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Dinfield and Norton Rd - Will Pwllheli solve all my problems?


pirouets
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  • RMweb Gold

So a start made on the platform base. Its set at 17mm so I can add the surface once i have worked out which option works best. As for brickwork it will a brick paper but the question is whether I use Scalescenes or try something else such as the range from Scale Model Scenery. I can also make the main platform in chunks and assemble at the end rather than trying to make the full 1.2m and then cover it.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

And here we have the finished platforms. I wasn't planning on it but the warehouse building still fits which is good which means the short siding just before the platform can still be the warehouse platform for box vans, etc. The quick mock up of the station building got slotted in and the scene still works.

 

The edging is from the Scalescenes platform kit whilst the platform surface is acrylic paint simply stippled on to the surface. It doesn't show to well in this photo but I have added the brick layer below the platform edge for the 1st time. If anyone is looking at the parcels bay and wondering why there are paving stones in the middle, well that is simply because I'm a prat. I forgot about the extension it needed and put the end wrap of edging stones. However rather than rip it up I thought I would leave that in and maybe it means the bay platform was extended at some point.

 

The other plus point of having the warehouse out during the rebuild is I fixed the sagging roof.

 

Not sure what's next other than time for a good running session I think.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

So one of the questions being mulled over whilst the station buildings come together - What goes along the backscene behind the platforms? In one corner of my mind I am thinking its simply station parking, but hiding away in another recess of my mind is some low relief shops/offices. If its the latter then now road and simply a pavement area between then platform and the buildings. 

 

The edge of the platform will have a brick wall about 4ft tall added to it that will go all the way up to the warehouse building that is on the end of the platform.

 

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As for the station building its starting to come together. The building on the left will have sliding doors added where as the station entrance/exit will have doors mounted internally. Plan is to fit out the buildings and I am thinking its time to start adding lighting to buildings, which also means I need to have a think about lights for the platform.

 

Oh, and thinking back to the start of this post, another cell in my brain is wondering does the station building also wrap round the passenger platform? Think this is the least likely of the ideas.

 

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I've also added the platform starter. Not wired in yet and I need to work out what signal goes at the end of the station given the control there needs to be 

- Out of the station platform

- From the sidings to the main line

- Departure done the freight only branch (to the hidden siding)

 

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  • RMweb Gold

So taking a break from the station building i've made up the sections for the station wall. These are not fixed in place yet and won't be until the station building is finished and in but it achieves the effect I was looking for. I need to have a thing about the capping for this next. Not sure whether to cap with a row of vertical bricks or capping stone but I suspect it will be the latter.

 

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I've also got a new toy to play with. Up till now I have used one of the tea strainer models for electric grass which has it limitations so getting a bit older meant I asked my wife for a larger one. Dug up a test piece I still have in the shed and will try things out on their 1st such as, weeds in the stone work, between the rails and a general grassy area.

 

Also if you look at the area by the station building, part of me wonders if a cobble stone yard area might be an option. Question is could I do it without covering the buildings and platform.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

I really should focus finishing 1 building before starting another, but that's no fun so here we have the start of the shops that will form station walk. After taking this picture I wondered whether the shop fronts were to uniform so.......

 

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... I flipped one of the doors around and created a centre door front. beauty of this is I can make 3 or 4 fronts and inter change them as I build. One of my kids has a set of colouring pens where you can blend the pens to make other colours so I am going to see whether that comes out better than creating a paper wrap for the shop fronts.

 

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The next is nothing other than one to show the overall scene I m trying to create

 

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Over in the station yard I have a sheet of Chooch cobblestones. its not glued down yet but I will get a 2nd sheet to complete the yard. I can then leave it like that or add a colour wash to dull it down. I should have some off cuts that i can experiment on for that. Just waiting for Hampshire Models in Basingstoke to get a new order in.

 

I wasn't planning to go there but had a morning off to play golf and ended up walking of the course after 7 holes as just wasn't enjoying it (might be the end for me & golf after some 38 years but that's another story). Instead spent the rest of the morning in the shed starting on the buildings in this post.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

My arty son has some fabulous sketching marker pens which I have used to colour in the shop fronts rather than create some kind of paper design that I would then have to affix. My only concern is did I cut the windows to high so I don't have much room for the shop sign. We shall see as I need around 8mm for a 2ft high sign.

 

Also need to have a think about interiors for these but that's for another day.

 

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In other news I am going to have a look at rigging my gaugemaster controller so I can use that when I decide I don't want to use the Hornby bluetooth controller. Sometimes I do find the phone interface just a bit unresponsive though that could be my 5 year old phone being a bit sluggish.

 

 

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  • RMweb Gold

So it turns out the app for the HM6000 is fine and its user aka - me is just a complete muppet. One of the things that annoyed me was if the phone went to sleep it would cut power to the track, until I found the setting that disabled that so now I can sit there modelling with something running in circles. Why is it so many men hate reading manuals? :D As a result I spent a happy hour running trains for the 1st time in a while and was amazed when everything ran. The only unit that stalled was the class 108 which takes a bit of running in if left for a while. Still runs great for a 2nd hand purchase.

 

The shops are coming on though and I am definitely going to have to come up with interiors.

 

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Given I can't possibly finish 1 thing before starting another the next block of 4 has been started. I won't join that on until each part is finished as there needs to be another 3 shops to the right to complete the run. I've also started fixing in the station wall which I said would wait till the main building was finished as I am happy I have all the measurements correct. Once the wall is in I can think about the road/pavement surface for the shop area.

 

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I also need to make my mind up whether I am going to add working lighting to the layout. Still not sure I am that bothered if truth be told but we shall see. it might be I just don't fancy crawling under the boards.

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  • RMweb Gold

Another week and a bit more done on the shops with signs and windows added. I've taken delivery of roof tiles from Scale Model Scenery and need to have a think about the best way to apply them to a long stretch of buildings. Whilst waiting for things to dry on the buildings I have fixed the station wall in place.

 

The 2nd piece of cobblestone is down as well for the yard area and I have to say I do like these Cooch products. I have some offcuts where I will see whether I can tone the colour down, but if not I can live with that. I will add weeds and tyre marks whatever though.

 

Might also be time for some dusting looking at the roof of the Class 128.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

Consider it toned down. Again, the sketching pens were used. Step 1 was use one of the cool grey pens in the set and leave for around 30 seconds. After that, simply wipe over with some kitchen towel. The only piece I will have trouble with is by the loading edge of the platform and you can still see the original colour but I am thinking weeds can run along that edge to cover it.

 

Now, do I actually start finishing a building or build the next 3 shop fronts? I think actually finish the run and get the roof tiles in place is next along with think about the road/pavement surface for station walk.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

Not sure how much will get done in the next couple of weeks. Just signed up to a 3 months of exact editions access to the Railway Modeller archive and currently reading my way through the 1950s.

 

I have been out to the shed and the last 3 shops have been added. Now for the fun part (aka the bit I hate) of detailing each of these. My thinking is I add a floor which will also help hold the card for the windows in place, add the fittings and then a back with some kind of image printed on it. The back of the shop will be the simplest as there are plenty of results from google searches.

 

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UI thought it time I went back to Norton Rd and the signal box. I've added the fireplace and chimney. by sheer fluke I glued it in place exactly where the Metcalfe roof needs it to be but the plan is to make a better roof out of Scale Model Scenery weather roof tiles with plenty of bird poop.

 

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The signal box is now in place and the gravel path laid. This shot does make me wonder whether I should add point rodding or whether it will look Ok once the dirt and weeds are added. Just need to make the top of the chimney and a pot for it

 

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Another building needing chimney pots but as I had the glue out I put the path in place. My thinking is that these are well kept cottages so small grass area's will be used to fill in between the path and the building.

 

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I've mentioned I have been trying to come up with a timetable and in truth been struggling. The headache was trying to keep track in the fiddle yard of directiosn and what needed reversing. However had hopefully a light bulb moment so the time table is now designed on when the passenger trains will run and insert freight slots in to the timetable. I may have over done it on the amount of traffic in a day but easy to cut this down or adapt to create Saturday and Sunday workings.

 

Freight trains will then be run based on a dice system where:

Throw 1 - number that comes up represents the Fiddle yard slot to select the train. If the FY selected is empty because the train is out on the layout, then that train returns to the Fiddle yard.

Throw 2 - selects the destination where

1- Run through Norton Rd

2 - Run to Norton rd loops

3 - Run to Norton rd and shunt to sidings

4 - Run to Dinfield and shunt to sidings

5 - Run to Dinfield and send down branch line

6 - Roll again as don't have a destination

 

 

 

 

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  • RMweb Gold

Platform canopies knocked up. I was going to go for a corrugated roof but I wasn't sure I could get the join in the corner to work so this station is lucky and still has its decent canopy roof. This shot does show one of the conundrums to solve - What do i put in the station building to rather than it just ending on the card back piece of the building?

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I still need to think about whether I am going to add anything in to the buildings before I put the roof on.

 

 

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Loaded up a bunch of content to watch on my tablet and knuckled down to the roofing for the shops. As you can see, we going need to have to place another order for their tiles. I think these have worked well though as rather than simply add each layer lined up by eye, I marked up the roof to create a row so got a much better overall alignment.

 

I do need to look at drain pipes and gutters. I tried some on the house backs (ratio or peco I think) but wasn't overly impressed so need to spend a bit of time with google as the shops will need a good long run.

 

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  • RMweb Gold
9 hours ago, pirouets said:

I do need to look at drain pipes and gutters. I tried some on the house backs (ratio or peco I think) but wasn't overly impressed so need to spend a bit of time with google as the shops will need a good long run.

Somewhere on RMWeb I’ve seen descriptions of ‘home made’ downpipes that looked really good.  Might have been Little Muddle.  I think it was just 1mm rod with strands of wire wrapped round to simulate the pipe joins.

Paul.

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  • RMweb Gold
9 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

Somewhere on RMWeb I’ve seen descriptions of ‘home made’ downpipes that looked really good.

 

You're right and it was just after I put that in the search box, RMweb seemed to have a bit of a strop. Hmm, coincidence - you be the judge (given I should have been working :D)

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Engineering works underway. I decided that I don't like ducking under every time I enter the shed so hinges fitted and we have a lift out section. In particular when raining I can get in out out far quicker.

 

It needs a couple of new pieces of track at the edges so for now the layout is out of action, or at least the ability to run in circles. If I have one goal to get done over the Christmas break it will be to get this finished.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

A busy moment at Norton Rd. In truth nothing much has had much of a run recently so over the last couple of days I have given everything a good run. I've also been looking at whether I have any stock I don't need so considering what to do with a couple of locos and a rake of presflo wagons. In the case of the presflo's they just don't suit the era I am modelling and looking at the cyber-heritage website Devon has pictures of PCA wagons.

 

I also found a Class 31 I bought very cheaply some time back and after a good 18 months in the draw it now seems to run pretty well so it obviously just needed some time alone in a dark draw. (How I feel sometimes when models don't turn out the rights way)

 

 

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One of my presents was a Petite Properties kit which is good timing given the article by Phil Parker in the latest BRM. In truth the idea behind getting this is to help work out how to improve my detailing in the future. Not sure whether I will go back and amend the shops recently built but I will be modifying the design in the future to create more detailed layers that I can add from thing card.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

I like this having time off malarkey. I got a better static grass applicator back in September but not got round to using it yet so started with a small area around one of the sidings at the end of the platform. Before I get to carried away I need to have a good look at the run down station thread to get a good idea of how much weed and grass to apply.

 

I was also thinking I need something that can apply a very thin seam of glue so I can have grass popping out of the cobblestone.

 

 

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No modelling today but I had a crack at taking a few close up shots. Given I talked about detailing in my previous post I guess I better fix the fence as had not realised till I saw the 1st 2 images that there is a twist in the fence. Also, I think the river needs some form of wild life so will be on the look out for ducks, swans or geese.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

I currently waiting for a kit to be delivered to fill in the main gap at Dinfield. Unfortunately its been a month since it was ordered and despite emails heard nothing back. I did phone on Friday and got told the office was closed but they will contact me on Monday. Fingers crossed. The kit is for the last big gap on the layout.

 

In the mean time I have bought a new car. My Uncle and Aunt have moved near by as their daughter also lives fairly close to me and I went over to see them last week. My Uncle has a good collection of model cars but missing from that is a Reliant Scimitar which he had many years ago. I thought was a really cool car and the 3 litre engine growled nicely. So I looked up to see if I could find one and ended up buying one for the layout as well as one to give to him next week.

 

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I've also finished putting together the Petite Properties shop. A nice model and gives me lots of ideas in the future for detail to add to buildings. 3 jobs left to attempt on this are

- Make the top half of the building look at though it has a fresh grey coat of pebble dash

- Paint the shop front

- Add roof tiling

 

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I also found that I did have another pack of roof tiles hiding alongside one of the speakers so been able to crack on with the roof of the station but I am now definitely out of tiles so need to order another pack.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

One of the aims of this layout is to improve and learn new skills and so the station building at Norton Rd won't get completed. I've always liked Lapford station and have decided to create a new building based on that. It will be a representation of rather than a scale low relief version so yesterday time was spent with powerpoint to create a template. One of the challenges was how to cut down as far as possible on card waste and whilst not perfect I got it down to about 60% of a sheet of A3 card.

 

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Now before I get stuck in to putting it together I need to work out how to paint it. My first attempt on this test piece was coat in white acrylic and then stipple on a dirt colour but it didn't really work. Whilst the white does cover the square card joins the rest is just to messy.

 

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I then remembered I has some washes I could try and I think the back comes out far better. I am going to make a few more test pieces 1st to keep working on the method before I start on the building. I also think the platforms will be rebuilt with a tarmac surface rather than paving slabs. This will also help me with one of the puzzles I had not solved on how to model the narrow space behind the platform to the right of the building.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

So far so good with the new building. Next job is to build up the base coats of white before then weathering it down. I can also have a good think about how to bed this in to the new platform base when I make that so any ground join is minimised.

 

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Old card platform gone. I was think that the new one would be all card but I have lost of pieces of MDF in the shed from some shelves I made ages ago. I made some 16mm thick strips to form the base that I can then cover with card. So the first picture is simply it all weighted down.

 

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You can see from below the framework that has been built up. I am wondering whether to expand the base back to the right hand side of the station building so the car park is at the same level. To the left I will build up a small slope that is covered with bushes. I need to see what I have in the way of brick papers as the platform side at Lapford is pretty dirty. I've also managed to put the first couple of coats of white on the station building which seals up all the edges nicely and covers a couple of lines on the template i used.

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  • RMweb Gold

Holy crap that was windy. I found the boards on the back side of the shed had moved about 3/4s of an inch away from the frame of the shed. shows how much the shed mush have been twisting. This could happen since I created a lifting flap rather than having a solid piece across the doorway. I got very confused at first when the lifting flap would not close.

 

Progress over the last few weeks has been steady. Over at Dinfield the shops are starting to be filled out using the packs from Tiny signs along with making a set of counters to go in the building society which you can see place in front at the moment. There is a bit of trimming require to get that to fit.

 

 

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Over at Norton Rd the signal box has finally got its name plate. 

 

 

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The new station building is coming on. In fact I have had the guts to apply the dust wash since taking this so its no longer as pristine.

 

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And the new platform surface is down. Its simply grey paint stippled on and tried to make it a bit patchy rather than a consistent grey. The platform sides are from Scale Model Scenery and just need to fill in the ballast edge now to the platform. Much happier with how this looks now. In the distance behind the signal I have also started on a new pub building but its just a card shell at the moment.

 

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