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Georgemas Junction in N


jennarivo
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Hey Shaun

 

Happy to see that you're modelling one of the most interesting railway spots in Scotland. Hope you've been able to continue work on your layout within the past few months. Would be happy to see some pictures of your progress!

 

Cheers, Kosta

 

Hi Kosta, not much progress this year I'm afraid.  I bough a flat in February that required extensive renovation and modernisation throughout, only got it finished in the last month or so and haven't had the motivation to look at the layout yet. 

 

What this space in the new year though....................

 

Cheers

Shaun

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Funnily enough up until this layout I've never really been into BR blue, it's been modern image previously; whatever that actually means now.....  Then, one day I started looking at old pictures of Georgemas and decided that that was what I wanted to model, I do remember (albeit barely) the end years of BR blue in the far north.  A change of residence last year from Caithness to Edinburgh also forced me to change scale from OO to N.

 

I'm not entirely happy with the plaster cloth terra-forming, it's a bit too crude for 'N' so the 1st task in the new year it to remove and replace with paper-mache.

Edited by jennarivo
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  • RMweb Gold

Hi , Before you have an earthquake of modroc and foam have you tried coating it with a textured masonery paint with some brown tint added or perhaps a grey. It fills all the little holes and adds an evening coat.

 

I have experimented with long length grass matt - sprayed lightly with greys and fawns to kill the green to give a quick win scenery on a bus diorama  would suit the basic flora of the area.

 

great model and more strength to the elbow

Robert    

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hello all and a belated happy new year.

 

I finally managed some progress on the layout this week, all the plaster cloth has gone and on the Thurso / Inverness end it has been replaced with newspaper stuck down with dilute PVA.  Prior to doing this I also removed about 25mm from the height of the embankments as it was really far to high and just didn't look right.  I'm quite pleased with the way it looks now and tomorrow I intend to make a start on the other two boards in the same fashion and give the landscaping on this first one a coat of burnt umber.

 

some pics to follow.....

 

cheers

Shaun

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Some pictures showing tonight's limited progress, newspaper landscaping now all beneath a layer of Soft Truffle emulsion.  One of those tins that you just can't bring yourself to part with after doing a spot of decorating.  After one stroke of the burnt umber I had a change of mind, deciding that it was just too dark for a base layer.

 

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Now that's done the next task is to sort out the platform tops - can't quite decide between card or plasticard, don't suppose it matters too much.

 

Some of the track work needs attention too a couple of knocks have been sustained in the move but nothing that can't be sorted before ballasting.

 

Might even have a running session at the weekend, I'm sure I've got some Xmas gifts from 2013 still waiting to be run it.

 

cheers

Shaun

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, another week down and the terraforming is complete.  I'm quite impressed with the newspaper/pva method its far less crude than plaster cloth and I'm quite glad I started it over again.  When the newspaper goes on at first and is still wet it doesn't look great, but as it dries it shrinks and the finished result is very even and quite solid too.  Also managed to get the platforms and station area surfaced in plasticard, still haven't had any trains running though  :(

 

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The 'Wick end' board makes its first appearance of the year and shows the lattice card framework that is then covered in dilute PVA soaked newspaper.  This side has had the terrain exaggerated a bit in order to hopefully help with the photography and a scenic break further down the line.  

 

 

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The station area looking towards Wick with a couple of maroon carriages alongside the loading dock which was lowered by about 1mm during the week as it was just a tad too high.

 

 

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Overview looking from the Wick side, this board has just been painted with emulsion, the bumps will disappear again once it dries.

 

That's all for now.

 

cheers

Shaun

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Little bit of progress this week, bridge retaining walls fitted and the picture below will hopefully give you a taste of things to come.  I don't intend to model the A9 road bridge in it current form, but rather something based upon the lattice sided iron version that preceded it.

 

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Started work on the station building today, I took measurements of the real thing and made some drawings about 18 months ago but for some strange reason I haven't noted any dimensions of the windows or doors - although i quite clearly remember measuring everything, in the pouring rain as it was.

 

Some pics below of the basic structure fabricated from 3mm foam board.

 

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The four sides with guess-timated window and door cutouts 

 

 

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Assembled structure with added stiffeners pinned and glued together

 

 

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Couldn't resist it - the station building more or less in situ on the layout.  You can't really tell from this perspective, but I've misjudged the terrain at the rear of the building, I've brought it in far too close need to dig it back about eight scale feet or so.

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

Not much progress made over the last two months or so, I've been incredibly busy at work and have had to write an assignment in my home-time for a course I'm doing.  However I'm now finding myself with more time in the evenings and am keen to move things on a bit as it's been almost three years since the layout was conceived and I've got precious little to show for it. 

 

Ballasting is next on the hit list, I did order some Carr's and Woodland Scenic's greys a while back but can't say I'm happy yet with the results of any of my trial mixes.  I've quite literally got hundreds of pictures of the station and the real life ballast appears in various shades of grey and brown throughout its days.  I order a few shades of brown last night which once added will hopefully give the variation I'm looking for.  I'm hoping to get away with a single weathering wash once laid and will post some pictures of my experiments in due course. 

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Hi Shaun,

 

Just read through this thread from the start - very enjoyable, thanks for posting.  Looking forward to your continuing updates. 

 

I wouldn't worry too much if progress is slow - I suspect most of us find from time to time that real life gets in the way and sometimes an enforced break can be beneficial as it can both refresh modelling mojo and give a chance for a more reasoned assessment of recent work.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

Edited by Ben A
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Hi Shaun

Really enjoying your thread. Like you, my progress on Parkway is not overly fast but want to make sure I have learnt from all the mistakes I made on my last layout.

Your layout is looking great and I look forward to seeing future progress.

Best regards

John

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The colour of ballast on the far north line is an unusual one, it's actually pink granite. For modelling I'd go for a light brown, light grey mix rather than a pack that says pink granite and try to pick shades which are warmer in tone.

 

Can't wait to see this layout finished, I spent part of my childhood living in Helmsdale and have fond memories of 37/4's under power reverberating through the valley as they headed north.

 

Carl

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Hi all

 

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement and advice.  

 

The ballast that i ordered during the week arrived yesterday so I made four trial mixes this morning and applied them to some very short test track sections.  This is my first outing in N gauge and I never realised until now just how far out of scale its ballast really is, I also found it a lot more fidgety to lay than OO and it may take me some time to get used to it; as the pictures below clearly show  :blush:

 

1st up, an overall shot of all four mixes and then a close-up of each.  Each mix has been made using a blend of the same shades and grey and brown, albeit in varying quantities.

 

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At the moment I'm leaning towards either the 2nd or the 4th mix (the greyer ones) or something similar as i think they are closer to the real thing and maybe use a light grey/brown wash to tone it down and blend it a bit.

 

Just for a bit of comparison, the first picture below was taken at Georgemas in 2012 and the 2nd and 3rd are from some point in the early eighties.

 

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Mmmm, time for some pondering I think  :scratchhead:

 

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Hi Check out petshops for very find sand/grits  you might find something finer.

Robert

 

Thanks for that, Robert.  I'd actually ordered some chinchilla dust last night to have a go with that and tonight i ordered some Noch stuff as well.  I'm really not happy with the size of the WS stuff that I've trialed, it's probably about twice the size I need it to be to even come close to the prototype.  I'd really been hoping to get a colour blend as close as possible to the real thing to minimise the amount of colouring / weathering required afterwards.  

 

I've done a good few searches on here too and the general consensus seems to be that actual 'true' N scale ballast is almost non-existent.  I'm not giving up yet though and will run some more trials over the weekend if supplies arrive in a timely fashion.

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hi ,

Whilst it will be time consuming and a real pain it is the colours not texture the eye will see- it will imagineer the stones. Air dried clay used by others stippled when drying with a shortish brissle paint brush is good for ash ballast in sidings in 4mm perhaps it would translate as small stones in N/2mm but of course its the painting and weathering to bring it out - some thing you have suggested you wanted to avoid.... the crosses we bear I guess. 

 

I look foward to futher experimentation...

Robert

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Some further progress with the ballasting trials and I think I have a winner.  Whilst patiently waiting for chinchilla dust to arrive I tried a slightly different mix of grey and browns, and this time I used the kitchen blender in an attempt to size reduce the particles - it worked.  Not only did it make the grains slightly smaller but it has also blended the shades together and now the grey and brown don't contrast so much with each other.

 

First picture shows the new blended mix - used a ballast spreader too this time and it makes for a far neater job.

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Second shows a comparison between the new blended mix and the original

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And lastly, this is the chinchilla dust which arrived today.  Ruled this out straight away as it is similar in size and coarseness to the original and would require a bit too much work to get colour into it.  It's still wet with glue in the pic.

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I'm happy enough now to make a start on the layout itself, I think the new mix once it receives a bit of weathering attention will scrub up not too bad and i can lighten / darken it as necessary to depict the cleaner / dirtier areas of the station.

 

cheers

Shaun

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  • 5 weeks later...

Thought i'd post a quick pic showing the ballasting in progress, this is last of the three boards.  I've been trying to do it in small stages of a metre or so per night, as if not I find it quite tedious and I end up taking less care than I should.  

 

Rather than the 'traditional method' of diluted PVA, I thought I'd give the WWS Ballst Glue a shot.  I initially tried applying it without pre-wetting the ballast but this didn't go so good and I resorted back to diluted PVA for the last few meters of track on the first board.  I tried the WWS stuff again on the second board, however this time I pre-wetted with a misting of water (plus some fairy liquid) and this made a big difference, the WWS glue quite literary just flowed straight into the ballast barely disturbing it at all.

 

The picture below is looking west showing the mainline to Inverness and the Thurso branch.  The speed at which I was able to apply the WWS glue is quite impressive also, the wet area in the pic only took a couple of minutes to do.

 

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Back with more soon.

 

Cheers

Shaun

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  • 2 weeks later...

Another very quick update,

Ballasting is now (thankfully) complete and the board pictured below has also had the ballast partially weathered, first with powders and then a dirty grey wash to seal them in.  Once all three boards have had this initial treatment I'll give them a dry brushing going over to add some variation to the sleepers and I'll also add some oily patches at the same time.

 

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I really must get round to finishing the junction box at some point in the near future

 

cheers

Shaun

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This week has seen the weathering of the ballast completed, although some oil staining is still required in a few places and I've since made a start cleaning the rails and points.  I tend to use a track rubber on the top surface of all rails and then mini-cotton buds dipped in IPA to thoroughly clean the contact areas on the switch blades, I've also found fine emery boards and small dental brushes can also be a big help especially around points.

So far so good, two boards down and tested with no running issues at all, although I am a little bit concerned about the final board as I managed to overdo the ballast glue and gummed up two sets of points  :blush: - oh well time will tell I guess.

 

26015 was the designated test loco seen here in the PW siding at the Wick end of the station.

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Cheers

Shaun

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