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Evolution of a Micro Layout


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Hi everyone thought I would share my micro layout on here , some people may have seen it on another forum I am a member of.

 

As you will see it evolved quite a bit from the original idea of a simple diorama into something with a bit more operation involved.

 

This is how it started out ; 

 

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Really simple with one point and a little shunter's shed ;

 

 

Experimenting with plaster as concrete ;

 

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Simple scratch-built shed from Wills and Slaters plasticard ;

 

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More to follow .

 

 

 

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The scenery was built up using broken polystyrene and basic filler ;

 

post-24972-0-20308000-1421448203.jpg

 

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Then painted and grassed using a puffer bottle ;

 

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The stone walling is from the Modelscene range , and I painted up a simple skybox using household emulsion tester pots ;

 

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Also here you can see where I had been experimenting with ways of hiding the exit to the fiddeyard with the pipe bridge . This had been made using components from some old Hornby girder bridge support kits that I had found at a car boot sale.

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Hi, that looks really good. Could you explain how you did the hardstanding, what plaster you used, and how you kept the rails clear ? 

I really like the look of it and fancy a go at creating something similar.

 

Thanks

Owen

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Hi

Very nice micro.A spacious look to it.

On my stooperdale boxfile layout,i used ready mixed tile grout applied after building up to sleep hight with card,coat with PVA,apply and sand smooth when dry.my rails where scribed out with a simple tool made from a old hacksaw blade ground to width I wanted.I painted it with acrylic paints.

Tel

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Hi, that looks really good. Could you explain how you did the hardstanding, what plaster you used, and how you kept the rails clear ? 

I really like the look of it and fancy a go at creating something similar.

 

Thanks

Owen

 

Hi mate and thanks , the concrete was pretty simple to do , pretty much as Tel2010 described above. It was just basic household filler , the stuff you patch walls up with etc , you can either use the ready mixed stuff in a tub or get the self mix powder , dont have to spend a fortune either the cheapo stuff is just as good.

 

So basically mix it up and slap it on levelling it off to the height of the top of the rails ( use something flat like a piece of plastic or strong cardboard ) leave it to dry overnight and then you can start to work on it .

 

To clear out the the gaps for the wheels to run I just used a small flat bladed screwdriver to gouge out the clearance , as long as you go steady and keep one side of the screwdriver blade to the side of the rail you should be ok , just had my Beloved do a quick demo ;

 

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Obviously any mistakes can just be filled in and done again . Use a wagon to check clearances and try not to go too deep otherwise it shows up the sleepers and ruins the illusion  :nono: I also took a little off the outside of the rail just to ensure clear running , just a smidge though !

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Further progress was made by adding to the backscene ;

 

post-24972-0-30188700-1421539262.jpg

 

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Just tried various techniques from painting tutorials I had read online and used artists acrylics ( the ones in small tubes ) . The good things about them is that if you use emulsion for the base sky colour you can wipe the acrylics off if your not happy with it .

 

 

Anyway to cut the story short I had a pretty much finished layout ;

 

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By this point I had done exactly what I had set out to do , a small tabletop layout that was manageable and easy to take out and put away when the other half wanted the kitchen table back  :angel:.

 

After a while though the limitations of a single point became obvious and some changes were planned.

 

More to follow.

 

 

 

 

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Excellent layouts, lots of character and looking at both of them together there's a distinctive style to them. Browns and greys like the real world is!  Very inspiring.

 

just had my Beloved do a quick demo

 

Are your referring to your camera or smartphone?  :sarcastichand:

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Very nice wok.

 

Just one question. What is the green diesel shunted?

 

Thanks

 

steve

 

Thanks everyone for the praise ,  :triniti:

 

The green shunter is something I call the "Goblin"

 

Just wanted something a bit individual so I went down the freelance route , a spare Hornby shell , sparebits from a Tamiya Tiger tank ! and a lick of paint produced this ;

 

 

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Here its stil on its Hornby chassis , eventually it ended up on a Bachmann 04 chassis which improved it no end !

 

 

In reply to the dimensions its 27 by 10 inches , so just about 2 and half by 1 foot .

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Right , here we go , one complete micro layout but ....... I couldn't help wish that I had put another point on just for operational value. So I rounded up a few  stray navvies and a few tons of rock and soil were shifted overnight ; 

 

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I was looking at using a swinging sector plate to change tracks but then realised a point would work just as well ( of course the compromise being that some of the shunting would be off scene )

 

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Then I set about scratchbuilding a loading dock and a structure to sit on top ;

 

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And this is the layout as it is today ;

 

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Still some work to be done on it for which I will need some advice ( the fiddle stick is just connected by fishplates at the mo , so could use some advice about wiring decent connections up )

 

On another note here is the "Goblin" on the Bachmann 04 , all the cabsteps and running plate etc were scratchbuilt and i fits nicely onto the 04 chassis , and runs really well  :locomotive:

 

post-24972-0-84469000-1421707041.jpg

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A nice little layout just got even better,well done.Goblin look th bees knees :-)

On some cassettes i made that were also used as stock box's,i simply soldered two wires to end of track and just pushed cassette up it to engage either side of rails.works a treat.To fasten you could have a couple of captive nuts,that's how I fasterned my fiddle yards to my box file layout.

Tel

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A couple of small neodymium magnets and a small metal plate? A quick way to connect and power would be choc-bloks clear of, and each side of, the rail with a short length of brass rod in the ones on the fiddle stick, and fitting into a matching pair on the main board.

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Thanks for the advice regarding the wiring up , its something I will look into .

 

 

Here's some of the latest work I have been doing over the weekend ;

 

In the above pics you will probably notice two big white blobs in the background , these were contact lens solution bottles . These were going to become chemical tanks but even after painting and adding pipework they still looked like plastic bottles so .......

 

A quick rummage in my bits and bobs produced two old Triang Shell tanks , a quick paint job and a bit of pipework turned them into this ;

 

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I dont think they look too bad .

 

I then moved onto making some yard lights ;

 

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I made these after looking around for some lamps online , but the only ones I could find were the working type which I didn't really want , so I tried making my own . There simply a length of sprue , a bit of wire bent to shape and the head of a drawing pin , the " bulbs" are the little knobbly bits from a sprue . There not brilliant but will do until I can find something better , ( does anyone know where I can get scale non working model lamps ? ).

 

 

Here's some overall shots of the layout ;

 

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Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 

 

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