Tempfix Rich Papper Posted May 4, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted May 4, 2020 Good Evening All, A few little updates. Just a few jobs done, but very time consuming. Satisfying though as they have made the bit I am currently working on look very different. The corner in the previous post has now had a layer of static grass applied. I've used a mix of the Green Scene summer and straw colours (available here). I will be adding a little more longer grass when I have assembled a few other bits of greenery and worked out where they are going. I have some horsehair and some sea foam trees to play with, but again I suspect that's a lot longer job than it sounds! The concrete area is now to colour and effect I was after, but will get a little greenery around the edge when I get to the rest. 47602 doing the testing honours below. The sky backscene has now been extended across the end of the room. Enormously time consuming to do (because I didn't do it earlier!), but the difference in the 'depth' of scene it gives even at this stage is quite surprising. For the board right at the end I will need to have a think about something else low profile to go in front of it as the falling gradient reveals a 1 inch gap at the bottom! Fencing in the background is from Scale Model Scenery (available here). Been working on a small building for this area. Little more than a shed really. Experimenting with a wider range of paint pens to pick out bricks. Will still get a few more coats dry-brushed yet, so will turn down further. Having fun experimenting though. And finally, in between waiting for bits of that to dry I've been doing a little bit of fiddling around with the small area above the hidden sidings entrance where the upper level meets the lower. This whole area is a bit of a compromise in terms of space as I had to redesign the junction at a late stage following issues with the geometry of the track and a nearly very expensive DCC related failure! No reason not to have a go at adding some scenery though - how else will I fit a bus on a bridge? More soon I hope. Stay safe everyone. Rich 16 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Popular Post Rich Papper Posted May 14, 2020 Author Tempfix Popular Post Share Posted May 14, 2020 Good Evening All, A mostly photos update from this evening's wombling about. I've actually managed a few early mornings recently having been woken up by small children at the point where they can fall asleep again but I can't, so I've been getting up and doing a few quiet jobs. After 7 weeks in the house all together it is unusual to wander about with it to myself. First then, back to my odd corner where the hidden sidings are accessed. A road bridge and a small area of waste ground opposite an entrance to a Sydney Gardens-esque sort of a park. Gave the ply a quick coat of charcoal emulsion to seal, then on with curb stones from Scale Model Scenery. I mashed about three lengths of this trying to do a dropped section before giving up and doing it in plastic. It probably won't be noticeable anyway, but it looked funny without. Painted in Phoenix weathered concrete. Have also added gate posts to the wall. It does look a little like a scene from Back to the Future with just the gateposts and nothing behind. Have then added the Woodland Scenics Smooth-it plaster for the pavements. Not sure on this yet as it hasn't set. Fantastic mess, but I am applying it to a ridiculously small space. In the end splodged it on the narrow bits of pavement using a paint stirrer. While waiting for that to dry have filled in a bit at the buffer end of the station. Finally cut the missing piece of ply for the end, put in the walling and have sorted the missing buffer stops. Having built several whitemetal ones I've now decided I like the Peco ones I started with best! There will be some sort of supermarket between the car park on the right and the road the other side of the station building. Then a few trains run. 47602 in charge of a mail. L131 emerges from a tunnel on the upper level. Need some more greenery in this area. Am psyching myself up to break out the sea moss bits from Green Scene. And continuing the theme of random NSE units in tunnels. A 115 on the lower level. Sorry, I seem to have a lot of NSE units going in or out of tunnels on the last couple of pages. Too many units? Not enough other places to photograph them? Probably both. Stay safe folks. Rich 20 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxokid Posted May 16, 2020 Share Posted May 16, 2020 Like your road bridge Rich Im following this now... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted June 21, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted June 21, 2020 (edited) Good Evening Folks A few small updates and a fathers day running session today. The bridge at the end of the Sydney Gardens section is coming along. The road colour is virtually there. It's going to have a few repair patches put on and then the road markings before an overall weathering to tone it down a little. I picked up one of Scale Model Scenery's road marking templates (here), but haven't quite figured out how to get it where I want it to use it yet. Probably get it done when I remove the board and take the backscene board off to stick another ID backscene on. Started having a play with some trees too. I had a box in the loft from a very old layout that I thought I'd use, but on closer inspection I think there are better available now. I still have some seafoam ones to have a go at too. Having been a bit more conscious of looking at trees by the roadside on walks in recent weeks it is surprising how much larger they are than you'd think! The opposite corner hasn't advanced much. Two stumbling blocks: the seafoam trees I haven't started yet, and some third rail side protection boards. I've started the track weathering where the inspection pits are, but by the time they join the line into the station there should be protection boards on the third rail near the signal box because of the walking route. I've got some C&L ones (here), but after a little experimentation I'm not sure that a) mys soldering skills are up to it, and b) they don't sit a little too high. Can't really progress with the weathering until I think of something here. Then running session today with small people. They bought me a Dapol grampus and a Video125 driver's eye view DVD. Very happy. First managed to resurrect a very old Hornby King for a bit of a special. I think I received this for my tenth birthday, so it's getting on a bit! A view from the footbridge. And then a view under it (sorry, slightly blurry now I look at it). I always liked what is referred to as 'positioning moves'. Two 50s on a 4 coach parcel train, why not. 50017 leading 50032. And finally a rare one. With so much of the main circuit out of view, track cleaning needs to be quite good. This is my method(s) of choice: CMX tank wagon with IPA in it, Dapol track cleaner with polisher attachment and then an old Hornby tank wagon chassis with a pair of Gaugemaster wipers underneath. Is quite heavy, hence the double headed 73s, but a couple of circuits of this seems to get anything off. Hopefully more progress soon. Stay safe everyone. Rich Edited October 15, 2022 by Rich Papper Replace photos 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted June 24, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted June 24, 2020 (edited) Good Evening Something I've not tried before - need a hedge. I decided I needed quite a dense one as I'm trying to hide access to hidden sidings behind, so opted for a kitchen scourer rather than rubberised horsehair as this seems a bit more open. I'm doing a hedge behind a wall in an urban area, so premise is that the hedge has been clipped back on the pavement side, but is a it more bushy behind. So, two strips of scourer glued back to back for a bit of depth, one shallower to sit atop wall. When dry, bit of profiling with small pair of scissors, and some offcuts stuck on the back to make it a bit more 3D. Spray paint dark brown. Then some foliage. Here's where things got a little trickier. Tried aerosol glue, but it was a bit rubbish. It kind of squirted out a straight line rather than a spray. Maybe I should have bought something more expensive than poundshop spray glue.... Anyway, then went with some static grass layering spray from WWS, then sprinkle on random scatters. Good, but messy. Wasn't entirely happy with this. Longer section was a bit too uniform, and coverage wasn't great. Then I found some hairspray and went for another layer. Very cheap supermarket brand extra hold hairspray bit it was SO much easier. Blended a few scatters to give a bit more variation too. Still looked a bit like a big blob of green, so tried it in place. Pretty happy with that for a first attempt. Took no more than about half an hour over the past two days, but to be honest if I'd used hairspray to start with I could probably have been quicker. Still shuffling / auditioning trees in the background. Will have something big middle background above the lighter bit of hedge. Thinking of something overhanging the hedge that has been profiled for / by passing buses - I'm sure when I was young they cut trees, now they seem to fit a metal bar to the front of double deckers in the hope just driving them into the trees will prune them! Not as obvious from this angle, but road has also had some different colour patches added for tarmac repairs, and all drains and metalwork has been picked out in a slightly darker metalcote colour. More soon I hope. Rich Edited October 15, 2022 by Rich Papper Replace photos 10 1 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 Ingenious and it looks good ! 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Departmental203 Posted June 28, 2020 Share Posted June 28, 2020 I'm liking the hedges, Rich! Reminds me of some of my neighbours who endeavour in keeping their hedges presentable.... Anyhow, good luck with the layout! Jules 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted July 3, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted July 3, 2020 (edited) Thanks all for the kind words above. A little more progress over the last couple of nights with some road markings starting to appear. To be honest I'm treating this bit as a bit of a practice with roads as it is right in a corner and not that easy to see from most angles whereas there will be a town scene by the door that is right at the front! So, to stencil, paint or vinyl? I wasn't sure about the raised nature of the vinyl stickers. I'm sure in the right hands they're great, but wasn't confident in getting them on right first time. Also, with two small children who are going to push cars up and down here until the Oxford Diecast axles break (5 so far!), I was concerned they might catch and pull them off. I've seen people make stencils look good so picked up a Scale Model Scenery one for the bus stop. In progress view. Unusual angle as I have removed the board and reversed it so I can get underneath more easily to connect street light wiring. Bus stop stencil went well. I used a small offcut of a kitchen sponge and effectively 'dry-sponged' it. I chose a light yellow for a slightly faded look, touched the sponge to the paint and then dabbed off 95% on a kitchen towel before going over the stencil markings I wanted, having first masked off those I didn't want and tacking the stencil in place with masking tape. Then double yellow lines. Decided to do these with a paint pen as all the other methods I've seen seem to result in abnormally thick lines. The vinyl ones I found in a box (at least 10 years old and have lost most of the packaging so couldn't tell you who) had each line about 2mm wide. The SMS stencil is better at about 1.75mm (to my dodgy eyesight with some callipers) - but that is still seriously wide in scale. Straight bits were easy with a ruler. Had to draw them round a corner so made myself a guide by bending a length of plastruct strip and then holding it in place with masking tape. Chamfered the underside edges slightly to avoid paint bleeding under. Picture below shows finished result. I think these are closer to the scale of yellow lines I see around me. Then a broader view with trees resting in to give some idea of height. A little more to do on the right - need to fashion a section of building, but need to get a good image to blend into backscene first. Then static grass, street lights and a bit of street furniture. Some weathering of road still needed, but will matt varnish first and see how it looks. It does seem to photograph darker than it looks. More soon hopefully. Rich Edited October 15, 2022 by Rich Papper Replace photos 13 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted July 14, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) Work continues, but run into something a bit odd. Was a bit ambivalent about static grass as this area is a park, so it would have to be quite short. Have used 2mm elsewhere, but only as a base layer. Did my usual routine: prep static machine, glue on, power up, shake it on. Then left it about 25 mins, then came back with hoover with pair of tights over nozzle to take off excess. I usually hold it about 2 inches above surface and haven't had a problem before, but this time, this: It took off virtually all of it. Not quite sure the issue. The glue does not seem to have grabbed it at all, despite being dry. I only did small areas at a time, as can be seen from the joins. Is it possible for static basing glue to go off? I thought it was just a variant of PVA and I've never had a problem with anything losing it's potency other than superglue. Gone for a ponder. Rich Edited October 15, 2022 by Rich Papper Replace photos 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 Road looks very nice. Small children running cars up and down ? Don’t worry I’ve already given this fella a call for you.....! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted July 14, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted July 14, 2020 2 hours ago, rob D2 said: Road looks very nice. Small children running cars up and down ? Don’t worry I’ve already given this fella a call for you.....! If he's after my two he's going to need a stronger cage! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Popular Post Rich Papper Posted July 14, 2020 Author Tempfix Popular Post Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) Good Evening All, A little more luck with round 2 of the static grass and am nearing final decisions on tree locations. Street lights are also now in place and working. I painted them in Tamiya XF25 as this seemed a good match to the grey-green colour I remember. A 4.7k resistor has brought them down to an acceptable glow, although in the dark they are probably still a little bright. May yet put a blob of yellow varnish on the LED itself to tone it down and yellow it a bit further. Still needs a small fence bottom left to divide pavement from parking area. Reverse view. Some shrubs to go in around the trees too, and there are gaps in the grass behind the hedge where trees are as it wouldn't grow in that much shade anyway. Path through the park is play sand (kids still haven't missed any!) stuck down with PVA. A better lower view. Quite pleased with the details going in. Sydney Gardens sign is from a photo, as is the backscene. Had to do some searching to find a road that curved the way I wanted it to. This isn't actually the one that goes over the real bridge in Bath, but it is nearby. Bus stop sign is from Scale Model Scenery (and could do with being straightened). All hedges glued in place, but no trees yet. The street lamp at the back is supposed to have the tree growing around it a bit to stop it creating a pool of light onto the backscene and spoiling the perception of depth (in theory anyway!) Hopefully more soon, although I'm a bit greened-out now. Want to do some rolling stock. Stay safe folks. Rich Edited October 15, 2022 by Rich Papper Replace photos 14 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted July 16, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) This is a shot I've been after. Ever since visiting Miniatur Wunderland a few years ago I've been wondering how many lights I'd need to be able to run it comfortably in the dark. A few more yet, but happy with the start. Rich Edited October 15, 2022 by Rich Papper Replace photos 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted July 30, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted July 30, 2020 (edited) The 117 is here! A bit of a running session this afternoon to put it through it's paces. No issues so far. Unsurprisingly it runs very nicely with the 121. Another reason to think that I really need to get on with that shed though... Needs weathering too. It might end up with a once over when the 119 reaches that stage. Rich Edited October 15, 2022 by Rich Papper Replace photos 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitbull1845 Posted July 30, 2020 Share Posted July 30, 2020 A nice line up you have there Rich. #NSE 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted August 2, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted August 2, 2020 (edited) On 30/07/2020 at 16:22, pitbull1845 said: A nice line up you have there Rich. #NSE Thanks Scott. It is getting a little bit #NSE at the moment even for me! I do think that the next home based one will be the last - I do actually long to work on some wagons for a change. I'm pretty sure I have 101, 104, 108, 115, 117, 119, and 121 covered for NSE and I'm leaning towards a 116. First and last of the 117s below - hard to tell but I think the one on the right is the Bachmann. The Lima was the first one I had in NSE and I had someone else do it as I was too scared to have a go at the livery at the time (more years ago than I care to remember!) I do sometimes wonder what would tempt me towards something more modern. My son is 4 and loves the modern things that go past our house - what if one day he turns around wanting an 800? So far the only thing I've seen that would even vaguely tempt me is something like that very nice 68 that you're testing at Redbrook! Rich Edited October 15, 2022 by Rich Papper Replace photos 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chimer Posted August 3, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 3, 2020 Hi Rich I've only just found "Catford" (and only clicked on it 'cos I used to live in Beckenham, tbh) but, speeding through, it looks great work and I'm surprised it's attracted comparatively few comments. One thing that did strike me looking at this year's progress is the difficulty you're going to have merging the high level tunnel mouth with the terraced house backscene (last pic, last post, page 6). The high ground to the left (as the driver sees it) of the tunnel mouth must occupy the same space as at least the last two houses in the terrace , and the road in front of the houses must either be a cul-de-sac or turn sharp left and run along the foot of the hill. I'm interested in any thoughts you might have on solving this in the future, as "tunnel close to backscene" is an issue I've come across more than once as I play my planning games! My first thought was that it might be possible to plant a very bushy tree behind the far tunnel wing wall and hide the end of the terrace that way? But that might cause problems with leaves on the line ..... And I think that terrace backscene is just great. Cheers, Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted August 4, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted August 4, 2020 16 hours ago, Chimer said: My first thought was that it might be possible to plant a very bushy tree behind the far tunnel wing wall and hide the end of the terrace that way? But that might cause problems with leaves on the line ..... Hello Thank you for the kind words Chris, that was exactly my plan. I knew that there wasn't enough space, but I've had trouble matching the colours of these backscenes and I wanted the sky to be continuous above. I do have a box of seafoam earmarked for the job, but haven't got around to it yet. I'm still not completely sure on the name Catford, the station will be closer in design to Caterham, but it seems to have stuck now. Rich 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted August 13, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted August 13, 2020 (edited) Good Evening All A bit of a room upgrade this afternoon but should make a bit of a difference to the layout. A before and after photo of the same bit of ceiling below: Replaced the single pendant light with a 6ft LED batten. Massive difference in the room - I keep seeing things I haven't noticed before (as well as the occasional ('why did I paint it that colour?' moment). Did a bit of reading around on colour temperatures (they all describe them in different ways - one company's 'warm white' is another's 'neutral white') and went for one that is roughly 4000K. Given the size of the room I didn't think I needed anything brighter. A few pictures to test. 47602 on an enterprise. 73102 on some new turbots. Note to self: need to repaint that 73. And stick the detail bits back on. And sort the colours on the turbots. And fill the handrail holes. And invent some shorter couplings. (come on Dapol!) Pictures definitely look clearer in this light though. I suppose because the camera is having to do less work with the light level. More soon. Rich Edited October 15, 2022 by Rich Papper Replace photos 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markmiller2008 Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Hi Rich If you don't mind glueing the couplings in then there's a mod to do with the original couplings on the Turbots by literally chopping the fishtail bit off the coupling and glueing it into the mount. All of mine have this and that greatly improves the gap between them. I'll pop a photo up later once i get home. Mark 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted August 14, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted August 14, 2020 14 hours ago, Markmiller2008 said: I'll pop a photo up later once i get home. I'd love one if you get a chance please Mark. Don't have any OO scale cats to hand, but I'm pretty sure I could swing more than a few of them in the gap. Rich 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markmiller2008 Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 Rich, as promised, do away with the NEM pocket, chop the fishtail off the end of the coupling and glue the coupling into the NEM mount. Hey Presto a dramatically reduced gap. Mark 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 What was wrong with the colours on turbots Rich ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempfix Rich Papper Posted August 15, 2020 Author Tempfix Share Posted August 15, 2020 3 hours ago, rob D2 said: What was wrong with the colours on turbots Rich ? Was just an assumption to be honest - the yellow is exactly the same as the lemon shade on the 73 that was widely lambasted at the time of release. It was my impression that in the 80s warning panel yellow and dutch livery yellow were the same, so I assumed if it was wrong on the 73 (it's certainly a different colour to the warning yellow panel on everything else I have) then it was also wrong on the wagons. More than happy to be corrected if I've jumped to the wrong conclusion here. Wagons will get a heavy weathering anyway, but I don't think I can disguise it on the 73. Rich Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 Sounds like you have a point TBH , I’ve never seen either in the flesh so I can’t comment . got some Cambrian turbots in their bags awaiting work - I think I’ll be dead long before I get round to them ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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