Garden Railway Forum

That is looking good Peter. The "kit-bashed" lattice bridge looks particularly impressive. I'd never have guessed its origins if I hadn't seen the earlier posts.

Ooh, I like that!
Just needs a coat of scruffy faded rusty green paint to finish it.

I knew I should have stuck to my bike.

Not much will stick polythene and polypropylene ( PE and PP ) , except heat welding, thats why they say don't use them. Polystyrene is very different and many solvents will dissolve the surface, allowing it to bond with another disolved surface as it evaporates. The trick is to use a chemical that w...

Evostick Ultimate - don't worry it isn't solvent based so it doesn't dissolve the styrene.

There are several versions in different coloured tubes. I'm not sure what the theoretical difference is but I prefer the one in the black tube
Available in all good ( bad) Retail Sheds.

Thanks chaps. I used the same plumbers hemp but applied differently. I still used bunches/clumps but smaller to reduce the tendancy for any individual clump to have a straight edge. Then I cut the clumps from the hank at an angle rather than straight. Having cut it I shuffled it in my fingers to try...

OK folks, ripped off all of the original thatch and started again. Still have the ridge cap to do ( made that as a separate piece and waiting for the glue to dry before fixing in place). Still got the eaves to thicken up and some trimming to do, but I think I'm happy with the overall effect, what do...

Brian - Nah, I dont hate you, i just hate the roof pictures! All gone now and started again. Keith - What you said makes perfect sense, thanks. I'm not sure how practical it would be to do a whole roof like that, though. Kandnwlr - Thanks for the link, I spent ages looking for something like that be...

Well, I've covered the roof in thatch and I'm not a happy bunny. My intention was to trim the individual bundles to lose the edges but that doesn't seem to be do-able. I've tried razor, scissors, scalpel. I've damped it down, and fluffed it up, but nothing seems to get rid of them! So I think its ba...

Easyjet decided to not continue the experiment of charging to use the toilets on board.

Peter, The new ballast picture is on felt covered boards. The trial section that I did last autumn stayed put through this last winter ok. Ive added the side boards since then and before I ballasted properly, hopefully to make sure I dont lose it if it does work loose. I laid it dry so the boards al...

I love that bridge shot with the track curving through the grass in the background!
What is the source of the bridge itself?

Wow! What a lot of interest this has created, I never expected that. I'll try to reply to the various comments all in one go, rather than individually, hope thats OK. Bazzer - I think the stuff you are talking about is known as Foamex in the sign making business, at least our normal sign company at ...

It even had a rose covered timbered arch about eight foot from the front door across the garden gate. It did have a back door though, to allow easy access to the toilet out in the back yard. Chimney had a large iron plate on the breast outside, a hinged outside door to allow sweeping the chimney fr...

 this is now a concen because I thought of foamboard as a paper coated material but now I learn that you might be using a plastic coated sheet Peter, The stuff I use, isn't coated with anything, it is just the foam itself, which provides a nice key for glue and paint. This is the link for where I g...

BTW. Like the garden video a lot. Prototypical speeds, as well. Do you know which camera you used? Thanks. The camera was a cheap little Vivitar DVD1080HD that somebody gave my wife. She didn't want it and I discovered that it exactly fitted a low sided wagon that I had got cheap from somewhere to ...

Thanks Peter. I used a mixture of 10mm and 5mm board from that well known auction site! Watch it though, some so-called foam board has a foam core with thin card faces and it isn't always obvious. I use a fine tip felt tip to mark out and cut with a scalpel ( not Stanley knife). For adhesive I like ...

A couple of weeks ago I started work on a thatched cottage because the weather was a bit grotty for the garden. Just got the shell put together and the weather improved, so out into the garden I went. Got the ballasting done on about half the circuit and the weather turns grotty again, so back indoo...

I agree with what has been said so far. My only other contribution is that, for thicknesses of 60thou ( 1.5mm) or less, I use a scalpel rather than a Stanley knife. I find that the blades being thinner, they leave less of a raised burr along the cut edges.

I don't know them personally but Scaleway have been around for years and they do all sorts of signalling kit, including lever frames.

http://www.scalewaysignals.com/products ... /index.htm

or you could look at MSE.