March 3rd to 5th 2023
Arrival
You may arrive any time after 4pm on Friday the 3rd. Bedrooms will be available for residential attendees. Please note that the majority of the teaching rooms will not be available until 5pm. Unfortunately the Arrouaisian room will not be available to use until 6pm due to an earlier event, please respect those at this event by not placing items in the corridor outside the room.
On arrival please go to the main reception of Missenden Abbey to book in and receive your room keys. You will also find that there are name badges available for collection in the reception area. Please wear these throughout the weekend as they not only help everybody get to know each other they also act as a way of the Abbey staff identifying course participants when it comes to food service and security.
Tea and coffee will be available in the Dining room until we are able to access the teaching rooms.
Car Parking
Missenden Abbey now run an ANPR enforced parking system. Parking is free to those staying at the Abbey and those attending our courses. However you must register your car number plate within 15 minutes of arriving on site to avoid a penalty. Registration is via an iPad that is situated in the main reception of the Abbey.
If your car leaves the site, even if only to move from the car park to the loading/unloading area via the road outside the Abbey, you must re-register your car within 15 minutes of your return if you are to avoid a penalty charge. It is possible to register for multiple days, provided your car remains within the Abbey grounds and those staying onsite should make sure that they register for all three days of the course.
Unloading & Loading
There are two entrances that may be used to unload your modelling equipment into the modelling rooms, these are shown with yellow stars on the accompanying site plan. Those on the 4mm Locomotive & Kit Construction, Painting & Lining or Backscenes course should use the entrance by the Walled Garden Nursery. This area is very narrow and should not be blocked, the number of cars that can be in this area is very limited. Please keep your time in this area to a minimum and move your car back to either the gravel or tarmac car parks as soon as possible. You will need to pass a parking barrier to enter this area, the code for which will be made available on the day.
The other starred entrance can be used for those on the Weathering, Structures or 7mm Locomotive & Kit Construction course and can be access from the gravel car park area. Cars may be bought up to the entrance for loading or unloading, but please do not block the roadway as this is the main route for those exiting the site.
First Time Attendees
We will hold a short gathering for new attendees prior to dinner on the first evening. This will be an informal meeting to allow us to pass on any more information you may require or for you to bring anything to our attention or ask questions of us. This will be held in the upstairs coffee lounge at the Arrouaisian end of the Coach House building at 6:15. We would recommend all first time attendees to come along, others are also welcome to attend if they wish.
We encourage all attendees, and especially those with us for the first time, to drop in on the other courses which we are running around the Abbey at some point during the weekend.
Teaching Rooms
The teaching rooms are arranged in two clusters at each end of the Coach House. The Chiltern rooms will accommodate the 4mm Locomotive & Kit construction course with Tony Gee and Tim Watson on the ground floor in the Chiltern 1 & 2 room and in two of the small syndicate rooms, Dahl and Syndicate 1. The Backscenes course with Paul Bambrick will be on the first floor in Chiltern 3 and the Painting and Lining course with Ian Rathbone in Chiltern 4.
The remaining courses will be at the car park end of the Coach House, with the 7mm Locomotive & Kit construction course with Tony Geary in the Arrouaisian room (formerly known as Carrington) on the ground floor. The Weathering course with Chris Hopper will be in the Art Studio, also on the ground floor and the Structures course with Jerry Clifford on the first floor in the Barn Hall.
The main tea and coffee lounges are outside of the Arrouaisian room on the ground floor and also on the first floor. There will also be tea and coffee machines available in the corridors on both floors of the Chiltern rooms.
Dining
Residential attendees will be served dinner on Friday and breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday these meals, along with breakfast on Sunday morning will be served in the Abbey dining room. Lunch will be served on Sunday in the Marque next to the bar area. We have staggered the lunch times in order to reduce congestion in the dining room area.
Those not resident at the Abbey will be serviced lunches and dinner.
The bar will be open from 6pm on both Friday and Saturday and for both Saturday and Sunday lunch times.
What To Bring
Of course the project you wish to work on is an essential, but also consider a backup project in case you get to a point that you can not continue with your main project due to a lack of a component or some other reason that can not be resolved during the weekend.
The individual courses will have lists of tools that are recommended or suggested, these can be found on the website here. Don’t worry if you don’t have a particular tool. There’s always someone willing to lend you what you need.
In addition to this a work light and extension cable are also useful items to bring. You will need a work board to protect the tables and a table covering.
Demos
We have four demos organised for the weekend, one on Friday evening, two on Saturday and the fourth on Sunday morning. These demos are open to everybody, regardless if if they relate to the course you have booked for or not. Following many requests we have two demos on the core skill of soldering for metal kit construction and another aimed at helping a smooth running chassis.
- Soldering for the uninitiated with Tim Watson. Tim will talk about and demonstrate aspects of soldering metal kits together using a conventional soldering iron.
- Wheels and the magic of quartering with Tony Gee. Tony will talk about getting the wheels correctly quartered on your locomotives and how this is essential for the smooth running of your locomotives.
- An alternative soldering method, the RSU with David Brandreth. David will demonstrate and discuss using a resistance soldering iron to solder together metal kits, including how this complements the soldering techniques presented by Tim Watson. David will bring a spare RSU available for people to try this method of soldering.
- A turntable for Bath Queen Square with Jerry Clifford. Jerry will talk about and demonstrate the turntable he built for his 2mm timescale layout, Bath Queen Square.
Health & Safety
We would like to remind attendees that we use a number of sharp implements, potentially dangerous chemicals and hot tools as part of the hobby. Please ensure not just your own safety but those around you. In particular any electrical equipment that is plugged into the power outlets of the Abbey should be in good order, correctly wired and have the correct fuse rating fitted.
Please be careful not to spill chemicals or paint on the furniture or carpets. If a spillage does occur then please bring it to the attention of the tutor and clean it up as quickly as possible.
Covid restrictions have clearly eased in the recent years, however we still ask that you respect the others on the course and do not attend if you have or suspect you have Covid-19. We also ask that you respect other peoples space and choices when it comes to the wearing of masks or social distancing.
Smoking is not permitted within any of the Abbey buildings, including the bedrooms. Please see the provided site plan for designated smoking areas.
Security
Although a relatively secure environment all teaching rooms should be locked and windows closed when they are not occupied. Our tools and models are valuable items and should be kept well protected. Keys will be provided on arrival for the teaching rooms and these should be returned before departing the Abbey on Sunday. Items left in cars within the car parks are left there at the owners risk.
Departure
Residential attendees should clear their rooms after breakfast on the Sunday and return the room keys to reception by 10am.
The weekend events are due to finish on Sunday afternoon and all teaching rooms need to be cleared by 4pm.
Timetable
Our timetable for the weekend is as follows.
Download a digital form of the timetable on your phone or tablet you will be able to add the key events of the weekend to your phone or tablet calendar.
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Friday 3rd |
16:00 |
Registration |
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Tea and coffee available in the dining room |
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17:00 |
Teaching rooms available except Arrouaisian |
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18:00 |
Arrouaisian room available |
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18:00 |
Bar opens |
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18:15 |
First time attendees meeting in the upstairs Arrouaisian coffee lounge |
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19:00 |
Dinner |
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20:00 |
Evening Modelling Session |
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21:00 |
Demo: Soldering for the uninitiated with Tim Watson in Chiltern 1 |
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Saturday 4th |
07:00 – 09:00 |
Breakfast |
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09:00 |
Morning Modelling Session 1 |
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10:30 |
Tea/Coffee break |
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11:00 |
Demo: Wheels and the magic of quartering with Tony Gee in Chiltern 1 |
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11:00 |
Morning Modelling Session 2 |
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12:00 |
Bar opens |
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12:30-13:45 |
Lunch – 4mm, Backscenes and Painting course |
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12:45-14:00 |
Lunch 7mm, Weathering and Structure course |
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14:00 |
Afternoon Modelling Session 1 |
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15:00 |
Tea/Coffee break |
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15:30 |
Demo: An alternative soldering method – the RSU with David Brandreth in Dahl |
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15:30 |
Afternoon Modelling Session 2 |
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18:00 |
Bar opens |
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19:00 |
Dinner |
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20:00 |
Evening Modelling Session |
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Sunday 5th |
07:00 – 09:00 |
Breakfast |
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09:00 |
Morning Modelling Session 1 |
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10:00 |
All bedrooms to be vacated and keys returned to reception |
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10:30 |
Tea/Coffee break |
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11:00 |
Demo: A turntable for Bath Queen Square with Jerry Clifford in the upstairs Coffee Lounge |
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11:00 |
Morning Modelling Session 2 |
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12:00 |
Bar opens |
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12:30-13:45 |
Lunch – 7mm, Weathering and Structure course Please note lunch will be in the Marque |
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12:45-14:00 |
Lunch – 4mm, Backscenes and Painting course Please note lunch will be in the Marque |
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14:00 |
Afternoon Modelling Session 1 |
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15:00 |
Tea/Coffee break |
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16:00 |
All teaching rooms to be cleared |
Next Event
We hope you enjoy the Spring weekend and will be encouraged to return for one of our future events.
We will be holding our week long Summer Retreat from the 30th of July until the 5th of August. Spend a week at Missenden Abbey working on your projects with tutors Tony Gee, Jerry Clifford and Tim Watson on hand for all or some of the time. Full details are available here.
Our next weekend event will be held in October, the precise date is yet to be confirmed, full details of which will be made available shortly on our website shortly. We are currently aiming to run our 4mm and 7mm locomotive & kit construction courses, our weathering course, track building and a number of other courses as yet to be confirmed.
We also encourage you to sign up for our newsletter if you do not already receive it. Sign up for the newsletter here. The newsletter will contain details of events and when the booking for those events become available and is sent a few times a year ahead of the events.
