Wheldon

[doilum]

A new project started today. By next winter I might have to think twice about heating the outside workshop. Certainly I might be reluctant to put the electric heating on for a twenty minute running session whilst I listen to pop master. Frydale was originally conceived for the day when I need to bring a layout indoors. Wheldon takes the concept a step further. Essentially it is a simple test track measuring just 10 X 84" on two boards. These can be placed on an ironing board, keyboard stand or a pair of Billy bookcases. The controller and all isolating switches will be mounted into the front panel leaving only the feed from a transformer to be plugged in. The bus bars connect through the baseboard bolts. The whole layout will easily fit into a small car ( maybe not an MX5) and should be capable of assembly by a complete non modeller. Thus, if old age has a few cruel tricks ahead, I might still be able to pass an odd hour or two with the tank engine collection. A single point will allow a bit of inglenook puzzelling.

Step one was to order a pair of brass dowels and a few switches. Meanwhile I mocked up a panel for the ancient ECM Compspeed. This will have separate toggle switch for direction as I always found the stiff slide switch a bit awkward to use even when new. Today, I have completed the baseboard ends with their dowels and T nuts and have assembled the switch mechanism that will sit below the point and connect the the pull rod control. Total cost to date is £30 including a 4x2 of ply from Wickes. There is no deadline for completion and I am prepared to wait for a Y point on the bay of E at sensible money. Failing that there should be something suitable at the Guild summer show in Doncaster.  (If anyone has a half decent Peco point that they would like to swap for a double slip please PM me).

[doilum]

Get up. Have coffee. Think about plan B. It occurred to me that if the controller was on the left hand board ( the metre of plain track) it could function as a standalone unit. An isolated section at each end will allow two small locos to tango. This will mean the sacrifice of some of the planned scenic foreground but it may well be worth it. Time to play around with the full size drawing.

[doilum]

A few photos of this morning's progress. I like to build on a full size paper plan. There isn't much room for scenery but I wanted to include at least one of my two favourites, a stream or an allotment. 

In the end I opted for a recreation of the beck that fronts Houghton Street. My design process is best described as " organic" with ideas mocked up in cardboard or scrap wood before committing to best plywood.

Edited April 24, 2022 by doilum

[doilum]

Just an update whilst glue sets. For anyone interested, that is mostly Wickes builders PVA with occasional use of Evostick foaming urathane glue where fast setting or gap filling is required. If asked about most important tools I think clamps and set squares are near the top of the list. The small dash clamps were part of a bigger set, £13 from Argos, a Christmas present from daughters 25 years ago. 

The control panel is now in place but I won't complete the cut out until the board is fully assembled.

 

[doilum]

Left hand board now  complete. Just needs a lick of white primer on the underside and the busbars fitting.

[doilum]

Yesterday I completed the wiring (, apart from the locking line socket which hasn't arrived yet) and was able to test run a loco or two. Today I have focused on the hydrology and retaining wall. For any newcomers, a couple of useful principles. First, retaining walls are rarely truly vertical and need a gentle inclination. If I had put a bit more time into the planning this could be ave been built into the basic structure. As it is, I made a false wall from today's most used material, some 2mm ply. I chose stone plastikard partly because I had a sheet and partly to have a change from my usual affinity for brick. Second principal, rivers run downhill to the sea and on a small stream this gradient should be apparent. The steam runs between two culverts so first task was to make sure that one was a bit higher than the other. There will be a slight step in the channel making the gradient obvious. Every day is a school day and it occurred to me that, as I removed the plastic veneer from the back of the ply (does anyone else remember panelling out their kitchen or bathroom in the 70s) that I could use the softpad on the angle grinder to carve the stream bed into the ply before adding contour like layers to build up the banks. With a bit of luck it will only need a smear of Polyfilla to get it paint ready.

[doilum]

A bit more progress on the retaining wall. As is usually the case in this scale it involves mating two sheets. The lazy solution is to place a convenient buttress over the joint ( some chartered engineer will probably tell me I should have one any way) but I thought I would try for a seamless joint using a strip of plastikard that can be scribed to match. If I don't like the result there is always plan A.

[doilum]

Yesterday I assembled the second board. The exact shape of the trackbed will be determined by the point I end up with. This board has a small drawer to hold the odd screwdriver, track cleaner and stash of Werther's originals. I am now focusing on the scenic stream section. After a few issues with Polyfilla that would not cure correctly ,(old stock? ready mix? additional paint /PVA?) I dug it out and glued layers of scrap cardboard and eggbox. This will get a top layer of carpet underfelt once the stonework is painted. Meanwhile I have added a bit of basic colour to see where I am going.

[doilum]

And a bit more paint. Match pots from Wickes provide the basic palate . Technique is more Jackson Pollock than Constable. Eventually something emerges that you are happy with, then it is time to walk away. If not, walk away and try again tomorrow.

[doilum]

A bit more progress over the last couple of days. There isn't a perfect sequence when it comes to landscapes. I try to work on what needs to go underneath/behind first. Casting water will be last. the sheet of thin aluminium provides a hard edge to work to and when removed produces a neat sharp joint with no gaps or broken edges. Masking tape protects previous paint work from the next messy step. Tonight I will read carefully the Gravett's book on landscapes and grasses and then tomorrow proceed to do my own messy thing.

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[doilum]

A bit more scenic experimentation. Every thing is left over from previous projects and at least ten years old. Mostly secured with PVA or UHU. The water pour will be the very final stage when everything else is fully completed.  The loco this time is Antwerp.

[doilum]

I have had a full week off. Wheldon has remained safely under dust sheets whilst I concentrated on a birthday gift for my nephew's son.

A good sweep up and a remjig of the modelling room has created a space to work on Wheldon. I am still waiting for a Y point to turn up but prices on the bay of E are nudging full retail. I might wait until Doncaster in a fortnight's time and see what I can find. Failing that I will bite the bullet and order one from Tower or Rails.

I had an odd hour left so started to prepare the baseboard joint. The brass scews have been fine tuned to the perfect height and then trimmed so that they become invisible once soldered and ballasted.

[doilum]

I managed another hour this afternoon and completed the track laying across the baseboard joint. It will be cut back once I have the point to play around with. Each piece of track, no matter how short has it's own drop wires on to the busbars below. I might be strictly analogue but that doesn't prevent me from following DCC best practice. Glass Houghton No4 had been out for some excercise and thought she would gatecrash the photo.

Edited May 23, 2022 by doilum
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[doilum]

This hour or so before teatime is becoming something of a habit. Today I thought I would experiment with weeds in the ballast. One of my favourite photographs in Ron Rocket's book is of a 56 hauling one of the final MGR trains, axle deep in the long grass, to Bower's Row. I never intended Wheldon to be so unkempt but thought I might indulge myself for the final loco length. 

Rather than add the weeds at the end I have tried planting tufts of long grass before ballasting. Despite watching several demonstrations and countless YouTube films, l have never had much luck with the static applicator. Here I have copied nature. Tall grass tends to grow in clumps from a distinct and well established root ball. My approach has been to drill a 3mm hole, fill it with UHU, and stuff it with a twist of the grass fibres. Once happy with the weeds I tried the ballast. Laid dry, brushed into place, wetted using an old Dettol spray and then drizzled with a PVA solution. The final step is to walk away and leave it alone until tomorrow.

Edited May 24, 2022 by doilum

[doilum]

I'm having a few problems with my tablet.

[doilum]

At last a little more progress. Stewarding duties at Doncaster meant that I missed any bargain points on the bring and buy so I bit the bullet and bought a shiny new one from Tower models. At least I saved the postage and didn't have to worry about damage in transit.

I had already prepared the switch mechanism and installed it without removing the spring. I am not crazy about the big wooden box over the tie bar but it can remain, at least for the time being. The trick of writing the wiring instructions on bits of masking tape paid off as all the drop wires and insulated breaks fell into place first time despite a break of almost a month. The three locos are sat on the isolated sections.

[doilum]

Today's top tip. Making track pins disappear. There is a school of thought that pins should be avoided in favour of glue, and to be fair, if I had lovingly crafted each inch of track from C&L components there is no way I would drive pins into the sleepers, but this is what it is: recycled Peco. Several years ago I followed excellent advice and started to put the pins into predrilled holes close to the sleeper end rather than a single pin in the middle. My pins today are 15mm fine panel pins from Wickes. They are installed slightly proud to enable extraction if need be. As I began tapping them down I became increasingly dissatisfied with the random lump of metal that passed for the head. I considered filing them flat but quickly broke out the Dremel and a cutting disc. It then occurred to me that the pin would get warm, and if I tapped it with a pin hammer, would countersink itself into the plastic job done. A complete success. A lick of paint and my fixing method is invisible. Bonus tip: whilst the Dremel is to hand tip the board over and trim off any pins that have protruded oon the other side. This makes electrical fault finding much less painful.

[doilum]

A quick update before I begin ballasting. The wiring is complete and tested and the rails and sleepers painted. Whilst there are excellent track gunge paints available, and others swear by their own secret concoction, I went for repeatable simplicity. The rail sides are Humbrol enamel 70 and the sleepers #62 with a touch of Matt black. More importantly, I wrote these down on a bit of masking tape when I completed the first board. Memory isn't what it was. 

I also installed the front embankment. A glue gun and sripss of interlaced card ( there had to be some use for those lateral flow boxes) created the foundation. The covering is old carpet felt underlay ( I am down to my last square foot). This is attached with a generous application of PVA and then, once in place, a liberal soaking from the old Dettol bottle. Once fully dry this will be as solid as fibreglass. This morning I was able to trim off the edges and gently massage the still damp middle to ensure it takes on a concave profile. Convex profiles are very rare in nature. Final task was to find some scrapwood and install temporary margins for the ballast.pp

[doilum]

Steady progress all week. Track and ballasting now complete and the scenic details taking shape. Today I found the ballasting had compromised the smooth action of the point and whilst I was messing with it I decided I could no longer live with the big wooden coffin between the switch rails. I took the time to hunt for the circular saw blade that fits the Dremel as this makes a much cleaner and cooler cut than a cutting disc. Once removed, tiny offcuts of black plastikard were superglued into place and the missing section of ballast inserted. For anyone interested in this type of ballast repair, my method is to carefully flood the gap between the sleepers with UHU and pour in sufficient ballast to reach the sleeper top. Once gently tamped down dilute PVA can be added with a pipette.

The low relief building in the corner provides a visual distraction but also makes up the difference where I ran out of the stone effect plastikard . Considering it was made entirely from matchbox size offcuts I am quite pleased with the outcome. If this seems a little too tight, one of the original objectives was to use as much of my hoarded junk as possible. The space at the front is still undecided. There isn't really enough room for an allotment but who knows?

[doilum]

Almost there now. I am just awaiting some cabbage material for the allotment and then I can pour the resin in the beck. This afternoon I had my first running session, initially with one loco to ensure there are no difficult bits of ballast, and then a four loco puzzle. This it turns out, is more challenging than the six loco swap around on Frydale. In fact there has been one combination that resulted in a bit of a cheat with two locos chasing each other into their final position. I could of course add another isolation break in the head shunt but then it might get too easy. Today's other task ( after planting rhubarb) was to add a small shelf in the drawer to place the loco name sticks on.  

On show today are a pair each of the 15and16" Hunslets. Bawtry and Primrose are Judith Edge kits , Beatrice is a scratch build from a photograph and some guestimation and Airedale was built from an accident damaged eBay win. It was an ancient brass kit maybe of Impetus origin.

Edited July 6, 2022 by doilum

[doilum]

This is time for confessions. Sometimes, despite years of experience, we make a fundamental error at the planning stage. Mine was to start the woodwork and tracklaying before having the point on the bench. This has resulted in a siding that is about 10cm too short when trying to accommodate three Hunslet austerities ( I know that one is technically a 50550). As a result, I am restricted to the 15&16" locos. One solution would have been to have assymetric length boards. A 38"+46"combination would have worked. Still, it is a good reason not to buy the new Dapol austerity that I don't really need.

Second one. I poured the stream yesterday. In most ways this was a total success, I do however have a school of red fish swimming happily in the water. Rather than order a £20 casting kit on line, I picked up a small tin of resin from the local car spares shop. Unfortunately they only had tubes of red hardener. Despite lots of vigorous mixing and carefully checking for red specks they suddenly appeared as I poured. Top tip: find a similar shop that sells the clear liquid hardener in bottles.

The cabbages arrived and have been planted. A fork, spade and barrow soldered up from shim brass scraps complete the picture.