Virney Junction - Scenery ongoing

[Andrew P]

Excellent work on the Warehouse Ray, and I do like that Goods Shed as well, it really suits the location mate.

[Ray H]

Thanks Andy.

 

The Goods Shed came after seeing the one on Martin's layout.

 

Don't tell everyone but I'm beginning to be a little less fearful of this scenery lark so much so that the trains are seldom run at present 'cos I'm too busy with the scenic effects.

[Richard Mawer]

210617_1.jpg

 

 

The building uses various Scalescenes printed sheets and a few pieces of plastic rod for guttering and downpipes on a carcass of 2mm foamboard. It still has to be weathered.

Ray, its looking really good. What did you use for the windows?

[Ray H]

Ray, its looking really good. What did you use for the windows?

 

Thanks Rich.

 

I used the Scalescenes windows from their factory. I then roughly - in my case very roughly - sprayed some A4 tissue paper black - that's the tissue which protected the OHP sheets on which I printed the windows - and stuck that behind the windows.

 

I'm intending to start work on the neighbouring building this week and not wishing to use exactly the same windows have slightly modified those factory's windows for it. I shall probably use the same brick papers though.

[Andrew P]

Morning Ray, I'm looking forward to seeing the results of the Warehouse.

 

All the best.

[Ray H]

My wife and I have been out today - for a delayed 2015 Xmas lunch with two of my ex work colleagues! I can't remember why I didn't make it in 2015 but I couldn't travel for medical reasons in much of 2016. Then my wife had an operation which ruled out Xmas 2016 and I've had an operation earlier this year which delayed it again. We'll probably forget the delayed 2016 Xmas one and opt for the 2017 one instead in the hope that health reasons don't cause its postponement again.

 

Anyway, back home and I've downloaded the files for the next building and literally just discovered that Scalescenes offer a PDF file of windows for free - (many thanks John). I've printed off the page that I think that I want and will compared that with my home-made ones. Somehow I think the Scalescenes ones will be far superior to mine.

[Ray H]

 

And so the warehouse/office/factory - I haven't made up my mind which it will be - has been done. The end wall is straight despite what the phone's camera appears to have done to the image.

 

I checked out the Scalescenes windows file in their Scratchbuilders yard but there wasn't anything there that was totally suitable. However, I tweaked one of windows from that file rather that use the one I'd tweaked a couple of days ago. That was far too large anyway.

 

I really must try and find some cheap black paint to disguise the edge of the extruded polystyrene.

 

I'm reasonably happy with this corner now so will probably move onto the bridge next.

 

I have a colleague visiting for a short while tomorrow so I might actually run some trains for a change.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Ray H

[Ray H]

I have managed some work on the bridge but completion is still a little way off so rather than display a picture in the unfinished state I have here a picture showing the view of one side taken from the other through one of the bridge arches. It must have been taken outside factory hours as the factory doors are closed and the loading platform is devoid of everything.

 

 

I've also managed to get a tester pot of black emulsion to cover the layout edge shown in the previous image. This will probably be the follow on job as the end of the bridge will also need the same treatment.

[Ray H]

The bridge at the Banbury end of Buckinhum is largely complete - just the pavements to add. A picture should appear sooner rather than later.

 

In the mean time I have recently bought a Silhouette Portrait cutter on the strength of two possible uses. One is the repeated production of the doors, windows and carcasses of the buildings that I still need to construct out of sheets of plasticard. The second is to produce self adhesive vinyl  shapes. There's also a chance that I might dabble in wagon body building using it. But first back to those shapes.

 

My three coloured wagon tags haven't been the hit that I was hoping. Aside from always seeming to curl up and all but falling off the wagons they're on, the explanation of the system to visitors wasn't that straightforward so I've been pondering over yet another version and think I might have got a workable solution.

 

Several layouts use a coloured mark on wagons to determine when and where they move the wagons to but they leave it to the local operator to place the wagons where they wish. That takes some of the challenge out of the task.

 

Making the colours specific shapes allows the shape's use for determining where the wagon is to be placed - and the cutter now allows me to cut those shapes. Furthermore, by using one of the mark/label colours to represent the fiddle yard I can determine which wagons are or aren't moved. After all, there's no point in the fiddle yard adding a wagon to a train when the label colour translates to a wagon destination of "fiddle yard"!

 

I'm just waiting for some coloured vinyl to arrive to make the shapes so I can try the idea out in practice. 

[Andrew P]

The bridge at the Banbury end of Buckinhum is largely complete - just the pavements to add. A picture should appear sooner rather than later.

 

In the mean time I have recently bought a Silhouette Portrait cutter on the strength of two possible uses. One is the repeated production of the doors, windows and carcasses of the buildings that I still need to construct out of sheets of plasticard. The second is to produce self adhesive vinyl  shapes. There's also a chance that I might dabble in wagon body building using it. But first back to those shapes.

 

My three coloured wagon tags haven't been the hit that I was hoping. Aside from always seeming to curl up and all but falling off the wagons they're on, the explanation of the system to visitors wasn't that straightforward so I've been pondering over yet another version and think I might have got a workable solution.

 

Several layouts use a coloured mark on wagons to determine when and where they move the wagons to but they leave it to the local operator to place the wagons where they wish. That takes some of the challenge out of the task.

 

Making the colours specific shapes allows the shape's use for determining where the wagon is to be placed - and the cutter now allows me to cut those shapes. Furthermore, by using one of the mark/label colours to represent the fiddle yard I can determine which wagons are or aren't moved. After all, there's no point in the fiddle yard adding a wagon to a train when the label colour translates to a wagon destination of "fiddle yard"!

 

I'm just waiting for some coloured vinyl to arrive to make the shapes so I can try the idea out in practice. 

The new Wagon marking idea sound like  a good Plan Ray, good luck with it.

[Ray H]

The new design of wagon tag is working well albeit that a deep mauve/purple isn't too easy to distinguish from a deep blue. I've probably used the layout more since I changed the tag system than I have in the previous six months.

 

I have white vinyl on order to allow me to replace the mauve/purple tags as I can't see white being confused with any of the other existing colours.

 

The tag change will also give me an early warning of any problems that I might encounter in the future if I want to remove the tags should I decide to dispose of stock.

 

I've been experimenting more with my recently purchased (Silhouette) cutter to produce other things. I've made a couple of station running in boards to the same design but by slightly different methods. The second showing a marked improvement over the first.

 

I've also had a bash at building a station seat. The cutting process is easy, the problem comes when trying to keep the relevant parts vertical/horizontal whilst they're being assembled.

Edited August 6, 2017 by Ray H

[john flann]

Ray, I'm sorry to say that it's a long time since I looked in on your thread.

 

I'm most impressed with the progress made, I particularly liked the additional platform you put in as I do other features and shall from here on in, be visiting more regularly.

Edited August 7, 2017 by john flann

[Ray H]

Thanks John.

 

I don't update the thread as often as others although the frequency does tend to vary according to how much action the layout has seen.

[Ray H]

The white vinyl sheet duly arrived. The tags were cut on the (Silhouette) Portrait cutter the same day and were used to replace the deep mauve/purple ones. The tags came off without too much trouble so it looks as though they shouldn't present any roblems should I wish to dispose of any so fitted wagons.

 

I've had a Ratio SR van kit in stock for some time. I decided this kit and others which I have yet to purchase will be needed to make train composition more varied. At present open wagons are limited to 3, 5 & 7 plank RTR items of a more or less standard appearance and the same limitation applies to the vans.

 

The Ratio kit went together reasonably well. It has had Kadee couplings fitted and some additional weight added, although I had to take the roof off after it had been fitted so that I could put the weights inside. There are a couple of other Ratio kits that I might buy in due course. I made several abortive attempts to spray paint the SR van. I'll have to ask a colleague to show me where I'm going wrong.

 

I opened a Parkside Dundas Minfit kit last evening and got as far as cleaning up the sides and ends prior to making a start on its assembly.

 

There has been some activity on the layout itself as the following image shows:

 

 

The road bridge is finished apart from a bit of weathering. I've also made some fencing to go around the school. The first set of pillars were far to large so I've halved their size and believe they look better now. I still need to finish off the pillar tops.

 

The railings are from a kit of fencing that I bout many years ago intending to fit them to the back of a platform on a previous layout. That never happened (thankfully!).

[Ray H]

I don't seem to have achieved much in the four weeks since the last post. Its not true but most of what I have achieved has been with regard to several different layouts - none of which are mine.

 

The school fence had been added in the last post but the pillars needed caps. So here are before and after shots.

 

 

 

The caps were made out of numerous layers of 0.010" plasticard cut on my silhouette cutter and laminated together. The bottom three layers were 7mm square and each subsequent layers was 0.5mm all round smaller i.e. 6mm, 5mm etc. I opted out of trying to cut & fix 1mm square pieces of plasticard as the last layer.

 

I have now started work on some shops to go a little further down the hill, nearer the station buildings and although I have the fence to go along the railway side of the road, I shan't fix it in place until I've finished everything against the backscene so that I don't damage the fence.

[Andrew P]

I do like that School Building Ray, I had one on Pencarne and it fit's into your Layout so well. Nice work on the Railings too mate.

[Ray H]

I do like that School Building Ray, I had one on Pencarne and it fit's into your Layout so well. Nice work on the Railings too mate.

 

I saw it in a shop and bought it the next time I went there. It wasn't until I got it home that I remembered you'd had one.

 

Funny really, because I never had any intention of having a school until I saw the model in the shop.

[Andrew P]

I saw it in a shop and bought it the next time I went there. It wasn't until I got it home that I remembered you'd had one.

 

Funny really, because I never had any intention of having a school until I saw the model in the shop.

I was exactly the same Ray, never wanted a School, HATED THE PLACE when I was young, hahah, I avoided buying LOADS of snotty Kids by saying it was the Summer Holidays hahah.

 

All the best, and keep the pics coming mate, loving it.

[Ray H]

The next building along the road - (Thinks, Will have to dream up a road name) - from the school towards the station will be a pair of shops. These are in mid-production using the Silhouette Portrait cutter. One will be a newsagents but I'm unsure what the second should be - a greengrocer's might not look too out of place.

 

I visited Scaleforum at Aylesbury today and spent more than I should have. One purchase was four of the five lever S.H.A.G. lever frame kits. These will be used at Buckinhum. I also topped up on signal kits from Wizard models and picked up a trio of wagon kits that will accompany three others that I've recently assembled so that the consists of freight trains have a little more variety than is possible with R-t-R wagons alone.

 

The new wagon tag system is still being evaluated. There are currently a couple of things that need ironing out.

 

The number of wagons with the same tag colour that were gathering at Banbury was exceeding the space in the (hidden) sidings there. I think this was partly a left over from when the wagons were placed on the layout randomly after the tagging. I've manually transferred the excess by "road" to Bletchley (fiddle yard) and will wait and see whether the problem re-occurs.

 

One of the two private sidings at Buckinhum has seen precious little traffic - none to be precise - since the new tags appeared. This is despite the fact that we've run the freight timetable through at least six times since inception and each of the six tag colours has an equal number of tags for that siding. I'll give it a couple more tries to see if it irons itself out after which I'll perhaps increase the number of wagons with the relevant tags - perhaps that's something I can do with the completed kits when they're ready.

[Ray H]

Here's the progress on the Shops.

 

 

I've still got the roof to finish off and then the decoration. 90% of what is seen has been produced using the Silhouette Portrait cutter. Its probably taken longer to do it that way but at least everything is squarely cut! 

 

There'll be "slates" on the roof and about a 40mm wide fence and gate between the shop and the school and between the other shop and the houses next door.

[Andrew P]

Have you got a Trader to Rent the Properties yet Ray?

[Brian D]

Here's the progress on the Shops.

 

260917_1.jpg

 

I've still got the roof to finish off and then the decoration. 90% of what is seen has been produced using the Silhouette Portrait cutter. Its probably taken longer to do it that way but at least everything is squarely cut! 

 

There'll be "slates" on the roof and about a 40mm wide fence and gate between the shop and the school and between the other shop and the houses next door.

 

Looking good Ray and I especially like the way they drop down the hill.  Only one thing missing - lintels over the first floor windows?

Regards,

Brian.

[jcarta]

Looking good Ray and I especially like the way they drop down the hill.  Only one thing missing - lintels over the first floor windows?

Regards,

Brian.

 

What about the young lad with a bread bike...... Hovis ad !!!!!!

[Ray H]

Looking good Ray and I especially like the way they drop down the hill.  Only one thing missing - lintels over the first floor windows?

Regards,

Brian.

 

Good thinking Brian!

 

I fitted the steps below the front doors this afternoon after tiling the roofs. I've also just noticed that there's no ledges to the upper floor windows either.

[Ray H]

Have you got a Trader to Rent the Properties yet Ray?

 

I know a chap called Peters. He might be interested. Only trouble is I'm not sure what a Bodger has as a window display.