Lydbrook Dean

[wiggoforgold]

The next building for Lydbrook Dean is the ground frame cabin. I used a York Model Making small signal box kit, assembled pretty much from the box, save I replaced the kit slates with ones from Scale Model Scenery as I preferred the colour.

The cabin was sprayed with Humbrol Matt cream, and weathered with a black wash and weathering powders. 
The name board is from Phil at the pattern shop. 
There is a bit of detailing still to do, and I’ve left the roof loose so I can fit an interior.

 

Alex

[wiggoforgold]

Track is down at Lydbrook Dean. It’s just pinned in place at the moment while it settles down and I can decide if any adjustments are needed. Once it’s fixed down I’ll make a start on installing point motors. The first train has run, so I am now “testing”

Edited October 22, 2022 by wiggoforgold

[wiggoforgold]

The track at Lydbrook Dean has been temporarily laid in position. I decided to use Peco code 75 Bullhead, like I has used on Yelverton. The only exception is the 3 way point leading to the quarry, which is made with copper clad sleepers. It was originally on a layout built for my son many years ago, so must be about 25 years old. It isn’t stuck in place yet, but has allowed me to consider the track plan before things are stuck down. The only part of the plan not yet finalised is the goods shed siding and head shunt. I’m considering 3 options:

1.       Wait until the Peco medium radius points come out.

2.       Adapt a couple of Finetrax A5 turnouts by curving them slightly.

3.       Make them myself, using crossings and blades from old  copper clad turnouts.

Having worked out the position of the track, I have temporarily lifted it again while I work on some of the messier parts of the scenery.

At one end of the layout is a quarry, influenced by Points Hill on the Coleford branch. The loading area is influenced by Marsh sidings at Parkend.

The quarry face and hillside has been built up from polystyrene blocks, cut with a hot wire and glued together with PVA. The rock areas were built up with Plaster of Paris, and the shape of the landform built up with Sculpatmold. I discovered Sculptamold a couple of years ago. It’s like a finely ground tissue paper, impregnated with plaster. It can be sanded once dry and remains workable for much longer than Plaster of Paris. I apply it with a palette knife.  It can be smoothed with damp fingers. Being water based, it is very clean to use, and easy to keep in the right place.

The rocks in the quarry area show the effect of having been worked by man. The worked faces are quite regular. I found some videos on You Tube (mainly American, to get some ideas for techniques. I made strata lines in the unworked areas of the rocks by vigorous horizontal strokes from a wire brush. Vertical blast lines in the worked areas were made with vertical strokes of a carving tool held against a steel ruler. The rocks were given a better definition and broken and cracked areas were introduced using a carving tool.

The rocks were painted with washes. First, a wash of matt black (thinned Mig acrylic) was applied, which enabled me to better see the carved rocks and make a few adjustments. Two more acrylic washes were applied, first a brownish grey, then burnt umber. When dry, a final wash of black drawing ink mixed with IPA was applied. This was left to dry overnight. The following morning the rocks were dry brushed with Mig acrylic “matt white”, “new wood” and “faded Sinai grey”. It was then given a coat of acrylic matt varnish to seal. I have found that although I had thought it was dry, the colours have continued to soak in to the palter, giving a pleasing variety of colours to the ro9cks.

 

The edges of the rocks where they emerge from the earth have been treated to an earth mix made from Artex, PVA, a shot of Mig Dark Earth, a pinch of real dried earth and some earth coloured weathering powder, mixed up with water. It dries quite quickly, very hard and very matt.  At some state I’ll try a mix with the addition of some gloss varnish to simulate wet mud.

Edited November 6, 2022 by wiggoforgold

[wiggoforgold]

I’ve been giving some thought to the time of year Lydbrook Dean will be set in. Many layouts, including my own previous models, are set in late spring/early summer, when foliage growth is at its height and everything looks very green. I have found this is easier to model effectively as lush swathes of green are easier than the subtleties of changing seasons.

I hankered after doing something a bit different. I was attracted by the idea of something damper and colder. Some of the colour pictures I found of the railways in the Forest of Dean were taken in October/November, and this inspired my choice of season. Autumn offered a much greater variation of colour than the summer months. Thus, it was to be an autumn landscape, set in mid October. The trees will be changing colour and starting to lose their leaves. It has recently rained, and the fallen leaves have mixed with mud and puddles on the ground.

Having decided on what I wanted to do, I made a start by observing the changing landscape over the autumn months, regularly taking a series of pictures of the trees at the bottom of the garden so I could see how they were changing.

I have made a start on the trees. I enjoy making trees, which is fortunate, as this layout requires a lot, even more than its predecessor layout, Yelverton.

I begin with an armature made from twisted florists wire. I use about 26swg, but the exact gauge is not crucial.  Some of the larger trees have used some thicker wire in the trunks to impart strength. I had a useful chat with Maggie Gravett at the Minehead show earlier this year, an she showed me how to start from the outer ends of the branches and work down, which gives greater control over the height of the end product. In the past I have started at the bottom of the tree and worked up, using a bunch of wires of equal length. Starting from the top is less wasteful. Two wires together to make a basic branch, and pairs of wires are added to this to this to build up the shape of the tree.

 The basic tree is then covered with a bark mix, either Treemendus bark powder, or a slurry made up from Artex and pva glue. Additional twigs can be added to ends of the branches when this is dry by painting the very ends of the branches with pva and adding 6mm static grass.

This is then painted. Sometimes I use an aerosol spray, but this can give quite a blast of air, and a more gentle spray from an airbrush fitted with a regulator to control the pressure of the spray is better. The colour is various shades of brownish grey, the exact shade depending on the species. Birches, for example, are nearly white, and for these I have used a spray of white primer, followed by dry brushing the trunk with a dark grey.

The next stage requires a more subtle approach than for summer trees. My observations showed that as the leaves fell, the trees took on a lighter, airier appearance, and I wanted to replicate this. For some trees I have created a twig structure using teased out “animal wool” (stuffing for ballet shoes I believe), which is teased out in to small clumps, sprayed a brown colour, and applied to the ends of the branches with pva. In some cases I do not use the animal wool, and instead scatter is applied directly to the static grass fibres.

Application of the scatter needs to be done a section at a time. Find a product and colour that works for you. I am currently using Treemendus fine mid summer and late summer scatters and Woodland Scenics dark green fine turf. The twig structure is sprayed with hairspray, a section at a time, taking care not to get any spray on the main trunk. Sometimes I  hold a piece of card against trunk to protect it from the spray. Scatter is then gently sprinkled on to the sprayed areas. I start with the middle colour, in this case mid summer and add the lighter late summer scatter on top.  Last comes  the darker green turf from below.  All the scatter should be applied sparingly, taking care not to build up too heave a covering, as we want to crated the impression of branches the leaves have started to fall from. The finished trees are then planted on the layout. I’m currently considering the best positions for the trees and deciding where more need to be added. I’ve done 14 so far, and reckon I need another 25 or so.

Edited November 13, 2022 by wiggoforgold

[mullie]

I find modelling the autumn period interesting as not only does it affect the scenics. In East Anglia it affects traffic flows with the onset of the sugar beet season, does the nature of traffic change in the Forest of Dean?

 

Martyn

[wiggoforgold]

Hi Martyn

Most of the traffic will be coal, or stone from the quarry, so possibly not. I’m not sure about other parts of the system.

Alex

[wiggoforgold]

The next building is the crossing  keeper’s cottage. It’s based on the crossing keeper’s cottage at Soudley on the Forest of Dean line.

Unlike the other buildings on the layout, it has a practical as well as a decorative function as it fits over the rear hinge riser where the baseboards fold in the centre. The hinge projects into the roof space, so for this reason the building is hollow, and does not have a false ceiling unlike my other buildings. I plan to add additional corner bracing to compensate.

Basic construction is from 2mm artists mounting board. The ends fit between the sides. The dimensions of the sides were arrived at by reference to the size of the riser, as the building had to be large enough to fit over that. After marking out, the apertures for the doors and windows were cut out. Inner sides were made from the 2mm card, slightly smaller at the top and ends. The apertures for the doors and windows were made 5mm bigger all round. The sides were then assembled.

The stonework is from a Scalescenes sheet. The Scalescenes sheet was printed on Matte photographic paper, given a coat of matt varnish to seal and stuck to the card shell with Pritt. The Pritt is  applied to the shell one side at a time, starting at the front. The printed sheet is wrapped round the whole building, starting at the front. The join is at the rear of the building and invisible to the viewer.`Once this is struck down, the window apertures are cut out, and the cut edges are coloured in. I painted them with grey acrylic, but a pencil or felt pen can also be used.

The main widow frames are cut from 10thou plasticard. Glazing bars are added from 0.4mm dia plastic rod, glued behind the frames. An outer frame which fits in to the window aperture was made from 0.6mm plastic rod. Most of the windows are nominally the same size, but I made them up individually, and numbered the apertures and frames so each frame was made to  fit a specific aperture. The completed frames were glued in place behind the apertures, with the outer frame fitting in to the aperture. A small amount of Treemendus bark powder was mixed up, and used to blend the frames in to the apertures cover the cut card edges of the widow apertures. When dry this was sanded smooth and carefully painted grey to match the stonework.

Cills are from the Wills building details set, and the brick lintels are Scalescenes brown brick.

 

 

More soon.

Alex

Edited November 20, 2022 by wiggoforgold

[Captain Kernow]

That Scalescenes paper has turned out rather well, Alex. The building is pretty instantly recognisable for Forest of Dean fans.

 

Did you make a site visit for the dimensions or make an estimate?

[wiggoforgold]

1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

That Scalescenes paper has turned out rather well, Alex. The building is pretty instantly recognisable for Forest of Dean fans.

 

Did you make a site visit for the dimensions or make an estimate?

Thanks Tim. I’m pleased with the way the Scalescenes paper tuned out. I looked at the one you’d done for Parkend Marsh which encouraged me to give it a try.

I didn’t do a site visit, there’s lots of pictures of the original on the internet if you search for “Soudley gatekeeper’s cottage”. The ruling dimension is the need to cover the hinge riser on the layout so I worked from that.

Alex

[wiggoforgold]

I’ve laid the track. It’s mainly Peco code 75 bullhead on DCC concepts underlay. The exception ids the 3way point, which is scratch built using copper clad sleepers and code 75 bullhead rail.

I fitted the various pieces of track together before gluing anything down. Once I was satisfied with the basic layout, the track was glued to the underlay with Unibond pva. Before gluing the track down, I drilled 1.4” holes in the board beneath the tie bar positions for the actuating wires from the point motors. I also drilled small holes beneath the crossings to feed through the wire to the crossing nose which will allow the crossing polarity to be changed. I also installed the magnets for the Sprat and Winkle couplings.

The 3 way point

This is the key piece of trackwork, and unlike the rest of the track is homemade using copper clad sleepers and code 75 bullhead rail. The advantage of this sort of construction is that the track can be made to “flow” better and is a better fit in the available site. It is strong, and easy to wire up. The downside is that there are no chairs, the rail being soldered direct to the sleepers. The absence of chairs was less of a worry 25 years ago, and the suggestion was that a fillet of solder could be built up between the rail and sleeper giving the impression of a chair, but I have found it difficult to get any consistency of size between the solder blobs, so  I  am using old C&L chairs as cosmetic chairs, epoxying a half chair on each sleeper. I am glad I only have to do this on one point!

Curving Peco turnouts

I needed a curved turnout and the Peco ones are straight. By cutting the web between the sleepers on the outside of point and beneath the closure rails, I was able to gently curve it round. On the prototype the crossings and switches are straight, so the curvature is only applied to the section of turnout between the crossing and switches. I took care not to disturb the bonding between the switch rails and the stock rails, or where the switch blades joint to the tie bar.

 

The next stage for the trackwork will be completion of the wiring, and a period of test running, before moving on to painting and ballasting.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by wiggoforgold

[wiggoforgold]

Cosmetic chairs fitted to the 3 way point. It took a little time but I think the improved appearance makes it worth it.

 

Alex

[Captain Kernow]

5 hours ago, wiggoforgold said:

Cosmetic chairs fitted to the 3 way point. It took a little time but I think the improved appearance makes it worth it

Quite right - nothing worthwhile seems to come for free.

 

I share your pain with regard to the gluing on of cosmetic chairs to soldered pointwork, but it is definitely worth it.

 

One thing I have always had to do in OO, is to cut the tops of the inside chairs down a fair way, to ensure that flanges don't bump along. This was a fairly common problem with the older C&L thin sleepered flexi track, Bachmann steam flanges being particularly inconsistent when it came to flange profile and depth.

 

What I would do now is to insert a tiny packing piece between the bottom of the rail and the top of the copper clad sleeper, to raise the rail height to match a scale 4mm chair.

 

Re6/6 had some packing pieces etched a few years ago for this very purpose.

 

[wiggoforgold]

8 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Quite right - nothing worthwhile seems to come for free.

 

I share your pain with regard to the gluing on of cosmetic chairs to soldered pointwork, but it is definitely worth it.

 

One thing I have always had to do in OO, is to cut the tops of the inside chairs down a fair way, to ensure that flanges don't bump along. This was a fairly common problem with the older C&L thin sleepered flexi track, Bachmann steam flanges being particularly inconsistent when it came to flange profile and depth.

 

What I would do now is to insert a tiny packing piece between the bottom of the rail and the top of the copper clad sleeper, to raise the rail height to match a scale 4mm chair.

 

Re6/6 had some packing pieces etched a few years ago for this very purpose.

 

To make sure that 00 flanges didn't strike the chairs I have slightly cut down the top of the chairs on the inside of the rail, making sure the top of the chair is below the head of the rail. I've also sanded back the chairs with 400 grade wet and dry paper.

If I was doing the point from scratch I would have used packing pieces between the rails and sleepe, but that wasn't an option with this one because it was already built.

Alex

[wiggoforgold]

I revisited the 3 way turnout this morning. I’ve replaced the underlay at the edge which had been torn up as a result of some over vigorous wire brushing. I’ve refitted a couple of chairs and tidied up round the tie bars. I’m wondering whether to epoxy a length of plastic rod on top of the tie at between the switch blades to improve appearance and strengthen the joint between the tie bar and switch blades.

The tweaks were follows by another coat of grey primer which works as an aid to me in seeing how it all fits together.

[wiggoforgold]

Track laying is complete and the layout is back in the workshop, I’ve made a start on the wiring.

The pictures show the old quarry that’s taking shape at one end of the layout. The line goes off stage through a tunnel on to a sector plate. The sector plate id hidden beneath the scenery, which is removable for access and transport. The basic shape has been built up from polystyrene foam, covered with Sculptamold. The curved back drop is from 2.5 mm ply. The resulting structure is both strong and light.

Edited December 18, 2022 by wiggoforgold

[wiggoforgold]

  Happy Christmas everyone. More updates to follow after Christmas. I've got a busy post-Christmas planned, assuming Santa brings the necessary items.

Alex

[mullie]

Happy Christmas Alex.

[wiggoforgold]

Santa brought this for Christmas. This week I will mostly making rocks (and about 2 dozen birch trees) More pitures will follow.

Alex

[NHY 581]

Rock on, Alex ! 

[wiggoforgold]

With the track laid and the rails across the baseboard successfully cut, I folded the boards to check the alignment of the cut rails and to check the clearances between the two halves of the folded layout. This revealed that I could raise the height of the rock faces at the quarry end of the layout by about 4cm.

The increased height of the rocks would give a better sense of the quarry face towering over the trains. I started by raising the height of the existing rocks using foam and card formers, covered with plaster of Paris. For Christmas I was given various Woodland Scenics rock moulds, and some Hydrocal casting plaster. More rocks were cast in the Woodland Scenics moulds. The castings were used to build up the rock faces and were stuck in place with Hydrocal. Once dry, the rock faces were carved slightly with carving toots and a wire brush to blend everything together.

Earlier in this thread I described how I painted the rocks. Further study of pictures and my model led me to feel the rocks were too brown in shade, and I wanted more of a grey colour. The old and new parts of the model needed to be painted in such a way as to blend everything together, so I decided upon a complete repaint. The problem was, the nature of the old and new surfaces were different. The new rocks were bare plaster and Hydrocal and could be painted easily with washes. However, when I had painted the original rocks, I had finished off with a spray of matt varnish to seal everything in. This sealing coat prevented washes from soaking in to the surface.  Further, because it was already coloured, the colour would show through a translucent wash, resulting in a different appearance between the old and new sections.

My Christmas present included a set of Woodland Scenics earth colours. These are acrylic pigments, and can be used neat, or made into washes. They are easy to apply, give excellent coverage, and dry absolutely matt. In order that the old and new sections were a consistent colour when the washes were applied, I first painted the previously painted parts white. I had wanted to paint everything with washes, but this was not an option as they could not soak in to the previously sealed parts, I therefore gave everything a coat of stone grey. When that was dry I applied washes. I used a variant on the “leopard spotting” technique suggested by Woodland Scenics.  I applied washes of  yellow ochre and burnt umber to sections of the rocks, covering about two thirds of the rocks. I then applied an overall wash of slate grey. When all this was dry I applied a further wash of stone grey to the previously painted original section, which resulted in a consistency of colour over the whole rock face.

Because an autumn scene is being modelled there would be areas where water is running down and seeping through the racks, and these were given further washes of slate grey and black.

Some areas were then stippled with a mixture of white and stone grey, to give the impression of lichen growing on parts of the rock. Highlights were introduced by drybrushing with the white/stone grey mix.

The next step was the introduction of wet areas and pools of water at the base of the rocks. I used Woodland Scenics “realistic water”, another part of my Christmas present. It’s like a sort of pre-mixed resin, and is applied by simply tipping it over the rocks. It finds it’s own way down.  I had previously painted the areas I  wanted it to go with some darker shades, so the realistic water was now poured on  (I decanted some from the bottle into a smaller jar) and left to dry. I applied it fairly sparingly and may apply some more.

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by wiggoforgold

[wiggoforgold]

Lydbrook Dean station. The next step is to make a start on building up the basic landform on the right hand board.

Happy new Year all.

Alex

[Captain Kernow]

Excellent, Alex, very much looking forward to seeing this at a show sometime!

 

[AdeMoore]

Late to the thread! But kinda caught up now!

Smashing model making go on here.

Looks like it’s going to be rather nice. Not that it isn’t already!

Cheers

Ade

[wiggoforgold]

Today’s work at Lydbrook Dean. I’ve reached a conclusion: There is no quick way to paint track.

 

Alex

[F-UnitMad]

32 minutes ago, wiggoforgold said:

I’ve reached a conclusion: There is no quick way to paint track.

Or ballast it. 🙄 I'm not sure which job is worse.... 🤦‍♂️