Speke East Sidings - Minimum Space Modern N Gauge

[Duncan.]

Excellent work Tim. I felt the same about the Cargowaggon Twins also it was really difficult to make such a well made wagon look really used! Here's my attempt for comparison, the photo was under exposed to try and capture an early cloudy evening effect.

Cheers

Duncan 

[Timmy84]

15 hours ago, Duncan. said:

Excellent work Tim. I felt the same about the Cargowaggon Twins also it was really difficult to make such a well made wagon look really used! Here's my attempt for comparison, the photo was under exposed to try and capture an early cloudy evening effect.

Cheers

Duncan 

 

Thanks Duncan.

 

I like they look you have achieved. It's similar to the shade I have on some silver IWAs. I have seen some pics of IZAs like that but I found that in more recent pics they have taken on a delightful sludge brown colour (as below) which I what I went for, albeit toned down as I find less is normally more in N Gauge. They would probably look great in a rake together for a bit of variety!

 

[Timmy84]

Hi,

 

A few more bits...

 

I've enhanced the weathering on Farish factory weathered polybulk although I think it might still need a bit more to pass for the mid-late 2000s. I'd quite like to do a few of these including respraying some into Nacco grey to bring them more towards the right era. They are crazy expensive though so likely to stay on the wishlist for a while!

 

 

Another one of the blue IWA which is another very smart model and will add some variety to my rake of vans. 

 

 

Finally the rake disappearing into the yard at Speke east.

 

 

Tim.

[alangdance]

Another very nice small N gauge Layout. It would nice to show the whole layout and how ou have arranged your fiddle yard.

I am looking to build a small shunting layout in the near futher. I am not sure yet the best way to do the fiddle yard.

 

Alan

[Timmy84]

32 minutes ago, alangdance said:

Another very nice small N gauge Layout. It would nice to show the whole layout and how ou have arranged your fiddle yard.

I am looking to build a small shunting layout in the near futher. I am not sure yet the best way to do the fiddle yard.

 

Alan

Hi Alan,

 

If you flick back through the early pages you can see the full extent of the layout. The fiddle yards work for loco moves or a couple of wagons shunting with the 08. 

 

The longer rakes are for the photos only, although you could extend the layout as long as you want if you have space which I may do in the future, or even use a design like this as part of a continuous run. The layout is unashamedly for photographing stock whilst creating multiple scenes in a small space.

 

Tim.

[alangdance]

Hi Time

 

Thanks for the explaination. What a great idear

 

Alan

[DavidMcKenzie]

6 hours ago, Timmy84 said:

 

Thanks Duncan.

 

I like they look you have achieved. It's similar to the shade I have on some silver IWAs. I have seen some pics of IZAs like that but I found that in more recent pics they have taken on a delightful sludge brown colour (as below) which I what I went for, albeit toned down as I find less is normally more in N Gauge. They would probably look great in a rake together for a bit of variety!

 

Hi Tim,

 

The IZAs look great. After receiving the KFAs and seeing how good the revolution models are in the flesh I am a bit disappointed to have missed out on the pre order and just can't afford them at shop prices. But good to see them out on Speke East looking right at home.

 

I think you've done a good job on the weathering. On wagons like that I always get into a muddle about if I should try to do them exactly as a photo or in a way that the model looks good on the layout (usually with less weathering and more emphasis on the models details). I think you've got it about perfect because they look very used, but if you had gone as far as they are in the photo they would possibly look 'too much' on the layout when you can't see the photo at the same time.  

 

Cracking photos as always.

 

All the best,

Dave

[Timmy84]

[Timmy84]

Hi,

 

So the other key project I completed before Christmas was the re-numbering of two more EWS 66s. Following a previous post on here regarding the transfers I was using, Steve from Railtec picked up on my comments about the EWS logos and was able to offer me some re-sized replacements. Amazing customer service I must say (you never know who's reading your topic...). In all seriousness without companies like this we would be able to achieve our modelling goals so I was very grateful for this resolution.

 

Unfortunately, as with the start of the project and the previous two, there was more faff to come. I had applied some Fox logos which weren't a colour match (stupidly) so when the replacements came I went to remove them. This damaged the paintwork underneath again, which amazed me as they had not been varnished leading to another respray over the top. Due to the corrugations you cant sand back so I knew they weren't going to be perfect. What I have ended up with is two models that look OK at normal viewing distances but cruel photos show up the imperfections. You can see where some yellow paint has gone astray, despite my best efforts as well as the thickness of the paint where I have resprayed twice. Even more bizarrely in some shots the body side stripes appeared gloss which is totally invisible to the naked eye. I will live with them but not my best work.

 

All in all not a project I'll be rushing to complete, but in the spirit of sharing here they are!...

 

Lurking in the shed is my next project and there's one of the full fleet for completeness.

 

Tim.

 

[Timmy84]

Peering over the fence..!

 

[Timmy84]

Hi,

 

I've been enjoying the recent updates on other layouts and like many others have had chance to progress some of my own projects over the last couple of weeks.

 

Starting with a long standing one, RES 86243 with faded livery, weathering, basic detailing and a renumber from the original Dapol model.

 

First shots with a new camera as well, which whilst an upgrade I'm not sure I've quite maximised the depth of field on these shots.

 

 

Tim.

[DavidMcKenzie]

That looks great Timmy, how did you fade the red?

 

All the best,

Dave

[Timmy84]

1 hour ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

That looks great Timmy, how did you fade the red?

 

All the best,

Dave

Hi Dave,

 

Railmatch do some useful faded paint colours so it's a bit of a hack. This one involves faded Railfreight red - although not sprayed as a complete coat but streaked on to give some variation. I think it works well - I've also used this shade blended in to EWS maroon for faded loco roofs etc.

 

Do you think it looks OK?

 

Tim.

[porkie]

Loving the RES 86. 

Keep up the good work fella 

[DavidMcKenzie]

9 hours ago, Timmy84 said:

Hi Dave,

 

Railmatch do some useful faded paint colours so it's a bit of a hack. This one involves faded Railfreight red - although not sprayed as a complete coat but streaked on to give some variation. I think it works well - I've also used this shade blended in to EWS maroon for faded loco roofs etc.

 

Do you think it looks OK?

 

Tim.

I think it looks spot on. They faded just like that and took that tone. Did you streak it onto the black as well as the red? 

 

All the best,

Dave

[Timmy84]

2 hours ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

I think it looks spot on. They faded just like that and took that tone. Did you streak it onto the black as well as the red? 

 

All the best,

Dave

Hi Dave,

 

Similarly I have used "weathered black" produced by Railmatch. Thanks for the feedback.

 

Tim.

[Barks]

Hi Timmy,

 

Really impressed with how complete your layout looks!  Appreciate the photos as well.  It's hard to believe it's N gauge with the detail you have.  I'll be happy to get my 00 layout looking that detailed!

 

Your layout actually reminds me a bit of a small Pacific National/Qube loco shed that's on the trainline I catch when visiting Sydney.  The track layout and buildings are different but the idea of a small loco yard on the side of a mainline is there.  Coordinates are: -33.842239, 151.026053 

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Barks

[Timmy84]

5 hours ago, Barks said:

Hi Timmy,

 

Really impressed with how complete your layout looks!  Appreciate the photos as well.  It's hard to believe it's N gauge with the detail you have.  I'll be happy to get my 00 layout looking that detailed!

 

Your layout actually reminds me a bit of a small Pacific National/Qube loco shed that's on the trainline I catch when visiting Sydney.  The track layout and buildings are different but the idea of a small loco yard on the side of a mainline is there.  Coordinates are: -33.842239, 151.026053 

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Barks

 

Ah yes I found it on google maps - very similar to the premise for Speke East being "part of something bigger" and not a shed at the end of a line to nowhere. At some point I'd like to sketch out it's fictitious location in relation to the real facilities it serves...

[Timmy84]

Anyway. project 2. 

 

There's a theme on this thread involving small jobs becoming massive and this was no exception. I purchased a Dapol Class 56 that you may have noted peaking out of the shed on a previous post. It was 56089 with EW&S branding but I don't think the font looked "right" so I was always intending to renumber and purchased the relevant decals from Railtec.

 

To my bafflement on closer inspection I noticed that the numbers were recessed, i.e. a the gold stripe had been sprayed over the maroon and the numbers stencilled so there was no way to remove them! I have never seen this on an N Gauge model before. Most would abort but I like to make a mess of a model before making it nice again so I set about filling in the numbers with microfiller to then sand back to get the surface flat. I knew this would require respraying the stripe but I also damaged some of the surrounding maroon. Fortunately all colours were in stock following the 66 saga! So I present, in more battered condition than intended, 56060, the first of the type in my fleet! The maroon "paint patches" covering actual damage work quite well I think but I am not happy with the edge of the stripe. I used my normal masking tape but didn't get the results I wanted but frankly it will do for now. I am also pretty pleased that there is no trace of the old number or branding so I did get it flat at least.

 

EWS 56s were generally looking pretty good until their withdrawal (060 was still going late in 2003) and a Transrail class mate will follow in due course... that one will be a bit of a mess on purpose!  

 

 

Tim

[DavidMcKenzie]

51 minutes ago, Timmy84 said:

Anyway. project 2. 

 

There's a theme on this thread involving small jobs becoming massive and this was no exception. I purchased a Dapol Class 56 that you may have noted peaking out of the shed on a previous post. It was 56089 with EW&S branding but I don't think the font looked "right" so I was always intending to renumber and purchased the relevant decals from Railtec.

 

To my bafflement on closer inspection I noticed that the numbers were recessed, i.e. a the gold stripe had been sprayed over the maroon and the numbers stencilled so there was no way to remove them! I have never seen this on an N Gauge model before. Most would abort but I like to make a mess of a model before making it nice again so I set about filling in the numbers with microfiller to then sand back to get the surface flat. I knew this would require respraying the stripe but I also damaged some of the surrounding maroon. Fortunately all colours were in stock following the 66 saga! So I present, in more battered condition than intended, 56060, the first of the type in my fleet! The maroon "paint patches" covering actual damage work quite well I think but I am not happy with the edge of the stripe. I used my normal masking tape but didn't get the results I wanted but frankly it will do for now. I am also pretty pleased that there is no trace of the old number or branding so I did get it flat at least.

 

EWS 56s were generally looking pretty good until their withdrawal (060 was still going late in 2003) and a Transrail class mate will follow in due course... that one will be a bit of a mess on purpose!  

 

 

Tim

Hi Tim,

 

I am always nervous giving out tips, someone with more skill or experience than me might be able to suggest a better idea, but I have found it has worked well when I apply the masking tape. Then spray a very very slight coat of the base colour on to the tape and let it dry overnight (so in your case maroon onto maroon). This very light coat is only to seal the tape. Then the following day spray the yellow and remove the tape directly before the yellow dries. 

 

I always find it hard spraying the dark first and the light second. I know you didn't have a choice but Dapol did at the start. I would have sprayed the yellow first and the maroon after, but maybe I am missing something here. 

 

Anyway the end result looks great on the layout and if you didn't say anything I am not sure I would have noticed the yellow edge. 

 

All the best

Dave

[Timmy84]

29 minutes ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

Hi Tim,

 

I am always nervous giving out tips, someone with more skill or experience than me might be able to suggest a better idea, but I have found it has worked well when I apply the masking tape. Then spray a very very slight coat of the base colour on to the tape and let it dry overnight (so in your case maroon onto maroon). This very light coat is only to seal the tape. Then the following day spray the yellow and remove the tape directly before the yellow dries. 

 

I always find it hard spraying the dark first and the light second. I know you didn't have a choice but Dapol did at the start. I would have sprayed the yellow first and the maroon after, but maybe I am missing something here. 

 

Anyway the end result looks great on the layout and if you didn't say anything I am not sure I would have noticed the yellow edge. 

 

All the best

Dave

Always open to advice! Yes I can't understand the way Dapol had done it so it became a bit of an odd job.

[Timmy84]

Project 3 - wagons - far less stressful than locos.

 

I am putting together a loaded stone train and have acquired 5 x Farish JGAs in VTG livery, 2 in RMC and 6 x Revolution HOAs.

 

He are a couple of the JGAs - the most interesting bit of the job was scribing the panels on the wagon sides that had been omitted despite being included on the RMC versions. I am guessing maybe there are some without them but all the ones I've seen out and about or online seem to have this distinctive feature and it adds some relief to weather around.

 

 

Tim.

[Timmy84]

And finally (for now) project 4 - the Revolution HOAs. A very smart and nicely weighty model, let down only I may say by the very plasticy bogies, many of which needed some adjustment with a screwdriver to get them to behave. To take the sheen off bogies I normally use weathered black as a base coat but these wagons do not have black bogies so had to use a grey primer. You would have had no chance going straight in with the weathering shades. I've only loaded one so far as I ran out of PVA.

 

They are lightly weathered to reflect that they would be quite new in the time period I am primarily modelling (2008ish), at least in terms of my wagon rakes. My next two projects will be specifically for Speke East and roll us back to the very early noughties...

 

Tim.

 

[Timmy84]

The Revolution HOA was always going to be a must have model for me and if I'm honest, it made it's way through the normal triage with the aid of a bit of modellers licence. As I have previously mentioned, whilst Speke East is based on Merseyside most of my stock is destined for a layout based on the GWML, west of Bristol. Most of the stone traffic on this line is generated from Burngullow in Cornwall. EWS and Freightliner have used a variety of wagons over the years to move various consignments but I must confess I can't find any photographic evidence of HOAs venturing in to Cornwall. There are certainly examples however of bottom discharge rakes being used by both operators so I have pressed on with putting together a rake that looks "right" based on the models available. 

 

The project prompted me to delve in to some old photos, at least to pin down the date that these wagons appeared. My stock is aimed at roughly 2008 and I was pleased to find two shots from 2007 of the wagons returning empty to Moreton on Lugg in Wales from London discharge terminals. Firstly 60073 is seen at Pilning with the HOAs trailing a rake of ancient Gunnel wagons (sadly not available in N!) and the second sees 66018 with a more cohesive rake at Goring near Didcot. At least examples of operations on the "Western"!

 

 

 

The trawl also turned up some forgotten shots of FLHH's MJA wagons working up from the west at Flax Bourton near Bristol. I've got this noted as 6Z21, an empty move from Tavistock Junction to Swindon, perhaps between contracts. 66619 is in charge and the second shot gives some good detail of the wagons in use. I think there are 18 on so clearly I need to buy some more!  

 

 

[Timmy84]

Hi all,

 

A couple more shots I dug out involving the HOAs. 66155 leads another semi-cohesive rake towards Moreton on Lugg (photo at Cholsey - location now ruined by electrification masts btw!). 66050 is shot at Crofton with two HOAs followed by an RMC liveried vehicle in the first 3. I have this noted at a move from Whatley to St Pancras. Both shots were taken in 2013 and include CEMEX liveried HOAs. I didn't buy any in this livery as they were initially sent to Derbyshire I think but over time fleets get moved around and these are now regularly seen "down here", albeit debranded. Included to show that we shouldn't be too rigid in our modelling!

 

What I could really do with now are some modern N Gauge stone buckets to run with EWS locos. I wait in anticipation of Revolution downsizing their OO gauge MRL buckets to N which would be perfect for my area/era as they were used on flows to Exeter Riverside in 2008-09.  Joined up thinking would suggest Dapol may produce something to go with their Class 59s if they ever appear, although I am not overly impressed with their livery choices which jump from 80s (original) to 2010+ (DB) with little in between. No Hanson is a crime!