Hi all my daughter and son wanted to know what I wanted for Christmas ( they knew it would be model related) 

So I thought long and hard about what to ask for, i wanted something different and I've come up with a dio which could go on for years or finish fairly quickly depending on how I feel it's going.

I lost my dad this yr and one of the things which stands out in my mind (apart from the tall ships and ive had enough of those for now) (ive got 3 stalled tall ship builds 1 unstarted and the Bismarck and KGV on the go) anyway i digress was helping him with his railway layout (which at the time was huge he even built boxes which went round the garden and back in the house, all with removable lids to deal with derailment and such.

Anyway we live near the Colne Valley Railway so I thought I would relive some of my childhood and build a railyard dio of trains in various stages of repair. I figure this to be an enthusiast who is just interested in steam so it will have rolling stock and trains from all over the world. There had a lot of 1/87 - 1/72 Steam train and rolling stock kits availiable so no loss of choice.

I'm looking forward to this, i see it as a loooooooooooong term build (with really no end result in mind) as long as I think of ideas I can just keep adding to it (who knows maybe I will even add some working trains) anyway I have bought a model to start it all off.

The first thing any steam train museum needs is a station 



Last time I built a card board rail building I was in my teens, my brother was a glint in my dad's eyes and discos were the new place to be.

This contains laser cut parts, lasers were things of science fiction movies in those days.

I'm open to all ideas and recommendations of kits and buildings (keep in mind this is a side line build so no expensive kits as my main money for modelling will go for my main modelling)

Sounds like a great plan Ken! Will be following. The Metcalfe kits are superb too.

Regards,
Phil W.

Thanks guys
Made a start on the card model





They are incredibly strong considering they are only cardboard.

How do you weather these card models?

Hi all next update

Hadn't thought of it but yes maybe

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Mark

Hi Ken!
I missed this one at the start last year but it's looking great so far! As for weathering card models, I would suggest using some of the various powdered pigments, Carrs do a nice set of muddy colours which I used on my Messines diorama and there's others by Tamiya etc. For a sooty grimy weathering you could try simple ground up charcoal (I found that charcoal doesn't 'cling' to card as well as the more expensive powders though).
If the bent card is still in sheet form you could try a fine mist of water to dampen it and then flatten it out under heavy books or melamine, if its already incorporated into the model possibly clamping it between a couple of wooden ships planks and re-gluing with pva might work. I've never tried it myself though!
This will look great as it comes together, best of luck!

Robin.

Looking good Ken maybe leave it as is for now and later when you have it in situ make a decision then.

Al

Coming together very nicely Ken, going to be interesting to see how it all progresses....

Regards

Alan

Looks good Tony, thanks.