The GnATTERbox

[Broadoak]

Don’t resist it, go for it Paul it’s a lovely scale to work in.
You mention cow spotting; we did have a tractor rivet counter once. He noticed the tractor oil charts on the wall in the workshop and thought they were incorrect. They are not; I copied them from an actual Fordson manual.


The foreman’s hut/office is a scale model of the huts we used to have at work. It is made of strips of balsa wood with a corrugated iron roof, the same material as the coal stage sides. The door is set in the open position to show the interior detail. There is a small stool and a bench with paperwork, a mug, a clipboard hanging up, and some bread and cheese. The foreman figure is a modified Tamiya German soldier. He has obviously cycled to work on the day the photo was taken.
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Peter M

[Broadoak]

The cold frame itself is a mix of balsa and plasticard with the vegetables being made of milliput and painted with green acrylics. One of the panes of glass is broken, a bit hackneyed I know, but the children seem to like it.
The Davenport in as new condition is seen passing with a nominal train of sacks of wheat.
The farm grows potatoes, wheat and sugar beet and rotates the crops annually to prevent disease. It also keeps cattle, sheep and pigs the manure being used to improve the soil.


The Davenport when purchased was fitted with the DCC gubbins. This has now been removed and a blanking chip put in and this has transformed its running for the better.
When this photograph was taken only very slight modifications had been done. The cab height had been increased to clear a standing 1/32 scale figure. The control cluster in the cab was raised and a couple of handrails added and the model lightly weathered. Since then a few more changes have been made. An air cleaner and fuel filler have been added to the bonnet top. In the cab a reversing lever and brake wheel have been added, these can’t really be seen but I know they are there! It has also had a bit more weathering added to give a work stained appearance.
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Peter M

[gfadvance]

Peter,

forgot to post a welcome .... so welcome!

Really enjoying following the building of this layout, lots of nice details and plenty of atmosphere.
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Gordon F

[PeterH]

Nice. Yet an udder way of hiding the fiddle yard exit.
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Peter

[Willow Creek Traction]

[Broadoak]

Thanks for the welcome Gordon, and for the udder joke Peter. As they say the old ones are the best!

A couple of pictures of the other Bachmann ON30 model I have. The Porter 0-4-2 steam loco it’s the only steam engine on the roster. I must confess to being an unashamed internal combustion engine fan.
The Porter has been modified very slightly. It has had the cab removed and the cab sides built up a little. A reversing lever, a hand brake wheel and a bonnet for the safety valve have also been added. The driver is an ex- German soldier.
In the second picture the locomotive has been lightly weathered. I usually apply weathering a little at a time, adding a bit more is easier than removing it if you have overdone it.
I must admit I am not overly keen on this model, to my mind the boiler looks too small. I don’t know why but it doesn’t run as well as the Davenport so it tends not to get much use.

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Peter M

[Willow Creek Traction]

[dieselwater]

Thank you Peter for sharing your lovely layout and the story of its being. So many wonderfully atmospheric cameos and details.
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Little old lines to somewhere.

David.

[Broadoak]

I’m sure you are right. Had I not lurked on this site a few years ago I would never had thought of using a large scale, ( in my case 1/32 ) in a small space. I would probably have been swearing at something in OO9.

So this site has a lot to answer for.
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Peter M

[Willow Creek Traction]

[Broadoak]

Thanks for the links you have made me feel better about the little loco now I must say.

We will use him at the next exhibition I’m doing in October.
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Peter M

[Broadoak]

The farm estate Two Sisters’ is very loosely based on had some twenty odd miles of main line and ten miles of sidings all of it two feet gauge. It had a connection with the GER and a facility for loading the crops (mainly potatoes) into Lorries as well.
They had an assortment of Simplex locos really and ex First World War rolling stock.
I felt the need to build something that could be used to haul these main line trains to the railhead or road interchange.
That is how the yellow beast came about. It is totally freelance and is supposed to have a Gardner four cylinder diesel engine which drives a small generator which in turn powers the rear bogie which has two traction motors. The front bogie is un-powered and is purely for load carrying and braking. All this is fiction of course.
The device is seen here with a side tipper used to transport lime out to the fields to improve the soil.

The model runs on another Athearn switcher chassis, this time with the rear drive shaft disconnected to give a bit more room in the cab area. The body has bits of its original donor loco, a Baldwin S12 with the cab removed and doors and handles on the bonnet sides added. The cab like the tractors of that time is open to the elements. The driver is a converted army figure with his tin helmet filed to look like his hair.
The beast is seen here with a wooden side tipper on its way to the piggery to collect the material from mucking out the sties. A single track ran through the area to facilitate this.

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Peter M

[Broadoak]

A view showing the greenhouse as seen in Summer with the tomato plants being tended by a man with a white apron. They are made of a cocktail stick for the cane supporting the plant. The actual plant being thin wire covered in pva glue then dipped a mix of green flock material. When it had all dried a dab of bright red paint was applied to replicate the tomatoes.
To the left in the foreground is a scratch built short wheelbase bogie wagon with a load bales of straw for bedding in the pig pens.
The second shot gives a different view, to give some idea of the greenhouses construction. A bit more ground cover and a farmer figure have been added since these pictures were taken.

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Peter M

[Broadoak]

I feel I ought to come clean about the photographs. As a general rule if the photo is of good quality with a high number of pixels, my good friend and fellow operator Andy Knott took it. If the picture is of poorer quality and a lower number of pixels, I took it using my wife‘s compact camera. There I feel better now having confessed.



The guy cleaning windows has obviously wandered off for a cup of tea and a chat with the mechanics in the workshop.
The trailer wheel is in to have a puncture repaired and is a left over part from the Opel Blitz kit.
The jerry cans and large oil drum are from a Tamiya military kit as are the sacks. The sight gauge and valve on the tank are from the spares box. The fine light coloured ground coveris a material we use at work for dealing with oil spills.
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Peter M

[Jon Randall]

Excellent layout Peter.
I liked it in the Railway Modeller particularly with the bonus of the second month's photo
Thanks for the extra pictures as they show views that I wanted to see as they were missed in RM.
You and Chris Krupa have inspired me to start on a 1:32/35 layout next year
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Jon Randall

Gno dear, I'm gnot building another layout.
Ok just one more for luck.....

Size is gnot the important issue here

[Broadoak]

I am delighted I have inspired you to take the plunge into 1/32 - 1/35 scale modelling Jon.
I find it a gnice size to work in for someone like me who is not in the first flush of youth. These days my eyesight is not what it was and my hands don’t seem so dexterous as they once were. The main thing is it is fun.



We get a glimpse into the engine shed with its work bench and a tool box plus some parts being worked on. A vice and more tools have been added since this was picture was taken. The floor of the engine house is scribed Milliput painted a dirty black as are the sides of the rails in the shed. A set of fire irons lean against the front of the shed next to an oil drum of rubbish complete with brush and shovel. A group of oil drums containing lubricating oil sit on a balsa wood stand.
Next to the engine house is a low relief barn made of balsa painted with watered down Indian ink. It has a rusty corrugated iron roof and a brick base from yet another Tamiya war damaged building!
The Davenport and the Opel truck are patiently waiting for their next job.
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Peter M

[Broadoak]

I found another 1/35 scale truck kit of an earlier Opel Blitz, a bit more thirties than forties looking. It was in fact a gas producer. The long vertical tank shape on the right hand side was used to heat either coal or wood chips and the gas given off was collected in a pipe and directed round to the front of the vehicle. Here it passed through a radiator which cooled it then it was stored in a large tank fitted crossways to the front of the truck. The gas was then fed into a carburettor to power the engine. It produced about 40% of the power that petrol would apparently. It could run using petrol as well in a conventional way if required.
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Peter M

[Broadoak]

This time I managed to get it to fit over a Con - Cor switcher chassis. It is very similar to the Athearn but with a can motor. It came out of a loco I’ve had for years but never really liked because of its awful over scale hand rails. This time to get it to fit meant removing a flywheel and drive shaft to fit under the cab and bonnet. The body is held in place by two self tappers each side that press against the sides of the motor. A large tarpaulin covered box in the back hides the motor and drive mechanism.
I sprayed it with grey car primer then picked out the wings and radiator outer cover in black. I washed the whole body with a mix of black ink and grey acrylics to tone everything down a bit. The driver is a modified military figure.
I then added ropes and chains and a few oddments in the back to make it look more interesting.





Originally it was fitted with a KD coupler at the front but because the rail truck is rather longer than the other Opel Blitz it swings out too much and was a menace in the yard. The truck has now been demoted to taking fuel, spares and general running about on the estate.
Two views of several rail trucks waiting to leave the yard for the fields A bit of permissive block working is called for I think!
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Peter M

[DCRfan]

I really like that picture
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Paul
Gnu Zealand

[Broadoak]

I am glad you like the picture Paul. It is one of my low resolution specials
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Peter M

[dieselwater]

[Moronguhl]

Also - the middle truck looks like it's smiling.
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Christian Summers

Great scott!

The beginnings of a brewery...

[Broadoak]

The next rail truck I built really is a bit of a critter. It is an ex - American army jeep. It is an Italeri kit and was about six pounds. I didn’t realise until I got it home and looked in the box that it came complete with a trailer as well. Excellent value I thought. It sits on an ON30 Bachmann Street Car chassis, which is rather high. But the Bachmann chassis was brand new and only £20 so I am prepared to put up with the extra height.


A couple of pictures taken in the early days before the jeep was fully detailed or weathered.
The ground cover was still being added a bit at a time at that stage.
The horse drawn device hidden under the tarpaulin is actually part of a German army field kitchen. The tarpaulin which is kitchen towel soaked in pva, then painted with acrylics when dry. This is then washed over in a thin coat of watery dark grey, this runs into the creases and gives it more definition. When this is dry a light flick over with a little cream on
a dry brush. Like this the implement could be anything. Wonderful thing the imagination.
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Peter M

[Broadoak]

The jeep being rather small really does sit on the chassis and to give it a bit more character I added a load carrying platform behind the four seats. The vehicle is fitted with link and pin couplers so can be used to push or pull small trains when needed. The driver figure is a white metal tractor driver from Scaledown models, he also adds a bit more weight.
It reminded me of a vehicle which worked on the Dennis estates at Nocton Lincs. It was a strange looking car type paraffin-fired steam engine device.
The model is used by the foreman to get urgently needed fuel or spares out into the fields.



The trailer I painted a dark well rusted colour and it stands leaning on a fence next to the tractor workshop on the right hand side. It is full of rusting junk, farmers seem reluctant to throw things away. More junk, long grass ( old shaving brush bristles ) and foliage were added with a liberal soaking of pva to help secure the tree.
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Peter M

[skylon]

Excellent thread, keeps getting better. I like the jeep, tempted to try something similar in 1:24.
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Thanks,
Sam