Orcs in the Webbe Advent Calendar 2025 due tomorrow

Just one more sleep before the Orcs in the Webbe Advent Calendar 2025. I've already sent my 2025 content to Craig and am looking forward to seeing what he posts this year.

What is the Orcs in the Webbe Advent? Check out this huge free resource that Craig uploads every December. For more information, see this link.

Happy Advent.

Tony

New narrow gauge layout - NG11 - working over a cold weekend

Both grandsons are very keen on me getting on with this project but (very) cold weather this weekend meant that I didn't get that much done. The road crossing area has been built from some balsawood and coloured with washes.

I have also played around with some paper profiles in an attempt to get a workable building. The engines will enter in to the engine shed (right) and exit around the back. Getting the correct positioning has been challenging as I did not want to have the three part building dominate the layout but at the same time I wanted the engines to enter the engine shed, disappear and then re-emerge around the back of the extension.

Here is a better mock-up built from foamboard and balsa with wooden scraps used for internal support.

If the weather is better this week maybe I will get around to adding some detail!

Tony

New narrow gauge layout - NG11 - ballasting the track

Progress on the new Pizza layout has been slow. Mainly down to the weather and me not being willing to spend time in the un-heated garage. But I have now ballasted the track. Just a quick up date - I am using PECO O-16.5 'crazy track', with one in three sleepers removed and the spacing stretched to fit. I am running 11mm = 1 foot scale engines and modified wagons or 1:27.7 scale models. which equates to a track gauge of 18 inches. A gauge that was used by a number of industrial narrow gauge lines. Because of this unusual scale/gauge combination there is a lot of scratch building on HO-OO mechanisms and wagons.

The ballast is a mix of shop bought ballast intended for HO-OO models, sieved sand and small stones collected from the beach and various odd samples of plaster, cement and soil found in the garden. The ballast has been laid on Mod Podge matt and then sealed with a diluted mix of Mod Podge and alcohol. Unfortunately (with the cold damp weather) it has taken ages to fully set or dry.

The final image shows one of the scratch built engines and a single wagon from the Yellow Pelican narrow gauge layout I built some time ago.

Hopefully I can get some additional work done on the layout soon. Although there is another cold snap due very soon. The December or Christmas dead line might be looking a little tight!

Tony

A spiky fence - Miniature Wargames 512

The latest issue of Miniature Wargames - issue 512 (December 2025) has this how-to article written by me. A Thorny Fence for Frostgrave or Trench Crusade. The three models were scratch built from slivers or splinters of scrap soft wood and glued together with superglue. The painting was simple with just a dark basecoat and drybrushing before the groundwork was painted, varnished and decorated.

This is the 70th (seventieth) consecutive article I have written for MW with the 71st and 72nd tutorials also safely with the editor, John. I told my daughter this earlier this week and her response was - "well you have to now go for 100!"

The magazine is now available from TG Jones (old WH Smiths) and all good model shops.

Tony

Cyrano de Bergerac at RSC

Sue and I went to see the RSC performance of Cyrano de Bergerac staring Adrian Lester in the title role with Holly and Mal. It was the first time Sue and I had been back to the RSC for some time and what a performance to see on our return.....

We laughed, we cheered and we cried, well I did anyway. A five star performance one of the very best I have ever seen and one I would recommend, if there were a tickets left. For more information, see this link.

A 10 out of 10 performance.

Later this year we have booked tickets to see Roald Dahl's BFG and I'm also looking forward to seeing this.

Tony

New narrow gauge layout - NG11 - more groundwork painting and a retaining wall

A number of steps this weekend. Firstly re-painting the groundwork in my dark brown/red basecolour then painting the area under the rails in a very dark brown/black colour and finally adding the retaining wall. You should also be able to see that I have painted odd sleepers in different colours to mimic their age and decay. Finley helped which meant that they were truly random!

The retaining wall was scratch built from some spare blue insulation foam, textured with a scalpel and then a pencil before being 'aged' by sanding and impressing a stone in to the foam. Painting was done over a neutral grey base with odd stones picked out in various colours before being drybrushed.

The wall was then bedded in to the existing groundwork with more home-made paper mache. Later the groundwork was painted.

Progress has been slow, but the Christmas 2025 deadline is still possible.

Tony

New narrow gauge layout - NG11 - modifications to the track bed

With the track glued in place I felt that the shoulder (the area to either side of the sleepers) was too narrow for my 1:27.7 scale engines ( I used the three engines from my Yellow Pelican layout as a test). So I mixed up another batch of home-made paper mache/Scuptamould (shredded toilet roll, Plaster of Paris and a touch of PVA glue with a drop of brown paint) and extended the shoulders outwards.

The paper mache takes some time to fully dry and I'm not sure that I added enough paint, but I am pleased with  the new wider rail bed.

I think the new rail bed looks better than the earlier narrow one and I'll be painting it up very soon.

The Peco O-16.5 track was laid to a radius of 300mm - 600mm from side to side. I will running 1:27.7 scale models which on the 16.5mm gauge track represents an 18inch gauge narrow gauge railway. Or NG11.

Tony

Figure International magazine haul

Earlier this week I picked up these five Figure International magazine for just a charity donation. Many years ago when the magazine was first launched I subscribed - this was when you would receive a free, limited edition miniature with the subscription. Somewhere in my collection I have a number of these painted and based figures.

I've enjoyed re-visiting this publication and found much to interest me, my particular favourite was the article about painting of Captain Alatriste in issue 4th Quarter - 2007. The figure by Elite Miniatures was painted by two painters - Pepe Gallardo and Jose Hernandez two show how painting different styles would produce different effects and finishes. It was by coincidence that I am currently listening to the Audio book The Corsairs of Levant by Perez Reverte and revisiting Captain Alatriste.

The Captain Alatriste books by Perez Reverte and the film staring Viggo Mortensen (2006) follow the adventures of a Spanish soldier after the wars in Flanders and through the street of Madrid. I first read Captain Alatriste some time ago and the stories and character remain one of my favourite book series.

Tony

la maison rurale en Normandie - 1. la haute normandie

Earlier today I picked up this French language book about the architecture of Normandy called la maison rurale en Normandie - 1. la haute normanie. Rural houses in upper Normandy. for just £1.00 in a local charity shop.

The book is full of line illustrations of both houses and structures - just the sort of book I love for inspiration when building terrain. I've searched for it on the internet but have only found a couple of copies each being sold for over 10 Euros.

A real bargain.

Tony

New narrow gauge layout - NG11 - laying the track

I have now laid the narrow gauge track. It is modified PECO O-16.5 Crazy Track (SL500) with one in ever three sleepers removed and the spacing extended. I have both glued (PVA glue) and nailed (PECO track pins) to the track as the tight curves needed reinforcing to stop them springing apart.

I have used two and a half lengths of SL500 track with metal connectors soldered in place.

I have used this scrap piece of softwood to ensure that the circle of track is uniform. The underside of the track end of this guide has a piece of 3mm thick plastic card glued in place which fits perfectly between the two 16.5mm or HO-OO spaced rails.

Obviously once laid I ran a couple of HO-OO wagons along the track to make sure that there were no pinch points. Any modifications were made with a sharp tap of a pin hammer and a hole punch with any irregularities smoothed out with a metal file and some fine sanding pads.

The next step will be to get the power leads fitted and run some trains.

Tony