  Looking back to old show guides of the time it was either called The Acton Turville and Milbury Railway or The Foxham Extension Railway and was certainly unusual for the time as it operated with full bell codes and real block instruments.  If you have any more pictures of this layout or even recognise yourself in this picture please leave a comment.  The late Paddy Lockstone was I believe responsible for the model of the station building in the centre foreground which is a replica of that at Malmesbury station.  

Track relaying

Ever since I laid the track on Chipping Compton I've never been completely happy with the way the main running line crosses one of the baseboard joins.  Despite the fact that nothing has yet run on the layout under it's own power I could see a very slight "ramp" effect which was just visible to the naked eye when looking along the line from track level.  Granted, my chosen wheel and track standards are not finescale (more "intermediate") but I just was not happy.  So Friday night I set to and cut out a short section either side of the join and very carefully let in a section as per the picture.  Care was taken to ensure it was an exact fit with no gaps either end. The picture also shows the two copper-clad sleepers used to strengthen my track adjacent to baseboard joins.  Once in place both rails were cut with a fine razor saw....after the rails had been soldered to the sleepers of course.  I'm glad I carried this out as I'd never of been happy with it the way it was and running would have suffered too.  Once ballasted this job would have been much harder (and messier to do).   In short, never rush building your layout, take your time to get it right at each stage.