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I will start this topic on my exhibition layout with a sketch of the track layout.

post-9071-0-66725800-1499159756.jpg

Four baseboards each 4' x 2'
The yard is hemmed in with retaining walls
divided into a number of scenes with overbridges

Chaz

 

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Read this next!

 

If you want to go straight to some of my photos and not have to look at Photobucket's pathetic offering I suggest you jump to page 173.

 

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A few notes to make sense of the sketch....

 

the public side is at the bottom of the sketch

 

the area on the operator's side of board AB is for a cassette fiddle yard (staging)

the track in front of this is a shunting neck or headshunt

in front of that is a second cassette area at the bottom of a short incline - representing the connection to an industrial estate

this is screened from view by a large warehouse, with a loading platform along the front

 

the track on the operator's side of board DE is for arrivals and departures to stand

in front of this is a platform with a siding on each side of it - this is covered by a large canopy

 

I will post more snaps as the layout progresses.

 

Chaz

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This snap shows the whole layout, viewed from one end. All the track is cut and laid although at this stage there were a few alignment niggles that have now been fixed. It shows just how small a 16 x 2 foot layout is for 7mm....

post-9071-0-15015000-1499237707.jpg

The wagon in the foreground is standing on the end of the headshunt. To the left the uncorked area is where the stock cassettes will be placed. Immediately to the right is the second cassette area, at the end of a short downgrade - which I put in for the visual effect. On the extreme right is the warehouse siding.

The tracks at the far end are (from L to R)...

The arrival and departure siding
No 1 goods siding
No 2 goods siding - these two will have a loading platform with a canopy between them
the exchange siding - to allow transfers between the BR metals and the industrial estate tracks

The crossover in the estate area will allow the industrial loco, a Peckett 0-4-0ST, to run round a few wagons whilst shunting.

Although when this picture was taken none of the buildings and bridges were yet installed, some have since been made and I will post pictures of them later. On the third board from the camera the baseboard top has been cut for the canal.

Chaz

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Sorry - the original photo is lost so I can't replace this image.

Small hut made as a test piece - the first building I made with a foamboard shell. SE Finecast embossed English Bond brickwork, painted buff colour for the mortar courses and then diagonally dry-brushed with Humbrol #70 (brick red). Door is made from 0.8mm ply (lovely stuff!).

I'm not sure yet where this will go on Dock Green, there are several spaces where it will fit.

What do they keep in it?

Chaz

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  • 4 weeks later...

I needed a large building at one end of the layout to hide the cassette area (there is not enough room for a full fiddle yard). First move was to make a foam board mock up to check size, sight lines etc. This snaps shows the mock up in position on the layout.

post-9071-0-20962000-1499238249.jpg

There are two lines running onto cassettes - the main running line on which trains will arrive and depart - and a private industrial line which drops down on a 1:35 grade, purely for visual effect. The latter line ends inside the warehouse which overhangs it, allowing access to the cassettes from the rear.

post-9071-0-92985500-1499238271.jpg

One of the nice things about foam board is how quickly the shell of a building can be put together. 

Chaz

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Nice work there. I found 'no nails' useful as an adhesive as it would fill any gaps.

Don

 

Haven't tried that Don. I use "tacky" PVA to glue foamboard to foamboard - with dressmaker's pins to hold the joints together while it sets. How long does it take 'no nails' to set?

 

As all my foamboard shells later have embossed plastic brick or corrugated sheets added, the odd gap here and there is of no account.

 

Chaz

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Some progress with the warehouse....

post-9071-0-81567500-1499238577.jpg

The canopy on the building's front has had Slater's corrugated plastic added. I used Peco track pins to represent the fixing bolts and gave the whole thing a coat of dark grey paint. I have also added embossed brick to the front of the building (although this is hard to see in the photo). The edges of the brick sheets, at the corners, have been cut to allow me to glue on quoins.

The roughly painted upside down "T"s under the canopy are black to prevent the bare white foamboard showing through any gaps when I put on the sliding doors. I would have liked to model at least one pair of these doors open, but there will be fiddle yard cassettes inside the warehouse and only about an inch behind this wall - so this wouldn't have been sensible!

Chaz

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Hi Chaz,

 

Liking this a lot...those structures are looking good too.

 

I sometimes use double sided tape to hold foamboard together with PVA.

 

Stayin' tuned for more... :yes:

 

Pete

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Hi Chaz,

 

Liking this a lot...those structures are looking good too.

 

I sometimes use double sided tape to hold foamboard together with PVA.

 

 

Thanks for the comment, Pete. Double sided tape has the advantage of being very clean, no risk of any glue squeezing out! Do you mean that you use the tape to hold joints together while the PVA sets?

 

Chaz

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post-9071-0-72465900-1499238798.jpg

.....No, I haven't decided to go all Spanish. I gave the brickwork a quick coat of buff acrylic paint for the mortar courses. To the right is a mock up of a strange shaped extension which is there to fill the gap between the warehouse and the bridge - remember that the main function of the warehouse is to hide the cassette fiddle yard.

The plywood you can see through those door openings is the side of a cassette.

Chaz

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Double sided tape has the advantage of being very clean, no risk of any glue squeezing out! Do you mean that you use the tape to hold joints together while the PVA sets?

 

Chaz, hi

 

Yes I use it for my architectural models as its clean to work with...over time it can delaminate a little so I use the DST to join the two elements and then add a little PVA along the joints with my finger to add a little more strength.

 

Like the glue gun, you only get one crack at it though!

 

 

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Chaz,

 

I sometimes use a hot glue gun to stick foamboard together but it doesn't leave a lot of time to fiddle with positioning before setting!

 

Alan.

 

Thanks, Alan. I do use a hot glue gun sometimes, but never on anything where a precise fit is required. You can't be sure how thick the glue in the joint will be when it has cooled and hardened - it depends on how much pressure was put on it when it was still in the plastic state. Occasionally this "adjustable filler" effect is an advantage but generally I prefer a more predictable and therefore accurate method.

 

Incidentally PVA joints are very strong - when I have tried to dismantle a joint after some awful mistake the paper covering of the foamboard has ripped off rather than the joint separating - Nasty!

 

Chaz

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These are some pictures of the cassettes we are going to use on Dock Green.

 

post-9071-0-88990900-1499416754.jpg

At the rear of the snap above is a wagon cassette. This is 660mm long and will accomodate four ten foot WB 4W goods wagons, or three and a brake van.
In front, on the right, is a loco cassette - this is long enough for an 0-6-0 steam tank loco or an 0-6-0 diesel. On the left is a transition piece. This will be screwed to the baseboard - one end fits against the end of the running line laid in Peco BH track (you can just make out the slots into which the Peco rail will fit), the other couples to a cassette. Electrical connections will be made to the brass tabs at the top of the transition sides and will daisy-chain along the cassettes. A goods train will normally require two wagon cassettes and a loco cassette - making each train a maximum of 7 wagons and a brake van. This may not seem much but it's about all that will fit reasonably into an O gauge layout only sixteen feet long.

post-9071-0-27528900-1499416773.jpg

A close up of one end of a cassette. The base is 12mm MDF with grooves cut in the top surface for the flangeways. Brass strips are screwed to the MDF to form "rails". The holes in the brass are slotted to allow a little movement when the brass expands and contracts and the screws are left a little slack to allow this. if this were not the case the brass might well buckle if it expanded in a warm exhibition hall.
The plywood sides are the same length as the base but are fastened so that they project 10mm at one end - the base therefore projects by the same amount at the other. Cassettes will only be used one way round - but as I use Dingham couplings the rolling stock shouldn't be turned.
Brass tabs are glued to the top corners and copper wire forms an electrical link from these to the rail strips.
the plywood braces on the top are not intended as lifting handles - they are there to keep the sides square to the base.

post-9071-0-26566200-1499416789.jpg

Two cassettes pushed together, showing how the ends interlock and how the electrical connection is made with Bulldog clips.

post-9071-0-24828700-1499416809.jpg

To prevent stock rolling off the cassettes when they are moved I made simple stops from dowel and plywood, shaped like "dumbells". These drop into slots cut in the ends of the plywood sides.

post-9071-0-14475900-1499416823.jpg

When the dumbells are in place the dowels are at buffer height. As you can see the loops on the Dingham couplers (fitted to all my stock) ride up to sit over the bar and are thus protected. The dowels are cut to be flush with the outside of the ply' sides so that the cassettes can be placed together side by side with no problem.

post-9071-0-36216700-1499416839.jpg

this final snap shows a Bachmann Brassworks diesel shunter and a train of vans, positioned as it would be if it were running off the cassettes and arriving in Dock Green yard.

I intend to buy some packaging grade plastic foam which can be cut into strips the height of the cassette sides. These will be slid into place so that the stock can be transported to shows inside the cassettes, without risk of damage (fingers crossed!).

This cassette design was not a cheap solution as we used about £80 worth of brass strip! The advantage of using brass strip rather than conventional track is that it is extremely easy to rail the stock - you only need to slide vehicles sideways until the flanges click into the slots. Experience with cassettes on other layouts suggests that ordinary track can be a pain if stock needs lifting from layout to storage table and back.

Chaz

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P1010726a600x233.jpg

Some nice etched brass windows (D & S) which I bought at a show. I have eighteen of the style on the right for the front of the warehouse, some of which have a separate centre section (like the one on the left), so that they can be modelled open.

Chaz

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Some neat woodwork on the cassettes mine were very basic. I presume using dinghams you do not need the same access to the couplings as needed for three links.

With regard to the foamboard I find the no nails type of adhesive similar to PVA in grab time. I have been using unibond megagrip for building work it seems pretty good for fixing skirtings and the like. BTW I find that even with low relief buildings some internal floors even if just narrow strips does help to make the structure more rigid. I tend to cut out the parts then assemble the structure and leave to set. I also find bits of masking tape useful to hold parts together whilst setting and it can be used on the outside round a join but be easy to remove later.

Don

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Some neat woodwork on the cassettes mine were very basic. I presume using dinghams you do not need the same access to the couplings as needed for three links.


No Don, that's right. Uncoupling is easy from above, recoupling is automatic. In fact no "shunting" (rearranging) of wagons will take place while they are on the cassettes, except to move the brake vans from one end to the other. For this I plan to use a special transfer cassette which won't have the brass strips and will only be used to move the brake vans. Each train of wagons (7 + brake) will take up two cassettes. Variety in returning trains can be the result of different combinations of pairs. Of course wagons will get shunted in Dock Green yard into different combinations.

 


With regard to the foamboard I find the no nails type of adhesive similar to PVA in grab time. I have been using unibond megagrip for building work it seems pretty good for fixing skirtings and the like. BTW I find that even with low relief buildings some internal floors even if just narrow strips does help to make the structure more rigid. I tend to cut out the parts then assemble the structure and leave to set. I also find bits of masking tape useful to hold parts together whilst setting and it can be used on the outside round a join but be easy to remove later.
Don


I agree with you about the internal floors, the warehouse is pretty big so has two of these and also partition walls in line with the "pillars" in the facade. there is also a back so that it's not possible to see right through. Once brick sheets are glued on I find the structure is quite substantial and much less prone to dents - although you do have to take care not to bruise corners. I haven't bothered with masking tape on joints - I rely instead on dressmakers pins. However these do slide in and out very easily so to keep a joint together they must be numerous and put in dovetail fashion.

P1010771a700x425.jpg

A rear view of the warehouse showing how the ground and first floors are very shallow to allow room for the cassette area. The top floor goes right to the back, mainly to strengthen the side walls. I glued a length of pine at the base of the front wall and another piece is glued vertically into the unsupported corner on the left. The "leg" locates in a square socket of stripwood, the front bar is drilled and drops onto two dowels protruding from the baseboard surface.

The length of Peco track you can see is the headshunt. I couldn't persuade the bloke who laid the track that it was pointless to paint this section!

I will post pictures of the front of the warehouse soon.

Chaz Edited by chaz
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No Don, that's right. Uncoupling is easy from above, recoupling is automatic. In fact no "shunting" (rearranging) of wagons will take place while they are on the cassettes, except to move the brake vans from one end to the other. For this I plan to use a special transfer cassette which won't have the brass strips and will only be used to move the brake vans. Each train of wagons (7 + brake) will take up two cassettes. Variety in returning trains can be the result of different combinations of pairs. Of course wagons will get shunted in Dock Green yard into different combinations.

 

Chaz

 

When exhibiting my Sparrows wharf layout at Guildex I shunted for a while and went off for a meal break and on returning everything on the layout was back just as it had been before the start of my shunt slight, feeling of Deja vue. There tends to be a limit to the number of combinations and over a two day show you probably cover them all. Although there were only five points and trains were about 6 wagons a typical shunt could be over 100 moves.

Don

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