Aylesbury Junction

[iL Dottore]

Vrey nice work, but am I correct in assuming that the station building is not of UK origin, but a Euro kit (Faller? Vollmer? Kibri?)

 

iD

[Metr0Land]

Thanks. Indeed it is a Kibri Administration building. Hopefully with some canopy work over the front door, and over the platform it will be more anglicised.

 

The roof has diamond-shaped slates which I'd like to make more British so they may get covered in time. However, I discovered some GWR buildings (like Slough) had this pattern. I haven't yet found a 'prototype for everything' kind of tiling in the Chilterns yet, but I keep looking, to save the re-modelling necessary.

[TravisM]

Everything is coming along nicely, one thing I do like is that the roof trusses etc have been hidden in plan sight, so much so that you don't see them

 

Julian Sprott

[Metr0Land]

I haven’t been able to work on the layout itself for a little while but have picked up a project that’s been hanging around for ages.  I had a couple of green Airfix Class 31’s from way back, which still perform quite well but aren’t quite up to today’s standards.

 

The dull green covering is really quite horrible and the cabside numbers aren’t quite right, and of course the cabs weren’t flush glazed.  I’d held off attacking these for ages as I thought they’d need a full repaint but after taking the plunge realised this isn’t so.

 

I took some T-cut to the cabsides to remove the numbers and discovered that if you’re not too ham fisted the horrible dull sheen can give way to a reasonable finish.  In fact I went round the loco twice with T-cut washing in between.  The cabs were glazed with SE Finecast glazing which I’d also had forever.

 

New numbers and electrification flashes were from Modelmaster sheets. 

 

I’d decided to number it as D5537 on loan from Ipswich, which had been in service a couple of years and not exactly abused, but not given much TLC either.  I then applied a couple of thin  coats of satin varnish which were followed by my usual gunge of Joe’s Model Trains shale and dark brown, which was then immediately removed with cotton buds. 

 

When dry, the louvres were treated to a thin wash of Modelmates oily brown as the loco at this stage wouldn’t have been too unloved.

 

Original Airfix (except for flush glazing):

 

D5537 side on:

 

The bogies were treated to the same gunge, but with grey powder stippled whilst still wet, After drying, small amounts of Modelmates oily brown were added to parts of the bogies.  After that had dried, some  terra cotta powder was brushed over the bogies which is my choice for representing brake dust, and then over-dusted (including lower body sides) with dusty brown.  I find a ladies blusher brush very good for this final light dusting stage.

 

D5537 is caught on a trial run with some quad-arts:

 

Head-on the weathering looks a bit heavier than side-on so I may clean the sides a bit more.  The roof needs a bit more weathering and of course couplings and front end pipes need attention, along with doing some wiper blades, and the headcode boxes and.....

 

This has been quite enjoyable as it’s an inexpensive upgrade, and although it took several ‘passes’ none of them individually required any particular skill – just patience.  In fact just lately, I seem to be doing more and more rehab of old Airfix, Mainline, and SOME Lima items.

[Removed a/c]

What a beautiful layout. Lot so f nice details and I think I may get one of those Walthers freight depots seems to work nicely with OO. 

[Metr0Land]

Thanks thebritfarmer.  A lot of 'Victorian' buildings in UK, America and Germany are quite similar in terms of the upright walls.  It's just the roof and chimney detail you need to modify.  I guess architecture follows fashions like most things in life.  eg if you look hard enough you'll possibly find art deco buildings from around the world looking quite similar?

[TravisM]

I keep looking at the retooled Hornby Class 31 or Bachmann Class 25 and wondering.  Would look good hauling either a set of condemned or new stock.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Julian Sprott

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Thanks thebritfarmer. A lot of 'Victorian' buildings in UK, America and Germany are quite similar in terms of the upright walls. It's just the roof and chimney detail you need to modify. I guess architecture follows fashions like most things in life. eg if you look hard enough you'll possibly find art deco buildings from around the world looking quite similar?

 

Picked myself up a kit, not bad at all. Will start work on it this weekend. There are a few buildings in the range that I may purchase, funds permitting of course

[Metr0Land]

I bought a Bachmann J39 several years ago, and then discovered they weren’t all that common in the Chilterns!  However all was not lost as the loco was 64838 and this was one of the last in service, and indeed several of the final active ones gravitated to Woodford Halse, and I found a pic of 64838 not far away.

 

Like so many classes they were left to run down very quickly in terms of external appearance so a makeover was a necessity.  Unfortunately the cabside numbers on my specimen weren’t all that good so I replaced them with Modelmaster ones even though a coat of filth was going on top.

 

This is a solid little model which can give hours of modelling pleasure without needing any real technical skill.  Apart from numbering and weathering, I’ve added coal, fire-irons, crew, electrification flashes, and close-coupled the tender.

 

 

If the signalman can see past those box vans, he won’t be too happy about the loco running without lamps….

[Metr0Land]

A full 4 car set of Q stock has been spotted undergoing trial runs at AYJ:

 

 

I originally had a couple of the old Little Bus Co resin kits bought on that auction site nearly a decade ago, hoping to get some more to complete a 4 car set.  As you know the original ones were Q23 driver and Q38 trailer.   I really wanted a Q27 driver for the other end and ideally a Q35 trailer car but would have settled for any other trailer.  Blow me, when after all those years a pair came up late last year and they were Q27 driver and Q35 trailer so clearly a ‘must have’ for me.

 

These aren’t for the faint hearted and indeed I’d never have tried to complete these a few years back but taking a deep breath, I completed 2 last year and have now almost done the other 2.

 

I’d had a Tenshodo WB26 motor bogie in the drawer for years.  You can tell it was from the last century as the price label is £9.85 – bought for another project.  This is barely adequate for the job (even with plenty of weight over the bogie) but enabled me to get some practice fitting one of these and fettling it in.  When funds permit, I’ll try an Endo motor.

 

At the moment, the motor is under the Q35 trailer to get it more towards the middle of the train.  These 4 kits have 3 different underframes.  As a consequence, and due to the fact I might change the actual power bogie and its position in the train, all the cars are on accomodation bogies for now. I haven’t tried adding extra pickups as it didn’t seem worth it if I’m going to change the motor anyway.

 

The Q38 has a flat floor underneath so is currently on Bachmann Mk1’s.  Once I have the set finally sorted these should become Q stock bogies or at least Q sideframes disguising the Mk1’s.

 

Because the other 3 cars have wells under the floors and because I knew the Tenshodo would struggle, the Q23 Q27 and one end of the Q35 are actually on Lima Mark 1’s.  These normally come in for a lot of criticism but because of the deep wells under the floors and the fact these are very free running meant I could fettle them in quite easily.  Dummy collector beams along the side, and the fact that the springs on Mk1’s are roughly where they should be on Q stock bogies mean you can’t really tell at normal viewing distance.

 

One lucky accident of this is that after I’d cut the couplings off the Lima bogies, the couplings on the Bachmanns under the Q38 actually hook into a slot on the Lima bogies giving a good distance between cars.  This meant I just had to fashion one one-off coupling to couple the Tenshodo under the Q35 to the Lima bogie under the Q27.

 

 

The fact that the wheels are 11.5mm/12mm is quite helpful with the ‘sit’ of the cars, and the deep flanges on the pizza cutter wheels aren’t a problem on Code 100 track.  The Q27/Q35 still need weathering, but it was time to have a big tidy up, so I took these pics whilst there was room to set things up.

[Metr0Land]

After getting the Q stock substantially sorted, I thought it was time I tackled something else I’d been putting off for ages. 

 

The LNWR/Met Joint Line had a policy of providing grandeur on a budget.  As Aylesbury Junction was only meant to be a temporary terminus, they provided a fairly substantial passenger footbridge at the original station which doubled as a waiting area in the early days.  Up to date Victorian technology meant a cast-iron and glass footbridge could be provided cheaply but which looked ‘modern’.  Had Prince Albert lived, I’m sure he would have approved of the ‘flat pack’ technology that was used for the Crystal Palace being applied to this more prosaic structure.  A modest ticket office was situated on the overbridge behind.  (Observant viewers will note the building and overbridge are yet to be built on the layout).

 

Some while ago I bought a Faller item with a view to very substantial hacking – please be gentle with me as this is far and away the most substantial cut and shut job I’ve ever done!

 

Anyway, the time has come to shoot some location pics to make sure I’ve got it about right.  There are some improvements needed – see later text.   The view from the station yard:

 

 

A crueller close up shot:  Here we can see how the line was originally 2 tracks with an island platform.  When it was clear the objective of Aylesbury was not going the be reached, the LNWR had a hissy fit and filled in part of one platform face and created a sharp curve to take their line off towards what is now the WCML.  From this angle there is some light bleed around the bottom of the window frames which needs attention.  As you can see, years of low spend on maintenance has lead to part of the roof being replaced by asbestos sheet and some windows being boarded up and covered with galvanised sheet.  From here I can see the ridge tile along the asbestos area needs lowering a bit, but the overall size/location seems more or less ok.

 

 

Finally a driver’s eye view from trains entering from the north on what was LNWR and later, LMS territory.  The back wall is leaning in a bit at the top from this major cut and shut effort but will receive attention when the connecting bridge/corridor is taken from the corner to the ticket office.

 

[iL Dottore]

WOW, I AM impressed. I looked first at the pictures and thought that it was a brass etch, I then read the text.... Hard to believe it's a Faller cut'n'shut.

 

iD

[Removed a/c]

Look fantastic IMO. You have done a great job. 

[James Harrison]

Y'know, there's one thing aside from the modelling that I find pleasing here, and that's the photography.  The colours (or how they come out) are somewhat suggestive of older 1930s/40s colour film (at least, how said film has been reproduced in 'The Big Four in Colour') and that really adds to the atmosphere of a model set in the 1950s/60s.  Maybe it's just the beige in the wall paint fooling the camera a little, but it's a nice convincing effect nonetheless.  

 

A superb job on the model so far! 

[Metr0Land]

Thanks iL Dottore, thebritfarmer and James Harrison, you're very kind.

 

Must admit I hadn't thought much about the photos in that respect.  When I started shooting pictures on the layout, it took a while to get a combination that worked.  After I settled on something, the natural instinct was to use the same settings as a starting point.  You may be right about the beige - I'd decided not to have a backscene unless I can 'get it right' and you'll see I've not found anything yet, so beige it is!

 

If anyone's interested my starting point is iso400, 2 secs @ f20 using Canon 40D on timer.  I always have the curtains closed to try and keep some consistency.  However, with thinner curtains and brighter days, and shots nearer the window, these settings sometimes change but at least I have a datum point to start with.

[chaz]

Just had a look through this topic after your link on mine about fencing wire.

 

What a nice layout! I have always liked the idea of fourth rail but have seen a few disappointing efforts, that I thought missed the target. This layout bears out my view that fourth rail electrification can add a lot of interest. Some very good weathering on the stock too - what you have done to the coaching stock has really made them convincing.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Chaz

[Metr0Land]

Having done the footbridge, it meant I now had to work on the station building behind.  As the era is late Victorian in the Home Counties, substantial amounts of brown brick (Scalescenes) are in evidence on the building, and the supporting walls carrying the bridge over the line that never happened.

 

 

All the pieces are just resting at the moment as I need to get to the area off-camera to the left, so various bits of daylight are showing between sections. (The fence will be installed properly in time!)

 

 

A view from the window side showing the method of construction using 5mm foam board for walls and supports with brick paper added.  (The poor join by the fence should is again due to items simply being placed in position without finalising).

 

 

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The station area is looking good, the covered stair section is particularly nice. 

[Metr0Land]

We have a possible house move on the horizon which means work on the actual layout has been suspended, so for the current modelling season I’m getting on with some stock (albeit BR on this occasion).

 

The Hachette coaches caused quite a stir this autumn.  For £3.99 they seemed pretty good and a comment I saw on one of the discussion boards made me think you could spruce them up without needing a complete repaint (at least, not if you're keeping them maroon).

 

First up is the original out of the packet, a bit plasticky but by no means bad.  In fact the roof ribs are much better than Bachmanns and also better than the latest engineering prototypes of Hornby’s Railroad Mk1’s which are due before too long (at around £15?)

 

The main drawbacks are the solid underframe and the bevel around the edge of the glazing but from this angle (esp if train is moving) I can live with them.

 

 

 

First re-work: A coach with quite a bit of grime.  I'm pleased with this as from approx 2-3' away it looks good (to me anyway).  What I did was paint the inside of the maroon sides black which immediately gives some body to the red plastic.  Then 2 thin coats of satin varnish outside.  Finally 2 coats of black acrylic wash, in this case not wiping away the wash but letting it dry to build up depth. Some paint and powder on the roof, weathering on the underframe, and added No Smoking triangles to the relevant centre compartments.  Everything came out of the spares boxes so no extra expense.

 

 

 

2^nd re-work: Ex works and with Commonwealth bogies.  For this one and the next, I bought Bachmann Commonwealth bogies so this was the only expense.  As Commonwealths weren't fitted until 1962 on new build and that's the end of the period I do, I tried to make this ex-works but converted it to 2nd Open SO.  This meant changing the roof vent layout (easy enough) and fitting No Smoking triangles on the end bays.  I haven't got an interior for it yet.  I tried to bodge the old Peco card kit but made a mess of it.  As this was ex-works I gave it one coat of gloss varnish as a base for the coach crests.  Over this I applied a coat of satin varnish.  This time I gave it 2 coats of black acrylic wash but immediately wiped most off with a damp sponge. Absolute minimal weathering. I added ‘Emergency Lighting Point’ and star decals to the solebar as this coach has very little road grime.

 

 

 

Third re-work:  Another corridor 2nd BSK but this time with more Commonwealth bogies.  Weathering was somewhere between the ex-works and grimy ones.

 

 

 

(On these last 2 coaches they look a bit more plastic in the pictures than in real life – the camera can be very cruel!)

 

 

Still to come 4 more coaches.  I'll do an SO with Mk1 bogies and fairly heavy weathering, but after that I'm not sure about the other 3.