Recycling an old layout? - NOW FREE to a good home

[marc smith]

Not much modelling activity on the weekend. I still need to source a suitable material for my sector plate.... and something either free, or cheap at that (preferably something re-cycled)
Mrs S must have thrown out that small ply offcut I had in mind for the job... she must have! I'm blaming her anyway, cos she's not on RMweb

Weathered the corrugated roof on the water tower, though I've not applied any of my favoured rusty weathering powders - perhaps I shouldn't, and should just leave it alone now?
I'm warming to the idea of using my old dairy building on the right of the layout now. I'm thinking, with a slightly wider piece of board for the "proscenium arch / framing" there, it would make the dairy look not as large and dominating? Also, I thought I might just be able to squeeze in one of my trademark mirrors just at that point?  

I do think it hides the exit at the right hand side quite well, especially with the odd chimney around there too. I've altered the position & angle of the bridge on the left, from my original position too...
It now opens out the space a little more, I feel. One of the key focus points on this little project, is the area the water tower sits in. I wanted a wall at the rear of the scene, where near the middle point, there is a recess in which sits the tower and a hut and some lineside details. I envisaged it as a focal point - but one that doesn't dominate. I picture a locomotive sitting there, ticking away, with the driver having a cuppa in a little shed or bothy, while the Shunter slowly shuffles wagons around at the front of the layout...... Ah, I'm dreaming again

BTW. The little corrugated tin hut may not be the hut of choice - I came across it in my workshop, while searching for something else
I scratchbuilt it several years back. It is based on a little ticket office, which sat on the halt called "Gwernydomen" near Caerphilly. At one time, I thought about building a really tiny little, bare-minimum facilitied halt

EDIT: Apologies for the photos from my mobile phone - they aren't the best (I'm due to change phones soon)

Edited February 25, 2019 by marc smith

[Turin 60]

Hi Mark, re the missing ply for the f/y, I have used a material called "Foamex", it is used by sign makers and is a fairly rigid PVC but in sheet form in various thicknesses. I bought mine from an E-bay seller although you might be able to scrounge some from a sign makers. It is stable, doesn't distort and apparently does not suffer from exposure to sunlight and the material is quite popular with the garden railway fraternity, also it can be glued with the glue used for plumbing.

Hope this helps.

 

John Bruce.

[south_tyne]

Marc,

 

Personally I like the use of the dairy building. It doesn't appear to large or out of scale but it is nice and imposing and provides a nice visual focal point. I may be a bit biased, as a big fan of industrial architecture, but I do think the scene balances really well with the road overbridge at the left-hand side and the dairy at the right. 

 

David 

[marc smith]

Thanks for your comments and thoughts Turin 60 and south_tyne,

The good news is, I found the offcut of ply - so Mrs. Smith is in the clear!
I've roughly cut it to shape & size, and put an additional bracing piece of wood on the left hand end of the baseboard. There was only a thin shim of hardboard in place there before, as the scrapyard layout had a small fold-down off-stage type fiddle there. This new bracing piece will form the base for the pivot point too. The ply offcut is very thin - so that will need bracing. For that I will glue & pin edging, to make sure it stays rigid, and of course, to help keep trains in position when sliding back & forth on the sector plate.

I have heard of Foamex, but not used any yet.... I must seek out a sign writer, and see if I can scrounge some for use in future - sounds like an ideal product, especially if I can get some cheaply, or better still for free
Shaping and positioning the sector plate will take a bit of time - but once that has been done, I can get on with everything else

south_tyne, I too am a bit of a fan of industrial buildings, and was quite pleased with the building when I first made it - especially as I made and painted it in a weekend (please don't look at the back of it! lol) and whilst I've had it sat there, at the right hand end of the layout.... it has grown on me. This may partly be down to the fact that I have moved the position and angle of the bridge, slightly, and have trimmed & tweaked the stone walling and position of the water tower. Once again, I like to move key items around the scene and see what looks best, or if re-positioning helps improve visual balance.

Cheers again, Marc

Edited February 26, 2019 by marc smith

[marc smith]

A bit of work on the sector-plate last night (what an exciting life I lead!)
Using an off-cut of hardboard, I worked out where the pivot-point would be. Then, I drew the position of a track on that. Fortunately, I have a piece of timber batten, which, as luck would have it, is near enough EM Gauge!
I lined this up with the rails of the track I have laid so far, and cut away the top layer of foam board which the track on the layout proper will sit. Once I was happy that this arc was accurately cut, I drew the rough rail positions , ensuring that the sector plate aligned with them.....

These positions are not 100% accurate at the moment. I'm now wondering whether I should lay the rails first, and then fix the bridge into position later - or whether to glue the bridge into position first, then lay the rails later. My usual method would be to do the former in the first place. But this time, I'm wondering whether I should do it the other way around? Perhaps this would help me ensure there is sufficient clearance for stock, not to collide with the bridge sides? One bonus I had latterly hoped for, was that I now have room for an added "spur" -  an additional offstage track, where I can park a couple of wagons, a brakevan or small locomotive when not in use... I trimmed away a bit of the back of the bridge, to allow space for this spur - this added offstage siding will pass unseen, behind the bridge, behind the high rear wall, and under a little bit of the landscaping.... you can never have too much space for storing wagons, eh?

Anyhow, I was quite pleased with the result - even though I was doing this, as I was listening to the commentary on Cardiff City's game against Everton..... Ah well, one result went well  

[Stubby47]

Having the pivot screw in chipboard does not bode well for long term accuracy.  You might want to remove the screw and flood the area with superglue to cement the wood chips together.  A bolt might also be a better pivot axle than the tapered screw.

 

Stu

[marc smith]

8 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

Having the pivot screw in chipboard does not bode well for long term accuracy.  You might want to remove the screw and flood the area with superglue to cement the wood chips together.  A bolt might also be a better pivot axle than the tapered screw.

 

Stu

Yes, I had already thought of that Stu. I should have mentioned that I will probably cut out the chipboard in that position, and glue in a block of wood. (EDIT: Or maybe a metal bracket)
I was thinking of also setting a bearing into the block of wood. The temporary pivot just allowed me to more accurately shape the foam board surface, and ensure that  I can accurately align my rails in future.
I also forgot to mention, that though that piece of hardboard is single track - I will be introducing another factor here.... my final sector plate will be two tracks!

Edited February 27, 2019 by marc smith

[south_tyne]

17 hours ago, marc smith said:

A bit of work on the sector-plate last night (what an exciting life I lead!)
Using an off-cut of hardboard, I worked out where the pivot-point would be. Then, I drew the position of a track on that. Fortunately, I have a piece of timber batten, which, as luck would have it, is near enough EM Gauge!
I lined this up with the rails of the track I have laid so far, and cut away the top layer of foam board which the track on the layout proper will sit. Once I was happy that this arc was accurately cut, I drew the rough rail positions , ensuring that the sector plate aligned with them.....

These positions are not 100% accurate at the moment. I'm now wondering whether I should lay the rails first, and then fix the bridge into position later - or whether to glue the bridge into position first, then lay the rails later. My usual method would be to do the former in the first place. But this time, I'm wondering whether I should do it the other way around? Perhaps this would help me ensure there is sufficient clearance for stock, not to collide with the bridge sides? One bonus I had latterly hoped for, was that I now have room for an added "spur" -  an additional offstage track, where I can park a couple of wagons, a brakevan or small locomotive when not in use... I trimmed away a bit of the back of the bridge, to allow space for this spur - this added offstage siding will pass unseen, behind the bridge, behind the high rear wall, and under a little bit of the landscaping.... you can never have too much space for storing wagons, eh?

Anyhow, I was quite pleased with the result - even though I was doing this, as I was listening to the commentary on Cardiff City's game against Everton..... Ah well, one result went well  

 

Marc,

 

Thanks for sharing how you have tackled the sector plate. It's useful to read your description and see the photographs. It's something I have struggled with in the past, but want to try to have a go at again, so I was interested to see your method. 

 

Cheers,

David

 

[marc smith]

Last night, I cut the ply sector plate to size. To stop it from warping, I glued some slim offcuts of the same piece of ply.
I added two slim "laminations", and will glue and pin a vertical piece to each side, plus of course one on the end, to stop trains falling off. I tend to get rather distracted when I start chatting at an exhibition (as I'm sure many pals and exhibition goers will attest)  I don't want anything hitting the floor, whilst I talk meaningless drivel, to anyone who'll listen  or while sipping that first cuppa of the morning....

Re the tatty surface of the fiddle area - of course, this is the price you pay for re-using baseboards - tearing up track & scenery can make a real mess.
When it was the scrapyard, I had used photo mounting board as my layout surface, because I wanted to inset the puddles (see earlier pic of scrapyard)
Fortunately, I could do this again, as the "new" surface is exactly the same material. Re the tatty fiddle area, I intend to line that, perhaps with thin card, or maybe plastic-card
Plastic card will create less friction - so I'm intending to use that, to build the level of the sector plate, to match the track level on the layout

EDIT: Re the name of this layout, I'm leaning towards johnsmithuk's suggestion "Lazarus Lane"
I think this is even more appropriate given that the baseboard was once host to a scrapyard layout
I will ponder a bit more.... but please keep your suggestions coming
 

Edited February 28, 2019 by marc smith

[marc smith]

Just a little bit of progress on the weekend.
I "repaired" a hole in the backscene (there had been an access point there, for the layouts' previous guise) and then went on to tidy up the unpainted areas which were below the old horizon. It's not finished yet - I will probably give it a complete re-paint eventually - but it does already help improve the appearance, I think

I also laid one track on the sector-plate. I did some painting around the area too. I hate seeing bare wood where the layout passes underneath or beyond a view-blocker such as a bridge -so I usually extend my ballasting, scenery and ground cover. I feel it helps blend the offstage area into the layout and helps convince the onlooker that the rest of the world lies beyond, rather than seeing bare wood, unballasted track and glue etc

I will next lay the other rails on the layout proper, before I add the other sector-plate track. For now, I have just placed a piece of plastic-card underneath the sector-plate, to give me the correct height, but this is temporary

[marc smith]

PS. I have decided that the over-bridge will be host to a disused railway line. I do like to see such things in a layout, and feel we don't see them modelled very often. They were so much an everyday common sight when I were a lad, and many were just left, untouched for many years following closure of a line.

[Barry Ten]

It's good to see the mojo back and the creative juices flowing! I'm impressed by how quickly and convincingly this is coming together.

[marc smith]

20 hours ago, Barry Ten said:

It's good to see the mojo back and the creative juices flowing! I'm impressed by how quickly and convincingly this is coming together.

Thanks for your kind words Barry Ten
As for it coming together quickly.... It's certainly not as quickly as I'd like (sadly, modelling time is far too limited for my liking). As you know, I really enjoy layout building, when the scenery starts to take shape, and buildings and structures are added, and when the vision of the plan in my mind, starts to fully come together - and it's some way off that yet....

After reading your reply yesterday, I felt the "need" to do just a little to it yesterday evening.I didn't have much time at all, but decided I had to do something
So I laid the start of one of the tracks - taking care to ensure it aligned with the sector plate position, that it flowed nicely, without any excessive double curve, and of course that there was sufficient clearance for stock to pass under the bridge. You will note that as I go along, I tend to add some ballast - even before weathering the sides of the rails. This is quite deliberate, and my usual method. Once i tip the baseboard on its' side, and dust down the ballast with a decorators brush, much of it will come away, leaving just a base layer of ballast.

After track laying is finished I will weather the rails, and add further ballast - I find this way gives me a sort of base-layer base-coat and added colour / grime. Once I've finished ballasting and toning it down, it blends in nicely anyway, and this way, my final ballasting takes less time. Not much progress really - but OK for half an hours work. Of course, I will be adding some greenery and weeds etc beyond the bridge and onto the sector plate, to help disguise the transition from on-stage and off-stage areas
 

EDIT: As I'd said earlier in this thread, I'm only now coming to realise how therapeutic railway modelling can be, and just how much I've missed it over the past couple of years.
As I type this, It has also struck me that the act of someone else commenting on the thread seems to motivate me even more
And I must surely have missed the contact with other RMweb members..... 

Edited March 5, 2019 by marc smith

[jamest]

Keep progressing like this and you'll get plenty of positive comments!

 

Apologies if you've already said - but is that a marcway point?

 

Regards,

James

[marc smith]

22 minutes ago, jamest said:

Keep progressing like this and you'll get plenty of positive comments!

 

Apologies if you've already said - but is that a marcway point?

 

Regards,

James

 

Thanks James - I'm just hoping this little project will give me some focus, and get me back into the swing of modelling

Re the point - I must be honest.... I can't recall exactly what make / brand it is. 
I tend to be a bit of a hoarder, when it comes to useful model railway items. I've got quite a few points lying around, some of which I've built myself (various methods)
It looks like it might be a Marcway - but I can't be 100% sure it's certainly too neat for one of my efforts! I would normally be concerned about it blending in with the rest of the track, particularly with regard to sleeper chairs - but I don't think the lack of them will be noticed, as it's sat partly under the bridge and the rest will be mostly behind an embankment.

[NHY 581]

This has got January 2020 written all over it.........................

 

Rob. 

[Guest]

Your modelling skills are really good and I can’t wait to see more of your work.

[br2975]

Dear Mr. Smith.

I have been following the progress reports concerning railway developments hereabouts.

Such is the quality of your previous efforts, may I take this opportunity to suggest you advise Mrs. Smith of your inability to attend any gigs, jamming sessions, Championship football matches, or to undertake any weekends away in the camper during the latter half of  January 2020,  as you WILL be exhibiting at the Cardiff (Small) Model Railway Show.

By order of the management.

Yours.

Edited March 5, 2019 by br2975
Spelling

[marc smith]

Dear br2975,

As of yet, I have completely failed to "advise" Mrs Smith of......... well anything much at all!
Please submit the required request form to her, if you wish to divert my attention elsewhere! lol

Thank you for the kind words re my previous efforts -  I hope this one reaches a certain standard, and captures the atmosphere I'm hoping for (hope it runs well too, of course)
Please keep me informed of the date of the Cardiff (small) show - so that I can commence Brownie point saving exercises with immediate effect, and avoid having to Tippex out Mrs Smith's calendar arrangements

PS. At least I'll be able to get tickets more easily for the Championship games, but....
Will it be another relegation battle?

[marc smith]

A little bit more track laid over the last day or so, and a suitable tatty piece selected and cut to size for the disused section on the bridge (this will be very rusty and overgrown)
Painted up a little (waste?) oil tank, which may sit alongside the water tower. Have I over-weathered / rusted it? 
The other is a very utilitarian / drab block of a building, the like of which one often used to see at the lineside. I have a similar one I was going to use on a previous project - but it was too large for the setting on this layout. Both these buildings were bare brick - but I decided I wanted a run down, neglected white painted version, with paint fading and peeling off. Again, sometimes I wonder whether I've gone too far with these effects? But it's best judged when sat on a finished layout, I think....

[sb67]

They both look great Mark, like the whitewash peeling of, I've seen many a building like that on the lineside. 

Steve.

[1722]

Excellent work, Marc. As a long time follower of your work (Bracty Bridge was a particular fave!) it's great to see your mojo back!

[SouthernBlue80s]

Nice stuff Marc

I especially like the water tank

Edited March 7, 2019 by SouthernBlue80s

[Neil]

Like the other commentators I think the weathering is spot on, especially the tank.

[Linners]

Nice to see/hear that you' re back on the circuit Marc - and thanks for posting the Ogmore Rd layout - as someone from the 'Diff this layout always had a resonance with me and it's lovely to see some pictures of it again. Likewise, your  Brachdy Bridge micro was always a convincing "some where around Cardiff" type scene. I wish you all the best with the new project and look forward to seeing it!

 

Linners