Bregstadt, a first exercise in 1:120 scale

[Les1952]

Looks good.  That NOHABs runs very nicely.

 

I've got the layout set up in the shed again and I've made a start on the front.  The front contoured board is now finished, and painted black, which in itself is a major improvement.

 

 

The white at the front is the plaster bandage for the contours here.  Bregenbach is on end in the corner until next summer as its next show is currently Stafford next back end, by which time this one will have been out three times.

 

 

One day later and the plaster bandage is now an improbable shade of green ready for the static grass to be put on.  After that there are 25 or so more trees to add, by which time (the first?) four signals will have appeared.

 

Taking Bregenbach im Schwarzwald to Warley gave me chance to get ideas from other layouts that were there.  In particular I need to think about overhead power lines on posts and increasing the vegetation around the station and yard.

 

To quote Mr Simon  "much to do"....

 

Les

 

[Les1952]

Quite a bit done on the scenic side- albeit slowly.  A lot of trees gone in, and even more grass tufts. The five signals have been planted but not yet wired in.  This morning I ran the first train since October- and needed to add a couple of droppers to cover for where paint had got into the gaps between rails and rail joiners. I don't like soldering upside down!

 

 

A lot better for the banking being finished and about a third of the trees planted..

 

At the other end more trees, signals and street lights.

 

More pics in the camera

 

Les

 

[Les1952]

Latest video- note a few more trees have appeared.  I'll be taking the layout down to wire in the signals over the next couple of weeks- I'm waiting for more trees as I've run out, and also for some more people and animals.

 

 

 

There are some pics still to process.

 

Happy new year.

les

 

[Les1952]

Trees, trees and more trees...

 

There are now 111 trees on the layout plus quite a few bushes..

 

 

Looking towards the town along the top row gives the impression I'm trying to create.  At the front out of focus is the ginger cat, while the lamp post has the inevitable dog relieving itself.  Its owner is somewhere in transit from Modellbahnshop Lippe together with a lot of other figures.

 

I'd not realised the tall timber framed house leans forward.  It will stay leaning as from most angles it isn't that noticeable.  There is also a tree root to disguise behind the shed and some glue spilt on the railings and on the roof of the small shed on the coal stage.

 

 

A view of the shed from wheelchair height showing view blocker trees to the left, signals on main and loop- the semaphore is the loop- and the WC for the shed.  Someone appears to have left the door open.  the front edge of the shed is exposed and needs longer grass.

 

Another pair of 3-axle Umbauwagen arrived this morning, together with some material for the concrete area, and a pair of tipper lorries.  One of these is being grotted up to sit by the excavator while the other will get a load of some description and stand by the goods shed.

 

Also arrived are some masts for the electricity cables that will run from the woods on the right to the factory in the middle.  I'm going to use 0.5mm elastic for these and pass them through the backscene (in the trees and behind the factory) so they are secured firmly.  That is a job that will test my patience.  there was a lot of interesting language while I was doing the tramway overhead on Furtwangen Ost, and this will be more complex.  Some folks never learn...

 

More before too long.

Les

 

The signals do work, by the way...

Edited January 24 by Les1952
typos as usual

[Les1952]

About time I put up some more pictures.  I've now just about finished the scenery and am now onto bringing the layout alive.

 

 

The old factory showing the power lines running along in front of it.  Cables to this and to the goods depot not yet installed.  I've made the cable out of 0.5mm knitting-in elastic following the pattern for Furtwangen Ost's tramway lines.  However I coloured it with black paint so it looks a bit heavy.  Still insulators to add to the masts, and the wire itself needs to be lightened in colour a little.

 

First person at this end at the door of the office building (actually a station house I bought for the second platform I ended up not building).

 

 

Looking a little further along, the construction site has wiggly tin around it, a worker with a wheelbarrow, one of the two workmens' WCs and a grotty wagon being filled with earth.

 

 

The wires disappear into the factory, largely to avoid them crossing the board join.  The layout now has its name board which slots above the factory and hides the discontinuity in the backscene.  The bare wood visible to the right is a plywood sheet leaning on the wall of the shed behind the layout.

 

The A3 was undergoing trials which decided its fate- it won't run round the R2 curves at the end of the layout under any circumstances, so has now been sold on.

 

 

The old factory and the goods depot are now connected to the electrickery grid....

 

 

Last for today, the first of the pigeons.  It has since flown away- or to be more accurate fallen off- superglue isn't the best to attach it with.  It has been recaptured and it and its 5 mates will be attached with UHU as a second attempt...

 

Population happening and other work off the layout going on.  More pics when I have them.

 

Les

[Les1952]

Some new pics part 1

 

Firstly- round the back

 

 

The Furtwangen end of the fiddle yard, showing class 86 on heritage passenger, class 280 on freight and class 215 on through passenger from Ulm.  Also shows a couple of levers for the points out front.

 

 

The control panel - all of it, also showing the chocky connectors that are the only power connections between boards.

 

The three pairs of push buttons work the semaphores, and the two pairs of switches below work the colour lights-  red-off-green for the main, and off-amber for the subsidiary lights.

 

 

With a fiddle yard where trains might not return to the same place each time and a variety of locos I decided to have a pair of mimic panels behind the backscene- shows each loco with its address.  All you need is to work out which of four centre-can Bo-Bos is which.

 

The big screw with thread is tensioning the elastic threads of the overhead power cables out front.

 

 

The latest toy- a class 93 by Piko.  Fun to get into in order to chip but runs nicely.  One mainly for Plandampf days (Show Sundays).  Must remember to check it is on the track before photographing....

 

Les

 

 

[Les1952]

Going into some details.

 

I picked these up online- a set of 3D printed crates with green bottles.  The whole thing is about 5cm long, all ten parts.  The idea is you paint the sides grey or brown, wipe cork colour onto the tops of the bottles, then put the bottles into the crates.  How successful was I?

 

 

There they are on the platform having just been delivered by the Jagermeister van.  Someone will need to cart them along to the station buffet.  All it needs is someone at a show to say Jagermeister bottles are brown....

 

 

Pesky pigeons attempt three- this pair are sitting in varnish,  A small amount of matt varnish on the apex of the roof then an attempt to sit the pigeons in the varnish.  The further one is straight, I'm not entirely sure about the nearer one, but with the naked eye you can't really even tell it is a pigeon...

 

 

Queueing for the bus- what is wrong with the train?  They'll have a long wait as I don't have a 1:120 scale bus.  The pooch is a standard poodle.

 

 

Slightly out of focus but the signature dog-cat standoff.  Also to be found on Croft Spa and NO PLACE.  Oddly not to be found on Bregenbach im Schwarzrald.  The building sits over the board join so it won't be bedded in.

 

 

Lastly for now, the building site.  I'd got grot on the truck windscreen and was in a bit of a panic before I remembered it is left-hand drive.  Perhaps I should have removed the Japanese lettering from the side of the digger.  Artic has had its awning dirtied a little.

 

More to follow.  Today has been spent fighting the drawer handles I got to fix onto the end boards to make the layout easier to carry.

 

Les

 

 

Edited March 23 by Les1952
guess what- you got it- typos.

[Les1952]

Some more details etc.

 

 

First for those who still don't know them, the Hunt couplings.

 

 

Seen here fitted to one of the four wheeled ex-DR coaches.  The logo on the side is a slightly trimmed Highland Railway crest rotated through 90 degrees.

 

 

The toy immediately before the BR93 was this BR106 shunter to take over goods yard duties from the 08, which I didn't get a stay-alive inside that worked.  More research needed here.

 

 

The BR798 railbus (by Kres) is next in the queue for a little very light weathering, to be confined to roof dirt and a little on the underframe and around the buffers..

 

 

In the trees near the tunnel end is this large nest with a bird of prey of some sort.  Like most birds of prey it doesn't like being photographed- third attempt and still not quite in focus.

 

 

Looking into the canyon in the town end plenty of cars parked to hide the over-height kerb a bit, a guy with suitcase waiting for someone to release the door catch before he stubs his toe trying to kick it open, and foliage on some balconies and a couple enjoying the view of the roof opposite...

 

All for now.

 

Les

[Les1952]

A couple more of the locos.

 

 

First, the identity pic for the BR95.  A beast of a loco but just about OK for a preserved engine on Plandampf days.  Arnold, of course, and an excellent runner.  Arrived analogue but not that difficult to chip.

 

 

Arrived yesterday and the last loco before the layout goes out on its first show, this BR112 which the Bregtalbahn will have purchased from the DR around the time of reunification, when the DR were trying to get rid of surplus locos and cash strapped lines were still loooking for anything cheap.  Now fitted with a decoder (it takes a next18) and run it, it has been lightly weathered since the picture.

 

Some more detail pics

 

there WOULD BE some detail pics but RMWeb's picture uploader has just gone on strike!

 

Les

 

 

[Les1952]

Coaxed it back into life

 

 

This is the pic that the uploader wouldn't accept in the previous post.  Start a new post and try again and it goes in first time- the wonders of modern technology.  Cruel close-up of the fountain shows the pavement very uneven and needing a bit of pokery to flatten it.  The purpose of the fountain is to distract the eye from the grotty pavement underneath it....

 

 

Something I learned as far back as Furtwangen Ost is that if stuck with a grotty join in plain sight making a feature of it could help.  Workers are repairing the concrete at the side of the goods station.  The fence is still a bit too clean.  I wonder if I can find a suitable painter figure to be working on it and help explain why it is so shiny.  Easier than weathering it...

 

 

Person and small child on one of the balconies, hiding behind the flower boxes.

 

Layout overviews March 26th

 

 

Firstly, looking towards the Donaueschingen end.  Work for the next week will involve track cleaning, soak testing the locos and trains, and weathering stock.  In the background some of the vans in the yard have already been done,

 

 

Looking the other way towards Furtwangen.  The light coloured board hung on the backscene will be posted to explain what a Plandampf is for Sunday running.  A few jobs that will be done after the first outing include weathering the fence round the goods shed (or adding a painter),  ageing the wall at the back of the yard, and doing something about the roof of the loco shed, which to me is crying out for tiles.

 

Come along to South Notts show and see it working, April 6th and 7th at Cotgrave Welfare Social Club.

 

I might get some pics of weathered stock taken over the next two or three days (he says hopefully).

Les

Edited March 27 by Les1952
typos...

[Les1952]

 

First loco to get a little weathering is the class 106.  Kept relatively clean as a loco that is a recent arrival and looked after by the Bregtalbahn.  I will probably add some more soot to the cab roof, it looks cleaner in the pic than in the plastic.  Note the Easi-shunt couplers, this loco is the first call for shunting duties.

 

 

Next up the 112.  This needs a bit more soot and a bit of dirt on the running plate.

 

 

Then the 212.  Probably more cab soot and spread the footplate crud to the end.  The steps at the long hood end have taken a bash but I might leave them bent, just adding a touch of glue to make sure they don't fall off altogether.

 

 

Cruel shot of the exit at the Furtwangen end.  Still some refining needed, but not until after the first outing at South Notts Show.

 

All for now

 

Les

 

[TT100 Diesels]

It was great to see this layout in the flesh today at the show at Cotgrave welfare. Having been keeping an eye on the build progress in this thread, the photos of construction up thread all came together nicely.

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

[Les1952]

Pics from the show.

 

 

The layout as set up on Sunday morning, with the "Plandampf day" board in place.  The class 106 shunted the yard both days. The only casualty was the class 280, which shed a traction tyre, though it seems to run quite well without it.

 

 

looking into the goods shed yard.

 

The only two issues with the layout were firstly that some glue fumes had found their way into the mechanism of one of the semaphores.  A little work with the end of a scalpel blade had that working by Sunday morning.  The more serious issue was a point wire popping out of the tie bar hole on Sunday morning.  Fortunately Neil Stevenson of PLS Layouts/Sherwood Models is more adept at putting these things back than I am, and got it sorted before the show opened.  Many thanks, Neil.

 

 

The class 798 at rest in the platform.

 

 

The show was opened by no less a person than Sir Topham Hatt.

 

Videos are being processed and will eventually be posted.

Les

 

 

[Les1952]

South Notts Show video, number 1 of 2

 

 

Number 2 to follow.

 

Les

 

[Les1952]

And the second video from South Notts Show.

 

All for today.

 

Les