Everard Junction - 88 to 90 - BR Western Region

[Neal Ball]

The houses are definitely right for the area - my parents still live in one in the Thames Valley - almost identical to the ones in that Google photo.

 

Built in the 1930's on the site of an old Orchard; we moved there in the mid-70's.

 

Good luck with the build Richard.

[St. Simon]

Hi,

 

Watched the latest video about detailing the farm bridge last night, looks fantastic!

 

One point to note that actually Orange Pipe for undertrack crossings is actually still allowed by Network Rail, however it is the very last resort and if agreed by the RAM. I thought the same as you that it was banned, but a couple of days ago whilst researching for a Hornby Mag article I discovered the current cable route installation standard did allow it, albeit if nothing else could be done and it was agreed to.

 

I spotted that the HW Point Motors are the wrong way round, the sticky out bits (technical term! ) on either side of the body at the very end of the motor should be at the very end of the blades, with the rest of machine lying towards the heel of the point.

 

Simon

[mark axlecounter]

I’ve been watching your videos on the layout, absolutely stunning Richard. 
 

your attention to detail is brilliant keep up the good work 
 

St Simon them point motors we call them M63 or knuckle scrapers  we still have a few on the patch. 

Edited December 4, 2021 by mark axlecounter

[St. Simon]

1 hour ago, mark axlecounter said:

St Simon them point motors we call them M63 or knuckle scrapers  we still have a few on the patch. 

Hi,

 

The PECO ones are definitely HW1000s / HW2000, the 63s have flat bodies and the Lead screw housing protruding out one end.

 

Simon 

[mark axlecounter]

You are right, sorry.
 

We have a few types on the patch and even the old LMS top winders at Hellifield. 

 

 

[LongRail]

Unfortunately the peco point motors are out of scale and far too large  a HW2000 point motor which is 1500mm long and you can compare this with the inner running edge of rails which are 1432mm (1435mm) apart you used to be able to the correct size ones in white metal from colincraig4mm

[LongRail]

The photos in the file show the differences

Point Motors.pdf

[richard w]

Took a long time to progress far enough with all the details in this little spot.  Most of the time was spent waiting for stuff to dry but I got there eventually.

 

Started off with some track detail.  Cable trough, wires and relay boxes etc.  I've used the Peco dummy point motors for the time being.  I was aware that these are rather generic and over scale so will swap those out for something better in future.  Didn't realise I'd installed them backwards so will correct that when I'm next back up there.

 

 

Installed fences, trees and bushes around the rest of the scene.  Focused on the bushes especially making sure I got that dense embankment appearance.

 

 

Adding the wire to the fences was a bit tricky but well worth a few hours of time.  I've used grey cotton rather than the supplied wire as its looks a bit more toned down rather than bright shiny metal.

 

 

Plenty of growth on the far side for added depth.  Also to hide the point where the farm track meets the backscene.

 

 

Finally various grasses were added to the field in the foreground.  I've kept this simple and avoided the cliché sheep and cows.  Just a simple overgrown plot of land with a path running around the edge.  I also didn't want to distract too much from the trains as this is a good spot to watch them run past.  I've also extended the embankment beyond the backboard as this helps hide the fiddle yard and anything that might be seen looking through the bridge.

 

 

I've still a number of details to work on for this spot.  A few plants with some colour like cow parsley and buddleia would go a long way.  Some dogs to go with one or two walkers along with a small amount of litter caught in the fence.  Some extra painting and age to the fence posts as well as additional weathering and detail to the road itself.  For the time being at least I'm quite happy to move onto the next bit of bare plywood.

[PeterH]

The continuation of the scenery under the bridge really has achieved its desired effect, looking exceptional!

[JackB95]

Watched the latest update on the TV last night - bloody stunning mate. Really is. I've never really taken much thought into the 'past the scenic break' part of the layout, but your embankment and ballast, a very simple job, is very effective and really looks the piece.

 

Interesting comment about orange pipes under the track for cables - I model the current day, especially given my layout is, in theory, post major upgrade. As a result, I'll have to find another use for my orange pipes from Scalemodelscenery. I've now enquired about getting hollow sleepers, the replacement, 3D printed. Appreciate that comment, cheers.

[The Pilotman]

On 30/11/2021 at 09:19, St. Simon said:

Hi,

 

Those houses are in Tilehurst, Oxford Road to be exact, I walk past when I'm going shopping, just behind you is the GWML.

 

I love the models though, just right!

 

Simon

Waitrose?

[The Stationmaster]

2 hours ago, The Pilotman said:

Waitrose?

aka 'the trainspotting branch' of that concern (if you get in the right place in the car park).

[St. Simon]

8 hours ago, The Pilotman said:

Waitrose?

Yep, although I point out that it’s for Logistical Reasons as it’s the only supermarket in walking distance from my house (and I don’t  drive  )

 

My Colleagues think that they are paying me too much!

 

Simon

[Wayne 37901]

Good to see the latest installment Richard.

 

I've been following the whole process from the start and in particular like what you've done with the scenery as this is a weak point of mine. 

 

The scenic breaks looks good and I like the little detail of the location cabinet gantry set into the embankment. It reminded me that there's one near me on a local commuter line so I thought you might like to see it. I also took a photo of one of the many types of greaser as well.

 

Cheers.

[saxokid]

3 minutes ago, Wayne 37901 said:

Good to see the latest installment Richard.

 

I've been following the whole process from the start and in particular like what you've done with the scenery as this is a weak point of mine. 

 

The scenic breaks looks good and I like the little detail of the location cabinet gantry set into the embankment. It reminded me that there's one near me on a local commuter line so I thought you might like to see it. I also took a photo of one of the many types of greaser as well.

 

Cheers.

Ive made handful different railhead grease units for on banks road 

[richard w]

Taken a break from the scenery over the past month as I often do to avoid getting burnt out.  Instead I've been getting on with some weathering.  Weathering and repainting is perhaps one of my favourite tasks.  Every few months I group together a batch of models that need work and then go through them over the course of a month or two.

 

First up was to finish a small job I started ages ago.  I've experimented with fading the paint on this Bachmann OCA and added various patches, washes and rust to the wagon.  I've also added some brake disks.

 

 

A job that's been in progress for several months is these Accurascale PTAs.  Taken a long time to finish each one but I've finally got to the end of the rake.  I've also added some extra ballast to the Accurascale loads to make them look a bit more real.  These have been weathered with a mix of oil paints, airbrushing and weathering powders before being sealed with a heavy coat of matt varnish.

 

 

Another job is a rake of Mk1 Pullmans I've been slowly building up over the past few years.  I ended up with a mix of different roof colours and didn't like the appearance of the complete train.  Photos I've found of the Pullman Rail set used in the 80s shows a light grey or perhaps weathered white roof.  I've primed then painted the roof of each coach with Railmatch Flint Grey and then applied a slight weathering treatment using Railmatch Roof Dirt.  This has done a nice job of tying the train together and I'm now much happier with them.  Also fitted some Hunt buckeye couplers and weathered those too.

 

 

Enjoyed the new IZAs vans from Revolution Trains and have now started weathering them.  These vans were often very dirty so I'm weathering each pair slightly differently to create a varied mix.  The various ferry vans that carried the cargowaggon branding certainly look quite odd in pristine condition.  I've applied a black wash for all the details and then used Railmatch frame dirt for the underframe and sides using the airbrush.  I darkened the shade slightly for the roof and sealed the job with matt varnish.

 

 

In addition to those I've received a Heljan example as a Christmas present in the form of this IWB van.  I've always fancied some of these over the years and have weathered this one in a similar style to the IZA.  I'll be looking to add more to the collection in future.  This particular example featured a blue roof.  Most of them appeared to have a grey or dirt roof so before weathering I painted this one gunmetal.

 

 

Finally a nasty job that I've been avoiding for years.  I was fortunate to purchase a number of Bachmann Polybulks when they first released several years ago.  I was never very satisfied with the factory weathering job on the later livery but purchased a rake of 5 at the time.  This particular livery was only available as a weathered option.  Since then the wagons have not seen any further production runs and the values of these are now quite silly.  I held off doing anything to them considering the value and rarity of these but as part of this round of weathering decided to try improving them.

 

I've removed 90% of the weathering using a bath of LAs Totally Awesome and gentle rubbing with a cocktail stick.  The result is a cleaner "rain washed" wagon that so far I'm happy with.  These are still very much a work in progress at the moment but I'm pleased I was able to avoid damaging the livery.

 

[JackB95]

Weathering is something I'm yet to try and, no doubt like others on here, look at your examples above and gaze at beauty.

 

Particularly impressive is that Polybulk - so bloody good! Looking forward to a 45-minute video of you doing these 

[sb67]

Love the OCA wagon, how did you get the faded effect? 

[ess1uk]

Great work on the wagons

[MoonM]

Looks good. Would love to see a video on how to do the rainwashrd streaking that you have achieved as I've always wondered how that's done 

[richard w]

On 13/01/2022 at 07:00, sb67 said:

Love the OCA wagon, how did you get the faded effect? 

 

I used the airbrush to apply a heavily thinned white wash.  Kept building up coats of paint until I reached the desired level of faded red.  Go careful, easy to overdo it.

[sb67]

21 minutes ago, richard w said:

 

I used the airbrush to apply a heavily thinned white wash.  Kept building up coats of paint until I reached the desired level of faded red.  Go careful, easy to overdo it.

Thank you, I'm guessing that's the first thing you did and the rest of the weathering came after?

[richard w]

Got rather sucked into another project this month.  Have been thinking about getting a thumper and using my 2epb (bought very cheaply) to bash into a third coach for the thumper.  The thumpers usually ran as 3 car sets.  Shame the model is only two cars.  

 

Seen a few that have been converted on here over the years.  After some research and a think I decided to have a go at it.

 

Took the bodyshells for the 2epb apart and cut the cab off the trailer car.

 

 

Modified the trailer chassis to take the conductive coupler at both ends and swapped out the pickup shoe bogie for one without the shoe detail.  Sanded the various bits of body until they fitted properly and glued them together.

 

 

Filled, sanded and primed until I got a smooth finish.

 

 

Primed the whole thing with expo grey primer from a rattle can.

 

 

Airbrushed the NSE livery.  I ended up mixing my own version of NSE blue to try and match what Bachmann had done as closely as possible.  Phoenix precision NSE dark blue is very very different to the Bachmann shade.  Didn't really fancy repainting the whole set so had a go at matching.

 

 

Cut and shut various bits of interior from the 2 epb model until I had something close to what you'd find in a 205 centre car.  I've also cut the end of the circuit board off (so it fits back in the modified chassis) and soldered two wires onto the tracks for the interior light feed.  This will allow the lights to be switched via the decoder with the rest of the train.

 

 

Modified the 205 model itself by renumbering to 205009, extending first class, adding NSE branding and deleting the high intensity lights.  I also removed the factory weathering and applied coats of tinted satin varnish to bring the colours closer together.  The white was very hard to get right but after various passes with tinted varnish (added a blob of grey) I managed to get close to the phoenix precision shade on the centre car.

 

 

Put everything back together and tested the directional lights and interior lighting.  The blue on the centre car is still a touch too blue so I'll be doing another pass on that with the tinted varnish in future.  For the most part I'm pleased with the colour match, wasn't easy.

 

I've fitted a pair of class 101 drawbars as they bring the model a bit closer together while still working on tight curves.

 

The lighting all works with the centre car being dimmer than the outer cars for some reason.  I'll take a look at that in future but for now I'm going to enjoy running it for a bit.

 

Cheers  

[richard w]

10 minutes ago, sb67 said:

Thank you, I'm guessing that's the first thing you did and the rest of the weathering came after?

 

Yes, I did all the weathering afterwards and sealed it with a coat of matt varnish when I'd finished.

[sb67]

Thanks Richard