gerrym

Hi everybody, After a very long gap of approx. 5 months!! I thought an update was necessary, since the last report I continued to concentrate on the wiring which in the long term proved to be a mistake. By utilizing the Peco controlled servos to operate the turnouts and all the connections required across the joint between the two boards and then to a separate control panel box via more connectors the wiring became a nightmare! finally it was finished and a test of the system was necessary, well as they say, nada, zero, zilch! nothing worked as it should have done. Many hours were wasted searching for faults to no avail so eventually the decision was made to start again! not just the wiring but the whole layout. I carefully unsoldered every switch, connector and length of wiring and all the servos etc. then stripped the track work and all the track underlay until I got back to bare smooth baseboards. I have now started again, the basic track plan is the same but a much simpler formation without any double or single slips and only four turnouts and servos required. Across board joints still have to be made but with much simpler wiring. The control panel will be much more straight forward and built into the back of the layout with out using a separate box. I have now begun laying track again which is a sign of progress and I have to admit I believe the layout will be all the better for being simpler, time will tell! Anyway that is the brief history of Shelva 1 now on with Shelva 2, hopefully I can report more positive progress from now on. Keep well and stay safe. Gerry M

Hi all, Well, it has only taken the best part of a month but I have the workshop building 99% completed, just the glazing to go behind the windows and a little extra weathering here and there. As you can see I went the full on 70's look! brown, orange, beige !! My first house when I got married looked like that inside!! The building was first given a careful coating of grey primer, I say careful only because the kit has some very fine panelling detail on the walls and low level brickwork and I did not want to blot it out with several layers of paint. The large wall areas were then spayed with Rover Sable Brown! How many years that had been sat on the garage shelf I have no idea, but it still worked. The lower level brickwork was painted with a very old but unopened tin of beige Humbrol enamel. It was about this time that bricks were starting to be manufactured in a far more varied range of colours that did not have the natural variations in colouring and were very precise giving a far sharper edge to corners and reveals etc. The roof was another tin of brown enamel which is a different shade to the side walls and then the window and door detailing was picked out in orange enamel. The roller doors were cut off to represent doors nearly fully open and then painted with yellow and black alternate panels. Yet another pack of Sankey scenics warning signs provided the safety signage at the entrances etc. being again self adhesive they are very easy to use and add a finishing touch. the building has been lightly weathered to indicate water stains on the bricks etc. but the model is supposed to be relatively new so not to much staining. So thats it for the workshop . more progress is being made with the wiring although I struggle with wiring and I seem to be soldering an awful lot of wires together for a small layout! Think a review of the wiring might be called for before any further work is carried out. There should be a couple of pics attached - hopefully. Gerry M

Hi Mark, Thanks for the feed back, the arches were painted with my usual matt enamels which have always been my favourite paints, I cannot get on with acrylics especially on larger surfaces as they dry to fast for my liking. The walls were given a thin coating of pale grey to colour the brick coursing which was then allowed to dry thoroughly. following on with the basic brick colours, a mix of deep blue and dirty black to replicate engineering bricks. I have found a source of very cheap plastic moulded painting pallets courtesy of Freestone Models that I put a quantity of each colour on to separately and blend them as I go, this produces a little variation across the surface. I apply the paint in the same way as you would weather a model, most of the paint is wiped off onto kitchen paper! However the secret is to apply the paint diagonally in each direction across the brick joints then you are not painting directly down a joint and filling it with dark paint. You will fill some of the joints but it does not matter as 150 year old brickwork will be far from perfect! To finish I have worked some dirty brown colour sparingly randomly over the surface here and there to bring in a little variation to the final finish. Once everything is in place on the model I will add some weed growth in places to make it all look a little more decrepid . Gerry M

Hi again, these should be pics of the arches! Gerry M

Hi all, After another long gap I can show progress on the scenery front. The electrics are nearly complete with the control panel carpentry complete but as yet to be wired. The stumbling block is how to replicate the track diagram on the white plasticard panel. marker tape or painted lines or even simple marker pens? Anyway, scenery, well I have used so far Wills plastic railway arches for the low level road tunnel under the track and Wills Modern industrial/retail unit for the wagon repair shop. I have been very impressed with both kits, they are well moulded and include plenty of optional parts to create variations. The arches required two kits which has left over a considerable number of spare components. Like wise the industrial unit required one kit plus the extension kit also available in the range. The spares will not be wasted however as the spares box is waiting to gobble them up for future use! I have built the tunnel entrance from some of the spares and created some workshop type arches with wooden doors. All in all I am very pleased with the result. Also after a little searching on the interweb I came across Sanky Scenics sheets of fly posters from the 1970s which are very thin self adhesive prints which has added some character to the brickwork. Very nice they look too. The workshop building has worked out better than expected. I wanted to have a structure that had two roads entering it and to be quite a large building to close off the far end of the layout as such. This will fit into the corner tight against both sides of the backscene. to achieve this I constructed the kit as effectively a low relief building. You will see on the photo. I have had to add various parts of white plasticard to make up height differences created by using side walls etc in places they were not designed to go! Also there is a large sheet of plastic along the back of the building to give it some stiffness and a false rear wall from some of the spares from the kit. without these the structure would just collapse , additional spares were used inside to stiffen the model up. I do not intend to model the interior as it will mainly be out of sight so these additions will not be visible. Next stage painting the workshop. I have painted the three components of the arches as I want to install them on the layout just to keep them safe as much as anything. The workshop needs to be installed as this will again add to the stiffness as it is still a bit wibbly wobbly! Also I find having one or two of the main structures fixed in place helps to finalise the rest of the layout by adding to the perspective. Hopefully there should be a pic. or two added. I will add pics of the arches on next installment. Gerry M.

Hi All, After a long hiatus an update on progress. After a great deal of thought I have settled for a separate control panel which will fix to the rear of the layout somewhere near the centre and connect with a D plug into a corresponding built in socket. The wiring beneath the two boards is now virtually complete, servo number 7 had to be mounted above the board after was found to foul the road tunnel wood work below track level. A slight miscalculation on my part! You will see from the picture it will be behind a scenic retaining wall in the area of the fiddle yard so not really a problem. The wiring looks a bit messy in places as there are unconnected wires still there for yard lamps and street lighting when they are installed. I have numbered marked under the boards just what is what in the hope of making maintenance easier in future, so long as I remember! Going back to the control panel, the box is built of 5mm ply wood but the top surface is a sheet of single sided copperclad which I am going to fix copper face down. this will enable any black common return wires to be soldered directly to the surface and reduce the number of tag strips etc. the top surface is going to be faced with a sheet of white plasticard which will have the track diagram marked on it. The servo switches I plan to position on the track diagram to indicate direction by the throw of the switch. The fan of sidings will have led lights in each track which will indicate which sidings are live or switched out. I think I will have finish the surface with a sheet of clear plastic to protect the diagram markings when in use. Next stage is to cut the ply sheet for the back scenes, the plan is to cut and fit the sheet to utilize the board joining bolts in such a way that the boards can fit together one on top of the other to form an enclosed box rather reminiscent of a coffin! This will both protect the layout and help with travelling in a car etc. Then I can move on to the interesting bit , the scenery! In the secret supply cupboard I have some nice back scene sheets that can be cut and shut create an interesting background and some modern multipurpose shed kits from the Wills range which can be mixed and matched to suit your individual requirements. these will form the wagon repair shop buildings at the far end of the layout. As I have mentioned before I have a small assortment of BR vehicles as used by track maintenance teams of the correct period, so the plan is to create a small maintenance yard at the front of the layout with Portakabin type site offices and materials. This should form a scenic block in front of the track work and the moving trains which hopefully will add some interest to the layout. Hopefully attached are some pics of the latest progress , I say this every time because I am still not sure what I am doing and its very hit and miss that you will see the pics!! Gerry M.

Hello everyone, Finally managed to get round to an update. Well the track is all down and glued in position. The final track plan is the one shown in the last two pics. and the initial wiring begun. All the through board wires are in place and connected to relevant tag strips, I have adopted the common return principal, black cabling, and red cable for the feeds via switches where required. Four servos are in place, two each for the single and double slips operating via a Smartswitch control board. The remaining three servos will operate via another control board mounted under the R/H layout board. Fortunately the various components for the system are available separately so there was no need to buy a whole additional box of components. Next thing to tackle is the control panel for the layout which will allow me to complete most of the wiring. This is where everything slows up. I cannot decide whether to have a separate panel box that fits on the back of the layout but would project into the operators space or a dispersed control panel with all the switches built into the rear of the layout but spread along its length which would mean the operator (s) moving backwards and forwards to operate. Most of my layouts have been controlled from the front which prevents the layout becoming a barrier from the viewing visitors. I am also planning to have operating lights in the yard area and some of the structures so switching for these will have to be incorporated in the panel also. Hopefully I will add some pictures to the next update to clarify things . In the meantime everyone keep safe and make good use of all the modelling time we now have!! Gerry M.

Hi all, Following Mikes earlier suggestion to create a fiddle stick/cassette behind a high wall at the rear of the layout I have basically had a complete re-think of the track plan. Instead of another turnout I have incorporated a single slip which will enhance the operating potential plus another turnout at the front of the layout to create a loco head shunt. A double slip adjoining a single slip seems a little extravagant for a yard of this size but it will make things more interesting! The area to the right not covered with foam board will have a high level retaining wall and possibly a row of properties above but not sure yet. The low level bridge/tunnel entrance is now constructed as shown, it will be finished as a low level arched bridge which would mean the bus shown would have to use the centre of the arch to pass through. I will add white restriction marking and yellow flashing hazard lights or traffic lights to enhance the scene. I am starting track laying tomorrow . After pondering on the dilemma of where to begin I have decided to fix the single slip in position first as it is located on the board joint in the centre of the layout. This will allow the track to be laid in sequence in both directions to maintain alignment. This also ensures none of the turnouts straddle the board joint! Attached is a photo of the layout which should make the track plan clearer Gerry

Hi every one, I have managed some more progress on the R/H board today, the roadway such as it is installed and extended under the main board to form the surface of the short road tunnel. this took some time to measure up and cut to fit but managed it at the first attempt! In the store cupboard I have stashed away a Peco Smartswitch turnout power system that I intend to use on this layout. Some of you may have already tried this system? I built a test rig using a spare turn out mounted on some foamboard and am pleased with the way it operates. the instructions are not crystal clear on how to set things up but that maybe me as electronics and me are not the best of friends! I also have a more than a passing interest in building R C model aircraft, consequently there is another store cupboard of servos, servo testers, cables, battery systems receivers etc. Using a servo tester you can centralise the servos which is quite important with this Peco system before you try to install and set them up. The set up includes a programmer that allows you to set the speed of the servo and the length of the throw depending on the track system you are using, all in all it appears to be quite a good product, time will tell. I will put more pictures on here when i have finished the two boards and then start laying track. The plan is to use 5mm white foam board as a track underlay, mainly because I have numerous sheets in stock! Has anybody tried this as a material. the main issue I see is the fact that if it gets crushed by finger pressure or whatever it stays crushed and does not spring back to a flat surface. Anyway, more anon. Gerry

Hi Mike , everyone. I have been thinking about your suggestion of an additional turnout to enter a single hidden line or even a cassette behind another high wall. Taking it a stage further instead of a turnout a crossover would allow a train to enter the layout through the double slip and into the scenic area. Food for thought? Hopefully attached are a couple of pics of the baseboards showing progress so far. They show the R/H board with the dropped front area which will have a row of arches with businesses and workshops in and a short vehicle tunnel that will disappear to the rear of the layout. the low tunnel position is indicated by the dotted lines on the board surface. The L/H board of the pair is just a plain box but I will show both again when the ply cross bracing is installed. I became a little concerned this afternoon as the 5mm plywood was warping to a small but perceivable degree while I was working. as you can see my work area for more industrial type work is the entrance to the garage! The weather was very good, warm but not in direct sunlight. After cutting the thinner strips for the front and rear of the boards they took on a distinct curve! Once fixed in place they were OK but I will check tomorrow to make sure. The nail gun approach is going well, much quicker than drilling a pilot hole, counter sinking and screwing. The only thing to make sure of is fixing two pieces together requires careful clamping of the work pieces after application of the glue. the gun fires with quite a jolt and it would be easy let two components slip and become misaligned. The gun I have is a Parkside mains powered tool, from those well known continental stores that sell anything, that fires staples or nails,,strictly speaking they are 25mm pins not nails as such. Hopefully more progress tomorrow! Gerry

Hello, Thanks for the interest in the layout, I think I did not make things very clear in my opening page. There are 2no boards measuring 810 long so the layout length will be 1620 mm . I think I am correct in saying that is too long for Ikea shelves plus a fiddle yard board which so far I haven't thought about yet! I managed to put a couple of hours in this afternoon and built the L/H board except for the bracing on the underside . The depth of the front, back and ends is 160mm which sounds a lot but the R/H board will have a change in scenic level at the front for a retaining wall with brick arches and a section of low level roadway just to add some interest to an otherwise flat layout! I have attached another picture of the layout plan which should be more readable, hopefully. The plan is to assemble the R/H board tomorrow and add a couple of pictures of progress so far. Gerry

Hello, In this strange world we now inhabit I decided to make use of the confinement to begin using up some of the accumulated material in my storage cupboard in the railway room. I usually model in O gauge, you may have seen my exhibition micro layout Queens Street Yard in the 7mm scale listings. Also I have a thread running in Narrow Gauge Modelling, ref Layout with no name, 7mm N.G. . Well, for a change I am beginning a new layout , again Micro/Cameo type in OO gauge. For a complete change , OO gauge , ready to run , out of the box blue diesels! You all know the story, you attend an exhibition and see a bargain and an idea pops into your head and before you know it you have returned home with a model that has no connection at all with your usual interests and it goes in the cupboard for future use! Well I have accumulated a Heljan Class 17 Clayton in BR blue, various engineers wagons, some Peco code 75 track and turnouts etc. Plus various structure kits. Add in my stocks of electrical switches, connectors, wire, point servos, tag strips and everything else and I have all the ingredients for another layout. In addition I have quite a number of the Base toys BR road vehicles of exactly the period I am going to model. The layout is at the moment called Shelva, I won't go into the reasons now. I like to make use of standard sized sheets of Plywood when building baseboards, it saves time. The boards are going to be good quality 9mm plywood for the surface with all the framing 5mm plywood. The board size is 810 x 405 x 9mm thick for the top surface and end plates. The sides and under surface framing will be 5mm thick ply. All my layouts seem to be an experiment, Queens Street Yard is similar thicknesses of ply all glued and screwed together, lots of screws! The N.G. layout is built of foam board, very light but rather fragile. This layout as I have said will be ply with Gorilla glue which is very strong but also fixed with a nail gun. I have begun the construction this afternoon and its much quicker than using dozens of screws! Hopefully i have attached a crudely drawn plan of the layout , which may well change! At the right hand end there will be a fiddle yard utilizing a cassette system, nice and simple. So that kicks off the new layout , I will try to add more as things progress. Cheers all, keep safe Gerry M Scan0013.pdf

Hi everyone, as they say more haste less speed! In the rush to add my post last night I forgot to add the pictures I was making reference too! With luck the pics should be here . Gerry M

Good evening viewers, well after a two month hiatus I have progressed this little layout a step or two further. All the previous pictures on this thread show the structures stood in position but not fixed in place. Now the three basic structures are glued in place which I must admit helped the stiffness of the layout no end. I have constructed the roof of the warehouse on the rear backscene, it still requires the tiling to be added however, which has made a big difference to rigidity, also more detail to the adjacent store building. That red paint I sprayed on the track was really annoying me as it looked so awful so I decided to cover it with stone setts at rail level. I used Howard Scenics embossed card setts cut to fit and follow the rail curvature. I have used this material very successfully on my standard gauge 7mm layout, Queens Street Yard, and it has done the job here . I was pondering on how to finish the setts so decided to use a sandy colour poster paint as the base colour (because that was what was in the cupboard!) and I also had in the cupboard a plastic box of about fifteen assorted weathering powders that were very coarse and not very good. Of these I used only two colours and stippled them onto the wet paint with a stubby thick brush in the hope that they blended with the paint before everything dried out, well the jury is still out on this. Very clearly more work is required to even out the basic ground colour before further enhancement is carried out. We shall see! The bridge /scenic break was originally painted in shades of grey which looked pretty unconvincing so that was painted in a similar way to the store building at the opposite end and looks more suitable. you will also spot next to the bridge are two gate posts, these will form the entrance to this tiny yard eventually. Funnily enough about a month ago I was having a big sort out in my railway room and nearly binned this layout as I was losing interest in it but had second thoughts after I had loaded the car with stuff for the tip! Fortunately it was the last thing to be loaded so no damage had occurred and it returned to the workshop! In the meantime A very Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy modelling New Year GerryM

Just thought I would add an update to my recent comment ref. a little piece of news, The Battery loco. is now painted and running , 99% finished, and completed its first outing to the Thornbury show this W/E. It was well received despite the majority of viewers not knowing what it was unsurprisingly! a couple of people knew precisely what it was and passed on to me some useful information which was great. The loco has some lead sheet packed into the central battery box under the chassis but needs a great deal more to be fitted into the body structure, it could pull one wagon or two light ones and that was it! I have chosen the simple route when building it and consequently it is only driven on one axle, two wheel drive. Without a lot more ballast it is not going to be very useful. Mind you I do not think the prototype could move a great deal more . You will see in the picture it looks very ex works and requires some weathering to tone down the newness. I will keep you posted of progress and pulling power!!