fifteen minute modeller

fighting procrastination fifteen minutes at a time

Tag: finescale

Could have been

29th November 2020 / / 0 Comments
#121 FRMR Magazines

Since I decided to part with a jewel in the modelshop stock room as I need to finance some upcoming projects they have now found a good home, I am assuming, and will wend there way to Cumbria on Monday. FSMR unfortunately never passed the three issue count due to the untimely death of Bob Barlow. I had always admired his work and was excited to find out that there was going to be another fine-scale mag on the scene. Along side the journal (MRJ) it was soon to become a very firm favourite, much like the Railway Modeller of my youth which I couldn’t wait to collect from our local newsagents once a month. I remember the chores and later weekend work endured to wait with anticipation for the next magazine. Had I known of the existence of MRJ back in the 80s I would have happily sold my grand mother..

Again like the journal, not every thing was to my taste. But that did not stop me enjoying it and learning from many accomplished modellers. But the spread of topics was a good mixture of old and new and the more in-depth look at topics helps focus ones mind on the subject. I have relatively recently come round to the idea of using techniques from other modelling scales and genres. There is a lot to be gained from understanding how others approach common issues that we all face such as weathering and land forms amongst others. I have recently been on a bit of a spree watching military, marine and air craft modellers. All of which have unique takes on tasks we carry out on the railway. This is a bit of a digression from the Review but there I leant of S is for Small and white metal soldering..

I really liked the more in-depth format that covered subjects usually glanced at by popular press and Bob Barlow and team certainly had the direction of the magazine mapped out from the beginning. I would have grown into a firm favourite had it continued. I’m a little bit sorry to be passing these on but I think building something out of them and making memories is a big part of why I started getting rid of the hoard before it was too late. Better to build now than browse tomorrow.. or something like that.

Until the next one..

Passing time on

17th November 2020 / / 0 Comments

Just a short messive from the 15minute modelling headquarters. Attempting to help other departments the authorities have decreed that funds must be found and in looking through the draughty back room store house my collection of Finescale Railway Modelling Review magazines peeked out of a pile. Now normally I would in the good family traditions not think twice about relinquishing some thing from the hoard, specially not something so seemingly valuable. But needs must when the devil rides and so it has come to pass that I am going to pass on these excellent three issues and short lived production run to another soul.

Just in case you fancied a peek you can find them here

Restarting the restart

21st April 2018 / / 2 Comments

Oops, it’s been over two months since my last post and although there’s been no noticeable activity on here there has been progress in the background with some rationalising of the model rail empire in order to make way for new items that are more in line with the direction of my modelling for the moment. With the weather changing for the better now is the time to get outside and do any dirty work needed. I will be posting about that nearer the time I start out as I have a load of work to do on my room first to covert to a proper bedroom railway room, such as painting and decorating, building a workbench come desk, and some shelving. Like most things house related there are a bunch of other things that also need to happen and that’s before I have to get stuff done out in the garden, but following the mantra of fifteen minutes a night means a little progress is still progress. Little things can be tackled whilst waiting on the big things.

So what’s with the new plan? Well actually it’s not that new and after thinking that I had a lightbulb moment I realised that I had already visualised it for a previous project. However they do say that good ideas float to the surface, or something like that, and it is as good to me the second time around. The idea revolves around the layout having two halves with a rural section and an urban section. I can’t claim to be the originator of this idea and I originally saw it on the Oops, it’s been over two months since my last post and although there’s been no noticeable activity here there has been progress in the background with some rationalising of the model rail empire in order to make way for new items that are more in line with the direction of my modelling for the moment. With the weather changing for the better now is the time to get outside and do any dirty work needed. That will come in time and I will be posting about that nearer the time I start out as I have a load of work to do on the room first, such as painting and building a workbench come desk and like most things house related there are a bunch of other things that also need to happen and that’s even before I have to get stuff done out in the garden, but following the mantra of fifteen minutes a night means little progress is still progress.

So what’s with the new plan? Well actually it’s not that new and after thinking that I had a lightbulb moment I realised that I had already visualised it for a previous project. However they do say that good ideas float to the surface, or something like that, and it is as good to me the second time around. The idea revolves around the layout having two halves with a rural section and an urban section. I can’t claim to be the originator of this idea and I originally saw it on the late Carl Arendt’s site some time ago and although not the exact idea I contemplated it certainly sowed the seed of the current plan. I have scaled back over iterations as I started out with a rather ambitious plan, but I have been trying to encourage focused and achievable modelling and rain in my expansionist tendencies. I did get somewhat zealous in my desire to simplify ending up with the idea of just having a circle of track as I diaorama but realised pretty quickly that it wouldn’t be very fulfilling in operational interest but could allow for testing out some new skills in a small limited space in the future.

Effectively this is just a roundy roundy layout with the yards in the visible sections rather than hidden away from the onlookers gaze. It is a designed to just watch trains and with a bit of automation one can sit back and imagine sitting on the platform watching the world go by with maybe a cool drink on a hot summers afternoon. I tried designing the plan for Kato Unitrack but found that prohibitive cost of just a simple track plan was going to add up to far more than I was prepared to pay. The Unitrack system though is great for starting out and enthusing the young in my view and bit by bit an empire can be built. So that leaves me the option of using Peco code 55 finescale track with handlaid switches. This not only makes for swift progress in the bulk of track laying but also allows me to have custom geometry to squeeze in a little more detail or lines where the Unitrack wouldn’t allow. After quite a absence, I need to brush up my Templot skills and draft out the preliminary idea. I find that it is a great assistance to seeing how the railway fits the room (meaning the actual room and the room on the board) as the 3d world doesn’t always match the reality, my last plan being case in point as it looked great on screen but was never going to fit the space in a month of Sundays.

I am going to attempt shorter posts but more often with a round up probably on a Sunday in order to make it easier to keep up with this blogging malarkey, something along the lines of blog concisely and blog often. It takes me what seems like days to write a post but really what most people myself included want to see it pictures of progress. I hope to have some exciting news for next weeks episode so stay tuned and till next time..

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