STROLEY INTERNATIONAL

My New Modern Image Model Railway Layout

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         My latest updates may be read from the top of this page ....

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This is an Ongoing Project - More Updates Soon.

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LATEST UPDATE:- 14 - 02 - 10.
 

Well …. February is shaping up to be as bad as January in the “Stroley” household!

Two trips to A & E on the 2nd & 3rd of the month confirmed that my wife had broken her wrist.  She is now plastered from thumb to elbow.

Needless to say she has had to relinquish the “I’m in charge” badge, and yours truly can regularly be seen peeling potatoes and carrots and wearing brightly coloured marigolds as Chief Cook & Bottle Washer!

Needless to say (again) that work on the layout is relegated to the bottom of the pile of things that need doing.

SWMBO …. She Who Must Be Obeyed …. Did “allow” me one day out …. To the Stafford Model Railway Exhibition.  The layout photos can be seen via the links from the update of the 9th February below.

I jest of course; she is my best friend as well as my wife of 34 years.

Those of you following our “saga” will be pleased to know that my mother is much better and that our boiler was fixed (but still to be finished off and paid for) and we only (!!) had eight days of suffering without our central heating.

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STROLEY INTERNATIONAL now has the warehouses finished and positioned.

The SCALESCENES warehouse / factory card kit has been completed, but not as the originators envisaged.  The roofing has been scratch built, to a certain degree, using many of the original parts, but not necessarily in the correct places!!

It looks reasonably presentable and the added roof detailing of extractors and rusty air-con units add to the effect …. Hopefully.

These roofing accessories I purchased are from the American company called CORNERSTONES

( available through WALTHERS.COM ).

If these plastic roof items look small …. Don’t tell anybody but …. I didn’t notice until I arrived home …. I bought an “n-gauge” pack in error!!  Stop laughing at the back!!

Photographic evidence follows.

 

 

 

LATEST ACQUISITIONS:-

BACHMANN’s latest release of the Class 150 is in the eye catching Arriva Trains Wales livery.

Bachmann Ref. No:- 32-935

Set No:- 150256

 

I also purchased from TEN COMMANDMENTS some more wagon loads.

These loads I’m not going to paint as the HTA loads look like stone and the JGA loads look like limestone.  I already have “coal” loads, so I now have some variety.

Ref. No:- W115 for the HTA 104 tonne Bachmann hoppers (top)

Ref. No:- W94 for the JGA Bachmann hoppers (bottom)

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09 - 02 - 10.
 
The 230 mile round trip to the Model Railway Exhibition organised by the Stafford MRC on Saturday 6th February 2010,  was well worth it.
The lack of large modern image layouts currently on the exhibition circuit is quite marked in my opinion.  Warley last November being the exception.  So one of my favourite exhibitions of the year had no less than ten modern image layouts on display.
 
Six out of the ten layouts really grabbed my attention and photographic evidence of those layouts from the Stafford exhibition can be viewed via the following links.
 
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OR .... VIA THE INDIVIDUAL LAYOUT PAGES ....
 
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THISTLEMERE
 
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HOWARDS BANK
 
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DIESELS-IN-THE-DUCHY

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NEWCASTLE-BY-THE-WATER

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 LATEST ACQUISITION:-

Released prior to last Christmas (but I didn't find one at a good price until the Stafford MRE),

the HELJAN version of the COLAS liveried Class 47, 47749 DEMELZA

can now be found stabled at STROLEY INTERNATIONAL.

HELJAN Ref. No:- 4745

 

Vi-Trains / Rail Express Modeller has released a twin-pack of Class 47s REBECCA & DEMELZA but,

because of the vast quantity of F-I-Y (Fit-It-Yourself) parts, plus the exhorbitant price for a "kit",

I refuse to purchase any Vi-Trains locomotives.  A point I championed

within the pages of Model Rail and MRE Mag Online during the latter part of 2009.

 

30 - 01 - 10.

 

LATEST ACQUISITION:-

Although released by HORNBY prior to Christmas, I’ve only just received my model from

MODELFAIR.COM

This Manchester based firm, which advertises throughout the model railway press,

appears to me to be another of the cheapest around.

I’ve found that MODELFAIR is sometimes two or three pounds cheaper per item

than RAILS of SHEFFIELD and with similar P&P charges.

As I buy quite a few items each year, both shops will benefit from me in 2010.

Every pound counts … ... that's what I say!!

CLASS 153 in WESSEX TRAINS (Devon and Cornwall) livery.

Hornby Ref. No:- R2866.

 

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Not wishing to bore the pants off you, January 2010 was a bitch of a month!

It started earlier in the month with a death in the family.  It was the wife of my wife’s cousin from the dreaded “Big C”.  A lovely lady, and being younger than us, her passing brought home what a cruel and horrible disease cancer is plus it can strike at any age.

Then our gas cooker went on the blink ....

Ten days later (and with microwaves banned from our home) it was fixed.

My wallet now being £140 lighter.

Blow me down ....

Last Wednesday the central heating boiler sprang a water leak.

We are now without our central heating and will be for at least another five days!

That bill will be at least double the cooker repair .... plus V.A.T!!

Presently, my wife can be found, most of the day, huddled around the three bar electric fire in the lounge wearing three layers of clothing plus her "snuggle blanket!!"

As we only possess one electric fire, needless to say, it's pretty cold here in the office as I try and type wearing gloves!!!

Next ....

My 88 year old mother is rather poorly in her residential care home on the other side of the country, some 200 miles away ... so ... car keys are permanently at the ready.

And finally … . On to the layout ....

I misunderstood the instructions of the SCALESCENES warehouse kit and spent three days copying / cutting / gluing / assembling roof sections of the kit only to find I’d cocked it up!

Oh Bother I said ....or something similar!!

.... so .... Roll on Summer!!

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I have today been out to the shed and positioned the four parts of the warehouse kit to see whether my thoughts of HOW it will fit together … WILL fit together.  They WILL ... so it DOES!

It has turned out quite well, in my opinion.  The low relief section that will be the scenic break looks quite good as does the similar (but smaller) low relief section that is positioned against the wall under the window.  The two “full” buildings sit against the scenic break as I had imagined with only minor adjustments being made.  The two areas where the tracks go through the scenic break work well.

The photos below show the recently completed work.  Photos of the finished roof sections, now I have the instructions sussed, will follow.

 
My next job will be to give these exits / entrances a “tunnel-isation” to make the transition from scenic section to fiddle yard more prominent to give the effect of trains.going under the buildings above.
The "tunnel-isation" will be on the fiddle yard (below) side of the scenic break.  The "face" showing will be painted to complete the effect.
 
 
18 - 01 - 10.

The SCALESCENES Warehouse kit building continues unabated since my last update.

I have decided not to continue with the “internal” sections of this kit.  As I have “printed” the kit windows onto ordinary paper (and not the transparency film suggested in the instructions) the windows are not “see-through” therefore internal features are irrelevant.

I have now constructed the kits that I will be using.  As can be seen, I have used internal strengtheners to keep the kits in shape and rigid.

The kits don't come with the floors but I much prefer to give the buildings a base.

I have also constructed the “back scene” which will separate the viewing area from the fiddle yard on that side of the layout.  The back scene will be positioned on the edge of the fiddle yard board and therefore 85mm higher than the two full and one low relief buildings.
 
This back scene has been created by using a piece of 6mm ply.
The length of this back scene is the same as the width of the baseboard it will sit on and the height I have given it is five floors.
The railway tracks will flow through the two gaps under the rusty girders.
The buildings will sit against this backscene; one to the "blank" wall to the left, the other will cover the "white section".  One floor of the buildings will be below this base level as they are to be sited on the lower baseboard. 
 

With the backscene (above) placed flat on the floor, this photo shows how the building between the tracks will be sited.
The two "full relief" buildings and the backscene (below) and the PVA wood glue used showing through.
 The buildings' roofs still have to be constructed.
Due to both the odd shape of one of the buildings and the backscene not being "as stated in the instructions," there will be more "scratch" building to come before this task can be called complete.
The roofs will be done before I "plant" these building kits on the layout.
 
09-01-10.
 
 Continuing freezing temperatures and further snow falls has meant that in the shed there has been no work nor playing trains at all since last Sunday's update.
 
Today I have finished the "walls" part of the SCALESCENES Factory / Warehouse kit.
All the wall sections I shall be using are laid out below.  There are one, two, three and five "section" walls in this photo.  Below these can be seen the "ground templates" around which all the sections will be placed.
The completion of this kit is still a long way off as there are internal strengtheners, floors and roofs yet to be constructed.
 
The "ground template" (on the left above) will be sited between the tracks leading off the arch (raised) section to the fiddle yard.
The "ground template" (on the right above) will occupy the space infront of the left arches.
 
The photo below shows individual sections of the external wall of the kit.
There will be eleven individual sections making up the warehouse to the left.
There will be sixteen individual sections making up the warehouse to the right.
 
Above:- the sixteen sections around the "ground template".
 
Below:- the eleven sections around the "ground template".
The five section piece above that is the ultra-low relief section of warehouse that will be sited (glued) against the shed wall under the window and behind both of the others.
 
03-01-10.
 
Firstly, may I wish you all
 
a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
 
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Well ... Santa has been and gone; the inclement weather still abounds throughout the Cambridgeshire area.  Not too much of the white stuff has fallen, but negative temperatures have been widespread, both night and day, and kept me in doors.  I'm glad I invested in the convector heater prior to this cold snap as the shed, whilst not warm by any means, definitely keeps the temperature higher by a few degrees.
Mentioned in my last update; card modelling is progressing well in the comfort of indoors.  I've been making up wall sections in the interim period.  The fruits of my endeavours can be seen laid out below.
 
 Many will think this a pathetic amount of work to have been completed in just a few days.  In my defence, may I say that this kit is extremely fiddly, with many "add on" pieces to be glued in place.
Here is a completed wall section.
This five section wall will form the rear of the warehouse that will be sited between the two set of tracks that lead from the arch / raised section into the fiddle yard.
 
More sections of walling (below) with some "add on" bits added but not linked together yet into a full section.  More sections are needed before another completed wall can be sited.
There are still many more items that need to be constructed before all three of these warehouse structures can be completed.
 
 

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