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To the Continent ...


Neil
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Over the August bank holiday weekend I took Vischkaai out for another airing, again at the Corris Railway Society's exhibition in Machynlleth. The layout worked well apart from a weird electrical glitch for about ten minutes on the Sunday morning. Also a bit hit and miss was the coupling and uncoupling of the standard HO couplers. I took my standard tension lock 'paddle' made for me by my friend Charles. These work really well on the new smaller Bachmann and Hornby tension locks but the smaller droppers on the HO couplers and end steps on some wagons mean that they're less effective on continental stock.

 

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After a bit of thinking I realised that the lifting loops were all pressed out of thin steel sheet. I wondered if it would be possible to lift the loops from above rather than trying to lift them from below. I ordered a couple of sets of neodymium magnets 1mm and 3mm diameters. I sorted out suitably sized tubing for both, aluminium for the 1mm and plastic for the 3mm. The magnets were superglued into the ends of the tubes (the bore of the aluminium tube had to be opened out a touch. The 3mm magnet and tube was a bit big but the 1mm diameter magnet made for a precise uncoupling wand.

 

1317936712_plan049.jpg.7fc8157c4d8b43c9c17a7c3798f230d8.jpg

 

In action the small size allows for precise pickup of the lower loop, which lifts the higher one up with it. The train can then be parted and the relative lack of magnet strength means that you don't end up with a wagon dangling of the end of the wand when it's withdrawn.

 

804904528_plan050.jpg.5d22f877a48b63a28ac031b2ec88a9fb.jpg

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  • 7 months later...
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Thank you chaps. If there's any secret to be had in the atmosphere department it's down to having spent time in a particular place and caring enough about it to want to do a good job in representing it. Now (fairly) obviously I have no memories of Belgium in the sixties but I've been a frequent visitor over the last ten years or so. There are a number of fantastic photo sites to visit to fill in the gaps so I'm reasonably confident that what I'm making isn't too far off the mark even if there's more fiction than fact in play. Here's another photo from the same session.

 

350633772_plan053.jpg.490c1fe8bf647d0d870b6fb1b2324b6c.jpg

 

 

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Guest Jack Benson

Neil,

 

Please explain your approach to ensuring that the road etc. in correctly built-up, I find myself using off cuts of corrugated packaging cardboard as a 'filler' and a skim of lightweight Polyfilla for the final surface. The odd combination is to save of weight for portability, tried DAS but the weight was a factor.

 

Btw, the industrial walls look fab.

 

Thanks

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This is probably not helpful in your case but the road surface is DAS. I apply it in two layers, the first and  fairly roughly to the tops of the sleepers and the second from there to the rail head. Before applying the second layer I blank off the flange-ways with 1mm square styrene strip held in place by a few dress making pins. I level off the surface with tools formed from 80 thou plasticard and when it's dried to what potters would call leather hard I emboss cobbles into it, one at a time with a tool made from a reformed paintbrush. I only tackle a manageable section at a time and once embossed wait for it to properly harden before applying a fresh layer.

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Over the past couple of weeks I've exhumed a part started project that last saw the light of day a few years and one house move ago. I'd bought a Kato HO motor bogie with the thought of building something on top. I started to cut out a few body components for a Moyse locotracteur owned by the SNCB. There the project stalled. A fortnight ago I found the bogie and the bits and decided I'd build up an underframe unit to drop over the Kato bogie and then set about building the body. Here's where I'm at now.

 

1839685326_plan058.jpg.6a54c40d198f79717b837f0a62ced219.jpg

 

341947744_plan059.jpg.560fb639abff2dd90e9bb4a72a9d79d9.jpg

 

 

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On 08/05/2020 at 15:23, Jon Gwinnett said:

Neil, if you don’t mind my asking, what are the overall dimensions of the layout?
 

I’ve reread the thread, which was a pleasure, in case I missed it first time round, but I don’t think the size is given anywhere?

 

Apologies for the late reply Jon. In total the layout is eight feet long, two feet of which is the fiddle yard. The width varies as it wiggles in and out but at it's widest point it's around fourteen inches front to back.

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Since the beginning of the month slow and steady progress has been made. The weather has been so good that I've spent a lot of time in the garden but I've managed odd moments at the workbench with the result that the Moyse now looks like this.

 

1440390787_cc038.jpg.ec5f6f50dfbd5ae99869971bd192a7e8.jpg

 

I think that the slow and steady nature of the build has been a help rather than hindrance. There's been no rushing to finish at the expense of build quality and I've enjoyed each separate little step along the way.

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Hi Neil, 

 

I know the majority of the track here is embedded, but are you doing anything particular on this or the other layout to minimise the visual impact of the over height track? 

Very tempted now to use Code 100 on my Dutch idea, for robustness and simplicity, just havering slightly as the underscale Code 75 does perhaps look finer. 

 

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Hello Jon, you're right that there is very little plain track in sight on my Belgian layout and my UK layout which will be mainly plain track is yet to see any scenic treatment. All I've done on Vischkaai (and all I intend to do on Northern Town is to paint the track and ballast as neatly as I can manage. Vishkaai's track is a bit weedy once it leaves the street so that disguises it a bit further. I tend to paint both sleepers and rails the same dark brown/black/rust shade which I think helps to reduce the height of the rail as the eye is only drawn to the contrast between shiny rail head and the rest of the track. If the sleepers and rail sides are different colours then it may be (I've not tried this so only a supposition) that the eye will pick out the shiny top of the rail and the colour change between sleeper and rail which would make the height more apparent.

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If I may join the fray..Peco code 75 can be made to look quite respectable.......but it takes time. 

 

I spray the track with dark earth acrylic and paint the sleepers woth, ironically, track colour, before weathering rails and sleepers with weathering powders. 

It also helps if the ground level alongside the track is raised but this is not always practical. 

However I do take on board your thoughts, Neil, on the same colour for both rail and sleeper. 

 

If I were to explore my Czech Railways aspirations in HO, then I would certainly stay with code 75 due to its finer appearance. 

 

Apologies for the interruption. 

 

 

 

Rob. 

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20200430_214742-01.jpeg

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Thanks Rob, I have no doubts that code 75 can look good, especially in a European setting, but I find it’s fragile, and requires more wiring than a luddite like me is comfortable with (Neil uses live frogs so for him it’s the same.) The bi-bloc track is particularly floppy and easily damaged.

That said, I have enough code 75 to do my current plans in that, so will probably see how I feel once I’ve lived with the code 100 for a bit.
 

Apologies Neil for hijacking the thread.

 

 

 

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Must be honest if you weather it code 100 can look fine (in my opinion).

 

Peco Code 100 Track

 

Going to play about with sleeper spacing on my next layout (which will also be code 100). I’ve stuck with it as I have some older stock with deeper flanges.

 

Stay safe,

 

Neil

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On 13/04/2020 at 15:11, Neil said:

Thank you chaps. If there's any secret to be had in the atmosphere department it's down to having spent time in a particular place and caring enough about it to want to do a good job in representing it. Now (fairly) obviously I have no memories of Belgium in the sixties but I've been a frequent visitor over the last ten years or so. There are a number of fantastic photo sites to visit to fill in the gaps so I'm reasonably confident that what I'm making isn't too far off the mark even if there's more fiction than fact in play. Here's another photo from the same session.

 

350633772_plan053.jpg.490c1fe8bf647d0d870b6fb1b2324b6c.jpg

 

 

Apologies for the lateness of the enquiry but could you please let me know what make the blue industrial diesel is? I thought only Marklin made them.

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Thanks Rob and Neil, both your examples work and work well. I think they demonstrate that there are a range of right answers to most questions and that we choose the one which best suits our personal circumstances and preferences. Earlier this morning I've made a start on ballasting my test piece for Northern Town; early days as the glue is yet to go off, but I think I may need to darken my ballast mix.

 

In other news the Moyse has come on some more. I spent a long while fabricating the bonnet handrails, the tricky bit being soldering the upright stanchions to the rails, 0.5mm wire doesn't give much contact area for a strong joint. All is done now and the rails are loosely in place and the bonnet sections now joined to the cab.

 

1927111081_cc039.jpg.9e6ced2ad602b24d122166b4aeeaf631.jpg

 

224444769_cc040.jpg.e58bab3ec959a76594967d0e3304e1a2.jpg

 

 

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