RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted July 27, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 27, 2017 I think I have to comment that anyone who can handbuild signals of that quality in N gauge can hardly say that their modelling is not to a very high standard; I couldn't do that in 4mm! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted July 29, 2017 Author Share Posted July 29, 2017 Thanks for the kind words about my signals. The coloured spectacles are formed by mixing a little PVA adhesive, with a drop of acrylic paint, red or blue,and putting into the spectacle plate as a blob on the end of a cocktail stick. It then dries translucent as in the pictures. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 I have been working on a system of pulleys and a belt to go under the road surface, with a magnet attached to it, so that a vehicle, containing another magnet can be pulled along above it. I am experimenting with the vertical separation required to allow the system to work, without the magnets getting stuck to either side of the road surface! I think somewhere between 1/2" and 1" should do the job. I will post photos once I have got a system which works. Of course any vehicle fitted with a magnet can be substituted, or many magnets could be attached to the belt to allow vehicles to circulate. This one is testing the power of the old grey cells! Kev. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 I have been working on a system of pulleys and a belt to go under the road surface, with a magnet attached to it, so that a vehicle, containing another magnet can be pulled along above it. I am experimenting with the vertical separation required to allow the system to work, without the magnets getting stuck to either side of the road surface! I think somewhere between 1/2" and 1" should do the job. I will post photos once I have got a system which works. Of course any vehicle fitted with a magnet can be substituted, or many magnets could be attached to the belt to allow vehicles to circulate. This one is testing the power of the old grey cells! Kev. Looking forward to seeing how this works, as I've had similar thought for 4mm and/or 7mm scales. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted August 14, 2017 Author Share Posted August 14, 2017 (edited) I finally got the bus to move! but the mech was unreliable so I scrapped the idea. Edited December 30, 2022 by kes missing 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted August 14, 2017 Author Share Posted August 14, 2017 Please note - any screws within about 2" of the magnet need to be brass, otherwise it will never move again. Kev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted August 14, 2017 Share Posted August 14, 2017 Do you think that fitting steering with the magnet attached would work in larger scales? One of my mad ideas was to have a number of magnets on the belt at random intervals, and have a sort of fiddle yard at each end where vehicles were pushed away from the magnet, and whichever different vehicle happened to be nearest the magnet was grabbed by it (hopefully facing in the right direction!). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted August 14, 2017 Author Share Posted August 14, 2017 BGJohn - sounds like some good ideas. The steering idea might be good in a larger scale, but in N it was unnecessary as long as the magnet was near the position of the front axle, so the rest of the vehicle dragged along behind. I thought about several magnets along the belt, but with a limited width I needed the vehicle to come back along the same narrow road, so the magnets would get attracted to each other. A circular loop with one side going behind the backscene would allow changes of vehicle. Give it a try on a piece of wood and experiment with your ideas. Kev. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted August 14, 2017 Share Posted August 14, 2017 Give it a try on a piece of wood and experiment with your ideas. Kev. It's on my ever growing to-do list . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted September 6, 2017 Author Share Posted September 6, 2017 (edited) The scenery on board 1 is now complete to the point of adding colour and flock, but there will be a break now, whilst I re-tile the bathroom(!). Edited December 30, 2022 by kes missing 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted November 1, 2017 Author Share Posted November 1, 2017 The bathroom is tiled, the new sink toilet and shower plumbed in, the walls painted, and the last cabinet is going on the wall this morning - which means Sandy Bay (the Layout) can now be re-erected in the garage and work can recommence. Yippee! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted November 9, 2017 Author Share Posted November 9, 2017 A by product of the new bathroom, is a large amount of different thicknesses of expanded polystyrene. My dear wife, Maggie, has kindly suggested that due to the cold weather, I should bring the new board into the kitchen so I can work on it up to Christmas. So a large amount of polystyrene has been cut up and PVA glued around the harbour. It will be allowed to set over night, then attacked with the bread knife over the weekend. I am trying to aim for a tiered look, like Staithes, so the land form and roads will develop as each bit gets made. The harbour board with the harbour walls in place - Wills O gauge stone walling - about the right size for the huge blocks in our harbours. The walls viewed through the bridge supports. A fan of styrene supports Yet more styrene The town end of the board awaiting filler and pva mix being applied. The road will snake down to a turning area, then turn back on itself to go along the harbour, with a slipway opposite the turning area. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted November 11, 2017 Author Share Posted November 11, 2017 Thinking it will look something like this Suitable reference photos taken of Staithes this summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernboy Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 Love what's coming along here - particularly interested in the methods of operating signals and bus. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 (edited) This week has seen the invasion of the polystyrene into the house - and much hoovering! The stuff seems to get everywhere even when you are so careful about cutting it. The next stage is to cover the formers with papier mache, then filler mixed with pva. The big block of polystyrene next to the track is protecting me from the brass rod which locates the signal at this point - I already have the puncture wounds to prove it is there! Edited November 17, 2017 by kes 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted November 19, 2017 Author Share Posted November 19, 2017 Yesterday saw the mixing of the papier mache and the polyfilla and pva. It is very therapeutic ripping up new papers and soaking them in wall paper paste, then laying them down in layers on the card formers. Some of the headlines created by this miss match are quite interesting! I now have to wait for this lot to dry out before adding a couple of coats of artex to give a flexible top layer. I was careful to get the bedding of the exposed rocks on the coast to slope the right way, as I would never live this down, being a geologist in a previous life. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted November 19, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 19, 2017 Using newspaper used to be a cheap way of landscaping, current Whitby Gazette prices put an end to this... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 I agree Paul - Maggie only buys it occasionally to check on road closures! I have disguised it now by covering it in artex - wonderful stuff. Another layer will be added tomorrow to give a light but flexible top coating. It will then be painted light brown before any scatter is applied. The harbour is slowly evolving, using matchsticks as baulks of timber around the edge. The rather nice boats will be customised and weathered. They were bought from TMC this weekend. I think I am going to model the harbour with the tide just going out, so there is mud along the edges, but water in the middle. More depth of field needed! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted November 22, 2017 Author Share Posted November 22, 2017 With the bad weather outside today, I stayed indoors and mixed up some new filler and pva to form the mudflats and sand around the edges of the harbour, and along the prom. I managed to get some bedding into the rocks on the left so when it is picked out in shades of grey, it should look quite realistic. I found an old tin of peach emulsion in the garage, and this has been put over all the areas which are going to have scatter attached, so it does not show white through the scatter. The grass and scrub areas will have a weak brown/green mix applied next. I keep replacing the boats as this gives a sense of scale, so I do not over do the mud! Aerial view Foreshore with the mud stone bedding I think I am going to flag stone the top of the harbour, and add stone sets on the road up the hill. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted November 24, 2017 Author Share Posted November 24, 2017 Yesterday I moved the board back into the garage to mate it up to the other one so I could check the scenery was continuous across the join - all looks well. Whilst it was there I set to with some grey primer as the base coat for the roads and platform, and some brown for the harbour mud. It looked OK so I mixed the two and messed about with the rock faces, as if it was bad I could always over paint it. I am quite pleased with the outcome. Full layout again Left shoreline The dark brown on the hills is going to be covered with green/brown/yellow scatter material, so it is only there to stop the light colours showing through. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted November 24, 2017 Author Share Posted November 24, 2017 The shales on the shore and at the foot of the cliff need to be much darker yet, nearly black, and as Paul pointed out, I need thin ironstone bands along the bedding. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted November 26, 2017 Author Share Posted November 26, 2017 Remember it is much easier to start with colours that are too light, and progressively darken them with subsequent layers, than it is to go too dark and attempt to lighten it back up! That will be taken care of by over spraying everything at the end, with a thin light brown.grey misting to blend it all together. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted November 30, 2017 Author Share Posted November 30, 2017 With the weather being foul, and cold, board number 2 has returned to the kitchen, and I have painted the back scene sky blue. I had several sheets and off cuts of ID Backscenes Dales Sheets lying about, so I carefully cut off the sky, and rearranged the bits to give me the distant hills. They were stuck to the boards by applying neat pva to the boards and very carefully rolling the sheet onto the board. There are no second chances with this technique! but it should stop bubbling appearing in the future. I then decided I ought to apply some of the ground cover. This is the usual flock powders applied onto neat pva. Apply about 8" of pva, then add flock to 6", and another 8" of pva and so on. This ensures the pva is good and wet when the flock hits it. I use two old jam jars with hundreds of holes punched in the lids as shakers to apply two different mixes of flock randomly across the glue. The mix is generally browns yellows and blues, with just a hint of green in there. All the colours will be toned down and blended with a dusting from the airbrush once complete. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 This is going to be a good one like the harbour it will be a good feature look forward to seeing more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted December 3, 2017 Author Share Posted December 3, 2017 (edited) Today, I swapped over the boards so I could work on the back scene and flock on the right hand one. I carefully cut out the hills I wanted, and glued them on with neat pva adhesive, then got to work with the flock. You can see the removable section over the belt for the roadway. The edges of this are going to be disguised with bushes and gates as necessary. Edited December 30, 2022 by kes missing 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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