Marlott - N Gauge Billy Bookcase Layout

Cheating - a very similar but different photo

Here is an attempted wide angle focus stacked image to get good depth of focus close up. Unfortunately the wide angle does not focus so well at this range around the edges. My eyes are not what they were either so my judge of focus may be impaired, however I think it is all in better focus than any of the images that went in to it. It is similar to the last photo I posted but is actually completely new.

December 24, 2022

Lighting

After a long hiatus I have finally got round to another post. I often find that some of the layouts that stand out at shows are those that are well lit. I think it is particularly important in small cameo layouts. I am also struck by how much layouts of this type look similar in dimensions to home aquariums. Home aquariums always seem to be well lit. This set me thinking. So I visited my local aquarium supplier with the dimensions of my layout noted. In addition to seeing

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November 7, 2021

Inspiration

Some Inspiration

Here are a couple of photos from a visit to the Warley Exhibition this weekend. I should have taken more. There was lots to see.

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November 25, 2019

Marlott

Baseboards

5mm ply was selected for the baseboards. If offers enough rigidity for a micro layout but is also very light. The small layout size means that a shallow edge frame suffices to provide the necessary rigidity. Having made these decisions the ply wood was bought. The images show the boards upside down showing how the edge frames are attached. No scenic sections are planned to be lower than the track so the baseboard covers the entire area. The baseboard for the fiddle yard uses the same

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April 27, 2018

Stirling Engine

A bit of a diversion. Here is a little video of a solar powered Stirling Engine that sits on the window ledge next to Marlott:

December 24, 2022

Laying Grass

Following up on Long Grass, here are some shots of the messy business of laying the grass. Looking back at my inspiration again: I see a greener layer under the straw coloured grass. With anything that is not stuck down removed, I marked out the boundaries of the grass lightly with a pencil, making clear the areas that should remain as path. I then started by laying a short green layer first painting the area to be grassed with PVA and then using the Flockit t

December 21, 2022

Long Grass

In my last post I said I was aiming for long grass in the foreground. These were my inspiration shots from a walk in late summer: Armed with a mid-green for the base at 1mm and a straw colour at 6mm, here is how I got on. First a close up attempting to show the detail: A wider shot: One thing I learned is that it is not easy to get a photo that reflects the actual colour of the grass. It looks a bit more vivid in the photos

December 17, 2022

Marlott on a late summer Friday afternoon

A new picture for no better reason that it is a Friday. Not a train in sight! Below is a photo I took of some long grass during a cross country walk in the summer . It is my inspiration for what might go in the foreground in the above image.

December 9, 2022

New Modelling Tool

My latest little investment is shown here. Despite appearances, it is not a phaser! It is a small vacuum cleaner for cleaning up the layout, amongst other things. For years I have struggled to clean the layout with a larger vacuum attachment. It works but it is easy to break something along the way. This is rechargeable via USB, quite small (it is sitting on n gauge track) so easy to manipulate, and works really well.

December 4, 2022

Cattle Dock

Weathering Cows Too

More on weathering cows. The cows were weathered using Modelmates Mud Brown weathering liquid. It is very easy to use. It is water soluble but dries like ink. To weather the cows I just painted it on and then let it down with a wet brush until I had the colouring I wanted. The cattle dock is weathered using the pastels method. Perhaps I need more cows in there?

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December 23, 2020

Planning

The Project

This blog will cover the development of a very small diorama type N gauge model railway. The subject matter is to be the ubiquitous Great Western branch line terminus. It was chosen due to space restrictions, some existing stock from a previous layout years ago and the wealth of information available on the subject. It is a pilot scheme. If time allows, all goes well and my re-kindled interest from childhood actually results in a finished working layout then I may progress to somethi

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April 1, 2018

Planning

Track Plan

The proposed model is not based on a prototype. I have a lot of admiration for modellers who create accurate representations of real locations and often find them the most interesting layouts at exhibitions. Part of the enjoyment for me however is to decide what I want and where I want to put it. I do however want to create something that is at least credible; allowing for space compression! I have spent much time studying other layout plans, internet resources and experimentating wi

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May 7, 2018

Ballasting

For ballasting I use sandpit sand bought from ToysRUs before it disappeared. It is reasonably coarse so can pass for ballast in n gauge. One of the things I do not like about commercial N gauge track is the depth of the sleepers. I therefore wanted to use the ballast to hide this depth consistently. After some experimentation I came up with a scheme to achieve this. Once the track was laid, I lined the edge of the sleepers with evergreen 1mm quarter-round StripStyrene. T

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November 20, 2019

Billy Bookcase Fiddle Yard

If I can build a Billy Bookcase layout, then perhaps I can build a Billy Bookcase fiddle yard. Adjoining the 80cm Billy Bookcase on which the layout lives is a 60cm Billy Bookcase. I do not think that the 60cm version is made anymore, however, I have one and it is the ideal place to locate the fiddle yard. Although the layout itself will only accommodate short trains, I did not want the fiddle yard to be restrictive length. I therefore decided to build a traverser rather

November 23, 2019

Presentation

To support the back-scene, control the viewing angles and support the lighting a presentation box was required. This is constructed out of the same plywood used for the baseboards plus a few odd bits of wood found lying around the garage. It is held together by half round moudling and glued with water proof wood working adhesive. It fits snugly round the outside of the based board and is bolted to it using large bolts with glued captive nuts. This works because the design of the Billy Bookcase m

November 30, 2019

Pub

I never got back to posting after Christmas. First a job change and now ... So here is something I did earlier. Not my best modelling but I am curious to see who recognises it. If you do recognise it perhaps it looks a bit different.

March 20, 2020

Pub: The Albion 86 Armley Road Leeds

The pub in my previous post is the former Albion at 86 Armley Road in Leeds. This is what it looks like now: This is the Google Maps reference: https://www.google.com/maps/@53.7972561,-1.5723353,3a,75y,33.46h,97.05t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sR3k-CLrmyuA9zxl5DT2Eew!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 This is a Google Maps shot from a few years ago when it was still a pub: I have only been to Leeds a couple of times and I have never been to the Albion.

March 21, 2020

Scenery

The size of the layout means that scenery is at a minimum. I do however want some different levels in the ground, raised behind the station building with a slope down to the yard, raised behind the yard and raised more to the right where the trains disappears back stage. I have used two approaches. The raised areas behind the yard are so small that they do not warrant traditional methods like mod-roc. Instead I have built them up using DAS modelling clay, glued down with PVA.

March 23, 2020

Bridge

The line exits stage right through the back-scene. I have decided to use a low relief bridge to disguise this exit. The exit is just a hole in the back-scene board and also cut in to the back-scene sheet: The idea of the low relief bridge is that it will just slot in to the hole to make it look more bridge like. Since I want it to recede in the gap on the underside, it also has to be removable to allow separation of the layout from the fiddle yard. Here are a