My homemade magnetic connectors were not as reliable as I would have liked - current transfer was intermittent and unpredictable.
I had a few trial runs with stripped wire ends as a method for achieving electrical contact, these were no more reliable! I also considered buying some sprung contacts online...
However, inspiration struck - in the form of a set of cheap wire and brass cleaning brushes!
After a swift encounter with a pair of pliers I had removed three se
I though I'd spoil the little residents of the layout by adding a lift shaft to the flats that were erected recently, I also enlarged the pub - adding ground-floor flat roof extension (room for a couple of pool tables, or a dining area, or a function room available for hire - who knows!?) :-)
All additions were constructed from plasticard and / or leftover bits from model kits.
Injured my hand really quite badly while cutting styrene sheet. Annoyed at myself for not being more careful - using a scalpel and a metal ruler, the blade jumped over the ruler and cut a sizeable bit off of my finger.
Anyway, onwards and upwards!
Finished the last of the ballast today, a strip at the back of the layout.
Also, added some detail to my pub building -
Air conditioning ducting from a P and D marsh white-metal kit, a stonework base (Kibri te
Finally received my bicycle tyre valve caps yesterday (the previous order were "lost in transit" so, progress was delayed somewhat.)
These are plain aluminium, but various colours are available - this could be useful if you wanted to allocate specific knobs to certain functions.
However, I opted for these ones - I think they match the overall style of the "control panel" of the layout.
The uncouplers and points are brass rod controlled, no electronics are involved.
Taking certain liberties with reality once more, I've made a small block of flats for my layout.
I used various bits from my box of scraps, plus plasticard, card and even baking paper(!)
I "raised the block up" with a section of plasticard painted to represent concrete, and a piece from a European N Scale kit to give the impression of underground parking or something like that...
The doors and windows are from spares, the windows are dressed with baking paper net curtains (the kin
Having been busy of late, work on the layout came to a bit of a halt for about two weeks.
I've had the materials waiting in the wings (play sand, brown spray paint and Copydex glue) and I'm pleased to say that I've finally ballasted one (the larger) section of the layout!
I've been apprehensive about it for a few reasons: I've never used latex based glue when ballasting before, I'm worried that the "peculiar" smell that Copydex has will linger, I've never used sand as a ballas
Following on from an earlier post, today (and a good part of yesterday) was spent building up layers of weathering on my recently "bashed" station kit.
Once painted with primer, I added two coats of yellow and picked out random bricks in varying quantities in black, white, brick red and blue-grey. I painted the interior "arches" plain white too.
Having discovered that my usual "Brown Earth" paint had dried up in the pot, I ordered some more online - although not th
Due to my unusual platform format, see here:
I have had a Kestrel Station Kit waiting in the wings for a while now, waiting to be converted from "long and thin" - as it is sold, to "sort of L-shaped" so it will fit neatly in the corner of the layout.
I started by measuring out the area that I have available - a square footprint of just about 10 x 11cm. I then went about removing the various pieces of the kit from their sprues, and basically playing with
Just a few odd jobs today, attached the lift shaft to the flats, added some concrete fence panels to the pub yard, made some platforms for the Railfreight Depot loading bays, and (because I can't find a suitable permanent candidate) added a temporary door to the goods depot - just to make it look functional. Also got on with adding a bit of greenery to the trackside...
Primed some station name boards today, as soon as I figure out
Added a bracket to the layout control panel today, it was a pair left over from an "over-the-door-hanger" kit.
I bent it to the desired angle in a vice, the slots running the length of the upper section enabled me to screw the bracket to the shelf.
I used "Command" brand picture hanging strips to secure the controller to the bracket - they are stronger than normal velcro, so far they appear to be holding well.
It's been somewhat breezy today, so I cracked on with adding some detail to my Signal Box.
I wasn't happy with the proportions of the windows, a bit overscale I thought - so I simply added some card bands, top and bottom. I weathered them with a wash of Brown Earth mixed with a smidge of PVA glue, this helped to adhere the paper nicely as it dried.
I also added a station name to the building, and dry brushed some white paint to areas here and there - to simulate minerals leach
It's been a long while! Today I made a completely fictional, unprotoypical Signal Box - from a few odds and ends found around the house.
The main inspiration came from a clear plastic lid I found that had an inner segment - I forgot to take any pictures prior to starting this project, so this vague description is the best I can offer! Here is a pic of the lid, masked and primed:
Alongside this clear plastic lid is a small eyedropper bottle, which - as luck
Managed to squeeze in and get a more direct shot of the uncouplers working. Also a shot of a "Mk II" control rod working the lifting ramp.
The rod is longer and has a curve that levels back to a horizontal plane - this results in a gentler lifting of the spherical pinhead.
You can see a MkI rod in the background, they work well but there is very slight resistance sometimes because they "push" the pin rather than guide it.
I also added a third hinge barrel along the length of th
I finally got round to spray painting the whole layout today (was going to wait until all the track was laid, but as I'm waiting on deliveries - thought I might as well crack on.)
I used a dull matt brown, I think it was from Hobby Craft -I've had it a while!
I painted the layout in 12" sections and sort of "Sqeegee'd" paint off the top of the rails using a small off cut of pine strip-wood as I went along, wiping that on kitchen towel as needed.
Third rail was harder to cl
Quick pic of progress made today, the glue on the track centres and immediate edges is now dry, so I've been gradually layering up the ballast in the area between tracks.
The method is pretty simple:
1. Wet baseboard area to be ballasted with very weak Copydex-water-washing up liquid solution.
2. Sprinkle on sand.
3. Drip stronger (1-4) glue solution over sand.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3.
The glue is still wet in these pictures:
As you can s
Just a few quick pics of some rather belated ballasting and siting of platforms, just to see how they look.
Will need to ballast right up to the platform edges and I still have third rail to fit. The glue is still wet in these photos, but I like the way it's going....
The large gap between the topmost line and the sidings is where I will be putting my scrap merchant yard, I have that all ready to go so it's just a matter of putting it in place.
Some pics of the ballast after an overnight dry. Looking good (better in real life than in the pics, I think the granular quality of the ballast confuses my phone camera, and it doesn't know what to focus on?)
However, I am genuinely really pleased with the results - I still have little gaps to fill and the odd bump to flatten, but for my first outing it's not looking too shabby! Cleaned a small section of the rail tops as well (Sidings) and that always improves things I think.
Went about the task of adding third rail today.
I used British Finescale track for this as I've used it before with good results. The rail is simply super glued to the sleeper parallel to the existing rail.
It was a fiddly task, but I hit upon the idea of using Blu-tak style adhesive to hold the track in place while gluing and it seems to have worked well! The Blu-tak was removed after a couple of hours drying, and left no residue - except where it had mixed with super
So it doesn't look like much does it? :
Ta-da! :
I needed to add some finishing touches - the closed position was a little loose, so I secreted a thin magnet and a washer to act as a securing catch:
Of course, I only use the beer for illustrative purposes....
Cheers!
I have long wanted a pub somewhere on my layout, but unfortunately I have limited space to put one - the only available site would in fact mean modelling in low relief.
Ideally, the pub would be situated on a spot that could offer a view that was interesting - for the tiny sozzled patrons.
I decided therefore to suspend reality somewhat and create a pub that probably wouldn't exist in real life. And why not?
I found a likely candidate on eBay:
Up
I finally decided on a name for the layout, and added name-boards to the station today.
I settled on a French influenced one, inspired by a local road which in turn is named for a medieval landowner whose legacy is the road name and the remains of a gatehouse.
I think that the name fits in well with the Southern Region near-coastal setting.
The signs are "Knightwing" white metal (8 pack) and are grey primed with a bit of white dry-brushing (thanks
Just kidding! I've had this "Monopoly" hotel kicking around for ages in my box of scraps - I think I picked it up off the pavement years ago...
Today I set about converting it into something useful for the layout - a newsagent kiosk.
Step one was to drill a hole in the side of the hotel and then square the circle using a file.
Next, I sanded down the surface of the building - prior to gluing on corrugated styrene sheet, to represent wood panellin
A couple of days ago I ballasted the "yard" area of the scrapyard on the layout. Almost immediately that I started, I was not pleased with the result:
It seemed to me that it was going to be a lot of work, waiting for the ballast to dry, painting - more drying, then weathering... So, after a bit of weathering, I decided that when the glue dried I would simply tear up the ballast and start again (this is where using latex glue saves the day once more, folks!)
It to
