Having a small son has it's advantages sometimes. I mentioned that I needed a few coffee stirrers for an idea I had about a free set of coal staithes. A couple of days later he presented me with a good handful that he had "collected" on his last trip to a well known fast food joint.
So, here's my McStaithes
A coat of weathered wood and then some dirtying down should do the trick 🙂
So at last the lighting rig and supports are complete, here's a couple of snaps of it in Fourgig East mode:
and here's it for Summat Colliery - must get a new sign made!
The shelves at the back were made from some off-cuts of UPC cladding I had lying around (as you do)
So then as it was sunny etc I decided to get the static grass out and detail up the shed area
Finally a shot of the shed/fiddle yard board in place
Ahead of the Wycrail Show I have been adding more details to the layout. First off I've made some flower tubs from the cardboard tubes you get round the business end of a new spark plug cut in half and painted white. The flowers are from www.themodeltreeshop.com and come ready to "plant" - a bead of PVA run round the inside of the tube and the flowers just popped in
Next that very nice man Jon Fitness sent me a spare length of ladder which duly painted sits very well against the y
Those of you who were at the RMweb Live event and took a peek behind the layout would have seen the lash-up that was the control panel/programming track. I realized VERY late that I needed my OO rolling road/NCE power panel for the DCC demo
so I cobbled something together from an old ice cream tub and a bit of old kitchen kick board. I had a spare panel and autoSW for the programming track. A short length of Peco flexi completed the arrangement and it all worked well at the show.
Th
Whilst arranging the figures on the platform at the weekend it occurred to me that something was missing - lamps! An order was placed for five S&D Models GWR gas lamp kits with stems. I also ordered a stem extension to convert one to a yard lamp for the Goods Shed area.
So here's the lamps all built up waiting for the paint shop. I hope to get these ready to plant when I set up at the Ricoh for RMweb Live!
I've also made up some station/camping coach safety notices that will aga
OK, here's where the O gauge on a budget goes right out of the window. If you were doing this at home dear reader you could use cheaper imported figures and paint them up but this is an exhibition layout and I have a very tight deadline!
approx 100 quid spent on Preiser figures but the layout is starting to come to life
The camping coach is now illuminated too. I really must get on with that coach .....
So my modelling fest is about at an end - for tomorrow I must tidy up!
However I am very pleased with the results and the magnitude of my efforts over the last three days. A few tweaks here or there, but Fourgig is about ready for RMweb Live!
Here's a few snaps
The wife, kids and mother-in-law left at 10am today for Great Yarmouth. Not set to return until sometime on Friday, so the whole house is my workshop
The left hand board as the public view the layout had it's external woodwork painted black (saves you a job Pete ) and left out in the sun. It's now sitting in the living room annex on two of the layout legs hardening off.
The centre board was the focus of today's efforts. Duly set up in the middle of the living room on it's legs, complet
Now that the l;eft hand board has all it's rodding and wires in place I've put it to one side and put the centre board on the legs in the workshop. Today I have soldered up the PH Designs security fencing for the rear of the layout, just need some sun to spray it grey!
I've also coaled up the coal staithes, pretty pleased with this. looks most convincing
I have all this week off work to get the basics nailed ahead of RMweb Live! - I'm going to be fed up of train sets by Friday
FINALLY I have completed the signalling wire runs on board one. The last to be connected to the 'box were oddly the signals closest to it!
here's a quick snap showing how I have, maybe unconventionally used a pulley wheel on the post of the main signal. I added Woodland Scenics fine cinders to the base of the signals before adding the wire runs by just applying PVA to the base with a brush then sprinkling the cinders over the top. A quick hoover with a hanky over the en of the nozzle cleared
Managed to grab half an hour last night after sorting someone's X04 motor (got to pay for all these signalling components somehow!) The platform fixed stop with shunt ahead subsidiary is now connected to the 'box
I made a large wheel up from the MSE etch secured it to a bit of Weatherspoon's coffee stirrer (they are wider then the McDonalds ones) and glued it into a hole cut in the card platform edge. The operating wire was wrapped round the wheel a couple of times and secured with a dr
Thanks chaps, as no-one offered any kind of therapy following my decision to model the rodding exits from the signal box I found myself ordering cast wire pulleys, 0.11mm stainless wire and another etch of pully wheels etc.
Slow progress mainly due to the fact that the pulley castings are not the best and need to be drilled out to allow the wires through - I am getting through a lot of 0.5mm drills with the brass castings .......
I've done a run of 4 wires from the 'box to the foot cross
An unexpected reprieve from loft insulation allowed me to get the rodding from the 'box up to the barrow crossing completed
I'm pleased with the way the #8 rod dips down to the point crank then continues on to the far end of the double slip, with rod #9 running in front and over the crank
Finally a close up of the 'box gubbins
I said I wasn't going to do this, the plan WAS to hide the lack of wheels/cranks/wires and rodding exiting the signal box with a wooden walkway so why have I made this over the last few nights?
the crank leading to lever 8 is even shown as pulled to match the lever for pete's sake. Have I any idea of the September deadline to get the layout finished!
I need counselling.
This week I have mostly been building the "WH Smiths" kiosk from the Scalescenes Station Structures kit. Again enlarged by 175% on my printer to make it O scale.
As it's O gauge, I have put a bit more into this kit to add relief detail and have popped a cheap eBay figure sitting on a left over doll's house chair.
Not sure his reading matter is suitable for an Ivor the Engine event though
also a bit of self promotion, quite proud of that mag cover
The roof w
Last Friday I met Jon Fitness at Langley Mill railway station and collected the signals he's been building for me. So over the weekend I cut six pretty large holes in the baseboards and fitted all eight aspects.
Only issue is that I miscalculated with the length of servo wires and didn't order enough extension leads. A quick eBay order was placed last night, so hopefully all should be up and running for Mansfield this weekend!
The bases need blending into the scenery, I hope I
Fourgig's name board arrived in the post today
It's attached to the centre lighting pelmet by velcro so that it can be swapped for Summat Colliery's when the need arises
The lighting rig supports need a final coat of paint then the wiring can be sorted
Found some time over Easter to paint the lighting pelmets, satin black on the outside and gloss white on the inside. A trip to Maplins and 60 quid later I had the LED lighting strips and power supply etc.
I hooked them up one evening just to see how bright they were, blimey!
Once the paint was dry, they were fitted and tested
All that is left to do is finish painting the supports white and do the final wiring
I am Christmas crackered but the woodworking is all done for the new lighting rig. I moved on from the last posting by adding the pelmet that for Fourgig East sits to the left of the public
You will see that the support is set in 9" from the edge so that the bottom of the legs will not stick out beyond the nominal footprint of the layout - I have had them kicked too many times by neighboring operators to leave it as it was!
I will have to add some packers to the key points on the under
So, this morning the centre pelmet that the other two will hang off was finished
Pretty pleased, all lines up and the pelmet just drops onto two dowel pegs - no other fixings.
Now for the two side ones
Finally the hardstanding area is complete, painted and the goods shed stuck down, that's one big storage box in the recycling bin.
Note how the right hand track is not straight through the turnout - I guess this should be classed as a wye - THE advantage of Templot and home made pointwork
I've also edged the raised polystyrene landforms with thin card (cornflakes packet) and painted them a nice earthy brown. Some sheep have been bought and are in the process of being pai
SWMBO has taken the kids and the MIL to the seaside for a few days, so while the house is my own, it's kinda turned into a workshop
The long put off task of getting the track ballasted has took a huge leap forward with the end board having all the track ballast done. I've also fixed down the tracks for the camping coach to sit on.
The steps for the camping coach have been offered up and found to be good - note I'm using the OTHER coach so as not to damage the finish on the act
The polystyrene sheeting I ordered on Monday turned up today, so with a spare hour, a sharp knife, PVA and carpet tape I now have this
The vertical edges will be faced with Scalescenes walling (already downloaded some ashlar brick in O gauge) and the sloping bits will be smoothed out etc
Onwards!
Got the whole backscene print fitted to the layout. Went on really well, can't fault the approach at all. OK it cost £44 for the whole 16ft print, but it does look good
Next step is matt varnish over the main board scenes (the fiddle yard board has already been varnished) when we have a warm windless day
Anyway, here's a few snaps
