Model Railway Scenery News…

Good Morning <<First Name>>,How’s things? I thought spring was on its way last week, but it seems I got it completely wrong! It’s freezing here this morning, almost literally. Looks like a cold week or two ahead. Mind you, it normally snows around Elizabeth’s Birthday so it’s par for the course I guess. Hope you’re all well, and that things are progressing well on your layouts. We’ve been working hard as usual here with a few challenging moments this week, but we made it through in one piece. I’m pleased to say that all machinery is now running well (apart from needing a new lens on the big laser, but it’s about time… 6 months is normal for the life of them), but as always there’s sooooo much to do.

Iain’s now completed his first month with us here at SMS and I think he’s settled into his new role well, knocking the club website into shape with all the downloadable products now being available through there, which you can download in exchange for club points. Which reminds me actually, it’s time to issue this month’s 600 Free Express Points to all active members, so we’ll do that first thing Monday morning. He’s also been managing the Railway Modellers Facebook group and taking some cracking product photos too!

Wedding preparations are going well and we’ve completed the ceremony forms. Just need to work out what pieces of music we’d like before the ceremony, and then we’re off down to Cornwall a week on Thursday for a couple of days of sea air and to sort out catering arrangements with Louise from the Cornish Pod. We also had a bit of good news yesterday too. We’re getting a refund for some PPI we had on a loan about 12 years ago and the confirmation of the refund came through yesterday, so that will cover the cost of the Bridesmaids dresses and a few other bits too. Not often you get a windfall, but it’ll certainly come in handy. I tell you what, I know the phone calls are annoying and it kinda puts you off even thinking about PPI and all that stuff, as it seems a bit “scammy”, but it’s worth looking into. A friend of ours put us in touch we someone she used and I’m glad we did it now, otherwise I’d never have bothered. If anyone wants the info let me know 🙂

Right railway stuff, as it’s nearly 7am! First up, we take a trip just down the road from here to Richard from New Junction who’s got together with his mate Jason to make flower beds for his station. Click here to watch the video and see how it’s done.

They use plaster cast flower beds in that tutorial which can be a bit messy to make, but if you fancy something a bit easier to assemble and you like working with card, then these are worth a look as you can assemble them in a couple of minutes.

Creating A Soundscape For Your Layout

Next up, we head off down-under to Gormo’s shed, where no doubt, it’s a darn sight warmer in there than it is in here this morning! So this week, Gormo has been looking at ways to add sound to your layout. With the advent of DCC and decent quality analogue sound modules for our locos, it’s possible to add an extra dimension to our layout, but what about background sounds & ambient noise to create a real atmosphere? Well Gormo’s got a few ideas up his sleeve… Click here to watch the video and find out more.

Tovil Station January Update

Next up we have our first video from a new channel I’ve just subscribed to on YouTube called Tovil Station. The layout is in its very early stages, but I really like how it’s coming on so far. Click here to watch the video and see how work is progressing.

That’s a point… Steam Modellers… I need your help please! I know you’d all like to see more steam stuff in the newsletters, and that’s fine by me, but I need a little assistance please. If you know of any decent channels on YouTube featuring Steam layouts that you think we should be featuring, then please let me know. There’s tons of modern image stuff, but steam seems to be few and far between. Also, any decent N & O scale channels that you think we should be covering too please 🙂

Members Corner – How To Weather Track – A Step By Step Guide

Next up, it’s over to Railway Modellers Club, Members Corner with a step by step how-to from Iain. This week he’s looking at track weathering techniques which can be used to make your track look much more realistic than the standard black or brown sleepers. It’s not difficult, but there are a few steps needed to get the desired finish. The good news is though, that you don’t need any specialist equipment either. Just a few shades of paint and a couple of other bits. Click here to find our how Iain does it.

Radio Controlled OO Scale Vehicles!

Now I would never have thought this would be possible, but since meeting Jeff a few months ago and seeing his Oxford Diecast radio controlled conversions in action I know just how determined he is. The engineering that goes into these things is just superb, and I really hope he can do these commercially at some point as I’m sure there are many modellers that would love one on their layout. So if you’re interested in Jeff’s work, drop me a line and I’ll pass on your details. Click here to see his Loading Shovel in action! It’s brilliant!

AX066-OO Mooring Bollards – OO / 1:76

After releasing a few other canal related items over the past year, we’ve been increasing asked to produce Mooring Bollards, and I’m pleased to say that as of this morning, we do them! The AX066-OO Mooring Bollards come in a pack of 24 and are 3d printed in brown eco-pla, and can be painted and weathered using acrylic paints and washes if required. They’re suitably sized to work on both canals and quaysides too. For more information and to order yours, please click here.

AX068-OO Sewer Drain Pipe / Lorry Load Kit – OO/4mm/1:76

Also new this morning is the AX068-OO Sewer / Drain Pipe Load Kit in OO / 1:76. Just like the H beams we released on Wednesday, we’ve had the 2mm diameter green HIPS pipe specially commissioned for us, and it’s perfect use on construction site dioramas, building lorry and wagon loads and much more. The AX068-OO kit however comes with enough pipe (11 x 280mm lengths), plus the wooden “straps” or frames to create the load you see in the picture above. and it’ll look brilliant on the back of a flatbed lorry. For more information and to order your AX068-OO Pipe Load kit please click here.

Now if you’re more of a free-spirit who likes to do your own thing, we also do the pipe on its own in packs of 5 lengths as AX069-OO Green Sewer / Drain pipe here.

LX155-OO Pre-Cut 6ft Fence Panels – OO/4mm/1:76

Now we’ve finally got the camera system to behave on the big laser, it opens up a world of opportunities for new bits and pieces, and this was a bit of a spur of the moment experiment early yesterday morning. After releasing the AX047-OO Pre-Cast Concrete Fence Posts on Wednesday, I thought we ought to do some fence panels too. I thought about engraving the detail onto them, but it takes ages as it’s the slowest process you can do on the laser, plus when working with laserboard, it doesn’t particularly darken as such, it removes the material to leave high resolution detail, but it doesn’t necessarily colour the material. So I took a gamble and put a sheet of the 0.2mm thick stuff through the printer to see if I could print the fence panel detail on instead… and it worked ok :-). So what you have here is a nice compromise. We’ve printed the panel detail on, but the natural finish of the laserboard gives it the real wood look, and then we’ve pre-cut the panels for you so all you have to do is release them from the sheet with a sharp knife which takes but a minute or so!

They’re printed as single sided panels to give you lots of options and flexibility to use them to build an actual fence using the concrete fence posts, or as lorry loads, stacked up in a timber yard or on a building site etc, the world is your lobster with these ;-D To make a fence than can be viewed from both sides, simply glue the panels back to back for example.

Anyway… they come in packs of 30 and I’m sure they’ll come in useful for a lot of you guys. For more information and to order yours, please click here.

DC022-OO Modern Platform Markings & “Mind The Gap” Decals – OO/4mm/1:76

And now for our final release this Saturday morning… DC022-OO Modern Platform Markings & Mind The Gap Decals. This something else that I’ve been wanting to do for yonks, but we didn’t have the technology until this week. I’d looked at waterslide transfers etc, but with lots of you having paper and card based platforms on your layouts those wouldn’t work for obvious reasons. So we needed a better solution, and that’s exactly what we’ve come up with… Self-Adhesive Pre-Cut Platform Markings. All you have to do is peel and stick… Job done. They can be teased to follow a gently curved platform too, and there’s over 5 metres of yellow lining in a single pack, so there’s plenty to do even the largest of platforms. The lines come in strips approximately 200mm long plus 25+ Mind The Gap markings too.

They’re printed onto a clear, matt, polyester label and won’t need any extra finishing as they’re completely waterproof and use a permanent adhesive to longevity. For more information and to order yours, please click here.

Still To Come

Next week, we’ll be making further headway on various projects all being well including some pretty big ones that have been driving me potty for months! Iain will be back with more tutorials and Loco Database updates on the club site too.

Right, it’s time to go and put another job on the printer, then get showered and wander around the fields with Lola for a bit, then we’re off to Loughborough to watch The Greatest Showman at the cinema with my Sister & her family.

Have a splendid weekend folks, & Keep on Shunting!

Justin, Tina & Elizabeth
www.ModelRailwayScenery.com – Download and Print Model Buildings & Accessories
www.ScaleModelScenery.co.uk – Laser Cut Kits & Accessories Delivered By Post!

P.S. We’ve still got a few of the Gaugemaster controllers in stock so we’re continuing our offer of free next day delivery on them this weekend as we really do need them out the way. I’ve got loads of the H section & green pipe to store and at the moment Tina’s tripping over them. So if you need a new controller, with a lifetime guarantee, then these are the perfect beasties!