Porth Dinllaen in 0

[Simond]

A little progress yesterday and this evening; I have laser cut new ramps to save the loco crew from tripping as they walk over the tracks, and created a new base & edge for the path around which they push the table. I’ve only done the main in & out roads and the back siding so far, I need to work out how to get the stub road buffers into the horribly small space I have. I may consider a retaining wall, but I’m open to better ideas!

 

Last week, I also installed a pair of Andy Duncan’s yard lamps, and rewired the lights inside the coal stage. There were two pairs of GOW bulbs in series, and I put the yard lamps similarly in series, but it was simply too dark. I have now rewired them so there are three bulbs in parallel within the upper level, and the two yard lamps are also paralleled. They are now too bright, of course, but this way, I can fit a dimmer to the supply and adjust to a sensible illumination. I’m waiting for Pete Stephenson at Scale Signal Supply to send me a “Y lattice” Signal Post etch, so I can build the rather striking tall yard lamp that figures in the Leamington picture.

 

Following on from the picture, there’s a water crane, hiding behind the lamp. That led me to a relocation of the water cranes, and I’m much happier with them now. Still got the bags to make. Might well try Miss Prism’s ally foil suggestion.

 

The pits outside the shed did not come out as planned. My drawing must have been awry as they are not as neatly between the rails as they should be, so they have to be remade. There’s a challenge there. I have to hold the rails in place without the chairs being stuck down, because I’ll need to take the piece of MDF out to cut it, but of course, if the chairs are not located the rails will try to straighten again... Not quite sorted that out in my head yet. And you may recall that some of my sleepers were a wee bit off centre. Well, it did annoy me, so I’ve fixed them on the near road. I’ll do the far road in the next couple of days, before ballasting the lot.

 

And I do need to cut the rest of the wall panels and the vertical girders for the shed. Then I can get on to building the roof.

 

Meanwhile,

 

 

The ramps, and

 

 

The lamps

 

Best

Simon

[N15class]

It's getting a nice atmosphere with the lights on.

[boxerbayrailway]

Full of atmosphere,  looking really nice.   Always tricky getting the lights to be just right,  not too dark,  not too bright.

I particularly like the staircase leading from the coaling stage,  and the light outside the entryway.

Edited September 25, 2018 by boxerbayrailway

[Simond]

Thanks guys,

 

I forgot to mention the outside light, I bought it at Telford from Railroom Electronics. It’s a well made metal affair with a whopping great nut on the inside of the wall, which isn’t elegant, but is wholly effective. It is supplied in a mid green reminiscent of SR EMUs, and cost about a tenner. It has a small surface mount LED, unfortunately not warm white, so the colour is a bit “modern”. I painted the outside in light stone, and left the inside.

 

It was supplied with a 620R resistor, I’ve upped that to 3k3 and it’s too bright too! Hopefully the dimmer will tame it.

 

I’m getting to thinking my dimmer will have to be multi-channel...

 

Best

Simon

[Jintyman]

 

It was supplied with a 620R resistor, I’ve upped that to 3k3 and it’s too bright too! Hopefully the dimmer will tame it.

 

 

 

Not trying to teach Grandma to suck eggs, as you're far more qualified than I am, but I've found a good 10K resistor gives a nice soft glow to the LED lights. That's what I've used on my locos where I've fitted LED's and also my brake vans I've fitted lighting to.

 

The shed atmosphere is certainly getting there. It looks fantastic with the lighting too, especially as Felix suggested above, the staircase with the lamp above.

 

Jinty

[Fastdax]

Thanks guys,

 

I forgot to mention the outside light, I bought it at Telford from Railroom Electronics. It’s a well made metal affair with a whopping great nut on the inside of the wall, which isn’t elegant, but is wholly effective. It is supplied in a mid green reminiscent of SR EMUs, and cost about a tenner. It has a small surface mount LED, unfortunately not warm white, so the colour is a bit “modern”. I painted the outside in light stone, and left the inside.

 

It was supplied with a 620R resistor, I’ve upped that to 3k3 and it’s too bright too! Hopefully the dimmer will tame it.

 

I’m getting to thinking my dimmer will have to be multi-channel...

 

Best

Simon

 

It's a bit hard to tell from the photo, but the outside lamp looks a bit like one of these:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-O-gauge-Led-Street-wall-Lights-Model-Train-Lamps-Railway-Lamp-posts-R45O/401142288387?hash=item5d65f19003%3Am%3AmqXXDM23T9qKfxG2Mcoz3oA&var=670687443208

 

I've got a few of these on OQ and they have a nice, warm white LED in. I usually fit a tiny preset pot in series with any group of LEDs to allow me to wind the brightness up or down. Cheaper than a "proper" dimmer!

[Fastdax]

Like this:

 

 

I bought them in (gloss) white and painted the outsides my chosen colour. The white inside of the bowl reflects the light quite well.

 

[Simond]

Duncan

 

Thank you, that’s very helpful. I could easily fit a preset inside the coal hole, great idea. I will pursue the dimmer idea however, but the preset can act as a trimmer - great thought

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

Milestone...

 

 

All the wall panels for the loco shed are lasered. The three layers, with brick etch on the inside & outside took about 19 minutes, and used an A4 sheet of 2mm MDF. There are 30 panels, in several configurations. Normal large 12 pane window, small 4 pane window, central door, offset door and plain brick. Did a couple of spares too, plus the two ends and the very thin edges that connect them to the first columns. Everything is primed in Halfords red oxide, now I can look forward to a lot of individual brick painting... to mortar or not to mortar... that is the question.

 

I’ve been using Lightburn for some months now, it’s very good, and reasonably priced. The smoothie conversion of my K40 laser is now stable and it’s all become pleasantly repeatable & predictable. Very happy with that.

 

Next job is cutting the columns from 3mm Perspex. I have white, and will paint it, but if I could find some suitably dark grey, then I’d only need to drybrush some texture onto it.

 

Meanwhile, I built two of the stub bufferstops for the t/t.

 

 

Not yet fixed down, bit of fiddling around to be done first!

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

Postscript.

 

I need to tidy up!

 

Best

Simon

[N15class]

Nice to see a more overall shot of your layout.

[Simond]

Hi Peter,

 

I’ll happily provide a tidy version in about 15 years, when I’ve tidied up...

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

A further milestone.

 

30-some panels with a mortar wash of well-thinned polyfilla (actually Wickes, as you can see in the photo) with a drop of Vallejo sand, paint it on, working it well into the etched grooves, wait a moment, wipe it off with kitchen roll. The paper needs to be dry, or very nearly so, so I went through quite a lot! I got into the swing of things by panel number 6, and ended up revisiting the first few when I’d finished.

 

Next steps are doing random bricks in different shades, painting the concrete lintels, and laminating the panels. I haven’t yet cut the office, stores & workshop walls, need to bring them up to the same state as this lot. Then it’s time to assemble the shell.

 

Then to tackle the roof...

 

 

I’m quite pleased with the way these have turned out, the filler seems to have taken away the car-primer colour, and matted everything nicely. The individual bricks will work well, I hope.

 

Best

Simon

Edited September 30, 2018 by Simond

[bgman]

Some very nice work there Simon, you've done an excellent job creating the brickwork and panels with your laser ( I did consider buying one a few years ago and when I see what you've done it makes me wish I had at times ! Hey Ho ! ). Its something I would like to have tried with my Silhouette cutter but it wouldn't cut the mustard ( no pun intended ) when compared to a laser.

 

I will look forward to more of this cracking work you're producing.

 

Now where's the envy button ? 

 

Grahame

[Simond]

Thanks Grahame,

 

I’m pleased that the hours of toil on the laser conversion paid off, I couldn’t have done it using the cheapo crappo Newlydraw software. It was awful.

 

It is now pretty much a case of turn it on, and hit “start” on Lightburn. Getting the drawings into Lightburn is another issue, TurboCAD seems to watermark DXF files with six weird symbols, and these muck up the scaling, so I delete them in LibreCAD, but once they’ve gone, TurboCAD won’t open the drawing file again...

 

Young MrD decided his laptop wasn’t up to the demands of his degree, so I said I’d get him a new one, and stripped the old one, and reinstalled W10, and a much later version of TurboCAD. Having done all the hard work, he says “thanks Dad, and takes the rejuvenated laptop with my newer version of TurboCAD, so I still have to faff around with LibreCAD. Kids...

 

Anyway, it’s progress!

Best

Simon

[Simond]

Well, it’s not tidier, however, all the wall panels are now assembled, except the workshop & offices. I did a trial burn of these last brick parts last week, and will make the necessary adjustments (like correcting the cockup I made of the windows) over the next day or so.

 

I also burnt the columns, they are the white things lying down beside the pannier.

 

Meanwhile, here’s the assembled brickwork

 

 

I also need to do a bit on the floor. I tried to give it some texture by adding sand to the paint, but I’m not happy. There are some lovely concrete floors on WT at the moment, so I’m going to scrape it off and refinish it. Then, with a bit of luck, I can then assemble the walls, which will allow me tidy up a bit.

 

Best

Simon

Edited October 7, 2018 by Simond

[3 link]

Evening Simon,

 

Regarding concrete, have you tried " kiln sand "? Much finer than the normal building sand, and then there's my latest acquisition I brought this aerosol on impulse from the local B&Q, I have not got around to trying it yet, but the tin lid looks good....

 

 

ATB,

 

Martyn.

[Simond]

Thanks Martyn,

 

It was kiln dried sand...

 

I thought it might work as texture in the paint. It doesn’t. It looks (and feels) like sandpaper. Admittedly, fine sandpaper, but sandpaper!

 

I’m hoping I can finish it without weakening it with a cabinet scraper. Then again, so is Theresa May.

 

Cheers

Simon

[Simond]

Well, it all went 3D today.

 

I completed burning the workshop/office yesterday, and started assembling it today. I also decided that I’d had enough of having all the bits, lying around, cluttering the place up; I’d need to get a finger out.

 

 

 

The higher part of the roof will be glazed, so I’ve put in glazing bars, I’ll probably use 1mm acrylic, though it’s a bit thick. The lower part is slated, so I’ll burn some “planked panels” to go under them. Slates are easy to cut from good card.

 

 

The workshop/office was originally going to be on the front, but there just isn’t room, so I have flipped it through 180 degrees, and it will be mounted on the rear right, rather than front left corner. I’m aiming to decorate it, desks, chairs, machine tools, clockin* in machine, but it’s a bit lower priority as you can barely see it.

 

 

The main building walls have nearly gone together according to plan, but the eagle-eyed will notice that the 7th panel in the rear wall isn’t properly installed - there seems to be a bit of a tolerance build up that will have to be sorted. The gap is simply a couple of mm too narrow. I was building from the right to the left, maybe if I’d built the other way, as I did with the front wall, it would be fine, but I don’t have a load of confidence.

 

 

The walls also lean inwards a bit, I hope that fitting the roof trusses will sort that, but my intent was to make the whole roof, including trusses, smoke hoods, lighting, walkways, etc., all removable. Have to think a bit more about that.

 

 

And this is how the walls fit the columns. The columns have an “L” shaped foot, which fits in a slot under the floor, and three slots. Each wall panel comprises an outer, inner and middle layer. The middle layer has three short pegs each side, which engage in the columns. It also has the window frame, door frame or is plain, dependent on the wall panel type.

 

The columns also have a pedestal at the top, on which the roof trusses will rest. The hole in it is for a wire that will, I hope, keep the walls tightly together, and will supply the lights.

 

More soon!

Best

Simon

Edited October 14, 2018 by Simond

[bgman]

Absolutely superb Simon, your time has been extremely well spent in producing the artwork for this build. I would have very much liked to have bought a laser a few years ago and try to produce what you are doing so well, I'll just have to make do with my Silhouette cutter !

 

If I may, you mention using 1mm acrylic for the glazing , I think it would be a wise move in order to give more stability to the overall build. The last thing you, or any of your followers would want to see is the roof distorting over time by using something of a lesser thickness.

 

Very nice work.

 

Grahame

[Simond]

Grahame

 

Thanks for the positive comments. Much appreciated.

 

There’s a deal of glazing on the main roof too, similar thoughts (1mm acrylic) apply to that too, although, the panels are about 3’ x 7’, it may be that microscope slides might fit well, but I guess they’re a similar thickness anyway.

 

The windows will be glazed with the same stuff. There are at least 240 panes to cut for the main walls, plus a further 64 for the workshop, and some others for the boiler house & 4 for the odd wall panel with a “letterbox” window.

 

I’m pondering recutting the columns without the pedestals (actually, they’re capitals, weird language we have) for the roof trusses, and fitting an extruded aluminium angle full length both sides. This will cure the tendency to bow inwards, and tie the side panels together so they don’t spread. It will be well hidden if I can get some 10 x 10 x 0.5 or similar. The problem will be hiding any fixings, but maybe epoxy would work.

 

The walls have to come apart for the detail painting anyway, concrete lintels, lowest 5’ inside painted black, some variation in the brick colours, etc., and for glazing, but I think I’ll plan to have everything ready before dismantling, so it can go back together quickly.

 

Comments & suggestions always welcome

 

Best

Simon

[Giles]

magnificent, Simon!

[Simond]

Been a bit frustrating... I sorted out the issue with the panels not fitting, and trimmed the aluminium angle that I purchased, so it fits along both sides, above the windows. You can’t see it from the outside, so it’s ok, but it still feels like a cheat... but it does mean that the roof structure can be built separately, and will lift off - if nothing else, this will facilitate cleaning the track!

 

This involved recutting the columns (steel in the real thing, Perspex in the model) to suit these beams. I painted them grey, and did a trial build, and it all went together ok, so I had another look at my photos from the visit to Aberystwyth a couple of years ago. At this point, I noticed that the columns should be marginally thicker than the wall, and my columns were marginally narrower. And they want to be painted red lead primer colour.

 

So I recut them, adding a few tenths of a mm to each side to make them wider, and I thought that they might have a better colour if I used some of the black Perspex I got with the laser, years back... I assumed that the black was the same thickness as the white...

 

Only it wasn’t. It was 3.2, whereas the white was 2.85. And it didn’t fit.

 

So this evening I re-cut all 32 columns, and repainted them, red lead all over, then white on the inside to match the whitewashed walls.

 

Herewith the scrap heap...

 

 

And, hopefully, the definitive versions...

 

 

So, dry run, probably Friday evening, and then glue it all together on Saturday & Sunday. I hope!

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

Well, I’m not known for being a little impatient.. So I tried a quick dry run this morning before going to the office.

 

 

That’s better...

 

And the ends fit, and the other side went together without issues the first time, so, I might start to commit to glue in the next day or so.

 

This is currently self-supporting, apart from three laser-cut set-squares keeping it all vertical - they’re below the clothes-pegs. And I’ve not fitted the ally angle yet.

 

And I’m liking the colours too. I’ll post one of my pix from Aberystwyth tonight for comparison.

 

Best

Simon

[Hal Nail]

That is really quite special. Only just found this thread and amused by the comments about finishing things. Rather than list jobs, I now just work on whatever takes my fancy and only list anything I’ve actually finished*. I find this takes far less time and is more rewarding!

 

 

*I use a slightly loose definition of finished otherwise it would have nothing on at all.

Edited October 25, 2018 by Hal Nail