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North Welsh Coast Railway - Welsh Dragon Rail


Anthony Ashley
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Dear Bogie,

 

Thankyou for your kind words. I agree that there are challenges working in N gauge. I do have a little advantage as I have been painiting 15mm Napoleonic figures for the last 50 years. My most challenging figures included 4 battalions of Scottish Highlanders. The kilts  were tiny but generally included 5 colours. I have provided a photo or so to show the painting done many years ago.  

 

Gordon Highlanders of the British Army

 

IMG_5930V2.jpg.2ca03a97fd054ac4474631592cecae87.jpg

 

IMG_5931V2.jpg.66f870b3bd48764df1357f751d89829f.jpg

 

Cameronian Highlanders

IMG_5932V2.jpg.d7ee4685c3112d44703a3e4a571d144e.jpg

 

French Dutch Guard Lancers

IMG_5934V2.jpg.3e8fefb2c906a8db3ac734baec34278d.jpg

 

IMG_5935V2.jpg.179317e067f37bd313f0af3def8db7e2.jpg

 

French General Lasalle with pipe

 

IMG_5936V2.jpg.ecc3c5af76943b06d1f5e9e7e49a454d.jpg

 

Fantasy Knight FigureIMG_5937V2.jpg.7379a13846f341e9d52d91f4491b057e.jpg

 

IMG_5938V2.jpg.96628c2951e79d8e4112434adf646a3d.jpg

 

IMG_5939V2.jpg.c0ddd1fe29a803f4e2cc1af67e161547.jpg

 

I have done some work on the curved avalanche shelter. Photos to follow.

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

 

 

 

 

 

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Dear All,

 

Continued with avalanche shelter near Pen-y-clip viaduct. Also completed wiring the Yellow Bangor platform track section to the plastic strips stage with the help of Sarah. Photos of the avalanche shelter are below:

 

IMG_5941V2.jpg.4a27594fab4b92efe9e490ee2d94e700.jpg

 

IMG_5942V2.jpg.3c67ee1c4282ef85f37f28ffd5aa8ca9.jpg

 

I need to add paint, dirt (coffee grounds) and vegetation to the top of the shelter. Once this is done the wire can be pulled down to create the cliff around the edge of the mountain.

IMG_5943V2.jpg.e441adb580df42ccc2bbe62c7d223fb2.jpg

 

IMG_5945V2.jpg.78cf62c0e5c8622619a9429c80cd8a19.jpg

 

Next is to paint the avalanche shelter.

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

 

 

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Dear All,

 

Avalanche shelter has been painted and dirt added on top of the roof. Photos below.

 

IMG_5946V2.jpg.70b59a1823a21328d9784d0d64f8a3a1.jpg

 

IMG_5947V2.jpg.c3743aac8d56cd324bb93be5cc92bafa.jpg

 

IMG_5949V2.jpg.a70e3bb4b9f0acdc94981dc8b485416e.jpg

 

I have commenced securing the wire to create the cliff. This required an extra support behind the shelter.  Next is paper mache up to the edge of  Penmaenmawr. I shall add some and much vegetation to the top of the avalanche shelter and more shading on the stone work later but for now it will do.

 

Regards,

 

 Anthony Ashley

 

 

 

 

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Dear All,

 

Some work on the paper mache and a small problem hopefully solved. Photos are below.

 

Penmaenmawr side of the mountain 

IMG_5950V2.jpg.df0a2dcd4f47dd48cb96916922efaa14.jpg

 

View of the avalanche shelter

 

IMG_5951V2.jpg.b3a4b82d2fb424da6625875271d22679.jpg

 

Problem is the gap between the slope and the avalanche shelter, which should mesh together. allowing the shelter to be removed by sliding out,  and provide track access.

 

IMG_5952V2.jpg.6de5f0d2d059071b5458236506f538c2.jpg

 

I shall add a small section of thin plasticard and paper mache over the top of it up the slope. This will still allow the avalanche shelter to slide out under the plasticard strip which shall be appropriately sceniced.

 

IMG_5953V2.jpg.8179f17134d673f26c63ce76c16ba520.jpg 

 

Around the mountain side

 

IMG_5954V2.jpg.b80c96b0c800427026dd13c2081ed889.jpg

 

IMG_5955V2.jpg.f02c64057c9412fb430ce4b7ebe72f55.jpg

 

 

IMG_59512V2.jpg.f3b25e6bdc4cf6d61502eb312c5984e9.jpg

 

I have since painted the paper mache brown to reinforce water proofing/ Will add some more layers of paper mache and then paint again. Once the painting is completed I shall add scree and cliffs and vegetation.

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley 

 

 

 

 

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Dear All,

 

Painted the paper mache brown but have then recoated with more paper mache. Photos are below with the plasticard providing a slippery underside to facilitate the removal of the avalanche shelter.

 

IMG_5958V2.jpg.0aef2214102c357a62cdcdc19eff1725.jpg

 

IMG_5959V2.jpg.777f2a63e6ef31e133b58e19f703caf4.jpg

 

IMG_5960V2.jpg.286215c562aa382b20013df79c570bd9.jpg

 

IMG_5961V2.jpg.9288fa469f41a087c8e78ffc6c763a6a.jpg

 

More layers of paper to finish the paper mache. Paint again and then move onto screeing the slopes.

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anthony,

 

you might want to join Western Thunder, there’s a very impressive set of photos of the castle & more to come I guess, in this thread.

 

https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/index.php?threads/philhs-very-miscellaneous-photo-album.9108/page-3

 

like RM Web, it’s free to join, and there’s some seriously good modelling there too.

 

atb

Simon

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Simon,

 

Thank you for sharing your knowledge of the site above. I went to have a look and it is very promising with some great photos. I have signed up for the site and waiting for ack by the administrators. Thank you again for letting us now of such a rich resource on the area.

 

 I have finally finished wiring and testing power from the train controller to the main lines and all is good. I still need to wire about half the orange section in the Bangor platform area, but it should be  a simple job. I realised after I had finished I had not drilled the holes for the piano wire to go through the base board for auto switch control. Am drilling those holes now.

 

No photos as wiring is not very photogenic!!

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

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Dear All,

 

Have been doing some work over the last 3 weeks so less progress on the layout. I have at least managed to complete drilling the 40 holes to take the piano wire to move the points in the Bangor area. I should have drilled these before completing the wiring but the job is now done. I shall now move around to the Penmaenmawr side of the layout and complete more paper mache, paint, attach plaster rocks and moulds to create ravines as required in many areas.  and put a layer of concrete scree in the gaps. The scenery should be quicker so I hope to make faster progress, although work will continue as well. I shall be able to work for all of the weekend on the layout. 

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley   

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Dear All,

 

Some work on the road way leading onto the Road viaduct and the scree area is painted. Photos below.

 

 

I had to widen the road area as the viaduct was placed a short distance from the back cliff and the original road was cut back for the original intended placement. i used a drop saw to cut the two unpainted pieces showing in htei photo. The top slice was challenging as it is only about 10 mls wide. I shall add a 18 ml ply wall once the road base has been sanded back.  

IMG_5963V2.jpg.aeb90f81f2cad25b7e1043f99ef56aca.jpg

 

Cliff face has been repainted again awaiting scree and plaster gullies

IMG_5965V2.jpg.b6f80a9108334b31bc4ebe91412e3dd2.jpg

 

IMG_5966V2.jpg.35c79bc76dee11d2cfc3c96e2773daa7.jpg

 

 

Back to the road base with some plasticard cut to create a boundary for the road base plaster pour (coloured the plaster with black pigment for a asphalt effect). The plasticard is used also to rest against as I slide a levelling stick over the plaster pour. The paper was to cover some holes in the wall. When the paper got wet it was a real nuisance during the pour, flopping down onto my road base.

IMG_5967V2.jpg.58e7335541ea59e2879af023c10253c9.jpg

 

First pour of the pigment coloured plaster. I rubbed very lightly with a finger  when it was still a little damp to get rid of air bubbles. Need to see the effect once sanded tomorrow to see if the air bubbles reappear. If so another shallow coat of plaster Need to slightly raise the height of the road against the viaduct road with some more plaster.

IMG_5968V2.jpg.e641ddb60cc97924fc242a7f71b24711.jpg

 

IMG_5969V2.jpg.6cc584b32de62590639b218781f3afd6.jpg

 

 

Next section ready to be poured with another 50mls of plaster.

 

 

IMG_5971V2.jpg.4a3a9c945956da20f4fa6a45ebe112c0.jpg

 

I have continued the plasticard around the hill for some distance. need to do a few more pours of plaster once each one has dried. Hope the slope will not interfere with the pours tooo much. I decided to some of the road as I need to create a short tunnel above the bottom road just before the first avalanche shelter.

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

 

 

IMG_5970V2.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dear All,

 

While progress appears to be slow it has been steady. I have cleaned all of the main line track a nd have tried to finalise the electrification of the Penmaenmawr switch point decoders. I managed to run a diesel with 10 coaches from the southern Panmaenmawr around the bottom of the layout up to the switch area for the transition to the hidden track. I need to permanently electrify all of the decoders in that area and then I can run the rake all the way around to Conwy.

 

I did have some trouble with the Penmaenmawr decoders. There are 4 of them connected to one 16V 3.36A DC power pack. Individually they are all operational off the power source. I can connect the fist 2 and they operate, but when I connect the third they flash and do not operate. The third one will operate as the only decoder off the power pack. I am not sure what is the issue, as I have checked all of the polarities on the power and track connections and they are all the same for each decoders.

 

Any ideas from any one?

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

 

    

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Wow on two counts.  
 

What a great find!  
 

and what an extraordinary example of commercial model-making.  Truly spectacular.  The photos tha5 have been published were presumably taken for cataloging purposes, they too are outstanding.  

 

thanks for posting

Simon

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Sir Douglas,

 

Thanks for posting the site. Any additional information is always very valuable. Looking closely at the photos of the diorama is very exciting and rewarding. I appreciate the contribution made by those reading the posts and this is really very helpful. Thanks again.   I find it interesting that the length of the whole model is about 1.5 meters, whereas the viaducts in my model alone are nearly 2 metres in length. With the smaller scale comes more detail!!

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

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  • 2 months later...

Dear All

 

A long gap fot train modelling with my apponment to do an inquiry which took 3 months. Now finished and back to regular progress on hte layout. I hav added some tunnesl ot the roads , but just very first stage whith foam blocks glued in place. I need ot compare the pictur of the area to see if I need to add a ittle more foam to bulk out the groungd area further. Once I have got sufficient land mass I need to sculpt the foam and add plaster gullies and cliffs.  A few pictures below:

 

First tunnel area with land mass. Perhaps one mor layer of foam at the top.

IMG_5972v2.jpg.0aa25f11da271a7ff0b30ecb860f9b51.jpg

 

IMG_5973V2.jpg.2d7b1c1ac729d2aa20a7ff7d89ee1966.jpg

 

Second tunnel. I shall bilk out under the overhang on hte broen section and then add a side rock areaIMG_5974V2.jpg.577d9c8854a15418bf06dded94fe9d39.jpg

 

IMG_5976V2.jpg.cab408403589fbed19f366ccac00d96c.jpgIMG_5977V2.jpg.dd55c19df9a5553ea83c41c1c758b801.jpg  

 

I need to add more ashphalt to the road before adding more foam to the second tunnel. I then need to add more foam bown hte mountain and sculpted the tunnells. Once thsi is done i shall add more rocks and dust to the area.

 

Regards,

 

Anthony AshleyI 

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Dear All,

 

Thanks for the responses above. I have been working on the tunnels and plaster rocks  to line the cliff sides. It is alittle hot in the shed at the moment but battling on. Photos are below.

 

Plaster rock production line!!

 

IMG_5978V2.jpg.8ca002086eebea121eb8ed83631b608d.jpg

 

 

Rocks out of the moulds.

IMG_5979V2.jpg.d3c7a611b78b3f3150ce90908dabfc72.jpg

 

Side of the second tunnel furthest away from Penmaenmawr.  I used a dremel to cut the tunnel mouth.I 

 

IMG_5980V2.jpg.bfcc7d8613d98f79f1397f67da69bae2.jpg

 

IMG_5981V2.jpg.aeeadde9933e9b85a2cae888c00e7b84.jpg

 

Tunnel mouth not cut on the other side of the rocky outcrop.       IMG_5982V2.jpg.1ef00602b6e2e9e8af2562b98422b5d8.jpg                                                                                                                   

l need to cut the second tunnel mouth, continue creating the plaster rocks and to install those rocks onto the cliffs. The overhang needs to be filled in with more foam. 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

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Dear All,

 

Thanks for the responses. A little more work on the tunnels and cliffs below.

 

White paint added as the mortar for the tunnel mouths.

IMG_5983V32.jpg.ad73758ced59d84b253df1f641b8880f.jpg

 

IMG_5984V2.jpg.669731d89814d652d8fc6b8a440cd579.jpg

 

Stone colour added.

IMG_5985V2.jpg.2998ab76ea9c924e46c4e68563303a2e.jpg

 

 

The tunnel has been lines with  paper and scale scenes stucco.

IMG_5987V2.jpg.0dd89ef33c36a7d7b43d0237138bffea.jpgIMG_5988V2.jpg.b8f38c52dde7f132e8a6f52a091a5e0e.jpg

 

Surrounding stones added. 

 

IMG_5990.JPG.b64486f5a89338542f52c92a98ab6992.JPG

 

Other end with final stones to be added.

 

Will finish off the last tunnel mouth and then start carving the foam cliffs. 

 

Regard,

 

Anthony Ashley

 

 

IMG_5992V2.jpg

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Lez,

 

thanks for the encouragement. It seems like my break from modelling was very long, but I did a lot of work in that period. I finished the last tunnel portal so photo is below. I think it is slightly better than the first so I hope to keep improving. Close up photos are never ver flattering.

 

IMG_5995V2.jpg.a2a4d03e84b9d708531c98356b83d43c.jpg

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley 

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Lez,

 

I agree that what can look great to the naked eye may look really average under the scrutiny of the close up!!

 

I have had some help from Ross in lending a perspective on the tunnel area in terms of sculpting the foam and adding the most relevant pieces of plaster rocks. He has a very good eye for detail. Photos of yesterdays work are below.

 

Side of the tunnel furthest away from Penmaenmawr.

IMG_5997V2.jpg.07152d5914e4ac9a7ab3e35b83200311.jpg  

 

IMG_5998V2.jpg.2e5fb8b36fa8cec4300b79c15f055ed6.jpg

 

Other side.

 

IMG_5999V2.jpg.eda99c05f6d3a231abea6a7ecfcca528.jpg

 

Cliff face. The top of the slope has a lot of vegetation and no rock visible.

 

IMG_6000V2.jpg.4b64a7b78b1c783f473e57fcd9b36591.jpg

 

This is the section being built.

 

1846257252_Tunnel1.jpg.8505e738a95f6d8bf5db55cafd6a38eb.jpg

 

Next is to fill in the gaps with small plaster pieces, Paint the yellow sections brown and paint the rocks with water based paint. Then vegetation.

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

 

 

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Richard - have a  look!   It's quite a big mountain to "just clear"...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penmaenmawr

 

The name Penmaenmawr is the Welsh for 'Head of the Great Stone', or 'Great Headland of Stone' contrasting with Penmaenbach; Pen meaning 'head', maen meaning 'stone' and mawr meaning 'large'.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Penmaenmawr/@53.2629775,-3.9561032,1339m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x48651cc5b17a40c3:0x5dfe500cd5cb0bd!8m2!3d53.266577!4d-3.92065?hl=en

 

image.png.bd018f055c784a9c27609aefa0394cd5.png

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Richard and Simon, 

 

Thanks for adding to the discussion. I agree that it seems very odd that they took out so much fill to create the road but left the two rock areas and went through then. I have shown both below rather than just the one. Simon I did not understand the Welsh derivative of the name, being an ignorant Australian and not well versed in Welsh language. It makes a lot of sense in how you explained it as the headland does look a bit like an axe head. Thanks for the great photo. The blue sky and cloud sis very similar to my hand painted back scene which a number of people have said is unrealistic. The photo is proof of blue skys at least on some days!

 

807935206_Tunnels2.jpg.1ce0798a03cba5b2307214706acfed39.jpg

 

I have added more plaster to fill in the gaps. Photo is below as well.

 

IMG_6003V2.jpg.f61d64f0033544162fd3f0677dfd1ddb.jpg

 

I made email contact with the shop owner for the puzzle of the loco leaving Conwy ,but after initial contact he has not been responsive.  

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley 

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