Called in at my Tauranga Hobby shop here in NZ for supplies and came across ‘Just Plug’ LED nano lights to my delight! I’ve been looking out for Pico LED’s sold locally until I spotted them thanks to the shop owner.
Some time back I got and made a Ratio 470 LMS home signal in the hopes of using a servo for its operation and of course it needed to be lit as well. Although the Nano is a size up from the Pico it was as close as I could obtain.
The signal lamp needed modifying which proved
OK not quite but getting on with it. Been involved with looking after my wife after her hospital operation that was supposed to be a fortnight ordeal unfortunately turned into a years recovery saga for her and is still ongoing.
Have had some spare time to myself lately and have got my enthusiasm for modelling back.
Garsdale station workers Cottages have had their back yards mostly completed as much as one can go. Matching the walls to the adjacent cottages was a mission (about 3
Hi all, I’ve just been able to get back into some modelling of my version of Garsdale on the S & C line after a lot of other challenges since last December 2019. Nothing to do with Covid 19 though.
With a lot to keep me busy, I am now ‘learning to fly’ and getting to grips with the layout servo wiring control system that I had put aside before I could get back into modelling.
Having opted for using a simple server / ESC tester (see my pictures below) connected to a server to
As you might appreciate, there are other things going on with this project around the same time such as track work painting, platform mods and wiring etc., etc. Too many to write about just yet, so I’ll do my best to keep information coming.
While the two station modules are joined I have commenced building the stone walls with a little help from my GWRM club member. Harry was one of our clubs’ founding members and by sheer coincidence built similar dry stone walls numerous years ear
The sequence of constructing a layout can be deceiving, as you may think one may have thought of everything, but not well enough in my case apparently!
Putting the platforms down before I had completed track ballasting may have made it more awkward than anything else. However I’m going to persevere and may need to use old pieces of card strip against the sides and mask up the top of the platform to prevent any ballast and paint getting on the platform sides. The platform top surfaces ended
Grazing in the grass is a gas, baby,can you dig it: from The Friends of Distinction was going to be my other title as I’ve been laying down quite a bit of Woodland Scenics fine turf as my base before I get into more detail using static grass to build up my diorama.
On my first module it was by pure luck it went so well, but some time had past since I’d completed it and I had to relearn the technique used then ‘cause I’d forgotten it!
Therefore for my own edification I thought be
Still working on the terrain around the station end of my module two. After I took another look behind the down line signal box and the Carlisle waiting room it was obvious that the access road level was below the platform and not up level with it.
So out came the contract filler and poly offcuts to remedy the situation which meant that the water supply tower for the railway cottages and station buildings needed to be built while raising the existing embankment height.
As there’
So far so good! As you see the formed terrain plus the use of Contract Filler (spack) in filling up most of the holes in the poly due some of my over exuberance with the rasp and hacksaw blade.
Finally the diorama has been given two coats of ordinary acrylic house paint to seal the polystyrene and provide for a stronger top surface and edging.
I may have some more fettling to do at the module joint to ensure the diorama is a good match.
Firstly I needed to assemble the 1 &a
Three Dog Night sang the title and also Cliff Richard sang a a similar song ‘In the country’, so here I am up to my ears as it were in country diorama modelling. Having laid off cut polystyrene as a foundation base, I’m now going to enjoy myself sculpturing in the foreground for the next few blogs. Incidentally the photos in my last blog were a disaster as I tried to reduce their size to comply with the 10 MB limit, and as a consequence the text shrunk as well. Fewer photos needed or more progra
Under way at last, another portable baseboard module (no. 2) i. This allows completion of the platforms and accommodate the station proper. The module is interlocked with the 1st module to ensure that the railway tracks are kept aligned in both the horizontal and vertical planes. With the construction completed I wanted to concentrate on the SAC Bridge 116 which is an occupational access for the farmers sheep or stock.
The Eastern portal was slightly difficult as mostly there are no
Well then, another portable baseboard module (no. 2) is under way at last. This allows completion of the platforms and accommodate the station proper. The module is interlocked with the 1st module to ensure that the railway tracks are kept aligned in both the horizontal and vertical planes. With the construction completed I wanted to concentrate on the SAC Bridge 116 which is an occupational access for the farmers sheep or stock.
The steep rise from the Eastern portal was difficult t
Despite my GWRM involvement then getting the 60 day coughing flu I have been busy building up my control mimic panel box and servo switching arrangement units for my own layout requirements. The control panel features an acrylic fascia with 3mm embedded LEDs and DPDT point switches. The control box size is 625 x 240 x 80 mm constructed from 12 mm thick ply and two 40 x 18 mm dressed timber that is piano hinged between at the front for internal access.
The layout mimic panel consists
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue like Eddie Grant and get serious about track control and
electrics! At this point in time I am preparing a track mimic panel with point control based on the actual Garsdale signal box lever frame control. The AnyRail reduced track plan will be printed onto a plastic sheet, then fitted out and wired into the control box.
I’ve tested my servo point motor system which is essentially like a solenoid one but without a CDU. The servos
My last post on the new format web page posting pictures caught me out slightly. The acrylic mounting and index plate has ensured good servo to point alignment Further progress has been made with 3.0 mm cork to raise the track for drainage detailing later on between the platforms. DCC track dropper wiring and point bonding to stock rails is being done to provide for future development because at this stage a DC operated layout will be my starting point. The track is now pinned ready for ballast,
Mark Knoflers song The Bug played in my mind as I finally got to grips with the back scene come storage support arrangement that will keep all the modules together for transport purposes.
Basically they just slide top of each other, then become four 1.2m high x 1.0m wide x 1.8m long stacks.
The side panels are ply on one side with clear panels on the other. I eventually decided that this arrangement would be more practicable for both viewing and transporting the layout. As a result how
The single most enjoyment I get is discovering that patience overcomes most obstacles. That’s what drives me to invest my time in making a model railway. I can not stress the importance of taking on a challenge and completing it whether it be with others or solving it yourself. So with that in mind I’ve built myself a Static Grass Applicator as the need to build up the grass texture at Garsdale Station is paramount. My SGA is a hybrid between using the well known fly swat and Luke Towan’s des
Got to pay your dues if you want to play with choos (really?) I wonder if Ringo has ever sung those words around his own layout? Having great fun laying down gravel access roading around the Railway Cottages. I started out putting a thin film of filler where the roads were, but then noticed the stepped cottages would need to move slightly for clearance of the backscene board and a 3.0 mm height adjustment to realign the cottage entrances with the road level. As I said earlier, the first four
A lot of tasks to complete with the above under way. The idea if successful will provide a texture once sanded with a suitable 120 grit or other, to the roads on this 1st module. I will also try a timber matt grey acrylic paint to cover over the shaped graphite polystyrene after a trial test. This may help to avoid disaster and make the rest of the diorama construction less involved as opposed to using other methods. Its worth a try in my view. Speaking of which there’s a few photos for you foll
Well spring has sprung here down under and with the weather and winter colds fading away hopefully, I now get to catch up on gardening chores after a 4 month break. So while trimming down the hedges I found that an asparagus fern had grown through and being an observant ######, I remembered having seen an article by Bill McClanahan in a Kalmbach book I bought back in the early 70’s called ‘scenery for model railroads’ in which fir trees were made using wooden dowels that had finely drilled holes
Progress has slowed down mainly due illness and to my other commitments, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been slacking on the Garsdale project. It has always been my intention to have stackable modules for storage and transport and so to this end I have been working through different ideas to achieve this. Having gained experience working on the GWRM exchange yard and return loop for our exhibition layout and the need for it to be transportable in a limited allocated space, we developed a removable
I’m slowly working through the process it seems to complete this part of my diorama. Lately other issues have been slowing me down somewhat. With constructing the many sized trees from small bushes 25 mm = 2 m to the the tallest 180 mm = 13.716 in OO Scale the wire lengths needed ranged from 45 mm to 1280 mm. The Gedeo latex I found needed to be watered down by 10% of its consistency for ease of application. I used a teaspoon full in a small plastic shot glass with a small amount of water and
I’ve been slowly working through my first third of a forest of wire wound trees and like making slate roofing for my Garsdale buildings I found myself, forgive the pun, wound up! You do get much better at it when making several trees at a time and it’s amazing how every tree turns out to be an individual. The spruce tree on platform one, opposite the railway workers cottages I found slightly more challenging due to its shape and small size and now version three appears to be on the right track.
Well not exactly but very close! A while back, (well ages ago) I started to test out Luke Towan’s method of making wire trees. That was until I was 3 way point obsessed, but now having reviewed where I was up to I needed finish the trees so that they are ready to complete the Garsdale diorama. I started with a rough sketch to map the aerial view of their positions and sizes and found I really needed quite a few! Before I decided to use the wire method, I had thought that the use of natural eve
Experience, there’s nothing quite like it! As you maybe aware I’ve been immersed in the joys of diode matrix wiring for the above. Much to the delight of my fellow GWRM club members two of us have finally cracked getting the 3 way point to operate the way it should using three momentary button switches on the loop/yard module control panel. Thanks to the UK Heywood Model Railway Group posting on the internet, John Essex has a solenoid matrix wiring system that I can endorse after finding other
Well my experiments with servos are progressing along. The prototype was tested using a CCPM Servo Consistency Master tester on a 3.0 volt, 1.5 amp supply which enabled a Peco SE 195 code 75 turnout to be switched back and forth without the need to remove the spring latching. The 12 mm baseboard plus an extra 3.0 mm track bed underlay will be just fine for my purposes. Other than using surface mounted turnout motors , the under baseboard mounted approach does have its own alignment issues fo
