Another as yet unnamed 7mm Layout

[brossard]

Having completed the woodwork for my layout today, I thought I'd share the progress so far.

 

I converted to 0 gauge late last year after realizing that Dapol had made it easier to afford models.  I gave up on 00 after about 30 years and sold most of what I had.  I've made a load of wagon kits and have some coaches in progress.  I have to say that I have never been happier with my modelling.  Firstly, the angst about gauge goes away.  Next, I can indulge in detailing my models.

 

Since the end of last year, there have been false starts and mistakes with the boards but, with the help of a friend who is good at woodworking (I'm quite a duffer and circular saws frighten the bejeesus out of me).   After doing some preliminary planning, I came to realize that the conventional wisdom of 2' wide boards was going to be very cramped in 0 gauge.  I toyed with the idea of a circuit but despite having 11' x 20' to work with, had to admit that it wouldn't work.  The layout had to be a terminus - how original.  My friend hit on the idea of a sort of horseshoe shape widening out at the station end. 

 

20170529_202128 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

Here's the state of the layout today:

 

7' long sector plate:

 

P1010003-010 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

I decided to lay the track on this to get my hand in, being out of practice.  I used up some old cork here, but I plan to use Woodland Scenics/C&L foam for the rest.  The track is stuck down with Tacky Glue, similar in appearance to white PVA but dries with some flexibility.

 

I wanted to give the trains a good lead in before entering the layout proper:

 

P1010004-006 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

The curved boards are 11' diameter in total, allowing me to have a track radius of 4' 6".  I also wanted to have a raised section to form an embankment, the track is 7" high.  I have a notion to put a road underneath and perhaps a canal.

 

P1010006-010 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

P1010007-006 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

The lead in to the main layout:

 

P1010008-002 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

The vast expanse of board for the main layout:

 

P1010009 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

...and from the other side:

 

P1010005-004 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

The board is about 5' wide at this end. 

 

There's a 20" gap between the end of the board and the wall which I can negotiate comfortably.

 

P1010004-005 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

I'm very pleased with how the plan came together.

 

As for track plan, Stephen Williams Faringdon is very inspiring - more thinking needed.

 

John

Edited October 13, 2017 by brossard

[Dava]

Seriously impressive start & look forward to seeing further progress on your layout. I've been modelling in Gauge 0 for about 8 years and dont regret it for a moment. Enjoy!

 

Dava

[two tone green]

I fully agree with Brian & Dava about the impressive start and woodwork. Looking forward to more from you.

[rob D2]

This will be a lot of fun !

Ive never got further than 2 parkside wagon kits In O, but maybe in the future....

[brossard]

I've had a lot of fun building kits so far Rob.  Exciting times.

 

John

[rob D2]

Good stuff !

[brossard]

I took a better picture of the curve:

 

P1010005-006 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

John

[brossard]

I thought I'd get into some technical details.

 

Board construction.  I know there are a load of construction methods out there.  I've given this quite a bit of thought using lessons learned from previous attempts.  I try to get a balance of weight, stability and strength.

 

I think this gives an idea of what I've done:

 

P1010001-010 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

I bought sheets of ply and had the lumber yard rip them into 4" wide strips (not something I would want to do).

 

I think the ends are extremely important and must be stable.  For that reason I used 25mm Russian ply.  To keep the boards aligned, I've installed steel dowels.  I got mine from C&L but I've seen them advertised elsewhere.

 

Now, Russian ply is very dense and heavy so, to keep weight down a bit, I opted for rubbish both sides 1/2" ply for the sides.  This is remarkably light because there's a lot of filler.  It only has to join the two ends and resist bending.

 

For the tops, I wanted very good one side but found 1/2" ply too heavy and 1/4" ply too flimsy.  In fine Goldilocks tradition I went for 3/8" ply.

 

Nevertheless the boards still weigh a fair bit and are pretty unwieldy.

 

Construction is yellow glue and 1/4" dowels.  I mostly avoided screws.

 

The legs are cobbled together.  I wasn't going to get fancy.  Because the boards are funny shapes, I built subframes underneath in order to attach the legs.

 

Track underlay:

 

P1010001-012 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

I bought this a long time ago when I was planning an 00 layout.  It'll do for 0 gauge I think although I'll have to widen it.

 

P1010002-005 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

I'll use this for larger areas.

 

John

[DLT]

Looking good, I will be following.

Cheers, Dave.

[brossard]

I'm using this book for guidance:

 

P1010003-011 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

Sadly, I haven't been able to find Vol. 1

 

Following Gordon's advice, I spent Thursday preparing the curved roadbed for superelevation:

 

P1010001-013 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

P1010002-006 by John Kendall, on Flickr

 

In this scale, the height is 3mm.  I used 1.5mm balsa sheet, starting the top layer about 8" in.  I took the edges off with a sander.

 

John

Edited October 21, 2017 by brossard

[brossard]

Time for an update.  Superelevation trackbed is done:

 

 

There are plywood blocks at each board end.  I will glue copper clad strip here and solder rail to it.  The idea is to reinforce the rails which are vulnerable when transporting (not that this layout is likely to go on the road but you never know so I'm making provision.)

 

I have wired up the sector plate.

I constructed a turnout using copper clad strip for the fiddle yard.  My idea is to provide some extra storage for the Heljan AC Railbus.

 

 

Wire droppers are also done.

Note the hand mirror, very useful for having a squint down the track to see if it's straight without straining anything.

The track ends of the sector plate were a tad short so I soldered on very short lengths of rail to close the gap to ~ 1mm.  Everything seems good now and my test wagon runs along the track happily.  It even goes through the turnout.  I have a manual actuator that I think I'll use - it's H0 but the throw seems long enough.

John

Edited October 29, 2017 by brossard

[brossard]

Over the last few days I've been slooowwwly laying track on the curve.  I made it much harder for myself by insisting that the track at the join be strong and cosmetically good.

Here's a join that I finished this morning:

 

 

Those are C&L cast brass chairs on copper clad sleepers.  These are eyewateringly expensive  but look good.

My initial thought was to use 3 CC sleepers but given the cost of the brass chairs and the tedium in fettling them to fit I ended up using Evergreen strip for sleepers and plastic chairs.

My first try at positioning the sleepers was terrible so I spent a bit of time this morning repositioning them to give a more convincing spacing.

In my estimation, glue alone isn't strong enough to hold the track in position when someones woolly jumper snags a rail end.  I got myself some small screws yesterday and screwed the end sleepers down.  Better I think.  Despite countersinking, the screw heads are still a bit proud so I'll grind them flush later.

My second join went better after lessons learned from the first:

 

 

Same idea as before.  My point with this picture is to illustrate my method of spacing the boards slightly apart using card while laying track over the join.  A Dremel cutting wheel will make short of the rails but so often you end with an unsightly gap because it is difficult to get the wheel perpendicular.  Referring back to the first picture, you will note that the rails are tightly together.

I'm making this up as I go along.

John

Edited November 2, 2017 by brossard

[brossard]

So, I've laid the track on the curve:

 

 

Yes, there is a slight hump at the nearest joint.  Odd that because the others seem to be flat.  Must have a closer look.

Droppers are all in so next step is to put the wiring in under the boards.  If I wire everything up to this point, I can actually run something so that's exciting.

A note on the board joins that I so laboriously worked on:

 

 

After grinding the screw heads I was left with a terrible mess so I decided to disguise things by gluing on some 0.010" Evergreen strip, this looks a whole lot better.  I can sand the sleepers to blend in.

Here's a shot of the fiddle yard turnout:

 

 

I've installed a Caboose Industries turnout throw switch.  The throw lever has electrical contacts so it will change polarity.

 

 

A bit closer showing that the switch will throw the blades the correct distance.  It was a question mark since the switch is designed for H0.

...and in the other direction:

 

 

I'm happy to have that done.  The instructions weren't very clear (or else I'm thick).

John

Edited November 5, 2017 by brossard

[brossard]

A milestone of sorts today, I got my second board wired if you count the sector plate:

 

 

I connected up a DC controller and was able to run the Jinty on all tracks.  It even traversed the turnout without trouble proving it both electrically and mechanically.  My only concern is that the electric terminals for the turnout switch under the board are quite flimsy.  We'll see what reliability is like as we go.

 

Not quite brass band stuff but I'll take any victory I can get.

John

Edited November 6, 2017 by brossard

[brossard]

Over the last while I've been checking all my locos on the track laid so far.  I did find some glitches which I have been working through.  I also had to modify the turnout tie bar to ensure that the distance from the inside of the straight blade to the inside of the curved blade is less than the check gauge.  Everything works through the turnout now.

I've also been finishing up DCC sound installations:

 

 

Here's my modest loco stud.  The terrier belongs to a friend who is laid up in a care home.  He told me to use it so I will install sound shortly.  It is plain DCC now.

John

Edited November 17, 2017 by brossard

[brossard]

I painted up a batch of ModelU figures:

 

 

Two good guards (one for the GW toad and another in anticipation of the upcoming Dapol 20T BR brake), a diesel driver for the Class 08 and two steam loco crews.

I'm pretty useless at faces so tried the impressionistic approach with black wash.

I mostly use acrylic, but I did mix up a batch of flesh as recommended in an article in MRJ 230.  You need enamel paint and mix of white, red, yellow and blue.  The paint layer needs to be thin so as not to fill the fine facial features.

 

John

Edited November 27, 2017 by brossard

[brossard]

I bought a couple of LCut kits  (http://lcut.co.uk/index.php?page=pages/main&title=Main)  some while ago and thought I'd have a go at building the Signal Box (the other is a single road shed).  There are a good selection in both 4mm and 7mm.  The buildings seem to be generic and there's no indication in the description of the origins of the buildings.

LCut kits are laser cut card kits.  The parts are very crisp and precise and fit is excellent.  The price for an 0 gauge is very reasonable, about 1/3 of that for a laser cut ply kit.  So, good value I think.

Here's what you get:

 

 

One of my first concern was the walls, the bricks to be precise.  I really couldn't see how to do the mortar lines.  I did try, honest, but I didn't like the result.

 

 

As I looked at things, a light went off, why not use Scalescenes to create a hybrid model.  This I did by buying R010 Signal Box and TX01 Brick.  One of my issues with Scalescenes is that windows must be laboriously cut, laser cut solves that problem.  If you know what you are doing, you can buy building components.

Over the course of yesterday and today, I felt my way through the kit, using Pritt to stick paper brick on the card walls.

I also assembled and painted the windows and doors, as well as the steps.  The roof was done using overlapping paper strips.

Here's where I am:

 

 

The corners are probably the ropiest part but don't look too bad.  You really can't better John W's brick rendering and even in 7mm, I don't thick mortar lines have much depth.

The next phase will be to detail the interior.  For that I have a moulded back wall from Invertrain:

 

 

The Scalescenes kit has some printed details that I can use.  I'll create side walls using Evergreen sheet.  I also have a set of levers.  I need to get some instruments.

 

John

Edited November 29, 2017 by brossard

[brossard]

Working through the interior elements of the signal box.  While paint dries, I thought I'd have a look at the Engine Shed.

First impressions:  what a lot of parts!  Beautifully cut

The doors caught my eye and I followed the instruction to fold and glue them.  However, something didn't seem right - the bracing was etched on both sides - uh oh.  I checked pictures just to confirm and found that I was right.

So, I made my own doors:

 

 

LCut doors to the right, mine are on the left.  The outside of the doors should be plain as you can see at top left.

I scribed 0.060" Evergreen sheet then used suitable strip to create the bracing and hinges.

John

 

To be fair, the kit does include the bracing overlay.  However, after having a think, I still wasn't happy about the lack of V groove texture and the etched bracing on the door fronts.

 

I would very much like to hear how others have tackled this kit.

Edited November 30, 2017 by brossard

[brossard]

Working away at the Signal Box and Engine Shed today.  I'm going slowly as I feel my way.  Overall I'm quite pleased at how things look:

 

 

Apart from the rear wall, interior panels are V groove Evergreen sheet.  I used some Scalescenes details.  Otherwise I had to paint the moulding which I hate.  Better to have been separate components I think.  Ah well lesson learned.

 

 

Not sure how much farther I can take this.  I don't know how many levers I need and I need a signalman.

Made some slow progress on the shed too.  I've done the ends:

 

 

These are wrapped in Scalescenes brick paper.  I had a ton of trouble with the arch and circle.  Cutting a long story short, I had the foresight to scan the arches so I have a PDF of these to work with (lesson learned from the signal box).  I finally hit upon using Letraset artists pens to colour these element.  I think they look quite good.  Scalescenes brick paper pack has a number of arch shapes but, typically, none will suit.

Finally the side walls are assembled:

 

 

A lot of work yet to do with buttresses and plinths.  Happily I did find a Scalescenes arch that works.

John

Edited December 1, 2017 by brossard

[brossard]

I've been working steadily if slowly on the engine shed.  I now have the ends and walls done:

 

 

I used Scalescenes painted brick (TX05) for the inside and regular brick (TX01) for the outside.  The outside circle and arch were both scanned from theh kit and copied.  I cut them out and used letraset markers (which I've had for probably 20 years) to render the bricks.  Not a bad effect if I say so myself.  The inside circle and arch were sprayed matte white which leaves the lines showing through.

 

 

I made the plinth slightly higher than the kit and used regular card wrapped with brickpaper.  Window arches used the same method as the ends.  The sill is taken from the Scalescenes engine shed kit.  Because the window openings are wrapped, their dimensions are reduced slightly so some sanding on the window frames was needed.  These were secured with canopy glue.

 

 

...and the inside.  Glazing secured with canopy glue - great stuff and dries pretty much invisible.  Notice the electrical distribution box.

The LCut kit doesn't have anything for the interior so I made buttresses from card.

You may wonder why I didn't just build the Scalescenes kit - it comes with provision for single and two road sheds.  The answer is the windows.  If I was building in 4mm, I'd get these from Brassmasters but no-one does ready made windows of the right shape in 7mm (I don't think).  LCut kits are great because of the really good windows which would be a royal pain to scratch make.

John

[brossard]

Following discussion with a couple of chaps on another forum, I decided to modify ythe buttresses:

 

These seem to make more sense now.

 

John

[brossard]

I've now assembled the building:

 

 

I added corner buttresses which are inset from the corner by 1mm.

 

 

These LCut kits are really great as a basis for modifying.  I'll be getting more.

John

 

[brossard]

OK, time for an update.  I've been working away at this and have something to show for it:

 

 

 

I've done the rafters.  The kit provides end rafters and two main rafters.  Trouble is these are only 1mm thick.  Also, while I'm no architect, it seems to me that the rafters should be as I've got 'em - transferring the roof load to the buttresses.  I had to make a new rafter out of card.  I solved the thickness problem by using Scalescenes rafters from the shed kit.  These had to be modified for the roof angle and it all took time but I like the effect.  Now the rafters look like they're beefy enough to do the job.

I also got the doors painted:

 

 

In addition I made a pair of pits from the Scalescenes kit:

 

 

It took a bit of effort, especially the steps but I think things came out well.  There's Peco turnout timbers on top.  I will construct some track on these when the time comes.

John

 

[brossard]

My shed is essentially finished now:

 

I fixed the doors by:

- drilling 0.020" into the doorway at the place as the hinges go.
- Inserting and gluing, using CA, 0.020" wire bent 90 deg.
- Drilling into the door hinges 0.032", trial fitting and snipping off excess wire.  I used a Sharpie to blacken the exposed wire.
- Gluing the doors, again using CA, onto the iwre stubs.

Easier said than done and there was some blue language.

Notice the restricted clearance signs, included in the Scalescenes kit.  These were stuck on with canopy glue.

 

 

I thought about using the LCut ridge vents but in the event I opted for the Scalescenes design.

Gutters are also from Scalescenes, not fancy but look OK I think.  I still need to do the downspouts.

John

Edited December 14, 2017 by brossard

[brossard]

Over the last while I've developed a fondness for ModelU figures.  I painted up a third batch of staff:

 

I won't win any prizes for these but they do look good at normal viewing distances.

 

John