The Sheep Chronicles. A Sheep dips his hooves in various bucolic backwaters.

[Osgood]

Once I got back into overalls and started building things with a high scrap heap content, there seemed little point in pursuing the path to CEng.
This was at the time when continuous professional development was starting to make inroads into professional qualifications, requiring perhaps a greater commitment than before?
As it turned out I never missed the letters - but who knows if, in a different career, they may have been most beneficial?
In today's world if my time came round again I think I'd grab the opportunity.



Osgood RTR S7 Certified Bodgeneer.

 

[chigley]

I'm just certified

Ken

 

[NHY 581]

Good day out at Minehead. Things generally went okay and set up was pretty quick though thanks to a good run over, unhurried. Good to chat to Kane and other nice types throughout the day though I did feel it went rather quiet in the afternoon.........



There are however a couple of niggles to iron out before Exeter in three weeks time.

Of the three J70s that form the motive power for Ewe, 68222 and 68223, the skirted jobs went well. 68225, normally the best of the three ( but they're all damn good runners ) had a bit of a hissy fit. I'm hoping it's a decoder issue and with that in mind, I'll make sure I pack a spare decoder for Exeter. In pre testing, all three were fine so not sure why it decided not to play. Perhaps it was frightened....

Despite track cleaning, there were one or two sticky patches which needed further attention throughout the day, again odd as running the layout on Thursday evening flagged up no such issues.......either of the above would have annoyed

But, Sheep 3 on it's first time out, proved itself eminently suitable as layout transport, accommodating everything with some comfort. The boot has a drop down section which allows the trestles to stand up alongside the layout and this leaves storage beneath the layout itself for the toolbox and general stuff box.

The new Fiddly Area Reshuffling Tables (FARTs) performed well though one was a bit of a tight squeeze. Easily sorted.

So given that the focus really needs now to return to Lambsdown, not too many snags to sort out.

One addition to Ewe ahead of Exeter will be an ex-GER grounded van body. This is a really nice 3D print by Marc Dobson from Pre-grouping Railways and was first spotted at Bracknell last month. I've now got two, one destined for Ewe and the other lined up for Flaxfield. They're very nice, looking to need minimal ( next to no ) fettling before painting to represent a pretty typical addition to many stations in East Anglia.

So, a bit to be going on with for sure.

Rob

 

[NHY 581]

Here's a photo of the van body from Marc.




Finish will be a general air of decrepitude, similar to that applied to the left hand side of this Bachmann shed. ( minus the blue )



Rob

 

[NHY 581]

And here it is being tested at the intended location on Ewe.

Just right.



Rob

 

[Jordan]

Despite track cleaning, there were one or two sticky patches which needed further attention throughout the day, again odd as running the layout on Thursday evening flagged up no such issues.....

A graphite stick could be your quick'n'easy solution in such situations.

 

[NHY 581]

A graphite stick could be your quick'n'easy solution in such situations.

Mange Tout J,

I had a soft pencil in the tool box and a few strokes of that restored order. I expect a lot. The real W&U had a top speed of 12mph after all and on a small shunty layout, sliw speed running is all important. A bit of cleaning yesterday ( Ewe is set up in the garage until Exeter in a few weeks time ) and the running was as expected. My pre-Minehead cleaning simply wasn't good enough so entirely my fault.

Rob

 

[NHY 581]

So here we are........



Still undecided about the roof but whatever. No rush.

Rob..

 

[Marc Dobson]

What paints did you use? I'm going to have to paint one in a similar style to sit on the stand.
Marc

 

[NHY 581]

What paints did you use? I'm going to have to paint one in a similar style to sit on the stand.
Marc

Hi Marc ,

Base colour of Matt black. Then washes of various shades of brown/ red brown Vallejo acrylics, plank at a time. A dusting of Humbrol smoke weathering powder, Humbrol dark earth powder added to lower areas and worked upwards. Dark rust/iron oxide and rust powders added to metal work toned down with smoke. Bolts highlighted with soft pencil. Some planks had extra dark rust and smoke powders added using a fibre brush. Edges of planks highlighted with white.........bit of a lash up really.

Rob

 

[NHY 581]

Additional photos from the Flaxfield thread.



Some colouring added after these images though.

Rob

 

[Alan]

Again smashing work Rob.

 

[Marc Dobson]

Hi Marc ,

Base colour of Matt black. Then washes of various shades of brown/ red brown Vallejo acrylics, plank at a time. A dusting of Humbrol smoke weathering powder, Humbrol dark earth powder added to lower areas and worked upwards. Dark rust/iron oxide and rust powders added to metal work toned down with smoke. Bolts highlighted with soft pencil. Some planks had extra dark rust and smoke powders added using a fibre brush. Edges of planks highlighted with white.........bit of a lash up really.

Rob

I will have a go don't think I will make as good a job as yourself.
Marc

 

[NHY 581]

Again smashing work Rob.

Thank you Alan. I enjoyed it as a nice self contained project.

I will have a go don't think I will make as good a job as yourself.
Marc

I'm sure you will, Marc. It was quite relaxing to do and as a Mk1, very useful. The main difference between this one and the Mk2 destined for Flaxfield will be the roof treatment. I'll still score the roof, to aid bending but will then fill the grooves whilst avoiding an overly smooth finish.
Your print was an excellent starting point and I will definitely be adding more of your wagons to stock.

Rob.

 

[NHY 581]

And sadly, I've had to withdraw Lambsdown from Railwells. Frankly I'd clearly set myself a bit of a task and it really needed very little to put a spanner into what was an extremely tight schedule. The warping of the board was far from ideal and last week, on removing the backscene I discovered that it was not only warped but twisted, corner to corner. And that was that.
Could I have braced it, maybe but I was no longer of a mind to present something which I felt was not good enough for me, let alone for the paying public. It was a classic case of trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I feel dreadful about this as I hate letting people down but it has removed a lot of pressure. I wasn't having fun, which is why I/we do this. It is something I've learnt from though and it now allows a fresh start to be made but not yet.
The Flaxfield thread in Workbench etc outlines my thoughts on a more measured ( relaxed ) approach to things. In the meantime, Ewe has a number of shows from now on so I'll concentrate on those and use the freed up time to progress bits and bobs for Flaxfield, as and when time is available.

Rob..

 

[Phil O]

Rob,

Sorry to hear of your tale of woe, with regards to the new trainset. I think that you have made the correct decision not to proceed further with it. I look forward to seeing on how or if you're going to proceed with this project. Perhaps it will become the first of your new approach to trainset building.

Best of luck, whichever way you go.

 

[NHY 581]

Rob,

Sorry to hear of your tale of woe, with regards to the new trainset. I think that you have made the correct decision not to proceed further with it. I look forward to seeing on how or if you're going to proceed with this project. Perhaps it will become the first of your new approach to trainset building.

Best of luck, whichever way you go.

Morning Phil and thank you.

A new layout is slowly coming together but I'm not subjecting myself to any deadlines. In the interim, a small test piece, as alluded to over on the Flaxfield thread will be knocked up on which to try things. These won't be new things as such just new to me. So whilst that is going on, I'll be quietly bringing things together for a new build.

It worked nicely with Ewe which was a far more "controlled" build and one which was enjoyed. Unlike my attempts made this year.

But there are things ticking over thanks to time now being freed up.


Rob.