Scalefour Forum

Well it has been quite some time since we last posted here and there was a little comment on the Alpha Mill thread about us giving an update so here are a couple of photos I took last night showing the houses I am currently working on in their position. 20190205_192817.jpg The building in the top co...

Thanks for all your information, very useful.

Ralph

Thanks guys, that has certainly given me a lot of information and wooden gutters has to be the way to go. Good thing I didn't spend a fortune buying some of Eileens half round milled sections at Stafford on Saturday, it would have been very expensive for these terraces and if I can do it on the cutt...

Hi Dave, The mill went down very well at the exhibition thanks. Several people complimented me on the model and I managed to win 2 cups and a gold award which was very encouraging. Since then I haven't done anything with it but that doesn't mean I have done no modelling. I wanted to try out a differ...

You say the chap who runs EBMA is in your club. Could you ask him if he's able to make a jig for making a 60' tack panel please. I noticed you had something like that in your thread. Yes, I will ask him and see if he can do it. I drew the design up some time ago and made it in card on our laser cut...

Dave, you might want to take a look at my thread here https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5499 which gives a little bit of information about why these things came into existence. Andy of EBMA is in our club and he took on these designs so that others can use them too. They work f...

Hi Dave, I am using one of the Hobbying servos and the mount is just a simple bracket I designed and made on my 3D printer. You could make any little bracket from a piece of ally angle or or some stripwood or plastic sheet. The rod with the magnet just needs to be able to slide up and down in the tu...

Almost a year since the last post and most of you know why I haven't been busy on Gt Jackson St since then - yes Alpha Mill. Anyway, since its public showing at the Manchester exhibition in December it has been stuck in its transporting case and a couple of days ago I thought I should try and do som...

Jeremy, you are putting panelled coach kit construction onto a new level. That is looking excellent, you don't fancy doing some Period 1 LMS coaches do you? I hate the Comet LMS panelled coach sides, by the time the panel is etched away there is so little metal left it is so easy to mark the metal -...

A kit for the GWR 6ft 4ins bogie is now available on the Palatine Models website. This has been designed specifically for the GWR modeller to cover this early style bogie and it was designed with the help of Peter Sutherland who has written about these twin torsion bar bogies in the Scalefour News i...

That link contains a lot of interesting stuff Howard. To see the Lancashire style mill in both Germany and the Netherlands is certainly an eye opener and shows the impact that this part of England had on the world in general. Excellent stuff. I continue to be amazed at the amount of material on this...

Here is the family tree taken out of the book 'Stott and Sons, architects of the Lancashire Cotton Mill'. The book itself contains a lot in information about mills in general particularly their construction and proved to be an interesting read. There are lots of photos in there too and I learnt a lo...

I will use that design for the factory gates thanks Howard. It is too late now for what I have already done. Don't fancy drawing it up though!

Ralph

Thank you all for your kind comments.

Ralph

Hi Gordon,

Can you please put me down for one of these when you go into production. Looks great with the body on.

Ralph

Just put the finishing touches to the mill so it can be put on display at the Manchester exhibition next weekend. Made a change to the steps based on some recommendations from Howard and it now looks much better. Added the ironwork which came back from the etchers last week. Made up a flagpole and p...

Thanks Dave. Your input has been valuable too and once we have our show out of the way in a couple of weeks I will move on to start the engine house. Alpha Mill will appear in the display stand at the Manchester Christmas Show on 1st and 2nd December https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3...

Hmm ... you might be about to get some stiffly worded guidance from Ralph... Well, I fell down at the first hurdle and thankfully at that stage I hadn't gone very far down the track so I could get this project made correctly. I am a big admirer of your layouts Steve and with the information readily...

I meant to post this photo as well, it is a bit closer than the end shots.

Thanks Tony and Howard. Yes this is completely different to what was originally proposed and the journey has certainly been interesting and I have learnt an awful lot about cotton mills thanks to Howard. The building as it is now is certainly a whole lot more interesting and captures the atmosphere ...

Painting has moved on a whole lot further since my last posting. The red brickwork had 3 coats of paint applying and the whole lot has been toned down and weathered to produce a more satisfactory finish. The doorway has been made from a lot of pieces of card glued together to make the shape of the p...

I have seen Black Lion Crossing twice now and the atmosphere on that layout is stunning. Superb buildings and lineside features not to mention the handbuilt stock that Geoff runs. Also it is looking likely that my model of Alpha Mill will be making its presence felt in the display cabinet in Room 1 ...

The annual Manchester show is taking place on the 1st and 2nd December at the Barnes Wallis Building close to Manchester Piccadilly Station in Manchester. Opening times are 10:00-17:30 on Saturday and 10:00 to 16:30 on Sunday. Ticket prices are £9 and up to 3 children are free with each adult. Advan...

Nice full brake there Mark. Might be able to help you with the ground signal, when designing the Palatine etch I took dimensions from the drawing in the LMS Journal and photographed several which were lying around by Bury signal box on the East Lancs Railway. I was also provided with some photos by ...

I have to say that whilst finding out a lot more about cotton mills than I knew at the start of this year I visited Masson Mill in Cromford where Howard spends a bit of his time with some of the lovely old cotton spinning machines. I was lucky enough to go on a tour of the mill and met Howard who ca...