Fairport Mk2

[sb67]

Looks good Richard, the ducting and pipes look effective. Well done :-)

Steve.

[47137]

Thank you Steve for your kind words. I think I am going to be happy with this layout. Looking at the whole model, the weakest part is the passenger platform (from two Wills kits), it looks artificial to me. The planking goes across the width of the platform while so many timber-built platforms had the timbers running lengthwise. I have bought some strip wood to try to make something from scratch.

 

In the meantime I have glued a bit of cotton wool onto the back scene, to hide the edge of the mirror. This seems to have worked ok - the shades of blue painted onto the ply and reflected in the glass are much the same:

 

- Richard.

[47137]

Here is a photo of the whole layout. The industrial buildings are glued and screwed down, the others are a snug fit over fixed bases so I can remove them and put them back. There are really two scenes here - semi-rural and industrial, all on 3 square feet of shelf. I think I have got away with this, and the large tree helps to frame the two parts.

 

I have neatened up some of the rough edges on the groundwork. The structures hide many of its limitations, or at least draw my eye away from them. Putting a gradient on the front siding really does help to get away form the "flat earth" appearance of a solid baseboard, even though the difference in heights between the tracks is only around 6 mm.

 

The major omissions now are fences, signs, and the catenary wire. This leaves me to work up the tramway platform, and build a new passenger platform to replace the Wills kits. So really, I have gone from "given up for six weeks" to "nearly finished" in four days.

 

There are five possible destinations for trains here, where a "train" means one or two wagons or a single coach or tram. The model is really an extension of a larger layout rather than a micro in its own right, because it would need a lot of fiddle yard to hold all of the different possible workings, but it does give me a selection of destinations in a small space.

 

It will be good to get the layout back onto its wall bracket, it gets in the way everywhere else in the room. I can build the two platforms on the bench, and then add them to the layout. The end is in sight.

 

- Richard.

[luke the train spotter]

Looks great! Very interesting to see the layout as a whole.

[Guest ShildonShunter]

A very nice layout and not cluttered either just right and great modelling.

[47137]

Looks great! Very interesting to see the layout as a whole.

There is a plan of the layout on my blog here. I want to extend the main line from the bottom right hand corner of the plan. I cannot have a continuous run around the edge of the room, but there is space for a 180 degree turn to a fiddle yard or a terminus, this would give my most of 30 feet end to end and this is enough to start a train running and watch it for a reasonable period of time.

 

The main baseboard doesn't have any scenery, but there are photos scattered through the blog. It is difficult to photograph the whole layout in a meaningful sort of way but what I really ought to do is photograph some trains on the layout. This would be fun to do too.

 

- Richard.

[47137]

A very nice layout and not cluttered either just right and great modelling.

I have mentioned the work of Gordon Gravett a few times in this topic. I am not near his standards for landscape modelling and groundwork detailing, but all the same he has helped me to make my own efforts better. His book is very good.

 

"Fairport" can be a test piece for my main baseboard. I am pleased with the colours here - I don't manipulate my photos before posting on the RMWeb except sometimes to increase saturation a bit, and they look right to me. I get a bit fed up at exhibitions where the colours on layouts are consistently too dark and too blue/cold, and everything seems so cramped. It is as though some modellers never look at a real patch of ground. This layout has ended up with the best concrete and tarmac effects I've ever done, but some of the static grass ended up on a bit of a slant, as if a strong wind is blowing. I expect I can trim it or pull it off and try again. Dry brushing the static grass has helped - rough grass in this sort of location is likely to look a bit pale and unhealthy and this knocks away the "freshness" of the fibres.

 

- Richard.

[47137]

I am having a go at the tramway platform, to add fences and some surface detailing. This is how it was in January:

 

I will call the fences a sort of "tall bollard with steel rail" design. The piano wire here is 0.032 inch diameter - it looks a bit over-scale to me but it works out at around 60mm diameter which is just right:

 

I am not so sure about the platform surface. Most modern prototypes seem to really go to town with different textures and paving. I have started the edge with a strip of styrene and a strip of embossed foam cobbles:

 

The cobbles representing the tactile surfaces put in nowadays, and the styrene strip smoothing out the outer edge. I am not sure about the finish for the rest of the platform. I could try gloss paint with talc, or gloss paint with chinchilla dust. Anything coarser (like a fine ballast) is likely to look like loose gravel. I would try individual paving slabs if I could make them a really consistent size, but when I've done this before I've ended up with tiny variations in size which then look like rough paving. As a modern structure it needs something quite precise.

 

I've got plenty of time to think about this - another 20-odd fence posts to do, but any ideas would be welcome. I really want a method which makes for repeatable and above all "even" results. A little texture would be good.

 

- Richard.

[mjcampbell]

I've used fine sand over a layer of PVA, though it can be tricky to get it very even. For something more neat, select an appropriate grade of emery paper?

[47137]

I've used fine sand over a layer of PVA, though it can be tricky to get it very even. For something more neat, select an appropriate grade of emery paper?

 

I remember I did I dummy run for the station platform on the Mk1 version of the layout. A thin even coat of PVA and some ballast by Woodland Scenics and it was perfect - a bit like a path at a National Trust establishment but it looked the part. When I did it for real on the platform it came out lumpy and I ended up scraping off most of it and doing it again. It was never as good as the dummy run.

 

I was in a hotel during the week, looking down on a bus lane from a high floor and thinking the platform would look good in red (bus lane red). I could have a go with some paint on sandpaper. I've also got some wet and dry paper to try, but this might get clogged with the paint.

 

- Richard.

[Marly51]

I remember I did I dummy run for the station platform on the Mk1 version of the layout. A thin even coat of PVA and some ballast by Woodland Scenics and it was perfect - a bit like a path at a National Trust establishment but it looked the part. When I did it for real on the platform it came out lumpy and I ended up scraping off most of it and doing it again. It was never as good as the dummy run.

 

I was in a hotel during the week, looking down on a bus lane from a high floor and thinking the platform would look good in red (bus lane red). I could have a go with some paint on sandpaper. I've also got some wet and dry paper to try, but this might get clogged with the paint.

 

- Richard.

I’ve been experimenting with platform surfaces as well, but the two layouts on my workbench are N gauge and so far the finishes are still a bit coarse. For a rural station Javis ‘light tarmac scatter’ on PVA worked quite well and, when it was semi dry, I compressed it with an old Letraset burnishing tool using a layer of oiled paper (used by bookbinders) to prevent the surface lifting. However Javis scatter is not colour fast and the resulting tone ended up a bit too dark. Some modellers mentioned using a textured paint on another thread. I find the tarmac paper textures, available to download, are just too ‘flat’ even in 2mm scale.

[47137]

I have ended up taking the abrasive paper approach. This is "80 grit waterproof aluminium oxide paper". It is about the same thickness as the embossed foam cobbles I put along the edge of the platform. I have also discovered a fast way to wear out a craft knife blade - three cuts a foot or so each are enough to ruin a blade.

 

It its raw state there are reflective bits of grit in the paper and these give it some life. But somehow the colour is just too dark - nearly black really. It only works as a realistic colour if you imagine driving on a newly-surfaced road in bright sunlight and wearing sunglasses. I can paint the surface with acrylics and make it a reddish brown or whatever and this will keep the texture but lose the reflective bits.

 

The fences are finished now, and the piano wire catches the light at different angles. So the model won't look too flat, even if I paint the "tarmac".

 

- Richard.

[47137]

For the time being I have painted the access path in a reddish brown and left the platform area unpainted. I have read, modern platforms slope backwards away from the railway to stop buggies rolling off, so there is a space between the two to try to represent a drainage channel. The empty rectangle is for a ticket machine.

 

- Richard.

 

[Guest ShildonShunter]

Very nice modelling I like how you have left space for a ticket machine and for the drainage on the platform.

[47137]

I have put the tram platform onto the layout and I think this model is finished for the time being. I would like to add a couple of seats and some lighting one day.

 

The wheelie bin here is by Preiser. Fence posts are Ratio ones cut down with the lowest hole filled in. The cream "tactile paving" and the red cobbles are from an embossed foam sheet by Busch. The cream one being slit every inch or so to help it fit nicely against the curving edge of the platform.

 

- Richard.

 

[aac]

This is how I installed the model of the processing plant.

 

I glued a block of wood inside the model, near the top:

DSCF7055.jpg

 

Then I used wood screws to fix everything down. There is a screw through the mirror into this block of wood, two more into the chimney, and a fourth screw through the backscene into the top of the elevator. Some more screws through the plywood base onto the layout.

DSCF7064.jpg

 

When I drilled the left-most hole through the mirror, a hairline crack appeared above the hole, and over a week or so this crack worked its way up to the top of the mirror - just like a chip in a car windscreen. The crack doesn't show in the photograph here, and indeed it doesn't really show unless you look for it. I suppose the problem is the mirror glass is fairly thin, and sits unsupported a fraction of a millimetre above the backscene at the point of drilling. At least I got the holes in the right place :-)

 

- Richard.

Sorry to be late in responding, but have just enjoyed looking through the thread. I noticed your mention of a hairline crack continuing to run. The trick to combat this is easy if it doesn't spoil what you are doing, or you can conceal it in some way. At the top end of the hairline crack (i.e. where it has opened up to, drill a hole with a very fine drill. This will act as a "stop drilling" and even though the crack is till there, it won't progress further. This is good for various cracked materials, so give it a go.

Good luck - good thread!

 

aac

[47137]

...

The trick to combat this is easy if it doesn't spoil what you are doing, or you can conceal it in some way. At the top end of the hairline crack (i.e. where it has opened up to, drill a hole with a very fine drill.

...

 

This is good advice - many thanks. In my case, the initial crack was around 8 mm long, and I thought nothing more of it until I looked at the layout a week later and saw the crack had reached out to the edge of the glass.

 

The other two holes in the glass have had no problems, and if prevention is better than cure I can only think the glass is better supported underneath the point of drilling.

 

 Richard.

[47137]

When tasks take too long the hobby ceases to be fun. So it is with the cottage garden, which really should be a fun part of the project. After most of three weeks on and off, and mostly off, I have a garden fence, back yard, vegetable patch, driveway and rockery:

 

The fence has caused most of the trouble. I want to imply the railway company has bought part of the back garden to build their tram platform. So the fence should be a modern type, newly built and affording some privacy to the householder. I have ended up with the Ratio mouldings cut into sections ... this sort of fence ought to be built on site, with the arris rails sloping to follow the lie of the land, but this is the best I can manage. After three weeks. Fortunately the posts are upright.

 

The colour of the fence is some Woodland Scenics "weathered tie" colouring over a base of "anthracite" (Revell) and this is softer than it looks here - the flash gun ran out of oomph.

 

The vegetable patch is brown flock over corrugated cardboard, and the rockery is some little bits of stone which came with the Faller kit for the cement works. I glued these down with dilute PVA seven hours ago and the glue is still wet. The driveway worked out well enough. This is a patch of PVA, brushed and levelled off as well as I could, with the loose material scattered on and then vacuumed off promptly.

 

The plan is to add some grass (lawn) in front of the rockery and to the right of the driveway, and hopefully everything will look better with some more colour.

 

- Richard.

Edited June 17, 2018 by 47137

[47137]

I have added two lawns and a path across the front of the house. For the path I used stone slips made for 1:12 scale dolls houses. I like the colours and the overall effect, and the overscale thickness will be easy to hide. Perhaps this post and photo will inspire me to finish it.

 

The car is an Opel Tigra by Herpa, pretending to be a Vauxhall Tigra for the layout. The layout now has another car, a Vauxhall Nova, which has its own blog entry. Both models still have the Opel badge on their radiator grills, but I can only see this detail in enlargements of photographs.

 

- Richard.

[andyram]

I have just found this thread. This is an impressive layout - I love the scenic work. 

[47137]

I have just found this thread. This is an impressive layout - I love the scenic work. 

Andy - thank you for your kind comment. I am pleased with the visual balance of the whole layout (picture in post 104) and so now I am making a fresh pass through the individual models models to finish them off. The vegetable patch is easy because I can leave it freshly dug without any plants and maybe add them later.

 

The girder crane is harder because I am not at all sure what it should be standing on, and I have not found suitable photos online. I've raised a fresh topic for this and the present idea is some concrete foundations. All suggestions welcome because it is much better to leave out a detail than to make something which is prototypically wrong.

 

- Richard.

[47137]

In the meantime I have set out the local recycling point, on the patch of ground beside the entrance to the tram stop. I'm not sure how the residents of the cottage feel about this, but it makes for a set piece in the foreground of the layout. When I am ready, I will plant a low hedge to hide the slide switch:

 

The Smart convertible helps to show it is summer (always) here, and contrasts nicely with the battered Nova in the works. Quite a handy model because all the prototypes are left-hand drive:

 

- Richard.

[47137]

The girder crane is harder because I am not at all sure what it should be standing on, and I have not found suitable photos online. I've raised a fresh topic for this and the present idea is some concrete foundations. All suggestions welcome because it is much better to leave out a detail than to make something which is prototypically wrong.

 

I settled on four concrete foundations for the crane, one for each leg. These are from thin plywood.

 

I glued the crane onto the layout today, this is the last structure to be fixed into place. I want to have another go at the "main line" platform one day (the timber halt, currently two Wills kits) but fixing down the crane is a welcome milestone.

 

I have indulged in three photos, I took the layout down off its wall bracket and put it on top of a portable workbench to install the crane and take these.

 

 

The slurry tank is by Modellbahn Union ... having waited a lifetime for a British tank wagon in H0 scale, I now want to find a lorry tanker to unload it.

 

- Richard.

[katwigan]

There you go, fits in nicely.

Kev

[47137]

I have added a fascia to the layout using a strip of aluminium. The strip is slightly higher than the roadway so it will stop the road vehicles rolling off onto the floor:

 

I have rather lowered my standards for the cottage hedges - these are pieces of "foliage clusters" by Woodland Scenics, not models of British species. I simply cannot be bothered to try anything better, and this reflects a desire to build something else rather than idleness.

 

The aluminium strip was shorter than the layout so I cut the strip into two pieces to make a space for the name. I cut the name plate before the letters arrived, but the compressed letter spacing seems to co-exist with with the compressed nature of the layout:

I am not too sure about the juxtaposition of styles here, but at the moment I am happy with both name plate and fascia strip.

 

Moving on, I've added the conductor wire for the tramway this is nylon fishing line:

 

- -

 

To me, the layout is beginning to look finished. It looks a bit bare without the road vehicles, but about right with three of them. Four vehicles makes the scene busy. I can put a train in one of the sidings and then run the tram into its platform, and the layout reaches a limit of believability. Adding a second train is a bit too much.

 

I need to be careful about "finishing off". I have made a sign for the road entrance to the processing plant, but it is verging on adding clutter. I can imagine the sign is off-scene, to the left of the entrance, so I can miss out the sign. Some model people would make the layout better. Also a better platform for the "main line" trains, and a more believable model crane. Maybe some walkways around the processing plant.

 

If model railway is a work of art then it will reach a moment of controlled abandonment. I think I am close to the end of the project.

 

- Richard.

Edited October 19, 2019 by 47137
Edit to remove duplicate photos