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Portland Grove


McGomez

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Thanks Mike.

A little more progress was made this weekend on the platform foundations to the right hand side of the station and I started putting the top on the left hand platform.

 

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I also converted an electronic fly swatter into a static grass applicator by removing the raquette head and replacing it with a metal sieve. My mate Gérard sent me the photos of what to do and I copied them. (I´m not electronically minded). It works too.

 

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My youngest has been itching to do a diorama with a couple of old Metcalfe card kits that have been lying around for years gathering dust so we gave the grassmaster its first try.

 

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I also used it to try my airbrushing technique on the road colours.

 

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The small gravel-like bits on the road are infact black pepper that I sprinkled on whilst spraying. I thought it would look like small stones at the side of the road but with hindsight it may have been better to use ground white pepper

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Hi Andy,

 

Very good .... I like the look of the grass but not too sure about the "ground" peppercorns.  May be persuaded when I see it "live" in a couple of weeks.

 

Your airbrushing techniques appear brilliant from the start.and I love the look of the platforms.

 

Kindest regards,

 

STEVIE B.

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Cheers Guy.

Yeah, what about it Mr. Stroley. What have you got to do for the next three months? :blackeye:

 

Just uploaded a video of my class 20 with Digitrains sound on a Zimo chip. By all accounts, it´s not the latest version with the 6 different driving styles but I like it.

It is seen bringing some wagons into the PWay yard.

The driver obviously has to have the obligatory brew and turns the engine off.

He returns later and picks up some ballast wagons and leaves the yard.

 

 

 

PS. For further video of the same sound decoder, see Mr. Poindexters You Tube page.

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  • 2 months later...

Not many updates of late. Just don´t seem to find much time at the moment.

Saying that, I have installed sound in a Heljan 33 along with the addition of a Shawplan fan grill.

The 33 has a 23mm round speaker under the roof fan and a 40x20mm in the underslung tanks.

It´s loud even after lowering the sound to 22 on cv63.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

How far would you say a 295 .cu .cm bag would go in terms of track lenth ?. 6FT 12FT ? etc etc cheers. 

Hi Nathan.

 

Sorry I didn´t get back to you sooner on your question.

Unfortunately I don´t have an answer.

The bits of ballasting I did were at least 2 years ago and I can´t remember how much I used. (Can´t remember what I did last week so 2 years is well off the radar :senile: !!)

 

As I haven´t done any updates for a while here are some pictures of a plate girder bridge that I made out of 30 thou plasticard recently.

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And some arches for the high level line that are South Eastern Finecast vac formed sheets stuck over some 3mm Styrofoam to give it some rigidity.

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On the motive power front, I´ve recently installed sound in a Hornby 31.

This is Coastal DCC sound on a V3,5 Loksound chip.

There is a 28mm round speaker located in the space vacated by the fan mechanism and pointing downwards.

 

 

And this is the Coastal DCC DMU sound on a Zimo 645 with a sugar cube speaker inside the body and another stuck with double sided tape to the underframe.

 

 

 

Regards

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Hi Andy

 

You have done a grand job of scratch building the walls and girder bridge.And the static grass really does make a world of difference.

Can i suggest that you use sand instead of black pepper for a rough road surface as this is what i use and it turns out very well indeed 

and the sand also soaks in the paint sprayed or painted onto it.

 

Terry

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Hi Andy, you have been busy! Superb work on the girder bridge that looks great.

 

Nice videos, the 31 sounds good. I especially like the 105, it is just like going back in time....... Reminds me of many a journey made on those DMUs whilst on Anglia Rovers.

 

Quality!

 

I quite fancy getting a 105 although it really doesn’t fit in.....

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Looking good great video

 

David

Thanks David.

 

 

Hi Andy

 

You have done a grand job of scratch building the walls and girder bridge.And the static grass really does make a world of difference.

Can i suggest that you use sand instead of black pepper for a rough road surface as this is what i use and it turns out very well indeed 

and the sand also soaks in the paint sprayed or painted onto it.

 

Terry

Thanks for the advice Terry.

With hindsight, I think I should have used ground pepper :jester: .

Will give the sand a go when I get to the road making.

 

 

Hi Andy, you have been busy! Superb work on the girder bridge that looks great.

 

Nice videos, the 31 sounds good. I especially like the 105, it is just like going back in time....... Reminds me of many a journey made on those DMUs whilst on Anglia Rovers.

 

Quality!

 

I quite fancy getting a 105 although it really doesn’t fit in.....

Glad you like the bridge Alex. It´s not quite on a par with Boxenby but I´ve got to start somewhere. :stinker:

The 31 and 105 certainly give an East Anglia feel to the layout.

I´ve got some "County of Hertfordshire" plates for a blue 47 that will be given the Stratford treatment as 47172. That should certainly give it an Essex/Herts border feel although the layout isn´t actually based there!!

 

I´m sure a 105 could always be used to ferry punters to a Boxenby Open Day.

 

All the best.

Andy.

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Ahh no worries thanks. And the layout is looking awesome :) will be a once in a lifetime layout for sure especially once the whole thing is sceniced up and to a "finished" state. But we all know truthfully a layout really never is finished because you can just add and add or change bits whenever you get bored of one thing :). Nice work man like the bridge.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

As is usual with me, it has been ages since my last update so here is what I´ve been working on recently.

You can just see in the photo below that the arches on the right are within a foot of the corner where the high level line will disappear into a tunnel. I know it´s not a very probable scenario, (a high level line going into a tunnel) but I had to find a way to try and hide the line without making it look too contrived. I´m also trying to get some of the basic structures in place to break up the layout into smaller areas that will be easier to work on.

 

 

The original mock up.

I´ve had this idea in my head for ages and I thought that if I were to make an image for posterity it might give me the kick up the arse I sometimes need to push on.

The bridge is not based on any particular prototype although I have an image of one that is north of Finsbury Park (or New Southgate/Barnet).

 

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I drew the bridge to scale in CorelDraw. As the footings of the columns are on the skew the 2 sides are not equal so I printed out both sides and placed them on the layout to check that I wouldn’t have any gauging issues. I did, so it was duly amended. The longest coaches I have are a Pendolino set (not very BR Blue!) and they just fit through (now).

 

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The basic shape was cut out using 3mm styrofoam.

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Strengthening ribs and plinths added at the base of each column.

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4x1mm plastic strip added to emulate concrete reinforcement.

South Eastern Finescale brick plasticard was stuck to the interior walls initially.

The exterior brick faces were then applied with excess removed with a sharp knife.

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Close up.

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Quite tall!!

A bungy jumpers paradise?

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The reinforcement banding comes in handy by holding the curved plasticard in place. It needs to be a tight fit so the styrene sheet gets pushed into the tight curve of the arches.

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The 4 arches with plasticard superglued in place.

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I was impressed with a bridge that was built by Tim Horn for Calcutta Sidings and appeared in the December 2012 issue of Rail Express that showed his way of creating the arched brickwork which can be seen below. These strips of brick plasticard are stuck to the Styrofoam base with superglue as is all the structure.

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As long as the first course of bricks is put on following the form of the arch, the other 4 courses can be stuck on quite quickly. IIRC the 5 courses took about 20 minutes to put in place.

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I wasn´t too sure how to face the remaining bit of the bridge. In the end I cut out templates for each arch in card and then copied this onto the brick plasticard. It did need some fettling.

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The are a couple of join lines on each side. I might have to put a drainpipe over these if they are still prominent once painted.

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The result is this. There are a couple of areas that need some filling but overall the fit isn´t too bad.

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The pavements and top sidewalls have now been added. Once again these are 3mm Styrofoam faced with the same brick plasticard and Slaters 4mm paving slabs.

I decided to give it a bit of overhang to break up the large slab sides.

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A view of the bridge in place with Mr. Plods Discovery parked up on the pavement.

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This is the state of play as of 31st December. Some kerbstones have been prepared to see what they looked like. Once again 3mm Styrofoam. I reckon they´ll do the trick.

I´ll have to source some drain covers and the wall needs to be capped.

There is also a bit of painting to be done!!

Blue engineers brick or reddish brown? I´m still undecided.

 

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After 5 ish years of looking at my spaghetti style layout without scenery, I´m going to try and make 2014 the year of the Plasticard.

 

Happy new year to all.

(Mr S.E. Finecast and Mr. Slater may well be happier)

 

 

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Hi Andy, Happy New Year Sir.

 

Cracking work Sir, you have made a superb job on the bridge. Can’t wait to see it painted and weathered. Oh and some video clips of trains passing underneath. I need a couple of bridges made for the scenic breaks for Boxenby so might have to enlist your services after seeing your work.......

 

I too am a big fan of Mr Horn’s work, very inspirational. 

 

Looking forward to seeing more progress, especially on the scenery! No excuses now Andy, by the end of the year we expect the scenic section to be finished........

 

By the way, nice to see some BR blue Grid action on steel.......lovely!

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Hi Andy, Happy New Year Sir.
 
Cracking work Sir, you have made a superb job on the bridge. Can’t wait to see it painted and weathered. Oh and some video clips of trains passing underneath. I need a couple of bridges made for the scenic breaks for Boxenby so might have to enlist your services after seeing your work.......
 
I too am a big fan of Mr Horn’s work, very inspirational. 
 
Looking forward to seeing more progress, especially on the scenery! No excuses now Andy, by the end of the year we expect the scenic section to be finished........
 
By the way, nice to see some BR blue Grid action on steel.......lovely!

 

Thanks Alex.

With regards the bridges you need, no problem. It would be an honour although with your skills I somehow think you could knock out a quality bridge or two.

I´m testing the paint colours at the moment so might surprise you and actually paint the bridge shortly. I´m going to go for the engineers blue brick. Atleast, that is the idea!

I´ve also been playing around with some ballast today (again). Can´t seem to find a colour combination I like.

 

Regards.

Andy.

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Great looking bridge.

Thought you'd been quiet recently.

Happy 2014

Thanks ess.

I have been keeping a low profile just lately I admit.

Work seems to be the main culprit.

 

Bridge looks great

 

David

Thanks David.

 

 

Very good looking bridge. I look forward to seeing more scenery over the coming year.

 

Happy New Year to you.

 

Mike

Thanks Mike.

I think I´ve said it before but this time I´m going to concentrate on the scenery.

I´ve ordered another load of SE Finecast plastic sheets so there´s nothing stopping me now. (Apart from a LM class 170 that is halfway through an LED transplant).

 

All the best

Andy.

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