Aberdeen Kirkhill T&RSD

[gtc]

The April RM has just arrived downunder. It is a really inspiring layout. Well done indeed.

[Flood]

Many thanks for that gtc.

 

I've never thought before about how long you guys must have to wait for magazines or possibly even stock, what with you being on the other side of the world. Just goes to show that Britain does have a lot going for it.

[srh474]

what a great layout , you have a good eye for detail

 

ian

[Flood]

Thanks Ian.

 

I know that I have pushed my modelling skills when making the layout, I'm pretty sure Glenn would say the same thing. When it comes to detail it's not just noting what was in pictures taken at the time, a considerable amount of help stems from Glenn working at Craigentinny and knowing what we need to model so that the maintenance of stock could have taken place. As in all layouts once you've found out what is required to be modelled you can at least then try to find photos of the objects. In our case Glenn knew what he should be looking for and was able to point out to me what was needed. The scratch built battery chargers and sockets are good examples as is the use of the Gem water taps.

 

The first few pages of this thread also give a reflection to the assistance we had from Bob-65b. His help and knowledge have been invaluable.

[Flood]

Just to say that the laserglaze on the blue and grey HST was completed yesterday lunchtime.

 

This set will therefore be available for use, and perusal, at DEMU this weekend.

[Temeraire]

Spent an enjoyable day yesterday, or part of it at least, operating this superb layout and chatting with it's friendly team, and I even reread the RM article again this morning! Thanks again guys.

 

Glenn you have a PM.

[Flood]

Well it's been a while since the last update (mainly because we haven't done much).

 

I've finished painting a couple of figures and Glenn and I altered the end plates for carrying the boards so all the boards can fit in his LandRover. The next job is making plastic sheet dust covers to protect the layout.

 

For anyone wishing to look at a wheel lathe (see the thread on Boxenby Depot for the reason behind this tongue in cheek remark) the next exhibition we will be attending is the Heart of the Midlands Model Railway Exhibition at Loughborough on September 24th and 25th.

 

We're looking forward to meeting as many of you there that can attend.

[Flood]

For any RMweb members, or other modellers, in the South of England that haven't managed to see Aberdeen Kirkhill yet I am pleased to announce that we have been invited to Wycrail '11 at High Wycombe on Saturday 5th November.

 

This will be our first exhibition south of the Midlands and we are looking forward to seeing lots of new faces.

 

Many thanks to Graham 'Muz' for suggesting our layout to the Exhibition Manager.

[pitbull1845]

Oh no does that mean you won't want to see old faces?? Temeraire and I were planning on paying a visit! Lol

[RedgateModels]

and I'll be there helping Chris N find his glasses on Catcott, now there's a thing, will be be in the same digs friday night ??????

[Flood]

Oh no does that mean you won't want to see old faces?? Temeraire and I were planning on paying a visit! Lol

Certainly not a problem meeting up with you and Temeraire again, especially as you couldn't make it to the RMweb open day.

 

and I'll be there helping Chris N find his glasses on Catcott, now there's a thing, will be be in the same digs friday night ??????

 

Further to your p.m. I think I'll borrow a hard hat from work for protection during Saturday morning breakfast!!

[Temeraire]

Certainly not a problem meeting up with you and Temeraire again, especially as you couldn't make it to the RMweb open day.

 

We'll see you there then and this time we should have Kevin with us too for a 'Leaford crew' full house.

[MrWhippyO]

Really loving this layout, following with interest! What did you use to create the "brambles" in this picture

 

 

Cheers, James

[Flood]

Really loving this layout, following with interest! What did you use to create the "brambles" in this picture...

 

Cheers, James

 

Sorry that we haven't replied sooner James, I'll have a word with Glenn over the week to find out which scenic material he used. He's just spent the weekend driving to two exhibitions, as well as unloading/loading and operating, so last I saw him he said he was ready to have a doze on his sofa - I don't blame him.

[MrWhippyO]

I think I read somewhere on the thread (or it might have been a different one) that horse hair can be used to get "bramble-like" effects, but the pale grass mixed with the brambes definetly gives a layout a cold scottish feel!

[sto243]

 

Sorry that we haven't replied sooner James, I'll have a word with Glenn over the week to find out which scenic material he used. He's just spent the weekend driving to two exhibitions, as well as unloading/loading and operating, so last I saw him he said he was ready to have a doze on his sofa - I don't blame him.

 

After following this thread on and off for a couple of years, I finally saw the layout in person at Wycrail on Saturday, and I was very impressed - its even better in real life than the great photos on here, and it has inspired me to keep pushing ahead with my own little project (same era, same region, but smaller space and nowhere near your standard. I can but dream!)

 

Many thank to you for making the effort to come down so us Southerners could see it - you've definitely earned your doze!

 

Cheers,

 

Hugh

[Dunedin]

I think I read somewhere on the thread (or it might have been a different one) that horse hair can be used to get "bramble-like" effects, but the pale grass mixed with the brambes definetly gives a layout a cold scottish feel!

 

Hi, sorry for the delay!

 

It is horse hair that I used for the bramble effect that you see in the photo. It was obtained from Green Scene and it was covered in a light green paint as-supplied which gives it some body and makes it less hair-like. Once it's been teased out it starts to look more like the brambles I was after, but the colour was wrong for winter. I had taken the opportunity during the course of the last two winters to have a good look at foliage etc. when they lose their leaves and the frost has a chance to get at them: they weather to a dark brown or even black, so I airbrushed the horse hair to give that effect and then applied GeoScenics snow and sprayed with dilute PVA / washing-up liquid to give it the frosty / light snow effect you see in the photos.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Glenn

[MrWhippyO]

Thank you very much, it had never occurred to me that I could use horse hair for something like that. I'll certainly give this a go! Cheers

 

James

[Flood]

Well after months of inactivity I actually have two more locos added to the Kirkhill list.

 

First is 37046. Bought as a spare 37114 body on the chassis from 37239 back in October last year I have finally managed to finish repainting the loco as I have been on holiday this last week. It needs the weathering treatment from Glenn (the orange stripe is correct being that thick but the weathering will tone it down considerably) and will then be covered in "snow" from Geoscenics to run with 37033 on the snowploughs.

 

 

 

The next loco is one I have been after for ages but not had the money. After a trip to Rails this week to offload some stock I wasn't running I picked up, amongst other things, a Heljan 26015.

 

Of course I very rarely keep a loco in its original number so, after a package from Howes arrived today, it is now 26014.

 

 

The package from Howes was mainly a set of Hymek bogie sideframes so today was spent removing the coil springs in the centre of the Heljan bogie and adding a set of leaf springs from the Hymek sideframes. At the same time I altered the footsteps to the 26/0 style, I think I could have added even more rake on the rear upright of the footsteps but the idea is there. Their location has also been moved towards the centre of the loco (centred over the leading coil spring).

 

 

So just some weathering, and a Lenz chip, and what should be the last ever loco bought for Kirkhill will be finished.

 

Just looking forward to Glenn spraying some more coaching stock now...

Edited April 4, 2022 by Flood

[Dunedin]

Things have been a little quiet on here recently, but that doesn't mean we haven't done anything at all...

 

I've now weathered the majority of the stock that we run on Kirkhill - most of it was looking just that little bit too clean, but now that's been taken care of.

 

Here are a couple of views of the Mark 2Z TSOs that I repainted in autumn 2010:

 

 

 

 

Graham's 26014 has also had the treatment:

 

 

 

Once Graham had 37046 ready, it was time to add it to the snowplough train, which meant that, apart from the obvious weathering (anyone seen a clean 37/0?) it also needed a dose of snow. This is the finished result:

 

 

 

The basis of the snowploughs is that they have been used to keep the route between Aberdeen and Inverness open, so it follows that our Inverness set would have run though some snow. The rear coach would have caught the worst of it, so I had a go:

 

 

The effect I was trying to achieve was as seen on this Mark 1 which had been at the rear of an Inverness - Thurso service in Dec 1982. It hadn't run through deep snow, but the slipstream of the train had thrown a good dusting of powder over the rear end:

 

 

I'll add another post later regarding the layout improvements that are in progress at the moment.

[Dunedin]

Continuing the snow theme for a few moments, as regular readers will know, Kirkhill is set in winter 1988 and there is supposed to be a dusting of snow and a hard frost. Judging from some of the comments I've heard at exhibitions though, this can't be that obvious - especially when the snow ploughs appear: "Not much point having snow ploughs when there isn't any snow!" was one such comment that someone made during the last year.

 

Obviously, my attempts at creating a winter scene were just that little bit too subtle.... Time to do something about it then, particularly as we have a few months before our next exhibition at Wigan in June. That means that when it all goes wrong, I still have some time to recover the situation - hopefully!

 

Well anyway, today I've been experimenting and would be interested in any feeedback any of you would care to give:

 

I still want the snow/frost to be reasonably subtle, but a little more obvious than it is now. In particular, I want to get a frost effect on the sleepers - usually, even oily wooden sleepers turn white, so I've tried two experiments this afternoon:

 

1. Using Geoscenics "Snow" on sleepers which had been painted with slightly dilute PVA:

 

 

2. Using Johnson's Baby Powder, with the sleepers prepared as above:

 

 

This second method certainly makes the layout (and the house!) smell nice, but it does smell a bit like a tart's boudoir at the moment! Hopefully it will fade. I did wonder about using flour, but thought that might go mouldy.

 

I've also tried adding a little more to the scenery in the area of the experiment on the sleepers - again I don't want to bury everything, but suggest a light, fresh fall:

 

 

As always, any feedback gratefully received.

[Dunedin]

There comes a time with any layout when those little niggly things just have to have something done about them. I've always felt the roads and paths could be better: We used GreenScene tarmac and concrete paint for quickness when we were running out of time with so many things in our bid to build Kirkhill in slightly under 12 months. To me, the surfaces are just too rough, so today, in amongst the other things, I decided to do something about it.

 

We had covered each board with cork floor tiles before starting to lay the track etc. and apart from an overall coat of grey undercoat, the GreenScene tarmac had just been painted straight on top. It occurred to me that a road would, in any case be slightly lower than the footpaths and also the ballast in the sidings, so this was the scene of roadworks this morning:

 

 

The cork has been cut away leaving the top of the baseboard, but this would have given a curb that was too high, so next I raised the height again slightly using some thick, black card. This should give a curb height of about 4 to 6 inches which is what I measured across the road from my house this morning. The neighbours must have thought I was mad, measuring curbstones, but they already think I'm too old for model railways!

 

This is the scene with the card in place:

 

 

The next stage is to add the new road surface. My plan is to use ceramic floor tile grout - I think it's a far better grain size. Not sure yet whether to dust it over a surface pre-painted with PVA, or whether to mist the pva on later, or do both! I think the latter is probably best and I may do a test piece first, but any suggestions again, gratefully received.

[Mike Bellamy]

Glenn - I prefer the first example rather than the baby powder - having never been to a tart's boudoir I'll have to take your word for the smell

 

You say that you're trying to get the effect of frost on the sleepers which seems better in 1 but in 2 the powder seems to have spread to the ballast and is uneven - of course the photo is much larger than the model so it might not look so bad in real life.

 

Mike

[Dunedin]

Glenn - I prefer the first example rather than the baby powder - having never been to a tart's boudoir I'll have to take your word for the smell

 

You say that you're trying to get the effect of frost on the sleepers which seems better in 1 but in 2 the powder seems to have spread to the ballast and is uneven - of course the photo is much larger than the model so it might not look so bad in real life.

 

Mike

 

I took Mike's comments to heart, went back and took another look, brushed away the excess powder and gave it all another good vacuum and it now looks like this:

 

 

The powder is much finer, so I think it actually gives a better frost-effect, but of course you also won't be looking quite as closely when you see it for real.

 

I think the first attempt would actually be quite good for getting an effect like the one in that photo of the Mark 1 in Dec '82, where it's just blown around the chairs etc. And yes, for those of you who noticed, the station is actually Wick, not Thurso!

Edited February 26, 2012 by Dunedin

[JeffP]

The best stuff I ever used for road surfaces was a filler made for filling cracks in walls. It came ready mixed and was called Tetrion.

 

It was cement/concrete coloured.

Edited February 26, 2012 by JeffP