Had a day off today so started to remove the bits of 4gig mk1 that are no longer needed
The platform will be reused but the cinders are in the bin. I was relieved to find the pva softened easily with water - still made a mess of the kitchen though!
I was talking to Traction of this parish yesterday about the Engine Shed kit that has been serialised over the last three months in Hornby Magazine and on the way home from work it occurred to me that if I nicked a foot of the fiddle yard area at the front I could extend the coal staithes road past the goods shed to lead to said shed
Got to say it's a no brainer, I only need 1 ft of fiddle to hold a couple of cassettes at any one time, all I need is the kit in "Ashlar" and I'll be looki
Over the last few lunchtimes I've been busy with some free card and the Scalescenes Goods Shed kit, again the OO kit blown up to O gauge on the printer.
Here's how it stands at the moment, with mug to give an idea of scale
rafters are glued to the card and are drying under a box of paperwork (knew there was a use for it )
There's a lot more corrugated card in this one than I normally use, and the main walls have been made a lot thicker than designed to give a bit more rigidity
Following two consecutive weekends helping out on other's trainsets I have unashamedly nicked sought inspiration from Ian Morton's shake the box for track plan and Chris Nevard's Catcott Burtle for the water feature at the front and have come up with the new, bigger, improved 4gig
I've got to extend the depth of the current 4ft board by 6" and make another 4x2
I'm currently cobbling together a Scalescenes goods shed, again the OO kit enlarged on the printer to O scale to ensure it
For once I've managed to make better progress than the big boys! - My platforms are finished and fixed down
Here's a few snaps of the layout as it stands with some temporary trees to show roughly how it's going to look.
Keen eyes will see that I messed up the measurements for the overbridge - got to extend it by 30mm or maybe make a new one
Might get some more ground cover done over the weekend - area where the Scooby is will be cinders and good old hanging basket
Been a while since I did some work on Fourgig as I've been concerntrating on the 2-8-2. Now that's with Roomey for a final light weathering I have started looking up a scale again.
The scalescenes platforms are well under way, 3.5mm card produced from two layers of #1 son's Christmas Lego boxes. Here's a snap of the shorter of the two
I had to redo the surface as I left it in the back of the car in the hot sun yesterday and the surface bubbled. The print in between the edge stones w
It's not often I look a gift horse in the mouth, so when SWMBO suggested that I fill a gap at the Mansfield Show by manning a demo stand demonstrating the various techniques used to build a layout I thought
and jumped at the chance
So, armed with newly constructed baseboard with cork trackbed and reversed plan glued to the underside, point, plain track and tools etc I set up my tables.
First job was the DCC power bus, done with way over the top 6mm twin and earth blue and brow
Don't forget, you can come along to the Mansfield Show this weekend and watch me, probably very slowly, working on Fourgig East.
I hope to be laying track, wiring up, soldering up some more track, fitting a point motor (hopefully) and maybe some ballasting.
All the Scalescenes buildings will be with me too.
Come along and say hello
Friday afternoon, kids off school so I have a free afternoon. Called in at the local woodyard on the way home and set to it. Here's the results
One traditional 9mm ply topped, softwood framed board. 4 foot wide and 46cm deep. Why the mixed units? - it was easier to work out the length of the side members that way as the framing timber was 2cm wide
Might have a play putting things on tonight when the kids are in bed - SWMBO is on a girlie night out
Well, progress has been slow on this one, it's quite a complicated job and one that has not been helped by the fact that you really have to get the thickness of the steps right otherwise it don't fit together - It's 3.5mm or nothing in O gauge.
I've also built them with 18mm off the back faces so that I can make the overbridge in half relief. The sidescene will be mirrored to provide the illusion of the other half and the station beyond!
EDIT:
And here it is in all it's glory. T
As promised here's a few snaps of the track following painting. The whole lot was sprayed with PP Weathered Wood (let down with approx 50% cellulose thinners and airbrushed using a cheap 7 quid single acting brush). Rail sides were hand painted using Humbrol Matt Rust.
You can just see from the first photo the sleepers have been gapped close to the rail nearest to the viewing side, making them invisible from normal viewing angles as shown in the last photo.
I really need t
After a lot of searching, deliberating etc I have finally come up with the name
Fourgig East
for the layout and station
Countdown fans will no doubt easily spot where it comes from
Had another play last night arranging all the bits I have so far made. Here's a few pics for your enjoyment.
SWMBO took one look at the items littering her new kitchen floor and said "Ooooh, Ivor The Engine"
Can seee what she means though. Now, how do I convert the Pug, a sound chip would be good
"Par par!"
Well, it had to be done really, even though the average show punter will never see it.
Waiting Shelter has been improved using a stretched front from the Small Station Building kit, you can just see where I've cut the overlays at the planking joins to stretch the doorway.
I've also dressed it up with signs etc from the station kit to match. The sticky out Way Out sign is double sided and the advert board inside had to be shrunk (well only enlarged by 140%) to fit as this shelter has
Found a little window of opportunity last night, SWMBO out at a meeting and #1 son happily playing with his Lego (#2 asleep), so out came the solder and flux and I now have this ready for some baseboards!
I used the full yard length of rail and will make little cuts in the railhead where the joins should be before painting. I'm going to get the airbrush out to spray the PP weathered wood onto the sleepers then hand paint the rust to the sides of the rail - another first for me B)
Was playing last night arranging the various buildings and completed track on the kitchen floor and it struck me that the roof of the waiting shelter stuck out like a sore thumb being a red/brown tile rather than the grey slate effect that all the other buildings have.
So, it was promptly ripped off and replaced with tiling from the station building, that's the beauty of the scalescenes kits - you can just print out a bit here and there.
Here's the modified shelter next to the station -
After several lunchtimes the Scalescenes small station building is complete, just needs a coat of varnish
Footbridge next!
Track is coming along, I spraymounted a section of the templot plan to some MDF last night, applied double sided tape and stuck down a yard of sleepers and soldered up the track - pretty fast progress for me. Went straight for the phosphoric acid flux and 188 deg leaded solder, lovely job
I plan to notch the rails where the joints should be then fit cosme
The Waverley point kit is all assembled, painted and wired up ready for laying
I used Humbrol Matt 113 for the rust and PP Weathered Wood for the sleepers. Wired up using twisted pairs stripped from CAT5 cable soldered to the underside of the rail.
Went to Marcway yesterday and spent half my Christmas money on more rail and sleepers for the rest of it. Ordered a Traintronics TT300 from Bromsgrove Models today to make the point work B)
I guess I'll spend more time tonight cuttin
Refined the plan a little, with some assistance from Anyrail to get a quick sketchup of the platforms, signal box and a few trees
Excuse the scaled up Skaledale platforms! and there will be an overbridge on the extreme right which will form the scenic break
Still refining the point template to better match the Waverley kit template, I will scan the actual template in and then bring that into Templot to match up as best I can.
Once I'd took the decision that I wanted to handbuild all the track a Templot license was bought.
Here's my first effort at a track plan
I'm sure I can add more detail etc later, once the learning curve drops of the vertical
Scalescenes signal box is about done, needs a chimney and lever frame adding etc
Now, I must get up to Marcway for some more copperclad and code 124 bullhead rail
A while ago I bought, amongst other things, a couple of Waverley O gauge point kits from Ian Morton.
Following a succesful test build of a Scalescenes Waiting Shelter blown up to O gauge a seed of an idea for my first layout in 7mm started to grow ...
So, the premise is a preserved railway somewhere in GWR land (as the point kits are to GWR standards). A single track railway doubled at the station. Model half the station with the overbridge forming the scenic break at one end and a tunn
Had a play at lunchtime with Anyrail and one thing that is certain, standard Peco track will not do! I need much tighter rad pointwork for my little harbour
Thanks to help from Martin at Templot the Marcway 48" point kits might do the job but ideally I want pointwork down to 32" which gives me approximately setrack type curves which my little Pug should handle okay. Looks like Martin will be getting an order from me
This little chap arrived on the doorstep yesterday (thanks scanman!)
So, nice though it is, it won't fit on my track so my thoughts have turned to what to do. For a while the "home" layout has not really been in use, the main problem is extensive use of setrack rad 1 curves which means that a lot of locos can't handle it. For servicing purposes I have needed a rad 2 loop for some time.
Back in the mists of time the original board (extreme right hand of the diagram above) was a
