Experiments with T Trak module in the Swiss style

[SNCF stephen]

Thanks for the info on the painting. Can I ask which shade of brown you used as well? I think you got it bang on!

 

I think the lack of static grass does not detract from your module. I always worry that most static grasses are overscale for N so sometimes it is best to avoid it. Still it can work very well and I have recently achieved some nice looking static grass.

 

When I do my modular layout I am having a quadrouple length module for the station and 4 normal length modules for the scenic side (although 2 of these are designed to be placed together). The great thing is that as your modelling skills improve you can simply replace or upgrade a module, rather than having to work around the rest of the layout.

 

If you are looking for new names for the standards then I would suggest Temo or FreTrak. Not exactly original I know!

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Stephen

[MikeTrice]

Hi Stephen.

 

The paint is Revell Matt 83,

 

Your comments about improving/replacing/upgrading a module are spot on.

 

Just been experimenting with dimensions.

 

A T Trak "oval" comprising double length sides and full 90 degree ends works out at around 1350mm * 730mm.

 

My "proposed" amalgam of T Trak and Fremo would work out around 1608mm * 990mm but with extremely good scenic depth. I really need to rough it out to see how it looks as I could reduce the size to cater for 350mm wide modules instead of 400mm. I am trying to get away from having the main lines running near the edge of the module.

 

 

The dotted blue line on the above represent the original specification (wide) T Trak boundaries showing how they compare with my Fremo/T Trak hybrid (with 27mm track centres).

[MikeTrice]

yes I know I said I would not be continuing with this module, however it is proving to be a good general testbad for techniques.

 

I rather liked the photo of the loco peaking through the trees and showed it to my brother-in-law. "That looks too clean" he said, and he had a point.

 

Swiss Railways are generally clean however in the photo it appeared clinically so. I wanted to tone the trackwork down a bit but only by a small amount. A quick email to ModelMates and I decided to have a go at toning down the track and ballast with their weathering dyes.

 

I masked off the grass and gave a very light spray with Mud Brown in the form of a spray can. The results can be seen below and in my opinion are a great improvement:

 

 

 

The last photo caused me another problem, the loco itself is just too clean! Out came the ModelMates again and this time Oil Brown liquid was lightly applied to the various grills and underframe bogies, then carefully cleaned up. Looked OK until I photographed it then noticed further clean up was needed:

 

 

Did anyone notice I have changed the grass in the last photo. I decided to give static grass a go, but to be honest from the photos it is not that different.

[Sir Madog]

Do I love these BLS Ae 4/4´s! My favorite since my childhood days.

 

I also like how your modules are coming along, makes me think about a swiss-themed layout as my next one!

[MikeTrice]

The BLS Ae 4/4 is a lovely little model. It took me a LONG time to decide to weather her. It did not need much and the ModelMates inks are very easy to use (and can be washed off if you don't like the effect).

 

Have now tidied up the weathering:

 

 

Now where did I put the Krokodil (another favourite)?

[Sir Madog]

Yes, indeed!

 

For years, my family spent the vacation in Switzerland. We usually traveled by train, so even getting there was an adventure. If I had the space and the money, I´d build something like this in N scale:

 

 

This is a track plan I have developed for a Swiss friend´s layout.