"Wales, Rails, Rain & Steel" A micro steelworks layout... in the rain!

[Wayne 37901]

Hi Marc,

 

Those buildings are coming along nicely! You're making some good progress with this one, I really have to get a shift on with mine. I'm still playing with cardboard mock ups!!...

 

What have you used for those, some look like to be bits of peco engine shed? The grey one at the bottom for sure... Will look forward to seeing those in place!

 

 

Following this with much interest!

 

 

Cheers,

[marc smith]

Hi Marc,

 

Those buildings are coming along nicely! You're making some good progress with this one, I really have to get a shift on with mine. I'm still playing with cardboard mock ups!!...

 

What have you used for those, some look like to be bits of peco engine shed? The grey one at the bottom for sure... Will look forward to seeing those in place!

 

Hi Wayne,

 

Nice to hear from you! You were missed at the last pub-meet.

 

I've used a variety of materials, for each building.

Some are Wills Corrugated iron, another is Slaters corrugated sheet (7mm!)

and yes, the one building is the walls of a Peco loco depot.

Very sharp observation sir!

 

The entrance / stairway / raised area on the left of this is made from some bits of Pikestuff I had lying around.

 

Actually, I was on the lookout for a pikestuff depot building,

but couldn't get hold of any....have now seen some on ebay,

but the Peco stuff looks pretty good (in my opinion).

 

For the rusty old corrugated iron building, I used slaters 4mm corrugated plasticard.

I particularly wanted a few "slightly open / dodgy" joints, so I opted for the slaters,

as I didn't want to cut individual pieces of Wills!

 

I'm hoping you will finish "Dragon Steels" before I finish this layout

come on Wayne.......I'm waiting

 

Cheers matey,

Marc

[Wayne 37901]

Hi Marc,

 

Thanks for the speedy reply and info on your buildings!

 

Yeah, I missed the last meet because I got back late with the other half! I spoke to Brian ® and it seemed to have been a good one?!... As for buildings, at the moment I have wills corrugated steel and asbestos sheeting for mine, I haven't seen the slaters stuff so I'll have a look around.

 

I did have an old peco engine shed in the attic somewhere, but when I found it - it was damaged so I threw it away (stupid boy!!)

 

One more question on the buildings if I may... Have you built them as shells and cladded over the top? If so, what have you used. I'm looking for ideas to save on weight here.

 

 

As for finishing mine before yours we'll have to see! It's nice to see you've made some good progress though. What I need is a nice deadline to give me a kick up the backside!!

 

 

Following with much interest!

 

Cheers Marc,

[marc smith]

Hi Wayne,

 

Other half getting in the way of your precious modelling already eh

and valuable drinking time

 

My buildings are mostly low-relief.

The Slaters corrugated, comes in the usual A4-ish sized sheets.

There's a lot less detail than the Wills. But the Wills stuff is such a small piece,

you end up with lots of joins.

 

I've used the 7mm scale corrugations, because to my eye,

it looks a bit like box-section sheet material, in 4mm scale.

 

With Slaters stuff, it's very thin, and needs laminating - at leat 3 layers,

or it will tend to warp. I've used plasticard off-cuts + strips,

to laminate the back of one large building....

mind you, it still warped slightly so I then mounted it,

with PVA, onto mounting board, while keeping it flat with some heavy books

(SWMBO's gardening books, not my precious railway books ) whilst it dried.

 

Only the loading shed, and the rusty corrugated iron building (slaters 4mm corrugations)

are modelled "whole".

 

Hope this helps?

 

Best

Marc

[Guest Dave.C]

I've used the 7mm scale corrugations, because to my eye, it looks a bit like box-section sheet material, in 4mm scale.

Thanks, I will try some of this as a variation on the 4mm stuff

[mudmagnet]

Hi Marc,

 

Your buildings capture the look of the steelworks very well. Look forward to seeing these weathered (up to your usual standard no doubt) and then in place on the layout. Do you have any photos with these placed on the layout or are you saving this for another time?

 

Richard

[Minster]

Thanks, I will try some of this as a variation on the 4mm stuff

 

Hi,

 

The Slaters 7mm corrugated sheets painted an asbestos colour also make a fine example of what was known in the building trade as Big 6 sheets, used almost entirely on Industrial units the corrugations were 6 inches high.

 

John.

[Wayne 37901]

Hi Wayne,

 

Other half getting in the way of your precious modelling already eh

and valuable drinking time

 

... No she's pretty good really!... As far as modelling goes I've been a bit lazy of late but seeing yours progress has prompted me to get on with it. Seeing pauls layout at the Cardiff show was a real kick into gear as he's completed this since first discussing it a few meetings ago!

 

My buildings are mostly low-relief.

The Slaters corrugated' date=' comes in the usual A4-ish sized sheets.

There's a lot less detail than the Wills. But the Wills stuff is such a small piece,

you end up with lots of joins.

 

I've used the 7mm scale corrugations, because to my eye,

it looks a bit like box-section sheet material, in 4mm scale.

 

With Slaters stuff, it's very thin, and needs laminating - at leat 3 layers,

or it will tend to warp. I've used plasticard off-cuts + strips,

to laminate the back of one large building....

mind you, it still warped slightly so I then mounted it,

with PVA, onto mounting board, while keeping it flat with some heavy books

(SWMBO's gardening books, not my precious railway books ) whilst it dried.

 

Only the loading shed, and the rusty corrugated iron building (slaters 4mm corrugations)

are modelled "whole".

 

Hope this helps?[/quote']

 

Thanks marc, all of that helps a lot!... As I type this reply my scenic board is sitting behind me with the mock up of the first building to built in place, I've also got a few pieces of stock out to play with. I much prefer this method of planning rather than the computer based stuff you can get these days!

 

I'm looking forward to getting on with things now, so once I'm happy with things I'll post up a loooong overdue update in my thread!

 

 

All the best,

 

Wayne

[marc smith]

Hi all,

 

Just a brief (unlike me ) update....

I've planted ,most of the buildings along the backscene.

I'm making a water-tower for the far right side.

 

I've also been installing LED lamps into / onto these buildings.

The lower building on the right side has a faded sign....

 

this was done by painting the wills sheet with a white rectangle,

and applying Letraset letters. These were then distressed slightly,

with a fibreglass pen, and airbrushed over,

with a slightly lighter shade of blue than the original building colour.

 

Not sure if I've slighlty overdone this effect, but I'll look at it again,

in daylight, and maybe tweak it a bit......

 

By the way, I've also beeen weathering the track / ballast / ground....

on passing Celsa the other day, I couldn't help noticing,

the grimyness of the track and ground, and the fact that,

even where there is ballast - you can't see it for dirt!

 

Thanks for all your kind words again....

Marc

 

P.S. Lots of pipes + other detail to be added....

[marc smith]

Don't know if your interested, but you can make your own for less than a tenner...

 

http://www.newportmrs.com/staticgrassmaker.htm

 

 

 

 

All down to Jeff Chick, who's a bit of an electric whizz.

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

Hi Mike,

Thanks for that link, by the way!

I bought an applicator on ebay for £12.50.....

seems great, and I'm sure it's one of these conversions!

 

Cheers

Marc

[mudmagnet]

Impressive looking buildings there Marc! The weathered sign has come out very well.

[marc smith]

Impressive looking buildings there Marc! The weathered sign has come out very well.

 

Cheers Richard,

it actually looks a fair bit paler in the photos, than in reality....

I didn't have a fully charged flash handy (I left mine in work )

so the camera's built-in flash has washed it out a bit - there being very little opportunity to use daylight this time of year

 

Marc

[darren01]

Hi Marc

Coming on very well ,and if it is anything like the last layout you have done this is going to be amazing!

Keep up the good work

All the best

Darren01

[marc smith]

Hi folks,

 

Not much news really - why am I less motivated on these dark, cold winter nights?

and why do I fall asleep in front of the telly? - answers NOT including comments about age are welcome

 

Did a bit of "soft" landscaping last night - dead grass weeds etc

looks ok, but the £12 static grass applicator didn't work anywhere near as well as the Noch,

which I borrowed from Lord & Butler model shop....

Pixie suggested making sure you have really good batteries - so I must try again,

with some brand new Duracells......

 

There are going to be a few puddles of water around the layout,

so I tried using the "realistic water" which Barry Ten gave me to use on my O gauge layout

(clarbeston north). The realistic water dries quite quickly,

when poured in small quantities, to a very shallow depth.

 

This looked OK, but I must try Gordon Gravetts method,

of insetting pieces of clear plasticard, painted black / brown on the undersideCheers all

 

Marc

[marc smith]

Hi folks,

 

Not much news really - why am I less motivated on these dark, cold winter nights?

and why do I fall asleep in front of the telly? - answers NOT including comments about age are welcome

 

Did a bit of "soft" landscaping last night - dead grass weeds etc

looks ok, but the £12 static grass applicator didn't work anywhere near as well as the Noch,

which I borrowed from Lord & Butler model shop....

Pixie suggested making sure you have really good batteries - so I must try again,

with some brand new Duracells......

 

There are going to be a few puddles of water around the layout,

so I tried using the "realistic water" which Barry Ten gave me to use on my O gauge layout

(clarbeston north). The realistic water dries quite quickly,

when poured in small quantities, to a very shallow depth.

 

This looked OK, but I must try Gordon Gravetts method,

of insetting pieces of clear plasticard, painted black / brown on the undersideCheers all

 

Marc

[Minster]

Hi folks,

 

Not much news really - why am I less motivated on these dark, cold winter nights?

and why do I fall asleep in front of the telly? - answers NOT including comments about age are welcome

 

Did a bit of "soft" landscaping last night - dead grass weeds etc

looks ok, but the £12 static grass applicator didn't work anywhere near as well as the Noch,

which I borrowed from Lord & Butler model shop....

Pixie suggested making sure you have really good batteries - so I must try again,

with some brand new Duracells......

 

There are going to be a few puddles of water around the layout,

so I tried using the "realistic water" which Barry Ten gave me to use on my O gauge layout

(clarbeston north). The realistic water dries quite quickly,

when poured in small quantities, to a very shallow depth.

 

This looked OK, but I must try Gordon Gravetts method,

of insetting pieces of clear plasticard, painted black / brown on the undersideCheers all

 

Marc

 

Hi,

 

Woodland scenics do a water one which i have a bag of, - one day when I try it out I will let you know what it is like!

 

John.

[marc smith]

Cheers John,

 

Please let me know how you get on

Water is something I never really tried to model, until recently.

The stream on the O gauge layout looks fine.

I was pleased with the way you could "build up" layers;

this meant I could place weeds, stones etc into the river,

and get a good effect of different objects at different levels within the water....

 

...however, it does seem to have something of a miniscus effect,

and seems to curl downwards a little.

 

I'm really just after some small puddles on the surface of the landscape,

and just pouring a very small amount of the material onto the area seems to achieve just that. I'll experiment a bit more though, and let you know how I get on....

 

Marc

[darren01]

Hi Marc

Have you looked at using PVA with a little bit of stain acrylic varnish ,have used it on my layout for the river works very well. Just paint thin layers of PVA over a bass colour ,leave to dry and repeat ,Chris Nevard used the same method on his layouts .

[marc smith]

Hi Marc

Have you looked at using PVA with a little bit of stain acrylic varnish ,have used it on my layout for the river works very well. Just paint thin layers of PVA over a bass colour ,leave to dry and repeat ,Chris Nevard used the same method on his layouts .

 

Hi Darren,

 

I'll probably be trying a few methods / techniques on this one.

I've not got any acrylic stain in my ever growing collection of pots -

which ones did you use?

 

Cheers for the suggestion - I remember your river looking rather good!

 

Marc

[Arpleymodeller]

Superb weathering on the trackwork and structures B)

[James]

Not a huge amount of progress on this little project lately, but I thought I’d post an update and a clearer plan.

 

The track is laid + wired. Though there are a couple of “dummy†pieces of track to be laid. I’ve been ballasting, at a very slow pace – half an hour here & there. Ballasting is never my fave task – even on a very small layout, it always seems to take longer than anticipated.

I really like this whole scheme - I think steel works make great subjects for layouts and it's nice to see examples I spent a fair bit of time at Scunthorpe on p-way maintainence and I find them fascinating places!

[darren01]

Hi Marc

Here the the varnish I used ;

Vallejo Acrylic Paint

Good luck and keep up the good work.

All the best

Darren

[marc smith]

Just a bit of news re progress on the steelworks layout……

I know, it was ages ago that I was supposed to have it complete.

The good Capt K has asked me to bring this one to the next rmweb members day in Taunton – its’ first invitation – so I’d best get cracking!!!

 

Sometime back, I decided to make the landscape at the front of the layout removable. Strange move, I know, but this was for several reasons;

 

I wanted to try this concept, as I felt it was something different, and presented the opportunity to “change†certain aspects of the scenery, and thus enable a change of setting, or at least a change of elements in a scene.

 

I had this idea ages back, when talking to a military modeller, who had a cracking diorama on several “tilesâ€, which he could change around, to create a slightly different scene. He does this at shows, occasionally dropping a new tile in, thus creating something different for onlookers who come back….

 

Also, I’m keen on getting some close, low-angled photos, and foreground scenery can often get in the way of close-up shots – the camera / your hands can flatten those nice, fine etched-brass railings etc etc!

 

Another benefit of modelling on such portable modules, is that I can do this sort of stuff in the lounge, as long as I don’t spill the fibres everywhere. I know there are many modellers who don’t get much done during the winter, due to cold garages / sheds etc.

 

So my foreground is in 3 removable sections, which are built on off-cuts of the foam insulation material I now prefer as baseboards. I’ll probably affix these in place, with some Velcro. It remains to be seen whether this works, but if you don’t try new ideas…..

Another bit of news, is that the £12 static grass applicator I bought from e-bay does indeed seem to work well! As per Pixies suggestion, I tried it with fresh, new batteries. Also, I used a brass screw, with a large head – thinking that this may be a better conductor / ground than the steel nail I first used. Again, this seemed to work better than my previous efforts.

 

The cheapie grass applicator is apparently made from a tea-strainer, and an electric fly-swat! One word of caution – there is quite a loud “bang†and a spark, if the metal tea-strainer touches the head of the screw –as SWMBO will confirm.

Grass fibres do need to be “pushed†through the strainer, but rather obviously, you need something non-conductive – or ouch! I use the handle off an old modelling paintbrush – she says I never throw anything away….but I keep thinking – just keep complaining, dear…..

 

 

I’ve opted for a more autumnal look, and used more of the pale, straw grass fibres. The colour of much of the other foliage is also chosen to represent this under modelled season. I’ve used clippings from those awful “manicured-looking†cheap trees which look pretty unrealistic, if planted “out of the boxâ€.

Some of you may recall, I severely trimmed some of these trees for my min-space O gauge layout “Clarbeston North†– I was quite happy with the final appearance of these tress – and hey presto, I have a number of useful “trimmingsâ€. The material with which these trees are covered, is far more durably stuck to the intended tree than I can achieve on my own foliage.

 

Whew! A lot of words for not much progress.

Cheers all

[mudmagnet]

Marc,

 

I do like the idea of these sections. Very well modelled as well. How are going to transport these to prevent any damage?

 

do you have photos showing these on the front of the layout are are not going to reveal until Taunton!!

 

richard

[marc smith]

Hi Richard,

 

The sections will probably be fixed in place with Velcro.

I think this is a strong enough bond, for transporting in place on the layout?

But I may regret that later!

 

On this layout, there is a road, just behind the foreground scenery,

so it makes a fairly natural "break" in the scenery.

I just knew if I had built these sections in permanently,

while taking photos, I would have trashed the greenery + fencing.....

 

Marc

 

Edit: haven't got a piccie of them in place yet,

as I need to add some "pipework" etc, to activate my points