3mm East Boldre Station Building.

The roof has now been fitted. I have used Wills tiling sheets for this.

 They don't look too out of scale and will look better once the roof has been painted.

However, I am not happy with the chimneys, the edges are too rounded and will have to be re-done.

Whether I will use brick plasticard or brick paper remains to be seen.

O gauge Post Box.

Several bits and pieces have been fixed to Cringle Street.

The post box is from Avalon Models- makers of 0-16.5 Narrow Gauge- which have several suitable items for 0 Gauge.

Posters and figures set the scene prior to Engines and Rolling Stock entering the section.

3mm Hennock shown in PECO Great Model Railway Challenge Magazine.

A 3mm friend, Chris Ketley, alerted me to the fact that Hennock was shown inside the Channel 5 accompanying bookazine GMRC.

Sure enough Hennock is shown on page 47 of the magazine which looks at locations and types of layout which may be suitable for home use.

Correctly described, I am really chuffed for Hennock to be selected to demonstrate portable layouts.

Quite appropriate really as Hennock has been invited to the Portsmouth MRE next year - the first in ages.

7MM Cringle Street Goods- readying for debut.

The self adhesive ID A4 Backscenes have been affixed.

I think they are very effective and very reasonable in price.

Also shown in the top picture is the lock up hut from Avalon Models.

Just completing the electrics before final testing for the Poole exhibition.

3MM East Boldre Station Building.

The station building is based on East Budleigh which was on the L&SWR branch from Sidmouth Junction to Exmouth line which was opened in 1903.

With a structure of artists mounting card, this has been covered with 2mm Builder Plus (sadly no longer available) red brick paper.

The windows and doors are supplied by The 3MM Society and Worsley Works.

The central chimney stack is balsa wood which will be covered with said brick paper when dry.

Poole Model Railway Exhibition and Cringle Street debut.

A few weeks to go yet but just a plug that my 7mm or O gauge layout, Cringle Street Goods, is to make it's debut at the Poole MRS Exhibition on Sunday 20th October 2019.

Details are on the poster. Looking forward to it!

3mm East Boldre- ballasting.

 Here are the tools to ensure the ballast stays in place.

Firstly the dry ballast is given a mist of water with a drop of washing up liquid.

Then, dilute PVA, again with a drop of washing up liquid, is applied using a cheap pvc pipette. I prefer the pipette rather than an eye dropper, for me it is more controllable.

Just the wait for it all to dry and the track can be cleaned and re-tested.

3mm East Boldre weathered rails.

After undercoating and liberally coating with track colour, the rails themselves have been painted.

Using rust matt the viewing side has had the rail sides painted.

Tedious that this job is it isone which enhances the trackwork considerably.

Now it is dry the ballasting can be started- another dose of tedium coming on!

More ID Products for Cringle Street Goods.

This time, these are 4mm scale and are self adhesive sheets, approx A4 size before trimming..

These are destined to be used as background on Cringle Street Goods- my 7mm layout. These will be adhered behind the perimeter  fence to add a bit of depth.

East Boldre point operation.

KISS- keep it simple silly- Is a phrase I try to adhere to.

Yes, I know I have electrically operated points on other layouts but in the main I like good old fashioned wire in tube with changing polarity enabled by a simple slide switch.

To the left is a close up of the business end with the lower pic showing  a couple mounted and with holes through the backscene to enable grubby fingers to actually change (slide) the things!

ID Backscene.

I love these products. Used on Hillbrow and Woody Lane, they always attract positive remarks at Exhibitions.

The ones I use are designed for 2mm scale but are just perfect for smaller layouts.

The 00 scale products are too deep for my use- 15 inches which makes the backscene too high.

By the way, the next Dorset Modellers meeting is tomorrow, 15th September from about 1pm at The Avon Causeway Hotel Pullman Car.

Track colour- which one?

Both of these are Humbrol Acrylic products.

113 is noted as Rust Matt.

RC402, part of the railway colour range is also Rust Matt!

So- which is the best or, as I suspect, both are the same thing.

Decisions, Decisions.

East Boldre 3mm Trackwork colour.

The whole of the trackwork, with the exception of the point blades and tie-bars, have been undercoated and then had a coat of Humbrol Dark Brown applied.

Once this had dried the  masked parts were touched in and all of the point mechanisms tested.

The top of the rails had excess paint removed and then burnished with fine wet 'n dry paper.

When this is thoroughly dry then the tedious job of painting the rail sides begins.

POLA 00/H0 Mortimer Station kit.

Whilst away for a few days I visited a car boot sale in Devon.

That was where I found this sealed box, mint condition kit of the Brunel Chalet Station.

I believe that latterly Heljan have released the same kit so this . Unfortunately there is no identifiable dating on the box so unsure to how old this kit actually is.

I have previously used the Heljan Teignmouth Station on my 3mm layout Teignford as it scales exactly at 1/100.

Measuring the doors supplied the widest measures 11.5mm which scales at 3ft 10inches in old money so, as Station door were generous in width, I think this could be used for 3mm also.

The height scales at 22mm which would be 7ft 4inches. Again not so large as not to be used.

So- will another 3mm layout be forthcoming after East Boldre or does it get sold?

3mm East Boldre- Baseboards completed.

The frame for the fiddle yards have been completed and bolted into position .

The total layout is just under 8ft long and will rest on the L girders on the trestles.

The trackwork has been fully tested and works as designed.

 The base for the fiddle yards have been fitted to the aluminium sliders which still need easing slightly for smooth operation.

Sidepieces attached to the base which ensures rigidity and prevents accidental stock damage.


The track fitted to the left hand fiddle yard and with the rail ends soldered to single sided copper clad sleepers.

The copper clad has been glued and nailed into position.

A brass handle has been attached to aid  moving the fiddleyard.

Just the alignment fixings to attach once I have made them!

I have found some ID backscenes for the layout whilst visiting Buffers at Axminster in Devon whilst on a short break.

Aldi Beechwood Artist Box.

Some kind person posted that there was a box being sold by Aldi which would hold 0 Gauge Loco's.

Never one to resist a bargain, £14.99- I tracked a couple down at one of our local stores having drawn a blank at the first store I tried.

What a bargain! As can be seen, one will hold 4 loco's, a couple of Terriers, an 08 by Dapol and and a Minerva 0-4-0 Peckett.

 The box comes with a removeable tray which I have mounted by extending the section plates and with a couple of mounts to the rear as shown.

This lifts the tray from the cab roofs whilst still being able to close the lid.

The box comes with a fitted carrying handle in a fetching fawn colour- I will post a pic of this in the furture.

The bonus is that by doing this it is possible to accommodate four 5 plank wagons in the tray as shown.

The box can be closed provided you place the wagons to miss the central strengthening cross piece.

So- a couple of loco boxes which also cut down on the amount one has to cart about- recommended!

3mm East Boldre fiddle yard.

Everybody needs a fiddle so they say, well here is the start of East Boldre's.

Basically it has been cribbed from a layout that I saw at the South Coast Modellers exhibition at New Milton earlier in the summer.

The idea is that the yard is attached to a runner which slides in a channel to enable tracks to be changed.

The channel and bar can be sourced at many of the DIY sheds locally.

Below shows the frame with channels awaiting the fiddle yard bed.