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Rich Papper
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On 06/04/2017 at 08:44, Benjamin Brady said:

Rich

 

    Looking at doing a simalar wall , what did you use for the for edging please  ??????.

 

Hello

Not sure which bit you mean, but hopefully some pics will answer.

 

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Lower wall is strips of plasticard with stones scribed and interspersed with balustrade from Langley Models (very glad someone made this!). The top edge is a strip of plastruct (cat: 90756). I needed this a bit thicker as the top of the wall has a slightly rounded profile as can be seen in earlier pictures of the real thing. I just stuck it on with mekpak and took a file to it.

 

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The top of the upper wall is slightly more complicated by the wider abutments. I capped this with a thinner strip of plastruct (cat: 90745) and then cut strips off a larger sheet to take into account the wider sections of wall on top of the abutments. Again, mekpak and then a file.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Rich

 

PS, the next section is coming together - much blue styrofoam in evidence again. Thank you all for your kind words - baby 2 taking up quite a bit of time so progress even slower than usual.

 

CA026.JPG.d9871221a1604e21690cf847b1b238e4.JPG

 

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Hello

Not sure which bit you mean, but hopefully some pics will answer.

 

attachicon.gifCA024.JPG

 

Lower wall is strips of plasticard with stones scribed and interspersed with balustrade from Langley Models (very glad someone made this!). The top edge is a strip of plastruct (cat: 90756). I needed this a bit thicker as the top of the wall has a slightly rounded profile as can be seen in earlier pictures of the real thing. I just stuck it on with mekpak and took a file to it.

 

attachicon.gifCA025.JPG

 

The top of the upper wall is slightly more complicated by the wider abutments. I capped this with a thinner strip of plastruct (cat: 90745) and then cut strips off a larger sheet to take into account the wider sections of wall on top of the abutments. Again, mekpak and then a file.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Rich

 

PS, the next section is coming together - much blue styrofoam in evidence again. Thank you all for your kind words - baby 2 taking up quite a bit of time so progress even slower than usual.

 

attachicon.gifCA026.JPG

 

Evening Rich 

 

   Perfect love the wall , going to try and do something along the lines of your wall , need it to look Egyptian to match tunnel entrance.

 

   you captured  Sydney gardens to a tee !!!! 

 

   thanks for taking time out from baby two to reply .

 

  Rich 

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Good Evening Civilised World. Really hasn't been much to report over here of late. Thing 1 and Thing 2 have managed to be teething at the same time despite being 18 months apart so spare time and sleep is at a premium. Hopefully through it soon so I can stop having Calpol delivered in a tanker.

 

Anyway, would have been extremely remiss of me to let this week pass without a Happy Birthday to these old favourites - 50s at 50.

 

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My collection - only 6! Space for more surely. From front to back on the left 50007 Sir Edward Elgar, 50035 Ark Royal, 50017 Royal Oak, and on the right 50032 Courageous, 50025 Invincible and 50149 Defiance. Invincible is the oldest - a Lima I received for my 10th birthday (some considerable time ago), the rest are Hornby, a couple of limited editions and a couple of re-names. Do love the Hornby model (despite the appalling coupling cam arrangement), but it does tend to shed bits all over the place. I'm missing a fair selection of buffer steps, pipes and even a buffer from one end of Ark Royal. Fortunately the buffers are a numbered spare, but the steps aren't so am going to have to think of something for them.

 

As for more, would love a revised NSE sample. Suppose it should be Glorious - curious as to why this has never been offered. Was hoping the recent D400 release would have been as it was when withdrawn but no such luck. Should get saving anyway, TC is due soon.

 

Uh-oh, one's awake. Back to business.

 

Rich

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Hi Rich

 

Just to make you jealous I was on the tour to Glasgow Saturday and it was great! As for your missing steps I got some from an eBay seller who 3D printed them, I'll see if I can find his 'handle' next time I get the laptop out.

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Good Evening All,

 

Work and time with the little people have meant that I haven't been near this in a while, but now the weather is on the turn and I have managed to fool at least one of them that bedtime must be earlier because it's dark, I've been at the styrofoam again. A couple of pictures below of the window end of the room. Main aim here is to try to disguise the trainset curves. They're not too bad, the left hand side is the equivalent of radius 5 and 6 if you imagine going further outside Peco standard sizes, and it only does about 70 degrees. The right hand side is half hidden by the girder bridge seen earlier. This section also has the gradient to the upper level. Noting there at the moment so would like to get a bit further with this.

 

Attempt at an overview. I need a wider lens or a higher ceiling. Apologies for the mess!

 

post-17911-0-71223600-1509916745_thumb.jpg

 

Then right hand corner as you look down the room. This is the other side of the girder bridge already seen (still not finished, but will make a nice couple of evenings project). 

 

post-17911-0-17129200-1509916760_thumb.jpg

 

And left hand corner. Rising gradient disappears into a tunnel. I admit a TOTAL lack of planning here. I know it needs to go into a tunnel here to disguise the hairpin bend, but where it comes out and what it's a tunnel under I am still thinking on!!

 

post-17911-0-41359200-1509916770_thumb.jpg

 

Well I wouldn't want to plan too much - where would be the fun in that?

 

Wrap up warm.

 

Rich

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Good Evening All,

 

Managed to get in the cave today while the small people were out dribbling on other small people. Tunnel mouth fun. A bit more of trying to get my 'quart in a pint pot' planning to look slightly less like a train set.

 

Bare bones of tunnel structure. Doesn't need to go that far in as you can barely see into it from normal viewing angles.

 

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Brick edges (must be a proper name for this!) added from Wills arches suitably hacked about.

 

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In position.

 

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Some fiddling around to line up retaining walls then got to get back to the mess on the upper level.

Rich

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Very envious of your space! I liked Oxford Road when I saw it at Cheltenham so will follow with interest..

Very kind, thank you. I'm sure like most people the space felt bigger before I started, hence the over-ambitious track plan. But I'm having fun and that's the important thing.

 

Oxford Road is due out again in about a month for the first time in two years, so better get it out soon for a once over. Some DMUs on the workbench need a visit.

 

Rich

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Good Evening All,

 

Appears fireworks were on offer around here somewhere, so in between trying to get babies back to sleep a bit of this.

 

Brickwork! And a rather unhealthy amount of MekPak and superglue. Getting there though.

 

Run up to the tunnel mouth seen in progress above.

 

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Close up of tunnel mouth. Quite pleased with how this turned out. Got the template for the arch from Scalescenes who do an excellent template for making your own (here). I've used a few of their things, but tend to pay for the download, print the bits I need and then re-make in plastic where I can. Nothing against the card, and will almost certainly use it for small people when they need a layout (emphasise: need), but mixed plastic and card construction and Oxford Road and it's always been one of those things that annoys me a little bit about the layout. Just being self-critical.

 

CA035.JPG.e053e256e5ad7cbb68b2601c12434d5b.JPG

 

And then a wide shot of the corner to try to show what's going on. Probably easier to look back at track plan on last page if you're interested, but gradient far right linking two levels of layout will go into as yet unfinished tunnel and re-emerge somewhere rear centre. Main lines sweeping diagonally across board and going into tunnel above. Front line to provide access to DMU depot. One day.

 

CA036.JPG.5e5a9387fa6e04bba0f97d8c43856428.JPG

 

More next year I suppose. Any suggestions for how I join all this together with scenery gratefully appreciated!

 

Happy New Year everyone.

 

Rich

 

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On 01/01/2018 at 10:04, Benjamin Brady said:

Morning Rich 

 

   Happy new year , still love the front side of this layout ( Bath Gardens ) have you any up date on that ????.

 

  That is not taking away the modelling you are doing now , suitably impressed .

 

   Cheers 

 

Hello - Happy New Year!

 

Still going on, just reached a bit of a head scratching moment. Easier to explain with pictures - a couple of early build shots below. There is a hidden fiddle yard behind the retaining walls. Despite extensive testing when I built it, I've found recently that a couple of items of stock clip the wooden supports so I'm having a bit of a think about how best to hold the upper (park) layer up. I'm also toying with the idea of shoehorning in a cheap reversing camera from e-bay so I can actually see in there without having to look down a tunnel mouth!

 

One shot from each end (don't think they're already on here).

 

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Will get it together soon, then there will need to be a great deal of greenerying.

 

Rich

 

PS I know some of the pointwork isn't the best use of space but I already had all those points so was determined to save some money somewhere!

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SERIOUSLY!!!!

 

Yep. I have a two year old son, and four and six year old nephews next door. I'm absolutely fine with them having these (James and Gordon are about somewhere too - and I am working on Daisy since I had a spare Lima 101 car floating about!). The six year old can even drive things if given a route. Keeps them away from the DMUs, handpainted and kit built things I've been working on for a years at a time!

 

Although if anyone is thinking about this, I'd avoid Duck. Wasn't one of the re-releases from Hornby, found secondhand and a DCC hardwire (all have basics Hattons decoders), but Duck is an old 1970s/80s live chassis block. Inside is now more black tape than anything else! Not as bad as Toby though - picked up one of them second hand for next birthday. Not sure what scale Hornby built that to - its about 1cm taller than my next biggest piece of stock. Chassis surgery needed or we're in for some bridge bashing. I can see the same things happening to a lot of people with Hornby's new IEP though. Remember the fun all those who bought the Rapido APT had when they realised the nose overhang? 26m coaches on an IEP might mean some people are in for a bit of home civil engineering.

Rich

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Evening Rich .

 

   Thanks for the updates , bit worried now about the new IEP , if it will go around our layout , one to look out for .

 

   I think done well with the storage roads , never thought they were under the garden part of layout , look forward to more updates .

 

   Thanks 

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Rich have a look at the cctv sets available on eBay I have several dotted around my layout including in hidden sidings. They tend to come with night vision cameras but you can add other cameras providing you get a DVR with more outputs.

You can use plain cameras with LED strip lighting in hidden fiddle yards the led strips being 12v can be powered from the same supply as the cameras.

 

I have a sannce 8 channel dvr

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Rich have a look at the cctv sets available on eBay I have several dotted around my layout including in hidden sidings. They tend to come with night vision cameras but you can add other cameras providing you get a DVR with more outputs.

You can use plain cameras with LED strip lighting in hidden fiddle yards the led strips being 12v can be powered from the same supply as the cameras.

I have a sannce 8 channel dvr

Thanks for that - exactly what I was planning. I did do a speculative purchase of one a few months ago for a bit of a fiddle, but I can't figure out how to turn off the parking lines. The cameras themselves seem pretty cheap so I might get another to experiment with a bit. Ideally I'd like two here, one at the entrance to see the points and another at the far end to see the buffers. More experimentation needed I think.

 

Any and all suggestions welcome. Thanks again.

 

Rich

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Not much progress since last one. Mostly mess. Err....

 

CA039.JPG.01947ab3b659dc6100f1575720d53d21.JPG

 

This one is a long shot looking towards the near left corner of the room. Will be a station - marked by batten and coaches. Island platform with one stabling siding, loosely inspired by a visit to Caterham a few years ago. Bridge in foreground will be disused. Idea being that two lines used to serve station, but one since closed. Allows me to have a larger station and remains of yard than would otherwise be the case.

 

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Thank goodness for peco templates. Been looking at this junction for about four years now on and off and still no nearer to looking right. In fairness I have had two children in that time so my free time and concentration is not what it was...

 

Just pre-ordered some new Hornby goodies though so feeling like doing something.

 

Rich

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Good Evening,

 

OK, a bit more head-scratching, but I think this is it.

 

CA041.JPG.f4985eada4f04b8df642c622b20af73d.JPG

 

 

Looking down the layout towards the station (marked by batten). Island platform with additional stabling siding to right, and a couple of sidings kicking back to the left foreground which will help disguise the falling gradient of the line in as it disappears. To the left of the signal box (too big probably but I like it) is a piece of track representing the second closed line. Don't think I will include the track, but it will be obvious where it was and there will be a disused bridge over the entrance lines to the DMU depot below.

 

Original plan had two tracks arriving on this level via a cunningly hidden set of points in the tunnel. Station throat would then have been Minories-esque, but it really didn't fit. This bit will be third rail with station building beyond the buffers something vaguely in the style of Caterham.

 

Open to any and all suggestions if there is a better way though.

 

Have a good evening.

Rich

 

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Good Evening,

 

A small, fiddly, but altogether satisfying bit of updating this evening. A solution to the hidden sidings issue from post #42 above. As usual better explained in pictures. Picture below shows the original supports, knocked up from wood offcuts which were found to be causing issues to a couple of pieces of stock. Replacement is in front: a 100mm M8 bolt. Nuts and washers above and below. I know what you're thinking, it's lower that the old one...

 

CA042.JPG.d5debb465351117fe509ed28d3e4d2dc.JPG

 

... but that's because it is going to have one of these above it attached to the underside of the upper level. A countersunk neodymium magnet. If you've never come across these, for goodness sake be careful they are astonishingly strong. These were very cheap from e-bay and come in all different shapes and sizes, but the warning paperwork that came with them is two sides of A4. These are only 12mm diameter and you can apparently hang 6kg on each one.

 

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And then finally a shot of it all together (apologies for poor quality, poked phone camera down a hole I couldn't see into). 

 

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Beauty of this is that the bolts have rounded heads, and by using quite a small screw the countersunk surface of the magnet sort of allows it to 'self centre' on the top of the bolt so it seems to end up in the same place each time. Probably wouldn't be good enough to align tracks, but for scenic upper layers I'm happy.

 

Sleep well.

Rich

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Good Evening All,

 

Time for an update. This week has seen a bit of progress on the left hand side of the room. Boards here are about 3ft deep. As always, pictures are better than my waffle. So, first picture below shows the state of play as it was. I had built the upper level, accessed by a ramp across the end of the room and had originally envisaged, and got as far as laying, a 5 platform terminus. Too big basically, and all lines parallel to the boards just looked wrong. Also didn't give me much room at the front of the board at the lower level. So out it came about two years ago and it has been a dumping ground since. Plan then is to trim a bit of the upper layer back and create a smaller station and more space below. Marking out first.

 

CA045.JPG.e3f2648b607446a615bb3b6d07e2f0d5.JPG

 

 

Then out with the jigsaw. This one shows the new line of the upper level and where supports have had to be moved. Also slightly scuppered myself as there were access holes from beneath which are now exposed, so have to plate over them and come up with a plan B.

 

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Next shows it taking a bit more shape. Styrofoam starting to end up the shape I want and in the right place. The single platform of the upper level station will be parallel with the new upper edge roughly where the set square is. The card template on the lower level shows roughly the dimensions of the DMU shed that will go in there. Should fit three tracks with room on each to fit a three car 117. These are all parallel to the board edge and very straight, but not so worried about this. Most depots I've seen are unless there is some large geographical barrier that causes them to be otherwise. For something to aim at, there is an excellent layout called Aberdeen Kirkhill on here (found here) - all lines straight and parallel - looks great.

 

CA047.JPG.c1943e4c3a9ab3bec4970fa82b5528a9.JPG

 

Of course wouldn't get anything done without the project management skills of this gentleman. He says he can fit new windows to this DMU faster than me with his screwdriver. Given my previous experience with laserglaze I'm minded to let him have a go....

 

CA048.JPG.35f51c8f4c666e8f68214c9b3efca58e.JPG

 

Have a good weekend.

Rich

 

 

 

 

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Good Evening

 

I've spent the last couple of nights hurting my hand with a razor saw. Just for fun obviously. Fancied a change from having styrofoam dist stuck to my socks so modified some of the points for the upper level with much swearing and fiddling. And all because Peco seem to have forgotten about Y points.

 

It seems about seven or eight years ago Peco looked at all the streamline points and decided to modify the pivots of the point blades to be smaller and the springs less obtrusive. With the electrofrog versions they even created a small cut in the two rails approaching the frog so that one could simply remove the jumpers and wire the frog straight to a switch or frog juicer. This seems to have coincided with the change of packaging from boxes to plastic sleeves. All good. When I switched (ha ha) over to electrofrog points about five years ago it was easy to add the frog juicer and they've all been working perfectly ever since.

 

Only for some reason, Peco simply didn't bother with the Y points. No idea why. I ordered some from Track Shack (just as I never had before and wasn't going to be near a shop for a while) and was slightly confused when they arrived in new packaging looking like the older model. I then picked up a couple more at my local (Cheltenham Model Centre - lovely place) that were the same. Bemused I compared them with the staff there to all the others in the range. I then came home and phoned Peco. They are well aware of the difference but apparently have no plans to change them. Not sure why Y points have ended up the poor relation here, but have planned it now so I'm doing it.

 

Sorry, waffling, too much tea today. To the pictures. Stage 1. Need to tiny cuts separating the rails before the frog. A bit of experimentation with a broken pair from the spares box found that an Expo razor saw with incredibly tiny teeth would do it neatest. Didn't trust myself at all with the Dremel and would have been a bigger gap anyway. But couldn't use the handle as needed more control, and of course could only go backwards and forwards about 6mm, hence the sore hand.

 

 

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Then turn over and wire a couple of jumpers between the rails to allow better continuity to the blades.

 

 

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And fingers crossed they should now work like the newer ones when all is connected.

 

Pain in the bum though.

Rich

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