Its a Test

[del00]

I have given up on the blog, I do not have the time to keep it updated on the regular basis demanded by a blog.

 

With this I can post at my own leisure.

 

The whole idea of this layout is to experiment with methods and materials to find out what works for me and whether I have the skill to make it work. The plan is to be able to make a better crack at a layout in our next house.

With the permission of SWMBO I have commandeered the spare room. Originally the baseboard was to be suspended from the ceiling, but it is now too heavy and I am not confident that any such operation would work. First discovery, the baseboard does not have to be quite so well braced, it could also be made from lighter materials. This has now made the spareroom unusable. SWMBO is only slightly miffed. I love my wife.

 

The baseboard is constructed from 12mm chipboard and is 8' X 4' in size. Not being able to get a board this size in the car, I have had to use four 4' X 2' boards. the resulting mess getting these together is why the whole thing is so heavy. Next time I will use 6mm ply and batons as suggested on this and other sites. I really should take good advice and use it.

 

Pics of the baseboard follow.

 

 

The legs were supposed to be able to fold up when the board is raised to the ceiling. They do fold up but the idea is now redundant.

 

 

Although you can see the bus and the PM1's, this is to show the bracing that I thought was needed for the board. It has also caused other problems, but more of those later. Some of you may already have guessed what these are.

 

 

and again just to emphasise the point.

 

Anyhoo, the track is laid in a twin oval roundy with sidings and sheds in the middle. Not imaginative, but thats not the idea.

 

More later, I have posted this just to whet appetites.

 

 

More later

 

del00

[ajdown]

Why is it that so many SWMBO not realise that "spare room" means that it has absolutely no other uses, and thus is perfect for usage as a modelling room therefore not making it 'spare' any longer?

 

I like the 'carriage platforms' - who makes those please?

 

 

[del00]

too true ajdown, if you look closely at the first pic, you can see the bed under the board. Hey ho.

 

The platforms are Ratio (R0544) kits, three in total to make the extended pair.

 

del00

[del00]

The track.

 

I will do the power and control after this as I havent done the photo's yet.

 

As previously mentioned, it a twin oval with sheds and sidings.

 

The baseboard has a covering of cork floor tiles from Wickes to help with noise. This was painted with grey undercoat where the track would be, just in case any ballast came free. I should have added another layer for the track. This would have been more asthetically pleasing, giving the effect of a good shoulder and valley/cess between the tracks. Next time. The track itself is Hornby settrack. This is purely historical, next time we shall see. Power to the track is via droppers using .75mm electrical flex soldered to the bottom of the rail.

 

 

I have found that this is effective and is hidden well, no ugly wires soldered to the sides of the track. The cable is passed through drilled holes in the baseboard and connected to the bus (Next post). The track is then glued to the b/b using PVA and weights. Another problem encountered, one side of the board is by a window and above the radiator. It is prone to temperature fluctuations and is already lifting. ATM I am not too concerned, but in future I will look at Evostick Impact Adhesive as being a more permanent solution, maybe pinning the track, what works in this situation?

 

The ballast is Javis Fine Granite. This is far too course for 00 and I should have taken on board all advice and used Extra Fine. The colour of this ballast is IMO ideal. Using the standard method of sprayed mist, water with a drop of washing up liquid, then PVA mixed with water, I used 1:4 PVA to water as I found the 50/50 to thick, for fixing the ballast. My ballast did not go green! Should I shout about this or just keep quiet and not antagonise? The PVA is Unibond Exterior, Waterproof. But only because I had a big tub from the work on the house.

 

 

 

As you can see from this picture, some of the track is old steel and some new nickel silver.

 

For the most part I am very pleased with the effect, only tarnished by the lifting.

 

The track is then weathered using Railmatch Sleeper Grime. I really need to get an airbrush, the spread and coverage would be far more controllable. The budget will not allow this yet.

 

 

This is only partly done in this picture, as it is going into a tunnel. Honest.

 

 

The track needs a good clean now. I am using a gaugemaster trackrubber and the back of a roll of masking tape to bring up a nice shine. I dont know if the masking tape will leave any residue as I have only just started to try this method, I will report later. I started with this because I was tired of bits of cloth catching on the ballast. It looks effective, will post pics of the result later. In this sidings, the track has been weathered using the powder from ground BBQ briquettes. These are ground using an old battery operated spice grinder, nicked from the kitchen. It had never been used and was gathering dust. After having read that there is no substitute for real coal, the idea came for this as a method. I will post pics of this later, I am pleased with the result.

 

So the tracks all down, ballasted and weathered. Next up a post about the power and operational aspects.

 

Another teaser to finish with, a look across the yard from the back of the shed, the maintenance platforms for ajdown.

 

 

thanks

 

del00

[Brush47337]

Very nice work Del00

 

I think progress shots like yours are a great part of RMWeb. There needs to be a balance of "how realistic does my layout look in this photo" and "here is a log of the underside bits and how I did it" styleee.

 

I love looking at both and your layout here looks like it will start in the "how to do it camp" and end in the "loookey loookey camp" - no harm in that.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Stuart

[del00]

thanks stuart,

 

Unfortunately I cant give a full photographic step by step as the camera has been faulty for nearly 18 months, about the same time that it has taken to get to this stage.

 

Fortunately being a Canon camera it had the well documented ccd issue and was sent for free repair. Even though it is seven years old. Lovely Canon.

 

As a result, I can give written description and photographic teaser. There are better shots, but I'm keeping those for further updates.

 

del00

[Brisbane King]

Thanks for sharing this! ? Particulary think your doing a good job on the ballasting and the track weathering. ? 

[del00]

Thanks Hotel Brisbane,

 

Some more of the track weathering, focusing on the bbq briquette idea.

 

 

and

 

 

The ground briquette is applied when the ballast is still wet from fixing. Application is from height by tapping a laden flat brush. The track has been sprayed and polished. I have given up with track rubbers, did not take long, as there is too much debris. I'm using a soft wire brush attachment for the dremel and finishing with the masking tape mention before. The slight green tinge is on purpose by colouring the fixer mix. Not sure that it works.

 

Anyway power, control and operation.

 

The operation is DCC. I chose this as it is far easier to wire than DC, and it is possible to run multiple loco's on the same track. After much consideration I plumped for the Bachmann Dynamis. The reasons for this include; wireless controller, ease of use and price. Chips are also Bachmann, but this is because I'd read that the Hornby ones were not all that. I understand that the newer, R8249 is better than their previous offering. As discussed earlier, the droppers are .75mm electrical flex, the bus is also. This gives a good indication, blue and brown, of the polarity when connecting everything up. Connection from the droppers to the bus is via terminal blocks.

 

 

This is ideal if you've put a length of track in the wrong way round and need to change your wiring. The problem here is attaching the block to the underside of the board. Not easy. The end of the bus is presented as a terminal block. This makes it easy to switch between DCC and DC for running in and testing loco's prior to chipping.

 

Point operation is by Seep PM1's.

 

 

These are easy to wire up and provide a switched signal back. I have used this to indicate the direction of the turnout at a control panel. Switches are single pole (on) off (on). Very standard.

 

 

Unfortunately as discussed earlier, the bracing under the is such the some turnout operation has to be above. The solution was Hornby, not ideal, no feedback and one does not fully work, its near the front of the board so not a big problem. As a result, some LED's are missing from the panel above. The panel is the ideal width for perching the dynamis receiver on top. Power to the motors and LED's is from a basic Hornby DC controller. This has the added function of DC power when needed. Power smoothing is by Express Models.

 

Enough waffle, next possibly buildings, maybe rolling stock and loco's?

 

Photoshopped teaser.

 

 

ta

 

del00

[del00]

This is the reason why the blog will not work for me, too long between posts.

 

I have a couple of days off work so am able to relax and play.

 

Buildings.

 

All buildings ATM are Scalescenes. I cannot recommend these enough. I cannot vouch for the prototypicality (is that a word), but they do look good. These suit me down to the ground. Having looked at layouts with Metcalfe, I was deeply unimpressed with the white corners and edges plus what you buy is what you build. I used Superquick all those years back when first into modelling trains. They appear not to have changed at all.

 

The benefits of scalescenes are, an amount of detail not matched by any other model yet seen. If there are alternatives, I will gladly look. I cannot be bothered to spend the time that others do adding detail brick by brick. I applaud those that have the patience for this. Once bought, the models can be printed as many times as you like, either because an error has been made, or because you want mutiple/extended buildings. As opined in other threads, I am sceptical about the depth of morter joints on embossed card, if .3mm=1inch, thats a mighty deep morter joint. But the main thing here is the price.

 

The engine shed and goods shed are built using card. I could not find any the correct depth, so ended up using foamboard, http://www.foamboardonline.co.uk/Display_Board I have seen others using fibreboard. I will try this for later models as the foamboard can be difficult to cut and blunts scalpel blades very quickly.

 

 

The first building shown is the Gable Roof Engine Shed. The concrete base is as provided. I have built the edges up so that there is little or no slope. Measure the depth of the sleeper and provide card accordingly!

 

 

 

As you can see, the detail is carried through into the buildings themselves.

 

 

There is even print detail for the windows, with the added option of frames by Brassmasters. In front of this will be a fuelling point, deciding between Bacchy and Knightwing. The concrete pan will be extended either way.

 

Next up the Goods Shed.

 

 

Due to the time taken to fix the camera, this building has already been natured. The tufts are by Noch, clumps by Woodland Scenics, 'buddleia' by Mininatur and scatter by Hornby. I have taken ques from the buildings I see around me in London.

 

 

and signed. All from Ten Commandments.

 

 

and further detailed. Gutters and downpipes by Ratio and drain covers by Wizard Models, pallets by Modelscene and Ten Commandments.

The accurate ballasting was acheived by siting the building, marking out and then being pedantic with the ballast. Only the CCTV to add really.

 

 

Next is the station.

 

Platforms, as per remit, there is an experiment here. ATM, ground tarmac is provided by messrs wet and dry. This can be effective, but only up to a point. The platforms are built to my spec, two of.

 

 

Construction of the base is standard for the type, here with a bulge for the station building,

 

 

and on the right with the termination of this line, yet to be buffered. On the right is the attempt at the platform surface using wet and dry, edging tiles as provided by scalesecenes and yellow lines taken from a popular texture site, resized and joined in photoshop. These are 1mm thick are I think quite effective. I was disappointed with the 'tarmac' so tried using the tarmac sheets provided.

 

 

With the addition of the covers from Wizzard Models, the edging and line, I think this is almost convincing. I should have gone wih the smaller channel covers. This is not finished yet.

 

 

 

The building is from the big station set, the main terminus is for later as that will be on the tunnel with the platform footbridge providing access to the platforms. I will post that later. I am not using the roof cover.

 

As a whole this has enabled me to stage photo's such as the ones below.

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy,

 

ta

 

del00

[del00]

addendum,

 

the link for the foamboard should be

 

http://www.foamboardonline.co.uk/STAR_BUYS/?sortmethod=name&page=2

 

ta

del00

[del00]

Locos,

 

As you may already has guessed, there is no location or period for this layout, I run what I like, which is not much ATM.

 

First buys were all about getting some kind of DCC traction on the layout. The prime factor was budget. These loco's were from split packs and pre-installed chips. Again harping back to history, the choice was Hornby, the railroad range.

 

First up, the 47 Dionysis.

 

 

Shown above alongside my other purchase at the time, 08 D4093. These have the older Hornby chip and need hardwiring to be replaced, a job for later. The 08 runs very intermittantly, often reseting itself back to id0003. Possibly due to poor contact with the pickups.

 

Coaches to go with the 47 are old recovered from the loft BR MK2's, possibly LIMA.

 

Then came the Patriot, Royal Leicestershire Regiment 45503. A very good looking loco, bought with 3 LMS burgundy coaches.

 

 

This has had the detail remove, as it was fouling on the curves.

 

Then the 33 from Heljan was bought. This was nice and cheap from Hattons. A beautiful runner. Seen at the goods shed with old Hornby wagons. I plan to buy some railfreight VGA's to go with this. For the moment these will do. Brake is a shark in Stratford depot livery.

 

 

 

Last up so far is the Bacchy 108DMU in green with whiskers, which for some reason I do not have any photo's of, but can be glimpsed at the back of a shot from my first post.

 

Future plans involve replacing both the 47 and 08 and the BR coaches. Also adding the 4CEP in blue and grey from Bachmann. I think that will be enough as there will be a lack of space, even for storing on the layout.

 

A few extras as usual.

 

 

Waiting for funds to add barbed wire from Ten Commandments to the fence from Ratio.

 

 

Hope you all enjoy

 

ta

del00

[Poindexter]

Layout progressing well. But, more importantly, thank you for mentioning where all the little extras were sourced from (signs, drain pipes etc). Very important stuff for those of us that have yet to start on building construction and detailing.

 

Keep up the good work

Guy