Paul Robertson
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Blog Comments posted by Paul Robertson
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Looking good - I used this technique on my n gauge shunting layout 'Seahaven' and was really pleased with the results.
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14 minutes ago, SteveyDee68 said:
What makes your model work so well is your attention to detail together with the plethora of signage, road markings, barriers etc which simply scream out "modern day H&S". The close up detail is just as good as the overall impression, one adds to the other and vice versa!
Many thanks Steve. Trying to give that heavy hand of officialdom feel that these places have now without over egging it. Glad you like it
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8 hours ago, goldngreen said:
Great idea for the cones. I might steal that one if I need any for a future project.
Thanks. I've found by sticking on some extra bases I can create some convincing stacks and its a lot cheaper than buying off the shelf! Just need a steady hand getting the white stripe on.
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29 minutes ago, goldngreen said:
I am not an expert but guessed that, if you were finding that the brightness diminished as you added more, it was probably in series. I have not wired up LEDs before, only traditional bulbs. That prompted me to look on the internet to see what was said about LEDs specifically. I found this which might be useful: https://www.ledsupply.com/blog/wiring-leds-correctly-series-parallel-circuits-explained/. Having said that, the lighting looks great in your later pictures so I think you have a good solution.
Thanks to your excellent link I have now worked out that in fact I'm running my lighting via a hybrid series / parallel circuit! Who knew?! certainly not me when I was stumbling about in the metaphorical and physical dark! I guess that's why model railways are set at 12V and 1 amps so the electronically challenged can't kill themselves when experimenting with the dark science of layout electronics for the first time (Although I had the rather neat experience of using my body to complete a circuit when holding either end of the wires in my fingers with the transformer still on, a very weak light came through the LEDs. I was just grateful it wasn't 240V and 13 amps!)
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4 minutes ago, goldngreen said:
Are you wiring the LEDs in series or in parallel?
If a knew what that meant I could tell you! To me if I wire something up and it works I regard that as a victory! Seriously though, I think I had been wiring up in series hence the ever diminishing returns of light where as now I believe parallel as there is direct power and return to the transformer for a maximum of 3 leds. Is that right? You wouldn't believe my father was an electrical engineer. He'll be shaking his head when he reads this!!
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6 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:
Lighting really makes your layout look dramatic (as if it wasn't dramatic enough with a train ferry!). How tall are the mast lights in terms of scale height? I know you are using them for a general wash of light, but they look very tall (or is it because the left hand one looks taller than your cliff face?) Not a criticism, as I haven't looked at exactly how tall these things are in real life!
Hi Steve. They are 300mm 5mm diameter brass rods which represent a 45m high light mast. Pretty tall but about right for prototype (found a manufacturers website that had a case study on Dover harbour which was useful to gain some insight). Some of these things can get up to 60m!! The pipe should really taper as it goes up but I haven't found a way to do that so it looks a bit thick at the top. Although I need that thickness to fit the wires in. Also the bottle tops are a bit overscale in diameter fo a light cluster but to be honest I need that to cover up the LED and resistor at the top.
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9 hours ago, crompton said:
Hi Paul, its looking good. Impressive progress! Modern roads are hard to model IMHO, I think you have done a great job. I shall borrow your tips for lining out and road markings. Hope you don't mind me saying, but the cliffs seem quite close to the railway and road? I wonder if the cliff bases would look better with a concrete skirt and metal crash barriers? I am sure I have seen that somewhere. Or they could be covered with netting to prevent rock fall, as per Clifton Gorge in Bristol. Anyways, you have inspired me to put some track down on a board and start doing some modelling too!
Many thanks - The cliffs are a little close to the road and railway and a bit too shear an angle compared to prototype but that's the compromise with a 1ft wide layout. You are obviously a mind reader as I am thinking of placing a a rockfall prevention fence on the cliff similar to this:
This barrier at Dover has since been replaced with a galvanised steel H beam and galvanised mesh. Just trying to think of a mesh that will look good at n gauge. You can see the more realistic cliff angle and road setback in the image above.
(More modern catch fencing (should be an interesting modelling project!))
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6 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:
Thanks for showing the step by step for the water effects. On my Woodhey Quay layout I got as far as painting a murky browny green base water colour, and my next thought was to varnish it (spot who was raised in the 70s/80s!). Now, seeing your results with PVA and tacky glue, I think I shall follow suit!
Check out Kathy Millets instructional video on YouTube. Whilst my Wilko PVA took days rather than hours to dry as she stated, the rest was pretty much as her tutorial describes.
The colour is perhaps still a little blue but I wanted to capture a summers sunny day when the Dover sea is at its bluey greenest! (from the photos I've seen anyway)
I think I'm going to have a rethink about the cliff construction and perhaps order some Noch aluminium landscaping mesh or something similar. The polystyrene is too crude and thick in places for my liking. Live and learn!
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3 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:
Mike (above) took the words right out of my mouth!
Surprised that it wasn't given listed status, as brutalist architecture is started to be recognised as something sometimes worth preserving! That would have made an amazing museum, for example, with the cabin giving views out to sea.
Having said that, Bury police HQ was a brutalist affair but was also recently demolished (I think possibly asbestos was a factor)
Once I've built my cliff I'll give it a go at preserving it at 1:148 scale!
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29 minutes ago, SteveyDee68 said:
Your dockside painting looks as good as John Wiffen's photo texture versions on his downloadable dockside walls - nicely done!
Mental note to self - concrete dock walls for train ferry dock on my layout to distinguish from older dock walls!
Many thanks. The nice thing about painting is if you don't like it you can just paint over it again. This took about 3 coats to get the 'right' grey that I was happy with. I had thought about downloading some of John Wiffen's work but thought I'd give painting a go first as concrete is generally just a stained grey with some movement joints. If I mucked it up I could always stick paper over the top! I drew the line at old Victorian brickwork though which was just to small for my eyes so bought some brick paper for the viaduct and old tunnel mouth.
I really wanted the layout to have that feel of layered history to the engineering from the original late 19th century brickwork, 1930's architectural regeneration, and then late 20th century rebuild of the dock infrastructure. For modern layouts I think it helps to build the fictional backstory into the fabric of the layout to add realism.
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29 minutes ago, SteveyDee68 said:
Wondering what those signs would look like back in the late 1950s and early 1960s (not that some would exist, of course - CCTV?!)
I think the powers that be didn't care that much back then and such 'dangerous' places weren't covered in signage. You just had to learn quick on the job how to keep yourself safe!
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56 minutes ago, SteveyDee68 said:
I find it interesting that you are using balsa and modelling in N gauge, as that is some really tiny knife work! I assume you have your reasons? I purchased strips of various sized balsa to make dock edgings from a local art shop (much cheaper than the local model shop or HobbyCraft) but my wallet still felt the pain, but you seem to be using it in much larger quantities - surely card would be cheaper?
I was worried the card might not be robust enough over time to cope with what might get thrown at it in a household with relatively young children and the possibility of taking the layout out on the road. I've used a bit of cardboard here and there to help with curves but this is generally hidden away. I might have used plasticard on certain items if I had my time again to make painting easier without all the prep but that would have made it even more expensive! Much of the balsa has been used to bring some finesse to underlying much cheaper ply structure which gives a base rigidity.
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10 hours ago, westernviscount said:
This really looks like a really interesting subject for a layout. The scale of the ferry is quite unique.
Thanks. Always wanted to build an n gauge layout and thought I better get going before my eyesight couldn't cope with the details! Always fascinated by big engineering and my favourite part of my holiday as a child was going on the ferry or seeing them arrive and depart from Folkstone Harbour.
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9 hours ago, phil_sutters said:
In case you have missed some, here are the signs at the entrance to Ramsgate Harbour. I am pleased to see that your site manager has got his or her Portakabin, a reward for good progress!
That's great thanks Phil! One wonders if there is anything you are allowed to do at Ramsgate Harbour?! I believe catching a ferry isn't one of them anymore although as a child I remember going there once and vaguely recollect a viking longship being present at some prominent place. Would have to go through my dad's 8mm cine film to remind myself! Got to give the site manager a place to have a brew and other welfare arrangements!
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42 minutes ago, goldngreen said:
Wow!
I have some of these in my kit box but have not got round to using them yet. I will be interested to see the result with the DAS. Does the prototype have a camber?
Not aware about drains on the original admiralty pier prototype as all pics I've seen are of the much more interesting (for rail photographers) lower rail linkspan and the structure is a bit freelance but for mine there is an inferred camber as I'm putting gullies on both sides of the road. I'm also inferring a movement joint half way along the bridge with gullies either side to prevent water running across the joint. I'm not going to try and model the camber though as it would be less than a 1mm rise to the middle of the road and will just draw in my movement joint with a pen. There is only such much detail my eyesight can cope with applying!
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6 hours ago, goldngreen said:
Like to see how the balsa structures are progressing.
I'm concentrating on the ship first. Allowing myself to make mistakes on that and learn the art of prepping and painting then will get on to the other structures. Watch this space!
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Useful tips there. I'm looking to add third rail onto my n gauge mini layout so this will be really helpful.
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1 hour ago, crompton said:
The photo of the 33s you posted last week looked great. Definitely a novel idea for a layout. Is the ferry intended to be removable, like a cassette? If so, that's neat! Look forward to following your progress. You will have it finished by Christmas at this rate!
Thanks for the comment. Whilst the ferry is currently removable my idea was to have it permanently fixed to ensure good alignment between the rails. I'd also have to create a separate 'sea' cassette to go in its place when the ferry had departed. Perhaps a temporary fix for the time being whilst I get the rest of the layout sorted and then I can think of grander ideas.
I take no credit for the photos. Just Internet finds that help to illustrate prototypes. Happy to give credit where it is due if I tread on someone's copyright!
Xmas 2025 maybe! My father's layout started when my brother and I were still in shorts is still at the baseboard stage some 45 years later! Still he did decide to model the entirety of Ipswich Station and handmade all the track in the station limits. I'm hoping to have something completed way before that although are model railways ever complete?! A subject for a whole different blog me thinks.
Paul
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4 hours ago, phil_sutters said:
I have some photos of the model of Seaford station in the town museum. I took them for a photographic project I am working on, on the understanding that I did not publish them. However I would be happy to send them to you. I am not sure how to use the RMweb for that, but if you email me at philsutters@googlemail.com I can send them to you.
Thanks for the offer Phil. I'm more looking for prototype photos around Admiralty pier, the linkspan, the Nord-pas-de-Calais birthed up so I can check out moorings, operational clutter, etc. The station I want to build is probably going to be something art deco in style imagining a 1930's railway terminus built for the original boat train traffic (imagine Surbiton station by the sea!) but a bit run down and unkempt now but with some of its original grandeur coming through. I'll keep your offer in mind though. Thanks again
Paul
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9 minutes ago, den250 said:
Just seen this layout on twitter based on the same area as yours unless it is yours
Ah! oh well, nothings totally original I guess! I'll have to look that one up. Many thanks for the gen!
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7 minutes ago, WillCav said:
Paul,
Looking forward to seeing this layout being built - an interesting idea.
One observation - are the retaining walls and the low wall by the ferry a bit close to the tracks? You might want to check the clearances by running some stock through before everything is fixed in place. Especially, check the curved line on the crossover as the ends of a long vehicle swing out wide and may hit the low wall. It could be that it's an optical illusion and all is well but I wouldn't want you to have problems later and have to re-build.
regards
Will
Thanks for the advice Will. I've been running one of my ferry wagons up and down as I've been going so fairly confident all is well. Thankfully did this before I stuck down the wall to my customs house which has a very tight radius curve on it and the entrance needs some adjustment to get wagons in. Hopefully will be rectified shortly.
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8 hours ago, phil_sutters said:
You will be pleased to note that Seahaven already has its own Maritime Academy, secondary school, food bank and radio station https://www.seahavenfm.com/ . However these are about 75 miles west of Folkestone! Seaford and Newhaven share a number of facilities under the 'Seahaven' banner.
Calling you layout Seahaven will mean I shall keep popping back when the name surfaces. Best of luck. My own static diorama based on Highbridge Wharf is making some, slow, progress, but I have a nasty habit of acquiring bits of kit for it, making and/or painting them and not actually getting anything in the way of track and buildings onto the baseboard! The Wharf was at the seaward end of the Somerset Levels, so I don't need major infrastructure of the type that you are building.
The quayside bit was made some time ago.
Hi Phil - Many thanks for your reply. Choosing Imaginary names is always tricky as they always seem to be taken up by someplace else before! My paternal grandfather had an O gauge layout with white cliffs and a little terminus all scratch built in his garden shed called 'Whitehaven'. This was freelancing on the original Whitehaven name which I know exists in Cumbria. My Grandfather was also a hobbyist model engineer who had a combined interest in ships and trains (must run in the genes!). My father still has a gauge 1 ex-working LNER B12 loco (memories of my brother and I being propelled behind it on a short demonstration track in the garden on sunny weekend afternoons in our youth) and a roughly 1:76 scale model of the paddle steamer 'Golden Eagle' in glass cabinets on his stairs. Unfortunately the copper boiler tube of the B12 sprang a leak in the late 80's after approximately 50 years service and thus its steaming days are now over.
At least I'm in the same rough BR region. Interestingly my first ever railway layout as a teenager was named 'Seaford' which I had deliberately named after the place having wanted to find a modern third rail seaside terminus small enough to fit into my tiny bedroom. Never having visited the place that layout too was borne from my imagination although I had caught the ferry from Newhaven for a family holiday once. The name popped up after scanning through some detailed AA road Atlas's.
Liking the look of your diorama some lovely detailing on the small ships. Wasn't aware of Highbridge Wharf, but its fascinating to find about all these little ship to train transportation nuggets that are slowly receding into history. A little further down the coast at Bridgewater is another small Wharf by the River Parrett I believe is still used by Hansen Aggregates which from an aerial reconnaissance via google earth still seems to have some wharfside track in place although unfortunately long since disconnected from the national network. (See screenshot below)
Anyway many thanks for taking the time to comment and good luck with your project too! Hope to see you back here soon
Kind regards
Paul
The sky's the limit...
in Seahaven
A blog by Paul Robertson in RMweb Blogs
Posted
Thanks Steve - I was going to put an mdf cut out piece along the base of the front of the layout to cover up the various bits of wood and filler and paint it black with a curtain to cover the trestle legs. Not sure yet about something across the top as it might get in the way of the eye line. Hope you're feeling better soon