'O' gauge ? first tentative steps. Corrugated goods shed part 3: Painting and weathering

[Jon Fitness]

Phew :-)

 

warning-panels-complete.jpg

Oh now that's looking very neat!

Keep up the excellent work

JF

[greenglade]

Interesting discussions going on here regarding space... David perhaps when looking for the new house with your wife you could keep an eye open for any properties with outbuildings..wood or brick that could be a base for your layout with a future extension running outside. It could be a nice project that you could share with your wife... you do the railway and track work while she takes care of the landscaping.... well at least that's my cunning plan for the future.....

 

Pete

[the penguin of doom]

That Yellow panel is crisper than Seabrooks David.

 

A fine outcome from a troublesome problem.

 

Cheers.

 

Sean.

[David Siddall]

Well thank you guys... actually the words which went through my head when I viewed the end result after patiently teasing off that masking tape weren't 'Phew' – they were 'thank' followed by something a great deal more profane! I must say I am pleased (monumentally relieved actually) especially as the yellow of the panels was brush-painted – six thin coats of Railmatch warning yellow over two coats of white primer – I just happened to have a tinlet so I thought '...better use that up than buy a whole aerosol for such a small job'. There is however no truth in the rumour that I'm so mean I squeak when I walk! ;-)

 

However, moving swiftly on...

 

Interesting discussions going on here regarding space... David perhaps when looking for the new house with your wife you could keep an eye open for any properties with outbuildings..wood or brick that could be a base for your layout with a future extension running outside. It could be a nice project that you could share with your wife... you do the railway and track work while she takes care of the landscaping.... well at least that's my cunning plan for the future..... 
 

 

Pete mate, that's a terrific idea. However despite living in the heart of the country and hence being blessed with plenty of outdoor space over the past 15 years I've never got round to a garden railway. I am currently thinking myself fortunate we're looking at properties with gardens at all, let alone outbuildings. I caught SWMBO looking longingly at a mews town-house the other day, the sort where the front door opens directly onto the street with a yard as opposed to a garden – fortunately we can't afford it!

 

D

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Cheers Marc... that's much appreciated, we'll find out when the masking tape comes off later today. And as the Fabergé of the micro-layout (Poynton Sneer and Hendre Lane just in case anyone hasn't seen them) I'm astonished you've ever contemplated anything as wastefully spacious as 8'......... ;-)

 

 

As you say Rod, the current trend in house building seems result in a forest of lightweight 'W' braced roof trusses – fine for some basic loft storage but not much else. I'm also reaching the stage (age) where I don't really fancy shinning up and down ladders every time I feel like a bit of modelling. Don's wife is insisting on proper stairs if they convert their bungalow roof (see below) but in the sort of house my wife's looking at that would knock out the smallest bedroom which is now slated as my 'office' as well as my 'play room'!!!

 

 

I've been following 'Reely Grate' since the thread was started FatMac – absolutely superb! Particularly taken with the auto-coupling solution :-)

 

 

You're indeed a fortunate man Don... but as I mentioned above, if we were to look at a full roof conversion of the sort of property Angie's after, adding that 'proper staircase' (which I think would have to be enclosed with a fire door if the roof room were to become a potentially habitable space) would knock out the smallest bedroom. Really we could do with a four-bed ...but not round here without a lottery win I'm afraid :-(

 

 

Hey ho... I'm going to take my inspiration from Monsieur Smith and say that the future is definitely minimalist :-)

 

 

David

 

 

PS: I am however very taken with a couple of ideas which have emerged from this particular bit of banter courtesy of Marc (Smith) and Stephen (Warspite) – I'm beginning to see huge potential in micros (note the significant 's') as opposed to a micro (singular)...

 

 

Hi David,

 

I notice that you didnt reply to my Post - no worries there - yet I am interested to hear if you are interested in moving too and that you have some say in the matter?

 

 

 

 

Hi there,

 

Hope the yellow warning panels on the 121 don't give you any more grief!

 

Thinking about the problem of space, I have often thought about a design by Iain Rice

It's in his book on urban layouts - not my fave title by him,

but there's a design in there for a multi-level style layout

 

It's built into a sort of display cabinet, with a removable cassette at the end

Each shelf is a separate scene in its' own right,

and once the train exits a scene onto the cassette

you place the cassette on a different level, and it enters a different scene...

 

It sounds an odd arrangement I know, and Iain's plan is for a 4mm scale layout

but I've been pondering the idea of a 2 level layout in 7mm in this style for some time

I can't post a copy of the plan here for obvious reasons

This book isn't my fave by Iain, as I said

but could be worth a look.....

 

If you can find 8 foot of space, that's plenty for a shunting layout IMO

 

In fact, the only layout I ever built larger than 8 feet never got finished!

 

Marc

I agree with Marc, this is a very interesting idea - likewise re Mr. Rice's book, I have it, it's very good, yet many of the plans never seemed to 'apply' to me, but the philosophy behind this plan, Marc has mentioned, is fascinating - a small version of the American multi-level layouts...

 

Kind regards,

 

CME

[81A Oldoak]

Hi there,

 

Hope the yellow warning panels on the 121 don't give you any more grief!

 

Thinking about the problem of space, I have often thought about a design by Iain Rice

It's in his book on urban layouts - not my fave title by him,

but there's a design in there for a multi-level style layout

 

It's built into a sort of display cabinet, with a removable cassette at the end

Each shelf is a separate scene in its' own right,

and once the train exits a scene onto the cassette

you place the cassette on a different level, and it enters a different scene...

 

It sounds an odd arrangement I know, and Iain's plan is for a 4mm scale layout

but I've been pondering the idea of a 2 level layout in 7mm in this style for some time

I can't post a copy of the plan here for obvious reasons

This book isn't my fave by Iain, as I said

but could be worth a look.....

 

If you can find 8 foot of space, that's plenty for a shunting layout IMO

 

In fact, the only layout I ever built larger than 8 feet never got finished!

 

Marc

 

 

 

I particularly like  the Ricey plans to which you refer and I posted scanned copies somewhere on RMWeb a few months ago. I keep threatening to build the layout with the main-line exchange siding, but reversing the cross-over to make it trail into a three-way. I have all of the track, industrial locomotives (quite a few of those), Pre-grouping South Wales and GWR tank locomotives and a signal ready to go.

[David Siddall]

Many apologies for overlooking your question CME... I think my answer would be that a move wasn't really what I had in mind quite yet and that I'm going to find swapping a fairly spacious (albeit slightly crumbly and hideously inefficient) country home for something smaller and more modern in town a bit of a challenge – albeit I should say we are talking an attractive, medium-sized market town here not a metropolis! That said Angie's really thought this through, she's my business partner as well as my wife so there's some sound commercial reasoning gone into her plan as well as social and domestic thinking; and I can't deny that a move of the sort she's suggesting will most likely result in a significantly positive shift in our work/life balance sooner than I'd expected which I wouldn't mind at all. My basic requirements? A decent view and a bit of space to play trains would do nicely – preferably on the edge of town, not in the middle.

 

I shall lay hands on a copy of Ian Rice's 'urban layouts' book forthwith...

 

David

[alant]

Link to Chris's previous post is here:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/68922-shunters-shunting-layouts/

 

 

Alan.

[2ManySpams]

David you have a PM.

[81A Oldoak]

Link to Chris's previous post is here:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/68922-shunters-shunting-layouts/

 

 

Alan.

Much obliged Alan.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Many apologies for overlooking your question CME... I think my answer would be that a move wasn't really what I had in mind quite yet and that I'm going to find swapping a fairly spacious (albeit slightly crumbly and hideously inefficient) country home for something smaller and more modern in town a bit of a challenge – albeit I should say we are talking an attractive, medium-sized market town here not a metropolis! That said Angie's really thought this through, she's my business partner as well as my wife so there's some sound commercial reasoning gone into her plan as well as social and domestic thinking; and I can't deny that a move of the sort she's suggesting will most likely result in a significantly positive shift in our work/life balance sooner than I'd expected which I wouldn't mind at all. My basic requirements? A decent view and a bit of space to play trains would do nicely – preferably on the edge of town, not in the middle.

 

I shall lay hands on a copy of Ian Rice's 'urban layouts' book forthwith...

 

David

Hi David,

 

Sounds like a good plan then.

 

My ideal would be an older property yet with mod cons and lots of - discrete - eco type add-ons, so as not to have to pay out horendous sums to the utilities companies (monopolies/oligopolies).

 

Your ideas, as a couple, sound like a really good balance - which I am pleased to hear about.

 

Yet beware not all modern houses are perfect, developers still drop clangers, having said that there are some wonderful looking and efficient houses out there these days, yet the Europeans are still ahead of us in many ways, including smart eco solutions....

 

I can recommend all of Mr. Rice's books on plans, even if they dont apply his philosophies are well worth studying.

 

Kind regards,

 

CME

[marc smith]

Another alternative for space, David, is a loft.  I've known people for whom a decent-sized loft is a must when buying a house!!  Years ago, I had a 4mm roundy-roundy in a loft - if I remember rightly the useable space must have been 30' x 6', maybe 8' (it was 30 years ago!!) - whichever, it had a decent radius for the curves at each end.  That house though was built about 40 years ago, the new one my daughter's family lives in is big but of a design that restricts decent access - for a model railway, at least!!

 

Rod

Yes, my house is a recent build. It's unusually a decent size

The loft however is another matter

It would be very difficult to fit a model railway in there...

There are just wooden beams going every direction

 

It's like the Krypton Factor just trying to store the Xmas tree up there!

 

I'm fortunate in that SWMBO has allowed me to convert our garage...

Mind you, I have to share it with a washing machine, freezer, a cupboard full of various cleaning agents etc etc

 

Bizarrely, despite my newfound modelling space...

... I'm still designing small layouts!

 

Marc

 

 

 

 

 

[switcher 1]

Bizarrely, despite my newfound modelling space...

... I'm still designing small layouts!

 

Marc

I think micro/small layouts offer the best solution for space starved people & those that want to achieve something in a reasonable time frame.

[Donw]

All life is a matter of give and take and compromise. The late Peter Korrison built a superb layout in a 23ftx16ft shed but for others that would swallow most of the garden. We have moved far too often and have built a 24ftx10 Block and stone shed but moved before the layout could be built. Later we built a 24ftx11ft loft room but again had to move for family reasons. So in many way I suggest that building a micro layout has lots of advantages. I did manage to built a 10ftx2ft2in exhibition layout while building the stone shed and had a lot of fun with that.

Also during this period I was able to run my stock on the layouts of fellow Glosgog members and in particular was able to enjoy operating Alan Brackenborough's garden layout. Ken Payne was always very welcoming a would give my stock a nice run.

However I hanker after having a layout large enough to watch a train run at home.

The give and take is that I get the train room she gets a new kitchen an en suite and as the garden is about half the size I give up any rights to a garden line. (Although room may be found for something small. A big reason for the move is the desire to tour in the motorhome while we are young enough so a large garden would not get the attention it would need. I know David also enjoys touring ( a caravan is his choice I think). Which may be one reason for chosing a town site with a smaller garden. Do stick with 0 gauge David if you are staying in the same area there are layouts which do welcome visitors.

Don

[marc smith]

I very much agree with Dons' sentiment in the post above....
Re small space O gauge layouts

there is another factor here which I know many of us feel, but seldom gets discussed

That is that many folk who model in O, are satisfied with less stock.....
I know modelers in other scales who also feel the same way,
but somehow, I'm happy to watch an O gauge layout with just 1 or 2 locos on it
This may have something to do with the "presence" and "mass" each O gauge loco can have?

Whatever it is, I think this can also be a factor for the space-starved modeller....

I've long thought that a modular approach to railway modelling is a good way forward
I've made many sketches of micro layouts, which can then be expanded,
adding further modules to extend the layout

This approach could mean that you get a small layout which acts as stand-alone
for small exhibitions or home use
but if you have a few friends or additional operators,
you can take the expanded version of the layout to a larger show,
or set up where space & time permit
....when SWMBO is at her sisters for the weekend, for instance

Such an approach though, is more tricky than it sounds...
The most satisfying designs I could come up with,
consisted of baseboards of differing sizes - 

otherwise, you tend to get a similar design in each given section
and the differing sized baseboards tended to give the design a better flow..

As Don says, stick with O
and enjoy the challenge of small layout designing

Marc

[alant]

Small layouts usually get "finished" as well, if a layout is ever truly finished of course.

[David Siddall]

Well, I've currently no particular desire to wave goodbye to 'O': 1) for all the reasons Marc Smith summarises so eruditely above; and 2) because I seem to have learned and achieved more in the scale in a year or so with the support and encouragement of you chaps than in a lifetime of modelling in the smaller scales! I also have all the trackwork I need for the micro' below – and it's all hand-built!

 

Whether the 121 stays on the roster will depend on how I feel when it's finished. It might just be more appropriate to sell it and the Hymek and use whatever they realise to fund the Class 14 I so want to try. It strikes me that a freight-only 'micro' based around the head-shunt of some decidedly run-down dock transfer sidings might just suit a 'Teddy Bear', an 08... and either a venerable industrial steam loco or maybe another infernal combustion shunter such as an 03. We'll just have to see :-)

 

 

The above is based on two 3' x 18" scenic boards plus a 2' x 18" shuffle-yard (it would be my first attempt at cassettes!)

 

So... I've got plenty to get keep my imagination focused on things 7-mil... the 121 to finish, three wagons to paint and two more to build :-)

 

D

 

PS: I will however have lift my first turnout and the short spur of track attached to it from it present location to enable it to be re-used! Your collective advice suggests warm water should soften the adhesive holding it and its ballast in place... so I'll just have to be brave and see what happens.

[Dmudriver]

David.

 

Can I just offer some advice on lifting the point and track - based on hard experience!!  I'd suggest soften the glue but then dig out the ballast first, hoover it up so that you can see what you're working with and dispose of it (unless you want to recycle it).  I don't know if you used track pins to hold things in place, but make sure any of those are removed - otherwise the rail pretty smartly parts company with the chairs!!   You used the webbed sleeper base for the points so that shouldn't be too difficult to get up - however, slide something thin under the sleepers to loosen them - don't pull them up by the rail!!  If your track was built using the double-sided sticky tape method, the sleepers will come unstuck from the template or the board and, unless you superglued the rail to each chair, the sleepers will then slide about on the rail and get horribly out of place.  Nothing that can't be remedied, but it is a nuisance!

 

Hope this is useful - at some time or other I've done everything I mention!!!

 

Rod

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hi Fellas,

 

Like Don, I have been fortunate enough to visit one or two large O gauge layouts, including, Mr. Brackenborough's, and have been greatly inspired in doing so. Even though Down Ampney is simple in the extreme, as it traverses the garden, there have been an awful lot of challenges to have to face and I cannot help but feel that a small layout built, with modular expansion in mind, is the way to go (I still hope to add a small layout in the scheme of Down Ampney if time permits). That way, fun, running trains, completion, satisfaction etc etc can be more easily achieved. Thank goodness for Draycott (thanks Marc) as that layout has helped to keep me sane.

 

It is good however to reconsider ones options - and I have looked longingly at 4mm again - yet my heart lies with 7mm/1ft...

 

Kind regards,

 

CME

[marc smith]

Hi again David,

I've heard that warm water will help track lifting
If you have used PVA type adhesive, that is.....
Good luck with that - I hope no damage is done

I recently converted my garage into a railway room
and had planned to do a muti-deck arrangement of layouts;
an N gauge roundy roundy on one level
and a 4mm scale layout - L shaped above it

However, having visited the Talyllyn railway with pals Dave (Wenlock)
and Roger (Rouse 2037) a few weeks back
I'm sorely tempted to flog my n gauge collection and model 7mm narrow gauge,
with a couple of standard gauge exchange sidings....

Oh no! Why do I keep changing plans?
Ah.... it might just help my ageing eyesight perhaps?

Nice simple plan you have there David
Plenty of scope for shunting....

Marc

[David Siddall]

You don't have to be mad to try lining something this size using transfers but...

 

 

...the 121's stripes applied using Fox lining. Took about an hour per side per stripe to get them even close to straight – a considerable proportion of that time being taken up by inventing new and interesting combinations of rude words! One thing I wasn't fully prepared for is that the transfers can stretch quite dramatically as you slide the backing paper away and then snake back to their former length. They also stick to your fingers rather better than to your model!

 

Apologies for the dodgy phone-camera photo, the camera battery charger is kaput :-/

 

Bye for now...

 

David

 

 

PS: Marc, I empathise completely with anyone making the ageing eyesight observation – these days I can only really appreciate the magnificence of contemporary N gauge models when photographically enlarged to 7mm-scale size.

[Kev_Lewis]

Your description sounds very similar to my first experience with lining transfers on my JLTRT BG. Fox transfers are much easier to apply if the surface has been sprayed with gloss varnish.

 

Keep up the good work. The 121 is looking very good.

[Donw]

Nice plan David. It always seemed to me that the Army Depot at Donnington could inspire a nice model. When I knew it it was the remains of the truncated Newport line. A 47 would trundle down with a few wagons (mainly box vans) and leave them in the exchange sidings. Internally there was a diesel loco (one of them with the cab somewhere in the middle) painted army green which would pick up the wagons and suffle them about to the vaarious buildings. There was also internal use wagons. Sometimes there were special trains of some interesting loads (such as a train or amoured cars on flat wagons. Two layouts are suggested the exchange sidings or some of the trackwork around the buildings. You could also add a high level line at the rear with a small platform for the 121 to shuttle about (not there in reality but would have made sense) possibly outside the camp fencing so could serve civilians too. I am sorry there are no pictures I would probably been arrested if I had taken a camera in.

Don

[the penguin of doom]

Very nice job that David.

 

Well worth persevering with.

 

Cheers.

 

Sean.

[David Siddall]

Cheers Sean... good choice of word there: 'persevere' – in my experience frequently associated with words like 'in the face of adversity' ;-)

 

Now that's a thought Don... I'm pretty sure I want to stick with the late 1960s and seeing as its on the doorstep something with a Forest of Dean flavour is high up the agenda. Access to a minor but rail served military depot from a truncated branchline would however be an intriguing option (somewhere between Cheptow and Magor if I keep it local maybe?), as would the point at which a modest dockside system links to an urban spur (something fictional but leaning toward Newport perhaps?). Hmmmm.... plenty of enjoyable pondering there then :-)

 

David