chaz

Thanks for that advice Rob, much appreciated. I will give both wet impression and dry scribing a try - it may be that a light impression from a press tool that marks out an area followed up with the scribing technique will be a good method - I'm a convinced "try it out and see" person. You will notice in my photo that the gaps between the setts (what would be called mortar courses in brickwork) look quite generous. I note your comment about thickness - I wasn't intending to go quite as thin as 0.5mm but it's reassuring to know that very thin layers will adhere without cracking. I will coat the surface with PVA as you suggest. I will test thoroughly before moving on to the yard surface on Dock Green, and that includes the card packing, which will itself be glued down firmly with PVA. WTS Chaz

I am thinking of using DAS for my setts, however I've never used this material before, so I will do some test pieces first. One thing I need to try out is whether to cut the pattern of setts in the DAS while is is still wet or when it has dried, or a mixture of both....There is some useful advice and guidance about using DAS to produce stonework in Dave Rowe's "Architectural Modelling in 4mm Scale" which I will study whilst I do my test pieces. He says that he uses DAS as little as 0.5mm thick. If I glue card between the rails and either side of the track I can economise on DAS - I have quite a large area to cover. I'm thinking of two jigs to help me apply the DAS. The first a piece of plasticard with notches filed in the edge to clear the chairs which can be used to space the DAS away from the rail leaving the flangeway clear.... and the other a piece with two very shallow notches that will slide along the rail tops and help me get a flat surface between the rails, slightly below rail level - just enough to ensure that wheels are not lifted from the rail. Dave Rowe suggests talc to prevent DAS sticking to tools. The piece of inset track I photographed at Amberley does not have a "checkrail" - just rectangular setts (they look brick-sized to me, although I have yet to scale the photos) laid parallel to the rails, I will do mine this way. A picture on page 87 of Bob Essery's "Railway Operation for the Modeller" shows this pattern in the goods yard at Heaton Norris. On page 71 of the same book is another picture showing a large area of square stone setts in the goods yard at Stewarts Lane, suggesting that the use of setts was very widespread. Enough encouragement for me! Chaz

I've put the canal to one side while I decide on how to do the water so I have moved on to the baseboard at the other end to warehouse. This will have some track inset into a roadway of stone setts. I spent a little time checking through books to find some reference with limited success and then a fortnight ago I went to the "Railway Day" (?) at Amberley Museum and came across this short section... ...nice that it includes two different sizes. I didn't have a rule with me so I put the leaflet/ticket into the picture below giving me a way of scaling and working out the sizes of the setts. Chaz

Oh yes, Jack, been there - hence the stands..... Chaz

I have found myself in a restricted position under a baseboard, unable to move....not good. You know you have a problem when you have to move a leg with your hand.... Chaz

Thanks for the tip If it was some time ago I might well have a copy - I stopped buying MRJ at about the time Tim Shakleton stopped being editor. Green transparent acrylic over black sounds a good idea. Worth a try. Chaz

I've seen that layout (some time ago at some show) - memory suggests that the section that rotates is quite small. Chaz

Presumably because the pain levels in your knees and hips haven't reached 11 on the ouchometer yet?

Ermmm......errr........hmmmm.

I've passed the age where I want to crawl about under layouts doing stuff like wiring - my knees are just not up to it. Now Dock Green has a set of 5 hinged legs. I recently modified a couple of these by fixing a piece of chipboard (actually part of an old worktop) to the top cross piece with 5mm set screws and wing nuts. The two plates both carry a 10mm bolt, fixed in place with a nut and penny washers. I fixed this pivot bolt so that there is enough clear space to allow a baseboard to swing. I drilled a 10.5mm hole in the centre of both ends of each board. The baseboard to be worked on is set up between the two legs as seen in the photo below, with the 10mm bolts pushed right through. My baseboards naturally want to spin round so that they are upside down but I use a G cramp to hold the board at the desired angle. Obviously when I want to use the legs to set up the whole railway it's a simple job to remove the 5mm bolts and detach the pivot plates. This arrangement really pays off when I want access to both sides. The baseboard can be flipped over and back again with very little effort. This afternoon I have been fitting some pine battens into this baseboard to support the shell of the canal. Being able to work both on the top and on the underside with very little effort made the job much less arduous. It's far too hot today for lifting and straining....... Chaz

More photos of the warehouse, showing it's current state.... The building in place on the layout. On the left is an (odd looking?) extension finished with corrugated plastic and a lot of Peco track pins representing bolts. I didn't want even more brick and needed something big to hide the end of the cassette area. Most of the buildings are not yet weathered and therefore look much too new. I will weather them when they are all in place - this way I hope to get a consistent look (and to reveal detail like bolt heads that the flat paint has tended to hide). Closer view of the LH end. The platform surface is dark grey card - it badly needs repair patches, seams, areas of different shades of grey etc - a job for later. The track along the platform is perilously close to the baseboard edge and I will be fitting a wooden fence along the front to prevent any accidents befalling (sorry!) the stock. The RH end showing the brick extension filling the gap between the main building and the (unfinished) road bridge. This extension is shaped to fit against the bridge and is, I hope, typical of how buildings were often shoe-horned into tight spaces. The back end of the bridge is cut away to allow access to the cassette area. This cut will be screened by a retaining wall just behind the headshunt, which you can see emerging beyond the staff access stairs. The wall on the far side of the bridge will have advertisement hoardings above it to further block the view - a job for later. Close up of one of the five downpipes with cast white-metal hoppers and 2mm plastic rod "pipes". I formed the bottom curve by heating gently over a candle flame and setting the shape on a drawing of the required angle. The pipe clamps are to a compromise design which doesn't bear really close examination! Nice quoins, but again photography shows up where a little more work is required! Fittings made for the downpipe clamps. That backplate looks very crude in this close up! The plastic rod (1.2mm) was again heated over a flame and then curved round a bit of spare downpipe. I drilled two holes in the building and pushed the "U" shaped rod through the backplate and into the holes, trapping the downpipe in place. I found it easier to guide the clips into the holes with the legs cut to different lengths. Often the springiness of the rod was enough to hold the clamp securely. If not pulling the clamp away slightly and applying a touch of CA did the trick. This is a big building! It needs to be to make an effective screen. The doors are all individually planked from 0.8mm plywood. The (non-moving) sliding doors are stuck on top of the walls with thin packing under them - which unfortunately doesn't show in this photo - so they look as though they will move. I would have liked to model some of the doors open, but the industrial siding cassette area is just behind the wall. The "people" doors are glued to small pieces of foamboard attached to the back of the wall so that they are inside the reveals. The hinged double doors and their frame are also fixed from the back. The hinges are cut from cereal box card. The boltheads on these hinges, the door knobs on the people doors and the bolts on the canopy are all Peco track pins. I got through a lot of those. Flash photography is too good at showing up all those little places that the paint brush missed....yet another job for later. Chaz

Thanks Mike. Having seen his layout at a show I must say Chris Nevard is something of a scenery wizard. Ironically I don't want propeller wash and boat wake as I don't intend modelling a passing barge - if I did I'd want it towed by a horse, as I remember seeing when I was a kid in Hoxton. I want my water to look flat and still. I am currently seeking a price on a suitable piece of clear acrylic sheet - hoping it doesn't do too much damage to the wallet...... Chaz

thanks, Dave, for the kind comment - although engineering masterpiece is pitching it a little high! Chaz

Thanks for the link. I think I may have a tin of Ronseal gloss with some in, if I decide on the varnish method I will probably do a test piece first.

Thanks for the advice Rob. If I use acrylic I will not be gluing it, I can screw it down, hiding the screws under the towpath and narrow ledge. Chaz

Thanks for that Mike. An encouraging photo! Of the three methods you have tried which would you judge gave the most convincing result? Chaz

The next scenic feature to get "the treatment" on Dock Green will be a canal. I have it in mind that the water should be that opaque pea-green colour that canals in London always seemed to be, and still, not ruffled by wind or passing barges. As you can see from the snap there will not be a huge amount of water visible. I intend to model a towpath on one side and a narrow ledge at the base of the retaining wall on the other . There are a number of ways of doing the water that occur to me.... 1 Paint some board the colour I want and then cover it with several layers of varnish 2 ditto but cover it with glass 3 ditto but cover it with acrylic 4 find a suitably coloured paper or card and then cover it as above 5 some other method that works better than any of these (!?!) Now, if you have done a canal, or seen it done on a layout and can advise me as to the best/easiest/most convincing way to do the water, I'd like to hear from you. I would be grateful for any comments or suggestions, as I haven't done water before. Chaz

Yes, indeed. I have done a few shows in the past, helping to operate a friend's 7mm layout. I think any layout tends to pale after two days regardless of how much scope it has. Chaz

No Don, that's right. Uncoupling is easy from above, recoupling is automatic. In fact no "shunting" (rearranging) of wagons will take place while they are on the cassettes, except to move the brake vans from one end to the other. For this I plan to use a special transfer cassette which won't have the brass strips and will only be used to move the brake vans. Each train of wagons (7 + brake) will take up two cassettes. Variety in returning trains can be the result of different combinations of pairs. Of course wagons will get shunted in Dock Green yard into different combinations. I agree with you about the internal floors, the warehouse is pretty big so has two of these and also partition walls in line with the "pillars" in the facade. there is also a back so that it's not possible to see right through. Once brick sheets are glued on I find the structure is quite substantial and much less prone to dents - although you do have to take care not to bruise corners. I haven't bothered with masking tape on joints - I rely instead on dressmakers pins. However these do slide in and out very easily so to keep a joint together they must be numerous and put in dovetail fashion. A rear view of the warehouse showing how the ground and first floors are very shallow to allow room for the cassette area. The top floor goes right to the back, mainly to strengthen the side walls. I glued a length of pine at the base of the front wall and another piece is glued vertically into the unsupported corner on the left. The "leg" locates in a square socket of stripwood, the front bar is drilled and drops onto two dowels protruding from the baseboard surface. The length of Peco track you can see is the headshunt. I couldn't persuade the bloke who laid the track that it was pointless to paint this section! I will post pictures of the front of the warehouse soon. Chaz

Some nice etched brass windows (D & S) which I bought at a show. I have eighteen of the style on the right for the front of the warehouse, some of which have a separate centre section (like the one on the left), so that they can be modelled open. Chaz

These are some pictures of the cassettes we are going to use on Dock Green. At the rear of the snap above is a wagon cassette. This is 660mm long and will accomodate four ten foot WB 4W goods wagons, or three and a brake van. In front, on the right, is a loco cassette - this is long enough for an 0-6-0 steam tank loco or an 0-6-0 diesel. On the left is a transition piece. This will be screwed to the baseboard - one end fits against the end of the running line laid in Peco BH track (you can just make out the slots into which the Peco rail will fit), the other couples to a cassette. Electrical connections will be made to the brass tabs at the top of the transition sides and will daisy-chain along the cassettes. A goods train will normally require two wagon cassettes and a loco cassette - making each train a maximum of 7 wagons and a brake van. This may not seem much but it's about all that will fit reasonably into an O gauge layout only sixteen feet long. A close up of one end of a cassette. The base is 12mm MDF with grooves cut in the top surface for the flangeways. Brass strips are screwed to the MDF to form "rails". The holes in the brass are slotted to allow a little movement when the brass expands and contracts and the screws are left a little slack to allow this. if this were not the case the brass might well buckle if it expanded in a warm exhibition hall. The plywood sides are the same length as the base but are fastened so that they project 10mm at one end - the base therefore projects by the same amount at the other. Cassettes will only be used one way round - but as I use Dingham couplings the rolling stock shouldn't be turned. Brass tabs are glued to the top corners and copper wire forms an electrical link from these to the rail strips. the plywood braces on the top are not intended as lifting handles - they are there to keep the sides square to the base. Two cassettes pushed together, showing how the ends interlock and how the electrical connection is made with Bulldog clips. To prevent stock rolling off the cassettes when they are moved I made simple stops from dowel and plywood, shaped like "dumbells". These drop into slots cut in the ends of the plywood sides. When the dumbells are in place the dowels are at buffer height. As you can see the loops on the Dingham couplers (fitted to all my stock) ride up to sit over the bar and are thus protected. The dowels are cut to be flush with the outside of the ply' sides so that the cassettes can be placed together side by side with no problem. this final snap shows a Bachmann Brassworks diesel shunter and a train of vans, positioned as it would be if it were running off the cassettes and arriving in Dock Green yard. I intend to buy some packaging grade plastic foam which can be cut into strips the height of the cassette sides. These will be slid into place so that the stock can be transported to shows inside the cassettes, without risk of damage (fingers crossed!). This cassette design was not a cheap solution as we used about £80 worth of brass strip! The advantage of using brass strip rather than conventional track is that it is extremely easy to rail the stock - you only need to slide vehicles sideways until the flanges click into the slots. Experience with cassettes on other layouts suggests that ordinary track can be a pain if stock needs lifting from layout to storage table and back. Chaz

Thanks, Alan. I do use a hot glue gun sometimes, but never on anything where a precise fit is required. You can't be sure how thick the glue in the joint will be when it has cooled and hardened - it depends on how much pressure was put on it when it was still in the plastic state. Occasionally this "adjustable filler" effect is an advantage but generally I prefer a more predictable and therefore accurate method. Incidentally PVA joints are very strong - when I have tried to dismantle a joint after some awful mistake the paper covering of the foamboard has ripped off rather than the joint separating - Nasty! Chaz

.....No, I haven't decided to go all Spanish. I gave the brickwork a quick coat of buff acrylic paint for the mortar courses. To the right is a mock up of a strange shaped extension which is there to fill the gap between the warehouse and the bridge - remember that the main function of the warehouse is to hide the cassette fiddle yard. The plywood you can see through those door openings is the side of a cassette. Chaz

Thanks for the comment, Pete. Double sided tape has the advantage of being very clean, no risk of any glue squeezing out! Do you mean that you use the tape to hold joints together while the PVA sets? Chaz

Some progress with the warehouse.... The canopy on the building's front has had Slater's corrugated plastic added. I used Peco track pins to represent the fixing bolts and gave the whole thing a coat of dark grey paint. I have also added embossed brick to the front of the building (although this is hard to see in the photo). The edges of the brick sheets, at the corners, have been cut to allow me to glue on quoins. The roughly painted upside down "T"s under the canopy are black to prevent the bare white foamboard showing through any gaps when I put on the sliding doors. I would have liked to model at least one pair of these doors open, but there will be fiddle yard cassettes inside the warehouse and only about an inch behind this wall - so this wouldn't have been sensible! Chaz