Spot the difference.

On the face of it, there seems to be little change since the last time I posted, but the track is here, giving a far better idea of clearances and radii, while a friend who is a carpenters apprentice has carefully cut the front and sides of the box file out, I've built up the ground level inside the box, giving an eye-level, rather than 'lighthouse keeper's' view. The front folds back up, allowing the box to close normally.

I'm also working on a mock-up for the detachable fiddle yard, made from the usual cornflake packets of which I have an inexhaustible supply. This is proving to be the tricky part of the design, partly because I've never built anything like it before, but with work finally beginning to calm down a bit I'm really hoping to get the design together in the next week.

I'm planning to use plastic card as my construction material, which may seem odd but I want to keep weight down, and with such a tiny fiddle yard, (about the same length as the big freight wagons on the Körschtalbahn) I don't think it will cause too many problems. We shall see. All thoughts, feedback, etc, welcome.

Brave new world

The great expanse above, being investigated by the Sägewerk Pfeifle Landrover, is baseboard number two, finally glued and laminated over the week. (This is not a particularly exciting process so I spared you the pictures) Now that’s done I’m planning to move into uncharted territory and actually make the track rise above the board a bit. Previously I’ve been a member of the flat earth society, and the majority of my models had as many hills as the Norfolk Broads, which was fine except they were supposed to be of the Peak District. The Black Forest may have some flat areas but I haven’t found them, so I’m going to at least try and make it look like the track was built into the hillside and winding its way around a landscape that was there long before.

That’s the plan anyway. Now to stop procrastinating and get on with building it…

9 999 to go?

Thomas Edison was heard to say “If I find 10 000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward...” I’m trying to see my first attempt at a baseboard in this er… light.

Not counting my attempt last year, It’s about 15 years since I last built a baseboard, and that was in the days when everyone knew chipboard and pine were the way to go. As a result the baseboards I made could double up as armour plate in the event of a national emergency. This time around I'm going for cardboard- lighter, easier to work with for a non-carpenter, and above all, free.

For the first attempt, I planned to start with three sheets of cardboard glued together to make a solid base, and then to build up from there with a track bed and landscape. Unfortunately things didn’t go exactly as planned, and what I got was a fairly bendy slab of cardboard that looked like it was just waiting for some track to be glued onto it before warping hideously.

Attempt one will soon be consigned to the recycling pile and I’ll set to making a more solid version, with masses of cross bracing to discourage warping. The problem is that there’s a fairly shallow space between the shelf the KÖB is to be built on and the one above, which doesn’t leave a lot of space for a deep frame, so I’ll have to make up for this with lots of cross bracing, and then more cross bracing in between… I’ll keep you posted on this. Hopefully the second version will work a bit better so I can start thinking about track and wiring soon. If it looks like I'll have to make 9 998 more before I get it right, I think I’ll go back to the armour plating.

Sägewerk Pfeifle

The change of plan I hinted at in the last post is now in full swing: I'm putting "Spitzenwald" on the back burner for a bit, a and I'm going to attempt a basic two-siding affair, which will give me some experience and allow me to test out some ideas and relearn how to make scenery. A couple of nights ago I cut out a basic shape from a sheet of cardboard and fiddled with a set of points to see what I could do with it. Now I've trimmed the cardboard back to the shape I'd like, which just fits onto the shelves I'm using, and sent a copy to a couple of friends to make sure I wasn't making a horrendous mistake. So far I've had positive feedback, so I'll carry on...

The subtitle of the model is 'One of those days': several storms over the night have made both the road and railway almost impassable to Spitzenwald. Clearance teams have been removing felled trees since the dawn, and by now (about 0800) they have managed to clear the line as far as Sägewerk Pfeifle, (Pfeifle's Sawmill) about 3 KM from Spitzenwald, just before the line makes the final curve to the terminus. Here, however, they've found a lot of trees down on this section, all mixed up together especially where the line crosses the valley, and it's taking a lot longer than anyone would like. Trains are currently terminating at the halt by the mill, which usually is only a request stop catering for walkers and mill employees. The sawmill is working at fill tilt: It's not the biggest mill in the Körschtal, but the only plant this close to the damaged area, and the railway is running wagons up from Dachsburg to take wood from the cutting area itself and from the mill, as well as dealing with the regular output- and wouldn't you know it but the sawdust and a load of finished product was scheduled to be shifted today…

Here Endeth the silence…

…Hopefully.

The “Big” project that I’ve been eating, breathing and sleeping for the last few weeks- “Baroness Isabella von Katzenberg’s evil and despicable plans for world domination” -finished last night with a pretty successful show. The team I work with dealt with all the last minute glitches and problems that beset these things with a level of patience and flexibility that would give some professional companies pause for thought and I’m really pleased with them, but I’m also rather glad it’s over and I have a bit of time to relax before the next one starts...

While I was working on that my shopkeeper friend has been stockpiling cardboard boxes. Lots and lots of them This means I can very probably make the baseboard for the model, so I expect this will take priority over the next week or so, although I hope I’ll be able to keep building stock. To give an idea of what can be done with a cardboard baseboard, here's an example built by Michael Mott in Canada, which he very kindly allowed me to reproduce here.

Having seen this I’m having second thoughts about starting with “Spitzenwald”, and wondering about a simple model with the railway running through a more undulating landscape: my thinking being that I’m trying out a lot of new methods, so having a simpler model is better if things really go poop. Possibly a bit pessimistic of me, but if it all goes swimmingly and works like a dream, I’ll have learnt a lot and have a nice model in the bargain. Either way I’ll be happy.

Board

I’m still here.

The lack of entries in the last week is ironically despite reasonable progress on the model. The three chassis are now mounted on bogies/trucks, and I’m experimenting with a Black Dog Mining wagon. I’ve also found a German supplier for plasticard after kind German speakers on the 'Gnatterbox' took pity on struggling Brit (again) and explained the correct name for it.
All this has made me realise that the layout really needs to be built or my display track will start looking like Barry Scrapyard on a busy day, so I was had a serious recycling session, and went around asking local shopkeepers for their used cardboard. Fortunately one of these shopkeepers stores his stock in our garage and as he usually has to take cardboard away for recycling, he cordially invited me to take the stuff away by the armload.

Trouble is, cardboard is hardly the most exciting subject for photos, and after careful research I can verify that it looks exactly the same in Germany, so I don’t think you’ll be wanting to see a picture of the stuff. Those wanting visuals will have to wait until I actually do something with it...