MRDBLUE17 Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 Hello Everyone, Back on the old site I started my layout updates following my new project Rannoch Moor. It is a modern image layout set roughly up to date (but there are still several 37's around) and as so many people on here have left kind comments and encouragement it has not only kept me going with regular progress - but by sharing the development on here will actually help me to get this layout completed! Now that the new site is up and running I thought I would try and transfer all the old thread across so it is easy to reference back to and so that you can hopefully see how the layout is coming along and then I will get back to the normal updates as new things appear or get done on the layout. Rannoch Moor - West Highland Line by MRDBLUE17 original page on Old RMweb __________________________________________ ??? posted on Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:44 pm Hi everyone, I have dropped a few hints about my next layout and thought it is finally about time I start to get some detail down and share with you all. For those of you that followed my last layout thread, Victory Road, thanks for all the interest and kind comments about my efforts. Don't worry this layout is safe and I will get it out later this year to have a play once I have completed my fleet of DMU's in First North Western blue and gold star livery. I have recently got the Hornby 153 from Richard at the Train shop in Morecambe and he will be keeping me the 150 from Bachmann when that comes out so my thanks as always to Richard for his excellent service! Anyway this layout is a bit of a change for me as I decided to have a go at something Scottish. I built the 4 boards back in February when I had 2 weeks off work - which build up into a layout size of 10 foot x 6 foot. These are planed timber frames with a light 5.5mm ply top supported on my rather sturdy trestle frame legs. So far these are aligned with carriage bolts but I will be adding to this in the future to ensure the boards will align properly. I decided to base my model on Rannoch Moor station as this remote location along with the West Highland line architecture appealed to me and will certainly give me a challenge to scratch build. I have never actually visited the location yet so all my planning has been done via the internet but I think I have got a good idea of how everything should look which I will be working on recreating in my model. I am not going for an exact scale copy but I am trying to get everything to look as realistic as possible. I have set myself a 2 year goal to get this layout up to the standard I want and will try to keep you updated on progress as best I can in between work and building the thing! The other good thing about sharing this with anyone thats interested on here will also keep me focussed on getting it to a finished state. I hope. I will try and scan my working layout plan at some point soon but here are some photos to give you on idea of where I am at. Let me know what you think and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. As you will see there is a lot of work ahead of me to get it looking like the photos I have seen of the real thing. At the moment I have simply attached 2 wires to test trains on DC control but this layout will be fully DCC with lights and sound where possible. It will operate as the present day with current first scotrail and EWS / DB Schenker along with WCRC operated specials and some DRS for good measure as well. I know turbostars and 158's don't run on the line but they will be part of the normal service on mine. Anyway hope you like the progress so far. Thanks for looking Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by SpiritOfChester on Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:52 pm Looking very good already Mark. I love seeing big modern image layouts like this, but a modern country scene is less common then the industrialised ones. Looking forward to seeing this develop! __________________________________________ Comment posted by camusdarrach on Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:10 am Rannoch Moor, a cold, windswept, desolate place.................... However, the railway station is well worth modelling, so good luck with your project, I'll keep tabs on your progress __________________________________________ ??? posted on Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:30 pm Thank you both for your comments, The amount of scenery and blending it into a backscene is going to be tricky to make it convinving as I prefer to model modern industrial grime and terraces - one detail I have to consider is to ensure that things have a lean with the prevailing wind as a lot of photos I have seen show the trees have grown at various angles so will need to get this consistant. A couple of requests for help if anyone can: * The footbridge to the station is one that use to be at Corrour station - this is a latice metal sided bridge which I need to get looking right - I have so far looked at adapting the Hornby model but not scale enough and the other usual kits don't fit the bill - ideally an etched kit would be best as would look as close to the real metalwork as possible otherwise I think I will need to resort to building it with evergreen strip! If anyone knows of anything suitable please let me know. * As mentioned the layout will be DCC - I want all the points to be controlled through this with minimal wiring. I have used on an unfinished layout the ZTC point motors with built in decoders and I found these to be very good as you only need to drill a small slot for the pin to go to the tie bar on peco points and 4 small holes for the tabs to come up through the board and be soldered to the track which provides the power. Since this firm is no longer doing this range can anyone suggest something similar that could be used. The ZTC units were quite reasonable at about ??????‚??12. Failing that what have other people used that works for them that could work on my layout. I use the Gaugemaster prodigy system. Thanks Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Scottish Modeller on Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:56 pm Hi Mark, Intersting choice of modelling location.... Footbridge:- Photo at - http://www.flickr.com/photos/edboyz/393 ... 542001770/ Model Kit at:- http://www.lochgormkits.co.uk/html/hli_ ... html#HRI10 The Lochgorm kit is a very fine kit indeed. I've now built them in both 4mm and 2mm/N varieties. Thanks __________________________________________ Comment posted by BoD on Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:05 pm Rannoch Moor, a cold, windswept, desolate place.................... However, the railway station is well worth modelling, ...and the chocolate cake in the cafe/tea room on the station is a delight. If they still do it. I'm looking forward to seeing this develop. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:08 pm Hi Phil, Thanks for that, a very fast response to my plea for help! I have used Flickr for most of my research as there are a lot of useful photos on there of the location and that link to those kits look very good indeed - its always nice to know someone else has built them. I also noticed you are in the same city as me so I could always get you to come round and help me build it if I get stuck! Thanks again Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by baggiebloke on Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:33 pm Looking good Mark. Alex __________________________________________ Comment posted by skipepsi on Fri Apr 10, 2009 8:58 pm camusdarrach wrote: Rannoch Moor, a cold, windswept, desolate place.................... So cold and desolate I got sunburn in late september,defined by the navy as a self inflicted injury. I think if they hadn't sent me I wouldn't have burnt. Mick __________________________________________ Comment posted by camusdarrach on Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:10 pm skipepsi wrote: camusdarrach wrote: Rannoch Moor, a cold, windswept, desolate place.................... So cold and desolate I got sunburn in late september,defined by the navy as a self inflicted injury. I think if they hadn't sent me I wouldn't have burnt. Mick Sunburnt , In September , At Rannoch , Wow, every time I've been there, the sun was a distant memory Having said that, the North West of Scotland does suffer from extreme's of weather (and midges )!!! __________________________________________ Comment posted by Barcaneatpete on Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:48 pm Mark Recalling the level of detail you achieved on Victory Road......then this is going to be another great layout. Look forwarding to tracking this one - Good luck Pete __________________________________________ ??? posted on Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:26 pm Hi Everyone, Thanks to everyone that has taken time to have a look at my new layout - very much a work in progress at the moment but I hope you can see what I am trying to achieve. Also thanks to everyone who has commented: Pete - I do hope this one will end up as good as Victory Road - I am taking my time with the track work as I want everything to run smoothly and reliably - there are some quite tight curves in the hidden sidings but so far everything is able to run round them ok and I have used a wide range of locos and stock to test this. There is a lot of greenery to get right on this one which I have not tried on this scale before so we shall see! Phil - A big thanks to you as well for your information on a suitable footbridge - I have a bit of work to do before I will be ready to get this but the one suggested certainly fits in very well! I have an extra day off before going back to work so after being in London for the weekend have made some good progress today on the layout and have got a few jobs done during last week so here is where I'm up to now: There is a large viaduct North of the station - I don't have room to model the real thing but will be attempting somthing in keeping with several of the bridges on the line. I have built a lower framed section in one board and have cut the top sheet of ply to reveal the bridge deck section. It will be quite steep sided with vegetation on the slopes and some sort of stream or river flowing through - I have always wanted to do a water feature so this will give me a chance. I got some large blocks of Polystyrene that was waste packing from work - I got a few strange looks carrying several of these on the train home! And have cut these to shape for the rear embankment at the station and the end board where there will be a cottage and garden, car park area and lane running down to the sidings at the front of the layout. I have also completed laying cork under the entire scenic section. I prefer to use 2 thin layers starting with a wider base section to mark out the track bed area and a narrower top layer. I have settled with this technique as I find it gives a bit of relief to help create a bit of shape when the ballast goes down. Following this I have cut out a hole for the first point motor to go in and drilled holes for the dropper wires. Heres a few shots of the work completed today. Next are some shots of the dropper wires soldered in place to the track bottom - when ballasted these should be well hidden from view. I have also super glued some copper clad sleepers in place to solder the track to in a bid to improve alignment. And finally I had to run a few test trains which I thought you might like to see. First up 37 411 and 37 406 arrive with a Ballast working - I hope they have enough for the job as it looks like they'll need a bit for this section! I was away in London this weekend so popped into Modelzone where I picked up 60 014 for ??????‚??70 - I wanted this one with the Beastie logos on it when it first came out but never got one as Richard had sold out in Morecambe so couldn't resist treating myself! Now before anyone says 60's don't run on the West Highland Line my model has been upgraded so they can! I know there are quite a few 60 fans on here so I hope you like it on the afternoon Alcan Train from Fort William to Mossend. Anyway hope you like the update - I will try and keep them coming often when I have some progress to show you. Thanks for looking Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by camusdarrach on Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:05 pm Your progress on thius layout is putting me to shame ........... I must admit though, that your layout is progressing well, good luck with it, will be watching with envy __________________________________________ ??? posted on Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:34 pm camusdarrach wrote: Your progress on this layout is putting me to shame ........... I must admit though, that your layout is progressing well, good luck with it, will be watching with envy Thanks for that Camusdarroch, I must admit that following your work on the buildings for Mallaig it really gave me a boost to get going properly with this one - I have been keeping an eye on your work on your thread and I know now with your life plans changing that your railway might be moving down the priorities list but you have made a very good start and set a good standard so it is well worht taking the time to get it right! It will be good to see how both our layouts progress. Apart from a few bits and bobs all my track and rolling stock comes up from Richards shop in Morecambe. The 158 in First Scotrail livery was the latest model along with a 153 in Northern Blue livery for Victory Road. Hopefully I can keep the progress rate up with some new updates weekly! Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by camusdarrach on Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:24 pm Wow, thanks for your kind comments, but I have to admit it's the progress that you're making thats spurring me on, does that mean we are locked in some kind of "viscious circle"??!!!!!! Will have to make a trip to Richard's emporium soon, as I could do with purchasing some track, and even, shock, a locomotive or two , whats annoying is that we were in Arnside last saturday, but couldn't convince the wife that a trip down the coast was a good idea, she rumbled my intended target BTW, is your layout being constructed with the intent of exhibiting, or is portability out of the question??? All the best, James __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:43 pm Hi Mark, Looking forward to seeing your layout develop. The more Scottish layouts, the better as far as I'm concerned! I was tempted by the idea of doing something "West Highland" when I was planning my layout but opted for Edinburgh in the end. I'd quite like to have a go at some true large-scale remote scenery in the future though, so I am looking forward to seeing how you tackle it. Keep sharing please! Dave Waverley West __________________________________________ ??? posted on Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:22 pm Hi James - I like the way you put that - I guess we are in a way which should help to keep up the progress rates for us both! I have a much more direct tactic for visiting Richards shop every time I get the train down from Edinburgh - I get my mum to meet me in the car at Oxenholme and head straight there! The wife has no chance that way but she can go to New Look in the centre so it kind of works until she comes in just as I need to get my card out to pay - Richard said he should have a sign which says No Domestics! which isn't a bad idea really. My layout is built on 4 large boards but they are light weight so could be exhibited easily enough in the future if I ever get it to a suitable standard! Hi Dave thanks for your comments - I will keep sharing - I have seen your layout on here and have been watching the updates and must say I am very impressed it certainly is a cracking project - do you have a large selection of stock for it already or are you still building it up? Thanks again - I'm off to get some more work done noe before bed! Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:04 pm MRDBLUE17 wrote: do you have a large selection of stock for it already or are you still building it up? Mark Hi Mark, I have a decent collection of stock now (I have been collecting stock for the layout for about 10 years or so now) but it is always evolving. I tend to sell old stock on ebay, which helps to keep the cost of purchasing new stock down. I am eagerly awaiting sound-fitted Deltics and the Bachmann 150 at the moment. I'll probably also get a rake of the new Hornby timber wagons (OBA I think?) when they're released, but apart from that I need to crack on with detailing the stock I already have rather than buying yet more! Happy modelling! Dave __________________________________________ Comment posted by baggiebloke on Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:01 pm Good progress Mark. I think this will look great when the scenery gets placed. What season are you looking to depict? Alex __________________________________________ ??? posted on Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:30 pm Hi Everyone, Alex - good question on the season - not completly decided. Most of my internet searches are in winter or summer - I really like the idea of having some snow - not a complete white out but more when it is starting to thaw with patches left but I think this will be beyond my skills so it will probably be Summer. I already have a lot of scatter and materials in various greens which I would like to use to recreate all the various shades you get in Summer along with the various trees around the station area. It will also allow me to put more people in little cameo scenes to help add interest. Had a bit of a break from the layout and decided to weather up a Shark to go with the Hornby Seacows. Had an image of one in a very weather worn and faded condition in an old copy of Rail Express so used this as a bit of a guide along with a look at wagons on the web for ideas. Then used various shades of Railmatch acrylics and some faded yellow enamel along with an areosol of frame dirt to finish off the underframe - spent the last 3 nights doing this letting the paint dry before adding another shade. Quite pleased with the results - just need to add the pipes at the ends to finish off. Will be back to adding the scenic section point motors on Friday and then need to finish the frame and scenic base for the viaduct section - I miss measured my room at the planning stage so had to adapt this board so that the door would still open and as the line curves here it won't look like an error when its all finished - I hope! Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:21 pm Very nice piece of work that, Mark. I've just had a look at your Victory Road thread and am looking forward to seeing Rannoch Moor develop even more now! Regards, Dave Waverley West __________________________________________ ??? posted on Mon Apr 27, 2009 6:54 pm Thanks Dave! I built that layout when we lived in a smaller flat - it spent most of the time at one side of our bedroom despite the wifes complaints but now we have a bigger flat I have the 3rd bedroom for Rannoch so she doesn't mind how big it is so long as it stays in there out the way! I need to get some more done on the layout this week so I can post some more progress shots hopefully by the weekend - got to stop running trains on it! Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by camusdarrach on Mon Apr 27, 2009 7:10 pm Don't do too much progress though, I'm struggling to catch up with you at the moment __________________________________________ ??? posted on Thu Apr 30, 2009 11:30 pm Finally got some more structural work done on the baseboards - this is the final parts to the main boards that allow me to complete track laying. I am planning to add the front / side/ rear panels using 3mm ply at a later stage as I will need to buy this in at some point. I had to lift the viaduct section out and have added some off cuts of ply to the lower frame of the board as a foundation for the viaduct pillars. I have decided on having 3 main stone pillars - at the moment these are just off cuts of the main board frames that have been cut to length and glued and nailed to support the track bed. The plan is to have plate girders on the end short sections and 2 main spans built to represent the type of structure found on the West Highland Line. I will be using polystyrene blocks to carve out the contours of the land which will slope back up to the main board level. Some shots of the progress which hopefully gives a bit more insight into the layouts construction: Also been working on some TTA's practicing some weathering techniques to make them a bit more realistic and also got 37 406 to finish at some point! Any questions or comments please don't hesitate to ask. Thanks for looking Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by camusdarrach on Fri May 01, 2009 9:18 pm Looking good __________________________________________ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 Rannoch Moor - West Highland Line by MRDBLUE17 original page on Old RMweb __________________________________________ Comment posted by Scuderia Ecosse on Sat May 02, 2009 3:13 pm Looking forward to seeing the finished result. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Mon May 04, 2009 7:49 pm Hi Everyone, I have been mostly working this Bank holiday so only done some work in the evenings - I have been reading up and looking at other peoples weathering on various threads on here and have been working through my rake of 6 BP TTA's So far only 3 are done but the one I did last night I am fairly pleased with and in total only took about 3 hours. I will add a work bench thread as I develop the rolling stock for the layout so will get some pics and more details on there. As to the layout I have been working on the valley section - I am using more polystyrene blocks that I got from work - glued in place with woodglue to form the main valley shape and this will get carved about until I am happy with the contours - heres a few shots so far then I'm off to watch Ashes to Ashes! I have been using a copy of Rail Express - the feature on the ScotRail sleeper operation - Dreamland Express, as this has a couple of nice shots of West Highland Line bridges which I am using to try and get the right feel on my layout. Thanks for looking, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by camusdarrach on Mon May 04, 2009 7:54 pm MRDBLUE17 wrote: Hi Everyone, ................................................ I'm off to watch Ashes to Ashes! Thanks for looking, Mark Well, if thats where your priorities lie....... Must admit, I'm doing that too Like the progress on your viaduct, and valley floor, looking good __________________________________________ Comment posted by johnteal on Mon May 04, 2009 8:42 pm I love a good viaduct so will be watching with interest ! Great looking start ! John __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Tue May 05, 2009 10:32 am Hi Mark, Nice to see your progress and looking forward to seeing the viaduct. I must admit I was looking to built a curved viaduct but I copped out in the end, partly because the geometry of a curved viaduct is much more complicated than I originally anticipated! In the end I made mine shorter and straight. What a whimp! Keep up the good work! Regards, Dave Waverley West PS I watched Ashes to Ashes too, but I was applying transfers to my rake of HAA wagons at the same time, so I didn't have any feelings of guilt! __________________________________________ ??? posted on Thu May 14, 2009 8:36 pm Hi Everyone, Well thats 2 episodes of Ashes to Ashes that have passed by with no updates! Don't worry work has still been taking place on the layout so I thought I would share some pics of the steel work starting to take shape for the viaduct. I have been using a photo of Gleann Viaduct near the Horse Shoe curve from Rail Express 118 from back in March 2006 as a general reference shot as this is on a tight curve and has quite smooth block stone work pillars which I can represent in plasticard. I have made 2 trips down to Harbun Hobbies to get lots of Plastic strip section section this week following my rough sketches of how I want the bridge to take shape and this is the work so far: The bridge is supported on timber frame off cuts and the main track bed is ply wood so the plastic strip girder sections are all cosmetic. Starting with some large I - section 6.3mm high I glued these round the ply track bed on both sides to hide the wood. Another 2 runs of these have been glued to the underside roughly in line with the curve of the rails above so that it will look solid when complete. Next I cut the smaller 2.5mm high I beams that form the cross members under the lower large beams. These are wider than the track bed section as the handrail beams will run off these all the way up and then smaller angle sections will also be attached to the corner of this and attach to the main beams. I have only done this on one span so far as I need another length of large I Beam. These were spaced evenly by marking out set distances apart on the outer edge and then doing the same on the inner edge but with narrower spacings due to the curve. 2 sections are closer together toward each end of the section as this was a feature of the photo I am working from. Hopefully this will give an even look once the handrails go in place. I used plastic weld to stick them all in place - having used superglue to stick the main beams into place against the wood. Next to go in place were 2 large T section beams bent into a gentle curve and these were superglued in place to the cross beams. Final picture shows these beams in place and the lower T section beam just blue tacked in position. I will be using small 2.5mm T bar strip section and 2.5mm plain strip to make the X cross frames between the 2 T bar beams. I think I will try to get some rivet detail as well onto these using a peco track pin into the soft plastic hopefully will work out as planned before fixing these onto the beams. I think this part of the layout is going to take some time to complete and to look like the vision I have in my head but hopefully you can see what I am trying to achieve so far. Any comments or questions always welcome. Thanks for looking, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by camusdarrach on Thu May 14, 2009 9:01 pm Dash it, yet more progress, putting me to shame now I can visualise what you're trying to acheive, and to me its looking good __________________________________________ Comment posted by Scottish Modeller on Thu May 14, 2009 9:33 pm Hi Mark, I know it's nice to shop local and keep the specialist shops open... But - For long lengths of C, H or I beam. Visit your local DIY shed! Plastic Curtain track. Cheap and effective. Having built one section of bridge in a similar way to yourself - cost about ??????‚??40.00 in Plastrut/Evergreen packs/strips. I saved nearly ??????‚??20 by using the Value Pack curtain track from Wickes. 1 pack was (I think) ??????‚??10.00 or near that figure, contained nearly 10 metres in a roll, plus all the hooks etc. Ideas! You never know how usefull something could be until you look at things from a different perspective! Thanks __________________________________________ Comment posted by johnteal on Thu May 14, 2009 9:36 pm "I think this part of the layout may take some time to complete" That could well be an understatement !!! But it will be worth it looking at what you have got done so far ! John __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sat May 30, 2009 10:12 pm Hi Everyone, Its great that the forum is back up to speed as I can now put some more photos up of progress with the Viaduct. I got a fair amount done at the end of last week and the rest was done on Tuesday and I am fairly pleased with the way it has turned out. I got an A4 plastic sheet for ?‚??1.70 of chequer plate which I cut into sections to make into the walkway sections on the top deck of the structure. This has been framed at the outer edge with some L angle strips and also on the inner edge of the walkway to allow the ballast on the track section to be contained. Here are some pictures to show this being built. The decking plates were superglued down and the L angle using plastic weld. Once painted and weathered a bit I think it will look quite good. The photograph in Rail Express that I am using for reference shows a viaduct that has recently had work done by Network Rail so the walways are fairly clean and the paintwork underneath is also in very good condition but I will add a suitable amount of grime to mine. __________________________________________ Comment posted by johnteal on Sun May 31, 2009 7:34 am Very nice effect, small details are often missed on large structures but not here ! __________________________________________ Comment posted by camusdarrach on Sun May 31, 2009 7:59 am That viaduct is really coming on now, looks superb Keep up the good work __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sun May 31, 2009 10:03 pm I'm glad you like it so far and thanks for the comments it will keep pushing me on with this one! A couple of items that will go onto the layout at some point in the future - it is nice to do the smaller items every now and again and I did these during the darker nights early on this year but never had chance to photograph them well enough until now. I went to Preston show when I was back home in Jan - the plan that day worked really well as I dropped the wife off to go shopping whilst I went to the exhibition and she text during it to tell me to stay there longer as she was spending too much around the shops which was good as there was lots to see. Picked up the Langley kit for an old red phone box which will go next to the entrance shelter at the top of the foot bridge. I opted for this as it seemed to be the best kit to match the phone box in a picture I had seen on the net. Here is the finished article: At the North end of the platform there is an old lamp hut - this was a nice after tea project one night and gave me a chance to do a bit of weathering to create a nice rusty effect. It is based around the wills kits with the fire buckets detail removed on one side and the corrugated tin filed back into proile. Here it is ready to plant at a later date: I have got a lot more to post soon as well as I have got one of the main girder spans almost at a completed state and will post so you can pass comment on other detail to be added. I also need to take photos of the entrance shelter and Signal box that I have scratch built when I find the time. Thanks for the continued support! Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:59 am Hi Mark, Looking good, especially the viaduct. I am looking forward to seeing more progress on it. At the Dumfries exhibition a few weeks ago I bought a superb book entitled "Diesels in Scotland" (by Andersen I think). It's got a lot of photos of viaducts around the West Highland lines just like the one you're doing. Keep up the great work! Dave Waverley West __________________________________________ Comment posted by Portchullin Tatty on Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:45 pm Here's a little inspiration for you............................ And look, there is even some blue sky on Rannoch Moor - make the most of that! __________________________________________ ??? posted on Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:09 pm Thanks for posting that photo to my thread - the more I can find out about the place the better in recreating the right atmosphere. If anyone does have other interesting shots especially the station area please feel free to add them here. Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Wensley on Fri Jun 05, 2009 6:09 pm MRDBLUE17 wrote: Thanks for posting that photo to my thread - the more I can find out about the place the better in recreating the right atmosphere. If anyone does have other interesting shots especially the station area please feel free to add them here. Mark I hope these are of some use. Taken durin a holiday in 2007 and in stunning weather! __________________________________________ ??? posted on Fri Jun 05, 2009 9:09 pm Wensley, Thank you ever so much for taking the time in posting all those pictures. They are certainly inspirational and also very useful as I have not been to the real station and most of my research has been through searching photos on the web. The last 2 from my point of view are very useful as they clearly show the lineside equipment at that end of the station which I didn't have any clear views of and also the distant shot with the footbridge. My layout doesn't have room for the full viaduct and I would probably go mad if I was to build anything bigger than the one I can fit in but I was going to include that footbridge in the distance as a scenic break maybe with a few hikers as a little cameo scene. Hopefully as time goes on you might get to see some of the detail in your photos copied in my model! The only issue with all the prototype pictures will mean I have to get things right now! Thank you once again! Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Wensley on Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:48 am MRDBLUE17 wrote: Wensley, Thank you ever so much for taking the time in posting all those pictures. They are certainly inspirational and also very useful as I have not been to the real station and most of my research has been through searching photos on the web. The last 2 from my point of view are very useful as they clearly show the lineside equipment at that end of the station which I didn't have any clear views of and also the distant shot with the footbridge. My layout doesn't have room for the full viaduct and I would probably go mad if I was to build anything bigger than the one I can fit in but I was going to include that footbridge in the distance as a scenic break maybe with a few hikers as a little cameo scene. Hopefully as time goes on you might get to see some of the detail in your photos copied in my model! The only issue with all the prototype pictures will mean I have to get things right now! Thank you once again! Mark Hi Mark, That's not a problem. It's good to be able to help where possible. Here are a few more showing the evening departure of the 'enterprise' at Fort William showing the vehicles in cosists and another from the platform ends at Rannoch .I have plenty more showing the surrounding area and up the coast to Fort William if they are any use at all to you. Cheers, Jonathon __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:52 pm Hi Everyone, Jonathon - thanks once again - those wagon shots will be useful as I really need to make some Aluminum blocks for my train at some point in the future and those give me a good idea of the size and stanchion positions as well. I have turned my attention to track work this week as I want to get the scenic sections painted ie: rail sides and chairs so that I can then get on and build the main platform and then get on with scenic details that need to go in before ballasting begins although this will be some time off yet! I started off by giving the sleepers a spray with railmatch frame dirt areosol to take away the shiny plastic and give a nice wood effect - I am quite pleased with how this looks as wasn't sure at first. I have only tried this so far on the front sidings. Once this had dried I used precision track colour to brush paint the rails sides and chairs as well. This is going to be a very long task as well as I don't want too much of the rust colour going onto the sleepers and also seem to spot every little shiny spec of rail once the original coat has dried! Can't think of a way of doing this any faster but I keep telling myself it will be worth it as it will help to make the code 100 track look as realistic as possible once ballasted and weathered further. I have also built up and painted a peco buffer stop but this short off cut of track still needs to be fixed in place permanently and more detailing added. I will update you on the viaduct construction when I have enough time to put the construction of the first main span into words and pictures on here hopefully at some point this week! There should also be a special new loco arriving to add to my charter fleet from Andi at some point so might get a picture of that in operation as well. Thanks for looking and any comments or questions welcome as always Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Wensley on Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:37 am MRDBLUE17 wrote: Hi Everyone, Jonathon - thanks once again - those wagon shots will be useful as I really need to make some Aluminum blocks for my train at some point in the future and those give me a good idea of the size and stanchion positions as well. Mark I have some more pics of the train and general 'stuff' on the lineside/ Fort William TMD. http://www.railsigns.co.uk/ MAY also be of use. http://www.railsigns.co.uk/sect20page1/sect20page1.html is relavent to your layout http://www.railsigns.co.uk/sect19page1/sect19page1.html 7 this Will add the pics if you want, J __________________________________________ ??? posted on Mon Jun 08, 2009 7:03 pm Those links are interesting as it is a topic I don't know very much about but will need to get right on my model. I will let you know what details I need more info on when I get to that stage and work out what will fit in as I have loads to be getting on with just now but your information and photos so far are very helpful and hopefully will allow me to get the small lineside details right. Once the layout is built I might need to think about modelling the correct PCA's for the train like your photos show but for now I will be going down the Hornby Alcan model as I don't think I can build the other versions! If you have a shot of the ground frame for the sidings and signs around that side they would be good for reference if you have any with them in. Thanks once again! Mark __________________________________________ ??? posted on Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:54 pm Hi Everyone, I am at a really tedius stage of my layout construction but I am not going to compromise on standards and it will take as much time as is needed to get it how I want it to look - I hope!Besides all the good telly I watch like Ashes to Ashes and the Apprentice and with no Match of the Day there are not too many excuses for rushing things at the moment! I am currently concentrating on painting the track a suitable colour using precission rusty rails matt paint. This gives a good base colour for the rails and chairs and I can then weather and add more shades to this later when the ballast and weeds have been added to tone it all down. I have used Railmatch frame dirt to give the wooden sleeps and nice base colour which I am pleased with although need another can as it ran out last night. Have now completed the 2 sidings and also filled in under the points on this section with thin card over the point motor holes which will make it easier when I come to ballast the track. I need to wait until I can get hold of another section of pastic strip to be able to carry on with the viaduct but I am fairly pleased with where I have got up to. After completing the decking sections I did some work on the first of the two large girder spans. This has been built up from various strip L section and T section and some flat strip as well - this was marked out in pen so I could get things stuck roughly where they should be - I am now deciding whether to add some rivit detail out of some small sections of rod before painting and might also add a lower inspection walkway if I can bend my fingers enough to fit it. Here are some pictures of it being constructed and if anyone wants to know more I will add more detail later. First the plate girder and frames around the pillar section were fitted in place followed by the 2 large lower sections of the girder span between the 2 pillars - some extra cross frames were fitted to create a more solid feel and hold everything together. With this fixed in place I used a biro to mark out a centre line of the span and then divided this up equally so I could space the diagonal sections between the two main T beams at the top and bottom of the span - I had drawn a rough sketch of how I thought it should look as a sort of working diagram with the various types of section tested to see what would look good once fitted in place. These shots show the construction continue: This method of construction was repeated on the inner curve of the structure - again spaced by marking the centre line and evenly marking out the position of the diagonal bars so it would match with the outer edge - slightly tricky on a curve but I am quite pleased with how it has turned out. Heres a shot of the span finished. I will give some thought to rivet detail and does anyone know a good match for Network rail green that they use on bridges as the one I have based this on has the main frame work painted in this colour - ideally in a spray can so I can get into the structure easily? And finally for this rather epic update I had mentioned that I would hopefully be getting a new loco delivered - I picked it up from the post office depot Saturday morning safely arrived from Andi of Cairnsroadworks - see his workbench thread for more of his excellent work - always something interesting being done! I had previously seen this loco on Andi's Website and really liked the look of it and was delighted when Andi offered me the chance to get this one! It is 37 676 Loch Rannoch and I am very pleased with it as I am adding a few WCRC locos to my fleet for Rannoch. The finish and attention to detail is brilliant and it will look even better when I get the layout to a decent standard to run it on. Anyway the pictures shoudl give you an idea of how good this model is. Anyway - hope there is something of interest for you all amongst this lot - if you want to know more or just leave a comment please feel free - and if anyone knows a suitable paint colour for the rail track green in spray can let me know it would be most helpful. Thanks for looking, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Barcaneatpete on Tue Jun 16, 2009 7:05 am Hi Mark - Nice work on the bridge construction - the time spent patiently is well worth it...how many more spans to go?!! Pete __________________________________________ Comment posted by baggiebloke on Tue Jun 16, 2009 7:31 am Top bit of engineering there Mark. Alex __________________________________________ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacRat Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 Hi Mark Have been following this on the old site. So I'll do here. Mac Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 Rannoch Moor - West Highland Line by MRDBLUE17 original page on Old RMweb __________________________________________ Comment posted by Pudley Wonderer on Tue Jun 16, 2009 7:52 am MRDBLUE17 wrote: There is a large viaduct North of the station - I don't have room to model the real thing but will be attempting somthing in keeping with several of the bridges on the line. Mark Mark, I dont think anyone could argue that what you've already attempted is absolutely brilliant. Copying a direct prototype isn't easy as it is, but modelling something where you have to manipulate it like this to suit space constraints can be harder, as you're still trying to retain the atmosphere of the original, and you appear to be doing a convincing job Generally inspirational stuff is this __________________________________________ Comment posted by Grimleygrid on Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:19 am Excellent modelling on your bridge Mark, great work. I look forward to seeing it finished and a nice EWS 37 passing over it. Oh and 60014! __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:20 pm Love the bridge work, Mark. I'm looking forward to more updates already! Very neat and very convincing. Cheers, Dave Waverley West __________________________________________ Comment posted by JB on Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:53 am Yea... good work on the bridge. Made from Plastruckt (or something like that)? __________________________________________ Comment posted by Bob-65B on Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:57 am JB wrote: Yea... good work on the bridge. Made from Plastruckt (or something like that)? You must be speed reading only the images JB... Mark details the construction on the last page Bob. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sat Jun 20, 2009 10:38 pm Hi Everyone, Thanks for all your very kind comments - they really are much appreciated and keep pushing me to get more done to share with you on here. Pete there is another main span to go and 2 shorter sections made of wills plate girder sections. It is inspired by the Rail Express feature a few years ago on the sleeper service as there are a few nice shots of the lines viaducts so should help to get the look sort of right. Alex you won't be dissapointed either as I have several EWS 37's lined up for Rannoch including 37 422 as seen at Victory Road (it has moved north from Warrington to Motherwell) 37 406, 37 411 in green and 37 401 by Andi in its battered and patched up Maroon. There will be 60's as well as they amongst my favourite locos. Dave I will need to learn to take some action photos on the viaduct when its finished like yours as they look really good - just need to get the layout to a standard half as good as yours first and I'll be happy! As the wife is out on her 26 mile moonwalk tonight I have been able to get on with more track painting! I have decided that what we really need Peco to produce is track with rusty rail sides and weathered sleepers - that way we only need to finish off the weathering to suit our own layouts - it would save hours of work! Anyway heres a photo of some paint drying so you can share my pain! I was able to get the last large section of I girder for the second main span on my day off and whilst in Harburn Hobbies picked up another couple of spray cans from Precision this time in weathered sleepers and track grime - I have used these to give the scenic section trackwork a general dusting to tone down the plastic sleepers before putting the rusty rails matt paint on the rail sides. I am quite liking the varied effects from this and will be able to weather it all down further when the ballast and weeds are done at a later stage. One of the main reasons for attempting Rannoch was it had a nice track plan which could be fitted into the space I have but it also has a nice collection of West Highland structures with a signal box main station building and also an entrance shelter from the car park to the footbridge onto the platform. I have been wanting to try out my scratch building skills after doing the card station building on Victory Road but this time had to use plastic sheet and strip to recreate the buildings for Rannoch. I have trawled the net for various images and from these I make quick sketches on scraps of paper - I note on these things like colour, building material used and create a rough outline of the structures shape. I also look at other things in the pictures and in the case of the shelter there was an estate car parked up and the red phone box stands next to it so that I can create a good guess as to the size of the structure I need to build. This might sound a bizarre technique but it does work quite well and is good for building things you have not actually been able to visit. From this I draw out onto a thick card base the foot print of the structure. Using my sketch notes I then go and look at the plastic card and other parts I might need to find a good match before starting out to build. Here are some shots of the progress with the Shelter to give you an idea of how I built it the working sketch is in the back ground on the first one and also helps to show the different materials and pieces used to make it: Probably got a bit carried away with the roof beams! The wall sections have a sort of fan boarding - I used Wills roof tiles for this and filed them a lot smoother to try and recreate this effect - on the main station I have found a thin sheet so will use this to avoid all the effort to get them filed down. The roof was made out of 4 pieces cut from Wills roof slates with the lower edges filed thin for a bit more realism - the lead flashings were done using tamyia masking tape cut into thin strips. Various shades of Tamyia acrylics were used on the slates with several greys, purple and green used to create some effect and remove the plastic look. The guttering and down pipes and from strip sections of rod bent to shape and 1/2 round sections which I was quite pleased with once fixed in place. The main walls were done in a mixed up cream shade lightened from a GWR cream colour and the green was LNER Darlington green which looked a near match to the photos. I think the entrance shelter is a more modern addition when the footbridge was moved and put up at the station which is why the brickwork and pointing is much cleaner than you might expect but again looked clean in the photos I have seen. Here it is complete ready to be fixed on the layout at a later stage. Hope you like it - I have the signal box nearly complete as well and will share this once I have taken some better photos of it. Any comments or questions welcome and if you want any more info on my building techniques I will try and share them with you! Thanks for all your support so far Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:17 am Jeepers, Mark. This is going to be good. I'm really looking forward to watching your layout progress. Your building methods seem more prototypical than most (certainly more than mine anyway!). More progress and more shots when you get chance, please! Cheers, Dave Waverley West __________________________________________ Comment posted by PCM on Sun Jun 21, 2009 12:58 pm Hi Mark, I am not sure how I've missed this thread until now. But its looking really good mate, you are cetainly cracking on with it. I will befollowing your progress from now on thats for sure. Cheers Peter. __________________________________________ Comment posted by SouthernRegionSteam on Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:52 pm That is a cracking shelter! Nicely executed. Tell me, (sorry if you have mentioned this in the post) what did you use for the roof beams? Thanks for the progress pictures, as it is nice to see how the different parts of the building fit together. If I create a building like that, i'd be overwhelmed! Nice work, look forward to seeing more. Jam:D __________________________________________ Comment posted by invercloy on Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:14 pm Ooh, i've missed this up to now... Rannocj Moor, one of my favourite parts of the country! I've often been tempted to do a modern image model set in this area, but can't seem to get rid of the 009 bug Look forward to seeing this progress, what you've done to date looks fantastic! What will you be using for ground cover? __________________________________________ Comment posted by branchie on Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:23 pm Mark, This is really some inspirational modelling. The West Highlands is one of my favourite areas of Britain. Have you read 'Iron Road to the Isles - A Travellers & Tourists Guide to the West Highlend Lines' by Michael Pearson? I think you would find the picture of Ranoch Moor (although wintery) truly stunning. PM me if you want further details. Keep up the good work Branchie. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Tue Jun 23, 2009 10:53 pm Hi Everyone, I'm glad you liked my building techniques and the result of the entrance shelter. I built this in January when the layout was still at the planning stage and if it hadn't turned out the way I wanted it too based on the photos I have seen of it then the layout itself would not have gone any further as the station and signal box require a lot more work. The box is almost complete but I want to build in a lighting system and the foot print of the station is all drawn out on card with the lower brick sections cust and stuck in place. Work stopped on this when I built my boards so I will update on these in the future. Jam - the roof is just evergreen square strip section - I think 1.5 or 2mm square was used with EMA plastic weld holding it all together. I have had some spare time today so I have been cracking on with the viaduct. The second span is being constructed in the same way as the first and there are some shots of the progress of this. The two shorter end spans have been made using the wills vari girder pack - they will be bedded into the embankment and will also need some extra stone supports and some lower cross members once I finally work out how this will all look in situ and then get it built up. The second main span is taking shape and this is how it is so far: I am hoping to get some more done later this week and will share my progress as and when! Hope you like it and thanks again to everyone who has left some amazing comments I really do appreciate it. Thanks Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by JB on Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:54 am Nice one mate! The bridge is really coming on now! __________________________________________ ??? posted on Fri Jul 03, 2009 6:56 pm Hi Everyone, The Tennis has been a major distraction over the last 2 weeks but today I found a job I could do whilst watching the semis - sadly not the end result I wanted and thought I would share this different update with you. Back in January I had made a start on the station building for Rannoch which, until today, has had nothing done to it as work on the layout took over. I had begun this project in a similar vain to the entrance shelter and the signal box using photos on the internet again mainly on Flickr but there are other good shots on other sites when you search. There are lots of good shots from the footbridge looking at the south end of the station building but the sides and other end took a bit longer to find. I have set out to create the correct feel for the building in terms of overall size and shape and to get the building looking right in terms of building materials used but it is not an accurate scale model of the reel thing as I have no plans with actual dimensions and some of the window and door spacings and detail have had to be guessed at based on the photos I have seen. My plan of action for this building has been as follows: 1) Search the internet for as many photos as possible of the building and create rough working sketches on scraps of paper. 2) Using my perceptive technique using objects in photos I then tried to work out the scale of the building in feet which I could then convert into 4mm scale. The main overall length was done by using the Hornby 156 model and 4 Bachmann BP TTA tanks as these were in 2 fairly clear photos - I worked out roughly where they were parked next to the building and marked this onto 2 sheets of paper that I stuck together. This was good enough for me. The ends where a bit easier and again I used train widths and other objects to mark out a rough scale width. 3) To get the height of the building before the roof started - I took an asumption that the door and window above on the building end was similar to the large doors in my tenemant flat so I measured these to give me the dimensions and therefore overall building height. This allowed me to draw large oblong blocks as the building sides and ends. 4) With this basic outline I could then mark out the centre lines and start to add in the windows and doors of the building. I measured windows in my flat to give me an idea as to dimensions they might be which helped to get the correct balance on the drawings. I have also added any other features such as down pipes, poster boards, lights etc that will be useful when I come to add the smaller details. 5) The roof was drawn on by guesswork starting with the ends and drawing the outline to get the shape right - this is not going to be straight forward to do due to the angle of slope changing but is a key characteristic of the West Highland Line structures. You will see the rubbings out on one end drawing as I attempted to get the shape looking right. I have taken some photos of the drawings I made of the building to show you how this process got me to the building stage - it does seem to work and I reckon could be used to make a model of most buildings that you might want on a model. The next 3 show the detail working along the station building - this will be the side seen from the front of the layout looking across the sidings. The next 3 show the detail drawings of the station side that faces the rear embankment. Once I was happy with the drawings I cut out a base of white art card and transferred the main footprint of the building onto this. I have used Wills - Flemish bond brick sheets for the main lower walls of the building and these were glued in place. The lower concrete band and door stones are plastic strip section cut to suit. This was as far as I got before laying aside for the layout but today I have cut lots more plastic strip into sections to make the next 2 layers of wood batterns that will be added on top of the brickwork. I will add more updates as work progresses - but I have more track to paint for now! Hope you like the progress so far and thanks for looking, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Anglian on Fri Jul 03, 2009 7:03 pm Looking good and brings back some good memories for me. __________________________________________ Comment posted by mines a pint on Fri Jul 03, 2009 7:27 pm Coming along very nicely!- very good bridge and buildings, they do just look the part, nice track detailing & prototype pics too. __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Fri Jul 03, 2009 7:54 pm Lovely attention to detail and workmanship again, Mark. Another aspect of your layout I'm looking forward to seeing progress! Cheers, Dave __________________________________________ Comment posted by Sixteen 12by 10s on Fri Jul 03, 2009 8:20 pm Built a WHR station building years ago, and now find myself in the position of building another. All i shall say is enjoy getting the hip roof right!, if i can remember that far back, it drove me round the bend. viewtopic.php?f=9&t=46515 Gary __________________________________________ Comment posted by James90012 on Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:53 pm Attention to detail is stunning, going to be a treat this one. __________________________________________ Comment posted by Barcaneatpete on Sat Jul 04, 2009 6:58 am Some very nice drawings there Mark...then being an Archictect, I would say that For me, a good architectural model requires three things: 1 Good set of drawings to work from 2 __________________________________________ Comment posted by Barcaneatpete on Sat Jul 04, 2009 6:58 am Some very nice drawings there Mark...but being an Architect, I would say that For me, a good architectural model requires three things: 1 A good set of drawings to work from 2 A good base to build from 3 A sharp scalpel with a regularly changed blade Looks like you have all three so we are in for a treat Pete __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sat Jul 04, 2009 7:34 pm Thanks for all the comments from everyone, Pete your far too kind about my drawings - but they really do help in the construction as it means you get everything just right and can masure off them before cutting any materials which saves on waste and cost! Gary - I think I know what you must have gone through with the roof on yours and I havn't even started to build this yet but it was hard enough to draw that right. My plan is to use the Wills sheets as on the signal box and shelter but the roof on this will need several sheets cut carefully so the slates overlap and then welded together to so the joins are not too obvious as they can't be hidden except at the main apex and even then there is still the issue of the angle of slope changing! I know someone back in Barrow who has produced some of the best buildings of real structures I have ever seen - one was a local Barrow town centre pub the Albion that was a feature on Boldon Junction next to the football ground which many of you will have seen in the past on the exhibition circuit. I may need to get some expert advice on building roof slates from him if I am to get this buiding to the standard I want but I will see how I get on with the rest of it before I face this one. Any ideas or tips welcome. Thanks Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Portchullin Tatty on Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:32 pm Mark, I would laminate a second layer of plasticard to the base of your current base. I suspect it will curl up if you don't, no matter how well you secure it to the baseboard. If you do decide to laminate it, drill multiple holes through the lower piece of plasticard to allow any solvent to escape. __________________________________________ Comment posted by PaulRhB on Sun Jul 05, 2009 5:31 pm Mark It's looking good so far. I was in Fort William last week, for work, and had to visit Banavie box to see how RETB works. The visit and a tiny bit of sighseeing up the Mallaig line have re-awakened my intention to do something based on the West Highland so I'm going to watching closely for inspiration. I knew I bought large logo 37's for a reason, just a shame I missed out on the split headcode one at Rails. Top work and I'm scribbling trackplans and now buildings thanks to all the pics in this thread. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:54 pm Thanks Mark, That is good advice - I use thick art card as a working base and on this larger structure I have experienced some curl - I will also be adding some interior walls for strength as well as I plan to light the building and create a few internal scenes that will be a little bit different and not what you might be expecting to find - but that will be a mystery for a long while yet! Paul I will look forward to seeing your future plans develop - sounds like a great idea - I do like the older large logo liveries and they will look cracking on a nice layout too so you should go for it! Mark __________________________________________ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 Rannoch Moor - West Highland Line by MRDBLUE17 original page on Old RMweb __________________________________________ Comment posted by camusdarrach on Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:57 pm This is now looking very good, most impressed Seems that progress has moved on greatly since "Ashes to Ashes" has finished showing on BBC1 Keep up the good work, must get cracking with my layout at some point............................ __________________________________________ ??? posted on Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:14 pm Hi Camusdarrach, You could well be right - there isn't so much good telly at the mo - Top gear and Rossy - and the wife has plenty of Ugly Betty and so on to keep her entertained so I can escape to the train room. I gave Richard in Morecambe a call on the Monday after Top Gears race to the North - he was just back from Holiday and guessed I had been watching the show after I ordered a very modern image steam loco from him! Think it will look good on my Raspberry ripple charter train! Speaking of which last night I decided to get hold of a Dapol light bar to try out in my OO stock. There was only 1 yellow light bar in Harburns when I went in so got this and some black guagemaster wire. I used my BCK coach as the test and the light bar has 6 LED's on it which just spread far enough across each compartment - one has 2 shining in it which is probably the nearest to scale with old light bulbs you would get but they give a nice yellow glow and are strong enough in the coach. I think 2 sets will be required for my other coaches and will get away with one in the RBR when I get around to this. Took about 4 hours in total once I came up with a plan as I still want to get inside the coach to super detail in the future so needed to make it so it could still be taken apart. I used some brass strip scraps to make some pick ups which although work don't offer enough spring and have created some drag - I will obtain some phosphor bronze at some point to make a more robust sytem and also weight the bogie down to create better contact for pick up purposes. Just a couple of quick shots of the finished coach - will detail the installation in the future when the whole rake gets done as I plan to only have 2 caoches with full pick ups installed and mini plugs between the coaches - so the full set should stay lit when running. I have also done some work on the layout - I have covered the bank at the rear of the station with torn up bits of wall paper - soaked in water and then slapped on with lashings of wall paper paste - messy, simple and fun to do! Finally using a photo off the net I have cut out some Wills Vari girder and re welded together with EMA plastic weld to create the shape of the footbridge at the North end of Rannoch. This is going to help create part of the scenic break where the line bends away in reallity - Due to not having enough board width at the top end this will be scewed instead of straight over the tracks - this should be able to sit at such an angle that the long distance shots from the station area looking North will be able to be created on the model in its compressed state - if I can recreate this properly it should look quite good. Thanks for all those taking an interest - comments always welcome. Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:57 am Looking good, Mark. I like the topography of the scenery (I used to be a geologist so I take an interest in such things!!). I'm also interested in your coach lighting project. One of my longer term projects is to put lighting (and corridor connections) on my coaches, although I really should make it more of a priority. My Bachmann 108s have lights and they look so good with its interior lights on while running in the dark. It was a good idea to link the coaches together electrically and just use two coaches for pickups. Are you going to connect them to a decoder to make them turnonable and -offable or just have them on all the time? I'm continuing to watch your progress with great interest! Cheers for now, Dave Waverley West __________________________________________ ??? posted on Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:09 pm Hi Dave, The lighting is very much an experiment at this stage - I saw the Dapol lighting strips on Hattons website and on Tuesday when I was off went to Harburns Hobbies to try and get 1 to have a play with - I get easily distracted by new things. I had read they will run off DC or DCC so my plan is just to have them on permanently with my layout is fully wired for DCC - but since you mentioned a decoder think I will add this into the plan. I have only done the one coach at this stage but I have used some micro connectors from DCC supplies to link a 158 with a SWD sound chip - it has one set for the lights and the other for a second speaker in the trailer car. My thoughts are to adapt my old Replica buffet car with full pick ups on both bogies and extra weight - this will only need 1 strip and a decoder could be hidden in the kitchen area. I would then use connecters between each coach and I need to find a decent gangway that could help to hide this. 2 light bars would be used in the full open or corridor type coaches - I also want to fully detail them as a charter set might be on the line. I have no idea when I will get around to completing this but it will be a key train on my layout when it is finished. I also don't know how this will all work once built but I wanted to do this conversion in such a way as to allow them to be taken apart again to do the extra work in the future and whilst well made they are not the easiest coaches to take apart. I am quite happy with the yellow glow on the completed coach so think this is a good option to use. Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by PaulRhB on Fri Jul 10, 2009 11:02 pm Saw this and thought of you(r layout) http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 92&nseq=11 __________________________________________ ??? posted on Fri Jul 10, 2009 11:49 pm Thanks Paul, Thats a cracking photo and nice weather as well! I have modelled this train using amsies sides on the mark 2 coaches and will add some more detail to the sleepers at some point - I have 67 004 as the main train loco but also use 37 406 as well - these both need to be detailed and weathered. Wish we had a better 67 model in OO - Dapol could scale theirs rather good N one up. Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by cairnsroadworks on Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:10 pm Mark, Thought I'd add my twopenneth in... layout looks top notch, can't wait to see it finished, and bring the fleet up for a play! Cheers, Andi. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Wed Jul 15, 2009 10:47 pm Hi Everyone, Thought I'd give you another little update on progress and what work is coming up. Andi - Thanks very much - you would be most welcome to come and play anytime - your fleet could easily be pressed into charter train service! Have been busy with work and at a wedding at the weekend so not much time spare for modelling but have managed a few jobs - I have used hanging basket liner as a base cover on the embankment at the rear of the station as having seen others use it on here and I am fairly pleased with this as a good base which I can now use to build up the vegetation on although this was just a trial at this stage and there is many more pressing jobs first! I have built a wills garage kit as I have seen a photo taken in the 80's from a moving train which shows the appraoch from the south of the station with a small cottage alongside. I will be building this end as near as possible to the real place but by adding this house will allow me to be a bit creative on the garden landscape and the lane down across the tracks to the yard will also be squezed in. I hace cut out and stuck down some thick art card on top of the polystyrene landscape at this end of the layout for the car park, entrance hut and house to sit on. Finally I have finished painting the track on the main scenic board and now only have the curve over the viaduct to do and fix in place which I am pleased is nearly over as this has been a long and boring job but needs to be done. I have been in Carlisle with work today so had a quick visit to C&M models been a long time since I have been to this well stocked shop and got a couple more point motors as I still have all the fiddle yard to fix in place and wire up for DCC. I am also planning to get the thin ply sheets for the backscene and facias on Friday as there is 10% off at Homebase which will allow me to finish off the baseboards over the next few weeks properly. Couple of progress shots: The good news is I have just finished sticking with plastic weld all the strip sections. The first layer of wood batterns is 2.5mm wide with the next layer at 2mm to give the lip seen on the real thing. I will be adding door frames and other main upright batterns next made from square strip which will be a good test to see if I have the height scaled right in my drawings! Thanks for looking, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:23 am Good progress, Mark. Keep it coming, please! Cheers, Dave Waverley West __________________________________________ Comment posted by jameshilton on Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:50 am Cracking progress on the layout and some great scratchbuilding... Seeing a number of 'prototype' based layouts, and the challenge of recreating buildings and scenery from scratch to a specific location is actually very tempting. I'm going to finish PR by next summer and perhaps sell it on before starting on something else Southern based but prototypical... we'll see! Anyway - good modelling (and I love a Scottish 37/4 so you're onto a winner with the location too!) __________________________________________ Comment posted by poindexter on Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:58 am I can't believe I've missed this!! Superb bit of engineering on the viaduct. Keep up the good work and keep posting. Guy __________________________________________ Comment posted by Barcaneatpete on Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:06 am Hey Mark Good progress again - hanging basket seems to work well as vegeatation - do you have any overall shots of the layout? I recall in your initial posts you had one or two - I am just interested to see the overall layout again with that cracking viaduct in context. Pete __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:50 am Hi Everyone, Thanks again for your kind comments and support. Pete I will take some photos of the whole layout on my next set - still got a lot to do but have now got my thin ply sheets for the facias and back scenes - went to Homebase on Friday night as working all weekend and got soaked coming home with them but they have dried out well so will be busy on these over the next few weeks if all goes to plan. Have a few shots taken the other night showing the Wills Garage kit assembled with the doors having some distressing treatment to make them start to look rotten and worn out - will be a nice litle project to paint in a worn condition when I get the chance. The other shots show the continued progress on the station with the strip sections for the timber frame stuck in place and I have also added a further 22 upright square sections of strip for the door posts - I will share the construction of this key building with you as it develops as I am learning as I go with it but I can see how the main building will take shape up to roof level and then it is going to get tricky! Hope you like it so far Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ ??? posted on Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:57 pm Hi Everyone, I have not had much chance to do more this week but have got some card cut and stuck down which will allow me to develop the South end of the station. I will be adapting the old Hornby thatched cottage as a base for the cottage that sits on this plot in reality. It will have the windows filled and new ones cut out and the ends raised to a better profile but the basic size and shape is a pretty good starting point and re-uses something that was stuck hidden away in a box so will save me some money as well. The roof will be more traditional in slate and the garden will have a high fence and hedging around it and will be one of the few properly cared for areas of vegetation on the whole layout! It doesn't look much at the moment but I am aiming to show the starting point of each section of the layout to look back on and compare when all is finished as it will help me to develop skills for my future projects. The layout had an unplanned viewing this week as the wife had the girls round from her work and much to her annoyance they all piled into the train room to watch some sound fitted trains go round as I had just got home from work. Everyone knows about my hobby but I was quite suprised at all the questions they asked and the overall interest they all had in seeing it. Hopefully I will have some time to get some more done tomorrow! Thanks for looking, Mark __________________________________________ ??? posted on Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:02 pm Hi Everyone, Got a bit distracted from layout building today and instead fitted the sound chips to these two fine machines that have growled into Rannoch! These were well worth the wait and with the future DRS traction plans taking shape does anyone want to guess what my next layout will be when Rannoch is built? Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by PaulRhB on Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:50 pm MRDBLUE17 wrote: does anyone want to guess what my next layout will be when Rannoch is built? DRS Inverness to join up with Rannoch? __________________________________________ Comment posted by Anglian on Wed Jul 29, 2009 8:16 pm Crainlarich perhaps. Have I spelt that correctly? __________________________________________ ??? posted on Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:39 am Hi Everyone, I have made progress in a few areas of the layout but not got anything at a completed stage yet - I am now working to the plan that it will all come together good in the end! I have now completed the base grass cover on the rear embankment on the main board using hanging basket liner and have taken a shot of how this is currently looking. The detail vegetation will be built up from this once more major work is complete so that the top layers at least start off fresh looking without lots of dirt and bits gathered within and also so I don't damage the trees that will go in. Although building work on the station has stopped for now there is currently a special project going on that will allow this to progress to an even better level of detail than I might have been able to get to without it - all will be revealed in due course! I have previously posted the landscape work at the south end of the station taking shape. There is a remote cottage on this site and I had the old Thatched cottage kit by Hornby which was on a layout from my early teens lying about in a box. This had been built using PVA glue so was easy to break down into the main parts so that I could start to adapt it to suit my layout and make it more Scottish! The thatch was removed and a new slate one cut out from some Wills sheets. I had seen an old photo from the mid 80's on the front of this cottage so have made this look near to the real thing with 2 sash and case windows fitted and a new better sized solid door frame has been added. The windows were cut out and I used the main outer frames from the 2 small windows in one end wall and then added some bars for the sash casements. Plastic strip made up the door frame measured based on my flat doors. The ends as you can see have some plastic card put over the windows and I need to add some filler to hide these. The kit has a small later extension which I decided would suit my planned space so this has been kept but rebuilt better and will go on the back of the cottage and this would have the bathroom and small utility room in it. The rear of the cottage has had some modern additions with a patio door and modern window fitted. I was a bit bored tonight so decided to create an open window as part of the frame to add a bit of life to the building! Still a lot to do but thought I would share the construction so far. Any comments or questions welcome. Thanks for looking, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by baggiebloke on Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:48 am Cracking stuff Mark. The open window is a treat! Looking forward to seeking how the station building progresses. Maybe you should put some model scaffolding up as your going along with the build! Alex __________________________________________ Comment posted by samkiller42 on Wed Aug 05, 2009 11:11 am Very impressed with the Viaduct construction, looks fantastic. Station construction looks good too, and the open window is a nice touch too. Keep up the updates. Sam __________________________________________ ??? posted on Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:53 pm Hi Everyone, Alex/Sam thanks for your kind comments - I would love to build scaffolding but I just can't seem to get it right - I will try again on my future project which I am gathering ideas for but this really will be a long term project set back in the NorthWest and will be built in sections over many years! I have not got much done on the layout of late - I have run some trains and even got my 2 108's run in ready to go back to Victory Road! After I have been away I hope to get the wood work done on the boards so there is something to put the back scenes onto and then I can get on with the landscape. One of the freight trains for Rannoch is the timber train. These 5 wagons are built from the Cambrian kits and I got them way back in 1999 when I first moved to Edinburgh. In total they took 5 years to complete - I built the kits wasn't happy with the running of them and they got put away in a box. At a later stage they came back out - rebuilt the wheel units so they ran freely and added the Bachmann couplings - they couple up quite closely with these are they can be shunted safely into the sidings which makes up for them being quite chunky! Painting them is where the real issue came and they took ages as this is not my strength. In the end I used some photos from books and magazines and as they are based on the wagons later running years the greens and blues had faded and some had gained EWS maroon. I finally got on with them over several weeks a few years back now and stayed focussed until I got them complete. They are numbered as best as I could get them based on photos of the real thing which some smaller letters and logos adapted to suit using Fox and Modelmasters. I am fairly pleased with them and thought I would share a few photos of them with you. I'm gald not everything I model takes this long! These last few shots were taken experimenting on a text photo format - the lighting has shown up the weathering effects and rusty texture quite well so I have just included them to see what you think? Hope you like them. Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Grimleygrid on Tue Aug 11, 2009 7:50 am Excellent work Mark, I agree with Alex that bulding is superb especially with the open window. Quality. Great work on the timber wagons, well worth the wait! Some projects do seem to take ages to finish..... __________________________________________ Comment posted by Loxborough on Tue Aug 11, 2009 8:07 am You ask what we think of the timber wagons; what I think is that I looked at the last few photos and had to scroll back up and read the text to find out if they were model or prototype! Brilliant Good work all over and I am especially looking forward to seeing the station building develop, Keep it up, George __________________________________________ Comment posted by Thirty2A on Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:33 pm Really great job of weathering on those timber wagons I think the layout is great too! __________________________________________ Comment posted by Tay Bridge on Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:47 pm Hi First time I have looked at your layout in detail. I am very impressed with your attention to detail. I do not have the patience for that... Well done, your final results will be well worth the effort. Class 37's with sound are great. My one is the standard Bachmann one which fits well with my chosen time (roughly speaking of course) They give a very realistic feel to our layouts. Keep up the good work Chris __________________________________________ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 Rannoch Moor - West Highland Line by MRDBLUE17 original page on Old RMweb __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sun Aug 23, 2009 11:42 am Hi Everyone, Thanks for the comments about the wagons! There has not been any progress on the layout because I have been away in Malta for a holiday but just as we were getting ready to leave the postman dropped a heavy envelope through the door. So with only 15mins to go until we were off to the airport I opened up the packet to find the special project safe inside. As I had mentioned work on the station building has stopped whilst this has been in development. Pete Harvey on here who many of you will know from his layout and also PH designs got in touch with me to offer his services and expertise and has come up with a superb etch for all the doors and windows for Rannoch Station. My original plan to make it all from plastic strip would not have been able to produce anything to this standard and having never had anything done for me before like this Pete made the whole process run very smoothly and got the etch drawn up from my various measurements, drawings and descriptions. Here is a quick photo of the completed Etch: Over the next few weeks I will now be able to get on with the building and hopefully get it all how I want before I decide on the final roof construction once I have installed some lighting as well. I will share my progress with you as I go. Pete, thanks once again for all the work you have put into getting these just right - I hope the finished building odes them justice! Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by PCM on Sun Aug 23, 2009 12:38 pm Hi Mark, Top work on those OTAs, I remember seeing some being loaded at Crianlarich back in the 80s. I am liking that etch for your windows too, that Pete Harvey is a clever ###### eh I will have to mention your layout thread to a friend of mine who is over your way on holidays at the moment. He has just built a station building of Spean Bridge which looks quite similar to yours. Cheers Peter, __________________________________________ Comment posted by wagonman on Sun Aug 23, 2009 5:30 pm MRDBLUE17 wrote: Hi Everyone, Got a bit distracted from layout building today and instead fitted the sound chips to these two fine machines that have growled into Rannoch! The attachment IMGP0912 (Small).JPG is no longer available These were well worth the wait and with the future DRS traction plans taking shape does anyone want to guess what my next layout will be when Rannoch is built? Mark And guess what came growling through Blair Atholl back in July... __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:24 pm Hi Wagonman, That photo is very nice - I have a model of 37611 in the old DRS livery which I got a few years ago at Kendal show - it does look good in its fresh paint and new branding! I think it has had a spell based in Inverness as a standby loco. Thats Peter for your comments - I'm glad you like them. Your friends layout sounds very interesting and one I would like to see some photos of if possible at some point as it might give me some more ideas or mine. Is there any link on here already? Pete certainly is clever on the doors for example he has even got the beading recessed into the panel sections. Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by PCM on Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:20 am Thats Peter for your comments - I'm glad you like them. Your friends layout sounds very interesting and one I would like to see some photos of if possible at some point as it might give me some more ideas or mine. Is there any link on here already? Pete certainly is clever on the doors for example he has even got the beading recessed into the panel sections. Mark Hi Mark, Neil has a blog on Model Rail Forum, which is pretty easy to find, it's on the front page. Cheers Peter, __________________________________________ ??? posted on Wed Aug 26, 2009 4:43 pm Hi Peter, Thanks for that info - I have just been on and had a look - its not a forum I use so would never have seen it otherwise. Neil has done a very good job on that building looks very good to me and I certainly need to get cracking on with mine if it is going to look as good and get completed! I also totally get his modular plan - I was originally going to do the same with my layout so that the fiddle yard could be used over on others but I forgot at the building stage about this idea I had and made 4 boards 6 foot by 2 foot instead of making 6 boards by putting 2 smaller 3 foot boards together at each end. Mark __________________________________________ ??? posted on Thu Sep 03, 2009 12:22 am Hi Everyone, Now our holiday has past and back to work it should mean I have some time to get on with Rannoch in the evenings. Cleared my workbench tonight to make room for my etch from Pete Harvey and station building so that I can get on with this over the next few weeks. Started by cutting out all the doors required for the model and ensured they fit within the frames. As the etch is a precision item compared to my rough measurements on the building I had to file and adjust a couple of door frames but with this now done it will allow me to cut the rest of the plastic strip to make the upper frames for the small door window lights to be fitted. By starting with the doors will allow me to get the upper wall sections cut out right and the window frames as well so that it all goes together as planned. Here are a few progress shots so you can get a better idea of how it will look. class="thumbnail"> " /> Door frames cut from etch class="thumbnail"> " /> Door etch and window light in place class="thumbnail"> " /> Close up of etch for panel door - inner beading detail is very fine for the recessed panels class="thumbnail"> " /> Overall view of station building The panel doors have been designed this way as they sit back in the main frames and will have plasticard as a backing which will keep everything in the correct position and also makes building them quite simple and also as close to the actual ones as possible. Hope you like it - the station building will not be the fastest part of the layout but it is the central feature so needs to be right - I will keep updates coming of the progress. I am also in the middle of cutting out facias and backscene boards out of thin ply and once this is complete will take an overall shot of the layout so you can see the progress compared to the start of the year. Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by smudgeloco on Thu Sep 03, 2009 12:34 am My, but those etching look mighty fine. This is going to look great when finished, I can feel it in-me-bones. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:50 am Hi Everyone, Having cleared my workbench to get on with the building - my part built and part finished Cambrain Kit of a Seaurchin in EWS maroon was niggling me and as it rained for most of the day on Friday when I was off I decided finishing this wagon would be a good use of my time. I had batch built 9 Cambrian kits a while ago just when the seaurchin kit was new out when I was back home during a week off with 2 seahorses, 3 Seaurchins, 2 Spa's and 2 OCA's! Whilst 5 of these have entered service on Rannoch already - the other 4 are sat about in part painted condition! I need to get 2 small transrail T's for one wagon and then weather them further before I can photograph them. The OCA's may be a while off since I have at least 4 Bachmann versions already! Whilst I enjoy kit building wagons I get frustrated with painting them due to lack of time and also I don't think I am that good compared to others and don't have an airbrush so have to brush paint. As you might have read with the previous timber wagons I don't want these to take 5 years to complete so my EWS version has been finished. The transfers are what I had in mainly from Fox so are not completely accurate - tops number has been made up as I couldn't find a reference for one in EWS livery in this version and the lettering was all I had but it gives a fair impression of how it should be. I have kept this fairly clean but some railmatch frame dirt acrylic has been dryish brushed on to give some light weathering with precision EWS maroon and Gold on the main body. The black underframe was Tamiya matt acrylic as this gives a nice finish which can be drybrushed on or powders added if preferred. Heres a few shots of it - just need to give it a coat of varnish to seal it all in now! Let me know what you think, Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by PCM on Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:40 am Hi Mark, I have built a few Cambrian kits over the years and always enjoy building them, but like you I don't have an airbrush so painting and transfering the wagon takes longer than building the kit. Your ZCA looks good , I haven't see one made up before, The weathering looks spot on too, I only started using Tamiya acrylic last year and find them really easy to use. I bet you get the wagon bug now and start finishing the others you have. Cheers Peter, __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:57 pm Hi Peter, Thanks for your comments. I don't really have time to get on with more wagons at the moment as I still have a lot of work to do on finishing the layouts boards and also the track work so that I can then get it all wired up properly. I have made some progress in this area over the last weeek or so. The main scenic front board now has its facia and backboard in place and I have cut another sheet of ply into many more facings for some other areas of the layout. The south end scenic section board and end of storage yard trackwork has been lifted and using some off cuts of cork have glued down a layer for the trackwork at this end. I have also glued down some SMP copper clad sleepers ready to solder the track to at the board joint. Some shots of the work in progress: Finally ignoring the clutter this is an overview of how the main board currently looks: Hopefully will add a further update soon of the work being done on the main station building. Any questions or comments always welcome. Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by invercloy on Sun Sep 13, 2009 5:26 pm That main board is looking very atmospheric already! I think the sense of space (lack of trackwork) goes a long way to recreating the feeling of the area. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:03 pm Hi everyone, Thanks Tom for your comments glad you like it so far. I have got on with the construction of the main station building today as due to having an injured foot couldn't go out and play football despite it being like Summer again in Scotland! Still as I had to rest my foot it gave me the excuse to go in my train room for the afternoon. Using my working drawing of the building I started on the end walls. I have used Evergreen strip number 153 - 1.5x1.5 mm square for the main framing. This being the same as the door frames and should keep everything in proportion from the photos I have for reference. The buildings at Rannoch have a patterned effect on the upper sections. Replicating this exactly seems not possible as I can't find a suitable product to match this boarding. I used thick Wills roofing tiles filed on the entrance shelter and whilst I am happy with this filing it all down was a real pain. I found a thin plastic sheet about A4 size in Harburn Hobbies for only ?‚??1.50 recently. Whilst this is overscale it at least looks right to me and once painted will blend in well from normal viewing distance and at least give the upper walls some texture like the real thing. As Rannoch stands today only one of the flank end wind breaks retains the glazing at the North end of the station but because the etch done by Pete Harvey is so good I just couldn't leave the other window frames sitting on an etch in a box for years to come so have added them to the building - on the photos below all the etch parts are loose fitted as I will paint these white before fitting and get the main frames all in green as this will make painting easier. The photos and captions should hopefully follow step by step the work done today: Work then continued onto the North end of the building in a similar way to the work above as everything had gone together smoothly enough. Anyway thats the lot for now - hope I've not bored you with the build detail. I will update more as and when it takes shape. Hope you like it and thanks for looking, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:50 am MRDBLUE17 wrote: Anyway thats the lot for now - hope I've not bored you with the build detail. I will update more as and when it takes shape. Hope you like it and thanks for looking, Mark Hi Mark, No question of boredom here. It's fascinating to watch this come together with all the attention to detail. The station building is just superb. The layout too is really starting to come together. What plans have you got as regards a backscene? A good photographic backscene really would take this layout into a class of its own I think. I see too many good layouts spoiled (to some extent anyway) by a lack of thought over the backscene. Keep posting please! Cheers, Dave Waverley West __________________________________________ Comment posted by Barcaneatpete on Mon Sep 14, 2009 3:33 pm Hey Mark, Have been back and rescanned this thread again. What I like about this project is the simplicity. A single track meandering through the countryside with an impressive viaduct in the making, a simple station as the focal point and all topped off with a generous fiddleyard allowing a bumper crop of differing train formations. For me the key to keeping things simple is the thought process beforehand and it certainly looks like all your forward planning is starting to pay dividends. A great project and I am sure if exhibited will draw the crowds......and retain them. Keep posting - its really inspirational Pete __________________________________________ Comment posted by invercloy on Mon Sep 14, 2009 4:57 pm The building is coming along nicely! I'm looking at building an NBR narrow gauge layout using the same design station building. I'll have to reread all your posts about it once I begin. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:21 pm Hi, Thanks for the comments again always very welcome - throughout the thread I have been asked a few different questions about certain aspects of the layout and there have been a couple that have been giving me a lot to think about. A while back I was asked about the season to set the layout in - I think that after a lot of thought that it will be Summer time as most people go for and really only for a few simple reasons - the different shades of greens will make doing the scenery a lot more interesting and should help to ensure I spend time to do this justice. Also whilst searching the net for photos - the bleak cold winter weather was very appealing to model but I felt would not get done properly by me and the other thing about Summer is that things start to get a bit over grown, all the decidous tress will have leaves so will create some nice scenic breaks in which to view trains along the station area and the flowering plants and weeds will add colour - the heather and gorse especially so this at least has a direction. Dave - moving to your key question I have been looking closely at your backscene and it is very well done, living in Edinburgh I know the skyline and I would really like to see it close up as from your photos it looks to be one of the most convincing I have seen on a layout - I use to work in Debenhams there and you have a good shot of the red roof on the old part of the building with the tall modern glass part which connects it to the other old part of the former liberal club. (There is a ghost in the top part of that building!) Whilst I have an idea of what I want it too look like I have been focussed on getting the wood cut and not how this will be finished. The section behind the station is quite woody so this should be easier to do but I really need an inspriing mountain view to draw you right into the backscene beyond the viaduct - one option is to paint the sky a very washed out pale blue/grey shade similar to what I did on Victory Road and then stick real photos of the scenery onto this so that the whole thing will blend together but I am not sure - if anyone has any good ideas please share them as I really need to get this right. I have got some more square strip so I can get on with the building this week - not got any more done today as been to see Billy Connolly at the Usher Hall and also got a sound chip for my 153 which just had to be installed for a play! Its the Howes version picked up via e-bay and I am really pleased with it. I have also ordered the new REX model of 37670 - do I need another 37? Well if you ask the wife I don't! (Womens logic) so I told her you can never have too many for a West Highland layout! (Male logic!) Will update as and when. Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Waverleywest on Mon Sep 21, 2009 8:47 am Hi Mark, The Edinburgh section of my backscene is made up of photos of Edinburgh (obviously!) pasted onto The Valley/Valley extension scene from International Models. These make excellent sky backgrounds and look better I think than handpainted skies. They are also quite high, so you can make the backscene almost as high as you like. Combined, they make up a matching 6m stretch as well. I managed to get quite a good panoramic view of most of Princes St. from below the Castle. The rest was sort of cobbled together from different angles but doesn't look too bad. International Models also do so other "open country" scenes (nos. 208A-G), but whether they are wild-looking enough for you I'm not sure. Possibly not. Anyway, the link is http://www.internationalmodels.net/acat ... cenes.html My recommendation would be to use the Valley scenes as a sky background and paste on photos of the actual scenery, but that's just my view of course!! With the open country you're modelling, getting a good single panoramic view shouldn't be difficult?? And with scenery like Rannoch Moor what more incentive do you need??!! I think it would look great on your layout. I can post a few close-up pics of my backscene if you like. Cheers, Dave Waverley West __________________________________________ Comment posted by Barcaneatpete on Tue Sep 22, 2009 6:48 am MRDBLUE17 wrote: Hi, Well if you ask the wife I don't! (Womens logic) so I told her you can never have too many for a West Highland layout! (Male logic!) my policy on such matters is as thus... 'If you don't like the answer...then don't ask the question' __________________________________________ Comment posted by Sixteen 12by 10s on Tue Sep 22, 2009 5:10 pm Well if you ask the wife I don't! (Womens logic) so I told her you can never have too many for a West Highland layout! (Male logic!) Over the years I have become very good at ???‚¬?“sneaking???‚¬?? things in under the radar, but I did get caught out. When I started building Glenuig I managed to get the timber down to my workshop without the authorities knowing. Two weeks later she came down the cellar to find a half built layout ???‚¬?“where's this come from???‚¬??. The sentence for such a crime was a slap up meal for two, the price of which would have purchased at least one 37!.... with DCC......sound........lights. Brightly colored ones such as a DBS liveried example would be easily spotted, maybe you should withdraw another to the WNXX out of sight pool, then claim the DBS one to be a repaint and reinstate from store when the dust has settled (a scruffy blue example would be best, nothing shiny to draw attention) So be warned As for your back scene i shall be traversing Rannoch moor in a few weeks, on the way to take a few photos at Glenuig for guess what?, my back scene, i could get you a series of interlocking ones for your layout if you wish. Gary __________________________________________ ??? posted on Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:33 pm Hi Everyone, Glad we all seem to share similar comments from our wives! Because mine watches all the girly nonsense on telly I get plenty of time to get some modelling done and tonight I have been able to crack on with the building so thought I would update my progress. Thanks again for the feedback and ideas - that has been very helpful. Dave what you said totally made sense and the way you have carefully blended yours together makes it look seemless and very effective so I must try and aim for a similar effect but much more mountainous and bleak! Gary only if it is no trouble to you but that is a very kind offer and that would be fantastic if you are able to get any shots please - the main part of the layout that will need this is the backscene going up the valley behind the viaduct - as it needs to draw the eye into the distance and I have made it go into a sort of triangle as the entrance to the fiddle yard will be set at an angle and not at a right angle from the front so a good mountain scene would real make this work. The rest isn't so bad as the sky idea will work well and there is a lot of trees behind the station itself so will blend more easily. Tonight when I got in I have been getting on with the front side of the building. I cut out most of the windows that I needed from the etch and cut several lenghts of square strip to make the frames. This is number 153 - 1.5 x 1.5 mm square strip. The upper wall sections are cut from a thin A4 size sheet with a sort of tile pattern which whilst overscale is the nearest thing I can get to represent the patterened boarding of the real thing. Plastic weld was used throughtout. The very top of the walls is capped with a length of strip which has added some strength and also helped to flatten out the building as the card base had curled up a little after the original lower brick sections were super glued in place. Once the internal walls go in and the thick plain sections behind the outer walls are added it should flatten out - any final adjustment will be done once it is glued down to the platform, when that gets built! Hopefully will get the final section of this side done tomorrow night. The next few shots show the construction technique of the window frames - fairly simple and plastic weld makes the build quite quick. A general overview of the work completed so far: These final shots for today show the first of the Bay windows going in. Because I never built these exactly even all round they required 2 normal size windows for the wing walls but as the front section was too narrow - Pete had to draw out and produce some narrower versions for the front section which look really good. This also requires a few additional frame sections and will also need a little filler and filing later when they are all done to give a nice even finish. The main posts against the wall section are set at an angle. The front centre short upright was added first followed by the front narrow window etches and there taller outer uprights. 2 further uprights have been filed back at an angle so that the have a flat edge in line with the frame against the wall section - the larger normal size window etch fits into these. The top frame sections were also added. I promise thats the lot for tonight! I think I even have a plan for how the roof will go together at last - at some point I will test it in scrap card from a cereal box a bit blue peter but it worked well for the signal box roof. Hope you can get a better idea of how it is going to look when its complete. Any questions or comments welcome and thanks again for your continued interest in this project. Bye, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Barcaneatpete on Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:38 am Mark Nice work - you are constructing the station as if it was a real building construction site - I can almost smell the waft of the bacon sarnie from the site canteen! One suggestion if you don't mind - I notice that your foamboard base is starting to bend, due no doubt to the length / thickness of the material [am guessing 3mm or 5mm foamboard?] and it might be prudent to 'double sided tape' the ends to a mdf or such like base to keep them flat so the warping does not affect your station building. Pete __________________________________________ Comment posted by jameshilton on Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:44 am Incredible - I've been watching the station build closely - it's looking fantastic! __________________________________________ ??? posted on Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:53 pm Hi, James thanks for your very kind comments glad you like it - just hope I can get the whole thing to the standard I want! Pete - sometimes the simple suggestions are the most useful and when you said about tape it did seem a bit obvious but I hadn't thought of doing this, so tonight I only got a bit more done but I ran 2 strips of masking tape down each long edge and stuck the card down to my workbench cutting mat and that made putting the long top batten on much easier and to the right length first time! I just need to get the second bay window done and that will be the front side built and then hopefully can get on with the other side on Friday so will update when this is done. Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ ??? posted on Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:38 pm Hi Everyone, Finished off the remaining sections on the front viewing side of the station. Overall fairly pleased with how it has come out. I will be adding some filler around the bay windows once the other side is complete and any other gaps before a little filing down here and there ready for painting. I have got the rest of the materials I currently need today as well so I can carry on the build as time allows. Finally spent another couple of hours carefully cutting out all the remaining windows to complete the other side of the build. A few quick shots so you can see where work is up to. Thanks for looking, Mark __________________________________________ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 Rannoch Moor - West Highland Line by MRDBLUE17 original page on Old RMweb __________________________________________ ??? posted on Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:12 pm Hi Everyone, Following a productive 2/3 hours spent on Sunday I managed to get the other side of the station building to a completed state. I am now in the process of removing all the windows and filing the frames so that they will still fit once the frames are painted green. The actual etched frames will be sprayed white. I plan to get most of the building painted at this stage once the backing layer of plastic card is added to the rear of the outer walls to give them more strength as once the roof goes on this task will become much more difficult. The interior walls will also be added which will also help to keep the building in shape. The last shot should help to give an idea of the layout of the buildings with the tiny entrance shelter in the distance, station building centre and the scratch built signal box and lamp hut towards the camera. Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by JB on Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:44 am Stunning! Really good! Well done! __________________________________________ Comment posted by grow45 on Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:05 am First post although I have lurked in the background. I have always liked the West Highland Line and this looks really good. Perhaps a bit late for you now although I hope the roof details may be useful I attach an 1894 drawing of the station building at Ardlui ( effectively the same as Rannoch and most other West Highland Stations). I can provide a higher resolution scan direct if it helps. ALW __________________________________________ ??? posted on Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:01 pm Thanks Jack for your kind comments - I have been watching your layout develop and you are making great progress with yours - really need to get my trackwork finished! Grow45 - thanks for posting that and yes it will be very useful as I am doing the interior walls in the very near future so I can now create a more accurate layout with a few modern alterations. It will also help to align the roof angles better against my plan of the model. You are right if I had seen this about 6 months ago it would have saved me a lot of time planning as I had to do my own drawings based on photos of the real thing I found on the net as I have not been to Rannoch yet. Your first post on here has been most helpful and welcome to the forum! If you have any other interesting West Highland things feel free to add them to my thread! Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by SouthernRegionSteam on Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:31 pm I am still watching this thread with great interest, you clearly have an eye for realism and spend time, money and thought into what you model for which I find most inspiring, let alone the results you are achieving! This project will look absolutely brilliant when finished,I know. You just have that kind of feel where a layout is heading when you see work like that. I look forward to future updates. All the best, __________________________________________ Comment posted by emac on Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:05 pm Hi MRDBLUE17 been following this thread since I signed up a few weeks ago I have had an interest in the West Highland line for a of years and it is nice to see a west highland station being scratch built. I had a go back in 1979 and have managed to find my effort in N gauge its lost one of its lums it was built from plastic card and as you con see has a slight curl but its now thirty years old I am planning to do another over the winter so getting lots of tips here. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Fri Oct 02, 2009 11:19 pm Hi Jam - thanks for your comments just hope the finished layout lives up to your expectations but I am aiming quite high with this one - you kind of get better with each layout you start - but I do have 2 other small layouts that havn't really gone anywhere since Victory Road so this one must get completed before I start anything else! Emac that is a great building to share with us - I hope you start a thread with your future layout plans soon as I will be keen to see yours develop - in N-gauge you will be able to really do the scenery justice with the layout running through it - and if your work from 1979 still looks that good just imagine what you will be able to acheive with all the new products available! Do you have any more buildings that survive that you could share on here - it would be interesting to see if you do. Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by emac on Sat Oct 03, 2009 8:08 pm Thanks for the comments my Crainlarich Upper N guage went to Renfewshire MRC in about 1988/9 they extended it and I was able to run my kit built loco on it at Paisley Exibition I left my signal box and other bits and peices with them But I think the engine shed is still about in my box will look it out. My new project is a Garden "Running track" for a OO guage Hornby Live Steam LNER 4-6-2 A3 Class 'Flying Scotsman' but I have an incling to build a West Highland Station possibly Arrochar and Tarbert or Crainlarich; as I have a few photos take in late 80s but will have to steal a bigger bit of garden I will wire it for live steam and DCC have the most of the track staging finished from this to this work is put on standstill till the lounge is completed; fireplace pulled out today and getting plastered tomorrow have a few photos as work progress's on the garden project I have a few photos scanned of Arrochar Station if you want I could post them but where on this site __________________________________________ ??? posted on Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:57 pm Hi everyone, Emac - Feel free to add the scans on here - there could well be some small details that I can get out of them for Rannoch if you would like. I have been making some progress with the layout over the last week - the station building windows have been removed and openings filed a bit so they will slot back in once the frames are eventually painted. Been busy on track work as I really need to get this finished soon so that I can get everything wired up as well. Got the South end board fully laid now with the rail ends at the board joint soldered in place as well and all the droppers through the board ready for connecting it all up. Also fixed the backscene board at this and have got the section that will hide the storage sidings under stress to get a nice curve in it before fitting to the layout. I am probably adding more droppers than required but hopefully this should result in more reliable running through the tight curves and pointwork with sound fitted engines. During testing everything has been fine with just 2 wires round the whole layout on DC or DCC. The North end of the storage sidings is currently being re-worked - the curves at this end were not as smooth as I had wanted so I am having a re-think. Since having a full play over the last few months with lots of rolling stock and locos in use with both DC and DCC power apart from the tight curve issues at the North end I have also been considering how to maximise the use of the storage sidings as they filled up very easily and I still have more locos and stock planned for this layout. Under DCC this will be simpler as I can have several trains on each line or looped section in the yard but I will end up having to operate to a set plan and be constantly moving trains up to allow the next one in and at some point I will have a pile up! As a result I am adding in an extra point to the North end entrance area. I have improved the curves - especially for the 4 rear long roads. I am been able to make another longer loop - which will hold the seacows or in the future the autoballasters when they come out - this will generally give me more operating potential. I have also altered the 3 short train loops at the front. 2 remain as planned but at the South end one of these now becomes a siding in effect which will hold 2/3 locos or a 2 car 158/156. At the North End another point is added and 2 longer sidings have been created which will hold 4, 2 car units this will give me space to hold more locos as well and will reduce the need to handle stock as much. I will need to alter the track over the next few days with my razor saw and then test everything is smoothed out properly. These shots are not great but will give you a bit more of an idea of what I have planned. This extra work will worth it from an operational point of view as I now have 11 roads to fill up with stock and in effect should be an extra 5 trains depending on what I add. Will post more as progress continues, Thanks for looking any comments welcome, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Barcaneatpete on Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:47 am MRDBLUE17 wrote: Also fixed the backscene board at this and have got the section that will hide the storage sidings Hi Mark - Nice progress - Don't hide the storage sidings too much - I love to crane my neck around at exhibitions and have a good look at all the rolling stock Pete __________________________________________ Comment posted by emac on Fri Oct 09, 2009 7:25 pm MRDBLUE17 wrote: Emac - Feel free to add the scans on here - there could well be some small details that I can get out of them for Rannoch if you would like. Hi A few photos scanned from some old negs taken at Arrocher and Tarbert Station in Early 80's hope they are of use also have some of signal box Higher resolution scan are available if required __________________________________________ ??? posted on Fri Oct 09, 2009 7:34 pm Hi Emac, Thanks for adding those. As you will have seen my building is up to roof height now and those photos are great as they show the boarding and frames on the underside of the roof overhang so will help me to get this area right on mine and save me having to think about it as I didn't have any shots from my research on the net of this area. Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by clagmeister on Fri Oct 09, 2009 11:27 pm Is that 'Isle of Mull' disguised as Ben Cruachan rushing around the layout in a blur. Wish I had the patience to do a station building like yours, brilliant. Mine a much simpler affair. coming on, I like it. cheerio Claggy __________________________________________ Comment posted by PCM on Fri Oct 09, 2009 11:43 pm Hi Mark, Looking good, You have got to love those Peco three way points. You can never have enough storage roads. Cheers Peter, __________________________________________ ??? posted on Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:23 pm Hi Everyone, Pete your right you never can have too much storage - problem is to put everything out I own would take a layout at least 10 times the size of this and be multi-regional! One day... Claggy it is actually 37 411 in its Caerphilly Castle guise got it off e-bay for the same price as Bachmann were selling it so quite pleased about that just after they had sold out as well. Progress on the layout is still going well - I will be transferring the thread to the new site once I have some time to learn to do this properly and will continue with some new updates and photos from there. As soon as I am back up and running properly I will let you all know! Thanks, Mark __________________________________________ Comment posted by Sixteen 12by 10s on Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:04 pm Hi Mark Think I have some good shots for you backscene, I will have a better look at them over the weekend. I was lucky that the weather on the day I traversed the moor, Friday 16/10/09, was absolutely perfect. I also have a set of photos of the Station bbuildingsand Box's at Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy, I shall post them on the new forum shortly. So see you over the other side!!! Gary __________________________________________ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Depot Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 this is really coming along, no idea how you could really fit them but the bridge would look great with check rails fitted.... Any chance of a large logo 37 or are they too dated for you? watching with interest.... cheers Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 Hi Gary, Finally had time to get this moved over so just saw your comments today. Glad you have moved over as well so I can follow your progress as it was coming along very well! I will look forward to seeing your photos when you have time to add them. Hi Keith, I do have one LL 37 but it is a Tinsley variant so won't really get a run out - they do look good but I would have to buy a whole load of new stock to run the layout in the 80's as I don't have any Scottish stock for that era. The REX 37 670 will be the next 37 into the Rannoch fleet and 66152 will also be added when that comes out. Thanks, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted November 4, 2009 Author Share Posted November 4, 2009 Hi Everyone, Work on Rannoch has been continuing - I think I will highlight quick updates on my blog and other features such as rolling stock and whatever else I have been distracted with from a modelling point of view so you can see the development of the layout and scenic features for it on here. I have been getting on with the building and it is coming along quite nicely. Got to start on the green wooden framing next but this will require time and patience which I don't seem to have enough of at the moment. The brickwork level has come out quite well and I have painted the lower concrete base level white. The window frames are still sitting inside my make shift spray booth (a large cardboard box) primed in white but I need to get a white spray can to put the main top coat on. I am not brush painting these as the quality of Pete's etching needs to get the right level of finish to do them the justice they deserve! Here are a couple of shots showing the brickwork painted and generally where I am up to with the building so far. I use 3 shades one is a red brick shade which I brush all over. Then I add a more brown brick shade and pick out a few in a brighter tan/orangey shade at random as well, these are a mixture or revell and humbrol enamels. Following this I use railmatch concrete acrylic for the mortar base. Using a brush I wet the brickwork and then using a watery dab of concrete colour and then capillary action does the rest. You have to guide the paint to get an even finish in some places. A second wash may be needed on newer pointing. As the building had work done on it in recent years I will keep the brickwork cleaner on the station as it does have some shelter. The signal box has a more weathered finish to it which I will feature at some point. The next 2 shots show one end and a more general view with the white base section also now painted using railmatch acrylic white as I had this in. I have got all my track work cut and have been thoroughly playing (I mean testing) to ensure that it all fits in and so far nothing has crashed so the clearances have come out well considering I didn't give this enough thought but operationally I can fit in more trains so will have more variety. I am hoping when I make the big switch over to digital which will happen once the boards are finished and the track all permanently laid that I will be able to create an operating plan - but not a strict timetable so that I can run 2 car units 158's and 156's in between longer freights or the charter train as this will allow a few extra sets to be on the layout at any time. I was off on Monday so have now completed the facias and scenic brake on the south end board and have got the rest cut out for the other sections so will hopefully get all them fixed in place later this week. Here a few progress shots. Hope you like how this is coming along any comments or questions welcome and thanks for looking. Mark 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixteen 12by 10s Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Hi Mark Just go round to looking at my holiday snaps, and relized i had taken a set on Ranock moor with your backscene in mined. If you like the sample i will get the full size file over to you one way or another, the full size file is over 4meg. Gary 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emac Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Hi Mark looking good enjoy the station being built looking forward to seing pics of the roof structure also nice to see the Rannoch Moor project on new RMweb pages 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted November 12, 2009 Author Share Posted November 12, 2009 Hi Everyone, I am glad to see so many of you have got back up and running on here. Still need to learn more about all the features as I have seen some very good blogs etc on here and want to make mine a bit easier to follow and use if anyone wants to refer to anything I have done. I have moved the Northern end board out into the hall as it is impossible to work on the outside edge as it fits behind the door and the around the wall of my train room. This has allowed me to fix the front facias and backscene boards in place. I have also got the holes drilled and cut out for all the wiring droppers and point motors that feed the storage sidings at this end of the layout. I have also been able to take a photo o this board so you can see how it all looks. The viaduct structure has had a blast of weathered sleepers when I was doing the track work so it stands out a bit. I have also got the rails rusted up tonight as well on the top of this. As far as the storage roads go I have added a single layer of cork, glued in place some SMP copper clad sleepers for soldering the rails to at the joint with the main storage sidings board and also fitted the point motors to each of the 6 points at this end with wires soldered in place and dropers on all the rail sections. I am hoping this will give me reliable operation with my sound fitted trains when I get it all wired up for DCC. I will fix all the track down permanently once the board is back in place on the layout so that everything has a good alignment and smooth curves as the tollerances are quite tight at this end but was all running well under test. Gary - that photo you attached looks fantastic - are you sure you were in Scotland with that weather - you couldn't have done any better than that! I will send you my details as that would look fantastic as my backscene - I know my backscene boards are a bit different in shape but that can be made to work and that left hand section would look really good behind the viaduct. Does anyone know a suitable spray can paint that is a good match for railtrack green for the bridge as the one I have based this on had work done in recent years and the main beams are green? Thanks for having a look and any questions, advice etc always welcome! Thanks, Mark 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waverley West Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Hi Mark, Just thought I'd drop by and say hi, now that I've finally found your thread again. Yes, I know I'm a bit on the slow side. I've only just discovered the layout topics link! Anyway, good to be able to read the updates on your progress again. Rannoch Moor is really beginning to take shape nicely now. Cheers for now, Dave Waverley West 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixteen 12by 10s Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Hallo Mark Yes!! I was in Scotland when I took the photos. I was up there for a week and this was the best day. The photo is actually 6 different shots stitched together. I have a set of photos of the buildings at Tyndrum, Bridge of Ochy, Gelfinann, and Arisaig, as soon as I can secure the computer off my other half (obsessed with facebook), I will post them in the prototype section. Gary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimleygrid Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 I am looking forward to seeing the viaduct structure and scenery finished and a nice Tractor trundling over it! Great work Sir. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piemanlarger Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Some really nice building goin on here, very impressed with the viaduct and station. Well done, shall pop back and look forward to seeing further updates. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waverley West Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Hi Mark, Re. your query about Network Rail green a while ago, I used Ford Modena Green for the railings in Princes St Gardens on Waverley West, which I think are painted that colour (certainly not far off anyway). You could check out my layout thread to see the colour (after toning down with a dirty wash). Not sure just how accurate it is but it's close enough for me! Someone may be able to suggest a closer match though of course. Cheers, Dave Waverley West 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Jim T Posted November 27, 2009 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 27, 2009 Hi Mark Looking very good, particularly the bridge and the station building - keep at it and keep us posted. Jim 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor H Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Hi Mark, Have been following this with a lot of interest, I started a WHL layout (1970) http://leeholder41.fotopic.net/ a while back, but sadly due to storage problems have not been able to progress any further with it over the last couple of years. Keep up the good work, it certainly has the feel of the West Highland and hopefully it'll inspire me to get something done myself. ps. love the work you've put into the buildings and especially the bridge and station building. Trevor 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted November 27, 2009 Author Share Posted November 27, 2009 Hi Everyone, It is great to see that so many of you are back on here again and thankyou for all your kind comments it really does make it more worthwhile being able to share things on here. I have not had much time of late to get things updated or too much progress as I work in retail and this time of year is more manic than usual so all work and no play although I am off this weekend but will be Karting on a Stag do and I also have a football night out later as well and then football on the Sunday so won't get much modelling done. However I have fitted in some and here is what I have been up to. I kept forgetting to pick up some white spray paint for my etched windows but the other weekend Harburn Hobbies had a Hornby event which I went along to so finally picked up a can of Humbrol white gloss which following a couple of light coats has done the job nicely. (I was shown the new silver 67 & DVT and was very impressed with it so think that might be appearing on a run up the West Highland line in the future!) Although I had opened up all the window frames with a file before painting, with 2 coats of green on the frames, the window etches have been a snug fit. Only the end ones are glued in place the rest are just fitted for now but thought you might like a preview. I will be fitting LED lighting to the outside of the station as I have seen night photographs and think this will be more realistic so that I can operate a timetable with the interior of the building shut at most times of the day as it is in reallity. The limited signs of humans on the layout should help to create the sense of desolation once the scenics side of things develops. Hope you like it - the building seems a bit of a never ending project but hopefully I can get it to the standard I want eventually. Thanks again, Mark 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted November 27, 2009 Author Share Posted November 27, 2009 Hi Trevor, I followed your link to your layout and was amazed by it very inspirational indeed and the layout is so well built puts mine to shame! It's a real shame that you have not been able to get on with it as it would turn out to be an excellent layout for exhibiting. The viaduct is very well done and the contours of the land make it look very real. I hope you can find a way to get it finished in the future. I can imagine watching the trains go by on it! Please keep me up to date on your progress with it as I would like to see more and I'm sure others on here would as well. Thanks, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C.M Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Hi Mark, The station building is looking great, shame about not getting enough time to do more modelling, but I know what you mean, this time of year does get a bit crazy. Cheers Peter, 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted November 30, 2009 Author Share Posted November 30, 2009 Hi everyone, I found enough time on Sunday to finishe fitting all the window frames in place. They were all a snug fit and then using a straightened out paper clip, to permanently fix everything in place and fill the gaps, a line of superglue was added around each frame. I have had time to run a few trains and as I have not posted any trains for a while and following Grimleys request to see some traction thought I would share a few shots with you all. 37 422 is a heavy weathered Vi-trains model which does run very well but did take me about 6 months on and off to get it to this condition - based on photos of it in Rail Express. 60029 on the other hand has been run in only so far and was a real bargain at only ??60. It looks the part on the Alcan working from Fort William to Mossend shame they can't actually run on the line! Hope you like them and the building in the layout setting. Will share more as progress happens. Thanks, Mark 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRDBLUE17 Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 Hi Everyone, Not got any modelling done but a parcel arrived Saturday morning fresh from the works of Andi - Cairns road works. My Bachmann sound fitted 20129 went away and has returned as 20307 in a weathered condition ideal for those RHTT if I had one! It appeared at Rannoch today with 37038 another superb DRS conversion by Andi. Looks and sounds brilliant running around the layout. I need to get my lighting sorted out for better photographs but thought you would like to see this loco on my layout. Hope you like it and thanks again Andi for another top notch conversion and repaint! Thanks, Mark 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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