Gateside and Northbridge

[26power]

Thanks for response. 

 

Looking back at your post #168 I see the double rail stanchions but you didn't seem to reference their source.  They look neat.  Need to look out for some to have them to hand.

 

Surprising that Ratio don't update their water tank kit to include a better solution.  Maybe they need some constructive feedback from you?!  You indicate that their signal kits have been updated over time.

 

Hi - Considering Ratio make the ones to which you have linked (I used the double rail ones on the fuel tank and they are excellent) what is supplied with the kit is frankly a joke.  You get two lengths of plastic filament supplied in a coil, one slightly thicker than the other, the instructions are to cut the thicker filament into lengths about 12mm long for the stanchions then head the end over an open flame to make a "blob" for the top, then superglue the thinner filament to these blobs to make the handrail, you then apply the second handrail half way down.  As the filament is in coils it is almost impossible to straighten and the whole exercise is so fiddly I gave up very quickly, the kit is not cheap so I went for the pins instead of  buying another handrail kit to complete.  I don't think that I am alone in having problems with this part of the assembly, as I have seen the tank either modelled without the walkway or with a fabricated roof put in place instead.  The pins are not the best but it should look OK when painted.

Supplying material in coils is something that Ratio has addressed when it comes to metal wire, as the signal kits used to have a coil of wire for the pivots, arm to counterweight connections etc, but later kits had the wire supplied in straight bunches which are so much easier to use.

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

So Mrs Luckiemucklebackit is off to Edinburgh with her sister (bagging some class 365 haulage - "it was one of those with the smiley face") leaving me to my own devices this weekend.  Initially things did not go well as the cold and damp weather did not leave the loft conducive to paints, plaster and glues drying quickly, however I persevered (helped with a hairdryer) and things started to move on

 

Got to the stage where the plank is 90% finished and I might look at starting the cradle that will make it a standalone layout tomorrow.  So with that I posed some stock and took a few photos

 

Couple of general views first:

 

The "muddied op" look for the sidings, sprinkled plaster onto the surface and lightly misted water over the top, this is the bit that took a long time to dry.  I mixed two shades of brown acrylic to avoid getting the surface colour too uniform.  The milky looking patches are gloss varnish dropped onto a few hollows to try and simulate puddles.

 

 

One thing that I have never attempted is a water feature, so I chiselled out a "culvert" at the side of the shunting neck, either the foundry manager is going to get a visit from the environmental people for allowing hydraulic water to escape into the culvert or more likely the last coat of varnish hasn't fully dried

 

 

View from a drone flying over Allenshaw

 

 

And a couple of general views to finish!

 

 

I followed the instructions for simulating water in the tank from the instructions, doesn't look right at all

 

 

All done for today, full day available tomorrow, lets see what that brings!

 

Cheers all

 

Jim

Edited December 9, 2018 by luckymucklebackit

[luckymucklebackit]

Made a start tonight on the cradle for Allenshaw to become a standalone.  This is proving to be an inexpensive project as the wood was left over from a home improvement When finished it will be an 8ft x 15" exhibitable layout.

 

 

The completed shunting plank will sit on timbers to raise it up about 4", this will allow a small "mainline" diorama to be created below the bridge.

 

 

At the other end there will be a fiddle yard to alternate train formations for the shunting puzzle; the idea is that I will extend the foundry building down the front of the layout to act as a scenic break

 

 

On the plank itself the water tower is now finished at last, then I made some alterations, as I realised that when a tender engine goes into the siding loco first there is no way of getting the bag into the tender, so I put in a merit water column that was in the box and connected it to the water tower pipework

 

 

Jim

[Signaller69]

Interesting idea to make it a standalone layout Jim, like the idea of a partly scenic cradle to facilitate this.

[luckymucklebackit]

Thanks Martyn - I quite fancy having an exhibition layout, it also provides an "insurance policy" that if (heaven forbid) I should ever become incapable of getting up and down to the loft I will have something that I could fall back on to keep interest alive.

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

Hi all

 

By 2018 standards it has been a while since I have posted on the layout thread, but I have been plodding on, just what I was doing hasn't been that interesting !  Continuing the "no brickpaper" rule for the Allenshaw Inglenook I have been building the bridge parapets in wood and plasticard.  The plasticard being used was that suggested by Martyn and as used on his layout, Slaters 7mm scale Cotswold Stone which looks not unlike 4mm scale Ashlar, once painted it should look good. = Cheers Martyn!!

 

 

 

As the Inglenook board is not a plain rectangle I have formed some timber to fill the notch that is necessary to fit the board around the roof beams.

 

 

Hopefully more updates soon

 

Cheers

Jim

[danstercivicman]

Nice

[Signaller69]

I hadn't considered that you would need to add the bridge into the "stand alone" option Jim, quite a big job that! Glad the stone work idea helped, it looks a fine job on the abutments.

 

What are you planning under the bridge?

[luckymucklebackit]

Thanks Martyn - the board under the bridge will be a (rather narrow) diorama depicting what used to be under the prototype at Parkhead Forge on which the Allenshaw bridge was based.  This map shows that there were a number of tracks passed under the bridge, but in the period I remember it the two topmost tracks had been lifted, the next two were the main running lines (which still exist to this day) and the tracks below were still used but heavily overgrown, these were yard worked and served Parkhead forge.

 

 

 

We will see how it turns out!

 

Jim

 

 

 

 

[bigwordsmith]

Jim, I 'ev just spent a most enjoyable chunk of the afternoon going through your thread - what an excellent endeavour!

[luckymucklebackit]

Jim, I 'ev just spent a most enjoyable chunk of the afternoon going through your thread - what an excellent endeavour!

 

Thanks Peter, glad you enjoyed the thread!

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

Todays job was fettling up the bridge then painting, I used a stiff plaster as I needed to make up a mix for the embankments to the front so two birds were killed with the one stone,  The plaster worked out well and when dry I started to paint,  For this process I split the boards up as the first coat was a spray all over of the Halfords khaki which I thought would work quite well as the base colour for the mortar.  Once that was touch dry I roughly mixed up acrylic white and black to give a variable grey colour, this was dry brushed on to the plastic trying not to get it into the grooves as much as possible, this was then followed by a couple of brown colours to give a variable finish.  The photographs with the flash show up all the flaws in gory detail so another couple of washes and perhaps some weathering powder would finish it nicely

 

 

 

 

The next part of the project is the backscene, and I have to admit that although I have several ideas how this is going to come together I think I will need to mock up some card templates to see what works, one problem is the position of the actuators for the points, particularly the "king point" next to the bridge, this was configured to work with the Inglenook installed on the main layout, but it is going to be tricky to keep it accessible with any structures around it.

 

More news soon

 

Jim

[danstercivicman]

The stone used is perfect for my Stranraer sea wall

 

Excellent stuff and thanks for the inspiration:)

[Signaller69]

Looks excellent, coming on a treat Jim!

[luckymucklebackit]

Continuing to set the bits and pieces up for the backscene and the diorama that goes under the bridge, tonight I laid the track, which is just old Hornby set track salvaged from a display layout that I dismantled a while back, as nothing will actually run on it there are no wires or anything to worry about this was then given a general spray of Halfords matt brown to remove the plastic look,

 

 

 

After a trawl through the Canmore database I have found a couple of distinctive buildings to sit at the back of the layout, both were part of the Beardmore complex at Partkead and should be fun to build

 

 

This building has a unique slatted wall which might be a challenge to build but not impossible, also managed to get the sign!

 

 

The other is a simple but distinctive warehouse which will go along the back

 

 

Going to need a lot of brick plasticard so I can wait for the show to get that, will carry on with as much other stuff before then

 

Cheers

Jim

[danstercivicman]

Nice ideas

 

Does the Halfords Matt brown weather the tracks as well?

[luckymucklebackit]

Nice ideas

 

Does the Halfords Matt brown weather the tracks as well?

 

Hi - Their matt brown makes a great (and economic) base coat to colour the otherwise black plastic sleepers, I will pick out the sides of the rail in a slightly different brown once the ballast is down then it will get a general misting of the halfords again to tint the grey ballast.  Much of that track will be heavily weeded to reflect the overgrown state of the prototype tracks around Parkhead Forge as I remember it in the 1970s and 80s.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

I managed to get quite a lot done over the weekend and tonight, I had painted the backscence boards a pale blue and started to position them in place, makes quite a difference

 

 

I have also fabricated a "shelf" for the back of the shunting plank, this is needed to raise things above the levers that actuate the uncouplers, there will be low relief buildings sitting on top of this shelf with a brick faced wall to track level

 

 

And below the bridge, the low level track diorama is taking shape, it is quite surprising how good some old Hornby set-track can look with a bit of ballast and some paint

 

 

I need to have a think about the fiddle yard end of the layout now, cant make my mind up whether to have a fixed board with a couple of points, or to attempt a sliding cassette, need to sleep on that one!

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

Evening all!  Well as expected the last week has been taken up hacking various bits of timber and hardboard up to form the fiddle yard end of the "cradle".  I decided not to risk anything fancy as my woodworking skills are less than expert and I wanted to avoid spending money on something that would not be any more useful than a plain couple of sidings, that and the whole theme of the exercise was to use up as much scrap stuff lying about the loft as I could.  What I have gone for is the rear of the layout is a plain shelf onto which will be attached a couple of sidings, just to provide variety on what can appear on the main shunting yard,

 

 

At the front I continued half of the roof line of the foundry, for now I have just painted it black (the paint is still wet hence the glossy look) but if I ever run out of other jobs to do the option is there to clad it with corrugated plasticard to match the low relief building on the layout.  This photo doesn't really show exactly what I mean but I couldn't reassemble the layout while the paint was wet

 

 

The backscene boards are now in this place too, note the cut-outs which are required to access the controls. I will need to reassemble the components of the layout to align the rest of the supports as at the moment it is decidedly flimsy at the end!

 

 

Once again it was one of those weeks where a lot of hard graft doesn't show up as very much visible progress, next task is to return to the bridge half of the cradle and get the embankments given a good cover of long grass and other shrubbery,  I have a good few low relief buildings to do but these will need to wait until the Glasgow Show to get the materials needed - Squires can expect a good few pounds from me next weekend

 

More soon

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

In the past week I have completed the backscene boards, solved the issue of the flimsy backscene board by gluing a piece of hardboard onto the back of the board to make a tab, and on the adjacent board I fitted an upright with a hardboard spacer to provide a slot, works a treat.

With that done it was back to scenic work, and the photographs show the progress so far.

 

 

Returning to an old method that has been successful in the past, the embankments have been coated with PVA and hanging basket material pressed in place, this will give a base of scrub onto which static grass will be applied, the leftmost track has been given a liberal application of static grass to give that totally abandoned look.

 

 

The yard on the right hand side of the "main lines" has been given a lesser application of static grass to give that "neglected but used" look. I have been experimenting with chalks to get that light rust look for the top of the rails that you see when traffic passes over the track but not enough to polish the top

 

All left to set, off to Holland tomorrow, Model Rail Scotland on Friday!

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

I managed to finish off the vegetation on the embankments tonight which effectively finishes off 80% of the layout, I reprised the fence on the main layout and added a redundant signal, still some small details to add just to finish also some detail to the lower level, I am tempted to add the OHLE, but it needs to be the old Mk1 style, which means a scratchbuild job

 

 

As previously mentioned I am at the show on Friday with a big shopping list for components for the buildings that are to go at the back.

 

 

Couple of general views

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Lovely work.

 

manna

[Signaller69]

Looks excellent Jim. I would love to get up to the show but work prevents it unfortunately. Maybe one day!

[luckymucklebackit]

8 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

Looks excellent Jim. I would love to get up to the show but work prevents it unfortunately. Maybe one day!

 

Thanks Manna and Jim - pity you cant make the Glasgow show as I think it is going to be a good one again, would really like to see Crinan there someday!  Who knows, if I get this one finished we could be there together (wishful thinking)!!

 

Jim

[luckymucklebackit]

NOTICE OF WITHDRAWAL OF PASSENGER AND GOODS SERVICES

As from today 4th March 2019, all passenger and goods services between Gateside Buchanan St, Mavisbank and Northbridge are withdrawn, the stations at Gateside Buchanan St, Mavisbank and Northbridge are closed!  

Yes, all good things have to come to an end and due to the deteriorating health of Mrs Luckymucklbackit we will be downsizing our house to something smaller and on the level, so in preparation for the move the layout will be gradually dismantled and the stock and salvageable building put into storage. I have mixed feelings about this, it was a great layout to build, but it did have an increasing number of operating challenges, with problems running trains (dirty rails, points failures), usually in the most inaccessible positions round the back of the layout.
The good news is that Allenshaw will continue to be developed as a portable standalone, and the St, Margaret's Depot module will be taken off the main layout intact with a probable future as a small depot layout.

Thanks to everyone who have commented favorably about the layout in the past, the thread will continue to report on progress with the smaller chunks of layout, who knows what the future will bring.

Jim