Oak Road - 2013 to present (a fictitious place somewhere in Somerset) - Raising Money for Meningitis Research

[Revolution Mike B]

Now that I've managed to get the track down for the sidings I can start to crack on with the rest of the scenery now and start to create the tunnel area and the back scenes.

 

My idea is to have a campsite in the near left corner to fill up the 'empty' space without over crowding it and the back area to the top of the tunnel mouth will just be a copse. The main back scene will incorporate an overgrown bank (not the money holding type) and some retaining walls with some industrial units backing on to the stone yard. I'm actually quite tempted to make the two main board back scenes removable to aid access to anything that may end up getting broken / damaged etc.

 

There is however one last item of scenery which will prove to be my biggest challenge yet......the foot bridge! Anyone that has been to, or seen the footbridge at Castle Cary will know what I'm talking about because it's not straight forward and there's nothing available as an RTR item (except the old modern Hornby footbridge) that's remotely similar. Still, I like a challenge and if I don't push myself, I'll never learn.......

Edited September 12, 2016 by scoobyra

[Revolution Mike B]

Well I think I'm going to give up building this layout and release a book titled 'How to model everything twice'!!!

 

I thought I was doing so well this weekend, I'd managed to ballast the second station board, get some more of the platform top down and also make a start on where the platform lights should go. Pretty straightforward stuff?  

 

WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!        

 

Somehow, I'd managed to pick up the wrong sheet of plasticard for the platform top and only noticed this the next day once I'd stuck it firmly down with superglue. Needless to say, it didn't come back up very easily and took half of the little lugs form the Peco platform edging with it! 2 Hours later and I managed to sort out 'another' of my silly errors and get back on (no pun intended) track.

 

So far so good, and with the platform fixed, I was a happy camper......until I noticed this.......

 

 

 

 

.......the ballast on the left was much darker than on the right........which means I hadn't mixed the right quantity of Calci Sand with the WS stuff. In the real world this would be normal and it wouldn't be such an issue if it wasn't on a board joint. I'm trying to divert people's attention away from the join and not to it! I love ballasting so I'll enjoy taking it up and doing it again.......NOT!

 

Oh well, onwards and upwards.......and in the mean time, here's a couple of pictures to keep you going until the next installment.....

 

 

Edited September 19, 2016 by scoobyra

[Revolution Mike B]

Here's a little post that's going off on a tangent and if it's outside of the moderation rules, I'll happily delete it.......I am also in no way affiliated with any of them.....

 

In addition to the help / advice etc from many people on this forum (and others), I'm eternally grateful to a number of retailers that have bent over backwards to help me out in one way or another and I think it's only fair that I give them a small mention here as a way of saying thanks for the support.

 

Firstly, there's a small model shop about a mile and a half from my house called 'The Model Shop', you can find also find them under the names 'New Road Model Shop' and 'The Model Shop Portsmouth'. 

 

Now these guys deserve a medal because I always turn up about three minutes before they're due to close, even on a Sunday, and they'll still make time for me. They offer our club a small discount for purchases and will always have the most obscure items in stock!

 

Next up is a shop that recently had a full two page spread in a well known model railway publication - AC Models in Eastleigh, Hampshire. Don't be fooled that the owner Annette doesn't know what she's talking about and they're so friendly, I could quite easily spend thousands of pounds in there without even blinking an eye.

 

And lastly, all of my DCC stuff comes from Kevin at Coastal DCC, because I can ask him the most ridiculous questions and he'll always try and help, even if I'm not spending any money with him - I've mentioned this elsewhere on this forum and as a relatively young bloke compared to most people in to our hobby, I've noticed that customer service seems to have become a thing of the past so it's nice to know that someone actually cares about the customer's perception of their business.

 

OK, I would've still been able to build my layout without these people but it wouldn't have been anywhere as easy and half as much fun!

Edited September 20, 2016 by scoobyra

[salmonpastures]

Well I think I'm going to give up building this layout and release a book titled 'How to model everything twice'!!!

 

I thought I was doing so well this weekend, I'd managed to ballast the second station board, get some more of the platform top down and also make a start on where the platform lights should go. Pretty straightforward stuff?  

 

WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!        

 

Somehow, I'd managed to pick up the wrong sheet of plasticard for the platform top and only noticed this the next day once I'd stuck it firmly down with superglue. Needless to say, it didn't come back up very easily and took half of the little lugs form the Peco platform edging with it! 2 Hours later and I managed to sort out 'another' of my silly errors and get back on (no pun intended) track.

 

So far so good, and with the platform fixed, I was a happy camper......until I noticed this.......

 

 

Ballast 2.jpg

 

 

.......the ballast on the left was much darker than on the right........which means I hadn't mixed the right quantity of Calci Sand with the WS stuff. In the real world this would be normal and it wouldn't be such an issue if it wasn't on a board joint. I'm trying to divert people's attention away from the join and not to it! I love ballasting so I'll enjoy taking it up and doing it again.......NOT!

 

Oh well, onwards and upwards.......and in the mean time, here's a couple of pictures to keep you going until the next installment.....

 

Bush.jpg

 

Virgin Voyager.jpg

Scoobyra,

Uneven ballasting colour right on the baseboard joint,,,,, welcome to Murphy's 3rd law on ballasting!!!

Happens to everyone,,,,it happens to me every time I go near the bloomin stuff.

You are running diesels,,,, which stop against platforms,,, how about a nice hugely huge oil slick which starts at one side of the join and finishes at the other??

In fact you could run it all the way down where the track is adjacent to the  platform. 

I like the iron railings in silver,,,, where from???

SAD 

[Revolution Mike B]

Scoobyra,

Uneven ballasting colour right on the baseboard joint,,,,, welcome to Murphy's 3rd law on ballasting!!!

Happens to everyone,,,,it happens to me every time I go near the bloomin stuff.

You are running diesels,,,, which stop against platforms,,, how about a nice hugely huge oil slick which starts at one side of the join and finishes at the other??

In fact you could run it all the way down where the track is adjacent to the  platform. 

I like the iron railings in silver,,,, where from???

SAD 

 

School Boy error really due to lack of concentration. I've not finished the track weathering yet and had planned some nice oil / diesel deposits.

 

The fence was recommended to me by Mick (Newbryford) and is made by Wills, airbrushed and weathered.

[Revolution Mike B]

Just added a bit of gravel to the middle of the bay platform to see what it would look like finished. It's copied from Castle Cary but considerably narrower which spoils the effect a bit but it'll do.

 

 

I just need to remember how I created the paint for the slabs now so I can finish off the other 7 feet (well it's actually all three platforms so nearer 16 feet!) of them now.

 

On a less positive note, I managed to knock the signal and break it loose from the board. Does anyone have any suggestions for a better way to fix the CR Signals bases down other than glue?

 

 

[rob D2]

Layouts looking really nice. You have great attention to detail !

[Revolution Mike B]

Layouts looking really nice. You have great attention to detail !

 

Cheers Rob. You wouldn't say that if you saw all the boards together.....it looks a right mess where nothing is finished!

[Wigan Wallgate OO Gauge]

Hmm your Tarmac platform technique could be useful for my layout! It certainly looks great

[Revolution Mike B]

I've done absolutely nothing on the layout this week except paint a bit more of the platform as I've been to busy buying Voyagers and fitting sound in to one of my HSTs, and to be honest, even though I've only got 5 feet of track on anyone board, it's quite a nice break from the building to be able to run something up and down for a while (even if it does annoy the wife!)

 

I've also been looking in to a away of fitting the DCC Concepts platform lights without having the base showing (sorry Richard, lights are great, but having the base sat on top of the platform is a no no for me). 

 

We've got our club exhibition this weekend at Fareham Leisure Centre so there's not much chance of anything else happening model wise until the middle of next week. If you're in the area, please come along and have a look at the excellent layouts.

[Revolution Mike B]

I received my first proper exhibition invite over the weekend for Fareham Rotarail 2018, although I'm not sure what Chris was thinking when he invited me - 4 plywood boards with a bit of track and some plasticard doesn't really count as a layout     

 

On the plus side, even with me doing everything twice, at least I should be able to get it finished in time! (and save up to get the sounds in to all of my HST sets) 

[Tony Teague]

Hi Scoobyra

Just worked through your thread, and I have to say that your attention to detail leaves me standing!

I guess some of us just get used to accepting compromises, whereas you are determined to deal wit them all.

My own standards have improved massively since I started, but even the thought of going back and re-doing things I started a few years ago leaves me cold!

Keep it up!

 

best wishes

 

Tony

[Revolution Mike B]

Hi Scoobyra

Just worked through your thread, and I have to say that your attention to detail leaves me standing!

I guess some of us just get used to accepting compromises, whereas you are determined to deal wit them all.

My own standards have improved massively since I started, but even the thought of going back and re-doing things I started a few years ago leaves me cold!

Keep it up!

 

best wishes

 

Tony

 

Thanks Tony

 

The difference is, I only have 4 boards that aren't even 6 months old and yours is a lifetime's work!

 

I set out to try and see what level of realism could be achieved with stuff that could be bought off the shelf but this seems to have wondered of track slightly with the road bridge. There's also quite a few compromises that aren't overly obvious, and they're down to my lack of experience in modelling. The main thing is that it doesn't matter if you've got the world's most realistic model railway, or a set track, roundy roundy train set, as long as you're having fun, that's really all that matters and judging by your layout, you seem to be having loads of it.

 

Mike

Edited October 8, 2016 by scoobyra

[Tony Teague]

"The main thing is that it doesn't matter if you've got the world's most realistic model railway, or a set track, roundy roundy train set, as long as you're having fun, that's really all that matters and judging by your layout, you seem to be having loads of it."

 

--

 

I couldn't agree more!

Tony

Edited October 8, 2016 by slowcomo

[Revolution Mike B]

Pretty poor on the update front lately........mainly because I haven't actually done anything except fit one lamp post!

 

I've also been busy with work, causing chaos and confusion at exhibitions, and fitting various different speakers to 37s, HSTs and Voyagers!

 

Hopefully, I'll be back on the case next week because people keep asking me if I'd like to take it out on the road........hmmmmmmm, it's nowhere near finished yet!!     

[Melangoose]

I do like your track work, excellent attention to detail. The platforms are very realistic and simular to Castle Cary, I shall have another look when I am there tomorrow. Being a big FGW/GWR HST fan I am very interested to see the progress of your HST fleet, it's a good time to base your layout with so many different liveries on Power Cars (Harry Patch, Queens 90th, New GWR livery, Sir Kennith Grange and now 43185 Great Western in Intercity Swallow livery).

[Revolution Mike B]

I do like your track work, excellent attention to detail. The platforms are very realistic and simular to Castle Cary, I shall have another look when I am there tomorrow. Being a big FGW/GWR HST fan I am very interested to see the progress of your HST fleet, it's a good time to base your layout with so many different liveries on Power Cars (Harry Patch, Queens 90th, New GWR livery, Sir Kennith Grange and now 43185 Great Western in Intercity Swallow livery).

 

Cheers buddy, and it certainly is!

 

I've got Harry Patch, two blue ones and halfway through a green effort along with an XC one too, plus three Voyagers and a 158. I need to get a 150/1, a 150/2, a 153 and a Torvill and Dean (143) to finish off the passenger stuff (excluding a charter train of some sort). Luckily, I'm not going to need too much freight as I've got a load of IOAs already so I'm looking at a rake of JIAs and maybe an engineers train of some description.

 

The worst part for me is putting sound in everything - I'll need a small mortgage!

 

Mike

[SparxD428]

Hi Mike,

I've just read through the thread from the start and am well impressed with your layout and all the detail. I had read some of it before as I remember thinking how good the track and platforms looked, you seem to have hit the look bang on. I like your quote a while back about the layout would be finished by now if you knew what you were doing! I think this statement probably applies to about 99% of us on this forum or involved in model railways in general.

 

Have you turned down the volume on the FGW HST yet? 

 

Catch up soon bud,

Cheers

Stu.

[Revolution Mike B]

Hi Mike,

I've just read through the thread from the start and am well impressed with your layout and all the detail. I had read some of it before as I remember thinking how good the track and platforms looked, you seem to have hit the look bang on. I like your quote a while back about the layout would be finished by now if you knew what you were doing! I think this statement probably applies to about 99% of us on this forum or involved in model railways in general.

 

Have you turned down the volume on the FGW HST yet? 

 

Catch up soon bud,

Cheers

Stu.

 

Cheers Stu

 

Turned it down?? It's got louder!

[bensanchez43310]

On Melangoose's point, you can really have a lot of variety with your HST fleet, not forgetting GWR have recently produced the welsh dragon in green

[Revolution Mike B]

On Melangoose's point, you can really have a lot of variety with your HST fleet, not forgetting GWR have recently produced the welsh dragon in green

 

Hahaha. Let me get the green one finished first.....actually, let me get the LAYOUT finished first!

[Temeraire]

actually, let me get the LAYOUT finished first!

Yeah get on with it you've got a booking you know!

[Revolution Mike B]

Yeah get on with it you've got a booking you know!

 

Shhhhhhhh!!!

[Revolution Mike B]

As previously mentioned, I've not really had a lot of time to do much lately but last night I did a bit more work on the 'Down' platform. I think the station is going to take forever to build because even though it's fairly simple in design, it's actually quite detailed and I've made it ten times harder for myself by not using a uniform platform surface. 

 

Here's the (almost) end result (please excuse the holes, they'll be covered up with a load of weeds)

 

 

....and now with the correct width white edging!

 

 

I'm having an absolute mare with the 'Up' platform because I can't remember how I got the paint effect on the first lot of slabs! 

Edited October 28, 2016 by scoobyra

[Revolution Mike B]

Forgot to add this picture to give an idea of the job in hand! It actually looks quite messy but it's not quite so bad to the naked eye.

 

 

This was taken before I'd added the white line to the platform on the left. I've also repainted the coping stones on the right hand platform so that I can get the white line the right size and not a scale half foot as it was before! 

Edited October 28, 2016 by scoobyra