Dalmunach (ex Cromdale Goods)

[luke the train spotter]

Full steam ahead on the workbench today. The bridge has been painted using a few different washes and acrylics. No special techniques but starting with a light primer gives plenty of scope when building up layers of colour.

 

 

Quickly afterwards I got on with some ballasting, a bit sooner than I had been expecting, but with such a small layout this doesn't take much time. The ballast was distributed using a tea spoon and tamped by tapping the rail with a paintbrush. It was thoroughly misted with water then watered down wood glue was applied with a pipette. 

 

 

The ballast in question is this n gauge blend of Legacy Ballast from DCC concepts. 

 

 

Whilst slightly skeptical about a ballast which seemed to have premium marketing vibes, it was very strongly recommended to me by a friend because of its accurate colour palette for steam era ash ballast. On this slightly crude close up of the platform track I'd have to agree.

 

 

Don't worry I was still tamping at this stage so the ballast level was lowered around the point rodding! Comparing it to this photo of Carron it looks like a pretty good choice though I suppose it could always be a finer size.

 

[Sweet pea]

Progressing nicely Luke. The different washes used on the bridge definitely makes the stones stand out as the capillary action gets in-between the gaps. That n gauge ballast Luke is something I'm going to try myself. Nice job.👍

[luke the train spotter]

3 minutes ago, Kevin Johnson said:

Progressing nicely Luke. The different washes used on the bridge definitely makes the stones stand out as the capillary action gets in-between the gaps. That n gauge ballast Luke is something I'm going to try myself. Nice job.👍

I think using a finer grade ballast helps give the track a more finescale look even though it's off the shelf code 75. 

[luke the train spotter]

Work continues on Dalmunach. Firstly a bit of impulsive backscene painting. This was done with thinned Vallejo acrylics, the same method as used on all my other layouts. I debated whether to use a printed backscene but quite like the painted look of some low mountains. 

 

These will be mostly covered  by low relief trees so I kept the backscene pretty basic. The next thing I did was begin work on the station building. From the GNSR Association I obtained scale drawings of Blacksboat which I scaled to 1:76 then printed and mounted on foamboard. However, I'm not sure if the full scale version dominates the station platform too much so have mocked up a full size and slightly cut down version. 

 

The full size one:

 

The cut down version:

 

The cutdown one looks slightly more in proportion with the rest of the layout but looks pretty small next to the railbus so I'm not sure which one to build. 

 

 

Plenty of thinking time as it's not really a high priority job but thought I'd post it on here to show the thought process. 

[Sweet pea]

Luke the backscene looks great with a nice contrast of colours. The station building looks right to me.👍

[Northroader]

I think you’ll have difficulty getting much of a station building on that platform width. Here’s a Pop Up Designs kit I’m using on a GNoS line that’s taking shape. (It has needed a bit of tailoring to be fully suitable)

It’s in 0 scale, and the board width is 10”, so equivalent to about 6” in 00.  Your goods siding and shed has required over half your board width, so there isn’t really enough left to get what you want. You might make do with the front half of a Colonel Stephens type building, perhaps in wood rather than corrugated iron, otherwise add a few inches on the back of the layout?

I'm enjoying the build, it is looking promising.

[luke the train spotter]

1 hour ago, Northroader said:

I think you’ll have difficulty getting much of a station building on that platform width. Here’s a Pop Up Designs kit I’m using on a GNoS line that’s taking shape. (It has needed a bit of tailoring to be fully suitable)

It’s in 0 scale, and the board width is 10”, so equivalent to about 6” in 00.  Your goods siding and shed has required over half your board width, so there isn’t really enough left to get what you want. You might make do with the front half of a Colonel Stephens type building, perhaps in wood rather than corrugated iron, otherwise add a few inches on the back of the layout?

I'm enjoying the build, it is looking promising.

I'm thinking that I might be able to build it in half relief. The actual prototype scaled down would allow me to model the stone style building in that way. I've had a look at Pop Up Designs and have been very tempted by their kits, if they made a stone style station then I'd be sold! Unfortunately extending the depth of the layout isn't really an option but this angle from a couple weeks ago shows the amount of space I'm working with which is about 2.5cm.

[TechnicArrow]

Nice work on the backscene! The groundcover is looking good too.

 

Personally, I think the larger building works, but could it perhaps be slid further to the right - maybe even slightly behind the goods shed? It would help imply the platform and station is larger than the layout actually is.

 

Alternatively, if you do go with the smaller building, perhaps you could add an ancillary storeroom, shelter, shed etc? I'm not familiar enough with the prototype to know what sort of building layouts were common.

 

Whichever you do I'll be following with interest, since I'll have to do similar at some point for Watchford!

[Ian Blenk]

Do a mock up of the larger building at 3.5 and another at 3mm to the foot and see what they are like, you could probably get away with it if they are in isolation

[luke the train spotter]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions! I'll have a look at scaling the large station down to 3.5mm scale and shifting it to the right. I suppose that's just a clever use of forced perspective! Looking at the prototypes most didn't have an additional shed but lots of platform furniture, I'll do some more research and see if there is anything I should include. 

[luke the train spotter]

Yesterday I ventured up to Glasgow to visit Model Rail Scotland. Having never been before I wasn't quite sure what to expect but was blown away by the quality of layouts, great venue, friendliness of stewards and line up of traders. Everything seemed very well organised and the £15 ticket was excellent value for money. The hall had an enthusiastic buzz about it, you can't tell me the hobby is dying! 

 

The stand out layout for me was Tellindalloch, a Speyside inspired micro terminus layout which recently featured in Railway Modeller and was a strong reason for my impulsive trip. Here are a couple of my photos but they don't do it justice, the depth of scenery and immersion it created was fantastic. 

 

 

I'm sure there are many more photos/videos on Facebook and YouTube so well worth a search. Obviously this layout has been very inspiring for Dalmunach, the composition and detailing is pretty aspirational. 

 

Whilst at the show I found the Pop UP designs stand which sell a pretty good selection of laser cut Scottish railway buildings. After seeing their assembled Longmorn station kit I caved and bought one, thinking that whilst I was pretty set of a stone station building this kit looked too good in the flesh to pass up on. The kit is based on Longmorn but was a very similar design to Knockando so I don't think that it will look too out of place. 

 

 

I plan on cutting the kit in half width ways so it will still be low relief but building both sides of the kit up so in theory I could re-assemble the full building when I have space for a proper Speyside layout. 

 

Whilst I was out a parcel arrived for me containing a very exciting 3D print. Since ARC models stopped trading a few years ago it's been basically impossible to get your hands on a 12" Andrew Barclay kit but that has all changed thanks to the seller 3D Factory on ebay. I had come across some scale drawings and his CAD skills brought them to life. There are a couple of small compromises but the kit is very true to the prototype. It is designed to sit on a Hornby W4 chassis so I'll be on the hunt for one as soon as my bank has recovered from this weekend's model rail spendings. Sat here next to my larger Hattons barclay shows the size difference, as mentioned previously in this thread. 

 

 

The kit comes with buffers/roof/backhead but they're not shown in this photo. So now we can faithfully model our favourite distillery pugs with a touch more accuracy! For anyone interested the kit can be purchased here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/375258225557?itmmeta=01HQDCZF41NKV06174RPMPAFQP&hash=item575f221b95:g:yGMAAOSwHkdlzgL9&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4HChPcP4fbYH1Ot3GujHgGt7ewdqqO6lBdo84Ewtl0uorvvJH%2BFWhwO4iAWEsIYQcAHhhKSgS%2F0ssgc7rO9i4z%2BPOxkv8DvJwLmwl90I%2ByxGwQjRXUU893n9N4ncz0sYxVTUYfUkBs%2BKlxEKTaNvvd9QCG1vKcGm7jtzsp7BneCN2xwHbjcbkZJbB6er67C8QHlEIk4R9%2FcNrqN76De4y6779CoQHo9Bxf7xJP5dWq6qX4PUwsyTRH0BAI82ctWWe9HjBa8%2BAGHdB6%2Fvu72F0gYA%2B1sZxHIWHOuap9MKg0iX|tkp%3ABk9SR5Dy_ay7Yw

 

[Sweet pea]

Sounds like you had a great time Luke also some nice pictures. We always come away with goodies from such events.👍

[Northroader]

The Pop Up kits are in unpainted ply with laser etched detail, so if you want a stone built station, you can face it with “stone” plastikard glued on, once you’ve smoothed the projecting locating tabs off.
The Glasgow show sounds great, pity it’s too far for me. Tallindalloch is news to me, have you spotted Rosehearty, a GNS based branch in 0 gauge, also it has a P4  version.

 

https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/threads/rosehearty-gnsr-new-aberdour-branch.8035/

Edited February 24 by Northroader

[luke the train spotter]

22 hours ago, Northroader said:

The Pop Up kits are in unpainted ply with laser etched detail, so if you want a stone built station, you can face it with “stone” plastikard glued on, once you’ve smoothed the projecting locating tabs off.
The Glasgow show sounds great, pity it’s too far for me. Tallindalloch is news to me, have you spotted Rosehearty, a GNS based branch in 0 gauge, also it has a P4  version.

 

https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/threads/rosehearty-gnsr-new-aberdour-branch.8035/

Rosehearty was a great layout to see at the show, the caley 439 class stood out to me. A couple years ago I started to convert a Hornby m7 to one, I got to the painting stage and it stalled. I'll have to grab it from my parents house the next time I'm there. 

[luke the train spotter]

I started work on the station building kit today, starting with a dry fit of all the parts to get an idea of where I would cut the model. I was very impressed by how robust the building is, the laser cut parts fit together perfectly and even though I had used no glue the structure was pretty solid. 

 

 

I'd say that this kit  captures the look of the prototype pretty well apart from a few areas. The cross braces of 3mm ply that hold the kit together stand out quite a lot and ruin the neat laser cut wooden slats that run along the wall. These are more visible when looking down the building.

 

 

This contrasts a lot to the prototype still standing at Longmorn and any of the other GNSR wooden station buildings. 

 

 

So something has to be done about that. I started by cutting out the sections where the cross sections are and bracing the inside of the walls with offcuts of the wooden sprue the kit came on. I now have a much smoother finish at the cost of the building being 12mm shorter than the original kit. 

 

 

Roughly positioning the building on the layout I think it's quite well proportioned and sits well on the platform. Onwards with the roof and end pieces. 

[Sweet pea]

Luke the laser cut building looks a nice model to put together.👍

[sulzer71]

On 24/02/2024 at 11:29, luke the train spotter said:

Yesterday I ventured up to Glasgow to visit Model Rail Scotland. Having never been before I wasn't quite sure what to expect but was blown away by the quality of layouts, great venue, friendliness of stewards and line up of traders. Everything seemed very well organised and the £15 ticket was excellent value for money. The hall had an enthusiastic buzz about it, you can't tell me the hobby is dying! 

 

The stand out layout for me was Tellindalloch, a Speyside inspired micro terminus layout which recently featured in Railway Modeller and was a strong reason for my impulsive trip. Here are a couple of my photos but they don't do it justice, the depth of scenery and immersion it created was fantastic. 

 

 

I'm sure there are many more photos/videos on Facebook and YouTube so well worth a search. Obviously this layout has been very inspiring for Dalmunach, the composition and detailing is pretty aspirational. 

 

Whilst at the show I found the Pop UP designs stand which sell a pretty good selection of laser cut Scottish railway buildings. After seeing their assembled Longmorn station kit I caved and bought one, thinking that whilst I was pretty set of a stone station building this kit looked too good in the flesh to pass up on. The kit is based on Longmorn but was a very similar design to Knockando so I don't think that it will look too out of place. 

 

 

I plan on cutting the kit in half width ways so it will still be low relief but building both sides of the kit up so in theory I could re-assemble the full building when I have space for a proper Speyside layout. 

 

Whilst I was out a parcel arrived for me containing a very exciting 3D print. Since ARC models stopped trading a few years ago it's been basically impossible to get your hands on a 12" Andrew Barclay kit but that has all changed thanks to the seller 3D Factory on ebay. I had come across some scale drawings and his CAD skills brought them to life. There are a couple of small compromises but the kit is very true to the prototype. It is designed to sit on a Hornby W4 chassis so I'll be on the hunt for one as soon as my bank has recovered from this weekend's model rail spendings. Sat here next to my larger Hattons barclay shows the size difference, as mentioned previously in this thread. 

 

 

The kit comes with buffers/roof/backhead but they're not shown in this photo. So now we can faithfully model our favourite distillery pugs with a touch more accuracy! For anyone interested the kit can be purchased here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/375258225557?itmmeta=01HQDCZF41NKV06174RPMPAFQP&hash=item575f221b95:g:yGMAAOSwHkdlzgL9&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4HChPcP4fbYH1Ot3GujHgGt7ewdqqO6lBdo84Ewtl0uorvvJH%2BFWhwO4iAWEsIYQcAHhhKSgS%2F0ssgc7rO9i4z%2BPOxkv8DvJwLmwl90I%2ByxGwQjRXUU893n9N4ncz0sYxVTUYfUkBs%2BKlxEKTaNvvd9QCG1vKcGm7jtzsp7BneCN2xwHbjcbkZJbB6er67C8QHlEIk4R9%2FcNrqN76De4y6779CoQHo9Bxf7xJP5dWq6qX4PUwsyTRH0BAI82ctWWe9HjBa8%2BAGHdB6%2Fvu72F0gYA%2B1sZxHIWHOuap9MKg0iX|tkp%3ABk9SR5Dy_ay7Yw

 

Tellindalloch was my favourite of the show 

[luke the train spotter]

Modelling time has been pretty limited over the past couple of weeks. I had a very enjoyable couple of days helping operate Hallbankgate and Portland Cement, at Birtley Model Railway Exhibition. Both layouts fun to operate and something beyond my normal modelling scope. Bringing it back to Dalmunach I've made a start on the station building roof. Not a huge project but a satisfying one taking my time to get the angles/corners correct. The piece of tamiya tape just holding a panel down as the glue properly sets off. This approach uses the original laser cut roof supports, cut down with plasticard roofing to save the hassle of glueing together pieces of the original kit. 

 

[luke the train spotter]

A couple spare hours saw the roofing and guttering adding to the station building bash. Roofing slates are laser cut from FairPrice Models on Ebay and the guttering is a combination of scrap box spares and U shaped plastic strip. Once the roofing slates have all properly dried I'll add some mock led flashing made from paper strips then the paint shop won't be too far away. 

 

 

 

The building isn't quite sitting flush with the platform yet but some rear supports are on the job list so the building won't be tilting back as far just balancing on the platform. 

[Sweet pea]

Luke the station building build is coming along great. Its amazing how many things we have in a spares box to make things from the drain pipe is one.👍

[luke the train spotter]

Instead of starting the painting on the station building, I've been working on the goods shed. I started by making a door and basic sliding mechanism out of plasticard superglued in place.

 

 

I then started on the roofing slates. These are the same FairPrice models slates used on Dalmunach's station building but instead of laying the slate strips straight onto the roof I laid them onto wide overlapping strips of painters masking tape. The masking tape provides an immediate stick and I add a thin bead of wood glue between the layers, resulting with a strong bond once dried. This creates large strips of slates which can be cut to fit the exact angles/dimensions of the roofing panels. I find this is much more efficient way to roof buildings, especially when one large strip can be cut into multiple pieces for the same roof. 

 

 

As the roof was setting off I made a start on the interior. The GNSRA has some great photos of the interior of Cromdale goods shed so inspiration was easy to come by. The wooden frame is a combination of plasticard and match sticks. A quick raid of the bits box and there's enough clutter to suggest a fairly profitable flow of goods. 

 

 

 

Currently none of the details are fixed down so they can be painted separately. I'll grab some photos of shed on the layout the next time it's out. I may take a leaf out of @TechnicArrow's book and chop down a super low relief wagon to the back of the shed, we'll see!

 

 

 

 

Edited March 17 by luke the train spotter
Image formatting

[luke the train spotter]

After a couple of pretty hectic days it was definitely time to decompress with some painting. I'd primed the station and goods shed at the weekend so I had a good base for brush painting with vallejo acrylics. The station is a rough colour match to Longmorn, using flat earth for the brown and a flat white/dark sand for the light creamy colour. I'm quite happy with it so far though a few bits could do with neating up a bit.

 

The goods shed has also had a bit of paint on the roofing slates and interior. Nothing fancy just a couple shades of brown with dark washes all over. 

 

 

I love seeing the casks and crates through the open door. Doing this building interior reminds me that the signal box still needs one sorting.

 

Looking at the layout as a whole I think the station building fits in well and hopefully it won't be too long until I get some greenery on the layout. 

 

[luke the train spotter]

After having a lot of fun helping exhibit Morfrail at Newton Aycliffe yesterday, I felt pretty inspired and ready to tackle the big scenery jobs on Dalmunach. First up was the trees, these are made from seafoam sprayed with WWS tree spray and dipped in a scatter blend. Not an original or complex method by any means but a very effective one. I don't think I've mentioned seasonality of the layout before but it is set in late summer, when barley traffic is high which justifies the regular grain trains and large amounts of extra traffic. To match the September colours I made up a dark green, almost olive blend of scatter for the trees. 

 

I made about 20-30 trees and trimmed them into place with scissors. The key here was trying to balance differences in height without overpowering the station scene. I tried lots of different positions and combinations, taking my time and taking lots of photos to ensure I liked what I saw. I settled on a formation, removed all the trees and laid them out on the counter in the order they were to go back onto the layout. 

 

But before I could glue the trees down I needed to lay some static grass. This was a bit impulsive and I'm not 100% sure on the grasses used as they were mostly ones left over from when I revamped Distillery Yard's scenery a few years ago. This was applied around the signal box and in a patchy fashion around the goods yard and front of the layout. The trees were then stuck down with wood glue and this is the result so far. 

 

Dalmunach has come to life very quickly! The buildings are all still loose so they can be removed and  finished but the contrasting colours have really started to pull everything together. Here's a couple pictures of the 26 sitting on the layout.

 

 

 

[Sweet pea]

This is looking lovely Luke.👍

[TechnicArrow]

That greenery is superb - it really has brought the place to life! The treeline masks the low-relief station incredibly well, definitely something I will have to try for Watchford.

 

Can I ask where you got the sea foam, and any other tips for making trees? I've never made any before, but I think it's hight time I do!