Cramdin Yard

[PhilH]

......so get cracking on the Mk2 version then. That be the layout and me having a rebuild....

[nickwood]

You can go off people you know!

 

We had a few problems and not just the operators. I had to resolder a tiebar that had come adrift which was not entirely successful and a couple of things derailed because of it. Also another switch blade was coming loose on Sunday but hung in till the end of the show. Looks like I have to do some serious permanent way repairs/rebuilds before the next outing. If I had known what I was doing when I built the layout things would be somewhat different but as it is things are getting a bit worn and tired (not just Phil).

 

Good fun weekend none the less. Thanks for the invite.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

Ha ha. Glad you enjoyed the weekend. Actually I was very impressed with the running I saw considering the layout had been stored for two years or thereabouts.

 

Would love to see a mk2 version.

[gz3xzf]

Saw Dave & Cramdin Yard at Christchurch MRC Exhibition yesterday, here are a couple of photos: -

Excellent layout to finally see in the flesh after following the build on RMWeb.

[eldavo]

Good to see photos from someone else Bryan.  Cramdin was being a right royal pain yesterday with numerous little niggles including a failing toggle switch on the main panel and several locos failing.  Managed to replace the switch and so today we had a much more pleasurable day playing trains.

 

Cramdin is boxed up in the workshop and will not be out until next spring. Hopefully sometime before that I will find the mojo to do some serious reworking of some of the trackwork which is unfortunately showing its age and poor initial construction.

 

Cheers

Dave

[PhilH]

Good to see photos from someone else Bryan.  Cramdin was being a right royal pain yesterday with numerous little niggles including a failing toggle switch on the main panel and several locos failing.  Managed to replace the switch and so today we had a much more pleasurable day playing trains.

 

Cramdin is boxed up in the workshop and will not be out until next spring. Hopefully sometime before that I will find the mojo to do some serious reworking of some of the trackwork which is unfortunately showing its age and poor initial construction.

 

Cheers

Dave

For reworking read enlarging.....he knows it makes sense.

[Jaggzuk]

Hi Dave

 

I have been searching through the layouts I follow looking for grass scenery inspiration and your photos in post 11 look great and have the feel I am after.

 

Can I ask what materials you have used for your lineside grass and bushes and what techniques you used to fix them?

 

Cheers Paul

[eldavo]

Hi Dave

 

I have been searching through the layouts I follow looking for grass scenery inspiration and your photos in post 11 look great and have the feel I am after.

 

Can I ask what materials you have used for your lineside grass and bushes and what techniques you used to fix them?

 

Cheers Paul

 

Hi Paul, No great magic in any of the greenery.  The effect I was after was of chalky soil with scrubby long grass.

 

The ground profile was coated with a thin layer of plaster and left unpainted.  The grass is almost all hanging basket liner.  I was fortunate enough to find a pale green basket liner made from natural fibres which meant I didn't need to dye it or paint it.  Basically I slathered the ground with a layer of cheapo PVA glue then laid the hanging basket liner hairy side down into the glue.  This was left for several hours for the glue to fully harden then the liner was ripped off leaving a hairy mess which was pushed around and flatten out a bit with the Mk 1 digit to give the grass effect.  The removed basket liner can be used several times in this way until it becomes too thin to be of use.

 

Scrubby bits are various "foliage" scatter materials again glued with PVA on top of the grass effect.  Larger bushes are bits of lichen glued down then scatter material glued to the lichen.  The key for me is to find  materials with muted, or washed out, colours.  Using anything but a very small amount of materials with strong colours immediately says "train set" to me.  When you are standing 100 yards from something natural in the real world there are rarely strong colours.  Manmade objects have strong solid colours.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Jaggzuk]

Cheers Dave, that has boosted my confidence on using basket liner (BL) to see the overall effect you have achieved with it.  When I asked the question I was not sure if it was BL or not, but great to see what you have achieved.  I have been playing around with BL for our layout, see http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106602-family-8x4-oo-layout-kadee-coupling-effort/?p=2517638 and http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106602-family-8x4-oo-layout-kadee-coupling-effort/?p=2518483.  But not had the confidence yet to start using it in anger for fear of messing it up or that it just did not look right.

 

I note that you have used static grass on your layout,  but have you used it on top of BL?  If so, how did you glue it to the BL, did you just brush on PVA?

 

I totally agree with you on muted colours, I think that is why your layout looks so good.

[eldavo]

 

I note that you have used static grass on your layout,  but have you used it on top of BL?  If so, how did you glue it to the BL, did you just brush on PVA?

 

 

I don't think I have mixed HBL and static grass anywhere.  I have tended to use the HBL on rough embankment areas and static grass in odd patches around the yard areas.  I suspect sticking static grass on top might be more tricky but you could try cheapo hairspray as that wouldn't cause the HBL to go I to a soggy clump.

 

Cheers

Dave