Agreed on the lighting, and especailly the water reflection. Picked up on that too. Great work and should be a hit at the show.
Four days to go. Added the fire house ( I Know they are American fire engines but I love Randy Browns stuff!) The plan will be to box in the navigation Lights LEDs on the trawler at some stage More soon Kev
The Russian helicopter will have to do for now untilo I find something more appropriate. I have painted out the Red Stars though Despite having a very old Marklin chassis The USRA 0-6-0T (Southampton docks shunter) is running really well. Could do with a bit more weight though at some stage
Kev I really like what you’ve done. That yellow switcher brings me back to when I was a kid. I promise you matchbox made one just like it when I was a kid! I will try and find it. Very nice! found it!
Oh I doubt it could be motorized…no space. they also had a couple British steamers tank 0-4-0 and 0-6-0. It was cool to see that model. Just sent me back to my younger days.
So..Here we go. Leyland 2023 Got Brooklyn up early yesterday morning and we headed off down the M6 to Leyland for Port Shaughty's debut Setting up was easy but we swiftly identified a couple of areas for improvement, So it sits on the same folding steel trestles we use for Hakuho and Republic Steel, It uses the same Class 2 fire retardent drapes that all the other layouts use (we spaced and stapled the velcro on the baseboard Just before opening) and with the control panel being integral there was one job less. The facia board screws to a stiffening bar on the backdrop. When in transit it bolts to the back, flush to the layout. Brooklyn operates. the control panel sits at one end and we have a couple of foldable high stools Lots of show visitors complimented us on the water in the harbour and how the harbour lights reflected of it and I now think this layout will not need a lighting rig The trestles have pop up retaining lugs and are wider than the baseboard leaving a gap of about 8" I went down to the lumber yard and got an 8" plank of wood and rebated it to sit over the rear lugs. Used the long stock box trays and 'Hey Presto' stock (safely) ready to go The back of the facia board betrays its origins, a sign reclaimed when the 'Goldmine' pub became the 'Taste of India' Restaurant. "Waste not want not" as the old folk used to say, There was an eclectic mix of rolling stock in those trays as we tried things out at its first show So, issues.. Some locos tried in the workshop that worked perfectly, felt obliged to derail on the tight curve. The two USRA 0-6-0Ts were also sulking and were sin-binned I forgot to pack a layout cover for Saturday night. The show venue, despite being a civic centre, was quite dusty and we had to clean the track frequently during the two days , Half way through today I even had to clean the dust off the water as it was becoming very noticable. Didn't have time to put a single figure on the layout or put LEDs into the other boats Good things... Brooklyn, despite being only 11, has really grown into the roll and can converse with the visitors (Who obviously are adults) explain what Z scale is, extol the virtues of the Rokuhan Shorty chassis and how the layout went from being a Russian naval port 'Arkaengel' to a fun, run what ya brung, layout. The reaction from the public was great, Z is so rare that we seem to spend the whole show promoting the scale and explaing how we acquire all the different locos and rolling stock, The show stopper is when we get the 3D printed Brass Boxcabs and Shorty chassis out blow their minds! Even the other exhibitors are blown away by the CNJ and Chichibu Deki 500 boxcabs when they see and hold them Brooklyn uses the long reach track cleaner ( A bit of Garri-flex block bonded to an artists brush handle) to do a sneaky track clean In two weeks time we are Carnforth exhibition with Port Shaughty and I should be able to refine the layout a lot before then I'll do some pics of the layout in transit condition and post tomorrow Kev
Compared to the other layouts it hardly fills the X-Trail Back in the workshop As Brooklyn is hardly old enough to go to the pub we went instead to Leyland station to catch the Heritage Class 86 electric 86 259 returning the Cumbrian Mountain express back to London Euston More soon kev
SWEET! Really well done and a great promotion of Z-scale on your behalf Kev, especially with a multi-faceted layout that embodies more than just trains, but shipping as well. Nice work too on Brooklyn's part. He appears to be taking his job very seriously.
