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Badsworth Road


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Last year my 6 year old showed an interest in an n gauge layout I had been building for sometime. 

I said I'd build her something and went about thinking where I was going to put an oval of track.

At Christmas I bought her a 2nd hand Thomas on line and found Annie and Clarabelle in our local model shop.

However, after assuming she'd like a roundy roundy affair, I noticed she particular seemed to be in to shunting wagons, so i hatched a cunning plan to give her somewhere to run Thomas and me somewhere to run some small locos and wagons.

I want it to be fun for both me and her.

 

Since Christmas, I bought some new furniture, had big sort out, rejigged her room and found a space on top of a chest of drawers to place a smallish board.

 

I'd been getting some bits together for a while and found the track layout I had in my head worked when I put templates down, so about 2 week ago I set about finishing the board. Predicting the current shut down would come sooner or later I made a couple trips to my local model shop to stock on bits and finally completed the wiring and wire in tube point operation today. I have 1 siding at the front and 1 in a fiddle yard behind the back scene to lay, but everything else is down and working!

 

I've put some cardboard packing up to give a sense of where the scenic break will be, but I haven't quite decided how it's going to be finished yet.

 

This is only my second post on here so I hope I've got in the right category. 

 

 

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So a bit more info on my offering. It's named after the road I lived on growing up and also where I built my first and last 00 gauge layout.

It's 120cm by 48cm on 6mm MDF with a 3cm X 1cm battening to keep it ridged.

 

I've wired it for DC on code 100 peco track utilising 2 X small Y, 1 X small left and 1 X small right (all electro frog). To keep it compact I've made a sector plate using a length  of set track. This pivots to allow for running round a short train and was supposed to give access to a siding behind the back scene for storage. However, I have just realised I've made a schoolboy error and failed to take in to account the shelf bracket above which is foul of the sector plate when it swivels to enter that siding......

 

Now, where's that drawing board?

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A small amount of work done yesterday, but enough to really make a difference. Sector plate and lines leading in to it relaid to new alignment to allow for a single siding behind the back wall that doesn't foul the bracket for the shelf above.

I also started to cover the cardboard packaging to form a suitable retaining wall; it's far from finished, but I think makes such a positive difference. I need to design and make some capping stones and also work up a design for girder bridge that will cross the scenic break. 

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Edited by Multigauge
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  • 2 weeks later...

A little bit more work done this week. The cardboard packaging that I had used for retaining walls also seems to be ideal for a bridge.

After some thought I realised it needed some adjustments though to enable access to the sector plate, so I trimmed it down from a two lane width road to a single lane.

I've painted the cardboard in an acrylic granite colour I had knocking about, but I think it's come out too dark so I may lighten it somehow. Although the cardboard has a naturally occurring appearance of panelling, I may enhance the finish with some styrene strip. The brick wall above has been made with a strip of metcalfe papers from the same packet that I used for the retaining wall. 

Like the rest of the walling the tops need capping; the family have a supply of ice lollies to get through to provide me with material to trim and place atop. 

 

 

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A spare hour early this morning gave me time to paint the board an earthy brown.

I've also done some more work on the bridge cutting the angles to get the skew right.

The lollies have all been eaten, but alas the message about keeping the lolly sticks didn't sink in that well as I only have 3 out a possible 9...

Looks like I may have to just buy some more and eat them all myself...

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

A small amount of work done so far this week.

Rails painted.

Lolly sticks harvested, trimmed and scribed ready for capping on the retaining walls.

I raided my box of useful bits left over from projects long ago and found a broken airfix foot bridge. I hope to butcher this some more to form an exit from the platform (yet to be fully constructed) to the road level above. 

 

I've also been test running a Percy bought s/h for the the little one who's birthday is tomorrow. 

 

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@sb67 thanks for the vote of confidence.

I've been painting the capping stones of late. The first coat is probably too bright, bit I think toning them down with some dry brushing will work a treat. I was wondering how to support the sticks whilst they dried and came across some cardboard packaging that does the job. So far the same Swedish furniture store has supplied the materials for the retaining wall supporting structures, platform base, bridge and bridge base. I found a couple of old buildings to put down too just to aid imagination.

The little ones Percy and coaches paid a visit today too.

 

 

Edited by Multigauge
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  • 2 weeks later...

Not much progress this week due to domestic circumstances and work  taking up most of my time. However, I did finish painting and siting the capping stones which I've given a dark wash and some dry brushing to weather. I've also cut a hole in the brick work for the for the exit steps. 

Next steps will be adding some drain pipes to the retaining wall sections and weathering the general area. I'd like to start ballasting too, but I'm not sure I have the time to do it in one hit.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A little bit more progress this week.

Platform and run round loop all ballasted. The head shunt to the siding has been inlaid with das clay and painted an earthy brown waiting a coating of static grass and weathering. The 2 sidings await a similar treatment, but I'm not rushing to do it as I'm unsure what good shed (or even if I want one) I want to employ. 

I've added some drain pipes to the walls in places.

I'd like to do some weathering but I can't find any spray paint on line that is suitable for the track and I'm in a similar position with a varnish to protect the card retaining walls so that will have to wait. 

 

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A lazyish Saturday allowed me to track down and order some much need Matt varnish; fingers crossed it gets delivered over the next few days.

In the meantime I've faced the platform with the same brick card that I've used elsewhere and painted the platform surface. I've had a go at weathering the card with powders whilst I wait for the varnish. I don't think it's brilliant, but it will for a start and has changed the layout once again.

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4 hours ago, Kevin Johnson said:

Weathering powders at times can be difficult to work with, as I little bit goes along way.

Yes, and the flash on the camera can be cruel highlighting any imperfections (of which there are many). I'm keen to get a much more dark finish that you used to find in run down inner city environments.

 

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Hard to say without actually seeing it, but my guess is that it's what is commonly called "blooming", where a clear coat of varnish is degraded by moisture in the atmosphere. Try gently dabbing the affected area with a solvent -  meths, IPA, white spirit, or acetone (nail varnish remover) - depends on what sort of varnish!    And if you can, switch the flash off on the camera - find something to support the camera on, or use a little tripod - the results will be much more natural !

 

Cheers, Mike

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@Spotic thanks for coming back to me. Blooming sounds about right - it looks just like a fungal bloom!

I didn't use a flash on the last photo; what you see is natural...

Notice that even the stone underneath has also got the bloom effect. I've got some white spirit somewhere so will give it a try as I don't have anything to lose. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

One of things that I hadn't really thought out very well with the layout was how I was going to get to the sector plate when the board is in situ.

I found that the retaining wall and the shelf above were really impeding access, and if I was finding it difficult, the little one will find it impossible.

This forum and TechnicArrow gave me some ideas after seeing his Arrow paints micro. 

I marked out the arc of the track and drilled a series of holes which were then joined together to form a suitable curved slot. A fair amount of sanding/finishing to get a relatively smooth slot followed. A long wooden dowel was then slotted through a hole drilled in the baseboard frame. A hole was drilled in the dowel at one end and a piece of piano wire was passed through it, secured with a blob of hot glue, and pushed in to a hole in the sleeper on the track above. 

I now have a sector plate that I can move from the side of the board! 

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  • 3 months later...

After a fairly productive and active start It's hard to believe that I've not updated this site in over 3 months, but I was fortunate enough during lockdown to be able to work and keep my job despite many others not being so lucky.

However, I have been chipping away at a few things which has included getting to grips with static grass. I can't say I'm the biggest fan, but it's early days yet. 

I've also been doing some other scenic work around the retaining walls, and general ground work; I'll post some pics later when I think there's something worth showing. 

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  • 4 months later...

It's been ages since I've updated this. Mainly due to not having the time to do so, and not having that much to update on; demands on my time have been high and modeling has very much taken a back seat. However, some of fruits of my slow progress can be seen below. A few buildings - including a water tower -  have been recycled from a layout of yesteryear.

As you can see, the little ones engines have been getting some action. 

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  • 2 years later...

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