vierundvierssig

Further work as time goes by - but less time as increasingly allowed out of the house. The track was painted - I chose to use the phoenix precision "weathered sleepers" and then dry brushed on "sleeper grime. The chairs and rail sides were painted with "rusty rails then the whole lot toned down and highlighted with a Vallejo black wash. The ballasting has been overall completed - I used woodland scenic fine grade ballasts, mostly grey with a mix of light grey and buff throughout. I am still working out how much I want to weather this, whether powder or washes. I invested in the War World Scenics (WWS) grass applicator system - particularly because of their layering spray (now produced under licence by Peco) and the selection of different fibres to build up "shades of grass". I have spent increasing amounts of Lockdown walks examining the weeds in the Avonmouth area and to a degree have been able to represent them with some of the shades - however I still need to make a whole selection of weeds. The longer overgrown areas were represented by using the technique on the WWS tutorial to make a layer of short grass the bunch this up and relayer with the spray over the top. Further detailing has been added to the drainage leet area which now looks lovely and overgrown - I have started adding security fencing and the adjacent footpath. I discovered an incredible material by Vallejo called "thick mud"- literally applied as mud. It needs a tiny bit of toning down but I am very pleased with the effect. I have built some buffers 3d printed and sent in the post - the same outline as on Brighton East - the foreground sidings need to be made significantly more overgrown - but currently I am too much of a coward and need to practice on a spare piece of ballasted track. Finally a lockdown present- 3d printed rubbish containers from Kipford - really set the scene on the wagon themselves but also will be an integral part of the scenic break. Current plans are to continue on the buildings and planning the back scene as this needs to go in before many things can be planted down currently.

Some further progress... 1) drainage leet mostly finished, some early static grass down mostly as a test but will be layered up to be much more Overgrown with the war world scenic layering spray once ballasting finished. I have decided to put a footpath along the bank alongside which will run a security fence. Track has been finished painting comprising a spray covering of Phoenix weathered sleepers, dry brushed with sleeper grime , chairs and rail sides in rusty rails and all toned down/highlighted with Vallejo brown wash. The concrete section for the incinerator plant and unloading hard standing was the same Phoenix aerosol for the track, but covered in Vallejo grey pigment on a sponge dipped in a homemade acrylic black wash 2) work continues on the incinerator buildings- the structure is mostly complete and the curved over hang comprises of a gully of two plastistrips filled with modelling putty. This will be sanded down flush and essentially has been chosen as I could not hope to cut plasticard to two parallel curves matching the building contour without a laser cutter. (Cutting plasticard is a pet hate and any tips on things such as gulliotine devices are wary welcome!) Internal lighting has been inserted including a flickering orange effect and the early shutter door mechanism started 3) the motorway is mostly finished except for printing the sign and the tarmac finish. I am going to experiment with some pastel shavings applied with a make up brush to weather this down. I now have road markings but I feel they are a bit dull and in real life are slightly raised and gloss effect- reconsidering further touches to this Once the track is ballasted, the motorway can be fixed down and the embankment completed - this is mostly going to be brambles however

Bit of further work today - laying down some of the dereliction suggesting older, wealthier times at Avonmouth. The site at the real Avonmouth is a marked juxtaposition between the brand new shiny incinerator building and signs of the old ICI chemical works in the surround. One final thing for today was coming across this video from a pretty talented Australian chap - I seriously thought about automating the main shutter door into the incinerator building but this shown it is easily possible

Back at work, but when home the lockdown means I can justify doing work with management as we cant go anywhere! I have continued to work on the motorway - I have been gifted a bespoke designed and 3d printed Armco barrier sent in the post - I could only find German or American outline barriers but the British design is so key to the feel of a major trunk road. The tarmac is still not detailed - despite testing watered down washes I cant get an effect I am happy with and so am waiting for some pigment powders to turn up - I feel I need the blending ability of these for a gentle transition from experimenting with some Polyfilla dust to good effect (watch this space) With Amazon deliveries slowing down I have had to make my own ground cover scatter - I have started using oven dried coffee grounds from an espresso machine. Ive used this to simulate a whole dug out of the ground uncovering some aviation fuel pipeline (specific to Avonmouth) being worked on and to line the drainage leet. I have also found lots of good tutorials on youtube, many from Europe and have used the technique of "Spoorinmodel.nl" using duct tape, scatter and varnish for the waterway. I have ordered the War World Scenics static grass applicator which is needed to complete the bank. The walkway will be almost falling apart from rust and is an adapted industrial walkways kit from scale model scenery. Work continues on the incinerator building - I have completed 66% of the final structure but needs detailing as well as painting - I have literally run out of plasticard and filler material so await further deliveries! Next I need to paint the track and to start thinking about ballasting - paints from Phoenix Precision are on the way but again another wait!

So unexpectedly the coronavirus pandemic has lead to unprecedented time to work on the layout. Although we are both clinicians, our son having a cough has put us out of action for 2 weeks due to the lack of testing for healthcare workers. In between being daycare so my wife can run her clinic from home (which I don’t have the option of), asking friends to leave milk/apples on our door step and trying to distract from the guilt of spending two weeks away from work, I have managed to plough on with the scenery (as may not be so much time when back!) Firstly I have focused on finishing the motorway bridge- I have used a concrete technique I found on here from a user called Celticwardog (thank you). I have also been working on the barrier fence (posts painted, boards need painting) - what is outstanding is building the railing section for the part over the bridge and the tarmac. The tarmac is still awaiting a further selection of grey tones to arrive from Amazon to be finished as the current base tone is too homogeneous/dark/pristine. The dowel structure represents the profile of the pylon by Severn models - yet to be acquired. The banks will eventually be covered in more polyfiller and moulded into the ground- eventually also brambles. Note the concrete plinth on the far bank, which is awaiting decoration with switching cabinets and railings. For the motorway I have scratchbuilt a half section of Motorway sign gantry. This too is awaiting the arrival of grey paints and I am questioning whether to uplight the sign. The layout has had further landscaping with filler and has been covered in brown emulsion and the base for dirt/gravel covered areas and beneath grass scatter/eventual static grass. I have also added a raised area representing the concreted work area of the plant onto which containers will be received. Gaps between cork have been polyfilled and then power sanded flat but I hope will provide some texture representing the concrete sections. A white emulsion has been applied and the concrete is awaiting painting when the grey paints arrive. As a little luxury I have built a portable toilet/welfare unit container from scalemodelscenery.com. It’s hard to believe how this came in a flat envelope and is made from beautiful thin board etches - so good I have ordered the matching work office to go with it. This week’s job for week two of isolation in addition to the motorway bridge railing is to start the incinerator plant itself - this is awaiting some foam board and slaters 7mm corrugated Sheet to arrive in the post. At the moment the foot print of this is occupied by some representative polystyrene. I suspect after this time will be even rarer than before, so will try and have a productive week!

Uploaded some pictures of the point motor mechanism and fiddle yard. I have done a bit of scenery tonight, putting the posts in for the fence running along the motorway on the embankment, and adding further filler to mould the banks. I have also put in the (unpainted) concrete plinth which will hold the motorway signage gantry which will act as part of the scenic break. The upright dowel structure is based on the dimensions of the Severn Models pylon, to try and work out if it will look appropriate- I am finding it hard to resist. The main question is whether it should be infront or behind the track.

Another 7 months …. and some more progress made. The wiring has now been completed. In the end I chose the MERG CBUS system and controller - this a great modular set of components for DCC running which comes as a kit. The other bonus of this is that it is cheap (having pre-schoolers in nursery is very expensive), however time being at a premium, the kits were built by Kipford as a birthday present - this is turning into a modular build of components given to me! This starts a command board which takes the main power supply, output into the track bus and the CBUS which runs the length of the layout. The handheld controller attaches through another small board mounted at a convenient location. The CBUS is based on automotive technology in car dashboards, and carries the commands for running the decoders in locos, and the points (as well your fans/wipers in your car), whilst the power comes from the main track bus. A mimic panel with point repeater lights has also been built, and plugs into the main board. -certainly my next layout, more experienced and hopefully with older children, I would hope to tackle the MERG kits myself and certainly would use them again based on functionality. Although a great proponent of DCC from the start, an important aspect was to have a controller with a "knob" to turn - perhaps nostalgic for the gaugemaster controllers of my childhood. The controller is compact and easy to hold in the hand having all the functionality needed for this layout (essentially sound controls). The points have also been finished. Using microservos, these were built using a motor kit from our friend at Clockwork Ideas, with a flexible actuator arm sitting within a small spring attached to the point tie bar. They are fine tuned by plugging a PC into the layout and using MERG's configuration program. The fiddle yard has also been completed and has a single set of cassettes for a loco and rake of wagon. This is a loving copy of the set up on Brighton East. The importance of this is that it can be used as a head shunt and the front sidings used. More cassettes will be built in time. -finally, a set of 3d printing mock ups of the binliner containers - obviously curteosy of Kipford. The white one on the left is a early mock up, the grey one on the left a closer prototype. It still needs some tidying up but you can almost now start smelling London's waste being imported to Bristol with it's climate emergency and all. Next up.... -painting the track -ballasting -painting concrete and tarmac on motorway and overbridge -starting the main incinerator building

Some further work on the layout slowly taking shape - I am waiting for the MERG CBUS kits to arrive before installing droppers and wiring the layout. Meanwhile I have continued to work on the scenic break which is the motorway over the line. I have now made the middle section removable to allow access to the point below when fully installed. At the moment both sides are modules not yet attached and will be seated and filler used right to ground level once the track has been wired, painted and ballasted. The street lights have been primed, the wires set through the scenery layer to go through holes in the board, and sealed in plastic bags to keep them safe while doing the concrete and tarmac effects. The retaining wall of the bridge entrance was made from plasticard, and set into the polystyrene hills covered in filler. The flat surfaces have been primed with plastikote suede (now available on Amazon!) ready for various paint schemes to represent either newly cast concrete (bridge) or tarmac (motorway). I have also splashed out on a set of 3D printed motorway concrete barriers on Shapeways - actually quite pricey I now realise for what they are, but they are of a reasonable standard. What I cannot find is British outline Armco barrier, so iconic on British motorways - getting own design 3D printed may be the best solution... Finally the layout now has a single locomotive - the Dapol Class 68 in DRS compass livery - something I have resisted buying ay every exhibition in recent history but have now fallen for its charm - should keep the layout super up to date.

Funny how the addition of a few (currently misaligned) props can make all the difference

Work very, slowly, continues - but have a bit more routine to fit in working on the layout. Track is now all down , laid with PVA. Just need to finalise the cassette interface in the fiddle yard through the scenic break. I realised that only a single uncoupler would be needed for layout operation - one at the end of the unloading siding (that is the nearest line in the loop), allowing the locomotive to uncouple and go into the headshunt before going round the loop. This is going to be a Kadee compatible electromagnet and a gap was cut into the layout and a specialised jig (from Brighton East) for the magnet blades put in the gap. Operationally moves to put empty stock and permanent way stock in the front sidings could be started already uncoupled from the fiddle yard - simplifying things. I have also further worked on the scenic break to make this permanent - now having plasticard panelling, and the whole thing assembled and removable to assist in ballasting etc in this area for now. Making things more interesting - trying to get the feel of Avonmouth one of the characteristic drainage channels is starting to take form. Next is to install point motors (servo operated), and add the wiring to get things running. For this I have gone with the MERG CBUS system as well as their DCC controller - particularly for affordability and ease of installation/maintenance. The choice of and installation of back scene should probably have some consideration next- potentially sweeping views towards wales and the newly renamed/free "Prince of Wales Bridge". A I don't actually own a loco for the layout yet - I am trying to negotiate a new 66 in Biffa bins livery from Hattons when out soon however...

So it has been 18 months and very little has been done on the layout. Until this week.. This hiatus has been due to the rather unhealthy habit of working for the NHS and the birth of a now 9 month old new railway modeller. However over this time I have managed to do some more research and decision making about the layout, and have been in receipt of some very kind presents... Firstly I was given a set of hand built turn outs for my birthday by my father (now a grandfather) which are superb. I decided eventually to build in OO gauge rather than EM as time is of a great premium and re-wheeling stock is one less thing to do. I was tempted by the new Peco bullhead points that have realistic sleeper spacing (prototypically unrealistic as a whole though), but Kipford intervened. - I will hand build track one day, but not quite yet.. The Fiddle yard board is now up and attached and the aperture created from the scenic area. The templot track plan is also laid over the layout to give a feel of the track plan. The scenic break is now taking shape - The motorway embankment with the M49 has been synthesised and will be glued into place and then the hills fillered once the track has been laid below. The bridge section of the motorway is going to be supported by a horizontal I-beam, and just before the back scene is going to be a half length motorway gantry sign (I have modelled one half of the motorway) for which I have designed the signage- official HM gov fonts and all. I couldn't resist the police speed camera van which can sit in the hard shoulder making revenue, and I have ordered an ambulance for the obligatory medical cameo - this is going to be someone being stretchered away to A&E after a faint at work in the incinerator plant. Next up is to lay the track - the electrics are going to comprise of the MERG CBUS system for DCC bus and point servo control. Here's to the next 18 months will be more productive (in layout terms) than the last!

The layout now stands on its own three feet! A weekend alone (except for a certain helper trying not to get burnt by my poor soldering) has been very productive. The legs were shamelessly ripped off from Brighton East, with the left and right legs mounted on hinges and folding under the layout for transport, whilst the centre leg is a removal joist that embraces the abutting surfaces of the boards at the baseboard joint. Side bars keep everything rigid. The lighting rig has also been installed. This comprised of two sets of 5m LED strip light reels - one "cool white" and one "warm white". Both run in parallel together in double strips of each colour, providing a nice approximation of daylight, and are mounted on a panel at 45 degrees to the layout. With these so successful (and easy to install!) and playing around with the effects of in the individual colours, I couldn't resist adding a third strip, a red/green/blue LED strip from Maplins with a remote control! Its subtle but the tone can quite nicely be changed. In particular turning off the cool white lamps and leaving on warm white, with the RGB strip set to red gives a but more of a sunset feel, while setting RGB to blue then feels like dusk. Currently the three sets are just plugged into the wall, but if my soldering gets a bit better, I might make a lighting control panel housing the remote control, but also with a rheostat dial for the white LEDs to further play with effects (tone down for sunset etc.) Unfortunately I tried taking pictures of my only wagon under then different effects, but without playing around too long with the SLR settings even this seemed to look the same in each picture! Attached to the upper baseboard, before I decided to add the RGB LED strip Ready for final fitting. Double strips of warm white on one side, cool white on the other side and a single RGB strip down the middle. The intensity of the RGB strip isn't as high as the white lamps on a strip by strip basis

And board number two complete. The supplied metal dowels work perfectly and the joint between the two boards is very neat! The first stock is now on the board.... I might put the lighting in along the top sections, next to illuminate the next steps.

JonKing, the "overgrown" sidings were kind of based on round there (as viewed from the M4 for a few brief seconds), with the empty sidings with permenant way vehicles beside the oil terminal. Infact the old waste transfer sidings with the Binliners was also there too! The base boards have arrived and so far I am very impressed. The first board of two has been built in 45 minutes and is setting to dry. I know it is cheating.... but time is very difficult for me, and the instant gratification is undeniable! So far if anyone was thinking of laser cut base board kits I would thoroughly recommend them. Below is the first board through stages of construction, firstly the basement its all going to live in, the baseboards as they came in the pack, then the right hand board pieces spread out and assembled.