Arrow Paints - OO in two shoeboxes

[TechnicArrow]

Mucking around with the loco a bit, I realised that the bufferbeaam-to-bufferbeam length and the wheelbase of D24 is precisely the same as a bog-standard Hornby 0-4-0 chassis. Hence, after an evening of cutting bits off here and there from both loco body and the dead chassis shown earlier, I'm left with this...

 

(I tried to make that into a fancy GIF which switched between the original chassis and the 'new' one, but RMWeb doesn't seem to like it)

 

So still not a working loco yet, but closer! As well as trimming a few bits it's also necessary to rotate the motor 90 degrees along it's shaft to get it to fit within the bonnet (hence why it's not on board in the photo above), but the gears still seems to mesh as long as I can fix it down securely. My new plan is to find a cheap yet new-as-possible 0-4-0 model, steal and modify it's chassis, and we should be good to shunt again!

 

Also just about visible in that photo is my current revision of the culvert & headwall. After spending the past two days producing drawings of the dang things for work (as a placement-year student civil engineer), I realised that a much lower headwall with a sloped bank leading up to the track level is more realistic; a lower wall would be cheaper, given the era it should be a brickwork arch not a concrete pipe, and the sloping bank can have a simple post-and-wire fence at the top to keep the view across the trackwork more open. Much better!

[TechnicArrow]

Things do happen on this layout, they just don't get posted about a lot...

 

The day after my last post (3 weeks ago now!), the culvert got fixed down and papier-mache'd around.

 

Then I added some brickwork to the front and wing wall, and some concrete/stone capping. The right-hand wall is built up to 'support' the yard area in the original box, and a strip of capping was added where the retaining wall would end and the parapet begin. A post-and-wire fence of matchsticks and sewing thread was added along the top, defining the railway boundary yet keeping the view across the pointwork open.

 

Next up is painting the brickwork, and adding ground cover; both will likely happen when all the structures are in place.

 

Speaking of which, work on the main scenic break overbridge has started. Overall, I'm aiming for a structure much like the one this article talks about replacing https://www.ice.org.uk/knowledge-and-resources/case-studies/replacing-a-railway-overbridge, with steel girders below the deck and brick parapets the entire length.

To keep the box sturdy, I never completely detached the front when I cut it out; this meant I could fold it around on itself to form the front pillar. The off-cut was used to create a similar one against the back corner. Strips of card were then placed longitudinally into slots cut in each pillar, which represent the girders that will strengthen the deck both in real life and in this model, as well as tieing the pillars together.

 

The deck will support brick parapets along its length, and will have to be removable so the box lid can still be shut. The girders therefore play a vital role in forming the actual structure, and look the part as well. I should probably put some brick arches in between them, not that they're viewed from such a low angle that often.

 

Finally, locos.

I did indeed buy a Hornby 0-4-0; I looked for a new one, as the post-2010 issues can run slightly better at lower speeds. I found a nearly-new-in-box one for £16ish, and bought it... before realising it was from 2001. But it runs reasonably well and the livery looks pretty smart! 

It's a project in it's own right, I plan to detail it up and throw an extra pair of gears between the motor and axle to slow it down a bit.

But the better news is that the 04 runs again - a chance spot of Peco 'electro' lubricant in my local model shop meant the split-chassis loco is now clean, conductive and well-oiled. All in all, a much smoother runner.

 

Other minor achievements include the fitting of narrow tension-lock couplings to the kit-built wagons finally, and the purchase of some paint and grass flock. I think I've got everything I need, I just need to get on with it all!

[Jerry1975]

Looking great, I really like your little green 0-4-0 shunter too, also your bridge looks good. 

 

Jerry 

[TechnicArrow]

11 hours ago, Jerry1975 said:

Looking great, I really like your little green 0-4-0 shunter too, also your bridge looks good.

 

Cheers!

I'm not really sure which engine you're referring too; I don't have an 0-4-0 green anything!

The current loco roster is as follows:

> Bachmann 0-6-0 Class 04, in BR green with wasp stripes

> Hornby 0-4-0 Industrial steam shunter in BR lined black

> Kit-bashed Dapol Industrial diesel shunter in black with wasp stripes. Fits on either the chassis of either loco mentioned above.

 

And I've slightly surprised myself, by getting the bridge finished in a day.

Plastic brick sheeting of unknown manufacture, bought from a loose bin at the model shop, was clad over most surfaces. Corrugated card was used to build up the thickness for the parapet walls, and various other bits of card were cut and glued to make the capping, lintels and add relief to the front girder.

She now looks like this:

 

The join in the brickwork is where the deck and parapets can be lifted off as below, leaving the girders behind. The shot below also shows that lintels have since been added to hide that join!

 

I noticed when it was complete I'd forgotten to have the girders actually sitting on anything; they must be somewhat unprototypically buried into the end pillars, as otherwise they're floating!

The deck also only ended up being wide enough for one carriageway + pavement, but it still looks tidy. 

 

Finally, the whole layout - all 60cm (2ft) of it!

 

With a smooth, slow loco and good track (I've sorted out the major issues, although there's still a few spots that need polishing) it's a joy to play with operate . Will be even better when I get a proper sector plate/traverser fiddle yard sorted out, I've been putting it off for no good reason. Next up it's probably time to get the paints out on all this brickwork.

[Jerry1975]

Hi.

 

I ment one that's numbered D23 in an earlier post and you tried make a gif of.

 

I think it's on a dead chassis,  I may have a go at something similar. 

 

The layout is looking great and look forward to seeing more. 

 

Jerry. 

[TechnicArrow]

1 hour ago, Jerry1975 said:

Hi.

 

I ment one that's numbered D23 in an earlier post and you tried make a gif of.

 

I think it's on a dead chassis,  I may have a go at something similar. 

 

The layout is looking great and look forward to seeing more. 

 

Jerry. 

 

The Dapol kit-bash body then! I don't know if you saw the posts about its construction (they're further back in this thread), but it was a very fun project and ended up looking decent; certainly using a kit to start with helps, I could never get that level of detail from scratch. 

As for the chassis, in the first picture on this page it was sat on a demotored 0-4-0 chassis, with a few other bits cut off. Probably over Easter I'm going to have a bash at 'taming' the newly-bought Hornby 0-4-0 with some extra gears since it actually looks quite smart, but being able to movie at a crawl is crucial on Arrow Paints!

When planning the model I was looking at Budget Model Railways for a while; they offer a few 3D-printed kits that fit the 0-4-0 chassis, so if you've got some lying around then why not have a go! 

[Jerry1975]

That's the one, the new chassis are pretty good and run quite slow,  I have several so I'm tempted to make a small shunter myself. 

 

Jerry. 

[TechnicArrow]

What with my normal weekend activities cancelled left right and center, I've been getting the paints out. No more bright shiny orange brickwork here!

 

Again using Revell Aquacolour, the first coat was of Reddish Brown. I then watered down some Africa Brown and added a touch of black, and washed it over an area before wiping it off the surface with kitchen paper. Sometimes I was too soon and the paint came out of the joints as well; sometimes too late, and it stuck to the face. 

The warehouse fits into the latter category, resulting in a slight greeny colour - not what I set out for, but it still looks pretty decent to me! The bridge and culvert came out a little cleaner. The Africa Brown wash was was also used on any stone lintels or capping, and the left-over paint used to give the ground cover a better base layer.

 

Finally, I used some undiluted Africa Brown on the bolster wagon, followed by brushing on some half-dried black paint with a stiff brush. I reckon it's come out pretty well.

 

Overall, I love working with these paints. Being water-based, they're very easy to mix, dilute, and wash off brushes, and they dry very quickly - by the time I'd done the reddish brown coat over the warehouse, it was dry enough to start the mortar washed immediately. My only concern is that all the brickwork still looks very samey - I don't think the bridge and warehouse should be exactly the same colour. Still, it's a good start, and allows me to get on with the final major step - ground cover!

[TechnicArrow]

Finally got around to doing the ground cover, or the basic layer of beach-sand ballast at least. Here's the layout looking very sparse, with no loose details (figures, goods, general clutter) added.

 

The bridge girders and deck also got a coat of various greys. Since I'm now at home I have access to a wider variety of stock, such as a GWR pannier tank. Doesn't really make sense with the 1960's-built crane, but 3705 is undoubtedly the best runner in my collection so I wanted to see what she made of it all.

 

And I don't think I've shown for a while how it all folds down. The factories split at the level of the top of the box, the bridges can be lifted off, the backscene ends fold in and then the lid can be shut. The pillars in the middle of the layout support the otherwise floating corner of the lids.

 

The boxes can then be separated, stacked and taken away. Also makes for good dust covers, but I should probably find a piece of card to cover up the open fronts.

 

But where's it going? Nowhere, really. Since the whole point of the layout is something I can have at Uni, and suddenly I'm at home with a more permanent layout for the next 6 months, it's looking likely it's going to get shelved.

That said, it still needs a sector plate/traverser fiddle yard sorting out to become fully operational; if anyone has any advice on how to make one that works reliably, I'm all ears! 

[luke the train spotter]

1 hour ago, TechnicArrow said:

Finally got around to doing the ground cover, or the basic layer of beach-sand ballast at least. Here's the layout looking very sparse, with no loose details (figures, goods, general clutter) added.

 

The bridge girders and deck also got a coat of various greys. Since I'm now at home I have access to a wider variety of stock, such as a GWR pannier tank. Doesn't really make sense with the 1960's-built crane, but 3705 is undoubtedly the best runner in my collection so I wanted to see what she made of it all.

 

And I don't think I've shown for a while how it all folds down. The factories split at the level of the top of the box, the bridges can be lifted off, the backscene ends fold in and then the lid can be shut. The pillars in the middle of the layout support the otherwise floating corner of the lids.

 

The boxes can then be separated, stacked and taken away. Also makes for good dust covers, but I should probably find a piece of card to cover up the open fronts.

 

But where's it going? Nowhere, really. Since the whole point of the layout is something I can have at Uni, and suddenly I'm at home with a more permanent layout for the next 6 months, it's looking likely it's going to get shelved.

That said, it still needs a sector plate/traverser fiddle yard sorting out to become fully operational; if anyone has any advice on how to make one that works reliably, I'm all ears! 

Love the pannier on it! So ive built a few traversers and sector plates and I find that sector plates are easier and less complicated to make. I make mine by either dropping the sector plate area below the track bed or by raising the rest of the track up a bit on some card or thin wood.  Then the sector plate track and layout trackwork will be the same height. I find a pivot point next and make the actual sector plate. I put copper clad pcb board down and solder the rails to it and make sure all the tracks can line up to it. I cut the rails to length and glue down some wooden alignment blocks that I can push the sector plate against so that it will always align in the right position. Its kind of difficult for me to just describe in words so here's a picture of the one on Cronton. Something I should mention is that the power feed for the sector plate comes from the rear near the pivot point which is a piece of dowl drilled into the baseboard. 

[Multigauge]

TechnicArrow, nice work.

 

I've made a short sector plate in a similar fashion to Luke's.

I was looking for examples as I didn't feel I needed anything over engineered and most I had seen seemed that they were above my skillset/time allowance.

I used a section of settrack for rigidity and just kept it as the same level as the rest of the track by keeping all the track laid on 6mm MDF. It slides across smooth enough for me. Instead of wooden blocks to check alignment, because it feeds 3 roads I used track pins as stops which sit slightly raised and to the outside of the nearest sleeper end.. 

The only issue I have is at the pivot end; I'm currently using a track pin that's doing a good job, but it's needs replacing with a thin bolt.

I don't have a pic of pivot end, but the other end is shown below.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Multigauge
Add text

[TechnicArrow]

Very helpful both, thanks! The main problems I'm foreseeing are due to alignment. 

1. Since the tracks hang off Box 2 and the sector plate is going to be part of Box 3, I need to be able to link the boxes consistently. 

2. I haven't secured or ballasted the middle track yet (cleverly hidden by the 04) since I'm not sure how it will need to curve to meet the sector plate, which I haven't built because I'm not sure where the track is going. Chicken and egg! Is there a good way of making sure a curved track meets the sector plate perpendicularly?

 

Once those are solved, then @Multigauge's system with a piece of setrack looks the way to go to me. And the raised track pins are an excellent idea, although since I've only got two tracks to link they won't be necessary (the front siding is intended to be a scenic cover to the fiddleyard). Looks like I need to dig out another box!

[Multigauge]

 @TechnicArrow I just laid down the first bit of flexi track where I wanted it and secured it temporarily in place with track pins. I marked where I wanted to it be cut by then laying the set track piece on top and marking where the pivot point would be. I used a xuron cutter to cut the rails. I filed the ends down on the first set, but realised it would be easier if I used a fine cutting disc on a dremmel type thing for the next set; having just lightly secured the track in the first place it was easy to raise it slightly to get a decent finish. 

Edited April 12, 2020 by Multigauge
Correct sentence

[TechnicArrow]

Thanks for the tip - it's a shame I read it after I'd glued the track down!

I started yesterday by making another "board", my usual technique of PVAing two pieces of corrugated card with the corrugations perpendicular to eachother, and a layer or cereal box card on top. I haven't used a box here as the settrack is too long to fit in a standard shoebox, and I'd need to cut out so many of the walls there's no point. Instead I'm aiming for a board that can be folded flat, with any scenic items removed and stored in the other boxes.

 

Playing around with geometry, I discovered that pivoting the setrack at the pinhole at the far end appears to match up neatly with the angle from a small curve piece (below the bridge), which saves mucking about with bending flextrack (something I'm not that good at). All track was cut to length with a hacksaw, and positioned as below:

 

Then I started to position a few scenic items. The whole layout is now a decent size.

 

The factory is clearly just the top part of the existing one, and I might put a warehouse-style building in that space instead. At least part of it needs to be a plain wall, since the middle track is obviously right behind it and a paper-thin building doesn't make sense. But there should be enough space to get the original water tower back on the layout, which would be nice.

[Kevin Johnson]

I have to say your shoebox layout build just gets better every time I go to catch up on the build thread. 

[TechnicArrow]

I'm terrible at this posting business. I was meant to update this thread with photos as the sector plate build progresses, but here I am posting them all at once when it's finished.

 

The board itself has had the front track glued, wires soldered to power the sector plate, a coffee-stirrer within the cardboard layers to operate it from the front, and lollipops to locate the board on the end of Box 2. A simple folding truss has been made for it to sit on.

 

Then work on the warehouse building started; the usual simple layers of cereal box card, overlaid with brick-embossed plasticard.

 

Then we skip forwards a bit, and it's nearly there. A platform with end-loading dock was built of card, brick plasticard and topped with metcalfe-printed tarmac and edging. The warehouse windows, doors and signage are either from downloaded kits or created digitally, all printed and glued in place. This time I went straight to the greyish mortar wash rather than a brick colour first, to give a lighter colour than the Box 2 building.

 

And that's pretty much the new board complete. Elsewhere cosmetic point levers have been added, supported just far enough from passing wagons by extensions of the sleepers. 

 

And just to prove it fits, I put it all away! All of these bits of buildings can be removed from the layout, including the sector plate board folding-truss support top-left:

 

With a bit of juggling, they are all packed into Box 2 along with the controller and transformer, whilst avoiding damaging the point levers. I'm not sure about rolling stock, but there should be enough space within the majority of Box 1 and the storage trays built under Box 2.

 

There's still a variety of small tasks to complete, such as painting the warehouse roof, adding weeds everywhere, finding a suitable backscene and re-instating the lighting. I'd also like to design a proper shunting puzzle system to go with the layout, rather than pushing wagons about at will.

But I do feel I can now say the layout is complete; I've built a shoebox-based layout with the same overall footprint and scenic area as it's predecessor "Green Lane Wagon Works", but with twice the scenic height, far more operational interest (a better track layout and a working crane), and packed away into 2/3 the space. I'm quite pleased with that!

 

To finish off, I thought I'd throw some details and figures back on the layout, and share some photos.

First off, a tractor is loaded onto a conflat outside the run-down looking Murley Plant Engineers Ltd. Note the plank bridge laid across the wagon's buffers.

 

D2280 is watched from above as it shunts Arrow Paint's sidings.

 

The Fuchs 301 crane is still in regular use, transferring pallets of sacks outside.

 

And Fred is still engrossed in his 'paper, as D2280 forms up a train behind him. Some people, eh?

 

That train has reached journeys' end already; literally behind the scenes, the sector plate can just about hold the 04 and 3 wagons. If the pannier tank or larger wagons are used, since the layout is operated from the front care is needed not to run off the end!

 

Thank you those who helped in the design of the sector plate, it's simple and has proved reliable so far. And thanks to everyone else for reading, it's nice to be able to share my models. I should probably make a proper video of it all soon. Maybe when it's done! 

[Multigauge]

Your layout has been a real eye-opener in what you can do in such a small space. 

The linking of the scenes and the way it packs down is just genius.

I'm really tempted by the scale scenes kits and box files, but i need to complete Badsworth Rd and an unnamed N guage layout that I have been building for a couple of years.  

[TechnicArrow]

I've been operating this layout occasionally, and have decided it needs an extension to the right. I need a proper base and interior for the end warehouse, and the headshunt is to short to be realistic. 

 

I've started by building the "board", using the same design as the sector plate one - two layers of corrugated card laid perpendicularly, topped off with a layer of cereal box card. This will have the two short sections of track fixed on it, with the current end wall slewed backwards somehow. 

 

Whilst that was gluing up, I turned my attention to the sliding door. It's not been working so well recently, and the external mechanism would be in the way of any new buildings. To replace it, I used a scrap of square plastic rod to add a smooth rail above the opening, and hung the door off it using straps of card. A card lever slides in a slot behind the lower guard rail to connect to the door to a pull-tab at the front of the layout. 

 

It doesn't run quite so smoothly now I've covered the white plastic rod with black paint, but it still both looks and slides much better than the old version, and leaves more of an opening so van wagons actually fit. 

Now onto the extension! 

[TechnicArrow]

All done in a day!

First off, I cut away most of the material behind the end wall, allowing me to score it and fold it back. I then built up the inset track up to it and the existing 'concrete', using many layers of card:

 

I remembered just in time to solder a pair of wires between the two tracks, to power the isolated front track from the fishplated connection of the rear track. 

The concrete was then painted and weeded, and a basic interior for the warehouse was built of two walls and a platform, painted white. Finally, the roof is a recycled portion of the Green Lane Wagon Works shed. 

 

I'm pretty happy for this for a day's work! Although a lot of the work was already done I suppose, I was just rearranging things. 

 

Behind the scenes, things aren't so pretty - the roof is barely balanced on the walls.

However, I think this open end is a good opportunity to model the inside of the building - time to brush up my interior skills! 

 

The layout has now grown to just over 1m long! Not very micro anymore. But it still packs into two boxes, since all the bits below can be taken off, and the end wall folded back to it's original state:

 

Maybe it's finally time to sort that backscene, I don't think the layout will grow any more... 

[TechnicArrow]

The Arrow Paints saga continues...

I've now moved into my Uni house for the year, and brought the layout with me. My room has a nice bay window, with a sill just the right size...

 

As you can see, since I last posted I've been modifying the back walls to take a proper backscene (at last!). I've also added a lighting "rig" - IKEA Ledberg modular strips, supported from the backscene. Unfortunately, because I mounted it along the centre of the layout rather at the front, rolling stock at the front of the layout is still in shadow! It looks a bit yellow in the photo above, but I think the next one looks perfect...

 

On the rolling stock front, things aren't looking up. The trusty 04 now barely crawls and occasionally emits smoke, even after a fairly thorough service. I'm hoping I can repair it, but we'll see.

In the meantime, the GWR 14xx is standing in - I might get another body for it, and paint it BR black.

I've got a number of other little projects lined up for this layout, so keep your eyes peeled!

[TechnicArrow]

And I've changed it already! The Ledberg strips aren't particularly strong in their connection, and their supports meant they were pulling the lids forwards. The new solution has the lights fixed to a thick corrugated cardboard beam, which then spans the front of the layout. This arrangement has much less sag, no detrimental effect on the backscene, and brings the light to a better position. 

 

Once that was sorted, I started playing with my new phone's camera. Sometimes the light comes out as overly yellow, but otherwise I'm pretty happy!

 

Meanwhile the new backscenes themselves arrived earlier, so hopefully the blank cardboard lids will disappear soon!

[TechnicArrow]

So what's been happening over the past week at Arrow Paints?

First off, the backscene has been added. For this I used the Peco industrial town scene and extension - although fairly common, they're pretty much exactly the right size for this layout. They're attached to the inside of th ebox lids using Pritt. Unfortunately there's a few more vertical joins than I would like due to the way the layout has to be dismantled, but it seems to work overall. I even managed to get the road overbridge lined up with one of the roads in the foreground of the backscene, so it appears to make a t-junction rather than stopping at the wall.

 

Speaking of the road bridge, it's had a repaint. I was never quite happy with the colour and there was too much dark red on the layout, so it's had a coat of Revell Aquacolour "bluish grey", which makes for a very good representation of engineer's blue bricks in my opinion. Watered-down black paint was washed over it and wiped off, to fill the mortar courses. Other areas of the layout may get similar treatment, I'm not sure yet.

 

Whilst I had the watery black paint, I had a first stab at some simple weathering. I applied the paint to the large crate seen above, some smaller pieces of freight, and then to an Oxford Rail 5-plank open. I think the cargo has come out well, but I may have overdone it a bit on the wagon. But since it's water-based, I can probably wash it off if I don't like it!

 

 

As for locos; I've been enjoying running the 14xx, it's good to have some steam on the layout. The only issue is it's still in GWR livery; I might buy a spare bodyshell and repaint it into BR black.

In the meantime I've bought a spare, fresh motor for the old split-chassis 04, so hopefully it can be coaxed back into life. And then, maybe it's finally video time...

[eastworld]

The backscene makes a big difference.

 

Stu

[TechnicArrow]

On 05/10/2020 at 11:40, eastworld said:

The backscene makes a big difference.

 

Stu

 

Thanks, I agree that it looks do much better now.

 

A brief update for today: 

 

SHE'S ALIVE! An as-new replacement motor, found by chance on eBay, has given the old 04 chassis a new lease of life. She's a bit quieter and smoother now, too.

 

Of course, as soon as I mention to my housemate what I'm doing, he offered to look at the old one - and after a disassembly, thorough clean of the rotor contacts and replacing a broken graphite brush with a piece of pencil lead, it works again too... Ah well, I guess I have a spare now!

 

In the mean time, there's a new project in the works for this layout...

[TechnicArrow]

I sent the above photo of the 04 to my dad, who replied "That looks real. Apart from the shiny rails". So it was obvious what I had to do next...

 

 

A little bit of paint mixing, brushing and tidying, and every rail has gained a cost of rust - well, the sides that are visible, at any rate. Another simple change that makes the scene so much better.

 

And then because I'm terrible at doing what I say I'll do, instead of doing the ground signals I worked on reinstating the night lighting. It was easy enough to fit the battery-powered christmas lights back into their holes in the original box, and I drilled some new holes in the left hand warehouse to illuminate the platform. For the central factory, I chose to cut out the box wall from behind the lower windows and add a new wall offset further back, to allow some LEDs to be inserted and illuminate the windows from behind.

 

 

 

 

I'm very happy with how this is going overall - the rusty rails and the night-lighting are small things that add so much.

I'm also very much enjoying having a layout set up and ready to use whenever I want to just trundle a loco around, or solve the shunting puzzle a few times. It's especially fun in this unusual Uni term of online lectures - I can switch off from the headache of Geomechanics or Finite Element Analysis, and play trains for 5 minutes until the next lecture!