“WASHBOURNE”

[Northroader]

Well——, yes... I, er, ..cof, cof.....sort of... you know... umm..

Edited March 2, 2020 by Northroader

[Northroader]

There’s been three open wagons hanging around Washbourne Yard, which need to be finished off by having some tarpaulin sheets fitted. Up to now I’ve used paper which has been painted and lettered on the one side, also one commercial job printed on paper. I soak them in water in the hope of getting them to fit better on the wagon, but there’s a need to handle them very carefully, or else they’ll tear on any corners. This time I thought I’d try something different, and try aluminium cooking foil.  I cut some rectangles out, but rather than use specified size I did them lining up by eye, as I think the sheets can be on the large size, and I wanted the lower half of the wagon to be visible, to show what it is. The make I used was Bacofoil, which has a dinky diamond pattern embossed on it, and this needed to be removed by a rub with a smooth curved surface, in this case the loop of a scissors handle. My main worry was how paint would take to the foil, and I used Humbrol no.1 light grey primer, then a top coat of a charcoal grey mix of Humbrol paint. Lettering and markings were done with a springbow pen, using a light touch to avoid the nib of the pen cutting through the foil, and then a coat of Matt varnish to finish off. When I’m applying random numbers, I do it the lazy way, disturbing the moths by pulling a banknote out of my wallet and using part of the serial number on that. The boss’s mending basket furnished some brown thread when she wasn’t looking, and this was glued to the back of the sheet with Evostik, although I skimped on the number of threads or it gets fiddly.

This is a view with the tops of two sheets and the underside of the other with the threads glued on. The wagons have had false floors in 2mm ply loose fitted, and some blocks of wood stuck on top to give some form under the sheets. The edges and corners have been smoothed off with emery paper. The undersides have primer and dark grey painted over the glued thread, and then they’re ready to fit. They went on very well, and I was able to drape them over the wagon, mould them on the sides and ends, and fold the corners quite easily, and they would keep their shape. The threads were pulled tight with tweezers and pressed down into little puddles of Uhu glue on the underside of the wagon. I was pleased to find that the paint hadn’t lifted from the foil at all, it takes very well, apart from one tiny spot on a very sharply folded corner crease, and a quick dab of paint sorted that out. To finish off they had some pastel chalk powder scattered over them and brushed in.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Northroader

[Nearholmer]

Very good method, and superbly executed, if I may say so.

 

Isn’t the bloke who sheeted that middle wagon going to get a b*******g for failing to use the sheet tail/chain and creating the likelihood of ‘ponding’?

[F-UnitMad]

Gluing thread inside the sheets is a neat trick - never seen that before but very good for controlling the folding process by the looks of it.

 

40 minutes ago, Northroader said:

....and this needed to be removed by a rub with a smooth curved surface....

Hands up who thought of Hilda when they read that ??!!   

 

Oh, that'll just be me, then....    

[Northroader]

With any of the wagons with not much of a load you can get a sag in the middle and a lake forming, and so sheet rails were  Invented. It isn’t til you do it that you realise what a drawback bonnet ends were. 

I think Hilda in self isolation at present, I really must get the hand gel out.

[Nearholmer]

You'll need a fair-sized barrel of it if you are going to ask her to go beyond her hands.

 

Those SER wagons and similar often had chains or baulks fitting into sockets, rather than the later type of tubular sheet-rail, but I 'spect you know that already.

[Mikkel]

Very nice sheeting. Especially interesting to see that the paint sticks on. I have used (very thin) foil laminated with printed paper, but this looks like a very attractive option. 

 

The lettering is very well done by the way, no mean feat.

 

9 hours ago, Northroader said:

When I’m applying random numbers, I do it the lazy way, disturbing the moths by pulling a banknote out of my wallet and using part of the serial number on that.

 

Poor man's cheque book modelling.

[Nearholmer]

A thought just struck me: we had some strange baking-paper recently, which consisted of a layer of tinfoil ready-laminated to a layer of what I would call 'greaseproof'. It was quite stiff compared with plain tinfoil, but it might be worth a try for wagon sheets.

 

(I quietly decided not to buy any more of it, however good it was for baking, because it looked decidedly resource-hungry and difficult to recycle to me)

[Northroader]

Probably the foil would do on its own, then there’s the factor of whether the paint would take to the greaseproof. If the sheet is too thick it would be a problem getting it to “drape”. I like to paint both sides, as the back can show on a corner fold. Actually I tried another test sheet for a whimsy line wagon, and managed to knock a bottle of mekpak over, soaking one corner of the painted sheet. The paint blistered, so I just rubbed it over with emery to take the blisters out, and it was nice to see how the primer coat resisted rubbing with emery paper and clung to the foil. 

[Northroader]

Never fear, I’m still here, though I’ve been pratting about on my other threads the last month or so, but aware that I had to grasp the nettle of sorting out the signal controls on the reorganised board here. I’ve finally managed this, though you’ll probably say what a ghastly bodge it is. I’ve got the long rod runs in guides, and I was thinking of linking into the signal bases by way of bell cranks, similar to how I’ve done the point control at the far end, but I decided it was too fiddly, and I was out of small screws, and our ironmonger was closed anyway, so in the long run I’ve just done the link using some .030” brass wire in a plastic tube, and guiding the tube runs with blocks of wood, strips of ply, and lashings of pva glue. The wire is sweated on to the long rods at one end, and at the other on to eyelets for rocker levers, which pass up through the board at the side of the signal base. Now out of plastic tube, and the shopkeeper I got it off in Swindon has retired. Also brass wire, but I can order that from Slaters, and I must get a shopping list together. Lord knows when I’ll be able to pester a dealer at a show again. Anyway, I’ll be able to assemble the baseboard now the work underneath is done, and push on with something a bit more interesting.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Northroader

[Donw]

I have used plastruct tubing with a fairly stiff brass rod where I cn get a straight run. I have done this to mount tortoise point motors remote from the points as well as for manual operation. 

 

Don

[Nearholmer]

Wonderfully fit for purpose.

 

If you haven’t dealt with the signal yet, this might inspire.

 

 

[Northroader]

Sorry, it does look a bit like that, does t it?

[Northroader]

Hope everyone’s surviving alright, and not going ‘stir crazy’. We’re keeping our heads down, and hoping for better times. Particularly missing not getting out, I can’t have been on a train for six months, now, and how deprived is that? Missed two of my favourite model shows, although you can’t blame the virus for the first, as my daughter was going to a friends wedding before all this blew up, and we had to look after the granddaughters. As a result I’m getting low on some modelling bits, I must compile a list and pester folks like Slaters and Eileen’s, who I usually see at shows.

As you know, I like to come back with a link to some good layout I’ve seen at a show, and pushing “best practice”. It struck me looking on the Castle Aching thread the other day, I was reminded by Simon Dunkley, aka Regularity, of a good place to visit for a virtual show with some excellent layouts, they’re all pretty well the ones I particularly like, pregroup, good trains and buildings, compact designs. Here’s a link for an enjoyable browse.

http://www.s-scale.org.uk/gallery.htm

[Compound2632]

Mmm... there's some lovely stuff there. Yaxbury was a highlight of early MRJs.

[Nearholmer]

Oozing craft skills all of those layouts.

 

Keep safe and sane, Kevin

[Northroader]

Well, it’s six months now since the report “The Reshaping of Bob’s Railways” was published, and five months since I showed you the first part to be ready, the left hand fiddle Yard. What I call the infrastructure of the main board is now done and joined to the yard, so there’s just the right hand board to do. It doesn’t look much, I know, I have been doing other bits besides, honest. The basis is a board intended for the Continental operations, since adapted to do the lot.

 Regular attendees will know that this thread has been running around four and a half years, and we’re now facing the seventh rebuild. “Why can’t you make your ———- mind up?” I hear, well look at it as a process of evolution as explained by Charles Darwin, even if I’m going down the Neanderthal thread.

Back in March 2019, I did a post looking at layout design based on a through working, rather than a terminus, and since tried that out on my American line, where I found it suited me.

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/107190-“washbourne”/page/40/&tab=comments#comment-3501098

This has been linked to another idea I pushed some time ago, what I call the “Lilliput Lane” concept, where you have a grouping formed by an attractive building and a small train.

 I’ve expanded this have the train on a through road, a siding off to allow some shunting, and what I regard as the other essential, a scenic background, which allows you to form a setting.

Simplicity is the keyword. I wouldn’t call it a “show” layout, as after an hour on it, the operator would be chewing the trestle legs. Just a quick play in the loft with a couple of through runs and a wagon exchange on the siding is all I’d be thinking of. The ratio of scenic to fiddle is also very low at 42:74, but it does allow me plenty of standing room for work in progress.

its built on a framework of nominal 2x1 softwood, with a 12mm ply top, overall size 42” x 18”, 1070mm x 460mm, and the top has been cut long the length behind the track and placed on packing to raise it to rail top level. If  I had been really trying, the main line wouldn’t be parallel with the front edge. The siding entry affords me a reverse curve, essential for trying out rolling stock, especially mutinous six wheelers. I’ve pushed simplicity further with the scenic back support, as I’ve found the rear corners of layouts get a bit “poky”, so I’ve abolished them by laying out the support to form an half ellipse. Now it’s on to things like surfacing, and the platform for the British side of things will be a “plug in “ job.

[Donw]

Whenever I see there is a new post on Washbourne I am keen to see it. You may keep changing your mind are you sure it isn't a ploy to keep us interested. I think you are doing that well there is not many 42inch long layouts that I find interesting other than tnis one (and perhaps some 2mm ones). Now i Know you can paint backscenes but I will be intereted if you can do one to suit Sussex, France and US. Maybe you will have interchangeable backscenes. I await with interest.

Glad you are well and busy.

Don

[Nearholmer]

Ingenuity and artistry to the fore, as we’ve come to expect. I’m really looking forward to seeing this develop.

 

As to a multinational background: I think Sussex-Normandy would be pretty simple, because the vernacular architecture in both places is very similar, ditto the trees, The US might get harder if you include buildings, but woodland in places like New Hampshire looks very English, and maybe a distant Colonial church could pass for English, although most rural English ones are older - I think the colonists borrowed from what were modern urban designs ‘back home’, St Martins in the Fields especially. But then it wouldn’t look French ....... hmmmm.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Northroader]

No, the thinking is that the layout will be interchangeable, but think of it as a theatre. The bulk of the setting will be painted on the backscene, then a stagehand (me) shuffles on, unclips the scenery, and changes it to a new location, rather than attempting a one place suits all approach. Must dig out some of my long suffering backscenes to show you how. Just hope I don’t have to chop and repaint too much. Then change the station building, and some blockers at the front.

[Nearholmer]

Then it could work as an exhibition layout: a play in three acts.

 

Would be pretty intense to work it though.

[Northroader]

But you’ve been to shows, who’s going to hang around while you faff about like that? They say people only look at a layout for around five minutes, which is believable. A very few I stay for longer to take it all in, or return to as the show progresses. Ones like that I do try to feature on this thread.

That reminds me, Have I put Paltry Circus on here? I did enjoy that.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Northroader

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Then it could work as an exhibition layout: a play in three acts.

They already do: setting up, playing, taking down.

Granted, the paying public may not see all three acts, but believe me, when exhibiting that’s the case!

[Nearholmer]

Which is why I would never build a layout for exhibition that is any bigger or heavier than a large suitcase when packed away for transport. My one bigger effort was a tiring PITA that suffered a premature demise as a result.

[Northroader]

I enjoyed Paltry Circus, but if you’re a one man band, lugging the weight and setting up is going to put you off. The one that made me boggle was Richard Chown’s “Allendenac”