Some teary-eyed nostalgia for you.

[ian holmes]

AdobePhotoshopExpress_20120818143404 by "Awe"-Docker, on Flickr

AdobePhotoshopExpress_20120818143446 by "Awe"-Docker, on Flickr

It's certainly teary eyed for me I can tell you. Today I took a look inside the black cabinet to see how it had fared after all these years. Six years since I last exhibited it. I'd had a quick glimpse every now and then to see if the mice hadn't started eating it. But not a serious examination. This time it was more important to take a serious look as a month or two ago now we had some minor flooding in the basement. Not catastrophically serious but enough to ruin the carpet and leave Purespring soaking in water. OK, there's a certain irony here, I grant you. But anyway as you can see the old dinosaur still looks pretty good and I'm sorely tempted to give it a refurbishment and take it back on the road again. Now to find the stock box and see how the rolling stock has fared.

ian

[chris stockdale]

I don't gnow about 'teary eyed' but it's certainly excellent nostalgia!

So, having strayed for a while can we expect more great things from the fertile home of Holmes?

bestest,

[ian holmes]

So, having strayed for a while can we expect more great things from the fertile home of Holmes?

bestest,

Could be Chris, could be. I'm interested to see if Purespring still runs first. The track looks Green at the moment.

Ian

[ian holmes]

So, after some good scrubbing and cleaning of the track with a track cleaner locomotives will navigate the layout. I'm wondering if the green on the track (you can actually see it in the pictures) is somehow related to the graphite that I used on the track to aid the running. Now to clean the wheels of the stock...

[Steve Bennett]

Brings back memories, good to see it back on these pages again.
It doesnt look too bad in the pics and cant see much sign of water damage, exen on the backdrop. The yard looks a bit cleaner than I remember though.
Good to hear it still runs

[ian holmes]

So, it runs and it doesn't look too bad. I'm thinking a refurbishment is definitely in order. When Purespring was started things like the static grass technique was in its infancy as was the modeling of plants in detail. I'd like to incorporate some of the new techniques in the upgrade.
What do you think?

Ian

[Gerry Bullock]

So, it runs and it doesn't look too bad. I'm thinking a refurbishment is definitely in order. When Purespring was started things like the static grass technique was in its infancy as was the modeling of plants in detail. I'd like to incorporate some of the new techniques in the upgrade.
What do you think?

Ian

Yes vote here, always was a great layout. After a facelift it will be even better.

[Steve Bennett]

So, it runs and it doesn't look too bad. I'm thinking a refurbishment is definitely in order. When Purespring was started things like the static grass technique was in its infancy as was the modeling of plants in detail. I'd like to incorporate some of the new techniques in the upgrade.
What do you think?

Do you really need to ask
Of course it's worth it, Puresprings was probably the first exposure of a Gn15 layout in North America for many people. Could almost say it has iconic status.

[Catweasel]

Yes definitely restore it Should be given listed status in my humble opinion.

[Broadoak]

Yes, you must restore it.

It is truly a great layout.

[ian holmes]

The "ayes" win then. Ideally I'd like to replace that tree in the corner and replace it with something a bit more realistic. I do have a birch tree in my front garden for inspiration so there really is no excuse to not have a go at that. The rough wasteland there on the left does look OK but it needs a smattering of weeds around there. The layout will however need a new fiddle yard at the rear as that perished many years ago before the basement flooding.
Then I can dig out some of my old unfinished rolling stock projects.
Are you as excited about this as I am?

Ian

[Jon Randall]

Oh yes Ian, Purespring Watercress is one of the classics with some well thought out and modelled cameos with some great scratch-built locos, boxes and portaloo.
I like your modified Hawes trolley too, I might have to copy that for myself

[michael]

Ian, your question seems like one of those no brainers! of course you need to bring it back up to date!!!!!

[franckcombe]

I'm not sure that you need to updated it, it is already perfect to my eye and it is a pleasure to see it again

[ian holmes]

So, which are the good threads that have lots of advice/techniques for making weeds in them? I know most of Steve's layout threads are brim full of stuff but are there any others out there?

Has anyone tried modelling Cow Parsley?

Ian

[Blackcloud Railways]

Not an answer to the intentional greenery question, sorry, but regarding the greening of the ground near the rails.

What is the inset track laid in? When I've buried track in filler (the white Polyfila type) there has been a greenish blue tinge develop around the rails. I presume this is due to a chemical reaction between the metal and something in the filler. The damp may have triggered a similar reaction or even just leached a pre-existing discolouration through the paint to make it visible.

Whatever has caused the discolouring, as long as it hasn't damaged the surface, I'd be inclined to leave it as is. Water dripping from the loaded wagons coming in from the fields has obviously encouraged thin moss to grow on the track.

Great to see that Purespring is still in business, if a layout can be "listed" this is a candidate for grade one classification.

[gfadvance]

Ian, late to the party but I am an other one who is delighted to see this layout coming alive again .

Cow Parsley, interesting have been trying off and on this year to solve this as well ................... presume its is a mixture of the height and lightness/see thro quality that appeals , certainly is for me.

I did try to model the flowers heads using very fine wire splayed out with fine dried tea leaves (ex tea bag as they were finer) then sprayed/painted an off white ............ not really successful as it was not fine enough . Did have a completely mad evening when I tried to use dandelion seed heads .... you know the fluffy things that float in the air , was not popular at home with that experiment

Somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain sure I have seen seeds heads of some plant that flat but spiky which I am sure might do the job but have not found that plant again.

I did use some of the laser cut paper ferns that available and by cutting off alternative fronds they produced acceptable representations of the leaves of the Cow Parsley.

All in all all of the above is of no help at all to you ,sorry ........ so will look forward to what you come with

[ian holmes]

One question. Where do I get these laser cut paper plants?

[gfadvance]

These are the ones I used

http://www.realityinscale.com/epages/61 ... %20Line%22

have a had a look to try and find US stockist of GreenLine Products but not been able to track one down ............ that will be my fault, sure they must have local stockists to you

[Artizen]

Here are a couple of links for you -

http://www.dioramashop.com/shop/step_su ... 0409055108
http://stores.ebay.com.au/War-World-Ltd ... 34.c0.m322

[Gerry Bullock]

Also worth looking at Ziterdes Ian, a German Company details here:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/bw5b4us
I've just bought a pack of their stinging nettles and although fiddly to form they are great.
Here's a link your side of pond however many of these are v. small.
http://stores.ebay.com/station500-toys- ... 1482165016

[Artizen]

Thanks Gerry - both links are for Noch Laser Minis. I consider the Model Scene products to be better formed -

http://www.model-scene.com/x_vg.html

Although marked as suitable for 1:72 etc, I am successfully using them in 1:24 (particularly the ferns).

[ian holmes]

I found these last night. http://www.milminwh.com/mod_scene_weeds.htm

[Mike Lee]

Ian, a couple of things:

1. Yes definitely restore it

2. In the first photo, what make are the two figures that are talking to each other

3. For making cow parsley, I think it was a Roy Link article where he used a dental burr to hammer some paper/blotting paper into a dense rubber base or something similar to make some flower heads I have not got round to trying it yet, but I was going to do something similar for some flower heads/cow parsley using 'Torx' T** driver heads with blotting paper, worth a try

[dieselwater]

Hi Ian, Purespring has always been an inspiration for me. I look forward to the restoration of a classic