BritMod-OO Modular Challenge "Border Curve" update 22/05

[Steve-e]

This is my 1st board proper in the BritMod-OO challenge 2015 I also have another modular board see my Bankside thread  which describes that.

Bankside was a good learning platform and a lot of lessons learned. One of which was size whereas Bankside is 6 foot long it will require a Van to transport it to any meet. While I envisage that happening in the future my aim with this board and the other straight board is for smaller boards that can fit in my car. This hopefully will enable me to attend more meets on the basis that I won’t need the additional expense of hiring a van.

 

I had followed with interest the laser cut boards that Tim Horn was producing for a while so got in touch with him to see if he could make me a couple of board to the RMweb modular spec that would be around 3ft in length for my car (Citreon C1   ). I waited as my request climbed Tims production list and I received the finished curved and straight board this week .

 

 

So "Border Curve" the name is nothing really, just with living near the Scottish border was how it came about.  

The board will be a single track curve, no points just a track through the scenery no hopefully none descript as such.

 

The curved board was something I would never had been capable of producing (at the moment, though it's a learning game this modelling and I do like watching how others tackle the project. ) , so onto its construction.

 

 

The pack arrived via courier on the day specified.

On opening it looked good quality with all of the parts etched with a description which was good as I had two boards the curved and straight in one box so sorting them out was easy.

This left me with the main top ....

 

and bits for the sides and middle.

 

So first up was a case of putting the cross members in place for the middle and ends.

Then waiting for the glue to set......

Note dont get to excited that your boards have come and start without putting paper or something down to stop the glue going on the carpet  as I found out when SWMBO came to see how I was getting on

 

This was perhaps the hardest part attaching the curved sections to the outer and inner of the board.

The parts supplied are bendy enough to curve and the idea is you glue them and hold them in position for the glue to set a bit however I found it easier to put the glue on and start at one end and tack them in place with some peco track pins which are really thin so dont split the wood at all.

 

 

So this just shows you the idea of the boards basically you should just need glue to complete the rest is just slotting square pegs into square holes ok there more rectangle but hopefully you get the gist. However I also used the pins above and some clamps below.

 

This I wasn't expecting the boards come with a finishing layer to hide everything and produce a nice clean edge.

So with plenty of glue (as recomended) and the aid of the clamps it was a case of just gluing the edging strip to the outer edge.

Again for the extreme corners I did tap a little pin in just to give it a bit of strength as the boards are due to be transported and the corners would probably take some knocks.

 *note the towel on the floor to protect from drops of glue...  

 

Here you can see where Tim has etched into the wood how the parts of the board. A nice touch.

 

And again the center line of the track set at 36 inch radius.

 

 

The mini clamps I bought from "the range" for around about £1 no doubt the poundland chain probably have similar.

 

So all done in a few hours the waiting time for the glue to set is the killer as you can see what goes where but you just need for it to set a bit before progressing.

 

Next week hopefully we raise it up with some legs.....

 

Cheers,

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2015 by Steve-e

[MattWallace]

These boards look amazing!

 

I've also kept my baseboards down to 3' long for exactly the same reasons - I also have a Citroen C1!

 

I'll follow this thread with interest

 

Matt

[Joseph_Pestell]

I agree that Tim Horn's baseboards are excellent. And really quite good value compared to what it would cost in materials to achieve the same result.

 

In France one used to see Citroen trailers: the back end of a 2CV converted into a trailer and towed, of course, by another 2CV. Works especially well with a 2CV van. Perhaps you could find a crashed C1 or Nemo in a local scrapyard which would allow you to transport more modules.

[Steve-e]

This week I was planning on starting the track laying and wireing but got a bit behind with time so only managed to get Border Curve off the floor.

 

Using the same method as described on my Badger's Vale board here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/97884-britmod-oo-modular-2015-challenge-3ft-straight-badgers-vale-off-the-ground/ I constructed some legs.

 

 

I also added a clamp landing pad to each board to distribute the pressure

The black hand clamps were there just to hold the wood in place while the glue dried.

 

 

More next weekend hopefully.

 

Cheers

Steve

[Steve-e]

So working on this board at the same time as the straight http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/97884-britmod-oo-modular-2015-challenge-3ft-straight-badgers-vale-update-2504/?p=1842259

 

 

Using the same principle as the straight with the track soldered to the copper board.

 

And using a 36 inch tracksetta worked from one end to the other and leaving a piece of track overhanging to keep the track spacing correct while soldering.

Included adding some droppers while soldering.

 

I ended up with this alignment.

 

Using a different type of female banana socket as I didn't have any that fit the angle bracket.

These ones go through the side of the baseboard which makes locating them easier.

Just trying different options really.

 

The other ones are easier to solder these ones didnt really have a  big enough hole for the wires.

 

 

The track was trimmed off leaving the ends flush with the board end. 

The droppers will be hidden by scenery.

 

 

Wizzing a wagon from one end to the other to test the track as speed produced no problems

 

 

Everything together with Heljan class 47 + 6 FTG models SPA wagons looking nice,,

 

 

as per the straight board this curved one is now at a stage where it could go to a meet and hopefully function correctly.

 

Cheers 

Steve

 

 

 

 

[Steve-e]

Ok I'm off for 12 days .... so time to blitz the scenery on the curved board and the straight while hopefully having a jaunt to Barrow on the class 37's  .

 

Preparation is the key try to get everything together so your not hanging around waiting for stuff.

 

The way I've read the modular principle is that your hills etc must be self contained as the ends should be flat so the join to another board is believable. 

 

Hopefully what I do should work.....

 

So starting with some newspaper and some tape I made the rough shape of the hill.

 

Next using some plaster bandage stuff (modroc?) dipped in water I covered my basic hill shape..

 

 

I worked on both Border Curve and Badger's Vale to minimise the potential mess I apparently was making....

 

Has anyone seen my cat.......

 

Next while it was drying which was quite rapid I gave it a quick spray with some Modelmates weathering spray just to take the whiteness away.

 

 

Thought I better wait a while to let the whole thing dry a bit so took the opportunity to paint the fascia boards black.

 

Border Curve will have all "wooden" fencing while Badger's Vale will have a mix of "wood" and stone walling.

Here I have made a start on the foot crossing and also the trackside fencing.

 

The hill is still its sandy brown colour so looks like a line through some sand dunes at the moment.

 

More in the next few days but some more pics coming soon of Badger's Vale.

 

Cheers 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve-e]

The hills on Border Curve were done at the same time as those on Badger's Vale 

with the same tecnique of painting brown then covering with PVA glue and sprinkling some scatter on.

 

 

Just applying neat PVA glue it dries clear so dont worry about the white.

 

Having scattered a mix of grass fibres and some Hornby scatter.

 

The view looking down the line. Hopefully starting to look a bit British or like Telly Tubby land.

 

I have added a footpath crossing to one end of the board to provide some interest and for something to toot/whistle at with your sound locos.

 

The join between Border Crossing and Badger's Vale as the sun sets, what I've tried to do is hide the join with either a fence/hedge or wall on all the boards to hopefully aid flow of the modules.

 

Cheers

Steve 

 

 

[Steve-e]

Work started on more scenery as we move upwards.

 

I bought some trees from some Chinese seller on Ebay which are of a twisted wire technique rather that moulded plastic.

The come a bit squashed but just tease them out to shape and they look ok.

They also need a touch up with some paint but on the whole the are miles ahead of the plastic ones.

 

 

The Border Curve skyline

 

 

Some bushes and colour added to the inner side.

 

 

Oh and the track does not align as I undid the clamps while the end bushes were gluing.

 

It's gone from Telly Tubby land to looking a bit Hobbity now.

 

 

 

Cheers

Steve 

[Steve-e]

There's some more pics over on the Badger's Vale thread along with the inspiration behind the scenery.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/97884-britmod-oo-modular-2015-challenge-3ft-straight-badgers-vale-update-255/?p=1900473

 

But here's some specifically for the curved board I do a lot of checking via the mobile phone camera to see what the various angles look like. I also found a nice app that blurs the background which helps remove some distractions.

 

40012 rounds border Curve with some SPA wagons.

I have yet to start on this side of the board adding bushes etc..

 

09024 negotiates the curve in the morning sunshine.

 

 

Another couple of views of 40012 renumbered courtesy of Railtec transfers.

 

Cheers

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve-e]

Just plodding on with some scenery across both boards and some finer detail, a few more trees, some signage around the path on Border Curve and a few more gorse bushes added to both boards. 

 

Signage added to the path that crosses the line.

 

47491 rounds Border Curve.

 

An overall shot of how things are progressing on the curve. There are some sheep appeared on the other side of the board and work started on adding bits of scenery to that side also.

There are probably 4 different colours of "bush", 3 different ballasts an various styles of grass "tufts" to add variety to the colour.

 

The Heljan class 47 with 6 x SPA Coil wagons will form one of the trains I'm bringing to the meet.

The other 2 still been looked at. I'm looking at a train from each of 3 different periods.  

 

 

Steve

Edited May 30, 2015 by Steve-e

[Steve-e]

Not much work on the boards over the last week as I've been concentrating on putting the trains together and swapping a TTS sound chip into a ViTrains class 37 and sorting the lights out so they come on in the direction of Travel.

 

Also been adding some weight to a TTS Class 40 to hopefully stop it bouncing around so much.

 

So here are some images of my last train of 3 this one covering the Green Diesel period of the early 60's the others covering 80's and 90's.

 

The wagons come from Dave Shakespears "Tetley Mills" collection that I purchased last year in the hope that they fit in with the modular style and others can enjoy running their locos with Daves wagons. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Class 40 is the Hornby TTS version and has had the stripe added at below the cant rail, frost grills added, weathered etc... I left it as D232 but added nameplates.

 

On the still to do list are

Adding some more scenic bits along the walls to hide the joins.

Make a Whistle board.

Gather all bits together that I have agreed to bring.

Make some kind of stock boxes.

 

 

 

 

Cheers

Steve

 

 

[cromptonnut]

I don't know if your modules still exist but if you fancy a trip to Hampshire in May next year ... see my signature for more details