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The Great Australian Outdoors


robertc
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By placing the brackets above the shelf I have been able to install some of the backboards from the indoor layouts.

This time I promise myself to do a proper backscene not leave it as just a generic wash.  :>)

 

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A piece of board with one scenic idea is propped up behind the station building.

 

cheers

 Bob

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Hi Chris, been busy getting every piece of rail to have a soldered connection back to the bus in some way.

I am installing a HO track between the two loops and want to have one wiring job finished before the track arrives this week.:>)

 The indoor section is also getting some attention as I have posted.  Nice to be able to see the models I have made once again rather than being hidden at the back of the previous high level fiddle yard.

When the garden shed is cleared out and has shelving installed I will be able to clear out much of what remains in the garage and find and make use of my little lathe once again. :>)

cheers

 Bob

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Having decided that the crossover is better if the point motors are installed I spent the day getting them working.

Another couple of frog juicers were sourced from GVM as the microswitches cannot be installed between the tracks this time around.

Handy to have a source a couple of blocks away when you live in the middle of nowhere.  :>)

 

post-5543-0-79528900-1521448569.jpg

 

cheers

 Bob

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The testing of the coupler separation over the hump is shown in this shot. The test proved OK so shorter vehicles should have no issues.

The track is being laid on 3mm cork strip I have in stock from many previous layouts. However I failed to notice the supply of screws drying up so it might be some time before the track laying can continue.

 

Further posts on the 16.5 mm track and the stock running on it will be on a thread in the overseas modelling section. This track is not for O scale narrow gauge.

 

post-5543-0-75079300-1521696908.jpg

 

cheers

 Bob

Edited by robertc
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Hi Bob when I first saw the picture a few posts ago with the HO track I though you were teasing the HO boys but no your actually doing it.

 

Can I ask one question why down the Center of the O wouldn’t it have been easier to run around the out side with no hight change over the points etc, then both O and HO trains could have been run at the same time for maximum play value/ social interaction etc

I’m sure there’s a good reason just wondering out loud.

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Hi Chris, the reason for it being in the centre is to prevent the HO trains being blown down onto the ground. There is very little room around the rest of the layout for the HO track and a train just tipped over could very easily find itself falling off the edge.

By being in the centre it is hoped that the trains will fall over on the O gauge and be restrained therein. Even the much heavier O gauge has been blown over when a thermal suddenly passes by.

I didn't want to be looking through layers of perspex, which was the other option.

I am happy to only have one scale running at a time. It takes just a few seconds to change over once the stock is cleared. I plan to have removable scenes built for each scale once the shed has its shelves built and the garage will have some room to store them. While I take your point about allowing both to be run together socially, I also think having both running together would detract visually from both. 

cheers

 Bob

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Feeling in need of some self flagellation I got the 59 class out and did a bit more work on it over the last couple of days.

Some glue jobs and filing out the valve gear bits is fun? I must have the worlds largest collection of blunt Asian drill bits.

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Not sure how long it will stay out before it gets thrown back in the box   :>)

 

cheers

 Bob

Edited by robertc
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Kerry, I made them from 40 thou styrene.

They just need a new coat of paint every now and then.

They were based on NSWGR signal huts but I had to make some with a sloped down roof for clearance sake on the old layout arrangement.

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I attach them now with outdoor PVA. They can be peeled off with a knife if required.

Edited by robertc
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Thanks for the info. I shall make a couple up and see how they stand up to our next Queensland summer. To date my coaches are scratchbuilt fron either brass etch,aluminium shells or polyeurethene castings. I think plastikard (HIPS) would only last about 10 minutes before starting to warp. Have just spent 3 monthe in the Coolah area, north of Dunedoo.....any where near you ?, as may be back down into NSW later this year after we get clear medical and flue injections.

 

Kerry

 

Skype mvrattler

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I would be very wary about exposing urethane coaches to the sun Kerry. I have a couple of items that have lasted but I have had multiple failures of urethane outdoors in several scales.

I had to rebuild a set of urethane coaches that warped severely and passed them on to a modeller with an indoor layout as one example.

The same goes for a fibreglass body that was made for me, it is now warping inwards. Probably not turning into a banana because it is supported on a styrene (hips) frame.

The styrene models have all performed without issue in the sun and more importantly the higher UV I get at this altitude.

Dunedoo is long way from here. I am in Glen Innes if you are passing.

cheers

 Bob

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Most of the train work lately has been building shelves. Shelves in the house, shelves in the garden shed and finally some more shelves in the garage.

This now enables me to have storage space in the garage to store a couple of removable scenic boards for the outdoors layout ( when I build them).

It has also released some room on the bench to enable all the control gear that was jammed up under the layout to be spread out and made easy to access. A lot of unnecessary bits were removed and tidied up in the process and I made each of the track feeds go via banana plugs and sockets. This will make it easy to make one of the loops run from a dc controller if someone should turn up with an instrument motored unchipped loco again.

All my stock is now easy to access too.

 

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If it looks untidy still, you should have seen it when I started this morning  :>)

 

After the replacement bottle of graphite powder made the trains less reliable instead of more reliable I have been experimenting with a 12B graphite stick just rubbed across the track in a few spots; similar to how I painted the powder mix on.  Seems to work so far but with only a couple of weeks testing I will reserve judgement until I have used it for a few months. I hate cleaning track and wheels and do not wish to go down that path after years of good results with the original bottle of graphite powder.

 

cheers

 Bob

Edited by robertc
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Some real modelling today.

59 class back in bin again, so I decided to do something productive for a change.

 

I have quite a few donated 3-rail US ore hoppers. Too many to send away.

I needed to make use of them in some fashion so here is one idea.

Take one chassis, add some 2-rail wheels, a piece of caulking gun tube and some styrene pieces and we are under way to having a few 3000gal milk tankers. With the operating pin cut off, even the gross 3-rail couplers might be unobtrusive in the middle of a rake. '3 foot passing by' rule applies!

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Uses for the body for NSWGR modelling has evaded me so far :>)

cheers

 Bob

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  • 3 weeks later...

Decided to start the re-scenicing of the layout the other day.

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Just a small start!

Scenery material chosen this time for longevity. Lessons learnt from the first incarnation of this line noted.

cheers

 Bob

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  • 1 month later...

The bogie milk tankers are almost ready for the paint shop.

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A few backward steps to change things after some consideration along the way.

 

They would now be hard to pick as modified US ore hoppers :>)

 

cheers

 Bob

Edited by robertc
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One down , three to go.

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Considering the shortcuts I took, they have not come out too bad.

I am quite happy with the result. They might get some real decals sometime in the future.

 

cheers

 Bob

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I did some initial weathering just to see if I was happy with the result. Need to add decals before I go further.

I based it on a photo of a DOT on the web with a faded blue tank. I am well pleased with the mixture I made up , it looks spot on.

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cheers

 Bob

 

Edited by robertc
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