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Motts Lane - a foray into EM


Southwich
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Well another beautiful day of weather outside can only mean one thing - spraying! I managed to get two coats of frame dirt on the wooden sleepers and points and two coats of Plastikote suede on the concrete sleepers this afternoon. After work this evening I managed to touch up the concrete over spray and get the first coat on the rails and pandrol clips of the concrete sections. It could do with another coat and another base coat before ballasting. Anyway onto the photos:

 

1A978B79-4D11-4152-A27C-185B2C070846.jpeg.05f69db75bb87d5b5e4a8f9c3cbb6c9d.jpeg

 

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240A3E1D-E6BC-490B-875B-5521CCC03FBE.jpeg.79d0d38511ec430615b65616152fe1cf.jpeg

 

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7EE25721-F8ED-4245-99D1-B66216561E55.jpeg.360d515ead2f50826127fe83fac6da6e.jpeg

 

4AD3D2CC-B6AA-408E-8FA0-71ACEF54DE51.jpeg.d902132cc9d2e808a82dff0a8c59bb73.jpeg

 

BDD274D6-B510-4ABC-8D0E-3F5E694E442B.jpeg.4360998a28cafbed216d7505636fbc7b.jpeg

 

CDB8033A-04E8-49D0-9362-0E5E6BCD5CA8.jpeg.f51bf9fd0c579efbff1831b6e455553c.jpeg

 

D8AE6AB7-0608-43C3-89C4-867DBF0C2ED6.jpeg.7d2aff51b67adc2e7d4b743865f4b430.jpeg
 

Pretty pleased with it so far! Really brings the trackwork to life. Onto ballast this weekend as well as sorting out the backscenes.

 

Kind regards,

 

Will

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4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Three weeks presumably?

 

Mike.


I’m hoping I won’t have to subject myself to three weeks of ballasting given my layout is only 6ft! Turns out it was more like 3 hours and it was time to look at some stock and couplings.
 

Will

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6B0C9C1B-058F-4CC6-A84E-E73AD03D283B.jpeg.9fb1a55311f879456bea569f6671b17b.jpeg

 

60036 testing out the ballasted track at Motts Lane this evening. Back mainline, threeway and the small section of mainline on the right hand board to go tomorrow.

 

Hope everyone is staying safe and enjoying some more modelling time in lockdown!

 

Will

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A nice little distraction from ballasting this evening courtesy of some superb LaserGlaze from Shawplan. A before and after shot on my VITrains 37698 - which needs ploughs and Dinghams fitting tomorrow. Could also do with that EWS door as well! 


Before:

 

E81AC18A-C6BC-4A8E-B9C1-58AE593D9D30.jpeg.0e048e2091c45438894fb282e03e9478.jpeg

 

After:

 

2134B1EF-DEFD-4D9C-9A24-C8C8E99BCF3D.jpeg.2b432a059c5337a6adb076b0d28ec970.jpeg

 

As you can see the glazing makes a huge amount of difference! Well worth the effort. 
 

Kind regards,

 

 

Will

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Looks great! The problem I have with laserglaze is that I now dont like original glazing!  It really makes a difference!

 

You've probably got this all sorted but if not PH designs make a nice plough that's easy to build. I've given up trying to build their 37 steps though. 

 

 

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8 hours ago, dj_crisp said:

Looks great! The problem I have with laserglaze is that I now dont like original glazing!  It really makes a difference!

 

You've probably got this all sorted but if not PH designs make a nice plough that's easy to build. I've given up trying to build their 37 steps though. 

 

 


So you know you need to get on the phone to Brian and get some ordered! I hadn’t seen them no - I’m quite tempted actually; they look a better option than my idea of chopping the Bachmann 47 ones apart; may give that a go first and then look at Petes. They look really nice I have to admit, were you soldering or gluing as they look quite fine to be soldering if so! 


A quick progress update from this evening, back on ballasting duties and I’ve done the majority of the threeway point - just the mainlines to go which is significantly easier due to the larger size ballast. Everything will need touching up but pretty happy with the first “coat”. 
 

2F8B3C3F-2176-47D3-868C-FDD657DD0952.jpeg.7057708408fb3d7c89517442a714cdc4.jpeg4A6537E9-A83B-4EE3-B997-056C5280E47C.jpeg.6fd9fca63c3c841baa04cb41f4e4c3ec.jpegA774A3C4-3A99-486D-9C67-97443A07886E.jpeg.aa340d850c6cfe5ec7f3b0d791d54805.jpegAA9D9B5F-D02E-45D1-866E-D4A4402C21B9.jpeg.64cac03615363b6523f1b2f2f0c4a022.jpeg

 

I also had a play with the Accurascale bufferstop - very impressive. Soldered the droppers you’re the track and applied a small dob of superglue to get the thing to stay in the wider track so it effectively ballances - which hopefully you can’t really notice. I thought this was preferable to chopping the thing up! 
 

F5451F4F-C48B-44B8-9B39-539E3BD30ABF.jpeg.6b4cf2f9a1e06ee7e823cc1db99bcc40.jpeg

 

D89029BF-97BA-4D85-A588-190046640034.jpeg.fc0013b593585f69f91851cbf46303b3.jpeg

 

Finally two shots of Motts Lane resident 60500:

 

4EC62AC7-F9BA-4978-A217-BE220E46A417.jpeg.a2da0c99ab515112840389f5adafb227.jpeg

EE3FF0E6-362F-4559-95A9-76A749F3F28C.jpeg.153ccb9f13383f270d8fbf1941e7d015.jpeg

 

Hopefully get on with the ballast and get onto some more exciting things! 
 

Thanks for looking,

 

Will

 

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3 hours ago, Southwich said:


So you know you need to get on the phone to Brian and get some ordered! I hadn’t seen them no - I’m quite tempted actually; they look a better option than my idea of chopping the Bachmann 47 ones apart; may give that a go first and then look at Petes. They look really nice I have to admit, were you soldering or gluing as they look quite fine to be soldering if so! 


A quick progress update from this evening, back on ballasting duties and I’ve done the majority of the threeway point - just the mainlines to go which is significantly easier due to the larger size ballast. Everything will need touching up but pretty happy with the first “coat”. 
 

2F8B3C3F-2176-47D3-868C-FDD657DD0952.jpeg.7057708408fb3d7c89517442a714cdc4.jpeg4A6537E9-A83B-4EE3-B997-056C5280E47C.jpeg.6fd9fca63c3c841baa04cb41f4e4c3ec.jpegA774A3C4-3A99-486D-9C67-97443A07886E.jpeg.aa340d850c6cfe5ec7f3b0d791d54805.jpegAA9D9B5F-D02E-45D1-866E-D4A4402C21B9.jpeg.64cac03615363b6523f1b2f2f0c4a022.jpeg

 

I also had a play with the Accurascale bufferstop - very impressive. Soldered the droppers you’re the track and applied a small dob of superglue to get the thing to stay in the wider track so it effectively ballances - which hopefully you can’t really notice. I thought this was preferable to chopping the thing up! 
 

F5451F4F-C48B-44B8-9B39-539E3BD30ABF.jpeg.6b4cf2f9a1e06ee7e823cc1db99bcc40.jpeg

 

D89029BF-97BA-4D85-A588-190046640034.jpeg.fc0013b593585f69f91851cbf46303b3.jpeg

 

Finally two shots of Motts Lane resident 60500:

 

4EC62AC7-F9BA-4978-A217-BE220E46A417.jpeg.a2da0c99ab515112840389f5adafb227.jpeg

EE3FF0E6-362F-4559-95A9-76A749F3F28C.jpeg.153ccb9f13383f270d8fbf1941e7d015.jpeg

 

Hopefully get on with the ballast and get onto some more exciting things! 
 

Thanks for looking,

 

Will

 

More great updates here Will,i like your weathered track finish..

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Hi all, 

 

As ballasting continues I have a quick question regarding VGA axle boxes. I’ve heard mention of achievers axle boxes being superb however I can’t seem to find them on the internet. Does anyone know where I can get hold of these to save me hacking apart the originals?
 

865284DF-D239-4846-9FC6-06F7358FE29C.jpeg.5dd68bf8c3395b29506e0049fe2e85ef.jpeg
 

Thanks in advance,

 

Will

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Hi Will,

 

A timely post as I happen to be working on some VGAs (and other vans) myself. I think what you're referring to are Chivers axle boxes, these aren't available as Chivers are no longer trading.

 

On mine I used BR hooded axle boxes from 51L Models. Not sure how well it shows in the photo but here's one of mine.

 

Glad to see you're going down the Bill Bedford route - it's the only way! ;)

 

Cheers,

Wayne

IMG_20200401_205708.jpg

Edited by Wayne 37901
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Managed to get another hour on the layout this evening, and to ensure the rest of the ballast had hardened before doing a big Hoover I thought I’d look at something else. I’ve had 3 DG electro magnets sat in a packet from Wizard for about a week so though it was about time to have a play and see how they worked. The answer is pretty good, surprisingly easy to put together and work really nicely. The magnet needs to be lowered further flush with the ballast and then concealed with some form of clutter, but apart from that I’m very happy! A quick video of it in operation;

 


Now time to fit the other two and every piece of stock with Dingham couplings...

 

Kind regards,

 

Will

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Hi all,

Had one of those weekends doing small odd jobs to the layout so I feel like I haven’t really achieved that much to be honest! The list of jobs completed were as follows:

- Got the measurements sorted for the laser cut hard standing,
- Removed the cork from where the hard standing is going to sit,
- Tidied up the “train room” (this was a big one),
- Freed up the point blades where glue from the ballast had stuck them together, 
- Fitted Dinghams to 37698, 60036, one of my CargoWagon flats, two vans and started the BRA/BYAs (these annoyingly weren’t as successful and are going to need some tweaking. 
- Cleaned the majority of Locos wheels on the rolling road  and the track with a microfibre cloth, 
- Had a play with the CVs on my TTS chip for 60036, it was running really poorly, struggling at low speeds. I’m still none the wiser as to the issue so think it may be a full strip down and service. Any advice on CV settings people have used would be much appreciated.

No real photos from the weekend except a few of the ballasted threeway point and construction of the Dinghams.

 

A262B242-A435-4E3E-BB3D-8459C41644A3.jpeg.bd9118e34fc36ea908104414fe4c22e3.jpeg

 

3915F1FF-5689-4512-A6A6-EB9DB68BAAB4.jpeg.c161079361b5965a3300c7d07c72a0eb.jpeg

 

8A164141-0843-4F88-A3A4-92D8A55FD87E.jpeg.54a7a4f0381de1a2c549a95b81f64152.jpeg

 

1FB6DEB6-6265-4753-9EDD-A205B6434E5F.jpeg.4efdb8b806adf6e8d02de9064d31cbde.jpeg

 

E8F17537-B4AC-45CD-95C5-21E62F01D5CB.jpeg.f123a810afeefb8ef46a2983c2ed3a9f.jpeg

 

026FC248-14F6-4689-AA9F-40E21A6BF243.jpeg.280cf65f875a05577b6fa41c38255c73.jpeg



Kind regards,

Will

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12 hours ago, Southwich said:

Hi all,

Had one of those weekends doing small odd jobs to the layout so I feel like I haven’t really achieved that much to be honest! The list of jobs completed were as follows:

- Got the measurements sorted for the laser cut hard standing,
- Removed the cork from where the hard standing is going to sit,
- Tidied up the “train room” (this was a big one),
- Freed up the point blades where glue from the ballast had stuck them together, 
- Fitted Dinghams to 37698, 60036, one of my CargoWagon flats, two vans and started the BRA/BYAs (these annoyingly weren’t as successful and are going to need some tweaking. 
- Cleaned the majority of Locos wheels on the rolling road  and the track with a microfibre cloth, 
- Had a play with the CVs on my TTS chip for 60036, it was running really poorly, struggling at low speeds. I’m still none the wiser as to the issue so think it may be a full strip down and service. Any advice on CV settings people have used would be much appreciated.

No real photos from the weekend except a few of the ballasted threeway point and construction of the Dinghams.

 

A262B242-A435-4E3E-BB3D-8459C41644A3.jpeg.bd9118e34fc36ea908104414fe4c22e3.jpeg

 

3915F1FF-5689-4512-A6A6-EB9DB68BAAB4.jpeg.c161079361b5965a3300c7d07c72a0eb.jpeg

 

8A164141-0843-4F88-A3A4-92D8A55FD87E.jpeg.54a7a4f0381de1a2c549a95b81f64152.jpeg

 

1FB6DEB6-6265-4753-9EDD-A205B6434E5F.jpeg.4efdb8b806adf6e8d02de9064d31cbde.jpeg

 

E8F17537-B4AC-45CD-95C5-21E62F01D5CB.jpeg.f123a810afeefb8ef46a2983c2ed3a9f.jpeg

 

026FC248-14F6-4689-AA9F-40E21A6BF243.jpeg.280cf65f875a05577b6fa41c38255c73.jpeg



Kind regards,

Will

Looking forward to more of this Will

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Thanks Neil and Will - appreciate the encouragement! 
 

a brief break from ballast this afternoon - looking to try and get some projects finished so 90024 has had it’s top coat of GNER blue, really love this livery! Hopefully (weather depending) I can get it nearly finished over the long weekend.

 

E735DD1E-E6B3-4EAD-97CC-BDF7CA333DBA.jpeg.6c7b4246cb9fb1cf81094d0e84dad937.jpeg

 

C500AEAA-B97E-4F82-AABC-C560A02B0FE3.jpeg.8ccecd40569dfd2788f71523a009cec5.jpeg

 

Also managed to glue, fill, sand and prime the valances so there shouldn’t be any lines.

 

More progress soon.

 

Will

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4 hours ago, Southwich said:

Thanks Neil and Will - appreciate the encouragement! 
 

a brief break from ballast this afternoon - looking to try and get some projects finished so 90024 has had it’s top coat of GNER blue, really love this livery! Hopefully (weather depending) I can get it nearly finished over the long weekend.

 

E735DD1E-E6B3-4EAD-97CC-BDF7CA333DBA.jpeg.6c7b4246cb9fb1cf81094d0e84dad937.jpeg

 

C500AEAA-B97E-4F82-AABC-C560A02B0FE3.jpeg.8ccecd40569dfd2788f71523a009cec5.jpeg

 

Also managed to glue, fill, sand and prime the valances so there shouldn’t be any lines.

 

More progress soon.

 

Will

Yer been looking forward to your next modelling job here,ive got two new jobs.

flask depot build

colmore TMD..

With lots of daily updates now:good:

 

 

thanks neil..

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Thanks for the kind words Neil.

 

21 hours ago, Chris56057 said:

Really nice progress Will, particularly the ballasting. What ballast have you used? 


Thanks Chris, much appreciated! I have used Carr’s/C&L fine ash ballast for the wooden sleepers and woodland scenics fine buff ballast for the concrete sleepers.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Will

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On 10/04/2020 at 08:34, 37114 said:

Looks like a great project, good luck with the PH steps for the 37, they are a soldering job and a half!


Thanks 37114 much appreciated! I haven’t got any on order - I believe it was @dj_crisp doing a set! 
 

A nice relaxing day of swearing, masking, paint removing and varnishing to get 90024 gloss varnished this evening. Pretty pleased with the result, not 100% perfect but will be good enough once weathered. Transfers on tomorrow hopefully.

 

194F7B3D-5F94-422D-9DA9-4881277BE2C9.jpeg.a1be066bf21e650f02d36bef5bb172b9.jpeg

 

E6AC1F85-BD2B-47CB-A319-33309D640616.jpeg.ca669b8bac903cf5311831e445dae900.jpeg

 

Kind regards,

Will 

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