Northfield Harbor - getting the HO moving again

[rodshaw]

Cutting some pieces of card to stick to the front of the baseboard, I managed to cut a slice off my finger (again). This must be up there as one of the most common railway modellers' accidents.

[rodshaw]

Will I never learn?

This is the second time I've built a layout without a run-round then decided I needed one after all. So after laying the track and doing the ballast and roadways, I took up two tracks at the left end and inserted two turnouts. I changed my mind like this on my last layout, but didn't leave it quite so late.

 

 

 

This makes operating the fiddle yard easier. Now, if I want the loco to push a car or two onto the layout, I can run them onto the fiddle yard using this home-made re-railer as the loco doesn't have to be behind them, pull them into the loop with the loco, then bring the loco round and push the cars onto their spots.

 

 

I've also been having a go at a harbour wall and 'sea'. This is the first time I've tried sea and it took me a while to get anything near a colour or effect I was happy with. At first the whole thing was a horrible teal colour, then I brushed in more blue and white. I may revisit it and make it a bit greener, and will have to do something about the gap between the two halves and find a way of fixing it more securely to the baseboard. Also, I didn't have enough of the flint-style plastic card so I decided to do half of the wall with Superquick stone paper. Maybe there's a prototype somewhere...

 

 

 

 

Now to acquire some marine detailing, and thanks to those above who gave me some pointers.

Edited June 30, 2021 by rodshaw

[rodshaw]

A few goodies arrived today from Anyscale Models. Several happy hours of cleaning up and painting ahead.

 

 

Had another go at the sea, making it a bit darker. It's basically blues, yellows and greys topped off with a couple of coats of PVA.

 

[rodshaw]

Now that my US TT layout Sorrento Park is finished and awaiting shows later in the year, I decided to resurrect this half-finished HO scale layout I started what seems like ages ago now to run my two HO scale sound-equipped locos and what's left of my HO scale stock. The pictures have all disappeared so I'm posting a few again.

It looks a bit silly with the harbour wall ending abruptly half way along so I'm going to extend it. The other main thing wrong with it is that all the Scalescenes concrete flagstones have discoloured and need either replacing or painting over. Then I need to think about whether to add a backscene.

Then lots of goodies to paint, including a few boats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rodshaw]

A few more additions to the layout. The main one is the extension wall to the left of the sea module, which will make a nice team track. Lke the sea module it just pulls away for storage.

The concrete surfaces were a mess and I've painted them over. Also added some boats and other detailing, and more greenery.

But this layout spends most of its time in bits stored on a shelf. My HO locos and stock, pretty much a leftover from a previous layout, mostly sit forlornly on the window sill. So in the new year I may put it all up for sale and focus on TT.

There again...

 

 

 

 

 

[rodshaw]

Another photoshoot before the layout goes on sale (I think...)

More about the layout at http://mattersofinterest.co.uk/northfieldharbor.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rodshaw]

All right, I decided not to sell the layout but to add some more detail instead.

This is one of the Scalescenes OO scale small fishing boats, reduced to 87 percent for HO. It's trying to moor but "we're gonna need a bigger winch!"

The jib crane is from Goodwood Scenics, and behind that a small warehouse/shop from Clever Models.

A shot of most of the layout...

and one of the far end where the boss of Ahab Marine inspects a newly-delivered winch.

I've got it booked into the Kempston show, near Bedford, in September.