The Diddington project

[wiggoforgold]

No it doesn't Rob. It's not fixed in place yet. I had it at the front as a central view blocker, but I'll try it at the back as that might help the impression of length I'm after.

Alex

[wiggoforgold]

I've been giving some though to the siting of the grounded van body, and have come up with some alternatives.

First, as originally set out, with the van body centre front as a deliberate view block.

 

 

Second, at the back, which gives a greater sense of space.

 

 

Third, at the end of the yard, which would act as a view block for trains entering the layout over the road. Originally I was quite keen on this one, but I think it might make the end of the yard look a bit cramped. What do people think?

 

 

Alex

 

 

[stivesnick]

Alex

 

To answer the question on where to locate the van body, will depend on what is stored inside the van and where the contents will be used. Tools for the PW team would be located closer to the main running track to allow easy deployment. Items for the yard itself could be located anywhere.

 

I would go for either options 2 or 3 as being close to both the track and access road.

 

Nick

[PMP]

I'd try it at front where those two white spots are. If it is too tall try a lower 'view block' like a low pile of sleepers to give foreground interest. Place as per pic 3 I'm not sure works as plausible, there's not much room to gain access to it and with the space around unlikely they'd position it in a awkward to use spot. I think a parked road vehicle at that location might give you a similar effect, partially blocking the back scene hole. I'd try not to put it along the back of the layout if going for the big sky look, to avoid a too linear look to the position of the structures, with them all parallel to the baseboard edge, does adding a couple of degrees angle to the building placing break the linear bias. I spend ages just moving buildings about, changing angles and orientation. Eg. the yard office, what does it look like turned 90 degrees, I know the prototype wasn't like that, but it may give an entirely new look to the scene, (which obviously might not be an improvement).

Edited October 23, 2018 by PMP

[NHY 581]

Morning Alex,

 

I think position 2 of the three but I would move it away from there and have an open space between the two buildings...just a big patch of longish grass. This woukd add to the open feel.

 

What about placing it to the right of the larger of the two buildings?

 

 

 

Rob.

[sb67]

My vote is for the first option as a bit of foreground interest, with some tools and associated clutter, maybe car or van alongside.

Steve.

[wiggoforgold]

Thanks for all the input. It's giving me a few more ideas to try out

 

I think a parked road vehicle at that location might give you a similar effect, partially blocking the back scene hole.

- this was the original plan, and I've got a couple of lorries to make up for exactly that purpose. I'd over looked that when experimenting with the building placement.

Alex

[wiggoforgold]

Morning Alex,

I think position 2 of the three but I would move it away from there and have an open space between the two buildings...just a big patch of longish grass. This woukd add to the open feel.

What about placing it to the right of the larger of the two buildings?

Rob.

Yep. I'm trying it out. I've moved it to the right of the waiting room, and I've move the waiting room itself slightly to the right, and the depot office slightly to the left, increasing the space between the two. The plan is for lots of long grass.

 

Alex

[NickBrad]

I like 1 or 3 personally, the area was quite sparse and having the 3 "buildings" lined up along the back to try and achieve a sense of balance, ends up losing the realism IMO. 

 

I love the station building, it's something that's on my list to do unsurprisingly, I really should make a start on getting all the buildings done rather than waiting for the space to build my W&U tramway model..... before anyone suggests a shelf layout for now, that space is taken up by my US shortline and sadly I don't have space to store one whilst using another.

[wiggoforgold]

I like 1 or 3 personally, the area was quite sparse and having the 3 "buildings" lined up along the back to try and achieve a sense of balance, ends up losing the realism IMO. 

 

I love the station building, it's something that's on my list to do unsurprisingly, I really should make a start on getting all the buildings done rather than waiting for the space to build my W&U tramway model..... before anyone suggests a shelf layout for now, that space is taken up by my US shortline and sadly I don't have space to store one whilst using another.

Thanks Nick.

There is now a "2A" version, in which the van body is to the right of both buildings, and the spacing between the depot office and the waiting room is increased. I can't post a pic yet as the waiting room is currently unavailable for photography.

 

Go for it re the buildings. I think it is helpful to have the buildings made before layout consruction commences, so you can do what I am doing and move them around to work out the best positions. If you need a plan of the waiting room I have made one which I can PM you.

Alex

[NickBrad]

That would actually be very helpful, thank you. I just had a quick browse through all the books I have here on the line, the Middleton press one does have plans, but for some reason no measurements to accompany it.

[wiggoforgold]

I've done a bit more on the waiting room, and given some more thought to the placement of buildings I can't post a pic yet as the waiting room is on the workbench, and I've just painted the floor, so until it dries I can't get to the bench.

In the meantime, heres a pic of D2201 entering Upwell Drove.

 

 

Alex

[wiggoforgold]

I've played around with the positioning of the buildings and come up with this:

 

I've moved the depot office and the waiting room further apart. The space between them will be a mixture of plain grass and yard surface. The grounded van body is now to the right of the waiting room. I want to keep it, because it's a GE van body which I hope helps to give a sense of the area. The parked lorry at the left hand end of the yard is a view block. The lorry used is only representative: The finished item will be a Bedford TK, more appropriate to the period and the location.

 

 

Work on the waiting shed itself has progressed. I've finished the basic structure of the roof, and have made a start on the decorative brickwork, starting with the plinth at the base of the building. The finished building will be set into the surface of the yard, which is why it might seem a bit high at the moment.

 

Alex

 

[NHY 581]

I like that Alex. Nice open, slightly neglected feel to it all.

 

 

Splendid.

 

Rob.

[Oldddudders]

I think when we talked at the Paignton show I got the distinct impression you were after wide-open spaces, and minimalist infrastructure. I think keeping the buildings, huts etc well-spaced definiately helps this feel.

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

You'll need to set up a fan off stage, blowing cold air across the layout into the faces of the spectators.  That'll help set the authentic Fenland scene.

[ianathompson]

If you follow the last suggestion I'd suggest turning it to maximum and adding a bowl of water!

 

I remember playing football at Tilney St Lawrence years ago when one of the players thought hailstones were falling. They weren't.

It was rain lashed into our faces by the gale!

 

I reckon that the ball was on the pitch for about 10 minutes in the second half. It spent the rest of the time one or two fields away.

 

Ian T

[wiggoforgold]

You'll need to set up a fan off stage, blowing cold air across the layout into the faces of the spectators.  That'll help set the authentic Fenland scene.

I once did a show at Newton Abbot racecourse. That had an authentic temperature.

Alex

[BlackRat]

Had a sneak preview tonight........... the layout is looking amazing especially how the three link together even tho they are separate it all stitches together seamlessly.

 

Can't wait till it's all finished.....

[wiggoforgold]

The plan this weekend was to finish the tiling on the waiting room roof, but I got bored, so I did some work on the scenery instead. Here are a couple of work in progress photos, which show the stte of play this evening. I must remove the grounding pin for the static grass applicator.

 

 

Alex

 

 

[NHY 581]

Rather nice......

[sb67]

Hi Alex, good to see your layout coming on. I've a question, I was wondering how you built the hipped roof on your hut, I'm trying to build one but cannot seem to get it right.

Mnay thanks.

Steve. 

[wiggoforgold]

Hi Steve

Construction is from card, glued together with diluted pva.

To do the roof I cut out a rectangle of card which sits on top of the sides, overlapping them by about 4mm all round (this will provide a mounting point for gutters later) I marked the centre line of the roof on it. The roof on my model is detachableso on the underside of the roof there are four strips of card which fit inside the sides, holding the roof in position.

I then cut a piece of card the height of the ridge. The bottom edge is the length of the roof, The top edge is the length of the ridge. Joining the ends gave me the slope of the hipped pieces. This was then glued in place on the base, and supported by triangular fillets from the ridge to the edge of the base. I put one at each end, and one in the middle of the side. These fillets will also support the roof.

This was then used to mark out the roof itself. I started with the sides, and fitted the ends to them.  

The completed roof was tiled from paper strips as in Chris Pilton’s book “Cottage modelling for Pendon”

Sorry I didn't take any photos of the roof under constructin.

Alex

[sb67]

Thanks Alex, that seems pretty straight forward, was there anything that determined the ridge height?

Steve.

[wiggoforgold]

Measure it using the drawing, it can be more or less exactly the same as the side view, just reduce the height slightly to allow for the thickness of the card used for the roof itself.

Alex