Haigh Sidings - Inglenook Shunting Layout - OO Gauge

[JSModels]

13 minutes ago, luke the train spotter said:

 I'm still waiting for mine to arrive and hope to fit high capacity stay alive to mine so I can remove the running wagon. From my calculations from scale drawings there should be plenty of room. 

Luke,

 

I'vejust posted my impressions & info relating to DCC/stay alive in the relevant thread: 

 

JRB

 

[sb67]

Nice purchase JRB, the ruston looks right at home in front of the warehouse.

Steve.

[BurscoughCurves]

Hi JRB,

 

I love what you’re doing here- it’s right up my street! Will keep a close eye out for updates! 

 

Cheers,

Pete

[JSModels]

Got a decent chip in the Ruston last night (Zimo MX617N), and got it running quite nicely - the lack of roof and the wires are for a stay-alive capacitor to be wired in, it just hasn't arrived yet!

 

 

The wagon turntable is more uneven & has bigger gaps than the pointwork... 

[luke the train spotter]

What capacitor are you using out of interest?

[JSModels]

1 hour ago, luke the train spotter said:

What capacitor are you using out of interest?

 

I'm using a YouChoos "LifeLink" charger/control circuit with a 17,000uF super capacitor.

 

https://www.youchoos.co.uk/Index-Shop.php?L1=Electronics

[JSModels]

I've had a fairly short, but very productive evening. The YouChoos PCB and supercap arrived, so I've now installed those.

 

I was rather surprised (and not in a good way!) when I first tried to fit the supercap in the Ruston's cab - It seems that the space available in there is smaller than I remembered!!! I had hoped the supercap would sit flat on the floor (with the PCB above it) but it was too big. Instead, I was able to bend the tabs on the supercap 90 degrees, and solder it directly to the PCB, forming an L shape:

 

 

This just fits across the width of the cab, but only if you remove the rearmost of the levers in the floor, and the black (tool?) box on one side of the cab:

 

 

Wrapping the PCB and terminals in black electrical tape, I tucked it into position, secured with a tiny bit of 3M VHB tape:

 

 

 

 

Then it was on to testing, and the performance was amazing. The slight jerkiness that was present the other night was gone completely, and the slow speed running was (to me at least) miraculous.

 

If watching paint dry is just too exciting for you, then try the full 4+ minutes of this...

 

 

I ended the recording before it reached the right hand side of the screen, I'm afraid I just couldn't take it any more...

 

Note that I shot the video before final locating of the capacitor, so in the video it sits higher up than it does now (it sits below the rear windows, and about 1/3rd the way up the side windows).

 

Anyway, at slightly more normal speeds, it'll easily travel over 3" of dead track; pick the loco up off the track, and the wheels continue to turn for a good 5-6 seconds. I think I'm happy with that!

 

Lastly, I've made a start on painting up the laser-cut mill. Having painted the windows I stuck the right-hand end on, and the cills/lintels too:

 

 

That's it for now.

 

JRB

[JSModels]

I've not had much chance to progress with the layout much since the last update, last night was the first time I've been to the club for the last week, but I did manage to get some more work done on the mill.

 

Having made a quick shooting board at the right angle, I mitred the joints in the outer walls for the angled end, and got those all glued on, followed by the rest of the cills/lintels:

 

 

 

Having the angled end on allowed me to set the final position of the bridge abutment, which was about 3mm further to the left. This meant trimming 3mm off both the boiler house and the nearside bridge abutment, so the chimney is now further into the back corner:

 

 

Now I need to concentrate on getting this end of the layout 'finished'; jobs to be done over the next few weeks (hopefully not longer!) include:

 

Clad the nearside abutment as per the far side;

Paint & weather the chimney & boiler room;

Paint & weather the bridge & abutments;

Fill the grain in the plywood backscene, and repaint in sky colour;

Fix the boiler house/chimney & abutments into position;

Do the groundwork under the bridge;

Fix the bridge into position.

 

Once all that's done, I can get this first mill painted, glazed, do the roof for it, and generally get that finished (including any interiors I decide to fit in it!).

 

Lastly, here's the "view from the bridge"...

 

 

JRB

[JSModels]

1st item on the list (almost!) completed:

 

 

 

 

JRB

[JSModels]

I managed to get a couple of hours at the club last night, and spent it getting some primer on the bridge, but mostly painting up the chimney:

 

 

 

This was acheived with multiple layers of drybrushing & washes (assisted by a heat gun to speed up drying!).

 

I don't think it's dark enough, but I figured it was better to go too light & darken it later, than have it virtually black and trying to make it lighter! For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, the bands don't look the right shade of red either...

 

 

JRB

[Jon Gwinnett]

Have you tried using a soft cloth to rub paint/pigment on? A sort of dry rub rather than brush. I think the buildings on Bacup were done that way, and they looked pretty convincing to me.

[JSModels]

2 minutes ago, Jon Gwinnett said:

Have you tried using a soft cloth to rub paint/pigment on? A sort of dry rub rather than brush. I think the buildings on Bacup were done that way, and they looked pretty convincing to me.

Jon,

 

Not used a cloth, but most of the drybrushing was done with a small piece of soft sponge.

 

I'm hoping to pick up some weathering powders this weekend, so will try that (powders are something I've never used before).

 

JRB

[JSModels]

Got some paint on the bridge abutments this afternoon. Not finished yet, just base-coated on Humbrol 94, then Railmatch 'Frame Dirt' dabbed on over the top with a piece of sponge:

 

 

 

Also made a start on some internals for the first mill. A fellow member suggested that, since our club occupies the top floor of a mill, it would be good for the top floor of this mill to have a model railway club, too.

 

So, I made a start on the first layout; a 16' x 12' OO gauge layout, in OO gauge  Complete with station at the front, fiddleyard at the back, and a viaduct on one side:

 

 

 

Still a bit more scenic work to do on this layout too, then painting it up!

 

JRB

[Jon Gwinnett]

The bridge is really starting to look good.

[Allegheny1600]

Wow!

This is exquisite, well done.

I love the running qualities of the little Ruston now, I never thought I'd see the day when a Hornby loco ran that well!

Cheers,

John.

[JSModels]

16 hours ago, Jon Gwinnett said:

The bridge is really starting to look good.

 

Thanks Jon. I hope it still looks good when I've finished it!

 

JRB

[JSModels]

13 hours ago, Allegheny1600 said:

Wow!

This is exquisite, well done.

I love the running qualities of the little Ruston now, I never thought I'd see the day when a Hornby loco ran that well!

Cheers,

John.

 

John,

 

Quite frankly, I'm amazed by it. It's definitely the best running loco I've ever owned. Last week I placed a marker on the track, and timed it moving the length of itself. Took over 6 1/2 minutes to travel it's own length across the buffers!!!

 

Not that I'm saying that ultra-slow running is the be-all & end-all of good running (it isn't) but it does truly astound me that something can move so slowly yet still refuse to stop.

 

JRB

[Andrew Cockburn]

I like the look of this, interesting concept, while the structures look really good! Will be interesting to see it progress further ....

[JSModels]

A small amount of progress; bridge painted, and ballast extended around stonework.

 

 

 

Oh, and an Oxford diecast Standard 'Flying 12':

 

 

This was treated as per Everard Junction's excellent tutorial video:

 

 

JRB

[JSModels]

Having broken off this layout to concentrate on the Christmas Tree Layout, and with that completed a couple of weeks ago, I've made a little more progress with this again.

 

I've got the basic framework for the mill roof done, but not sure what I'm going to cover it with. It's going to be a slate roof; my options at the moment are either Wills plastic sheets, Redutex card sheets, or doing individual paper slates (though that may be a tad time consuming & mind numbing!). I looked at the York Modelmaking self-adhesive tile strips, but they seem quite expensive for the very small area each pack covers.

 

Anyway, today I decided to crack on & get some paint on the mill. My original plan was to cut some 28x16mm pieces of masking tape, cover all the window frames, and then spray it. I cut the first few & tried applying them, but it wasn't as easy as I'd hoped & I realised it would be quicker to just paint it by hand, cutting in around each window to try & avoid getting the stone colour on the green window frames.

 

I decided to paint this in a different way to the bridge, so that it would end up looking slightly different (but not too different). I chose Tamiya XF52 Flat Earth as a base colour & made a start:

 

 

Around this point, I realised this colour was a bit darker than I wanted, but it was too late to change! So I got the rest done:

 

 

 

 

I plan to go over this with a lighter colour, stippled on with a bit of foam, to alter the overall tone. This will be followed by various washes of browns, greys, and black, and a bit of drybrushing, until I end up with something I like!

 

The more observant might notice I've painted the internal stone floor, the track infil, and the wagon turntable too. I'm not 100% happy with the stone colour on those either, and may end up re-doing that.

 

I've bought some more christmas lights, similar to the coloured ones I used on the house on the Christmas Tree Layout, but in warm white. These will be used to illuminate the interior, and I've also found a set of woodworking machines I can use to populate one of the floors. It's quite an expensive set, but still cheaper than getting some 3D printed so I might just go for it.

 

 

JRB

[JSModels]

Stippled on some Humbrol 94 with a bit of sponge this evening:

 

 

 

Looks a lot better I think, but still not quite right. It looks great from a distance, but up close it's not so great. Hopefully a few washes will blend it in a bit...?

 

JRB

[sb67]

I do like that warehouse, the layout is really coming along nicely. I'm really impressed with the bridge too, what did you use for the coping stones was it the same 80 thou plastic you used for the decorative stones?

Also what was you planning for the interior, are you familiar with stuff from Scalemodelscenery? I've just built some office furniture and it looks great but could be out of your era.

Edited December 31, 2019 by sb67

[Signaller69]

Looking great, lovely mill and I like the chimney hiding the corner in the backscene.

[JSModels]

2 hours ago, sb67 said:

I do like that warehouse, the layout is really coming along nicely. I'm really impressed with the bridge too, what did you use for the coping stones was it the same 80 thou plastic you used for the decorative stones?

 

Thanks. Yes, I just used plasticard - cut some strips to width, sanded the corners/burrs off, then cut to length and the ends rounded off.

 

2 hours ago, sb67 said:

Also what was you planning for the interior, are you familiar with stuff from Scalemodelscenery? I've just built some office furniture and it looks great but could be out of your era.

Currently, the plan is that the top floor will house a model railway club, with several layouts; the ground floor will be offices to the left, with the loading bay just filled with various bits of sacks, crates, boxes, etc.

 

As for 1st and 2nd floors, one will be a woodworking shop with the machines linked a couple of posts back. Not sure what the other floor will be yet. Will have another look at the SMS stuff, but from memory it's all quite modern?

 

JRB

[JSModels]

Further to my thoughts a few posts back about what to use for the roof, yesterday I bought a pack of the Wills slate sheets, and set off to the club today intending to get that done. Unfortunately, when I looked closely at the sheets, I discovered 2 issues with them; firstly, the slates are quite small, and too small for the mill. Secondly though, and most importantly, the sheets DO NOT match up at the edges!!! When I squared a couple up and put them together, I discovered that the top 5 or 6 rows lined up, and the same at the bottom, but towards the middle they're a good 1/2 row out of alignment. So back to the drawing board on that one....

 

I then needed something else to do, and having bought a couple more 'light stone'-ish coloured paints, I decided to apply another colour on the stonework (again, sponging it lightly over the existing). This time, it was way too light, and looked awful. So awful, I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture of it (not really, I just forgot). But at least the whole mill was now much lighter. As soon as that was dry enough, I then went over the whole mill again, this time with a much darker colour - the same Railmatch 'Frame Dirt' that I'd used on the bridge, and this tied the whole thing together a bit more:

 

 

 

It looks a bit 'patchy', but it's definitely heading towards the look I was initially aiming for. Maybe I might go over it again with the same colour & try to get it a little bit more even, or maybe a few washes might help blend it all in.

 

With that done, I did another little job I've been meaning to do for a while, and that's to solder up a handrail around the steps, using some 0.5mm brass rod:

 

 

 

It's the first time I've done anything like this, and I just made it up as I went along. It's a bit 'blobby' (I did file some of the excess solder off after taking these!) but reasonably straight & even. I drilled a couple of blind holes in the wall to take the return pieces, so once primed & painted I glued it and the steps into position:

 

 

All in all I'm really pleased with how that's turned out.

 

JRB