Update - Its almost 3 days since the BHMRC exhibition and I have had time to reflect upon Kyle in a boxfile and its future.
Many lessons have been learnt, the most important being not leaving things till last minute. It's always good to work to a deadline however I really suffered from losing almost a month as I tackled a new form of turnout construction. Examples of the time lost were reflected in: not getting a chance to build the station building, general weathering of the layout and roll
Update - Good morning - my final update as I start to pack my hand luggage for our flight today.
There are a good number of things we didn't get done and a fair few that I am not happy with, but I have now run out of time and the layout will make its UK debut tomorrow at the Burgess Hill Model Railway Club Exhibition as planned.
I am hoping their will be time this evening to do some last minute stuff, i.e. toning down some of the scenery, applying some MIG powders to the rolling stock et
Update - Yikes...4 days...and not even that...as I will finish working late Thursday and fly to UK on Friday...
After a disastrous end to last week, things have been progressing again. All weekend I was assembling DG couplings. I must have folded about 62 pairs as I wanted to put on all the rolling stock so as to reduce the fixed rakes and allow a few adhoc shunting ops.
Bending the wire hoops was very tedious and the swear box was topped up again after this but I gave up bending all
Update - Good morning - I had hoped to have a long productive evening last night working on the layout with the TV tuned to the UK elections...but it was one of those evenings where everything I began, started going wrong
To begin, I painted the platforms a beige colour as from the photos there are two different types of platform surface, however it looked so awful, I ended up overpainting with grey about 3 hours later. Then turned my attention to the backscene, which has been produced usi
Update - Last night I did the second application of the ballast, this time just filling in the centre of the sleepers between the rails. This was followed by another application tonight picking out holes and gaps. Also, the area in between the sidings has a slightly different colour, which will be toned down and a few tufts of grass will be sprouting through. Buffer heads picked out in red and platforms have had base colour grey applied to stone and they have been bedded onto the layout - now ne
Update - Been putting it off for some time but after sourcing some Spanish PVA, it was time to start. Normally I lay the ballst dry and then give it the good soaking method, however with my concerns that the layout may start to twist and notwithstanding donw's comments to try and prevent this, I decided to work the PVA around the sleepers in short intervals and sprinkle the ballast from a small long stirrer, bought from Muji a while back.
It's slow work and quite tedious as is usual, however
Update - managed to progress some more this weekend with a few hours each day.
Most of my thinking and planning of the layout is done is my sketchbook with an espresso. I have attached a few examples of recent issues with Kyle which have been drawn through as ideas to resolve. These include the integration of the bases to the stock box, the internal face of the backscene including uncoupling magnets and the most recent, the slither of water at the front.
I cracked the way to do this was
Update - 18 days left and a bit more progress.
I have constructed the base for the wall on the backscene and also the base of the road bridge which will act as the scenic break to said fiddle yard. The wall (as in the previous mock ups) is pre-attached to the backscene as will be the station building modelled in relief. I am experimenting with the backscene which will probably be some cut and paste and photoshop images from Kyle. Sorry about the 90° corner to the backscene as I can't get a
Update - Evening peeps - Jack Bauer I am not...24....that's just the number of days left until I exhibit Kyle. The good news is that there has been some progress and I would have posted earlier but I had problems to sign in until yesterday.
The layout is now wired and tested and bar a few grumbles through the tweaked points, the class 37 seems to cover every bit of available track. Next week I will spray the track and begin ballasting.
Following a rethink, I have remade some of the boar
Update - Its been a while since I updated partly due to work commitments but also because I assumed that people were probably getting fed up reading about my track building soap opera...I know I was.
So finally after a few more trys, scrapping the turnout last posted, I constructed them using a few PCB sleepers around the common crossing area. This is the bit I am still struggling with but at least it completed the turnouts. Obviously my preference was to complete this layout using solely EA
Update - Good morning - the soap opera that is, my turnout constructions continues but hopefully will soon conclude.
I continued with the hybrid last posted with the mix of PCB sleepers and EASITRAC chairs fixed with cyno but alas, once again, it all fell apart around the commonn crossing (note to 2FS Association - a range of pre manufactured common crossings would be great for ham fisted clowns such as I ) so out came the recently arrived by mail EASITRAC sleeper strip.
If at first you
Update - Well with the recent probs with the server, one would think a perfect opportunity to catch up with some modelling, right?...wrong
Unfortunately, this was timed with a work deadline which has taken all available day and night hours from my modelling. However, by way of an update.....
You may recall that I decided to redo my EASITRAC turnouts as I was having trouble with the common crossing. I decided to remove the premade turnout base and rebuild the turnout using EASITRAC sleeper
Update - First a simple equation.
89 / 7 x 2 = 25.14 [Days left until exhibition divided by days per week multiplied by amount of modelling time spent at present]
Which equates to about 25 modelling sessions [averaging 3 or 4 hours] to get this layout exhibitable :icon_eek: :icon_eek:
Granted, it's not a small layout but each session is critical and after a good start last night installing two point blades and droppers to a 'Heath Robinson' type arrangement beneath which worked...it t
Update - This evening some trains ran :icon_eek:...but only in the fiddleyard. The second session of working on these has now finished which included making the single cassettes and also wiring between the brass sleepers and the brass tubes below. Testing was undertaken to determine if the brass connecting rods performed okay and after resolving one stubborn dry joint :icon_mutter: the class 24 ran smoothly across the joints.
I now really need to get back to completing the two turnouts on t
Update - The last two nights have seen progress on the fiddle yard area. Due to the number of boards/joints on the layout, cassettes were decided as has been depicted in a number of previous sketches.
After much consideration and options I decided that two single and two double cassettes [which can be joined together] were required. Why double? Because when a loco is running around its train, due to the small length of the layout, the rolling stock will need to be pushed back partly in the fidd
Update - Following withdrawal of CJ from the GJLC it is now time to put the foot to the pedal with Kyle, which at least is easier to transport and is making its debut in 108 days.
I still need to complete the turnouts and am pondering means of operation following all the fellow informative posts of recent however it is likely that they will remain low tech in order to reduce weight, simplify the sparks and balance costs. Most probably wire in tube using a dpdt switch for the two turnouts and
It is with regret, that last week I contacted the 2mm Association to formally withdraw Coombe Junction from the Golden Jubilee Layout Challenge at the 2FS EXPO this coming July, in the main, due to the logistical/financial complications of getting the layout from Barcelona to Oxford for a 48 hour period.
I would welcome an opportunity one day to exhibit it in the UK and it will keep progressing but I should just like to thank everyone for their interest in the layout to date.
Pete
Update - Work on the track was not a great success last night so tonight saw a bit of experimentation with the rolling stock.
The bodywork of 37420 has received some filler to allow the remaining two grill etches to be placed however I realised tonight that Farish and 'Boots' nail varnish removal pads are not happy bed fellows.....whilst cleaning up some of the body, the pads reacted with the paintwork - will have to assess further when dry :icon_mutter:
Meanwhile, I thought I would hav
Good afternoon - Following the package of tools and materials arriving from the UK around Christmas time I am now able to develop the layout further...in fact it will be shown at the Burgess Hill Model Railway Club annual small exhibition on 15 May 2010...which is in 121 days :icon_eek:
The previous two evenings has seen work continue with the EASITRAC components and now the main rails are in place, I hope to complete the switch blades and frogs during the next modelling sessions. The jigs
Happy Christmas to all! The title is not a misprint, early April fool, nor the result of too much red wine but an exercise that has been flying around in my head for a while and I just wanted to see how feasible it would be.
On the last RMWeb3, there were comments that it would be interesting to build Coombe Junction in 4mm - Seeing as how I have started to build up an appropriate amount of BR blue rolling stock for the layout I am building my sons [i will set that blog up next year] it occu
Update - Still awaiting my package of tools/equipment from the UK to get cracking again, so thoughts again turned to the backscene. After reviewing a number of other terrific layouts on the forum here, it occurred to me that perhaps it might be better to intoduce a 'proscenium arch' type enclosure to view the layout. This would align with Moorswater viaduct, with the lines passing through as a cut out. The resulting top of the frame could be used to run some small discrete strip lights along the
Update - a little progress last night with board 3 as I have now laid the cork sheet below the trackbed. Unfortunately I cannot lay the track as am awaiting delivery of a new soldering iron and solder from the UK - giving myself the benefit of the doubt, I am guessing my soldering started to deteriorate from poor to absolutely shocking, possibly due to the only solder that I can find here was probably meant for joining water pipes together <img src='http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/public/sty
Update - A little more progress on Board 3 last night. I have started to make the bases for the buildings in grey card and once I am happy with the profiles and the openings are cut, it will receive a cladding of evergreen corrugated sheet, lapped as required as per the prototype. Sorry about the cut down toilet roll holder...it's just that late last night I was looking for an 'off the shelf' cylindrical object that could represent the stone clad drum...it will be replaced by something more suit
Update - Since mocking up Moorswater viaduct and finding a solution for a backscene, it has helped respark enthusiasm for the project. I have now started to look a Board 3, the final one in more detail. I had always hoped to complete boards 1 + 2 to slightly more detail before embarking on this, however it will help me view the layout contextually with all 3 on the go in various states. Obviously, there has had to be some compromises to include elements, however for me, the viaduct was fundament
Update - The question of a backscene was raised in the previous post and although I originally never intended to have one, I am now coming around to the idea. The idea has been tested further...
You may recall this 1:10 scale model previously made to test the compactness of the layout for transportation to and from its home in BCN...
This morning, I have added a backscene, to a height which I would feel comfortable with. I think any lower than the viaduct and it will look strange, s