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Not another flippin' TMD!


Foden
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Oh great, another one!

 

Truth is, it's been far too long since I've actually had a layout, 10+ years infact, and although I do a bit of railway modelling amongst other sorts, it is limited to weathering, and modifying stock. I've become a collector, and it's not where I want to be, I want to run my collection on more than just a rolling road, and I need to stop putting it off and get stuck back into the hobby I enjoy rather than just reading about it, and seeing other people's at exhibitions.

 

I'm fortunate enough to have a large outbuilding that is the proposed destination for a much larger affair, but as it's been so long since I actually put into practice anything I think I know, it'd be foolish to jump straight into the dream layout, as it were.

 

So this small end to end, really rather simple layout, is as much about practising the art of constructing a model railway, and all that it entails from the ground up, as it is about creating a 'scene'. I will make mistakes, I'm very aware of it, but it's a great opportunity to learn from them, and to perfect one's technique and learn better ways, if necessary.

 

So with that in mind, please excuse the simple, linear design, and allow for maybe slight deviations from real world practices, as I'm constrained by a modest size (the outbuilding is currently full of typical family crap, so a spare box bedroom is the setting for this), and focusing more on functionality.

 

The Brief

 

  • The layout is 00 Gauge, and the scenic part measures a modest area of a little under 1.5ft x 6ft - there are provisions for a small fiddle yard to be added later.
  • Theme is to be of an early 90s small servicing / loco stabling point. The area is to be modelled in a very run down, and little used state.
  • Layout operation will be DCC, I'll be following 'best practise' methods, such as making every single length of track connect directly to the power bus.
  • All trackwork is PECO code 75 Bullhead, and straight sections are modelled in 60ft lengths.
  • Operation of the turnouts will be by both DCC, and a switch panel with route indication, allowing different methods of switching to be used and practised.
  • The layout will focus on functionality. For example, if a building is present that would in reality have illumination, this will be modelled on the layout.

 

As a side note, I'll use this page to upload photos of the build from the baseboard up, whilst this might get a little comprehensive, and picture heavy, it's as much about my trials and tribulations in constructing it, as it is the layout itself. I appreciate that won't be everyone's cup of tea, but cataloguing my successes and failures will certainly be good for me, and maybe help others out also.

 

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After a very quick play around with XtrkCAD, I'd settled on a massively simple track plan incorporating a single running in road, a stabling siding, fuel point, and twin road servicing depot. The railway area on the layout is bordered by a 4" raised section along the rear, and to the front, which will form the scenic break to the proposed fiddle yard later. The rear end will probably feature a low relief wall due to space constraints. In the plan below the area for the fuel point is the the right, and the twin track servicing depot building on the left.

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Then onto constructing the baseboard. I used 4" x 1" timbers for the frame, with two lengths running either side, and braced across at the ends, and every foot in between. I like the 4" framework, it allows for a lot of depth on the underside to protect the larger slow action point motors, and gives plenty of chunky areas on which to mount accessory decoders, and for other components and wires to sit.

 

Carrying on the chunky theme, the baseboard top is 12mm thick plywood. Whilst 12mm may be seen as overkill given the ample bracing, again I like the thickness for its ability to take screws for the wiring guides I use. If this were a portable layout, I'd probably think differently about the materials and design used, but it's staying where it is, and I'm a sucker for over engineering.

 

The plywood top is glued and screwed to the softwood frame. Dog is useful ballast weight.

 

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Next I printed off the XtrkCAD layout design 1:1 scale, and place it on the baseboard, just to confirm to myself that I like the look and feel of how the trackwork fits onto the layout

 

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Happy with that, I then add two layers of 1.5mm (purely as it was what I had) cork sheet to the railway area. Being a yard, there is no ballast shoulder, so the cork covers the whole area, and the trackwork will sit, and be bed in at the same level as the surrounding scenery.

 

To avoid the PVA glue seeping through the porous cork, and glueing the ballast wood to the cork, I used a sheet of greaseproof paper between the ballast and the cork. Once the glue had dried after a good couple of days, the paper came away cleanly.

 

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Once the cork was completely dry, I copied the track plan over onto the baseboard, and also marked out the exact placement of the turnouts, and then marked up both the holes for the point motor switch wires, and the track power droppers on the turnouts. I also then worked out how many 60ft straight track sections (plus some odd smaller ones) I'd need, marked them up, and marked out where the droppers would be for each of those also.

 

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When it came to creating the 60ft sections, I created a single section, where I was happy with the sleeper spacing, and used some double sided tape and masking tape on a spare piece of ply to use it as a template / jig so I could re-create more sections uniformly with the sleeper spacing.

 

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This was the first time I'd used Peco Bullhead track, and being a silly sod didn't even realise that the new Bullhead fishplates didn't need the end ties removing off the sleepers like I used to have to do with old flexitrack! So the first few sections I'd removed the last ties before realising  :blush_mini:

 

Whether going to these lengths to replicate the sections of track that would have been prototypical in such a yard was worthwhile, I'll not really know until it's all scenic'ed up, but it was something I'd wanted to try. As it's such a short run, the prototypical 'clickedy-click' of jointed rail won't be evident, but on a larger run I can well imagine it would give quite a decent effect audibly. 

 

Onwards, and the drill came out, and the holes for the point switch wire / rod were drilled, the frog wires, and the MANY dropper wire holes drilled through. As I was using cobalt slow action point motors, I also used the cobalt point motor installation kit, giving me the correct size drill for the holes necessary. After, I used some brown paper and pritt-stick to re-cover the hole, figuring this would be useful to stop ballast falling below and creating a void further on. 

 

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Dropper wires were then soldered to all the straight sections and turnouts, and slowly the trackwork started to come together. I started with the turnouts as getting the orientation of these correct was obviously paramount to the rest of the layout. All the track was glued into place with PVA, no track pins necessary. 

 

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One drawback to having scale(ish) track sections and adopting a mantra of every piece of track needs its own power feed is a nest of dropper wires mounting up below the baseboard!!

 

Hopefully the running qualities of the layout will pay dividends and make this all worth it.

 

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On with the wiring now, and making things tidy and sensible under the baseboard. I didn't take any 'during' photos of this stage as it's obviously quite monotonous, but I'll summarise...

 

For the DCC Bus wires I used 18AWG silicone sheathed multistrand I had left over from an automotive project (droppers are 7/0.2) connected to 'chocolate block' connector blocks in each one foot section. The blocks are bridged to accommodate for however many dropper wires plus any point motors that are in that particular section.

 

I use the same method for an accessory bus at the opposite end, obviously with different colour wires. However each one foot section has six available terminals, as at this point I don't know what or how many feeds I'll have to illuminate buildings etc. I also have two more separate accessory circuits for yard and depot lighting that I've installed. These are separate as they will be connected to an old DC controller, allowing me to adjust the brightness of the lighting from the controller as I feel is right.

 

The turnouts, as mentioned are controlled from Cobalt slow action point motors. Originally it was my intention to use digital ip motors, but no stock on these at the time lead me to get Cobalt classic motors, powered from individual DCC concepts AD1-HP accessory decoders for the same functionality. These are wired directly to the track bus, had it been a larger layout with more turnouts I'd have considered a separate DCC bus for the turnouts, so not to piggy-back off the track power. But I'm unlikely to have several sound locos running at once, and there being only four turnouts I thought the single bus would be sufficient.

 

For maximum functionality the turnouts will be able to be controlled from the DCC cab, a computer panel via a DCC interface and PanelPro, and also the wiring has been installed so every turnout will have a traditional push switch and LED route indication on a conventional panel at the end of the layout. A little overkill for four turnouts maybe, but it's as much an experiment in using these methods, as it is having them to use.

 

All tidied up, and wired in. There's provision for wiring for switches for individual building illumination if I wish, I've tried to futureproof the electrics to allow easy installation further into the build. And as you can see, I have a bit of a thing for wiring tidies!

 

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Which brings it more or less up to date for now. Obviously the wiring is quite tedious, but it's nice to get it done and ready to move on to more rewarding aspects. Next phase is to get some of the depot yard lamps installed, look at a frame for the raised sections of the layout, and trial some different methods of surfacing the railway area. I have some air drying clay on order to try a method I've been reading up on that looks just the ticket for the effect I want!

 

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Hi Matt. I have to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with over engineering it's far better than under engineering, keep up the good work.

Regards Lez. 

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Nothing wrong with a TMD. The only frustration I ever have is the identikit Bachmann shed, Bachmann fuelling point ones which are often used and don’t really look like a contemporary TMD ( unless your modelling peterborough EWS shed !). Always look better with some individuality and some observation of what the real thing really looks like these days 

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  • 3 months later...
  • 7 months later...
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On 05/05/2020 at 02:55, saxokid said:

Always nice to follow another TMD build:senile::good:

Any new updates Matt...


Funny you should ask..... :lol:

Rather embarrassingly, I seem to be on a mission for longest, most tedious layout topic on RMweb :blush:

The reality is, this year, in contrast to many, I've been absolutely flat out due to the nature of my job, and from March until this Christmas holiday period, I've not had any holiday, or 'down time' to speak of. Oh the joys of the self employed.

So, over the past week, between periods of being largely drunk, I've dusted off the layout, and proceeded to get a little further into it....

Firstly, I got the wife tipsy enough to agree to let me cut a hole in the side of the wardrobe in the spare room to allow access to the fiddle yard

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And then after working on a simple design to try and offer as much loco storage, got the tools out and created this simple shelf upon which to lay the fiddle yard

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In contrast to the scenic section, this will be kept much more basic, no need to go all out on a fiddle yard. So code 75 track, seep point motors, and surface mounted electrics will be the order of the day here.

Onto something a little more rewarding. Early this year I ordered some bits from Express Models. Depot lights, a buffer stop lamp, lighting for the fuel point, and some wall lights for the retaining wall when it's up. Here are the yard lamps and red buffer stop lamp added to the scenic section. Really nice after all this time to be seeing it begin to progress beyond just track.

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And finally, for now, I got to start work on the rather fiddly plastic kit for the fuel point. I picked this Gaugemaster 'Fordhampton' fuel point kit up at Warley last year. It's quite a chore to assemble, and I think the scaleing might be more HO than 1:76, but it's a nice model and fits the space quite nicely. It's not fully assembled yet, and I'll be fitting lighting to it, so hopefully it'll sit nicely once built, painted, and weathered, and blended into its surroundings.

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I've still got a few days grace yet, not officially back at work until the 6th of Jan, so I hope to achieve more progress in that time, hopefully laying track in the fiddle yard, and starting the retaining walls would be nice.

After this year though, what an absolute treat to be able to return to doing some modelling, and just shuttling a few locos about the plank! 

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Moving on then, and it was time to tackle the decorating of the fuel point. I wanted to emphasise the feeling that this whole place is pretty rundown, and probably near the end of its working life. I'd found as reference a great photo of fuel oil storage tanks from Estonia, and it featured very heavy flaking and rusting of the tanks, which was the effect I wanted to aim for. To achieve this, I used a technique pioneered by John Hayward that I've used a few times before on wargaming terrain, but never tried it on this scale before. The method is pretty simple, you use rust coloured weathering powders mixed with enamel thinners and matt varnish to create a rust effect layer, use latex mask to apply chips to the surface, then apply an acrylic base coat over the top. When the acrylic coat is dry, you remove the latex mask to reveal the rust 'chips'. What really makes this effect pop though, is you can then use enamel thinners to reactivate the rust mixture, and wash it down the base coat. Simple, but very effective, and quite a rewarding process. Here's how I did it...

Firstly, using an airbrush, I apply a good coat of black primer. Mig 'oneshot' primer is relabelled Badger Stynylrez acrylic primer, it's the best acrylic primer I've come across, I swear by it.

 

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Next step after a few days to cure is to use a mix of enamel thinners and matt varnish, and select a couple of varying shades of weathering powders to act as a rust base layer. Using the thinned matt varnish to paint on areas as an anchor for the powders to go ontop. Blending lighter and darker shades of rust for the desired result. I try to smooth out big lumps of powder as to not provide too much texture for the base coat to follow.

 

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It doesn't take too long for the rust layer to dry, and as soon as it does, I start to create the rust chips/flakes using latex mask, in this case Humbrol's Maskol. A small amount is decanted into a suitable palette, and then using a piece of fine sponge ripped to give a mildly rough edge, I dab some of the mask on the sponge, and test the finish on a piece of clear plastic to make sure I'm applying the mask in as small small flecks as desired, and not large thick layers.

 

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The latex mask doesn't take long to dry, and as soon as it does I get the airbrush back out to apply the base colour layer. Although the enamel rust layer is dry, it's not cured, and it's important to get the base coat on before this happens, so I can use thinners to rework the rust layer later. My reference photo shows a light grey colour for the tanks, so this is what I make for mine, mixing a little more white in to highlight the top, where the sunlight bleaches the base colour. Obviously, as enamel thinners are to be used after to rework the rust layer, the base coat needs to be an acrylic to localise the later effects.

 

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Being acrylic, the base coat is dry in no time, and now the latex mask can be pulled away to reveal the rust underneath. Bigger blobs can be picked off quite easily, but an easy way to get the lots of tiny flecks off is to run over some blu-tac or similar. It's also possible to use a tooth pick to scratch off some more base coat in areas that don't have as much mask, or to join up some of the chips to create larger areas of rust that's broken through. My reference photo showed larger areas of rust lower down the sides, so I duly copied this. If there's any areas where there was some clumpy weathering powder, if it's not too large this can add to the effect of rust bubbling up below the base coat.

 

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Now for the effect that really sells this method for me, getting the rust layer underneath to bleed, and wash down the base coat. Using a brush damped with enamel thinners, I gently apply small amounts of the thinners onto the individual chips or larger areas of exposed rust. After a few seconds the thinners react with the enamel rust layer, and I gently brush vertically downwards to create the effect of rust being washed down the sides. It's important not to go too heavy with the thinners or all the rust layer will be pulled away quickly, but the great thing about having the black undercoat is that as the rust layer gets thinner it gets darker as it bites through as far as the undercoat, creating darker areas of rust, and if it goes too far, repairs can be made by re-adding spot areas of weathering powder with the original mix of thinners and varnish.

 

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For the walking grate on the top of the tank, I dry brush a metallic metal on, in this case Leadbelcher from the Citadel range (Citadel use some crazy names for their paints, but their ranges are fantastic, and for me, their metallic metals and golds are the best available). I then wash this with some black wash, Nuln oil, again from Citadel.

(Notice the fragile bloody hoops on the ladder have since been removed, to be reinstated at a later point!)

 

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My storage tanks now look suitably rusty, and knackered, but not very dirty. So the next effect is to add streaking grime in some areas  to weather them up a little. Mig Ammo brush streaker 'Starship Grime' is the grime of choice. A little is placed on, and in some cases ran down, and then a flat brush damped in thinners used to wash it down the sides... filthy!

 

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To finish up with this tank, I decided to deviate a little from the photos and add another effect, I'm not sure if it would be prototypical of a fixed storage tank, but added a fuel stain down the side where the pipe will eventually be fixed. AK Interactive's AK025 fuel stains doing the dirty deed, applied a little more willingly, but otherwise the same as the previous grime.

 

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Attention now turns to the concrete base. Pleasingly, the kit comes with a very nice base with pre moulded concrete texture, no need for an airbrush here, Army Painter Uniform Grey from a can gets applied in a few thin layers as both the primer and base colour. Once dry, the colour is washed with a mix of further grey from Vallejo, and the previously used Nuln Oil to bring out the detail, and look more weathered.

 

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The two remaining tanks are painted up using the same methods, but as they were sitting horizontally, and were basically going to be placed next to idling diesel engines, I thought the tops of them would be quite sooty, so used the airbrush to give a quick dusting over with Railmatch acrylic 2403 Roof Dirt.

 

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I was pretty happy with the colours of the small pumping shed, they just needed toning down a little. So another wash, this time 'Agrax Eathshade', another Citadel wash, which I think is great for weathering down any kind of wood to a damp effect finish.

 

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So to cut an already long story short, I finished building the kit, and for the final touch of weathering, added some green moss effects to the concrete base, and also the roofs of the buildings and especially inside the bunding for the tanks using Mig Ammo nature effects 1410 'Slimey Grime Dark', one of my most used weathering effects.

 

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And finally, the finished fuel point...

 

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I wasn't happy with the fuel delivery pumps that I'd fitted into the shelter, so used pieces from a Knightwing kit to make my own version. The pipe is massively overscale, and I'll come back to it at a later date. I also added a patch to one of the tanks to represent a repair, to prolong the life of these nearly life expired ones a little perhaps. Final touch was for a fluorescent light from Express Models to be added. The light was a little bright, but rather than add a beefier resistor to dull it down, I thought I'd add a little paint over to change the colour to more of that orange that was so prevalent in street lights of the era, changing the colour and toning down the brightness at the same time. The single unit was also painted black to blend it in with the roof of the shelter, and painted in the middle to make it appear as if it's two lights instead of one.

 

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Away from this little project, there's also been slow progress on the rest of the layout. Timber frames have been fixed in place for the rear retaining wall, and what will become the upper street base, and I've started fixing the resin retaining wall moulds from Skytrex into place on 6mm MDF.

 

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That's it updated for now. Next to follow will be completing, painting, and installing some more lights into the retaining wall, and work on the hidden fiddle yard, which I now have the track, and point motors for. :D

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