Modular French Branchline Network

[SNCF stephen]

So it's the end of the weekend and I thought I would just do a quick update on the progress made over the last 4 days.

 

I have now created the foamboard substructure for the island platform that will form platform 2 and 3. I just need to trim it back where it fouls the longer vehicles that pass by.

 

I have glued some of the foam board terrain formers to the baseboard and cut away a gap which will form part of the staircase leading away from the station (as shown below):

 

I have drilled all of the holes required for the wiring and then extensively tested it all. I have also tested the track with a variety of trains to ensure that clearances were sufficient as well as to ensure that the track worked in a satisfactory manor.

This resulted in the modification of a number of the #4 turnouts as they seemed to cause problems in certain circumstances (the point blade did not sit close enough to the rail in a number of instances).

 

 

Having the layout running with some of the stock I hope to use was a real boost. It has shown how much better the Kato track is compared to the Peco track I used previously. Running the layout has also given me a boost in that I now know there will be enough to keep me interested operationally.

 

Unfortunately I had hoped to have made more progress on the ADX kit I am constructing. This kit is hindered by a lack of pictures and drawings which has made it unclear as to what to do. Therefore I am currently hoping that someone on the French N Gauge Forum might be able to assist me with this.

 

All in all, I feel like this has been a good weekend. Once I have scanned the necessary bits and pieces for the printouts I will paint the platforms and the track up. I was reading Coldrunners excellent N gauge layout thread and noticed his technique of using sandpaper to give a gravel texture for platforms. This was a stroke of luck as I have been searching for a solution to this issue for some time. So this technique will be employed when I get around to making up the platforms.

 

Thanks for reading

 

Stephen

[Oldddudders]

Unfortunately I had hoped to have made more progress on the ADX kit I am constructing. This kit is hindered by a lack of pictures and drawings which has made it unclear as to what to do. Therefore I am currently hoping that someone on the French N Gauge Forum might be able to assist me with this.

Do you have Ferrovissimo #12, 12/2006? This has pics of ADX2s at least, and some descriptions. It majors on all the cousins of the ABJ.

[SNCF stephen]

Do you have Ferrovissimo #12, 12/2006? This has pics of ADX2s at least, and some descriptions. It majors on all the cousins of the ABJ.

 

The simple answer is no, I have access to the Le Train special EncyclopediaDu Material Moror SNCF Volume 3 which has some drawings and pictures in. However it is not the prototype I am having difficulty with it is the specifics of what to do with the kit. Unfortunately the instructions are just a little vague and I want to make a good job of it.

 

Thank you for the pointers though, I will keep an eye out for that as I am always in the market for reading materials on the Autorails.

[SNCF stephen]

This weekend I have made some more progress which I am quite pleased with. One of my UFO's has been moved forward and some more general work has taken place on the layout.

 

The UFO I worked on was the station building that I had to rebuild. You will have noticed the old structure in the earlier posts in this thread. This was my sorry first attempt at card modelling. I learned a lot in a very short period of time. This time around I decided to construct the building in a modular fashion (which is quite apt really) with the smaller parts of the building being constructed at a later date. I also decided to leave the interior until I was satisfied with the exterior of the model. These photos shows the difference between the old and the new:

These show the building in situ.

 

As well as pushing forward with that building I also sprayed some of the scenic formers that will eventually be the platforms and car park. I used Halfords primer because I find that leaves a good surface to work with. Unfortunately another lesson was learned in that Halfords primer eats through Hobbycraft foam board (I am guessing it must use a form of styrene in the foam that does not like the solvent in the primer). The solution I found was to put some clay in the cavity. This now gives me the option of either scribing the clay or sticking a layer of plasticard over the top for the platform sides.

 

Having put the primer on this part of the layout it really changed the way it felt. I am always surprised how colour has the ability to do this on such a large scale. This meant that I had to run some trains!!!

Above shows a double headed freight train, (I also did a bit of work on the Orange Diesel as it needed its gears freeing to be towed properly!) the train is running towards the Gare Bois near Meymac.

72071 hauling the Corail set on a service from Clermont Ferrand to Limoges.

[Les1952]

Just found this thread.

 

I'd never thought of burying Kato track right up to the shoulder. Any problems with derailments coming straight off a curve onto a point? Or are you using the larger radius points here, which tend to be harder to unpick?

 

Have bookmarked and will watch with interest.

Les

[SNCF stephen]

Thanks for the interest Les,

 

The Kato track is largely unaltered in its structure. The idea came from John Sings ATSF Arizona layout (http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/Peavine_Layout_Overview.html#Kato_Unitrack ) and also Mike Trice. I was finding that Peco was too much work to get reliable operations quickly so I tried this track and it is pretty good. I have had a few problems with derailments but there are fixes to the turnouts that can solve many of these issues (see the link above). I am using the smaller radious points on this layout as they allow me to do more with the limited space I have.

 

I never used to get my steam locos out on the Peco track as they just never worked that well, however this evening I have had one of the most troublesome locomotives out on the rails working flawlessly.

[SNCF stephen]

This weekend has been productive with a piece of rolling stock now ready to paint and another module getting ready to get scenic.

 

First order of the weekend was to install the dropped section of platform that enables passengers to cross the tracks. However, before I got to work on that I had to install a small section of 40 thou plasticard to elevate the building to the same level as the pavement at the front. This will be given the scenic treatment in time. The dropped section of platform was moulded from clay in a small cut out section of the platform. I am hoping that once the ballast is installed it will not look as obvious. I also cut some sandpaper to size to see how it looked for the gravel texture. It is not amazing but I think with a bit of weathering it could look ok. I am also hoping that the platform sides might give it more character.

 

I also started working on another module. This one is going to be a rural forest next to the Vienne River (which will be modelled in the adjacent module). The line runs along a steep hillside and then into a short tunnel. On top of the hill there will be a small track and a timber shed.

 

Unfortunately the photographs do not appear to want to upload properly but I am hoping they lurk at the bottom of this post.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Stephen

[SNCF stephen]

Today i have been pushing ahead with the station building for Eymoutiers. This is the replacement for the original version that I abandoned due to the poor construction techniques I used.

 

I started by creating a frame around which the printed sheets could be attached.

 

At close distance it shows some of the blemishes but at normal viewing distance I am very happy with the outcome.

 

 

The roof is the next and I will need to work out a way to do the ornate windows and tiles. It is a complex roof structure so I will try a few ideas before I give it a final go.

 

Thanks for reading

[SNCF stephen]

Modular French Branchline Layout - Part 5 - A Beer Oddessy

 

 

At work some of my colleagues and I produce a book depicting undrunk beer in glasses in various locations. Once enough photographs are compiled they are then compiled into one of these nice photo books. This year I have decided to enter a shot of some beer using my modular layout as a background. I took two pictures on Friday:

 

This is a nice Belgian beer. Personally I preferred the darker flavored version but this was still pretty nice.

 

Baseboard Extension:

I have been meaning to do this for some time. The baseboards needed to be given some extra space to allow the siding mini modules to fit into place. Luckily this was a simple job and it only took about 30 minutes, plus it has given me a nice little area to work on the modules.

 

Tunnel Module:

This module has been awaiting work for a couple of weeks. The module will feature a small section of road that will have a forest track leading from it. The forest track will lead to a wood store and then may continue onto the next module. This module is a depiction of the steep ravines in the gorges between St Denis des Murs and Eymoutiers. Therefore there is a tunnel over the lines which I spent today installing:

The next module will depict a viaduct running over the Vienne river. I am looking into whether I will model the hydro electric station that is near to Eymoutiers. However, this might require more space than I have available.

 

St Denis des Murs, Level Crossing Module:

Not to be confused with the station module that has already been made I have made a bit of progress on another module which will be adjacent to the St Denis des Murs station module. This module features a level crossing and is essentially a compressed section of the line running from the station to the level crossing. In the picture below is a mockup of the building I intend to make of the house that sits in this location. I have created the terrain formers for this section and will start work on the road during the week.

 

Work on the Eymoutiers module is progressing but it is less visible (hence no pictures). One thing I need to do before I go any further is to conduct a site visit. Luckily I am visiting the area next month so I am looking forward to taking all of the pictures I need so that I can photoshop all of the textures.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Stephen

[SNCF stephen]

Modular French Branchline Layout - Part 6 - New stuff all around

 

 

So I have had a weekend where I received 4 packages in the post. Of these 3 were for the model railway so I had some stuff to get to work on. Here is the standard "photograph of the stuff"

The Dapol coupling system was a bit of a punt and I think that I need to taylor it for my layout, the Piko diesels have low NEM sockets and this has caused a few issues. The Kato uncouplers are pretty good but they are slightly obtrusive. I think that their reliability probably outweighs their large size.

One thing that really makes me cringe is sand! I do not know why but I hate the stuff. Therefore it pained me to have to order 2 small bags of the stuff so that I could adequately model the gravel on the station.

It is a bit too yellow so I might dilute some acrylic paint to tone it down a bit.

 

As well as all that action I have been working on another module. This one is a rural module which will feature mainly forests and a short tunnel for the trains.

I have built up the terrain and ballasted the track. This was the first module I installed the Ratio concrete trunking onto.

 

On a final note, my father purchased a Harrington Cavalier for this layout. Knowing that they were 1:160 meant that this was a nice little touch to be able to have a scale bus on an excursion from the UK.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Looks good.

 

On the subject of sand, I have come across a very fine 'silver sand', which I obtained from 4D model shop in London. Like you, I have reservations about using sand - both in terms of colour and texture. The stuff I use, however, is not anywhere near as coarse...

[SNCF stephen]

Looks good.

 

On the subject of sand, I have come across a very fine 'silver sand', which I obtained from 4D model shop in London. Like you, I have reservations about using sand - both in terms of colour and texture. The stuff I use, however, is not anywhere near as coarse...

 

Thanks for the heads up on this. I will have a look for this because I am not too happy with the texture of the sand I have used. I might remove it and start again or see if I can add another thin layer of the fine stuff!

[SNCF stephen]

I have just returned from a 3 week holiday in France. This is my annual field trip to this location so I try to take as many pictures as I can for this project. The good news is that the line from Limoges to Ussel has been relayed and has 14 trains a day booked to run during week days. The bad news is that they have replaced the ballast which has altered its appearance which leaves me with a dilemma - do I model the new or the old.

 

The old looked browner with hints of yellow:

The new ballast is a more uniform grey:

 

I could model the grey ballast but there are some modules with the browner ballast already in situ. My current thinking is that I will model the line with 3 modules in the older ballast but the rest in the new grey colour.

 

On the holiday I had a day trip to Limoges Benedictian station which is very impressive. I particularly enjoyed the 14 carriage Corail expresses and the autorails. Here are a few shots:

 

Finally, whenever I go on holiday I always think of new ideas to add to my model or new ways of doing things. This holiday was no different. The following is a short summary of what I want to do over the next few months:

1. Go DCC - With the possibility of an X73500 sound unit coming out shortly this has really been a big push.
   
2. Model the roads with DAS clay instead of printed road surfaces.
   
3. Model the retaining walls around Eymoutiers station using printed sheets + install the staircases.
   
4. Install working signals on the line (initially I will pilot this with just two).
   
5. Make some trailers for the DU65 to tow.
   
6. Start making my own trees (I am thinking of using the Forest in a Box).
   
7. Install working street lights and platform lights.
   
8. Construct some more buildings for the layout using the computer printing method.
   
9. Examine the possibility of modelling another station as a sort of fiddle yard.
   

The last one on that list was a nice little potential project that I am considering. This might be in the form of Chatauneuf Bujaleuf station:

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Stephen

[kintbury jon]

Very organised!

[SNCF stephen]

Following yesterdays day of computer generated modeling I continued today with more of the same. This time though I spent the time doing a few bits and pieces to the station building which has been sitting in a box for a few months. The roofs for the extensions have now been done after some texture harvesting and the outbuilding was designed and completed.

(note the horrible bits of glue left after using a sheet of textured tarmac for the surface....)

Now the roofs are in place I feel a lot happier about the state of the station. The next stage is to make the roof for the main section which is still puzzling me a bit due to the ornate structure of the windows:

 

I have also started work on the next building which is the maintenance shed. At the moment I am preparing textures and shaping components but it is coming together quite nicely. I might do some more on this tomorrow. Here is a sneaky peak of a test print:

 

 

Other work that was done today was the installation of the dropper wires and isolating sections for DCC operation. I will soon be spraying the track brown!

 

Thanks for reading

 

Stephen

[MikeTrice]

You are making good progress here. One thing I would appreciate hearing more of, as I had not appreciated it at the time, is how you are producing your artwork for the buildings?

 

Thanks.

[SNCF stephen]

Thanks for your kind words Mike, here is a long explanation of the methods I used. The method of producing the buildings is very similar to bmthtrains methods in the construction process. However the fact that I am making replicas of the real thing means there are a few differences to how the artwork is made, although the principles are the same. Here is some information on how I made one side of the station building in Eymoutiers.I am using a slightly different method for the maintenance shed so I will talk through the process as I am doing that.

 

First I visit the site and take as many photographs as possible of the buildings. I take a number of the building as a whole to ensure I know how it is laid out and I also take a significant number of straight on pictures detailing the architectural features.

 

 

After the site visit(s) I start the process of harvesting the pictures for useful textures. In this case the upstairs windows were the best texture I could harvest. However, as you will see the picture is at a slight angle so I had to fiddle with the distortion of the window to get it looking good. The great thing about this method is that once you have a single window done you can use it many times. So in this instance the work taken to get one window looking good was able to be replicated 6 times.

 

One of the key parts of the design is making sure the frame of the building is built up properly so that it can be used as the basis for other elements of that particular side. In this case there are a number of architectural features I had harvested from the pictures that were carefully placed into position using photoshop.

 

 

Once these features were in place I was able to add the other harvested features such as the windows and doors to the layers. I kept the layers separate so that I could emulate bmthtrains method of using layers to make the building look realistic.

 

The first layer that gets printed is a general layer onto card. This first layer has all of the features on it and after printing is carefully cut out and the windows and doors are removed. (it is worth noting that I gave each card/paper layer a blast of Matt Varnish before putting them in situ).

 

The next layer to get printed is the windows and doors. These are printed onto transparent acetate paper and then cut out. Due to the fact that the print makes it look opaque I tended to put a small offcut from the previous layers doors behind them to make it look a bit better. These are then superglued to the back of the previous layer. Due to the fact that they came from the same photoshop workspace they marry up exactly.

 

Finally the detailing layer is printed off. This layer takes some serious concentration to cut out but it is worth it. The details are for the brickwork and windowsills. Before adding these to the front of the first layer I went around the edge with a Letroset felt pen (ice grey 3) to get rid of the while sides of the paper. The ink ran a little into the paper at first but this is hardly noticeable now. I stuck them down with card glue that was carefully spread over the layer.

 

And that is how I made the first side. They are then added to a frame that is carefully made out of mounting card.

 

I was careful to design the building to take into account of the way the edges lined up. I am looking forward to doing more of these as they are incredibly rewarding and I have achieved my best modeling results.

 

Thanks for reading

 

Stephen

[SNCF stephen]

Well today has been very productive. In under 24 hours I went from 2 photographs and a pile of card and paper to this:

 

The roof still needs some detail and I have left one panel from the roof loose so that I can access the interior if I decide to put a working door or other details inside.

 

The process was fairly simple with this one. The images did not need that much work so I just made some adjustments to the size and due to the fact that this building does not need layers I was then able to create a simple kit like sheet:

 

I then printed this onto card and created the structure of the building using mounting board:

 

Overall I was extremely pleased with the outcome.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Stephen

[MikeTrice]

Thank you for the description of how you do your buildings. I am sure I will not be the only one to appreciate learning your method.

[SNCF stephen]

The past week has seen another digital building come to reality. This time a slimmed down version of what I think is the maintenance storage area. This building is made from corrugated metal and has seen better days. Unfortunately the full size version would not fit.

And another short showing it from the station:

 

In other news, and rather than post a separate blog, I have been working on the Renault ADX kit from AIM Trains 'n' Co. It is a metal and resin kit that has very little in the way of picture instructions and is quite difficult (I have had it translated into English but even so it is causing issues).

Rather than follow the instructions to the letter I have decided to use them as a rough guide. So far I have attached the detailed sides to the kit, made up part of the chassis and started work on one of the distinct noses of the train. The photographs below are rather cruel so please be kind:

 

Finally, here is a picture of the real thing from somewhere on the internet:

[kintbury jon]

Coming along nicely.

[SNCF stephen]

Just a quick update.

 

I have now given the track on the main station module a coat of brown paint. This caused a number of problems on 3 of the turnouts that were not as well masked as I had hoped. Still they have been fixed and it is all working now. The next phase will be to glue the track down but I am not doing that until I have the DCC unit tested!

 

I have also been working on another card building for the layout. This will be a large goods shed which is currently used as a builders merchant. To test the fit and to see how the first side looks I printed off the layer and attached it to some foam board.

 

In that picture is the ADX which has also been having some work done on it. I have glued the roof into place and added model filler to a few places as per the instructions. This second picture is a lot more unkind to it but I am sure it will look better once the primer is on and then when it gets painted!

 

This next week will see the platforms glued into place which might mean I can start work on the laying of the roads/car park with DAS clay.

 

I am also having a meeting with a chap in relation to getting these card models laser cut. It might also mean that I could produce them as kits!!! This would be very exciting!

 

Thanks for reading

 

Stephen

[Les1952]

That railcar just looks fiendish- I think you deserve a BSc in Masochism for that one!

 

It is looking fine- and past the Rolf Harris stage ("Can you tell what it is yet?")

 

All the very best

Les

[SNCF stephen]

It has been a while since an update but a fair amount of work has been going on with the layout and the stock.

 

The first big development is that I have purchased a Gaugemaster Prodigy Advance DCC controller so a lot of my modelling funds have been diverted to getting my layout DCC ready and installing the bare minimum of decoders into my fleet. I was planning on getting the controller later in the year but a bargain eBay auction came on and I am now DCC.

 

I have done some work on the main station module this morning/afternoon (whilst popping in and out to watch us win golds!!!). This consisted of me laying down DAS clay on the car park and part of the road.

The road section (above) did not go on as easy as I had hoped and I am hoping it dries well otherwise I will need to think of another technique for the underlayer of the road.

I then got to work on half of the car park (as much as my clay supplies limited me to!) which was much easier to go onto the surface. I am currently waiting for them to dry before sanding.

 

In the post I eventually obtained my order for some 2CV's. Unfortunately the French Vendor sent out the wrong items by mistake and now refuses to give me back my return postage meaning I have paid quite a large sum of money for these. Still, I will make some up into vans and pickup trucks.

 

On a positive note I received a package from AIM Trains N'Co the other day which was correct and contained two kits for X2800 railcars. One was a new brass and resin kit and the other an old resin casting. The resin casting is very tight and narrow and I think I will have to butcher another Kato chassis to get one that will fit!

 

Finally I decided to put some trains on the rails for a nice group shot.

The two 66000's coupled together are the only locos I have which are chipped at the moment. Funds only permit a couple of locos every month to get the treatment.

 

Thanks for reading. I welcome any comments or questions you have.

 

Stephen

 

PS - Well done Andy Murray!

[rob D2]

Looks good, and a refreshing change for me from uk stuff.

 

I went camping in western France 2 years back near biscarosse. Sorely tempted to model some french stuff in the future ...