Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.

[artizen]

I would expect this is a more expensive alternative, but appears to be really good from the samples I have seen - http://www.redutex.com/murosfp2.php

 

Part of the full range is available from DCC Supplies in the UK (link to the actual redutex website). Look at the Sillar products.

[gordon s]

Thanks for your comments guys.  Great minds think alike, Scott.  See post 1473.  

 

Some interesting products I wasn't aware of from Martin and Ian.  Thanks for highlighting those.  I'll take a look over the weekend. 

[jukebox]

   I did see that diagram... but as can be the case, didn't read the instructions that came with it!

 

I guess that rules out your "great minds" theory!!!

 

Scott

[trustytrev]

Hello,

        I was looking on this page http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/64977-bakewell-peak-district-line-br/page-4 when I thought about the 7mm slaters stone sheet.Compare the courses on the model image with the courses on the real bridge image.Looks spot on course and scale wise to me.

Well the bottom three courses in the bridge arch.

trustytrev.

Edited June 25, 2013 by trustytrev

[nathan9117]

So today I am sat looking back through eastwood town and I have just thought and thought about building hand layed turnouts and well here we go your point work looks so nice and amazing I thought I might just give it a go .

[gordon s]

Thanks Nathan.  I'm really pleased that my meanderings through this modelling world of ours have encouraged you to have a go at making your own pointwork.  Just take it slowly and you will be able to make something that will work.  I only started making my own a few years back and by and large every one I now produce is a fraction better than the last as I'm gaining experience all the time.  Making a start is the hardest bit.  Once you have, there are many modellers on here that will be pleased to answer any questions you may have...

 

For other regular readers, work is progressing.  On this first board, the goods loop is laid awaiting ballasting and seven sections of retaining wall have been assembled and painted awaiting final weathering.  I will have to build a couple of crossovers for the inner loops this weekend as they will be easier to install at this stage before the board is lifted back into position over the stairs.  I'll post some pics when there is a bit more to show, but progress is being made. 

Edited June 27, 2013 by gordon s

[nathan9117]

Thanks Nathan.  I'm really pleased that my meanderings through this modelling world of ours have encouraged you to have a go at making your own pointwork.  Just take it slowly and you will be able to make something that will work.  I only started making my own a few years back and by and large every one I now produce is a fraction better than the last as I'm gaining experience all the time.  Making a start is the hardest bit.  Once you have, there are many modellers on here that will be pleased to answer any questions you may have...

 

For other regular readers, work is progressing.  On this first board, the goods loop is laid awaiting ballasting and seven sections of retaining wall have been assembled and painted awaiting final weathering.  I will have to build a couple of crossovers for the inner loops this weekend as they will be easier to install at this stage before the board is lifted back into position over the stairs.  I'll post some pics when there is a bit more to show, but progress is being made. 

Cheers buddy just got home now 2.50 am but I have a template layed out on a wood base and pcb board cut into strips I must add though I didnt buy pcb railway ties i had an a3 board I cut down into a strip just for the main sleepers. The rest will be wood or something until I buy pcb ties from a railway site. One question i have is how do you solder the frogs so they join without solder getting on the rail head I dont really want to have to sand the rail heads or anything. Cheers Nathan.

[gordon s]

Nathan, take a look at post number 906 on page 37.  I've done a complete tutorial on building pointwork which will explain it all...

[Rowsley17D]

Hello Gordon, it's good to read the there's progress on ET and like many on here, am await those pics with baited breath.

Like Nathan, I too want a go at handbuilt turnouts but at the moment I am honing my soldering skills making coaches.

[nathan9117]

Nathan, take a look at post number 906 on page 37.  I've done a complete tutorial on building pointwork which will explain it all...

Hey thanks very much to that page now as I need to do the frogs cheers.

[nathan9117]

How do i go about cleaning solder joints up then to disguise them. Works good and smooth but i need to add more sleepers and a coat of paint .

[gordon s]

Nathan, I'm not sure I understand your question.  When soldering track together, the key issues are cleanliness and heat.  If the PCB sleepers have been cleaned with a fibre glass brush and you are using a decent soldering iron that will generate sufficient heat, the amount of solder used is really quite small.  Certainly no more that the size of a chair on normal SMP track.  Once the piece of pointwork has been completed, thoroughly wash all traces of flux etc off using hot soapy water.  Make sure it is dry, spray a good quality primer first and then your chosen track colour afterwards.

 

I've been working on ET between golf days and have the first section of walling completed.  The goods loop has been laid and the track painted and ballasted, without too may issues.  I've learned that the consistency of PVA is quite critical.  Too thin and you will simply suck it out of the sleepers when you remove the excess ballast with a vacuum cleaner.  With thin PVA you also run the risk of capilliary action on N gauge ballast.  It wasn't an issue when I was using 00 ballast, but certainly an issue with a thin PVA mix and the finer ballast product.  I found that a consistency of thick cream is perfect.  It will flow between the sleepers and yet still hold the ballast in place when you hoover up the excess.

 

I have some remedial work to do on the walling as the string course doesn't always line up between the wall and the post sections.  I made the mistake of assembling the walls from the back of the board and even though the sections were cut accurately (or so I thought) I was horrified to see in close up pics, the string course has wandered a little.  No worries, a quick attack with a scalpel and if will be corrected.

 

I enjoyed making the first crossover today.  Haven't touched trackwork in months and I wasn't really looking forward to it, but once I started, I found the enthusiasm flowing back and this was completed in a few hours.  I have another to do for the lower level loops on this board as it is easier to deal with them now rather than when the board is in place over the stairs.

 

Well, the journey begins, yet again.  Hopefully this will be a little smoother, but with my track record, don't bet on it.....

 

 

 

 

 

[Physicsman]

Good to hear the old enthusiasm surfacing, Gordon.

 

If you spend too much time on the golf course, and not enough time on here, the RMweb "heavies" will be round to show you the error of your ways!

 

Nice walling btw!

 

Jeff

[Rowsley17D]

Hi Gordon, good to see progress, kept the piccies coming. What did you decide to make the wall out of? Slaters or Wills? Any chance of a close-up?

[gordon s]

I went with the Wills sheet.  A big departure for me, but there was always doubt in my mind regarding the overscale appearance of the Slaters sheet.  It was Larry's excellent work on Standedge that finally convinced me.

 

I still have some work to do in terms of picking out odd stones in darker/lighter colours and a quick weathering spray from the base up to simulate years of muck.  I also have to attend to some minor alignment issues on the string course, but otherwise these are OK.

 

I managed to get round the sheet size issue by adding some footings to lift the wall up around 8mm and semi disguised the vertical join in the sheets, with a little filler/glue and some careful paintwork.

 

Hope this helps...

 

 

Compare this shot to this...

 

 

 

 

[trisonic]

Don't forget  all the white,  black and odd coloured  strange oozing stuff!

 

Best, Pete

[DerekEm8]

And the green (moss) between the courses.

[nathan9117]

Wow gordon it is looking awesome the ballasting looks nice ! And thanks you understood my question perfectly I will add some primer to it and see how it looks if I feel like the solder looks too thick I will file it down cheers.

[jukebox]

Not sure if this will make much sense Gordon, but to me, the use of the alternate texture on the wall makes these seem like two completely different locations.  

 

At the distance I am, I admit to not being familiar with a massive amount of lineside UK retaining walls (!), but I will stick my neck out and say that I actually prefer the original.  That could be because it is what I have come to think of as Eastwood Town's "signature look" (think of Dave Shakespeare's grimy DAS walls on Tetleys, for instance, as another example of a scenic "signature"), or it might just be that I have noticed more walls of that type in the reference material I have for the area I am choosing to model.

 

So if you are happy with walls MkII, then more power to you - but if you still like walls MkI, then don;t be afraid to keep it.

 

It may well be that your new material is a closer match to the prototypical area you are setting ET in, in which case all well and good!

 

Regards

 

Scott

[trisonic]

I think you're comparing "weathered" to "non-weathered"?

 

Best, Pete.

[artizen]

I think the new material looks better. But then, I do live around 12,000 kilometres away so I only have Flickr or similar to refer to.

[Rowsley17D]

Hi Gordon, thanks for the close-ups of the retaining wall mark 2. Both mark 1 and 2 have merits and to me mark 1 doesn't look out of place. It's a pity Wills don't go in for more equal courses, as there is something about the random nature of the stone that would not look "right" in certain locations, then again the large Slaters would look "right" in others. As jukebox says, which ever is closest to your prototype.

 

Keep up the postings.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Rowsley17D

[LNER4479]

Hi Gordon,

 

Glad you're back 'in the groove'.

 

Reading your deliberations re retaining walls with interest. As I just happened to be on a train passing through Sheffield just now (good 'northern' town!), I took a couple of quick snaps of the retaining wall over on the east side of the station (alongside platform8)

 

Definitely Wills random stone!

 

However, as you go through the tunnels at the south end, it completely changes to the heavy block stone! And it is arranged in a series of rather attractive arches. So I guess, you could go with either.

 

The one thing I'd like to highlight if I may though is that if they are retaining walls holding back an earth bank, then they should lean in towards the bank to counteract the compressive forces trying to force the whole thing outwards. I'm no civil engineer, but most full-size retaining walls I've observed have a definite lean (not obvious from the photos but the above ones at Sheffield definitely do). Sometimes it's all at the same angle; sometimes it's a gentle curve such that the inclination is greater at the bottom than the top.

 

Reaching for hat and coat...

Edited July 4, 2013 by LNER4479

[gordon s]

Thanks for your input guys.  As you say, both have plusses and minuses.  The random stone of the Wills product probably places it more towards the North West rather than the ECML, but the oversize stones of the Slaters product is their weakness.  I agree the larger stones of Slaters probably lend themselves to larger structures and perhaps the current walls are probably borderline for the smaller stones of the Wills product.  I don't think there is a right answer and it seems to me there is an opportunity for one or other of the manufacturers.  

 

Life is always a compromise and if I don't push on there's danger of going round in circles once again and nothing will ever run.  Building a freelance layout allows you a lot more freedom and whilst there will always be 'key indicators' such as locos and stock to give some clues as to where it might be, I don't have the self discipline to follow something to the nth degree.

 

I'm going to stay with the Wills product as I believe I can turn it into something once weathering and scenic details have been added.

[gordon s]

Apologies, post crossed.  Thanks for those pics 4479!  Just the sort of thing I've been looking for.  I have to own up here, re the slope on the walls.  The originals with the Slaters product did slope from the base, but the walls were generally much higher, so I took the decision not to slope the Wills ones as they were much smaller.

 

I might have known someone would notice...