Ropley - Mid Hants Railway in N Gauge

[Revolution Ben]

Lovely work Tom!

[TomE]

Looks good tom the view looks almost like I am there what part on the yard is next on the list also liking the puddles typical ropley look

 

Cheers Chris. I'm sort of working my way out from the middle at the moment, but will probably work towards the engine shed next whilst I finish of the specs for the bridge, which is proving a little bit more complicated than I'd hoped!

 

Tom. 

[TomE]

Hello all. 

 

Finally, some progress! The old mojo has been swinging almost violently between strong and non-existant since the new year, however a couple of weekends at shows helping out with Jerry Clifford's Tucking Mill has catapulted it back to maximum setting, and unusually this time it has coincided with some time off work!

 

The focus at the moment is the engine shed building and wheel drop. This is really the main identity of the yard, and even though only a small proportion of both is being modelled initially, I wanted to try and get them spot on. The first building to the tackled is the engine shed, although I suppose workshop would be a better description. This has been constructed from various plastic sheeting, mostly Evergreen car siding or V Grove, and some brass section in the door openings to give strength and help stop warping. I wanted to model this with the inside visible so that some extra details can be added, such as something under restoration, so on the visible side a representation of the buildings frame has been made from brass section soldered together. It does add a bit of strength to the finished building but is essentially cosmetic. 

 

The building is sitting on a base made up from plastic sheet which has had the rails built into it to give the impression that they have been set into the concrete. This has been sprayed with Plasti-kote tan suede effect paint but will not be weathered until the ballasting/muck in the rest of the yard is complete so that it blends in with the rest of the area. 

 

The roof is going to need a bit of thought. Currently a sheet of Ratio N Gauge corrugated plastic is visible in the photos, but there are a lot of roof lights in this building and the join lines in the Ratio sheet are not in the right places for the real thing, not to mention the stuff is so thick its a b*gger to cut lots of small holes out of! Ideally what is needed is a sheet of transparent N Gauge corrugated plastic, but non exists as far as I can tell (a product opportunity for someone there!) so a home made attempt may well be the only solution here. 

 

Anyway, photos!

 

 

 

 

Next step is a coat of the obligatory green paint, then onto the brick built wheel drop shed. 

 

Cheers, 

 

Tom.  

 

 

 

[cornish trains jez]

Brilliant modelling as usual Tom. Your modelling is certainly something to aspire to and even in the close ups (which are normally the cruelest) it all looks nice and neat and well put together.

[TomE]

Thanks Jeremy.

 

There are a few rough edges that need cleaning up, but enjoying getting something done at the moment!

 

Tom. 

[TomE]

Hi all. 

 

Some progress on the shed building, which is now painted and is undergoing detailing. Quite pleased with how this has turned out so far. 

 

The building was sprayed with Railmatch Malachite green and the doors painted with a mix of grey & aluminium and the details picked out following photos of the actual building. 

 

 

 

 

 

And the real thing for comparison:

 

 

The crane just visible inside is a plastic mock up to get the sizing right before a brass version is soldered up. There will also be a set of frames made up to depict an engine under restoration in place of the 3F in the photos. 

 

I'm still trying to find a way to adequately depict clear corrugated glazing for the roof panels. So far heating a thin sheet of clear plastic placed over some of the Ratio corrugated roofing hasn't worked, neither has trying to press a small section of the Ratio stuff into a heated piece of plastic held in a home made jig, so back to the drawing board on this one! 

 

Cheers, 

 

Tom.  

[Southernboy]

Tom: Your modelling has to be the most immaculate I have seen. And that applies across the board.

 

Some are good at scenics, some with trackwork, others at modelling buildings (etc), but it's rare to see such consistently high standards applied to all areas of a layout where a lone modeller is concerned (ie. not a club set up).

 

I take my hat off to you.

[TomE]

Smaller access door added this morning. Also some representation of the various bits and pieces that line the visible inside wall have started to appear.

 

 

Tom. 

[87023Velocity]

Hi Tom,

 

To echo what others have said, superb work and very neat. I did a double take with the shed as I thought it was in 4mm not N gauge!

 

 

Cheers

 

Simon

 

[Graham_Muz]

You excellent high standard continues Tom, I look forward to seeing this in the flesh again sometime soon.

[Revolution Mike B]

Great skills here Tom! I'm just down the road from the Watercress Line and know it well. That shed is fantastic. Any chance you could make me one? Hahaha. :-)

[chriscleveland]

Looking good tom lots of clutter in there to do its a nightmare aha

Looking good tom lots of clutter in there to do its a nightmare aha

[TomE]

Thanks for all the kind comments, they are very much appreciated. 

 

I've been working on the ground work in front of the shed the last couple of days. This uses my 'go to' ballast material, Treemendous earth powder, fixed in place with Kleer and a mix of weathering powders applied whilst the Kleer is still slightly damp. I've tried to go for a slightly more unkempt look towards the shed as this is always how the area appears to be in reality. The puddles, a seemingly permanent fixture of the yard at Ropley, were made from clear plastic sheet sprayed dark grey on the reverse side and fixed in place before ballasting. When you catch them in the right light, the effect is quite pleasing. 

 

There is still some work to do as can be seen from the photos, but there will be a slight interlude whilst an order for more black weathering powder arrives! 

 

 

 

Cheers, 

 

Tom.  

Edited April 2, 2016 by TomE

[Gloucester Road]

Coming on brilliantly. Ive used plastic sheeting for water and it can, as does yours, look very effective.

[Kris]

That puddle really is a treat. 

[cornish trains jez]

Superb work Tom. The reflections of the locos in the puddles looks just right.

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

[dmeaden]

Inspirational attention to detail as usual Tom! The yard effects are great as is the shed. I was wondering if the shed will span two baseboards and sorry if I missed it but what did you used for the concrete floor and apron areas?

[TomE]

I was wondering if the shed will span two baseboards and sorry if I missed it but what did you used for the concrete floor and apron areas?

The eventual aim is to model the complete station area, so at some point the full length of the shed will be modelled. I suspect that's a few years away yet though!

 

The concrete floor is simply plastic sheet built up to the required height, the rails were fixed to this rather than trying to build it around sleapered track. It was sprayed using the now discontinued plasti-kote Tan suede effect paint to give it a bit of texture, then weathered using powders.

 

Cheers,

 

Tom.

Edited April 3, 2016 by TomE

[grahame]

Top class peerless modelling. Truly inspirational.

 

G.

[TomE]

Thanks again everyone 

 

Quite pleased with how the ground work is looking now it's dried out. A little blending in to do with the existing sections but it's getting there!

 

 

Tom. 

[Karhedron]

I agree with the other comments, truly outstanding modelling. I was never happy with the colour or texture of the area around my own engine shed. This has certainly given me some ideas for the future.

[TomE]

Whilst waiting for new supplies of weathering powder to arrive so that work on the yard can continue, I've been working on a few other little projects. 

 

The first is renumbering my Ivatt 2MT to represent preserved example 46521. This was a relatively easy thing to do using the LMS version of the model with the lettering & numbers removed and then Fox transfers used for the new numbering & BR totem. It's also had a coat of gloss varnish, with the exception of the smokebox, and some of the pipework picked out in a brass colour. It needs some light weathering to the tender chassis, and perhaps some very light weathering overall, but I think it is starting to look like a preserved engine. 

 

 

The 08 in the photo above is actually the same one seen in the previous photos in blue. I was planning to modify this to represent ex Yeoman shunter 08032 which now lives at Ropley, however I hadn't realised this lacked some of the equipment boxes the original Farish model came with. Luckily a cheap find of a spare body in BR green means it will now become fellow MHR machine 08377 with the correct body style. 

 

The demo freight, just visible in the back ground has also seen some expansion recently. Many of the preserved wagons are available off the shelf, however the MHR has several Palvans which are often used in the freight at galas. I recently found some available on Shapeways so a set in FXD is now winging it's way to Hampshire. This is the first time I'll have used a 3D print, so I'm curious to see how they turn out!

 

Cheers, 

 

Tom.  

[millerhillboy]

Easily amongst the most convincing groundwork I've seen irrespective of scale and the puddle is a real touch of class.

[Karhedron]

I've been working on the ground work in front of the shed the last couple of days. This uses my 'go to' ballast material, Treemendous earth powder, fixed in place with Kleer and a mix of weathering powders applied whilst the Kleer is still slightly damp.

 

CU0J6459.jpg

 

CU0J6454.jpg

Just wondering, please could you give us a little more detail on the "recipe" of earth powder and weathering powders you used?

[TomE]

The earth powder is sold by Treemendous. Its the basic earth powder I've used in the yard as this seems to be slightly finer than the Normandy earth powder I used as ballast on the main lines. 

 

Once it's been put down dry it is then tamped down smooth and ye olde style Johnson's Kleer is used to fix it in place. I use Kleer because it seems to have much better capillary action than any other medium, such as thinned PVA. This is simply dropped onto one corner of the area to be fixed, and then more added as it is drawn along. Trying to spray ballast of any size in N Gauge is a recipe for disaster in my personal opinion. I'm still using the old stuff, although I understand that the new Kleer can be used in the same manner. 

 

The weathering powder I've used so far has been the Green Scene stuff. This is exceptionally fine powder, which is perfect for doing this sort of work in N Gauge. I have tried Peco, but this is much grainier and doesn't quite give the same effect, although I think it will be useful for depicting ash deposits which have been cleaned out of fireboxes. At the moment, I'm also trying Humbrol black powder, and this seems to similar to and work just as well as the Green Scene powder. 

 

Whilst the Kleer is still damp, I roughly mix black and light grey weathering powders together to make a mucky grey colour, and this is tapped from a brush over the area to be covered. Then with a finger, it is simply tamped down to give a smoother finish. The less you tamp, the rougher the finish, but variation is key to making it look more realistic I think. 

 

I've just done the next section between lines in the yard using Humbrol black. It looks a little darker but thats probably as the Kleer hasn't completely dried out yet. (Note to self, must replace "coal" in Black 5 tender and paint tender wheels!) 

 

 

Hope this explains the process adequately. I keep meaning to take photos whilst I do this, but once I get started I don't like stopping!

 

Cheers, 

 

Tom.