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Modbury


Ian Smith
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Don,

. I think that the key factors in 2mm scale are colours and weathering; it is easy to exaggerate textures.

John

I fully agree with John on this. A restricted palate also helps to create cohesion in a model. The roof of a building is its most obvious aspect but, in general, I think textures need to be seriously downplayed: especially road surfaces and track ballast. Take a look at a 2mm scale sized foot and look at some of the surfaces we expect our little people to traverse!

 

The attached photo was taken by Craig Tiley (courtesy RM). Looking at the NL building, the slates are OK, but the lead flashing is a bit heavy - must try harder next time. The figures were made by Matthew Wald.

 

Tim

post-13388-0-70591900-1449910991_thumb.jpeg

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Since Christmas I have been building a website dedicated to my Modbury layout (2FS GWR c. 1906).  The layout (and it's associated website) is very much "still under construction", but I felt that a dedicated website could be a nice thing to have so that I could document it's construction in a slightly more structured way - Whilst threads and blogs are fine I find that my somewhat butterfly approach to modelling means that information relating to just one of the things on my workbench is interspersed with all sorts of other things as well.

 

My new website can be found here : www.modbury2fs.co.uk

 

I will continue to add entries to my RMweb blog, and the thread in the 2mm Finescale section as I find the feedback provided by fellow modellers on my projects is often very useful and informative, but hopefully the website will provide more structure to my projects.

 

Ian

Edited by Ian Smith
Updated the URL for my Modbury website
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Progress on Modbury over the Winter has been virtually non-existent, however now Spring is here it's time to crack on a bit...

 

A variety of twisted wire trees are underway, and point rodding is being added to the layout, but before the latter could be done I had to work out how much room there was available along the front of the Down platform as up to 3 rodding runs need to be accommodated.  I therefore made a start on the Down platform, and once part constructed moved on to the Waiting Shelter that I wanted to position midway along its length.

 

The waiting shelter is based on the one that used to be at Bovey Tracey in Devon.  This is an open fronted affair, with a fireplace at one end to provide a bit of comfort for the waiting passengers.  A flat roofed extension at the other end provided a Gentleman's convenience.  The prototype can be seen in the background of the following photo :

702077448_BoveyTracey(3).jpg.92d037b22561430cf8ee1bc5f6df0b34.jpg

 

The original building was brick constructed which I feel complements (and provides variety to) the stone built main station building on the other platform.  Once a scale CAD drawing had been produced based on a closer view of the derelict building, a start was made on construction in my preferred medium of plasticard.  Construction is similar to the Signal Box built and described earlier in the thread.  A core of 0.040" was built with over-sized windows onto which Slater's embossed plasticard was added (with windows the correct size cut out).  The rebate formed around the inside of the window being to allow the glazing to be sited.  The building has been built with a "cellar" to allow it to be sunk into the eventual platform surface.

 

The roof sub-structure has been made as a separate component that fits snuggly into the top of the 4 walls of the main structure.  The gutters surrounding the hipped roof were made first by "scrawking" the half round profile with the tail end of a 0.85mm drill shank along the edge of some 0.030" plastic sheet, the outer profile of the guttering scraped off afterwards and the resultant gutter cut off with sufficient backing material to allow securing to the sub-roof.  The chimney stack was built up by adding embossed sheet around a solid core, and once dry secured to the flat sub-roof.  The hip roof was then built up by trial and error on the flat sub-roof.

 

The brickwork was painted in the same manner as employed on the Signal Box - an overall covering of mortar colour which once dry was dry brushed with various brick shades to pick out the embossed brickwork.

 

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Image hopefully showing the construction of the hipped roof and guttering.

 

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The next stage will be to paint the interior, fit benches therein (and chimney breast) before adding the slates to the roof and putting a flat roof on the gents (I also need to add the gents door and the brick arch above it!).  General detailing can then commence by adding the noticeboards, enamel signs, etc before weathering and adding to the (hopefully by then) completed Down Platform.

 

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Ian,

Looking great and I am waiting eagerly for the next progress photos.

A minor comment - many GWR Gents were open and didn't have a roof at all. Was this the case here?

Best wishes,

John

 

John,

Thanks for your comment (and Jerry's supporting comment too).  I have absolutely no idea whether the gents were open to the elements or not - the book I have on the Moretonhampstead branch (or perhaps it was the pamphlet from the Bovey Tracey Heritage Centre) said that the building was open fronted and had a "flat roofed extension for the gents".  The close-up images I have of the building in a derelict state don't help, although they do confirm that there weren't any internal walls so the building really was just an open fronted shelter with a fireplace for a degree of comfort.

 

I had originally intended to model it with a slightly sloping flat roof (recessed below the level of the surrounding brickwork), with an integral internal gutter that vented out through a hole in the rear wall into a down pipe.  Your comment has fanned the flames of doubt that I already had so may elect to model an open-to-the-elements gents instead - I will need to cut out the doorway properly though and fit a door that isn't over 6" thick :-)

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Over the last couple of weeks the various point rodding stools have all been manufactured and the remainder of the rodding runs installed on the layout.  Yesterday I completed painting the rodding runs - the whole of the track area was sprayed Precision Paints "Sleeper Grime", and the rodding runs themselves painted with a slightly diluted PP "Vermillion".  Red being a translucent type of colour anyway allows a degree of the Sleeper Grime to show through thus toning down the Vermillion a bit.  I will eventually weather the rodding runs anyway by providing oil/grease colouring at all of the moving parts.

 

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Overall view of the layout showing the painted rodding runs.

 

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Slightly closer view of the rodding connection to the trap point and associated rotating point disc.

 

Today I have made a start on ballasting the remainder of the trackwork, probably managing about 4 1/2 foot all told.  The ballast is a light coloured granular material that I picked up at an exhibition a couple of years ago, it has no branding on the resealable bag so I have no idea what it is or who the seller was!  It is being attached in the time honoured fashion of wetting by spraying a mist of car windscreen wash over the dry ballast (to break down surface tension) then dropping diluted PVA over it all.

 

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The Newton Abbot end of the layout.

 

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The Plymouth end of the layout showing the now weathered road over bridge temporarily plonked in place.

 

Hopefully I will manage to get the rest of the layout ballasted over the next week.  Once the track has been ballasted, I have some even finer material to stick down in the 6' and along the edges of the ballast to represent the cess.

 

Thanks for looking, Ian

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Over the last couple of weeks the various point rodding stools have all been manufactured and the remainder of the rodding runs installed on the layout.  Yesterday I completed painting the rodding runs - the whole of the track area was sprayed Precision Paints "Sleeper Grime", and the rodding runs themselves painted with a slightly diluted PP "Vermillion".  Red being a translucent type of colour anyway allows a degree of the Sleeper Grime to show through thus toning down the Vermillion a bit.  I will eventually weather the rodding runs anyway by providing oil/grease colouring at all of the moving parts.

 

Today I have made a start on ballasting the remainder of the trackwork, probably managing about 4 1/2 foot all told.  The ballast is a light coloured granular material that I picked up at an exhibition a couple of years ago, it has no branding on the resealable bag so I have no idea what it is or who the seller was!  It is being attached in the time honoured fashion of wetting by spraying a mist of car windscreen wash over the dry ballast (to break down surface tension) then dropping diluted PVA over it all.

 

Hopefully I will manage to get the rest of the layout ballasted over the next week.  Once the track has been ballasted, I have some even finer material to stick down in the 6' and along the edges of the ballast to represent the cess.

 

Superb modelling work as ever, Ian. The point rodding looks to die for! Keep up the excellent progress.

 

Good to bump into you (albeit in passing) at Trainwest the other week, though I didn't manage to catch you for a chat (I was too busy playing with 'Wadebridge'!). Maybe next time.  

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Superb modelling work as ever, Ian. The point rodding looks to die for! Keep up the excellent progress.

 

Good to bump into you (albeit in passing) at Trainwest the other week, though I didn't manage to catch you for a chat (I was too busy playing with 'Wadebridge'!). Maybe next time.  

 

Phil,

Thank you.  It was good to meet you too.  I think we were both kept reasonably busy over the weekend.  We are taking St Ruth down to Helston either next year or the year after which I think is down in your neck of the woods so we may bump into each other again then :-)

 

Ian

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Good progress Ian. The station building looks very good. I cannot really help with the Gents roof. The stations I knew well were much larger. Taking an interest in how the gents was roofed would not have been a priority for a young train enthusiast. I do seem to remember some having a glazed roof which was high enough to leave a gap at the top of the walls - plenty of ventilation.

The track and the point rodding look superb really lifts the model.

Don

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  • 2 weeks later...

A little more progress has taken place in Modbury...

 

Firstly, the trackwork on the layout has been completely ballasted.  Additionally, a finer material has been played in the 6' and along the outside of most of the ballasted area - still to do is the areas around the sidings and along the face (of the yet to be constructed) Up platform.

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Looking towards Newton Abbot.

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Looking towards Plymouth.  The road over bridge is in the process of being bedded in.

 

As a break from ballasting, two more signals have been begun - the Up Starter and the Down Starter.  Both have posts of 3mm square brass bar, with a taper milled along their length.  The finials are again from over-sized 'OO' handrail knobs with a piece of 0.5mm phosphor bronze wire soldered in then the upper part tapered to a (blunted) point.  As the embryonic finial is soldered to the top of the post, a base of 0.008" nickel silver is placed between the post top and the finial.  Once fixed, the base is filed back to be just proud of the top of the post.  The lamps are simple turnings soldered to a piece of L section brass, which in turn are fixed to the posturing the arm and spectacle plate to guide to the location.  The lamps are actually epoxied to the post as trying to solder them in place while not unsoldering the arm pivot and / or the finial proved to be beyond me despite use of aluminium heat sinks (in the form of sprung hair clips) being used.

 

The balance weight arm housing at the foot of the post is from an MSE etch.  The easiest way I have found of using these components is to sweat the fixing plate in place on the post, then drill 0.3mm through the hole in the plate and through the post itself.  A length of 0.3mm brass wire is passed through this hole and a washer, balance weight arm, washer and the bent up front of the housing threaded onto the projecting wire. Finally, the front of the housing is soldered to the rear plate already attached to the post, and a wipe of solder applied to the wire projecting through the face.  The wire can then be tidied up by snipping and filing away the excess on both sides of the post.

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The balance weight arm housing being assembled.

 

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The Down Starter post before adding the ladder, etc.

 

Some may have noticed the rod guides on the post above.  These are small pieces of 0.3mm ID tube (as is the housing for the arm spindle).  Even I am not mad enough to try to solder about 0.5mm lengths of this tube on the posts! Instead, I solder on pieces about 5-6mm long, holding in place with a temporary drive rod of 0.25mm nickel silver wire ensuring that they will line up with the balance weight arm at the foot of the post.

 

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Over-length drive rod guides being soldered in place on the post.

 

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After the drive rod guides have been filed down to size.

 

Since taking the photos, MSE ladders have been added and the pair have received a spray of white primer.

 

DSCF1546.JPG

Edited by Ian Smith
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On 12/05/2016 at 22:33, Donw said:

The layout is looking good and the work on the signal is amazing. How do you plan to drive the signal?

Don

 

Don,

 

The signals are driven by a wire from a pivoted operating arm below within the milled U channel.  The operating arm pivots on a wire passing across the arms of the U, a carefully filed hole in the bottom part of the U limits the travel of the operating arm.  The operating mechanism (a memory wire actuator) engages in a hole in the operating arm.

 

Hopefully the photo below of the already installed Down Home will illustrate the above.

 

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An early example of the memory wire actuator can be seen below.  Subsequent ones have a revised circuit providing current for the memory wire - basically to drop the power to 5 volts and resistance to provide a current of about 0.3 amps to the memory wire (The drop to 5 volts being necessary because the power feed to the layout is 13.8 volts, and this supplies all of the memory wire actuators for points and signals and also the electromagnet uncouplers.)

 

757140218_TurnoutActuator.JPG.e489b9bd2759f21a2bef21918bcaf16e.JPG

Ian

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