Ydna Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 LATEST PROGRESS PICTURE: UPDATE 1: Hi, So, along with my other two projects, Almere Road TMD (which is back underway) and Furderson Central, I've begun this new tiny layout using some old pieces of shelf (chip-board). Thought I may as well make a thread despite it being so small. So, lets see what I can do with two pieces of shelf that equate to three and a half foot long by 10 inches wide. Below is the anticipated plan.. Yes, that's it - just a single Peco 'Y'-shape point and one platform. There's also going to be a ballast loading point for engineers wagons, with a Dapol JCB kit on scene. The signal box will be my heavily-modded Hornby product and the backscene will be my personal favourite of a retaining wall.. The little sign next to the storage track resembles the isolating switch that I'll be using as I'm running this on old DC equipment. The main traffic that will feature during operation will be 90s era locos pulling engineer wagons to be loaded by the JCB as well as a loyal Class 153. A Class 08 will also have the important role of uncoupling the loco that has just entered the station, from its wagons, shunting the wagons into the the other siding, and then letting the loco hitch back up to its wagons and then pull them away again. I'm thinking that I might even incorporate a small fueling point into the scene as well, but that will depend strongly on the space available (which is very limited) and whether more interest is actually needed. I don't want to make the view to jam-packed. So far I've pinned the track down permanently on top of cork and ballasted. I've sprayed diluted PVA over it all and I' now enduring the process of patiently watching it dry. Pics of that coming very soon indeed.. Thanks for taking a look at this currently uninteresting thread. Watch this space. Cheers, Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack00 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Your back...!! good to see a new project underway, looks like an interesting plan Andy, small, simple, and great use of small space. can't wait for the next instalments Jack. Ps. good era too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeavyDuty Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Small layouts like this always have great potential - i always enjoy watching their progress! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattWallace Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 keeping an eye on this one - looks like it could be awesome... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted September 24, 2012 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 Finally, some pics of the progress so far... Sorry about the poor pictures, I was using my old camera.. Currently I'm at the stage when I've finished ballasting, cut out the 16mm MDF to the correct size and given it one dark coat of grey. It'll need a few more thin coats of paint, and of course some weathering eventually. I also purchased the platform edging and have so far modified two to fit. More to come very soon.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack00 Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 That is very compact... But lots of potential especially being so small I bet it will ooze atmosphere. Really taking shape now. You got much stock? 08 is in a great livery. Jack. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 UPDATE 2: More progress! Popped in to the model shop today and purchased a Hornby ZFO wagon to use on Wemford in the ballast loading scenario, as well as some other scenery bits and bobs. Coming along nicely now. I weathered the ZFO and I've also spent the last couple of hours constructing the retaining wall out of Wills brick-effect plastic stuff. Also managed to ballast the y point using the safe method of applying a blob of pure PVA in between each sleeper. This means there's little chance of it ruining the workings of the point. On top of all that, during the past week I've been spending a fair amount of time repainting some old figures of mine from my first layout which I'll be using on the station platform. These can be seen in the pictures below as well.. Here are the latest pics then... Thanks for reading. More on its way soon, Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattWallace Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Looking great - which ballast are you using? I like the mixture of shades Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 Looking great - which ballast are you using? I like the mixture of shades I just mixed some dark grey Green Scene ballast with some light grey to try and get a realistic shade Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 UPDATE 3: Finally glued on the platform edging - caused a massive faff though! Still a work in progress. Also converted a bus stop shelter into a fueling point. Still a work in progress as well and only held in place for pics with blue-tac. The piping for it is old Airfix model kit sprue. More figures have been updated using my brush painting skills. I need to do a lot more ballasting - might do that over the weekend. This project is coming together very rapidly which is good news for my attention span - I have a strong tendency to put a project like this on hold and start on another one! Below is a video as well as the latest pics which will show case the improvements more clearly... Follow to the video More coming soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firebucket Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I like this kind of simple, small layout a lot, they have lots more potential than people might think. I'll be keeping my eye on this one! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 UPDATE 4: Hey guys, A lot of work has been completed on the layout. A fair amount of scenic work is now done but I still need to add hedges, more shrubs, etc. The main thing to do now is some track weathering. I still need to stick down the MDF platforms and to the small amount of remaining ballasting around it. Here are some pictures to show off the recent work.. Thanks for looking, More coming soon, Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 The latest of the layout... Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted October 5, 2012 Author Share Posted October 5, 2012 UPDATE 5: Even more progress completed. The layout looks almost in a finished state - apart from the lack of a scenic break, a station building, a rough vehicle crossing for the digger and the ballast piles for the digger to shift! Here are the latest pics. More info over the weekend.. Thanks for looking, More to come, Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted October 5, 2012 Author Share Posted October 5, 2012 UPDATE 6: Here's the station sign which I've just spent the last half hour doing on MS Word. I've decided to go Network South East, but I can't promise that'll be the final choice.. Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack00 Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 Captured great atmosphere there Andy...looking really good. perticulary liked the signs around the fuel point and platform. Jack. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 Thanks. Hoping to get some more work done on it this weekend Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stock_2007 Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 So what are the people waiting for are you running something like a 153? Sorry if its already been talked about may have missed it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 Yes, speaking in terms of exhibition plans, the traffic will consist of a 153 passenger service every 3 minutes or so (sold my old 153, I regret, but will be acquiring one soon hopefully), as well as ballast trains and a fuel tanker train replenishing the fueling point. I've also weathered my breakdown crane which may make an appearance at an exhibition, being brought in just to be stored every so often just to add interest. Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 UPDATE 6: More work completed. I've now added station signs. I did go with the NSE Toothpaste theme in the end because I couldn't find any prototype pictures of any other station signs. As well as that I've done the crossing for the digger scenario to make sense. An old yard light from a previous layout has also given the layout some height which adds some realism. More general stuff like track weathering has been carried out as well. Note the new telephone box on the platform. By the way, a good question has been asked which I've never really explained the answer to before.. The question was basically 'What is the traffic on the layout going to consist of?' Well, the main traffic on the layout will be, speaking in terms of exhibition plans, a 153 passenger service every 3 minutes or so (sold my old 153, I regret, but will be acquiring one soon hopefully), as well as ballast trains and a fuel tanker train replenishing the fueling point. I've also weathered my breakdown crane which may make an appearance at an exhibition, being brought in just to be stored every so often just to add interest. Anyway, with that all cleared up, here are the latest pictures which will explain the progress visually... The currently removable backscene removed to, first of all, reveal my collection of Airfix models, and secondly enable me to hang the layout over the edge of the table to let the wires of the yard light dangle through for wiring up later. Thanks for viewing, Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 Here's just a single picture of the fiddle yard extension that I've just test fitted.. Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack00 Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 Hit the nail on the head... proof that big isn't always better. what livery 153 have you got your eye on? sound chipped would be the real deal, but rather pricy i reckon. just PM'd you Andy. Jack. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 UPDATE 7: I thought I'd celebrate the recent work on Wemford by actually playing trains for a bit. So I cleaned the track and here are some pics (with some captions coming shortly).. Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ydna Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 UPDATE 8: Just a small one. I'm currently working out an uncoupling system for the layout. Its quite an important part of the operation, because, aside from the 153 DEMU popping in and out on passenger duties every five minutes or so at an exhibition, the Class 08 will be doing all the action in the form of shunting wagons in and out. This all means that I need to get a good, reliable uncoupling sytem sorted out. At the moment I'm edging towards, and trialing, magnetic uncouplings using the staple and magnet approach, but all may change if any of you guys can help by suggesting a different, less complex method. The problem is that some of my wagons have the very old, wide tension-lock couplers which don't work with the magnetism method at all due to the stupid hinging design. That'll mean buying some new, up-to-date, thinner tension lock couplers and fitting them instead and I really can't be bothered with all that. On top of all those drawbacks the magnets look ghastly just sitting on top of the sleepers. So I'm basically looking for alternatives. If you've got any other methods which you thunk would be suitable, then please suggest them to me. Bare in mind that my base-board is approx. 16mm thick so magnets from underneath are unlikely to work! Thanks in advance, Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryMeerkat Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 If you will be uncoupling in the same few places every time, would a solenoid that lifts up 2 sleepers work? The couplers can remain standard, and if the cut in the baseboard and sleepers is done with a fine saw then it would be almost invisible when not in use. A square of baseboard 2 sleepers square could be cut out, with the sleepers and ballast attached to it, and this could be placed on top of a small solenoid mounted under the baseboard and operated by a push-to-make switch which is held as the engine pulls away. I'm sure a point motor mounted sideways could do the job? Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.