'n ddedwydd Ben-blwydd ata

Happy Birthday to me that is.

It was a happy birthday indeed. I asked for and got a copy of Slate Quarry Album by Ann and Gordon Hatherill and published by Roy C Link.

What a book! Absolutely chock full of inspirational photographs that will help with the scenic development of Cwm Lwch.

If you are a Slate quarry modeller and you haven't got this book you're doing something very wrong.

'r dirio dan 'm chorfannau

The baseboard for Cwm Lwch is now completed.
Piece of 3/4" expanded polystyrene, is braced by some 2 1/2" deep strips of the same. On top of that is a piece of 1 1/2" foam cut to the approximate shape of the quarry ledge. Then on top of that I have laid some 3/16" cork tile to lay the track on. It is light and very rigid. I completed the baseboard construction during Saturdays workshop and it certainly fired up peoples enthusiasm to try something different fo baseboards.

Todays blog title means "The ground beneath my feet"...

*Cawn arweiniedig ar gerdded

* I got carried away...

I did, totally and utterly carried away. I was meant to be making some test pieces to demonstrate basboard construction for tomorrows Micro layout workshop. Pieces to show that most any lightweight material can be used as a baseboard if you brace it and protect it well enough. Just test pieces mind, and I ended up making the baseboard for Cwm Lwch. It's 14.25" x 32" for no other reason than I think that is the size that will work. It's made from 1" thick white expanded polystyrene foam a material that everyone tells you isn't suitable for a model railway baseboard. Well, Hitsu was built on white foam, Gonou was too. I have a half finished underground armaments depot layout built on the stuff too so I know it works.

Here underneath you can see the bracing I used to hold the surface flat and level. I think it will work fine for the Cwm Lwch baseboard.

Like I say, it's flat, level and phenomenally light. For those of you who would be concerned about the lightweight polystyrene getting banged about in transit. Well, once the layout gets to a stage where it would be exhibited, it would get boxed up in its own self contained wooden cabinet for protection.

Now, I suppose I still need some demonstration pieces for tommorow as it is...

p.s. I was preparing my materials for this aftenoons workshop just now, and I took a close look at the baseboard now that the Loctite powergrab foamboard adhesive has set fully and I have to say that now the baseboard is extremely rigid.

'n ddiweddar adegau*

Well, the micro layout workshops at the Princeton Train club are going well. I have 4 keen students all with great ideas. Some narrow gauge, some standard gauge. All very creative ideas that I look forward to seeing develop. The age range is wide, from a teenager to one person who should be retired.

Last weekend I spent time working up their ideas into concepts for them to work on and expand. The teenager, Brian, as is the case with most teenagers, is a computer whizz and after he'd attended the workshop sped off home to work up his concept into some sketches on his computer using Trainz rail simulator software. Within a matter of hours he emailed me back some of his computer renderings and some renderings for one of the other participants concepts too. I was really impressed its for Brian to post his concept renderings on his website that you can see here so check out some of his work it's really jolly good. Then he offered to work up some of my sketches in Trainz too. Not one to resist the lure of modern technology I said Yes and these are the renderings he came up with. The images have a US styling of course rather than North Wales but it's still really impressive.

I like them, I really do. In fact his renderings put a whole new slant on my concept.

I expect Brain gets the same joy and pleasure out of doing his renderings on his computer as I do putting pen to paper, and not knowing what it takes to do his work it's unfair for me to comment too much. But I love the action of putting the pen on the paper and drawing. I love screwing a bit of paper up when I do something wrong. Does Brian get those same feelings selecting a texture to cover a wireframe or hitting the delete key? I will ask him next time...

* modern times