Will Vale
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Posts posted by Will Vale
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I think this came out really well, especially the second photo. The H&S signs are a nice touch!
Will
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I voted last week, and what an enjoyably challenging job it was too. Thanks to Andy for organising, and the entrants for entering, there were some fantastic dioramas in there.
Will
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I tried acrylic pouring medium (bought at the art shop, the brand I used is Liquitex) for the still water on Whitemarsh and I like the result very much. It has really good self-levelling behaviour so you get a nice flat surface. I seem to recall that it works out cheaper than the similar "sold for scenery" products. Good art shops have a board with demo patches of all their different gels and media, so you can have a look for yourself - I picked this because it was dead level and had a nice high gloss.
With all these things, as John says above pour in *thin* layers and let each dry fully before adding another. Try and keep the dust off while the surface is drying - lay newspaper or similar over the banks without touching the surface, and don't do other scenic work on the layout - scatter gets everywhere. You may want to top-coat with an acrylic varnish (Klear is great if you have some) to get even more shine once the "water" is dry.
One other tip - if your canal goes to the edge of the layout, rather than masking it off you might get better results by carefully pouring up to the edge but not adding so much that the stuff spills over. If you mask, the medium will creep up the tape and leave a meniscus, which to my mind looks worse. I did wonder about masking for the first pour, and unmasking for the second, in the hope of filling in the meniscus, but I haven't tried this yet.
HTH,
Will
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I'm not surprised road markings get mucked up - they're really difficult to do!
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I want a perfect looking plate girder bridge, so I'll build it. But it needs rivets, and in N gauge I think 'that is going to be one fiddly job and likely to muck up the work I've done'
That resonates for me. I want to do the best I can, but not do the things which will spoil what's already been done. I really dislike (for example) inappropriately bent or wobbly things on models which should be straight - much like your lines of rivets, I might stop short of doing them. Or do them, dislike them, and remove them again. Or do them, get lucky, and keep them
It's all about consistency of finish.Which reminds me - I'm looking at a photo of my bridge pillar, which has rather soft irregular stone courses (done in a hurry for a show deadline) and thinking I might need to replace it
Will
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Something a bit different, I'm building the Hirschsprung on the Höllentalbahn (near Freiburg) in 1:220. Getting the scenery right has been a mission, the Hirschsprung is a very narrow part of a deep valley with a road in the bottom, so not a lot of people are able to stop and take pictures, and those that do tend to point their cameras straight up to capture the famous statue of a stag. But it's getting there slowly:
Three weeks to go by Will Vale, on Flickr
Since I took these pictures I've moved the spikey rock (the blue one) about 3" to the left since I found a Google Maps update which suggested I'd got the arrangement wrong. Of course this was spotted after it was all carved and painted. At least I can say I'm moving mountains in pursuit of prototype accuracy
More here: http://www.rmweb.co....15/cat-190-1220
Cheers,
Will
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Very Minority Report!
n the face of it, it seems a bit odd to have private public transport - you have public transport-style infrastructure, but car-style vehicle loadings. Are the infrastructure costs for pods less than for e.g. bus guideways?
Will
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I'm going to have to admit defeat before starting - my Z layout is going to take all my time and there's an exhibition deadline behind that. Sorry, I really wanted to join in! Maybe I can do a dio afterwards as light relief
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MRA wagons
in Dapol
Thanks Martyn, looks like you're right. That's a really useful image - I hadn't realised how far along the curved frame the bogies sit, and it's very hard to read from the average looking-along-the-line photo.
I like the idea of hooking up the (brake, power?) connections as seen in your pic since the wagons will be running as a fixed rake. Didn't Jim S-W do something with tiny magnets for that?
Will
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MRA wagons
in Dapol
Those look splendid - love the fishbelly frame, safety gates, lifting eyes and all the hydraulic lines.
One question to ask: Are the bogie centres moved in a bit to allow tighter-than-prototype radii? It's a bit hard to tell since all the prototype pictures I can find are foreshortened making comparison difficult, but in the first model pic the bogies look a bit far in from the ends, and as though the outer faces are recessed, whereas in this pic of the real thing (scroll down) the bogies faces look flush or near flush with the outside of the frame, and closer to the ends:
http://www.miac.org.uk/wagons.htm
(but then the last pic of the models looks very similar, maybe it's just down to angles?)
I'm not trying to be clever or anything - I'm not an expert - but a less wide-angle photo of the model would be much appreciated! I'm still off to order a Railtrack set to go with my class 14
Will
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That's dedicated ownership! Does it still get driven?
Just realised what the Figaro reminds me of - it looks like a Mini ate a Karmann Ghia
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The Figaro is a charming little thing, I'd love to tootle around in one. Sarah Jane Smith had one in the Dr. Who spin-off as well.
I recall one Mitsubishi coupe, much loved by the average M'laddo
Was that the GTO? I'm pretty sure a couple of my friends had those in England, they were quite an entertaining car.
Will
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Some great stuff above, I love the Kirov as well!
I have a small pile of kits in the garage, but the few I've built have always ended up combined with railways:
Even these guys tend to hide in layout tunnels from time to time:
Current non-railway projects include a TSR-2 (started but not finished) and a 1:48 Do335A intended for a putative extension for the desert layout above. It's built and the cockpit is done, but I keep bottling out when I go to paint it. The winter weather is a convenient excuse...
Cheers,
Will
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I think the really nice thing about your results is that the rust and flaking is very much in-scale. You occasionally see these techniques massively overdone with lots of relief, which looks lovely and crunchy but not very realistic. Whereas the above looks terrific!
Will
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Can anyone find anything wrong with Jon's first picture in post #1451 ???
I'm not wild about the grass tuft or the square vignette, but I love everything else about it. Brilliant colouring and composition, lovely ballast, and the natural background is very well-matched too. It looks like a proper lineside shot.
Not up to the standard of others here, but i like it
Just beautiful, especially with the little flare. Actually looks like it could be a prototype shot. Sometimes less is more!
Will
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Taking "inspirational" as "making me look at the pictures over and over, and making me want to have a go" when I was younger:
* Craig and Mertonford, from a much-thumbed collected volume of those PSL books.
* Harry Brunk's Union Central and Northern. Amazing scope, detail and above all colour choice.
And much more recently, in the sense of "I want one of those"
* Steilstrecke by Jacq Damen and the Modelspoor Collectief. Beautiful scenery and structures. I like it best in the original form before the extension was built. Again, the colours are stunning.
At long last I'm in the process of acting on the latter inspiration - essentially the idea that you can build a really scenically interesting single track "steep" layout. I spent a lot of time finding a good prototype which had some of the same features that I liked in the model, and the aim is to build it relatively accurately modulo the usual contraints of space, time, money and scale.
I mention this just to point out that inspiration doesn't necessarily mean copying, just that a vital spark has been conveyed. It would be a shame to come home from a show or read a magazine and not be jolted into modelling activity just because what you saw wasn't the real railway.
Will
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I'd be interested to see something without backscenes - I'm not sure there's enough space in the challenge footprint for a backscene to read as distant, especially if you're modelling an urban environment. Being able to take photos from all directions is a plus as well, and you might be able to shoot in front of a suitable real scene to get a "complete" image.
Just my 2p, mind you. The loco bits look excellent, I look forward to seeing how this comes out.
Will
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I'm tempted, it might kick me out of my current modelling rut, especially as there'll be some light spring evenings (I live in backwards-season-land) towards the end of the challenge period.
But what to do? The most sensible thing would be to build a little something towards some of my "stock but no layout" interests. Which would suggest On30 (Dolly Varden?) in British Columbia, the Enoshima Dentetsu in Japanese N gauge, or something Dutch. That said, I did see a great black and white slide of a coal loading bin at a New Zealand hydraulic mine, which is pretty interesting and compact as well.
OK. back to the armchair for a little while to think about all this.
Will
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My example of D9521 arrived today, and looks very nice indeed. No loose parts despite travelling halfway around the world, and the blackened pickups (as noted above) make a big difference. I haven't run it yet - need to dig out the DC controller.
The idea is (eventually) to convert it to D9504 as used during the rebuilding of Whitemoor, complete with orange-clad shunter hanging off the steps. Possibly this will upset exhibition visitors at the shocking incorrect mix of periods as a class 14 shunts a set of Falcons or MRAs around
In theory I should do something about the headcode boxes, but this seems a bit scary - has anyone else done this? In this image they appear to have been removed entirely rather than plated over.
Will
[ edit: Given it a quick run now, and it's nice and quiet and runs through my pointwork happily enough. There's a fair bit of sideplay in the axles, and a hint of a rolling gait, but that's quite characterful
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Well done Dave - there was never any doubt in my mind as to the winner
Also thanks to the Andy, the team, and the other entrants for providing lots of inspiration and a reason to spend a decent amount of time modelling. I'm slightly surprised Whitemarsh placed so high, but also delighted as you can probably imagine!
Should go and finish things now, but the heat is sapping my modelling willpower - work is easier...
Cheers,
Will
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First let's stop this myth about wiring "for DCC" wire the track correctly then it will work.
True enough, but "wiring for dcc" is a good search term for finding the tip on wiring the stock rails and blades together - you get the same potential short with analogue and DCC, but it's much more of a problem with DCC since it will cause the booster to shut down, as opposed to the loco stuttering minutely.
A tip for those who have difficulty understanding double slips on control panels, draw them as two pointsSimple but effective - thanks for the tip!
Will
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I have a Peco code 75 electrofrog slip on Whitemarsh, with the frogs switched by Tortoise point motors. Running is fine with 08s and bogie locos, but if you're going for electric point control you might want to look at some kind of interlocking: I find setting the route through a slip using two switches really hard to get my head around (not sure why - possibly I'm just stupid!) and when you get it wrong it causes a short when the loco enters the slip. Much like entering a live frog turnout from the wrong direction, but easier to do.
My solution to this was to do all the point setting via routes on my handset, so I can only set up valid routes for moves. It's quicker too, and it makes it easier for other people to operate the layout.
[edit] I should add that as far as I know, wiring is a mite easier with Insulfrog, and running is a mite better with Electrofrog if you have short wheelbase locos.
[edit] This is a good site for answering this kind of question: Wiring for DCC
Will
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That's fantastic Jim, the glare adds so much.
Cliches on layouts
in Modelling musings & miscellany
Posted
I dunno about that one, I agree that those things (and relay boxes) are currently trendy to add to a layout, and I'm certainly guilty as charged. But if something's ubiquitous on the real thing it's not exactly wrong for it to be ubiquitous on models, provided it's been done with attention to detail and toned-in appropriately. There are lots of little differences in the way cables are handled in different locations which reward observation and a bit of modelling work.
It's a bit like saying "this fashion for signals is really tedious, they stand out like a sore thumb with all the blinkenlicht and waggly arms, makes it hard to see the trains."
Will