A couple of snaps to give an idea of how some more of the thing is shaping up. Bear in mind there are still two more sections to build ,albeit slightly shorter.
A few entries back I showed a 'completed' pavilion. But on returning to the viaduct for another recce a month or so ago, we found that the roof construction was somewhat different so it was back to the workbench for another go.
The objective this time was to come up with something like this:
So here is a photo sequence of how I did it:
1) Build basic subframe (2 x 2mm Evergreen section)
2) Attach 'under-roof' using 0.5mm plasticard - in black so you can see what you'r
We think we've cracked the issue of how best to join sections together. The following photos show (using a couple of demonstration end sections and a 'real' pier) how it will work.
Rather than have a separate detachable pier for the joins, which creates additional problems regarding planting in the scenery and so on, the pier will be 'half' attached to one end of the two sections to be joined.
The dowel and the square-section pins provide for alignment. The pins have holes drilled
When we were up at Balcombe last week, there were a couple of photos in the booking hall of the station in previous years, with a contact name and phone number for copies. Well, I rang this gentleman and what a diamond and fountain of knowledge he has turned out to be! He's lived in the village all his life and appears to be the community archivist, and has all sorts of other views and anecdotes as to how the place developed, filling in a few details that we couldn't work out.
He has alrea
Well, yes and no. It's great to see it again, but there is a real risk of seeing things you have done a bit wrong in the planning. Some you can do something about, others you can't.
Anyway, we've just been up to Sussex for another reccy and check on a few details, especially concerning the piers. But first, here's a picture of the whole thing - there are pics like this on the internet, but this is the first time we've been up the public footpath far enough to get to this vantage point.
I've now finished (I think) the first of the eight pavilions required for the viaduct, except for the painting which can wait until they're all done.
I'm always supercritical of my own work (aren't we all?) but I'm quite pleased with this given there were no drawings available and access to measure was not a practicable option. It's not as detailed as the real thing, but in view of the scale of the whole model and the distance from which it is likely to be viewed I think it conveys the esse
The first part-finished section of the viaduct made its inaugural public appearance at the RMWeb Taunton bash yesterday, including some powered running across it for the first time.
Many thanks to John for all his hard work in getting it to this stage, not without its trials and tribulations, and to Pete for his help yesterday. It was gratifying to receive some positive feedback and encouragement based on what we had done so far, but also a reminder on how much more there was still to do!
Some more steady progress on both the large and small scales.
We are nearly there with finally fixing the whole centre section together. John has been clamping, adjusting etc and also doing a bit of cladding and preliminary painting of brickwork on the arch sides. The curved brickwork etches have also gone on, with some use of Evergreen strip (there's going to be a lot of this) to represent some of the 'beading' detail.
Next will be the cladding of the underside of
First test bolt up to try out assembly procedure. Still several things to check before the final assembly method is approved.
This is the first time that we've got a 'feeling' for the project. When we add some ballustrading and refuges it really will seem like we're on our way!
The first few plinth/pier combinations are assembled. The M4 rodding is used to adjust the positioning whilst the assembly is glued up.
These will make up into the middle 9 arch section.
The classic view. The holes will have to be tidied up prior to being clad with English bond plasticard/SE Finecast vacuum formed plastic.
With very many thanks to Jim S-W of this parish for his designing the artwork and commissioning this first test etch which arrived yesterday. Lovely they are too.
Here are a few snaps of the etches.
Each brick arch is etched in two parts and tacked together to give the level change in the brickwork.
Arches for the characteristic 'holes' in the piers
Beginning to look like the effect that we're after.
A 'visitor' arrived yesterday. A hotch-potch plonked on the viaduct just to get the feel of what's to come!
Hopefully the next 'visitor' will be the much loved blue and grey set!
Some snaps of some of the results of today in trial fittings of balustrades and refuges on the viaduct track base:
And a couple of reminders of the real thing
We're still thinking about how best to do the brackets
So there will now be an awful lot of laminating of pairs of bits of 2mm MDF at 10800 towers - just the job to do on a work tray whilst watching the telly
And we haven't forgotten about the coping and plinths for the balustrades
Needless to say we are quite pleased that Hornby have announced an RTR 5BEL . Hopefully in due course all three units with appropriate names and numbers will be made available, but a 10BEL crossing the viaduct will be something to look forward to - and conversion of this to P4 will be somewhat easier and cheaper than the other current options!
Merry Christmas all
John and I were planning on going up to Sussex today to get some more detail photos (at the time of the last trip we weren't planning on doing the whole viaduct) but in view of the weather we decided to postpone and get some other planning issues out of the way.
One of these was to confirm the distribution of the board sections making up the viaduct and its approaches, and on laying the trackbed laser-cut sections out we decided finally on:
Approach section with 4 arches (1.4m)
10-arch
The latest planning session and John's progress on cutting some of the pier apertures certainly makes for some positive vibes on this project. Apart from starting to 'look' right and give encouragement that the final product will match our ambitions for it, getting down with the actual pieces and doing 'trial fits' is a good catalyst for brainstorming and coming up with solutions for the more 'macro' construction issues.
We know from the derived table of dimensions for each pier where the a
Not a bit of it - now that Scaleforum with Matford is out of the way, and having received some more laser cut goodies from York Model Making, John (Re6/6) and I had a productive day today towards turning all the bits into more of a kit of parts prior to assembly.
I got on with marking up the pier sections for the characteristic apertures of the Ouse Viaduct, which involved topographic profiles, Excel spreadsheets and some occasional reality checks. The apertures all start at the same top el
Not much happening on the viaduct at the moment (due to work pressure in my case and getting Matford ready for Scaleforum in John's).
However, whilst over at John's yesterday we tried to set out as many of the pieces as we could to get more of a feel for the size and to think about next moves after September.
This shows about two thirds of the full length, with the balustrades in about the right position and full height piers shown in the middle (apologies for the quality - hand held abo
Today a package arrived from York Modelmaking with all our commissioned bits for the viaduct. Turnround was about 4 weeks at the end of the day, not bad at all, and on first inspection I'm very pleased with the results.
Very well packed, and a definite aroma of singed timber when you open it, reminiscent of autumn bonfires or charcoal mounds - almost made me feel like getting some roast chestnuts and mulled wine
So, what did we get? Remember this is a viaduct of 37 arches. Here is
After a very pleasant and productive planning session yesterday, interspersed with copious provisions provided by Mrs 10800, we're now virtually ready to go with the commissioned laser cutting of the fiddly repetitive bits for the viaduct. Final tweaking of the specification and scope is going on with York Modelmaking today. The laser cutting work will comprise 74 balustrade sections with 19 arches in each; the main arch sections for the eight pavilions (semicircles on squares, very Renaissan
The first baseboard has now been built for one of the 'generic' scenery sections. It has worked out very well indeed. Pink 50mm polyfoam insulation board was used, (available from B&Q at about £20 for a pack of four [1200mm x 500mm]). 100mm deep 4mm thick birch-faced ply was glued to the long sides with 'No More Nails' type solvent free grab adhesive and 9mm marine ply was used for the 'FREMO' style ends, with patternmakers dowels fitted.
Underneath transverse bracing was fitted (6mm thick
This is a very preliminary and loose-fitting mockup of the carcasses of two of the piers and a section of arches - less than 1/12th of the whole thing. This was built entirely of 2mm MDF (apart from the spacer blocks!) to try one or two construction methods out. It's also convinced me more than ever to outsource as much of the repetitive cutting as possible for consistency, and not just the arch and decorative details.
The piers are in two sections, a lower rectangular section plinth and a
