Easton, Isle of Portland

[Mick Bonwick]

Easton will have neither cinema nor butcher in its model format, so stop trying to derail my train! You've totally confused poor john new, who is now trying to get me to model half the island.

[Mick Bonwick]

Nothing much to report in the way of progress, because I'm beavering away underneath the baseboards, catching up on some wiring tasks. The fiddle yard construction should have incorporated connections from every accessory decoder to the centrally located control panel. The south end was completed but the north end wasn't (I think I got bored and 'left it 'til later'), so it's time to complete it.

 

The plan for the control panel is to use thin plywood as the surface, with a planed timber surround, removable from the layout by using 25-way d-plugs and sockets. I have used these before and had great fun (!) doing all the soldering, but this time I will employ some of these natty devices.

 

 

They come in male and female versions and each will be kept in separate boxes until they're installed on the layout.

 

The connection from layout to control panel will be made using short ready-made cables.

 

The plywood will be painted gloss white and the track plan created upon it by using whiteboard gridding tape, producing something like this:

 

 

Note that this is not the Easton track plan!

[john new]

10 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

Nothing much to report in the way of progress, because I'm beavering away underneath the baseboards, catching up on some wiring tasks. The fiddle yard construction should have incorporated connections from every accessory decoder to the centrally located control panel. The south end was completed but the north end wasn't (I think I got bored and 'left it 'til later'), so it's time to complete it.

 

The plan for the control panel is to use thin plywood as the surface, with a planed timber surround, removable from the layout by using 25-way d-plugs and sockets. I have used these before and had great fun (!) doing all the soldering, but this time I will employ some of these natty devices.

 

 

They come in male and female versions and each will be kept in separate boxes until they're installed on the layout.

 

The connection from layout to control panel will be made using short ready-made cables.

 

The plywood will be painted gloss white and the track plan created upon it by using whiteboard gridding tape, producing something like this:

 

 

Note that this is not the Easton track plan!

Those connectors look useful, who sells them?

[nickwood]

1 hour ago, john new said:

Those connectors look useful, who sells them?

 

I'd like to know that too.

 

Why not use white faced hardboard instead of ply? You don't want to see brush marks

[Mick Bonwick]

1 hour ago, john new said:

Those connectors look useful, who sells them?

 

I did a search for 'dsub rs-232 breakout' and found several suppliers, mostly in China. Had to wait a while for delivery, but that was not a problem.

[Mick Bonwick]

4 minutes ago, nickwood said:

Why not use white faced hardboard instead of ply? You don't want to see brush marks

 

Because I didn't have any white faced hardboard and I did have thin plywood and white paint.

 

If I was worried about brush marks I wouldn't have used a brush.

 

I didn't have any used biscuit tins available, either.

[nickwood]

1 hour ago, Mick Bonwick said:

I didn't have any used biscuit tins available, either.

 

I've got a spare one you could have had. Scottish shortbread have a wide selection

[Stubby47]

Still looking for my micro switches.....

[Mick Bonwick]

I intend to model Easton as it was during the late 1950s and early 1960s, purely to indulge my interests in the locomotives that existed in that period. There is photographic evidence of O2s and G6s aplenty during normal services, and being a joint LSWR/GWR line (and subsequent versions of those companies) there were quite a few things called Panniers.

 

When being run in pedant mode, there won't be many trains in evidence because I only have three O2s. I did once have a G6 kit (Alan Gibson, I think), but it was taken to and sold at a Bring & Buy somewhere. When KMRC produced their gate stock my carriage siding potential grew alarmingly, but the physical appearance of their underparts curbed my enthusiasm for collecting every single version.

 

When being run under rule 1, of course, there are lots of trains available. At one time there would have been a goodly mixture of old, new, brown, green and maroon trains cavorting about, but common sense and diminishing storage space have reduced that variety to things green. Southern green.

 

A part of the armchair modelling stage of development was the assembly of a list of train movements. I did once call it a timetable, but that seemed a rather grandiose title for what it really was. The aforementioned rule 1 approach will see O2, M7, Beattie Well Tank (!), Std 3MT, Sulzer Type 2 (class 24) and BRCW Type 3 (class 33) hauling their trains into the station area past the Park Quarry sidings, heaving a sigh of relief that the long climb was over.

 

I saw a photograph in one of my reference books that depicted an O2 that had been partially bulled up by enthusiasts prior to a charter trip, and decided to try and reproduce the effect for the early BR pull-push fitted O2 that I had. I have no idea, yet, how many coaches this model will pull into Easton, but it won't be long before it has a decoder in it and can be tested out.

 

Edited June 1, 2020 by Mick Bonwick
The usual proof reading exercise carried out after hitting "Submit".

[NHY 581]

Lovely image, Mick. 

 

There's a distinct warmth, if that makes sense, about the weathering on the little chap. 

 

Makes me wish I had a O2.........oh dear...

 

Rob. 

[Mick Bonwick]

11 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

Lovely image, Mick.

 

Thanks, Rob.

 

11 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

There's a distinct warmth, if that makes sense, about the weathering on the little chap.

 

I favour browns with a red tint when I mix my paint for the bodywork areas. Humbrol's 72 or Railmatch Frame Dirt usually, but occasionally Revell Dark Earth if I want a more yellow tone.

 

11 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

Makes me wish I had a O2.........oh dear...

 

I'm surprised, nay, shocked, to learn that a man with Southern leanings does not have an O2. I think you should rectify that, now.

[Stubby47]

He won't just buy the one though...

[NHY 581]

Mmmmmm............the only thing that could go to make room are the J15s.............

[woodenhead]

5 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

Mmmmmm............the only thing that could go to make room are the J15s.............

O2s are only a little bigger than Well Tanks I am sure you can find room for an 02 and a J15 - it's not as if they will share the same space at the same time.

 

The problem with J15s is they need a J70 to keep them company.

[Mick Bonwick]

2 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

There's a distinct warmth, if that makes sense, about the weathering on the little chap.

 

If you take a look at my flickr images. you'll see (I think) that most of the locomotives exhibit that 'warm' look.

 

It was something drummed onto me by my mentor when I first started down this weathering path, and I've always tried to bear it in mind. It seems to work nearly all the time.

[NHY 581]

15 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

If you take a look at my flickr images. you'll see (I think) that most of the locomotives exhibit that 'warm' look.

 

It was something drummed onto me by my mentor when I first started down this weathering path, and I've always tried to bear it in mind. It seems to work nearly all the time.

 

I'm still finding my feet but my eye also prefers the warmer look if that makes sense. For example I prefer a brown or bauxite wagon to a grey. Where possible I try to introduce a 'red' tint to the iron work for example. Doesn't take much. 

 

All good learning. 

 

Rob. 

[teaky]

2 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

Mmmmmm............the only thing that could go to make room are the J15s.............

Don't be daft.  It's the perfect opportunity for getting rid of that boxy GWR thing.

[Ramblin Rich]

On 31/05/2020 at 15:41, Stubby47 said:

Still looking for my micro switches.....

Shock news, one surfaced amongst my spare parts. I intend to use it to switch the polarity of the loop end points, so not going spare I'm afraid...

[Stubby47]

On 31/05/2020 at 15:41, Stubby47 said:

Still looking for my micro switches.....

 

I've ordered one of these, for when I find them

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dihl-TB-DRW22-Storage-Cabinet-Organiser/dp/B01LWL6718/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dihl+drawers&qid=1591044988&sr=8-1#

Edited June 1, 2020 by Stubby47

[Mick Bonwick]

16 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

 

I've ordered one of these, for when I find them

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LWL6718/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_COw1EbE2D7DCA

 

 

Isn't it amazing the lengths people go to, to ensure that their wares are found by people using search engines?

 

If I advertised a weathered O2 for sale it would have to be worded something like, "British Railways Steam Locomotive Engine Train Class O2 Southern Region Black Dirty Weathered Grimy Dirt Filth Used Working Smoky Not J15".

Edited June 1, 2020 by Mick Bonwick

[Portchullin Tatty]

On 31/05/2020 at 12:52, Mick Bonwick said:

 

The plan for the control panel is to use thin plywood as the surface, with a planed timber surround, removable from the layout by using 25-way d-plugs and sockets. I have used these before and had great fun (!) doing all the soldering, but this time I will employ some of these natty devices.

 

 

They come in male and female versions and each will be kept in separate boxes until they're installed on the layout.

 

 

 

Careful Mick, they have a very low rating and DCC will zapp them.

 

You can see what happens to them here.

 

 

 

[NHY 581]

7 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

 

I've ordered one of these, for when I find them

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dihl-TB-DRW22-Storage-Cabinet-Organiser/dp/B01LWL6718/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dihl+drawers&qid=1591044988&sr=8-1#

 

 

Only thing missing on that description is "Kitchen sink"

[Mick Bonwick]

10 hours ago, Portchullin Tatty said:

 

Careful Mick, they have a very low rating and DCC will zapp them.

 

 

Thanks very much for a timely warning, Mark. My heart sank when I read your post, but when I eventually thought about in earnest, I don't think it will present me with a problem, The same might not be true for anybody who might have rushed onto the Internet and bought some, though.

 

The connections to be put through these devices are all for control panel LED links to point motor contacts and switches, and for SPDT switch links from control panel to accessory decoders. No DCC current involved at all, it's all 12v DC low current stuff. Phew!

 

High current devices are all connected direct to a power bus, and the point motors themselves are driven direct from the accessory decoders.

[john new]

10 hours ago, Portchullin Tatty said:

 

Careful Mick, they have a very low rating and DCC will zapp them.

 

You can see what happens to them here.

 

 

 

Thanks for the tip. Are there any heavier duty equivalents other than going for the chunky connectors like RS and similar supply? (or did do so last time I needed to buy some). 

[Mick Bonwick]

I have been prompted by a building shown in @KNP's thread to have a look back at some photographs taken of the layout built in the roof space at the Alton Model Centre. Kevin's extensive rework of a Hornby Skaledale building on Little Muddle looks like this:

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/120848-little-muddle/page/266/&tab=comments#comment-3992438

 

Without any work being done to it, but plonking it directly onto a suitable space on the layout at Alton, it looked like this:

 

 

This building was marketed as a station building, but I think it was far better suited to a country house identity. I now wonder how many other resin ready-to-plant buildings could be used for purposes other than the originally intended one. I know at least one other person ( NHY 581 ) who will have a view on this.