Wednesday, September 4, 2013

First road tour

Hi all,

Its been long since the last post. Summer went by and the exhibition season starts again this year. The first one was for me in Newcastle England, so I had to take the layout out of the museum one week before the exhibition ended. They were easy on me..

My car packed fully with 2 layouts! The roof case holds all the legs, the rest is packed in the car. The second layout "The Shop" is packed on the back, for that I use a bike carrier:


I travelled on Thursday from Rotterdam NL to Hull GB:


After leaving the ferry on friday morning I travelled 160 miles to Newcastle on Tyne over Great Brittain's beautiful roads:


The show was held in a small hall that is normally used for bowling. For now the delicate floor was covered by a special layer:


And Friday afternoon al was set up and tested for the show on Saturday and Sunday:


And I got my special plates:


The hotel I was in was situated in North Shields, near the coast of the North Sea. Well, it is nice, I have to agree. But it was rather cold, around 65 degree Fahrenheit:



The hotel:


On Sunday evening at 6 the hall was empty again.....:


My hotel room for 3 nights:


Driving back I came along the "Angel of the North", a tall statue build of metal. 20 meters high and 200 tons in weight. Very impressive:


On Monday on my returntrip I travelled towards York where the National Railway Museum is located:


And visited for 2 hours before driving to Hull again. Here in front of a (I believe) class 26):


A quick meal from a well-known restaurant.... ;) :


And on the ferry again, now heading to Rotterdam NL. Well, it is very nice on the back deck in the evening sun:


And as panorama shot:


Wel, the trip was worth it but for 2 days show you are busy for 6 days. I was alone and that too isn't good, the next time I will go with a minimum of 2 persons.

See you all!

Friday, April 5, 2013

Finally; she is in the museum

Weel, last week the layout went to the Dutch Railway Museum for the big summer exhibition. We brought her per car and installed it there. The museum had already made special cases for several diorama's so that was easy.

The entrance to the exhibition, special build:


Where it stands now:



In Dutch the diorama text (translated in English):

The little town Big Lacy in Georgia was a important one in the transportlines of the Confederates in the American Civil War. The diorama gives a impressiion of that situation in 1863 in the Civil War.


And a 80 centimeter shell of "Schwerer Gustav", a German railway gun of WWII. That is me next to it:


 And the 1:6 model build by a group of Englishmen:







And some other stuff:


Bi English gun used in WWI



Saturday, March 23, 2013

Last soldiers?

Well, there where some Perry figures left to paint. I did that this week and placed them on the layout this evening.

Here my "workbench" at the kitchen table:



And on their spot. I like them! I thought the flags where part of the set but no... I made them myself in Word and printed the out on my printer:


Later!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Nice movie of the layout!

A guy in the Netherlands made a nice movie of our layout on the OntraXS exhibition this past weekend, please enjoy it. We sure like it!:



Grtz, Ronald and Wanda Halma

Thursday, March 7, 2013

On the exhibition!

Well, today it was time to send the layout to the exhibition. Allthough I am part of the organisation of it (www.ontraxs.com) I'm not able to do all the work myself this time. A friend of mine went this afternoon together with my son to Utrecht to the Railway Museum to set up the layout there.

Packed away in a small family car:


And off they go!:


And set up at it's place in the museum:



We are happy with the results, it was a lot of work in a small amount of time. This morning we did a lot extra and a repair on a electric switch. But we managed it all.

I keep you posted on the layouts maiden exhibition!

Grtz, Ronald and Wanda.

Links:  

http://www.teammitropa.nl/stilte-voor-de-storm




Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Last run to finish!

Yesterday we did several things to the layout, we "greened" the hill and made the road over the tracks:


I gave both sets of figures some sand covered on their supports so it looks better and more natural this way:



A litt;e dog is pee-ing on the tent:


Made some switch stands after some prototype photo's from styreen:


And on their place. Doesn't look bad, or?:


And with more green:


Today we did a lot of work, I went on with the green work on the left as my wife did the Lavy hotel. Maybe it is a little too romantic but we are very satisfied with the look of it.

SO; ALMOST FINISHED!!:

Pictures:

Overview


Left camp side:


Artillery shooting point:


The Lacy Hotel:



So far we did well. We hope you liked the building, I'm sure we did. There will be little updates from now, the layout goes to a Dutch Exhibition next weekend on 8, 9 and 10 March (http://www.spoorwegmuseum.nl/news__press/on_traxs.html). After that it will attend in the same museum a half year exhibition that is called "tracks to the frontlines". It covers trains in wartime from the ACW (my layout!) to the present. It also will behold several models and real equipment from several countrys that participated in the several wars over the years.

So we keep you posted!!

Thanks for watching!!!!