Model Railway Forum

Trying to work in a small canal section, and someone mentioned, once, a purveyor of such an item in a downloadable
thing one would print out after paying for it. I cannot recall what purveyor that was. Anyone?

It sounds as though you are talking about a company called Scalescenes. I can't see a canal though. R-

Yes, that is precisely the one I was thinking of, thank you so much.

Kit TO18 https://scalescenes.com/product/t018-na ... -and-lock/

That looks nice.

Don't forget that most narrow canals had locks of around 70-72 feet in length and a whisker over 7 feet wide. The Leeds and Liverpool were shorter, but wider. Canal carrying narrowboats were the full 70-72 feet long, depending on which class or builder. Tugs were shorter. Modern day maintenance craft are a completely different kettle of fish.
On period layouts there'd be either horse drawn or, later, pairs, of motor and butty. When tied up, the motor was always outside the butty (deeper draught). Sheets were only used when absolutely necessary, as they were a right faff to put up (ask me how I know!)

Martin

Finally downloaded it, ready to begin work, finally. Thank you for the tips.

It did not occur to me to print it out onto a heavy weight paper, bordering
on cardstock, available at the copy shop. So I had to reprint it again. Remarkable
things done with cardstock I've seen on here, hope my results are not too
dreadful.

I've done a couple of Scalescenes models which I printed out on normal paper and then stuck to suitable thickness card using spraymount adhesive (make sure to do it in a well ventilated room).

Of course a lock is not essential. A canal boat can be berthed at the canal side.

Good luck either way. Will watch with interest.

Glencairn

Thank you one and all, again, for your kind efforts to guide me through the process. I did try the Scalescenes kit, and found it to be most ingenious, perhaps a little too so, as I just couldn't get the hang of it, and am amazed at the
excellent results others achieve. I ended up using some brick paper from the kit, and some water effects for the base.
A superb white metal kit by Langley, not cheap to import from the UK, but is really helping things come together after
many visits to the Muse of Locks and Canals. I had made many trial and errors to install the lock scene, but had the
epiphany to add a narrow shelf at a lower level which made constructing the job a great deal more accessible. It is seen
here in progress, whatever implements at hand to weight it down as the glue dries the foam to the baseboard and shelf.

Tomorrow, I hope, I can find the time to start layering in some Clear Gorilla Glue, which I've used to good effect for
water scenes, it is rather viscous and sets fairly quickly, which comes in handy. I'll start with a few daubs to seal the
ends of the canal and about the lock gates and slowly raise the "water level" within.