MIB44 Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Well having finally got round to posting a 'hello' message on the new members forum I thought I should take the next step and post some info & pictures about the layouts I'm working on (yes, like so many other people on this site I keep getting distracted and start a new project before finishing the last one - must try harder...!) Despite being in my mid-forties, and having so far spent 27 years as an IT professional, I am fairly new to all this 'Social Networking', 'Forums' & 'Blogs' lark. So I thought I would start off with describing my most recent but smallest project as a bit of an experiment in posting on forums - so here goes... Introduction I got back in to railway modelling a few years ago when I bought my son (who is 10 now) his first 'Thomas the Tank Engine' train set. This developed in to a small 1st radius scenic oval layout which we enjoyed, but it was a bit limited. Just over a year ago (Christmas 2009), having been bitten by the bug again, I purchased a Hornby Select DCC controller and some chips. These were fitted in to my old 1980's diesels but didn't perform very well. My Birthday in March 2010 brought a nice new Bachmann 08 in weathered blue and this showed just how good the newer models are!! Around the same time I started work on my own little 'book-shelf' layout that would be more prototypical & detailed. Towards the end of 2010 I started a major re-development of my son's oval in to a dual-track winter themed layout. Christmas 2010 and Birthday 2011 brought two new diesels to the fleet (Bachmann & ViTrains) and the need to fit chips and also programme an Accessory Decoder. As I wanted to experiment with some scenic treatments for my layout I decided to start a new project for a 'quick win' and Park View Siding is the result. Basic Construction I used a spare piece of 3"x1" from my son's new layout along with a piece of battening from his old oval to create an 'L' shaped plank. This had four rubber feet from Maplin added. The trackbed was built up from dense cardboard to provide a shoulder at the front edge and also to create an area of hard-standing. This trackbed was painted dark brown with acrylic paint. A spare piece of Peco Code 100 wooden sleeper track was added along with two Peco sleeper built buffer stop kits. I then cut out a small area underneath for the wiring and connected in a Phono Socket & spring loaded Speaker Connector. I have used Red Phono plugs/sockets for the DCC track connectors & White Phono plugs/sockets for 12v lighting on my other layouts. The Speaker Connector was a new idea so that I can attach chips or accessory decoders temporarily. At this point I also cut some Slaters stone wall sheets to size and glued them to the front of the retaining wall using UHU. This was all about 3-4 weeks ago so it is actually more advanced now, but I'll update the post in stages as I continue with my forum learning. We are off to enjoy the York Model Railway show on Saturday so I'll add more to this on Sunday hopefully. Thanks for looking! Tim.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB44 Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 I spent Saturday at the York Model Railway Show with my son and what an enjoyable first visit we had. I'm always a bit cautious about going to new events as my son is in a wheelchair and disabled access can sometimes be an issue. The organisers at York however were very helpful and although the event is spread across 5 floors we had no problems at all. Great show, plenty of trade stands to spend our money at, but not enough modern image layouts for me - good day nevertheless!! Anyway, back to Park View Siding... Scenic Development Having glued the Slaters Stone Walling sheet to the wooden upright I needed to create some capping stones. Plastic sheet could have been used but it takes a lot of cutting & sanding, etc., so I went for a more 'low tech' solution and used cardboard (the good quality grey stuff from Metcalfe kits!). This was cut in to strips and then cut in to individual tiles that are approximately the size of a flag stone in 4mm scale. These were then glued in place with UHU, and once dried, painted over with a thin coat of PVA glue to seal them. The following pictures show the capping stones in place - apologies for the quality but it was late at night & poorly lit! The wall was then painted with a dark brown basecoat and left to dry. A light beige paint was then applied, worked in to the joints but then wiped off before it could dry. This left a good mortar effect. A dry-brush technique was then used to apply a highlight of mid-brown to the edges and top surfaces of the stone. Finally two shades of green were used along the bottom of the wall and in random patches to give the effect of moss, etc. At this point I also carefully drilled 2mm holes just above the buffer beams for the Ceramic red LEDs I was going to use as warning lights. The buffer stops were painted with a dark brown and dry-brushed with a mid-brown. The top surface was also picked out with black & other colours to represent the various materials used to fill the buffer stop. The buffer beam was painted red with some black dry-brushed on were the greasy buffers would make contact! Finally the LEDs were fitted and wired directly to the track via current limiting resistor. These LEDs are driven by the DCC track power but don't show any visible signs of 'flickering' from the AC current and the resistors ensure they don't draw too much power (and are not too bright!). I also took the opportunity to add some scatter grass material to the small banked area in front of the track, glued in place with PVA. I'll leave it there for the time being and come back to this in a couple of days for the final installment bringing it back to 'real time'!! Thanks for reading. Tim.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB44 Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share Posted May 9, 2011 Ok - This update will bring Park View Siding almost back to real time... Originally I just thought of this as a DCC Programming Track and a bit of a test bed for some scenic techniques but then I started thinking I could use it to photograph locos, etc. With this in mind I thought it would be good to be able to hide the electrical connectors and so I decided to try my hand at scratch-building a little 'Pre-Fab' type office building. I used the KnightWing Portacabin kit (bought for another project and still awaiting construction!) to gauge the height of the walls, windows & door sizes, then cut the parts from good quality cardboard. These were joined to form the basic box structure and I added some small triangular pieces to help brace the internal corners. The whole thing was then covered with a thin layer of cereal packet cardboard to provide a better surface to paint over. Corner strips & roof strips were added to give the impression of the Pre-Fab type construction. Scenic work also continued at the other 'end' of the siding with various grasses being added. The plain grass & static grass are from the Citadel (Games Workshop) range and the tall grass is from Hornby Scale Scenics. and one final shot with the Pre-Fab office in place over the connectors just to see how it will look! So the next post will bring this little project bang up to date and the good news is more progress has indeed been made! Thanks for looking. Tim.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
workev2000 Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Tim, What a great little project, and a useful idea to sharpen the skills! Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted May 9, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 9, 2011 Brilliant, I think even Stubby would think this is a small layout... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted May 9, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 9, 2011 Brilliant, I think even Stubby would think this is a small layout... I think it's a great little idea, a nice way to develop scenic techniques and a good site for photographing, as well as letting you practice the dark arts of DCC ( from someone else with 30 years in the IT industry ). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB44 Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Sorry it's taken me a while to respond - work and family have kept me busy! Ian, Paul & Stubby - thanks for your comments. Yes, it has been an interesting exercise in dusting of my scenic development skills. Some I remembered more quickly than others, and some need a bit more practice, but I've had fun with this little project and thats what its all about after all!! Anyway, back at Park View Siding things have progressed slowly over the last few weeks but it is finally approaching a conclusion I think. This is an overall picture showing the backscene now attached. This is a piece of Peco Sky Paper that I found in amongst my 1980's boxes in the loft and it was still in the 'Beatties' bag! (Does anyone else remember the Beatties model stores?). This has been stuck to a thick piece of card and then screwed to the back of the siding. Note to self - need to glue it on better next time to avoid air bubbles!! Other details and a figure have been added, and the pre-fab building is nearly complete. The figure is from Bachmann and the gas bottles & man-hole cover are from Ten Commandments. These are fiddly to handle but once painted are great. The signs on the pre-fab are from the Sankey Scenics range. Again these are great quality but needed a very sharp scalpel and a steady hand to cut out! The concrete area has had some weathering with light brown acrylic paint drybrushed over it for general dirt and black paint for oil stains. The grid is again from Ten Commandments and for this I actually cut out the surface below it to provide a sense of depth. At the other end all I have added is some additional bushes/ground cover. Finally, and just for a bit of fun, I have added some hand painted graffiti to the end of the pre-fab. All that now remains on my to-do list is to add the glazing to the pre-fab, paint the moss on the roof with a bit of brown (it's too green at the moment!) and then purchase a pack of the Noch crash barrier to provide a splash of colour along the front edge of the concrete area. Then I think I can call it 'finished', or as finished as any model railway layout ever gets!! Now, which of my other two on-going projects should I get on with???? Thanks for looking! Tim.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted June 8, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 8, 2011 That looks great ! Just a thought - did you remember to connect wires to the track ? Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60006 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 This is absolutely fantastic. Great little project. I seem to have a soft spot for these type of builds. The Brooke Wharf family springs to mind. Excellent work. Can't wait to see more from you. Also Stubby, I think he connected the track up in his first post. Unless my eyes are playing tricks on me. Tom N. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted June 8, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 8, 2011 Also Stubby, I think he connected the track up in his first post. Unless my eyes are playing tricks on me. Tom N. Yeah, ok, I'm a numpty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB44 Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Tom - Thanks for the nice comments. I'm pleased with the way this has turned out given that it was just a 'quick' project with items from my 'bits box' and a few select purchases. Stu - Yes, as Tom points out the wiring was secured under the buffers at an early stage, but thanks for checking!! Oh, and thanks for the invite to the 'Box File & Micro Layouts' Group - great fun and it's already given me loads of ideas for new projects... Anyway, the postman delivered my Noch Crash Barriers the other day so hopefully I will get some painted and added to the front of the concrete area in the next few days. I'll post some pics when it's done. Cheers, Tim.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mason Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Hi tim great little project and some nice detailing and scenics, be interested to see what the crash barriers look like as im after a few for my layout. Neil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Banger Blue Posted June 22, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 22, 2011 Super little project, the only thing missing from the portakabin is some debris on the roof such as an old traffic cone on its side: Life on the roof tops and a migrating traffic cone by gregwake, on Flickr Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 very nice little project Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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