Mark, I am not - and by far - an expert of any kind about ship modelling, and in particular about the evolution of ship shapes between the 1930s and today. But I for sure love what you've done so far on this one.

What kind of tool did you use to cut the hull at waterline?

Thanks for checking in on my progress, Frederic.

You and me both! My knowledge regards ships is very limited. I did receive a couple of new ones in the mail this week. Mid week I received my Rusty Rails fishing trawler (for $20 the detail is great), and just today my Model Tech Studios 2-masted schooner arrived. Lots of fun in the months to come!

To cut the ship down to water-line I used a fairly fine razor saw - the one from my mitre box set. I started at the bow, cutting in full depth, and then just went along one side angling the saw so it was at an acute angle to the side of the ship. I then flipped the ship over and did the same on the other side. Remarkably easy actually - much easier than I expected.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.

Well - its been a while! Things are finally just about sorted after our Feb 2011 earthquake. I won't bore you all with the details, but in mid August we move into a new house on 11 acres. Modelling wise it has a large barn/ garage with a concrete floor and a high pitched roof. It needs a bit of work (bird eradication - including removing the iron roof and installing new roofing paper and reinstating the iron roof, insulation, wall lining, and ceiling construction and lining - among other things), but it will become the new home of my T&S HO scale model railroad (Tellynott and Shadowlands).

After literally years of living in limbo, waiting for our house to be repaired, I'm rather excited by this new adventure and ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work. As part of that excitement I thought it would be nice to share this news with my friends here, and hopefully find some time in the next few weeks to start the design process. Below is an overall plan of the barn, followed by an enlargement of the area in which the T&S will reside. There should also be enough room to house my Fault lines layout. The area is 9.885m by 5.790m (32.5' by 19')





Hopefully lots more very soon!

Cheers, Mark.

Hello Mark- welcome back!

Glad to hear things are getting back to normal for you and yours..

Congrats on your new house- and barn.

Curious about some labels on the plan.. Implements- large tools, tractors, mowers etc.?

Control Room- running the whole facility from in there?

Mark, Welcome back, Looks like you'll have a good space to set up the Tellynot!

Mark, good to hear from you again and that everything is going smooth for you. It's hard to believe it's been 6 years since the big one. I'm excited to see the new layout take place.

Mark, glad to read that you finally have things all sorted out after the quake of 2011.

Your new property on 11 acres sounds exciting!

Made even more so with that new space for your layout & modeling adventures!

Best of luck with the new house & all of the work ahead involved in making it your new home!

Please keep us posted as you move along.

Greg Shinnie

Mark,

Looks like an exciting project lies ahead for you. Layout-building advice often starts with "finish the walls and ceiling first." In your case it's replace the roof! Still, better than the long wait you've had to endure.

Mike

Mark, congratulations on the new home! It's nice to know the T&S will have a permanent home and by the sounds of it, a lot of room to grow.

Six years of unrest must have played on you and your family. Now you can settle down properly. If the garage/shed is any indication the house must be big size for you and your family.

Good luck with the new property and house, I'm sure you will make it a wonderful home. Can't wait to see the T&S grow.

Keep well my friend!

Ralph

Congrats on the new house and barn. Looking forward to the growth of the T&S.

Dave

Hi guys.

It was so lovely to get up this morning and get all these responses! Thanks so much!

Thanks Carl - yes. Tractor, attachments and various tools is what will be stored in the implement shed. I've decided on a little John Deere 1025R. That's another whole exciting adventure. It will mow the lawns, till the gardens and move stuff around, as well as other various small block necessities. The control room houses the second pump which pumps water from a 30,000lt tank to the house, as well as the computer system for the irrigation and water troughs. There is a 58m well with a submersible pump which pumps water to the tank.

Thanks Bill - yes - lots of space! The trick will be not to expand things to fill up the whole area and then never have time to either finish the layout or keep up with the maintenance. I've already 'doodled' down that road, caught myself, and given myself a good stern telling off!

Thanks Frank - yes, before posting this I read back a little in the thread and saw myself make reference to having been given a date for the repairs to our house of mid 2015!

Thanks for your kind words, Greg. We have lived in the city our whole lives, so it will be a steep learning curve! The house is less than 1/2 hours drive from my wife's work, and that will be down to around 20 minutes when the new motorway is completed.

Thanks Mike - yes - its those pesky birds that are the reason for the roof coming off. The metal roof is fine, but the roofing paper is all in tatters. I see removing the roof as the easiest (and only) way of fixing the problem.

Thanks so much, Ralph. Yes - we have literally had half our belongings packed away in boxes for over two years! The change in our mindsets, knowing the fight and stress of dealing with insurance is over, and that a fresh start is only weeks away with a date set in stone, is staggering! The house is 312m2 (3358 square feet). There are very few small or even medium sized houses on a lifestyle block, but the house we have has only 4 bedrooms (most this size have 6 or more) with large usable living spaces. The master has a walk in robe and en-suite, and a slider to bed 2, which we will be able to use as an office/ sitting room - making it for all intents and purposes a 3 bedroom home. Bedroom 2 also has access to the upstairs balcony which looks out over the property.

I have started a blog where I will tell of our adventures at the new property, so anyone with further interest can watch things develop. I hope to keep the tales light hearted and humourous! There is a pic of the property and the house posted there.

http://heartfieldhomestead.wordpress.com.

More soon, including my attempts at making my current layout and drawn up future extension of Shadowlands fit into the new space, cheers, Mark.

Hello Mark,

Never enough dogs. I love the All Blacks.

My good friend who lives in Tasmania played until his knees gave out.

ed

Hi Mark,

I'm so happy for you and your partner - most New Zealanders certainly have a strong appreciation of what Christchurch residents have been through following those bloody quakes. One day my wife and I would love to follow in your footsteps so I'll certainly be keeping an eye on the blog. Katie is an accomplished landscape architect so having the chance to design her own dream garden on a section like yours would tick plenty of boxes...the bonus being carte blanche for getting space for a bigger railroad!

Bede

Mark, welcome back, I will be following along with your anticipated progress.

Rich

Hi guys.

Thanks Dave, Ed and Bede - great to have your comments!

Dave - I'm really looking forward to that extra room!

Ed - our two bullmastiffs will love all that space! We do intend to get a few different animals. My wife has a list - miniature Highland cows, alpacas and kune kune pigs. Just a couple of each.

Bede - Thanks - its fantastic to almost be at the end! Be sure to show Katie my landscape plan when I post it on the blog - I would welcome her critique.

OK - so a little design work. First off here is my plan for Shadowlands. It is based on a 'what if' scenario and is set in the extremely rugged landscape of South Westland, New Zealand. As you all know, I love tight spaces and lots of verticality - and so it will be no different with Shadowlands than Tellynott - just very few structures and literally hundreds of trees. The ruling gradient is 4% and the curves are 18". Remember, this was designed to fit into our present garage, and space was very limited.



This next pic shows Tellynott with an extended side - turning it from the present L-shape into a U-shape, drawn into the new shed/ barn. This will give me some more room for all those extra kits I bought while in Scranton at the Expo! The wall at the right in the middle of the room is load bearing, as the water tank for the small kitchen and toilet sits on the truss directly above. I plan to keep 60% of the wall intact, with the doorway left in place (upper right), and remove the wall where Shadowlands will reside (lower right) - replacing with a beam.



And here is the doodling in its present state. I have blown up Shadowlands to increase the 18" curves to 24" curves, but have a lot more design work to do! The pencil lines to the far right of the room is where I started to get carried away! best to keep it simple (yer - right!) and achievable.



More soon, cheers, Mark.