Weekday Cross Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 How about using fibre optic instead of wire as the pivot and then let the light "flood" in the lamp case? If you could get any of the hypo needles Nat mentioned then you could feed a fibre up them?? Regards Mike Mike, I did look into your suggestion, but couldn't find any fibre optic of exactly the right diameter for either option. In particular I could not find any fine enough to feed up 0.3mm OD tubing, which would have been my preferred option. The thinnest I could find was 0.25mm which is way too big. Mind you, the more I think about it I wonder if I'm not going down a big, time consuming diversion here. Lighting the ground signals means I will have to light the 3-arm starter signals on the platform - plus all the other exterior lighting that would have existed on the part of the station I am modelling, the street lamps up above, interior lights in buildings...... I read that the LNWR did not permit signal lamps to be lit in daylight - at least until long-burning lamps were introduced just before WW1. Just because my only loco (so far) is a diesel doesn't mean my heart is set in the 1960s Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted August 26, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 26, 2011 Mind you, the more I think about it I wonder if I'm not going down a big, time consuming diversion here. Lighting the ground signals means I will have to light the 3-arm starter signals on the platform - plus all the other exterior lighting that would have existed on the part of the station I am modelling, the street lamps up above, interior lights in buildings...... Remember, oil lights are not very bright ... at night, the signals would be barely visible to the real driver, never mind a spectator of a 2mm layout, even the platform starters would be more intuition than visible light. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 Remember, oil lights are not very bright ... at night, the signals would be barely visible to the real driver, never mind a spectator of a 2mm layout, even the platform starters would be more intuition than visible light. Yes, I am inclined to agree! Whilst lighting these would be a great way of showing off my ingenuity, the effort involved vs. the impact they would have on the diorama makes it hardly worth doing. Were this a long-term project I might well have a go. I certainly believe it is quite possible to do. I am building a diorama to a very tight deadline though - only 5 weeks to go - so I feel convinced now that my time would be better spent on other aspects of the model. Thanks for convincing me of what I already suspected was true! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair Modeller Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 You should really think long term and forget about deadlines. Unlike most, if not all other entries, you have the makings of a really good working layout here. It would be silly to risk spoiling it by rushing it to meet the Challenge end date. Better to take longer and do everything properly and thoroughly and without compromise. You will probably feel far better about it in the end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share Posted August 28, 2011 Thanks for the thought - but without the Challenge I would never have started the diorama, plus it always helps to work to deadlines, even though this one is getting a little tight! The last few days have been a lot busier, work-wise, than I anticipated, so I have done very little modelling over the last few days - odd minutes, rather than hours or days. Here is a photo of some of the ballasting, which is largely finished, apart from weathering The bare parts of the baseboards will be covered with a mixture of cobbles and setts following, as far as possible, the photos of the site - plus of course the buildings and the ash bin. Here is a photo of the more or less finished bridge. I won't be able to put it in position until the loco shed and tower have been permanently fitted to the baseboard. The girders will need trimming slightly to match the baseboard edge. There are still a few bits of pavement to install on the roadway, but that can wait a while yet. Meanwhile, my 0.3mm diameter tube arrived yesterday morning – my, it is tiny! I am sure I can find a use for it eventually – even though its original purpose, to help light up my ground signals, has been abandoned. The wire attached to my DCC Concepts LEDs does just go in – though it was impossible to push it more than about 2cm down. That would have been more than long enough for most purposes though. So, with one wire down the tube and one attached to the top of the tube itself, a fully-lit rotating ground signal would indeed be possible in 2mm scale. Maybe for my next layout/diorama, if I do anything else in 2mm scale? I guess if I can thread supposedly 0.125mm wire down a supposedly 0.12mm hole, my eyesight is probably good enough! This evening, I hope to have a go at making the ground signals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 I started the ground signals, as promised, but quickly broke the only 3 very small diameter drill bits I possessed, so had to order some more through the Internet. They should arrive later this week. I have never been very lucky with drill bits, but this must be some kind of record! I will recommence work on the ground signals once they arrive. Today, I was out for most of the day, so only worked briefly this evening on a few bits and pieces. The main priority at the moment is to finish the ground cover. Looking at photos of the area around the turntable, much of this seems to be bricks or setts - quite probably some of each. In places, this is quite awkward to do, as there is a sudden slope from rail level down the the edge of the turntable and a few other more subtle things in there, like drains and manhole covers. Alongside the outside of the rails, there appear to be planks of wood, or something similar - presumably to retain access to the keys holding the rails in place. In truth it would be impossible to be completely accurate with all of this, as the photos are often inconclusive, small areas are not in the photos at all, the photos are in black & white, so I have no idea of accurate colours - and time is running out! I decided to do the bulk of the work in Wills Brick plastic sheets, which I have plenty of. They are certainly ideal for the bricks! The area inside the engine shed has been cut ready for installation. I have also cut out the bit at the left-hand side of the diorama, most of the way to the edge of the turntable. I have put a small experimental area in so far, just to see how well it sticks down. A photo is below... If all is well, I shall continue tomorrow. I am loathe to make any more prophesies after the problem with the drill bits, but I should finish the ground cover tomorrow. According to my list, there will also be the platform surface to do, which should be fairly easy. Then, I reckon I can start the painting! Other smaller details like the luggage lift and the starter signal on the platform can wait for a while - as can the street area - maybe things to do whilst the paint is drying. Much of the painting will be fairly straightforward, with a few basic colours and a bit of weathering. I hope to do a comprehensive job on the rock face, though. I want it to look a lot like it does on the real thing today - but with a bit more weathering to reflect the smokier atmosphere of yesteryear. I could be lazy and make it all a drab dark grey, but that would make the overall scene very drab and boring. A bit of colour in the rock face, on the other hand should bring the diorama to life (I hope!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 I always feel a lot better for seeing all the components of the diorama together in one shot, so please forgive me for taking yet another photo. So, its on with the Wills brick sheets to cover most of the rest of the bare baseboard today! I am using blobs of wood filler as the adhesive and filler for this job. Bizarrely, it seems to work quite well. I will then use more of this filler to fill in the gaps and do some of the more difficult contours - particularly around the edge of the turntable. The Wills brick will eventually be painted dark grey and weathered to simulate blue brick pavers, by the way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 The appearance of the layout has now changed quite dramatically, as all but a few pieces of brick sheet have now been put into position on the ground area of the diorama. I should finish the rest later this evening. I can then leave the filler to dry overnight before doing a few final touches to the groundwork tomorrow. All the red brick will be painted dull grey and weathered, so the diorama will not be this colourful for long! The areas between the rails were ballasted, on the whole, rather than paved. In later years, these areas seem to have been filled up to rail top level with ash - but before that most was ballasted like ordinary railway track. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold bcnPete Posted August 30, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 30, 2011 Looking good... I have only just clicked that on this layout you have not had to construct any turnouts Master stroke that one Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 Looking good... I have only just clicked that on this layout you have not had to construct any turnouts Master stroke that one Thanks Pete! The converging trackwork around the turntable edge was probably worse than a turnout though - not to mention the turntable! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 I tested the buildings for fit in the holes left in the brick paving late last night, after finishing the paving off - one more excuse to do one more photo of everything so far! I have also started the platform surface, covering it with 2 layers of cartridge paper. I will scribe the gaps between the very large paving slabs in due course. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 Most of the filler has now been applied along the edges of the track in the paved area and around the turntable edge. It would have been a real death trap in real life, especially on cold, damp, dark, icy nights. At least my train crews are cheap and easily replaced! Here is a photo of the turntable area - really complex to reproduce and probably inaccurate in a number of ways - but without a time machine, I can do little better! And finally, a bird's eye view... I just have a bit more work to do around the loco shed itself now, plus a bit of bedding in to do when the buildings finally get placed permanently in position. Only one month to go, as of midnight Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJH584 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Your entry is looking great. I used to live in Wallasey on the other side of the Mersey and also worked in Liverpool. May I make a suggestion? Those buses you have got? To me they look like they are in the wrong livery. IIRC Liverpool City buses were in a "mattish" green and the only other company that ran into Liverpool was the Ribble company whose buses were a mattish red/maroon. The blue and yellows didn't appear until the early 70's. Perhaps a repaint may be in order? Regards David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 Your entry is looking great. I used to live in Wallasey on the other side of the Mersey and also worked in Liverpool. May I make a suggestion? Those buses you have got? To me they look like they are in the wrong livery. IIRC Liverpool City buses were in a "mattish" green and the only other company that ran into Liverpool was the Ribble company whose buses were a mattish red/maroon. The blue and yellows didn't appear until the early 70's. Perhaps a repaint may be in order? Regards David Hi Many thanks for your compliments - I wondered when someone would spot that deliberate mistake I bought the bus (just one) thinking it might be easy to adapt it as a Ribble Leyland PS3 with full-fronted body - but apart from the radiator grille and the fact it has wheels, the resemblance is slim. In one of the photos I have, one of these buses appears to have turned off London Road and is heading up the hill along St Vincent Street - presumably a short cut to the Ribble bus station, which was immediately south of Lime Street Station. If I get the time, I will try and do something with it - otherwise, I will leave it off altogether, I promise 8) The bus is in A1 livery - a Scottish company. Well I guess it could have been on an excursion, or on train substitution duties? Before anyone points it out, the BR Scammell has a Western Region number and the trailer (I assume) was dedicated to London inter-station parcel work. That would need an even taller tale to explain.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 One month to go – it doesn’t sound much, but that is about one quarter of the length of the Challenge – more like a third for me, as I didn’t start construction until week two of June and had 2 weeks off at the end of June to do something completely different. So far, the project has been really exhilarating - by far the most interesting model railway "layout" I have ever been involved with. It is the first time I have tried to reproduce a real place in miniature. I am certainly tempted to try again, once this one is finished. Looking back over some of the entries I have done so far, it almost sounds as if I know what I am doing – but believe you me, this has been like exploring a new galaxy, full of surprises and new experiences. Regarding the bus dilemma, here is a photo comparing the model and the bus I want it to be - as you can see, there is little, apart from the wheels, that I could use! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold bcnPete Posted September 1, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 1, 2011 as you can see, there is little, apart from the wheels, that I could use! Never mind...there will be another one along in a minute Well done for achieving 10,000+ views Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 Never mind...there will be another one along in a minute Well done for achieving 10,000+ views Regarding the first comment, funny you should say that! Bachmann are supposed to be bringing out some buses that would be more appropriate for Merseyside - though not in Liverpool or Ribble liveries. I doubt if they will arrive very soon though. As for the second comment, I am genuinely overwhelmed by the interest this tiny diorama has generated - though your project is not far behind! Stuart's 2mm Service point in 3rd place has nearly 6,000 views now, which is twice what the fourth most viewed diorama has, if my quick scan of the list is correct. Great publicity for 2mm Fine Scale! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 I have now finished working the magic with the filler and also finished off the steps for the pits area at the front of the loco shed. Next is the office building on St Vincent Street above the loco shed. I have been playing around with paper mock ups in various sizes to get a feel for what would be most accurate. In the absence of anything other than vague images in corners of photos, there was not much to work from! Here is a view from the end of the diorama. Before long, I will begin painting everything, so everything will soon look dramatically different - apart from the loco, anyway. ... and here a view from the front.... I think I have got the dimensions as close as I am ever likely to, so it's time to get out the plastic sheet and the knife again. This building was built on part of the site of St Simon's church, which was destroyed in WW2. To be consistent with the time the turntable was present, I should really model the church instead - but have even less information on the church than for the later building. In the book that inspired my diorama, "LNWR Portrayed", by Jack Nelson, Jack gives a description of how he tried to find out what the church looked like. He says he resorted to looking through marriage registers and contacting people who had got married there, to see if they had any wedding photos. He claimed to have go enough to get a good idea of what the church looked like. If only this information was available today! I wonder what happened to all his research material after he died? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Natalie Graham Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 To be consistent with the time the turntable was present, I should really model the church instead - but have even less information on the church than for the later building. It's not all bad. At least no-one is going to be able to tell you it's wrong if no-one knows what it looked like. From OS maps it is possible to tell it had a square tower on the S-W corner (with an OS bench mark on it) buttresses and windows along the S elevation and a central enrance door on the W elevation with a couple of angled steps leading up to it. Also that it was built sometime between 1863 and 1891 to replace the earlier one which had gone to make room for the expansion of the station. At this time and given it was a replacement, presumabley financed by the LNWR who were not exactly extravagant in their spending, I think a likely asumption is that it was built in brick and in the gothic revival style which was practically universal for church architecture in the second half of the 19th century. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clecklewyke Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 In the book that inspired my diorama, "LNWR Portrayed", by Jack Nelson, Jack gives a description of how he tried to find out what the church looked like. He says he resorted to looking through marriage registers and contacting people who had got married there, to see if they had any wedding photos. He claimed to have go enough to get a good idea of what the church looked like. If only this information was available today! I wonder what happened to all his research material after he died? Have you tried the Railway Museum at Betws y Coed? They have some of Nelson's dioramas but I don't know whether they have any of his research papers. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 Have you tried the Railway Museum at Betws y Coed? They have some of Nelson's dioramas but I don't know whether they have any of his research papers. Ian Hi Ian - no I haven't tried the museum, though it is an interesting idea. I guess if the project was longer-term I would give it a go, but it all has to be completed by the end of the month - plus I have done some of the work on the replacement building now - shame to waste the effort! Thanks anyway for the suggestion! It's not all bad. At least no-one is going to be able to tell you it's wrong if no-one knows what it looked like. From OS maps it is possible to tell it had a square tower on the S-W corner (with an OS bench mark on it) buttresses and windows along the S elevation and a central enrance door on the W elevation with a couple of angled steps leading up to it. Also that it was built sometime between 1863 and 1891 to replace the earlier one which had gone to make room for the expansion of the station. At this time and given it was a replacement, presumabley financed by the LNWR who were not exactly extravagant in their spending, I think a likely asumption is that it was built in brick and in the gothic revival style which was practically universal for church architecture in the second half of the 19th century. Natalie, I should employ you as my chief researcher! I agree with everything you say. Jack Nelson confirms in his book that the church was built in brick (though not Crewe brick) and the Gothic style seems most likely, from the one image I know of. The only known illustration is shown below, a shadowy structure in a sketch of Cope's Tobacco Works. I suspect it is fairly accurate, as the artist has done a very good job of the other buildings and everything is more or less where I would expect it to be - though the perspective is probably a bit out somewhere in that corner of the sketch. The small building to the right of the church should be much further back, in my opinion - but would be hidden by the church if it were in its correct place, so a blessing really!. The artist probably could not have done the sketch from one viewpoint though, so it is a very creditable effort. It is still too little to base a model on though, in my opinion. The church was built originally for Jews converting to Christianity, according to one source I found on the Internet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 Natalie, I should have added that I did some research to try to find a similar church elsewhere in the area. This one has a similar look to it - notably the tower - even though the layout and style of the main building is different. I suspect a lot of detail could be copied and used in a slightly different context on St Simon's. Life is toooooooo short though, not to mention the Challenge! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Onwards and upwards, quite literally, I have now built the basic shell of the church office building This is largely made up of 3 layers of brick Plasticard, with recesses at the back for the windows to be inserted. I have discreetly omitted any windows on the side wall of the building, as this wall will be difficult to see once the diorama is complete. The brickwork needs cleaning up just a little bit, but otherwise I am very happy with it so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Natalie Graham Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I have discreetly omitted any windows on the side wall of the building, As well as a door too. It might look more realistic with some means for the office workers to get in and out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekday Cross Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 As well as a door too. It might look more realistic with some means for the office workers to get in and out. Ah, if you look very closely, the second "window" from the camera on the ground floor is just a bit different to the rest. This will be half window and half door, as I suspect existed on the prototype. There is a deep recess here for the door to fit into - you can just see the vertical line showing the edge of where the door frame will be if you look very hard - but I accept it is not obvious. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.