Horsebridge

[dseagull]

Cheers Ash!

 

I've spent most of the afternoon in the shed, with Planet Rock on and the packet of DAS. After a running repair to a point motor (replacing the somewhat flimsy throw wire with a bent paperclip has made it far more reliable!), I cracked on with finishing applying the clay to the sidings, including the pointwork. This was a nervewracking process with a thin screwdriver, a large finger, a cheap paintbrush and a lot of prodding. Still, all of it now has at least one coat of sleeper grime, and I must say, I'm very pleased with the way it looks!

 

I've also put the gutter back in the riverbed cutout, and have cut/twisted the chicken wire I plan to use for the banks into position. This does mean that 'Plan A' of taking the gutter out to pour the 'water' might not now be the option used - instead 'Plan B' - get the bridges and basic banks in place using chicken wire and modroc, then do the pour is looking increasingly popular. Thoughts welcome - it's not too late!

 

Finally - part of the celotex I used on the 'other side' of the riverbank to give a bit of height to the area immediatley before the backscene has been cut away, in order for the road to cut through the landscape rather than being 'planted on top' of it. I also plan to, over the rest of the weekend, mock up the shed/workshop for the hospital loco - a fairly simple affair this, a single road corrugated 'shed' with a pitched roof and a lean-to workshop. Mocking it up will at least give me something to move around and 'see what fits' rather than blundering straight in with a picture in my head of how I want it and a sheet of plasticard!

[dseagull]

Tried again with the coaches as well - when the sun came round to the back!

 

 

Bit better, I feel.

[dseagull]

The art of making lists - or what I have learnt from Iain Rice!

 

Last year I picked up the 'new' Iain Rice book, 'Realistic Model Railway Design' (Haynes). I've not really put it down for longer than a few days since, and often re-read bits.

 

One of the key principles of the book is the importance and indeed usefulness of making lists - so on a delayed train home from work on Wednesday, I started doing just that. I now have three pages of a notepad full, with more to come. One thing that does tend to come out of a list is more lists!

 

One thing I have found interesting about the process is that you tend to think of things whilst you are thinking of others - and indeed, one of the best things to come out of the initial list is another three 'mini lists' - focusing on specific areas of the layout that I have not yet done a lot of work on (and indeed in one case have barely started) - but writing it down now should hopefully help when I do get to those stages, and mean that I remember sometimes small details that I'd like to include that have popped into my head - but may well have gone in a few weeks/months. A specific is the need for some kind of lighting beam - the shed has just the one, low power consumption light in it. Great for our electric bill and not bad for general work on the layout, but rubbish for photography and especially, I suspect, 'colour checking' as it is of the 'cool white' variety - but thinking ahead in this way I've been able to come up with what I hope will proof a workable, low cost solution which doesn't involve additional mains powered lighting being added.

 

So, in the spirit of this, I thought I'd share my 'Jobs for the Weekend' list this week. You can judge for yourself how well I've done against it by seeing if there is another post on Sunday night...

 

1: Fit new scenic corner board (to show a little more of the yard in front of the goods shed)

2: With this in place, plan the road layout in the yard

3: Work out dimensions for loading bank in front of Goods Shed.

4: Produce a cardboard mockup of the 'Hospital' loco shed/workshop

5: Look at the supports for the bridges

6: Begin the process of applying Modroc to the riverbanks.

 

Of these, the first 5 are certainly achievable this weekend, the sixth will depend on mood.

 

So there you go - no great burst of progress, but a tip. Make lists!

[dseagull]

So just time before the drive to Storrington (come on you Stringers!!) for a quick update against the list;

 

(Rough and ready!) Shed mockup

 

I've left off the pitched roof of the shed itself, and the workshop one isn't perfect by a long chalk, but it shows the effect of what I'm aiming for, at least!

 

Riverbanks with bridge supports in place

 

The chicken wire will be covered with Modroc to form a sloping bank into the river and to hide that gap behind the stonework - this picture was taken from where the third (road) bridge will be - the pinkish 'thing' in the background is actually the cutout for the recently added extra fiddle siding (which is just about long enough to accomodate a Peco Loco lift - handy!). Do we think the gutter/Hailsham mud/stones from a pub car park riverbed works? (I do, fwiw!)

 

I've also achieved another tick off the list - the corner board - but triangles of plywood aren't especially interesting, so didn't bother with a photo!

 

Apologies for the horribly pixelated parts of these images - I think it's something to do with our dodgy dongle internet connection that reduces picture quality in favour of speed. I didn't realise it did it on online resizing websites though...!

[witherbrow]

that river bed looks great so far -

[dseagull]

OK, so as promised, an early Sunday evening update against 'the list'.

 

1: Fit new scenic corner board (to show a little more of the yard in front of the goods shed) - done

2: With this in place, plan the road layout in the yard - Sort of done. It's in my head whilst I throw ideas around as to what to use for a road surface

3: Work out dimensions for loading bank in front of Goods Shed. done and some (Photo follows)

4: Produce a cardboard mockup of the 'Hospital' loco shed/workshop done and some - See yesterday's photo and todays below

5: Look at the supports for the bridges - done

6: Begin the process of applying Modroc to the riverbanks. Not started

 

So 5 out of 6 is pretty good going, I feel!

 

Now, a couple of photos showing some progress today - they relate to 3 and 4 on the list.

 

3

 

As well as working out the dimensions, I've built it! - Wills Brick for the base, with a can of 'Ford Sierra Beige' from the local car spares shop waved over it, then drybrushed with Revell 37, and some Wills Paving on top sprayed with Plastikote 'Suede' effect. Will need a yard crane sitting on there, which is on the shopping list.

 

4

 

Getting there! - again Wills English Bond Brick sheet & Industrial windows used here with the same painting method as for the loading bank. The workshop remains in cardboard as I've not got enough brick sheet. Not sure on the roof for either - flicking through the Wills catalouge (I'm not on commission, but I should be - other suppliers are available!), I like the idea of using the skylights on a flat roof on both the shed and the workshop. I do have some suitable rectangle small windows in my bits box which I plan to use on the side, but the door will need to be sourced from somewhere - probably some kind of double doors.

 

Pleasing progress this weekend, even if I didn't start the modroc!

[KevinWalsh]

Excellent, many thanks! - Let me know when they are ready and come round for a cuppa!

 

Stu,

 

I have the drawings for you, let me know how to get them to you please.

 

Kev

[dseagull]

Stu,

 

I have the drawings for you, let me know how to get them to you please.

 

Kev

 

Kev, you have a PM! - Really appreciate it!

[dseagull]

Feels like a big milestone has been reached tonight - and I haven't done any work on it yet!

 

Massive thanks to Kev Walsh of this parish for delivering the plans for Hailsham 'Up' Platform shelter, scaled to 4mm, tonight.

 

Next comes the task of fettling/slightly adjusting to fit the available space - but on a preliminary glance, the vast majority of what would have been there in real life will fit.

[dseagull]

Tonight I've been fiddling with photocopies of the Hailsham Up Shelter as mentioned above.

 

The good news is that the building itself fits perfectly where it needs to go. The 'but' (because there always is! - is that the canopy slightly overhangs the track (Or would do if it wasn't a 2D image!). It's not that bad though - I only need to loose 4 or 5 'planks' from the canopy, and then it will fit perfectly.

[KevinWalsh]

Tonight I've been fiddling with photocopies of the Hailsham Up Shelter as mentioned above.

 

The good news is that the building itself fits perfectly where it needs to go. The 'but' (because there always is! - is that the canopy slightly overhangs the track (Or would do if it wasn't a 2D image!). It's not that bad though - I only need to loose 4 or 5 'planks' from the canopy, and then it will fit perfectly.

 

I look forward to seeing the pics of this in-situ and one day having a good mooch in the shed

[dseagull]

Well after the post imploring the making of lists a couple of weeks back, I've not done this for a couple of weeks and, perhaps as a result, seem to have not made great leaps forward in the past few days.

 

I do, however, have a couple of things on the go.

 

Firstly, the Station Building - As an initial effort, I have decided to build this from scribed 60 thou Plasticard. The back and the two sides are done, painted and fixed together and look quite good. The front is done and painted apart from doors and windows (to be made seperatley), and the canopy is in the paintshop. I will need to put it all together, and then make a decision on if I consider it 'good enough', or if I need to go back to the drawing board and build a shell from plasticard with Wills sheeting for the clapboarding etc. Photos to follow!

 

Secondly, the 'Hospital' shed and workshop. Real progress has been made here, with the workshop 'add-on' being bashed from a Wills garage kit. This is almost there - though the roof needs finishing.

 

A somewhat ropey photo is below - the full grey outside didn't help matters with the camera this morning!, nor did the fact that the camera seemed to focus on the (now cropped!) coffee mug and cigarette packet poking out from behind the far side - and it's now raining, ruining the natural light even more! (Bah!)

 

 

This is 'Mk1' of the workshop. My ever encouraging fiance pointed out that the door end could do with some work - so using the remainder of the kit and some offcuts of 20 thou, I moved the door over and put in a door frame. This had a quick blast of paint this morning, before I ran out of the 'Ford Sierra Beige' that I seem to have got through lots of so far - it definatley needs another coat, so in the interim I've put this original version up here to see what you think - the 'new' version is the same, just with the door moved over slightly to accomodate a frame between workshop and the wall of the shed itself.

 

As for the roof - I wanted to include skylights on the roof of the loco shed, so have built the frame on top to accomodate this. The sloped sides will be slate, whilst the flat roof between the skylights will just be a 'felted' flat roof - isn't there a way of representing this with tissue paper stuck to plasticard? - There will, obviously, be doors for the shed too, and that glazing clearly needs trimming! - both will also get guttering at some point too.

 

As well as these two buildings, the rest of the platform 'legs' have been ordered from Dart Castings/MJT and, when they arrive, will give me enough to finish it off completely. I was going to use DAS for the platform surface, stuck to the plasticard sub-base then scribed to represent sectional concrete, but the more I think about this, the more I wonder how well the stuff is going to 'play', as I'll need to flatten it to a very thin 'sheet' with a rolling pin (must make sure I do that when Sal is out ).

[dseagull]

Well, here goes...

 

A somewhat nervous and tentative posting this, in that below is the part-completed Station Building.

 

 

The shell has been made from plasticard, scribed to represent planking. The 'beige' is a rattlecan from the car shop up the road (Ford Sierra Beige), with the green the Tamiya Olive used elsewhere. The 'end' nearest the camera has just had a quick pass with the latter - more labourious masking and spraying will be needed to neaten things up. There is no roof at present, due to not having any slates, but when this follows, I'll be able to make a proper decision on whether it will pass muster, or if I need to build it again using proper (ie, Wills!) planking etc. The canopy is also from the bits box (a Wills kit) - again, not totally accurate but enough of a representation for now - I'm likely to keep this version of the building for now whilst the rest of the layout is sorted - it will then be replaced with 'the ultimate' version.

 

 

Ah yes, the hospital shed/workshop. As you can see, I've altered the roof. The main reason for the 'flat' roof design was to accomodate the Ratio Skylights, which I had seen on the top of this in my minds eye for some time. However, looking at it more critically, I was neither convinced that it looked good, nor that it would be a likely addition in reality (so in hindsight and far more elequently than I could put it - Kill your darlings !

 

In addition to building the support for the new roof today, I've added guttering and downpipes to the workshop (If you can tear your eyes away from Sal's Julian Clary impersanation in the background - the camera couldn't! )

 

Finally - yesterday my MJT Cast Platform legs arrived - I now need some glue (I used Evostick 'Serious Glue' for the first part of the platform, completed before Christmas, but it seemed to take forever to get even a tenuous hold, so open to suggestions...) in order to build the rest - that can be a project for next weekend!

[dseagull]

As we've now lost natural light for the day, there came a sudden realisation that I had left the doors for the shed drying on the patio table.

 

I've fiddled with the colour balance in the following photo to try and get rid of the effects of our energy saving kitchen bulb as a result!

 

Doors are 40 thou plasticard, with a 20 thou 'frame' then stuck on the inside.

 

 

(This has also reminded me that the top of the gutter will need a line of matt black!)

[KevinWalsh]

Looking good there Stu, looks like the plans were just right for you.

[dseagull]

Cheers Kev, they certainly were!

 

If I were to start from scratch again (and aside from the roof and some more paint there is a bit more to come on this version first, so it's for the future!) - I think I might make a plasticard shell and use microstrip as individual planks.

[KevinWalsh]

Stu,

 

Slaters do sheets of plasticard that is formed as Spaced Planking that might be an option (easier than cutting and sticking massive amounts of thin microstrip)

 

Kev

[dseagull]

Stu,

 

Slaters do sheets of plasticard that is formed as Spaced Planking that might be an option (easier than cutting and sticking massive amounts of thin microstrip)

 

Kev

 

In an ideal world, it would be the ideal option - but unfortunatley the LBSCR chose to make some 'strips (for want of a better word!) of planking different widths to others! (especially noticeable on the ends). Would anyone notice it in 4mm to the foot scale? - maybe not - but I think it might distort the dimensions. Best thing to do, I think, will be to buy some planked plasticard and see how it measures up - Im sure I will be able to use it for other things if it doesn't work out.

[KevinWalsh]

Stu,

 

I was telling my mate (the one who did the scaled drawings for you) about your plan to use microstrips for the planking and he mentioned there might be a risk of the strips becoming welded together by the plastic adhesive and you ending up loosing the appearance of the plank joints which would ruin the effect you are going for.

 

Kev

[dseagull]

Stu,

 

I was telling my mate (the one who did the scaled drawings for you) about your plan to use microstrips for the planking and he mentioned there might be a risk of the strips becoming welded together by the plastic adhesive and you ending up loosing the appearance of the plank joints which would ruin the effect you are going for.

 

Kev

 

True - the other thing that worried me about going down that road is getting them all straight - I can just see that putting one in place will move the next one etc - unless I go down the totally time consuming 'fit one, wait for it to dry, fit another' route.

 

Maybe in the interests of sanity, it might be best just to use 'pre planked' plasticard sheets!

[dseagull]

Some progress in between the showersthis morning in the shed, with the chicken wire now formed into the riverbank, covered with modroc and given a quick coat of Wickes emulsion to take away the 'sheer white' look. The tree is an old Heki one I had kicking around and is a placeholder, whilst the 'sky' was a 10 second job in paint.net to - again - take away the unpainted white background. Obviously a lot more to do here!

 

 

Also, the shed and workshop - still needs a roof, but it looks a lot better in place than it did cluttering up the kitchen table!

 

[witherbrow]

fantastic stuff picturing a train running over that bridge perfect!

[dseagull]

Cheers Ash - the bridge/river area was one of the first things I saw in my minds eye when I started planning this properly, so it's only right that this area is one of the first to get beyond the 'bare baseboard' stage I suppose!

 

I've been busy in the shed today too - the bare track visible in those pictures has now been given the DAS treatment as in the yard, with a first coat of sleeper grime down too. I've also built the 'proper' platform - adding to the small first section I completed weeks ago with the rest. It's a bit of a monster at close to 4' long, but it looks the part - the tricky part will be mandhandling it out of the shed next weekend for a visit from the spray can!

[dseagull]

Looking at those photos again, those bridge supports look rubbish, don't they? - They'll have to go at the weekend. Luckily, thanks to Kylestrome of this parish, I was able to pick up the classic Iain Rice Wills Scenic Series book a few weeks ago for a very reasonable price, so I'll use the information contained to build something more realistic out of plastic Irn Bru ingredients.

 

Anyway; Friday afternoon may be just an hour old, but it's a half 4 finish at work today so home early. The Car Boot Sale season starts this weekend in Sunny Sussex (Kev - Nash Street, not Cophall!) - a sure sign of the weather improving!

 

The weekend's 'List' is ambitious as ever (especially with a home game for the newly promoted super Stringers!) and the aformentioned chance to rummage through other people's junk and pay for the privelege, but we'll see how it goes!

 

I've reproduced it, dodgy grammar and all, below

 

1: Paint Platform (Plastikote 'Suede')

2: Give under-platform area a spray of sleeper grime and see if it takes the bare cork look away enough

3: Give grassy areas a first 'coat' of dried & sieved earth

4: Another coat of sleeper grime for newly DAS'd track

5: DAS area in between track (between platform road and loop/hospital platform road)?

6: First pass of 'hairy cigar' on bare areas near river

 

We'll see, anyway!

[dseagull]

You could say last weekend's list was over-ambitious. Truth is - the fantastic weather led to a weekend of gardening, so little time for the shed!

 

I did though manage to get points 1 and 2 complete, and am happy with the results, so it wasn't a complete write-off!

 

This (3-day, thanks Flexi Time!) weekend though has started well, with the purchase and completion of the weighbridge and hut for the Yard.

 

It's a Wills kit, painting is via my usual methods/colours.

 

 

Not bad workrate either, considering we got home from Eastbourne at half 1!

 

Let's see if I can get items 3-6 started at least over the next couple of days!