The GnATTERbox

Great to see the layout in these pages, Roger! Superb details, including the "pea soup" in the oil drum.

Some of you may remember that the figures on my Balnakiel layout are scratch built from Fimo modelling clay. I didn't find it necessary to use wire framing as I made all the body parts separately. The main innovation was to use Fimo to make moulds from these parts, using plenty of talcum powder in t...

I've been using the corrugated card that you can buy as rolls in art shops. I. Did a fair bit of research on this and it seemed to me that it was right for 1/22nd scale. You can see the results on my layout Camus Orainn in the Virtual Exhibition section and on Balnakeil thread.
Hopes this helps

Glad to see both you and Roger on board. Thanks for all your help with running Balnakeil at various exhibitions. It would be great to have pics your layouts on the site - they'd be an inspiration!
See you in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for your encouragement, Mike and Heath, As I've recently bought my 4th Landrover (a 20 year old Defender), I suppose Landy nut would describe me as well. The building stones and Caithness flags come in all sorts of sizes so I went for something which looked appropriate.The blocks are 1 1/4 in...

Just to let you know Balnakeil will be at the Worthing Model Railway Club's exhibition this coming Saturday and Sunday, 15th & 16th September. Details at
www.worthingmrc.co.uk

Balnakeil is to be featured in the August edition of Railway Modeller, due out this coming Thursday. Enjoy.

Thanks, Stockers for posting the plan and DuffieldBank for your help as well!

Sadly my layout plan is resisting attempts to move between Word and here. It was roughly constructed out of word boxes and lines and for some reason the systems won't talk to each other :roll:. I'm sure there's a way of doing it which I haven't found yet. In the meantime one appeared in the MTI arti...

Balnakeil will be at the SWING exhibition on Saturday 19th May at Felpham. Details can be found on their website http://www.swing.model-railway.org.uk For those of you in London on the BH weekend 2-3rd June, Balnakeil will also be at the Erith MRC show at the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich Arsenal...

I thought you might like to see my completed model. http://my.gn15.info/routemaster_c1.jpg It's actually been complete for some time now, but I hadn't got around to photographing it. Here's a front view, complete with a new loco for Balnakeil so you can get an idea of size. Also one of the Balnakeil...

This is my entry for the cardboard train competition at the recent Arundel exhibition. It won joint first prize (out of a field of three!) Anyway, the rules were to build an entire train, any scale or prototype, largely from card. I chose to model a Lister diesel rail truck and assorted Heywoods sto...

I had one for Christmas too - and bought a second one last week! My excuse is I did take two buses to get to school in Chelsea during the sixties. Re the decals, the front ones are for the Wych Cross Garden Centre which is on the Ashdown Forest about 15 minutes from here. They have their own preserv...

Just to let you know that Balnakeil has been featured in the latest issue of Model Trains International.

Roger, have you tried making your own mugs and coffeepots etc? I use Evergreen styrene 1/4in tube, cut it to size with a pipe cutter (really useful tool). This gives the mug a pleasant bevel edge at the top and bottom. I drill a couple of holes for a handle of white telephone wire or whatever. I hal...

Ian, What a brilliant model. It'll look great on your dockside. Can't wait to see the driver! On the matter of painting Fimo, I've never had trouble using model grade acrylics like Humbrol. I've found them hard wearing and flexible. I've also found it's a good idea to cast tyres in black Fimo. The r...

For some time I've been using stuff I bought in art supply and craft shops. It comes in rolls of 70cm X 50cm and is manufactured by Clairfontaine of France The corrugated card has backing card which you can easily remove for overlaps or distressing. The pitch of the corrugations is just about right ...

I wonder if anyone else has come across "Synthetic Wire Wool". This comes in a set of small blocks and is used for paint stripping or preparing surfaces for painting. It's a sort of loose weave plastic, thicker than wire and resembles a sturdier pan scrubber. I've bought a couple of packs ...

David and Ian - thanks so much for your encouragement.

Re the tractor loco, David, the engine detail is mostly the Bachmann motor and flywheel with a few plasticard add ons to make it more tractor like and an offcut of power cable and plastic pipe for the exhaust stack.

My approach is to cut out leaves using card punches and glue them individually to the branches using PVA, as you can see from this picture of Balnakeil. I feel that in this scale, individual leaves would be visible. http://my.gn15.info/1_balnakeil_002.jpg [/img] Since I took this photo the Alaskan A...

Thanks for your comments, Paul and Glen, I think GN15 lends itself to quirky stuff! Although I've limited my modelling to IC locos that could have run on 15 in gauge. About the kettle, Paul, I had to have one to please a friend of mine who likes them. Hope to see pictures of your Series 1 when it's ...

Glad the Fimo idea worked for you, Ian. Cracking model by the way! On the matter of static vehicles, I like the idea of having one or two hanging about, like the Landies at Balnakeil. They are a useful reference for the scale of everything else, especially if your visitors/viewers are unfamiliar wit...

The Kiloran Estate Railway steamer arrives at Bbalnakeil http://my.gn15.info/3_balnakeil__002.jpg View of backhead detail http://my.gn15.info/3_balnakeil_005.jpg The Estate also wanted a loco to use for the peat trains so they had an old tractor converted to rail use - inspired by Bord na Mona http:...

Thanks Gerry, Camas Orainn has been doing the rounds of various exhibitions and is due its last outing at Worthing on 10th & 11th September. Most of the stock, with some additions, continue to appear at the other end of the Island at Balnakeil. (see further down "Modelling Matters"). I...

Thanks Glen, Yup -cardboard although obviously this is shorthand as you need sundry bits and pieces such as; Axles - 3.2 mm dowel - lifetime supply fom an educational supplier Chassis -4 mm square lolly sticks - cheapo homeware shop Wheels - cast in Fimo from a Fimo mould. Pattern from an old plasti...